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Clanek v CESTINE dole.

Less than a month ago Jan Pociatek, Slovakia’s Finance Minister, stated that the Slovakian financial sector mostly invested in the domestic economy and not risky mortgage markets. Based on this statement, loses on these markets would have only a small effect on their financial market.

In addition, the Slovak government wanted to assure the public that there was no financial crisis threat and recently also approved a legislative proposal to protect money deposits in Slovak banks to a full 100 percent instead of the original 90 percent — up to ~600,000 Sk (~$27,000). The Slovak parliament must approve this initiative later this month.

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Clanek v CESTINE dole.

Today, the Slovak republic president, Ivan Gasparovic, and the president of the United States, George Bush, met in Washington in the White House. They discussed the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) as well as the financial crisis and steps that need to be taken in order to overcome it.

The major requirement for eligibility for this program is to reach no more than 10 percent of rejected visa applications, which Slovakia achieved. Also, Slovakia provided fingerprints and DNA profiles of all convicted criminals that won’t be allowed to enter the United States. Bush stated that Slovakia made the major step in order to cancel visas to the US and he declared that the official announcement could be as soon as in the middle of November.

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Clanek v CESTINE dole.

It is hard to live abroad and speak a second language. We do speak English at home but sometimes we just miss watching Czech and Slovak movies or reading books and periodicals that our family members bring over during their visits. We were also very happy when we found out that we could also find some very priceless pieces of Czechoslovak history right here in the United States.

One of the places where you can find Czech and Slovak publications is The University of Chicago Library. Their Archives of Czechs and Slovaks Abroad (ACASA) consist of several thousands of books, brochures, almanacs, periodicals, and personal papers of Czechs and Slovaks, who have lived outside of Czechoslovakia for a while. Most of them were published in North America in the past 150 years. Their collection, however, also includes titles originating in Western Europe, Australia, or South America.

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Our October calendar lists all activities for Czechs and Slovaks around the world. One of them is a concert of a Czech band called Plastic People of the Universe (PPU). We have to admit, at the time we were preparing our calendar of events, we did not know the band or its contribution to the freedom of all Czech and Slovak citizens.

A couple of days ago we decided to find articles about the band and to watch their video clips. What we found was great music and a remarkable life story of their pride and resistance to the Czechoslovakian Communist party.

The band was formed by bassist Milan Hlavsa right after the Soviet invasion on August 21^st, 1968 in attempts to stop the Prague Spring, a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia. The name was taken from Frank Zappa’s song entitled Plastic People. The same year Russians initiated a “normalization” program to reestablish moral and social behavior to make it more appropriate for a Communist country.

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After a long battle with lung cancer, Paul Leonard Newman, has died at age 83 on Friday (September 26^th, 2008). Even though he was born in Cleveland, Ohio (January 26^th, 1925), his roots were partially in Slovakia. Paul Newman was an actor, film director, but also entrepreneur. He also loved auto racing and was a supporter of liberal activities. He will be missed for his philanthropy and deeds during his life.

Newman’s mother Theresa (Terezia Feckova) came from a small village in Humenne District of today’s Slovakia. She was catholic and his father, Arthur, was Jewish but Newman had described himself as Jewish as well. His mother worked in his father’s sporting goods store while taking care of Paul and his brother Arthur.

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Did we miss your event? Please, let us know.

We update our Events regularly; thus, for more recent updates, go to our page “Events (Akce)” or CLICK HERE.

Pro informace v CESTINE, kontaktujte CzechFolks (e-mail nebo komentar dole).

NOTE: Our Meetup Schedules are listed below. For more details about Czech Meetups CLICK HERE.

Concerts:

Jaromir Nohavica - details in October Schedule below

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Clanek v CESTINE dole.

The Czech government has pledged 10 million crowns (~$630,000) in flood recovery for Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In the next month or two, the US Czech and Slovak Museum will be able to use this gift to repair damages to the building and its contents from the floods in June 2008. The total damage to the museum’s five properties in Czech Village is about $9 million but the gift is a wonderful gesture of support and solidarity that proves that Czechs in USA are still connected with their home country.

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