Clearly, Mr. Pavlát, head of the Prague Taxi Operators Guild, skipped his Economics 101 class too often ("Taxis to be new, yellow and air-conditioned," News, Aug. 23–29). Apparently, he also hasn't traveled much. He was probably too busy refining his self-serving arguments, or maybe ripping off tourists himself. His idea about fair prices suggests that much.

Here's a quick economics lesson for Mr. Pavlát: The taxi business is not like the shoe or show business — the consumer has a choice when he buys shoes or when she attends shows. I often do not have that choice when I need a taxi: not at train stations (where many of the thugs seem to congregate), not at many other taxi stands, not — until recently — at the airport. Tourists have to rely on these locations quite often. Plus, the little thieves that exploit the situation impose significant externalities on other taxi drivers, the City of Prague and their reputations. You wonder why tourist growth rates have slowed? Well, rogue taxi drivers surely are part of an explanation.

And therefore, Mr. Pavlát, City Hall officials have all the right to interfere. In fact, they have a ways to go. If you don't like it, leave the business. AAA taxi seems to do just fine with the fees that City Hall allows to charge.

Confidential to Mr. Pavlát: Should you ever make it to Manhattan, make sure to notice how cab prices are regulated there, too. According to your logic, that makes New York City Hall the last bastion of socialism in the United States. Surely Mr. Bloomberg, the mayor, will get a good chuckle out of that idea.

Andreas Ortmann

Center for Economic Research & Graduate Education, Charles University Economics Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic William Cabaniss said, "The United States is, I think, the only country that has politically appointed ambassadors ("On commerce and charm school," News, Aug. 16–22)."

Nonsense. Plenty of other countries apart from the United States are run on the basis of nepotism, a corrupt judiciary and general cronyism. The U.S. is no better or worse in this respect than any other tin-pot military dictatorship.

John Andrews

Prague

Clear signal

Good for Octopus ("Global reach," News, August 16-22)! America needs this channel to offset Fox News. I'll be watching.

Carla P. Heidelberg

Washington, D.C.

I just finished reading your article about the young Czech start-up that will be working for Al-Jazeera International (AJI). I found your article to be premised on several false assumptions.

First, you start your discussion about Al-Jazeera by describing the channel as "controversial." Al-Jazeera is not controversial anywhere in this world except in the United States. Al-Jazeera is a professional, objective, highly respected news channel across the Arab East and the entire world. It is only the U.S. government and media that considers Al-Jazeera "controversial."

Second, you point out that AJI is opening its base in Washington, D.C., in "proximity to the anniversary of 9/11." Is it proximity to the date? Or proximity to the New York location? This is not clear, but regardless of your intended meaning, it is a racist assertion to link an Arabic language news channel to the terrorism carried out by Arabs. Is CNN, which broadcasts in the same language of George W. Bush, responsible for the crimes of the U.S. president? You went on to say that the channel has a "controversial nature ... and is accused by many of anti-American bias." (Emphasis added). The channel is not controversial, and the only accusations of anti-American bias come from officials in the U.S. regime and their corporate-owned media outlets in the United States. The rest of the world does not view Al-Jazeera in this way.

It this era of globalization and mass media, objectivity is critical. It is very important not to allow our perceptions to be shaped by global power politics. I speak Arabic (Do you? And if not, how did you judge Al Jazeera as controversial?) and English. I watch Al-Jazeera, the BBC and CNN daily. Al-Jazeera is a highly professional and objective news channel that has established its credibility across the world. It is comparable to the BBC in format and coverage.

It is only the Americans who consider Al-Jazeera controversial. The rest of the world does not. In fact, the majority of human beings across the planet who follow the news consider U.S. channels to be nothing more than cheap propaganda and prefer Al-Jazeera and the BBC.

I have lived in the Czech Republic, and in the United States. The overwhelming majority of humanity rejects U.S. propaganda outlets (CNN, Fox) and considers Al-Jazeera more credible. I agree. In the future, please take a more objective approach, and do not adopt the American worldview.

Ray Khoury

Czech Republic

We are inundated with U.S. propaganda, both directly through the U.S. channels and indirectly via their lap-dogs the Czechs. A little bit of propaganda from another point of view would help give us a better perspective.

Sally Amis

Prague

Driven to distraction

Having lived in Prague for seven months this year, I think your article on ticket enforcement by the Prague public transportation authority misses the most important point (Free riders costing city million, News, Aug. 30–Sept. 5).

Prague has too many cars!

The Czech population still suffers from a kind of residual "post-communism psychosis," viewing the automobile as the ultimate freedom and status symbol.

For 42 years, cars represented an unachievable pipe dream for most ordinary Czechs and Slovaks, a symbol of Western opulence, a sexual fantasy. After the collapse of communism, cheap cars have become a yardstick of choice for flaunting capitalist success.

The sad reality is that Europe in general and Prague in particular is too densely populated for Czechs to behave like Americans. The cities are drowning in smog, suffocating under freeways, and yet the usage of public transport is declining and the quality of the once-magnificent Prague subway is deteriorating into filth and disrepair.

The only solution is to fully subsidize all public transportation, even making the Prague metro totally free, funded from increased taxation of automobiles and gasoline.

Clearly this is not a popular approach for most Czechs today, but it is the only responsible solution for the future and present. The Prague metro has the capacity to quickly move huge numbers of people, in safety and comfort, with minimum damage to the environment or to the historical treasures within the city.

The Czech Republic does have the financial resources to implement this, and I think the highly educated population would eventually accept a more responsible solution if encouraged to do so. This would greatly increase their overall quality of life.

Hiring more police to chase free-riders on the metro is nothing short of short-sited nonsense.

Martin J. Stadler

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Home-schooled

As a UK-trained school teacher working in Prague for the past seven years, I was interested to read Jana Donovan's two articles about education in this week's Prague Post ("Škola hrou takes playtime seriously" and "Old school rules," Schools and Education, Aug. 23–29).

I have visited Škola hrou and was also impressed by the environment and teaching methodology that seemed to contrast so starkly with what children experience in typical Czech state schools. I am also in support of the proposed reforms to state education in this country, which should bring greater enjoyment of learning for children, more freedom for teachers and (in theory) an adult population better equipped for the challenges of the future.

However, in both your articles there is an implication that this country's educational philosophy does not pre-date those propagated under communism or the Austro-Hungarian regimes. You also seem to suggest that the style of education that seeks to educate confident and self-sufficient adults is perhaps the invention of the Anglo-American system. I wish to respectfully point out that such methodology was championed in these lands (and further afield) in the 17th century by none other than a native of this country: Jan Amos Komenský (1592–1670).

Comenius (as he is more widely known) spent the whole of his life calling for less rote-learning and more creativity and play in schools in the sincere belief that such things were beneficial for every vested interest in the educational system of his day. Despite being afforded the noble title of Teacher of Nations and a street being dedicated to his memory in almost every Czech town and city in the land, his work on behalf of educational reform seems to have been forgotten.

In my opinion, you are right to stress that education reform without resources and follow-up has little chance of changing much. But it is surely equally important to firmly re-establish the work of one of this country's true heroes in the national mindset. Wise students, teachers, parents and politicians all need to evaluate educational reforms in the light of a sound philosophy and rationale before fully embracing them and supporting them in schools. What better starting point is there for Czechs than to realize that what is now proposed for schools is not borrowed from the United Kingdom or the United States but something that was born here on their own soil over 400 years ago. Furthermore, it was the dream of one of their very own countrymen that schools should be the scene of less noise, aversion and useless labor but more of leisure, enjoyment and solid progress.

Philip Selbie

English International School, Prague

Home not so sweet

This is the pastureland of my parents ("Warehouses are for junk, not for children," Postview, Aug. 16–22)? This is the sweet, friendly Czechs? Tell me this isn't true. This is allowed? This is the leftover ignorance of the commie years? Sounds like they still control the bureaucracy. Come on! Is this something out of Oliver Twist, or what?

Dan Lipensky

United States

Tips not included

We've just retired in Prague from San Francisco ("Prague tourism growth stagnates," News, Aug. 9–15). Prague is getting more expensive, but at the same time [negative] elements are increasing, namely pickpockets, graffiti, corrupt money changers and taxi drivers.

There is also a sleazy strip of shops along the Old Town–side corridor off the Charles Bridge. Annoying music blasts as you have to work your way through dirty shops and hawkers. However, I have found Prague restrooms/WCs very clean compared to France and Italy. The restaurant experience is frustrating, particularly if you get a not-uncommon waiter who seems to be angry and doesn't look you in the eye or speak directly to you.

The advantage of living here is that we have time to find restaurants and waiters to our liking. I feel sorry for tourists who have no choice but to take chances. I would also like to see air conditioning on the buses and trams, at least the few that run near the center.

Brenda Love

Prague

Misleading missiles

Hmmm! With respect to the siting of U.S. bases here, don't trust the United States. It's only interested in its own welfare, since all its media have to kowtow to government policy ("Why missile defense works," Opinion, Aug. 9–15).

Remember, Czech people, "In truth there is no news and in news there is no truth." You are a very small country, and the United States — Russia as well — only wants to use you for its own ends, like all big nations do. Think of 1938, when my country let you down. Think long term: do not mortgage your country's future for short-term profits.

Worthington Darrix

London

Is this a paid military promotional piece, Prague Post? Why would you run this? Does this guy work for the contractors that will build it? This kind of fear-mongering is sick (and no longer works): "Nightmare of an Armageddon,"

"I write this because I am terrified of the prospect of a ballistic missile killing a lot of people somewhere in my lifetime."

We have heard this kind of talk for years now from the Bush administration. After Iraq, and the "war on terror" propaganda, we know now to not be affected by this kind of manipulation.

The United States is not deserving of trust on these issues. And a man who worked with weapons makers similarly cannot be trusted to give us a real picture.

And on a more practical side: The tests have been abysmal failures. Who are they supposed to defend against? The U.S. has become one of the greatest threats to world peace. It should not be allowed to keep its "finger on the button" here in the Czech Republic.

Shame on you, Prague Post, for running this ridiculous promotional piece.

Allen Turban