Today is...

the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Communism here in Czech Republic. It commemorates the day when a lady named Milada Horáková and some of her colleagues were convicted and subsequently executed in 1950 by the Communist régime in Czechoslovakia.
57 years on, former Czech Ambassador to the US and current deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Vondra commented that the KSČM is the strongest communist party in Europe. It is the only communist party in Europe that has not renounced its actions between 1945 and 1989, and continues to be the third-largest party in the Czech Chamber of Deputies.

I don't really expect the Party to renounce its actions; torture and espionage is what communism does by its very nature. However, how anyone could consider it as a morally valid course of politics is simply appalling. 100 million dead later, it continues to seduce. The Evil Empire has fallen; the Evil remains.

Bush's Speech in Prague

Read it here.
A few things...
One thing that's interesting is when you type in "Prague Bush speech video" in Google, you get the Reuters headline: "Bush speech may irk Moscow."
I think it's interesting that whatever Bush says, it reflexively irks Reuters.
Of course, to be fair, Moscow deserves to be irked.  The Beeb today pointed out that were Russia not invited to the G8 Summit this week, its behavior would be at the top of the agenda.
Next, it was good -- and important -- that he named names of dissidents.  It gives these dissidents hope, especially in places like Belarus and Burma, where communication is relatively good.  It also calls those régimes out on the carpet, where they belong.
I had always heard that it was Solzhenitsyn who "compared a tyrannical state to a soldier who constantly points a gun at his enemy -- until his arms finally tire and the prisoner escapes."  Turns out it was Andrei Amalrik.
Finally, of course, I have to mention that I appreciated Bush's citation of Havel's citation of Masaryk's citation of Komenský.  I might only add that Komenský, in turn, was influenced greatly by the priest and reformer Jan Hus.  The Czech Lands have a long tradition of
developing the liberal ideal, and it's no coincidence that the Czech Republic is working for régime change in Cuba and Belarus; nations with whom Czechs have a historical relationship, and thus a historical opportunity.