Final Word from Tuesday, July 15, 2003
People tell little white lies because an innocent fib can make them look good and is low-risk. When we asked Václav Klaus' office about the president's now-famous meeting with the U.S. ambassador in late March, the spokesman didn't want to talk about it and claimed it never even took place. Later, Klaus' office reported that the president met for four minutes in St. Petersburg with George W. Bush; the meeting actually lasted 40 seconds. Týden then noted that Klaus' "meeting" with Dick Cheney lasted four seconds. Last week Klaus told MFD that he handed out awards to students who won economic contests. In fact, Klaus arrived too late to make the presentations. Not to be outdone, Jan Kavan keeps saying his term at the U.N. ends on Sept. 16. In fact, it ends officially on Aug. 5. If repeated often enough, a little white lie almost becomes accepted fact. Almost. Craig Stapleton Tomáš Klvaňa