Final Word from Monday, June 22, 2009
Some people joke that Miroslav Kalousek's TOP 09 stands for "Tunnelers, Opportunists, Profiteers." Politicians use only slightly less explicit language in criticizing their newest credible threat. Jiří Paroubek calls Kalousek one of the biggest rogues in post-1989 Czech politics. Acting Green Chair Ondřej Liška said that Kalousek "tunneled" his old party, KDU-ČSL. Speaking in LN on Sat., presumptive TOP 09 Chair Karel Schwarzenberg initially dismissed any talk of shenanigans on Kalousek's part as unsubstantiated rumor. When pressed, though, he compared Kalousek to a promiscuous party girl who settles down once she gets married. Kalousek understands, he said, that the corruption of the past can't continue or it will lead to the demise of the Czech state. Voters, it seems, must decide whether "Tunnelers on Probation" can mend their ways, or whether they're destined to become repeat offenders.[Czech Republic ČSSD Lidové noviny]
Glossary of difficult words
probation - the process or period of testing or observing the character or abilities of a person in a certain role; the release of an offender from detention, subject to a period of good behavior under supervision;
profiteer - a person who makes or seeks to make an excessive or unfair profit (can be replaced in Czech in the joke version of TOP by "prospěcháři);
rogue - a dishonest or unprincipled person ("šibal" in the Czech original);
presumptive - probable;
shenanigans - secret or dishonest activity or maneuvering;
promiscuous - having many sexual relationships;
to mend - to repair something that is broken;
repeat offender - a convicted criminal who reoffends; recidivist.