Final Word from Thursday, July 19, 2012



Bill Maher is a left-leaning political comedian who is so funny that even a few conservatives laugh at his jokes. He said he secretly wants Mitt Romney to win the U.S. election, because Romney is an ultra-Caucasian Mormon zillionaire. For a comedian not to want material like that for the next four years, Maher said, would be like Halliburton not wanting a war. And we're in a similar position vis-à-vis Miroslav Kalousek. As responsible citizens, we wholeheartedly agree with Karel Hvížďala that Kalousek's behavior, vocabulary and choleric performances demean his office, the cabinet, his party and the country, and that he should leave public life. But we also seek out the droll and absurd in politics, and with Kalousek in banishment or prison, we'd have to shelve all those jokes about booze, tax waivers and Liechtenstein bank accounts. Life without Kalousek to kick around just wouldn't be the same anymore.[Czech Republic Richard Nixon finance minister]

Glossary of difficult words

Kalousek is not a crook! - as allusion to Richard Nixon, who famously declared, "I am not a crook.";

zillionaire - an extremely rich person;

wholeheartedly - with complete sincerity and commitment;

ulta-Caucasian - being very white or behaving in such a way (being white is now considered by some people in the U.S. to be a handicap in public life);

to demean - to cause a severe loss in the dignity of and respect for someone or something;

droll - curious or unusual in a way that provokes dry amusement;

banishment - in a place or position of exile or official punishment;

to shelve - to put aside, abandon;

booze - alcohol;

to kick around - Nixon famously said after losing the race for governor of California in 1962 that, "You [the press] don't have Nixon to kick around anymore."

Contact

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Czech Republic

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