Life / COMBATING "POLACK" JOKES [460]


Hope he/she ain't from around here! Agree, weird comments to say the least...

Life / I'm from Polish descent. CAN YOU GUYS EXPLAIN THE EU TO ME? [115]


Vars or Sava? ;)

Life / I'm from Polish descent. CAN YOU GUYS EXPLAIN THE EU TO ME? [115]

@amn
I agree with your summary...

History / The Gustloff - one of the worst maritime disasters that seemed to never have happened [66]


What the he'll are you talking about? Would you stop with your Russian a@@kissing? What you said is total nonsense and the Russian soldiers had free reins on sex crimes - you find a lady - she's yours - was the mantra of the Russian commanders and thus the Russian thugs so called soldiers.


Nonsensical rasist garbage. Soldiers mimic the leadership - bring on thug politbureau commanders and you get thug soldiers. This was not an occational rape or murder - this was a systematic and widely condoned by the superiors mass war crime.

Love / What do Asian boys think about Polish girls? :) (and vice versa) [150]


Not sure if this will count but my PA (physician assistant - whenever I go to a doctor) has Polish heritage (I think she was a little girl when they moved to the US) and she married a Japanese man (he's lived in the States for about 10 years). They are exactly the same hight, she's blond, he's dark brown or black maybe, both very well educated, inteligent and they seem to be very much in love. I'm a runner and I see them on the trails all the time; they are a great looking couple. Their kids are gorgeous too...

History / The Gustloff - one of the worst maritime disasters that seemed to never have happened [66]


Agree. The only difference between Germany and the Soviets is that Germany "paid the price" after the war for the many attricities they committed. Not so with Russians who were just as brutal if not more to populations they occupied. It's true they killed "their own" too but that's not an excuse to rape and pillage Lithuanuans, Estonians, Latvians, Poles, Ukrainians, Slovaks, Hungerians, etc., etc.

Life / COMBATING "POLACK" JOKES [460]


Very well said!


How about me, huh???

As far as jokes, in Sweden many of our jokes were about Norwegians (ok, pretty much ALL of them!) and some were about Finns. In Norway it's all reversed, the very same jokes but now about Swedes. In New York I hear a lot of jokes about Canadians. Chicagoans probably joke about Poles a lot - there are lot of Poles living there... Many yankees (northerners) joke about Southerners and vice versa (note which group I capitalized LOL). Some jokes are funny, some are vulgar, sexist, some are rasist... However, I don't see an anti-Polish joke conspiracy anywhere...

USA, Canada / Dual citizenship - US doesn't care if you don't give up Polish passport [103]


She's probably right. Of course, by then you'll have to retire at 85 or later to claim it... ;)


The only time this would really matter is if you're in another country (vacation?) and somehow get in trouble. There have been cases where a person supposedly spied on someone or stole something and then if the person had two passports the local government kept playing the two governments against each other. In other words they'd say they do not accept the American embassy representing the suspect since he was an Italian citizen. Then they'd say the same to the Italian embassy representative. I remember reading something similar in the mid 90s and it was an Asian country that was causing trouble. Don't remember how it all ended but I'm sure well or it'd be all over the news back then...

However, those are very unusual cases and I'd say 99.9% of cases are very simple where both embassies usually work together on helping one of their own...

History / The Gustloff - one of the worst maritime disasters that seemed to never have happened [66]


Not that Germany or Soviet followed any international conventions but that's correct.


Well, if you're going to go that far one could argue that Goebels saved many lives by warning the German population on what the Russians would do - reality more often than not proved worst than what the Germans feared. Not defending Germans by no means but there are many Polish survivers who recalls the German occupation with "fondness" (BIG sarcasm smiley if I had one!) at least when compared to what they endured when their Slavic-brother thugs "freed" them...

UK, Ireland / Help Renouncing UK Citizenship and gaining Polish one [24]


The "new" law isn't really new, it's been renewed and many countries have it - It's not about you paying US taxes for 10 more years - that's nonsense - it's about them bring able to keep your records for 10 years after you move - they're desperately trying to fight tax evasion, that's all.

...but to answer you question, yes, really. For example until recently Fedex pilots had an option to be "based" in Subic Bay (Manila), Philippines (the domicile just closed and moved to Hong Kong instead). Anyways, each and everyone of them claimed the overseas living exemption. The article is a few years old, I think it's $86,000 now?

Also, there are some other ways. I know of several United pilots who fly out if Dulles, VA but live and pay taxes in Sweden. All legal and with IRS's approval - their wives are Swedish, have extended families and they all chose to live in Sweden. I talked to one of them who said his taxes are much higher now, his commute to work is looong but his wife won't budge (she especially hates Virgina/Washington, DC area - can't blame her there... He said he'll keep commuting for a few more years but then it's "his" turn to decide where they'll live. Yeah, right... ;)

businesstaxrecovery.com/foreign_income_tax_exemption

Genealogy / Why the escape in the 1800s ? Searching for my family roots. [25]


According to Göring maybe... LOL

I see your point but the choices were either horrible occupation (Russia), just as horrible occupation (Austria) or less horrible occupation (Prussia).

UK, Ireland / Help Renouncing UK Citizenship and gaining Polish one [24]


Not quite true as if you have a US passport but live in a different country the first $84,000 (or is it 89?) is tax free. Also, you don't have to be US citizen to be required to pay taxes in the US. Same applies to permanent residents (green card holders). So I doubt anyone would give up his/her US passport to avoid taxes. There are much easier ways to do it - move to another country and start paying taxes there. Notify the IRS of the aforementioned - done.


Probably because that's how things were done in the past. You could only have one citizenship (passport) and if you didn't many jobs weren't available to you (military, post office, government contracts, etc., etc.). I'd say what he did was logical and what most people did then and still do. You should always hold citizenship in the country you intend to live in for the long term. That way you can fully participate in the society.

Don't make any rush judgments - you can live in Poland as British citizen too. It's quite possible that a few years down the road your Polish grand children will be posting messages on the 3-D super-Internet asking why the hell their grandfather gave up his British passport and what do they need to do to get it back??? ;)

Life / COMBATING "POLACK" JOKES [460]


What, are you French now? ;) Just keedin' - backing out was probably a smart idea, things got kind of strange here very fast...

Life / COMBATING "POLACK" JOKES [460]


Where did you hear that??? I was told those jokes existed waaay earlier than that.
Supposedly Poles (although many were also Ukrainians, Russians, etc.) were the first group that reached the US soil en masse without any knowledge of the English language whatsoever. Previous groups could some, although very limited English. Most Poles could say "no English - I'm Polak" and that's how it started.

Love / What to Get my Polish Guy for Valentines Day. [77]


Cancer? I thought you were pretty young? Of course one never knows nowadays, let's pray (hope if you prefer) that's not the case... Have fun in Poland and give us the scoop about the new boyfriend you'll undoubtedly meet there... ;)

Genealogy / Why the escape in the 1800s ? Searching for my family roots. [25]


Could be many several reasons. War(s), poverty, oppression by the Russians, Prussians or Austrians (depending on what part of Poland your family was from), or maybe better job prospects in the US? West Virgina had many new mines being developed and mining industry was a very old profession in Poland with many experienced miners.

History / The Gustloff - one of the worst maritime disasters that seemed to never have happened [66]

Spiritus - not sure if this constitutes "One of the worst maritime disasters"? If the ship was properly marked with red cross insignia then it was one of the worst maritime war crimes. Maritime disasters are usually result of an "act of God". God, nature, etc. had hardly anything to do with this murder.

History / The Gustloff - one of the worst maritime disasters that seemed to never have happened [66]


I recently watched a Netflix movie titled "A Woman in Berlin" (Anonyma: Eine Frau in Berlin). It's in German with English subtitles and is based on a true story. A lady's memoirs from the Soviet occupation of Berlin turned into this movie. Shocking is an understatement; basically every woman had to be raped and humiliated over and over again to pay for "German sins."

USA, Canada / Dual citizenship - US doesn't care if you don't give up Polish passport [103]

I assume you're taking your little bird, correct? It was Sokata, I think? Is filing a flight plan mandatory? Can you just go vfr without any paperwork? What's 100LL or whatever fuel you use go for? That's what I enjoy the most, jump in an airplane and go. Very different from the job aspect.

Happy tailwinds on your trip.

USA, Canada / Dual citizenship - US doesn't care if you don't give up Polish passport [103]


Hmm, I stand corrected.

Surprised to see Mexico on that list. In the late 90's my then neighbors welcomed their child much prematurely while in Mexico. The parents were both American but the mother's grandparents came from Mexico so they thought about getting Mexican passport for their daughter to make it easier for them (as a family) to own vacation property there. This was a while back but I could've sworn they gave up the process as they're told they'd have to become citizens of Mexico first before their daughter could follow. Again, that's quite a few years ago.

Overall though as I said I stand corrected.

USA, Canada / Dual citizenship - US doesn't care if you don't give up Polish passport [103]


Well, don't know enough about this subject so maybe I'm wrong. I found a reference about German-American kids having to chose by the time they turn 23 (?) but I think that's German law.


germany.usembassy.gov/acs/dual_nationality.html


Which one(s)?

I remember an immigration attorney helping my friend many moons ago who said the US were very unique in the world in that regard. So what other country can vacation while being pregnant, give birth there and come back home with an application for citizenship in that country for that child?


I agree, that's just wrong.

The guy/gal created a thread and no one, including the mods, should be changing the thread's title unless it was racist, sexist, etc.

USA, Canada / Dual citizenship - US doesn't care if you don't give up Polish passport [103]


You're correct convex and since the US is the only country I know of where you get citizenship by simply being born on our soil (are there other countries that do the same? I don't know) many kids are US citizens AND citizens of their parents country at the same time.

For example when Hong Kong was about to be turned over to the Red China many pregnant Hong Kong'ese (is that a word? ;) women gave birth in the US to give their child "an escape" route just in case. Nothing really happened but there are thousands of about 13 years old kids in Hong Kong with US passports. When they turn 18 they're supposed to chose one citizenship.

However, nowadays dual, sometimes triple or more citizenships are pretty common. Case in point, a friend who's born in Zimbabwe, raised in South Africa, educated in the UK and now lives in the US. I know for a fact she has a South African passport, a British and a US passport. Not sure if she has a Zimbabwe passport too.

The other part of your post I disagree with but won't ruin this thread with pointless discussion on issues we probably won't ever agree on. So lets agree to disagree on that.

USA, Canada / Dual citizenship - US doesn't care if you don't give up Polish passport [103]


I became US citizen while in the military, in fact, they helped me with all the paper work.

One of the administrators explained the Oath to me this way. (Don't remember the exact wording so I'm paraphrasing)

"The US government will not prosecute you or anyone else for keeping your (in my case) Swedish citizenship. What the Oath means is what's in your heart. So ask yourself, if God forbid Sweden (or country of your choice) finds itself on a collision course with the US, we - the US military - want to know we can count on you being an American first and foremost. Can you handle that?"

I think that's a pretty good, common sense summary what it really means. I am proud to be a US citizen and think anyone considering it should look into all the obligations of a citizen, not just the rights. As someone pointed out, it's a privilege and not a right.

Disagree with you PLK - first of all the process is pretty painless. They do the work you do the paper work. Second of all, if you don't have any skeletons in your closet you have nothing to worry about. Everyone panics about the Patriot Act, etc which supposedly took away some liberties. An average ACLU lawyer would rip apart most of the EU governments and their "liberties" they think are so much better than ours.

Anyways, I don't want to turn this thread into them versus us. I simply wanted to point out that becoming a US citizen is a privilege (and likewise it's a privilege to become a Swedish, Polish, etc. citizen) and that the secret clearance process is not that bad and sometimes beneficial for jobs in the civil world. Just my penny on the subject.


Most of your posts in the past seemed to be very intelligent. This one is simply idiotic.

Life / Which on the list of Polish girl's names do you like the most? [67]

"...Please rate them in order best to least =) ..."

You live in the US or Canada, correct? (for pronunciation purposes)

1 - Emilia & Klaudia (couldn't decide which)
2 -
3 - Izabella or Izabelle (don't like Izabela as much -> bella = beautiful)
4 - Julia
5 - Olivia (if you live in N. America Oliwia would get mispronounced all the time)
6 - Cecylia
7 - Celina
8 - Sabina

My favorite girl name is Norah but that wasn't an option... LOL
youtube.com/watch?v=Ii2tVV1saZc

KDOT or Kasia ;) - congratulations to you!

...congrats to Hippie68 as well - see where all that "free love" leads to? LOL

Love / How to convince English boyfriend to learn Polish? [39]

Agata - I think when you truly love someone you want to learn as much about this person as possible. My ex-wife (ex due to my own stupidity) learned conversational Swedish AND Polish. (I'm born in Poland but raised in Sweden so I use Swedish most of the time when talking to my parents - easier for me).

She was severly dyslectic which made it even harder on her and the first 100 words or so she learned on her own (bought Rosetta Stone CD for Swedish and Polish). I never asked her to do it instead she did it all on her own. One day she told me I was handsome in Swedish and I instinctively replied she was beautiful in Swedish before I realized she spoke Swedish to me. A minute later she said the same thing in Polish!

A relationship has to be a 2-way street engagement! In mine unfortunately she put in much more effort than I did. Frankly I was pretty clueless. It sounds to me like your boyfriend is making the very same mistakes I made - he's taking you for granted.

Since he learned some Spanish before and his relationship with the Spanish girl fell apart he might feel like it was all for nothing. Stupid thinking of course as what you've learned is yours forever. Having said that, I think he is a taker and not a giver when it comes to emotional fulfillment.

Be very careful before you decide to marry him. Not sure he's worthy of you.

Good luck to you both...

PS. I like Softsong's approach, maybe it'd work for you two?

Life / Mixed race girl in Poland, good idea? [149]

Are you saying until now no Poles have ever been racist? What??? You mean Poles have always treated other minorites well? Lithuanians, Ukraininans, Jews, etc? Got news for you, as long as Poland has existed there have been rasist and xenophobic members of the society. The same applies to Lithuanians, Ukraininans, Germans, etc, etc. Rasism exists everywhere.

Your "in 20 years maybe" statement is just ignorant at best and whitewashy at worst. Reading your past posts makes me believe you're an inteligent person so I'll just assume you were blinded by temporary insanity, that's all

Life / Mixed race girl in Poland, good idea? [149]


Huh?

Enkidu - you remind me of blacks here in the States who say blacks by default cannot be rasist! LOL. Retarded but many believe it. (Off the subject - yes, I said blacks and not African American because unless they were born and raised in Africa they are Americans who happen to be black.)

Rasism exists in each and every culture (or lack of) - your psychoanalysis is confusing and irrelevant here. Just give the girl advice on how to deal with rasist jerks, that's what she's asking for, not your definition of what she's experiencing...

Life / Mixed race girl in Poland, good idea? [149]

Jemma - don't listen to the few rasists you've encountered. Don't think of them as Polish rasists, instead think of them as morons, in this case Polish morons. There's beauty in each and every race and if they fail to see that, well, that's their problem.

Unfortunately racism, xenofobia, etc. will probably always exist. We humans like to feel better about ourselves by pointing out people who're somehow "different". However, people become very accepting when they see respect from the "unusual" individual. In your case you're trying to learn a new language and enjoy to hang out with your friends and I for one respect your open mind.

Maybe one of your friends has family in Poland? If so, whenever they go for a visit see if you can tag along? I bet ya you'd have a blast and people would be nice to you.

So avoid racist morons because they'll always find a reason to hate someone or something - it's their way to be visible because otherwise they'd be "nobodies" - or "dum nobodies" to be specific.

Love / Should a marriage proposal to a partner from Poland be done in private or public? [27]


An old thread way before my time here at PF but YOU should've proposed to him first! ;)

See, problem solved... Hope things turned out great for you two.

USA, Canada / How to get Drivers license in IL without social security? [96]


Looks like a pretty old thread???

Either way, I'm totally against it but here it is:

"...Eleven states issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens, including Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and West Virginia..."

theamericanresistance.com/issues/drivers_licenses.html

--------


Off the subject - are you a 76 'driver' for ual? (since you seem to live in Chicago)... Just curious.