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Posts by boletus  

Joined: 13 Apr 2011 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 10 Nov 2012
Threads: Total: 30 / In This Archive: 27
Posts: Total: 1356 / In This Archive: 958 		From: Canada, Toronto
Speaks Polish?: yes

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boletus   
3 Jun 2011
News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]

if you insist on having the roads built in time for EURO 2012 then you should be a little bit more flexible

Since you did not answer my question whether or not you have actually seen the contract between GDDKiA and COVEC I did some finger walking searching for an "evidence (that) GDDKiA was delaying payments". Yes I found some reference regarding "Polish NDI and Macedonian SB Granit" complaints (2011-02-11), but frankly I still have no clue which side was in fault.

wbj.pl/article-53179-update-a4-highway-builders-want-out.html

As to "not being flexible enough" - how much flexibility do you want - considering this: BRE Bank Securities report, about Q1 2011 financial forecast for Budimex.

The highlight of Budimex's Q4 2010 report was an impressive operating cash flow totalling PLN 944m (after consortium partner stakes). Historically, the company's cash flows did not correspond with earnings, and they came from differences between accounts payable and accounts receivable (ca. PLN 1.5bn) such as contract advances received from the national road authority (GDDKiA) or overdue payments to contractors.

So, GDDKiA was quite generous with contract advances in Q4 2010, and yes - Budimex was delaying payments for its contractors - not GDDKiA. It seems that this is a standard practise in Poland

Virtually all large road builders reported strong operating cash flows in Q4 2010 which we believe came from contract advances received thanks to the national road authority's (GDDKiA) end-of-year spending rush. This year, government advances toward road contracts will most probably be much less generous given the GDDKiA's high expenses and the tight national budget.

The report shows the table of GDDKiA "generosity" towards major industry players. Ratios of their cash flows to the GDDKiA advances in Q4 2010 look like this:

Budimex - 30.2%
Hydrobudowa Polska - 34.7%
Mostostal Warszawa - 19.6%
PGB - 28.8%
Polimex Mostostal - 32.4%

Overall, the report presents plenty of interesting facts - if one only wants to find them, rather than just complain.

With respect to bids, according to Wyborcza:

The consortium presented and offer half as cheap than the estimates by officials. Two sections with a total length of nearly 50 km were to be built for 1.3 billion zł (on average about 26.5 million zł / km). For comparison Mostostal will take 843 million zloty for 17km section B (about 49.5 million zł / km), and Strabag - 643 million zloty - for the 17.6-km section D (about 36.5 million zł / km .)

Yes, here was the bad choice: the offer was too good to be true.
boletus   
3 Jun 2011
News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]

if you want to have the motorway built you need to be more flexible with payments

This does not make any sense. If I hire a roofer I do not pay him up front more than we agreed upon before his work started. Yes, some contractors are devils' incarnate and try to take you hostage - which works sometimes. In such a case - shame on me for hiring the wrong company (since I have been warned over and over again via media), but that's about it.

Have you actually seen the contract? If yes, what does it actually say about partial payments?
boletus   
3 Jun 2011
News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]

From the Polish language source
.....

According to Andrzej Maciejewski, a deputy director of General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA), Chinese consortium COVEC has informed GDDKiA of its intention to breach the contract and asked for the interview, which would enable them to carry out further work. The Directorate is open to such talks in order to give the Chinese company a chance to meet the demands expressed in an ultimatum given to them yesterday. The meeting would be held next week.

In its ultimatum the Directorate demanded submittal of a remedial plan for the road building. During the last several weeks there has been virtually no progress on the "Chinese" sections of the road construction since the Polish subcontractors stood idly by - complaining that they had not received payments for the work done.

No reasons have been given for such a significant loss of liquidity by the Chinese consortium. The Chinese side had assured GDDKiA of their own accumulated resources of 300 million zloty. It turned out that this statement was not correct. The builders on the A2 road are still waiting for cash.

Maciejewski also emphasized that the breach of the contract authorizes the Treasury to lay claim against COVEC for the amount of about 740 million zloty.
boletus   
2 Jun 2011
News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]

Translated by boletus

Meeting of Polish and Ukrainian chiefs of general staff

Chief of General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces Gen. Hryhorii Pedchenko is on an official visit to Poland. During the Polish-Ukrainian bilateral talks, on June the 1st, the current progress on creation of a multinational Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian brigade was assessed. The Polish side presented the process of professionalization and transformation of Polish Armed Forces. They also talked about the involvement of armed forces of both countries into many aspects of security of UEFA Euro 2012 tournament, including their plans for creation of a mutual system of airspace safety.

They also discussed cooperation at the meetings of the Visegrad Group, and they talked about international military exercises with participation of Ukraine Armed Forces.

Thank you for your excellent welcome of the Ukrainian delegation and for the openness with which we were able to review virtually all areas of our mutual military cooperation. I stress that there are no issues impeding the bilateral relations between Poland - our main partner - and Ukraine - said Lieutenant General Pedchenko. He noted that he appreciates the fact that he had been given a fair opportunity to talk with Polish politicians, particularly during the period of extensive reforms that we intend to conduct in accordance with European standards. Our main role - he added - is to provide a solid basis for future agreements, as it currently takes place during the work on formation of the Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian brigade.

Chief of General Staff of Ukrainian Armed Forces will also meet with Chief of the National Security Bureau Stanisław Koziej, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on National Defence Stanislaw Wziątek and Minister of National Defence Bogdan Klich. At the end of his trip to Poland he will pay a visit to the 3rd Mechanized Brigade in Lublin.

source in Polish: polska-zbrojna.pl

Deep cooperation among EU member states on defence remains highly sensitive, with governments reluctant to build joint units
In the last week meeting of EU defence ministers a question of doing more with less, in this period of economic crisis, was answered by "pooling and sharing" - including joint development and procurement of weapons and partial integration of European militaries.

The EU can also give member states incentives to enter into permanent collaboration. Its best tool is the EU "battle groups": multinational, 1,500-strong units that are prepared, on a six-month basis, to deploy rapidly in and around Europe. While their primary raison d'être has been to give the EU the ability to quickly respond to crises, it was also hoped that the battle groups would encourage governments to build permanent joint units.

But this did not work that well: Countries join their forces for six months and then they go their own separate ways.

The EU should adopt recent Polish proposals that the battle groups should always be composed of the same states, and that they should be on rotation on a predictable schedule, for example every three years. This would give the member-states reasons to maintain close long-term cooperation with partners in the battle group, and possibly to pool their units on a permanent basis, not just for the duration of the rotation.

English language source: ceskapozice.cz/en/news/foreign-affairs/eu-ministers-'pool-share'-tackle-defense-austerity
boletus   
1 Jun 2011
News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]

Poland has no choice in the matter

23rd May 2011

Polish Finance Minister Jan Vincent-Rostowski told journalists last week he was uncertain whether Poland would enter the euro zone by 2019, an apparent reversal of Warsaw's previous plan to join the currency bloc sometime between 2014 and 2016.

wbj.pl/article-54654-stratfor-polands-continued-hesitation-over-euro-zone-entry.html

Countries like Poland that once clamored for euro membership will keep their distance. And the Brits will say, "I told you so."
In fact, they already are. Here's what Prime Minister David Cameron told me earlier this year: "I think we were right not to join, and, while I'm prime minister, we will not join."

globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/31/what-in-the-world-trouble-in-the-eurozone/
boletus   
31 May 2011
History / Der Spiegel: World War II articles [4]

Der Spiegel runs a set of related historical articles:

Germany's WWII Ocupation of Poland: 'When We Finish, Nobody is Left Alive'

spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,759095,00.html

Germany's occupation of Poland is one of the darkest chapters of World War II. Some 6 million people, almost 18 percent of the Polish population, were killed during the Nazi reign of terror that saw mass executions, forced evictions and enslavement.

Rape, Murder and Genocide: Nazi War Crimes as Described by German Soldiers

spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,755385,00.html

The myth that the Nazi-era German armed forces, the Wehrmacht, was not involved in war crimes persisted for decades after the war. Now two German researchers have destroyed it once and for all. Newly published conversations between German prisoners of war, secretly recorded by the Allies, reveal horrifying details of violence against civilians, rape and genocide.

A Time of Retribution: Paying with Life and Limb for the Crimes of Nazi Germany

spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,759737,00.html

After Hitler's war had been lost, millions of ethnic Germans in regions that are today part of Eastern Europe were expelled -- often under horrendous circumstances. It has been proven that at least 473,000 people died as they fled or were expelled. The Nazis' crimes had been far worse, but the suffering of ethnic Germans was immense.

Krzysztof Ruchniewicz on Polish-German Ties: Relations 'Shouldn't Be a One-Way Street'

spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,746178,00.html

More than 65 years after the end of World War II, tensions can still flare up between Germany and Poland. In a SPIEGEL interview, Polish historian Krzysztof Ruchniewicz discusses the postwar "resettlement" of ethnic Germans, improving relations between Germans and Poles and changing attitudes toward the German past of many Polish towns and cities.

boletus   
31 May 2011
Feedback / Suggestion: Skill test to eliminate moronic posters [7]

Daisy

But, most people who post here will fail those tests. the who will post here?

Do you mean I forgot about the default "none of the above" option? Press return and you will be just fine.. :-)
boletus   
31 May 2011
Feedback / Suggestion: Skill test to eliminate moronic posters [7]

If you enter sweepstakes for Canadians, you'll find a strange math equation on the entry form. Many people wonder if the skill testing questions are thought up by the sponsors to prevent Canadians from winning as often.(…)
Canadian sweepstakes law, unlike American law, requires that the third component, "winners are chosen by luck," is removed. Sponsors cannot use pure luck to determine who wins a sweepstake. There must be at least some element of skill involved.(…)
The courts have agreed that a four-part mathematical test such as "155 plus 33 divided by 2 minus 12" is enough to qualify as a skill-testing question.

I suggest that the above method is used to eliminate a significant percentage of morons posting here. Alternatively, we might use the following approach.

I'd like to see a "new thread poster intelligence test" for all posters, regardless of age, sex, or race. You must answer the following five questions correctly or else you will be deemed ineligible to open any new thread on this forum. This should take no longer than two minutes to complete. [This is just an example, feel free to come up with your own suggestions.]

1. I am
a. just a frightened little boy
b. pure polish and have some red hair on my beard
c. a true Polish patriot
d. a Polish girl with big boobs dying my hair to black
e. all of the above

2. I have … drinks a day.
a. way too many
b. just a few dozen
c. don't know, counting was never my favourite subject
d. I does not drink

3. I watch … hours of television a day.
a. thirsty-five
b. eleventeen
c. a hell of a lot of

4. I like to
a. beat up "a black gay man (US) visiting Warsaw this summer"
b . see that "Warsaw is the natural capital of Europe, not Brussels"
c. put my finger deep up my nose
d. sing "Głęboka studzienka" all day long
d. "eat goulash from a cat and a steak from a dog in Poland"
e. all the above

5. The capital of Poland is
a. Carcow
b. Sweeden
c. polish
d. a damned communist rathole
e. full of pasifistic homo-muslims
boletus   
30 May 2011
News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]

This is what Viktor Yanukovych said after the meeting with Obama and other presidents in Warsaw:

"I would like us to spread the Visegrad spirit of unity and partnership across the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe. Today, through our region passes the line that divides European countries into "members" and "non-members" of the EU. We cannot allow this barrier to become firmly established and turn into a new artificial "Berlin Wall" of Europe."

president.gov.ua/en/news/20221.html
boletus   
27 May 2011
Language / The usage and future of the special Polish letters: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ż, ź (Polish language) [203]

Most enlightening, I must say, and indeed, so far quite on point

You are welcome. I am glad you like it.

Wonder if the article's a translation. No errors in English up to this point, so am guessing it's been heavily edited lol

Well, if you look at Frederik Kortlandt bibliography, you should notice very impressive range of his interests: ranging from Afro-Asiatic to Thracian and Tocharian. A man with such a broad language interests does not need any translator, I guess. :-)

Maybe he is another Heinrich Schliemann?
boletus   
27 May 2011
Language / Need advice on how to improve Polish language skills [134]

Polish educational system teach knowledge not practilcal skills or independent thinking.

It may be so, but you missed some of the points I was trying to make. Winning programming contests requires plenty of creativity and independent thinking, not just knowledge. Let me start with this:

TopCoder Open is a computer programming championship open to students from around the world. Unlike Americans, these students from Poland's Warsaw University regularly make it into the finals. By contrast, in 2009 not one American won a TopCoder Open event. [a photo not displayed]

For computer programmers, the TopCoder Open is the Olympics. It is the one competition on the planet where the world's best can prove beyond any doubt that they outclass the rest. For nonprogrammers, TopCoder is something even more important-it's a measure of leadership in a field of technology that is critical to our economic future.

propilotmag.com/archives/2010/Sept%2010/A1_education_p1.html

Gold medals awarded at the International Olympiad in Informatics (1999-2009)

wired.com/magazine/2010/11/mf_algorithmolympics/

And here is something more recent:

Students from Poland win the Cup of the Head of the Republic of Karelia

This year the best university teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, and Switzerland came to the capital of Karelia. 135 participants from 42 teams represented 23 universities from seven countries and competed for the championship and for participation in the International Collegiate Programming Contest. It was already mentioned that winners of the Cup of the Head of the Republic of Karelia Programming Contest then often become champions and prise-winners of ACM ICPC.
(...)
This time absolute winners of the contest were students of the University of Warsaw.

The thing is, many of those bright kids could not find appropriate employment in Poland. Two or three of so-called TopCoders (see topcoder.com) went to work in USA. Some work in Poland for American companies located in USA (outsourcing).


  • Gold medals awarded at the International Olympiad in Informatics (1999-2009)
boletus   
27 May 2011
Language / Need advice on how to improve Polish language skills [134]

ranrod

Man, you sound like a mad scientist who tries to prove some pre-conceived notions about an old Anglo-Saxon supremacy over anyone in the field. I thought you were looking for a truth - apparently I was mistaken. I am sorry I was trying to help you. You do not care for the truth - you care for your old "Rule Britannia" sh1t!

The fact is, my dear man, there is a lot of innovations coming from your perceived low graded Central Europe. The little guys from Poland perennially bit you up, the Brits, in most of the international competitions requiring usage of the grey matter. Let me give you some examples:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACM_International_Collegiate_Programming_Contest

2006 World Finals

The 2006 ACM-ICPC World Finals were held in San Antonio, Texas, and hosted by Baylor University.[4] 5,606 teams representing 1,733 universities from 84 countries competed in elimination rounds, with 83 of those teams proceeding to the world finals.

The World Finals - Winners - Top institutions
- University of Warsaw - 2007.
- University of Warsaw - 2003.

Don't you even get me started... because this is my field of expertise, after all. Whatever you want to prove has very little scientific context and content. I can go on quoting you to death how wrong you are. Objectively, kids are good all over the world and your notion of perceived supremacy of the British stock does no hold any water whatsoever.
boletus   
26 May 2011
Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

"Skoczybruzda"? ;-)

Oh no, I was serving - every so often - in our glorious Air Force as a so-called expert in processing and interpretation of aerial photographs. That function was to be actually held in future by a professional senior officer, a major. Commanding a squad of technicians, two trucks with wet and dry labs and a motorcycle courier handling delivery of those oversized roll films directly from planes to us. I was one of those two star reserve Szwejks, shoulder length hair, a beard and the attitude: leave me alone!
boletus   
26 May 2011
Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

"opiekun pracy naukowej"

Phi, how about this:
"Starszy pomocnik kierownika sekcji do spraw rozpoznania topogrametrycznego"? That was me once too.
boletus   
26 May 2011
Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

Promotor is not a Polish word at all ;) Orędownik sounds quite funny ;-)

I had my own "promotor" once, why not the "Marshall's equipment"? :-)

I was only half joking about "orędownik" because the word "orędownik" has more than one, religious, connotation. Take a look at these examples taken from Polish wikipedia:

Anthony Collins (1676 -1729 ) - angielski filozof , wolnomyśliciel oraz orędownik deizmu
Krzysztof Bramorski - Orędownik zmian w systemie edukacji prawniczej.
Timothy Leary - Znany orędownik prowadzenia badań nad substancjami psychodelicznymi (i z ich pomocą).
Krzysztof Celestyn Mrongovius - pastor , kaznodzieja ewangelicki , orędownik polskości w zaborze pruskim

In view of the above "orędownik wzmaczniaczy Marshall" does not look that funny anymore, does it?

Look for the user NiecnyKsiaze at their Forum, it's me ;-)

I suspected something of this sort from you, after you gave us a nice lecture about an instrument-related vocabulary. :-)
boletus   
26 May 2011
Language / Need advice on how to improve Polish language skills [134]

'cz' differ from 'ć

Think about your English "ch" positioned on a hardness scale between "cz" and "ć" (or long ci)
hard -> softer -> very soft
"cz" -> English "ch" -> "ć"

Same goes with "sz" -> English "sh" -> "ś" (or long "si")

Many English speakers do not hear a difference between "kasza" (groats) and "Kasia" (short for Katarzyna). Poor Kasia is often mistaken for groats.

Does 'e' ever follow 'ć'?

No. Only consonants are permitted after "ć","ś","ź" or "ń", never vowels: ćma, iść, bańka, prośba, etc...
boletus   
26 May 2011
Language / Need advice on how to improve Polish language skills [134]

I think you're right. I gotta do lots of repetition! Take my conscious brain out of the equation.

I was thinking about improvements in machine translators over the past 20 years or so. Why is Google's translator so popular nowadays? The obvious answer seems to be - a huge database of patterns. To confirm it, I typed the following phrase in Google's search field: How does Google translator work? And the answer was given by this page:

geekosystem.com/how-does-google-translate-work

Few quotes:

...Once the computer finds a pattern, it can use this pattern to translate similar texts in the future.

Children learn by association of patterns. So can you. Grammar rules come later, in "grammar school", to help you organize all those patterns.
boletus   
26 May 2011
News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]

The bastards make everything possible to fail Ukraine's EU association status by the end of this year.

Yanukovych Drives Ukraine Toward EU as Putin Dangles Promise of Cheap Gas

As this article stresses Yanukovych tries to play both sides. I wonder if he ever succeeds in doing so, and if yes - for how long.. He called B. Komorowski yesterday, obviously in relation to Obama visit.
boletus   
25 May 2011
News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]

Poland should be prepared for provocations of the Ukrainian secret service, which wants to cool down the relations between Kiev and Warsaw, in order to dampen the Poland's enthusiasm for lobbying for the membership of Ukraine in the EU - warned the Ukrainian MP Taras Czornowił.

- I was forewarned about possible provocations of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) against Poland and Slovakia. SBU has been vary active against lobbyists of Ukraine in the European Union. I do not know what kind of provocations are being prepared, but they may use for this purpose, for example, such forces as the nationalist Freedom Party - said Czornowił.

According to the MP, who is deputy of Foreign Affairs Committee in the Ukrainian Parliament, recent activities of secret service suggest that SBU has its sights on the Visegrad countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.

- Recently, at the request of SBU, two Czech diplomats were expelled on espionage charges, which led to cooling relations with Prague. SBU also interrogates Ukrainian citizens who are are obtaining dual Hungarian citizenship, which caused tension in relations with Budapest. Next will be Poland, followed by Slovakia - Czornowił said. - In view of the fact that my sources anticipated the provocation against the Hungarians, I realized that their information is reliable. I think I need to inform the public opinion about it - he stressed.

The head of the SBU is Valery Choroszkowski, a media tycoon, a man considered to be loyal to Moscow. Czornowił believes that diplomatic scandals that have occurred recently between Kiev and Prague and Budapest, are useful to Russia.

boletus   
24 May 2011
Language / The usage and future of the special Polish letters: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ż, ź (Polish language) [203]

z_darius: suggest it to the those who can effect the changes.

koala: And for the sake of God, affect.

In rare cases the word "effect" can be used as a verb that essentially means "to bring about," or "to accomplish." For example, you could say, "Z-darius hoped to effect changes in koala's arrogant behaviour."

For God's sake, man, he used the word "interference" as "something that hinders, obstructs, or impedes", not as a "variation of wave amplitude that occurs when waves of the same or different frequency come together." And it is perfectly OK to say that the city lights interfere with your star gazing activity. It seems that your ego interferes with the common sense and the topic of this thread.
boletus   
22 May 2011
Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

Interesting article in Polityka:
polityka.pl/kultura/aktualnoscikulturalne/1515752,1,wyzwania-dzisiejszej-polszczyzny.read

Boorishness, vulgarization, brutalization, littering - these words appeared often in the debates at the Congress of Polish Language. Even the greatest language purists, however, had no doubt that today's Polish language consists of many varieties and to designate a single common standard is becoming increasingly difficult.

Prof. Jan Miodek recalled on this occasion a spiritual patron of Polish linguistics, Baudouin de Courtenay, according to whom the language of youth is the language of tomorrow. The present Polish language of the future would seem very odd though - for various reasons. One of these is that, according to prof. Miodek, the language of youth has never been quite as expansive as it is today. Therefore it penetrates the media, and it is spoken by the politicians, including those from the party of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, for example, when arguing that PiS is not "obciach". Indeed, it appears even in the church - prof. Miodek cited the example of the sermon of a priest, who addressed the faithful with an appeal "musicie być full time z Chrystusem."

Another peculiarity may be the recent manner of Polish girls, which prof. Miodek calls - after the Silesian poet Jan Goczoł - "umizgliwym seplenieniem". Well, these girls instead of saying "sześć" or "jedenaście", prefer to say "szest", "jedenastie. The reason for this custom, professionally speaking half-palatization, remains a mystery for linguists. We only know for sure that it is not about some new influences of the Russian language.

Umizgliwe seplenienie? Nice...
boletus   
22 May 2011
News / Ustroń: Another giant religious statue in Poland [26]

The bronze statue and the bronze pedestal,
Of bronze also the Allegories around:
Books, Torches, Globes and the Owls -
All of those the artist spelled in bronze,
(...)
And we, Poles, we like monuments.

boletus   
22 May 2011
News / Ustroń: Another giant religious statue in Poland [26]

A 24-meter sculpture of Jesus Christ, King of Poland has been erected in a spa city of Ustroń, southern Poland.

Ustroń [ˈustrɔɲ] ( listen) (German: Ustron) is a health resort town in Cieszyn Silesia, southern Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been in Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship (1975-1998). It lies in the Silesian Beskids mountain range.

/wiki/Ustroń

Although the installation of sculpture only lasted a few hours, developers have been working on it since one and a half years.

The photos of the sculpture can be viewed here:

At least this one is aesthetically pleasing - compared to the figure in Świebodzin.

The author of the sculpture is a Cracovian artist, Robert Pigoń. The founder is a local resident of Ustroń, who wants to remain anonymous. The entire 24-meter sculpture is made up of a stone pedestal and a 10-meter figure made of stainless steel.

The sculpture depicts Jesus Christ, King of Poland, who holds a scepter with three crowns in one hand, an an apple in the second one. His crown is a mixture of thorns and emblems from 19th century and Second Republic (inter-bellum) Poland.

- Work on the entire sculpture lasted over one and a half years, while the work on the sculpture proper lasted eight months. It was a really big challenge for us - said Robert Pigoń, the author of the sculpture.

The sculpture stands sideways to the church. - It's our conscious decision, since we want Jesus to embrace the entire country, and this is why He is facing north, toward the whole country - explains the founder of the sculpture.

Comments of some natives of Ustroń

But seriously, has anyone ever wondered about the multi-faith traditions of Ustroń? I did not want to joke, but the situation is a little grotesque - unfortunately, the size of the sculpture goes far beyond the boundaries of the parish of Zawodzie . I do not know what to think, I must admit that I am an evangelist and it hurts me a little ...

Let us have a sculpture JP 2, Benedict 16, Kaczynski and the esteemed pastor, who accepted this "attraction" in a multi-faith town, which undoubtedly is Ustroń, in supposedly secular state of Poland.

Look at it from the other side. Firstly, you cannot ever stop a rich man :), secondly - compare the whims Mrs. M. producing coffee or Mr. B known for the water bottling business. Those are the real idiocies.. It may actually be that K - the founder of this statue - wants to make a sacrifice to God. But is this the best way to go? I do not know. Especially since this is a public space. We do not know what are his real intentions. For me, though I am a Catholic, this statue is a triumph of form over substance, and God expects from us other forms of worship.

boletus   
21 May 2011
News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]

BYDOGOSZCZ, POLAND - Determined to work more closely together, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland agreed on Friday to an ambitious program that included pushing for tougher sanctions against Belarus, and for the European Union to establish its own civil and military planning headquarters independent of NATO.

(...)

The three ministers also agreed that the European Union should have its own civil and military planning headquarters. When the idea was first presented by Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg in 2003, when all four countries opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, it was staunchly rejected, not only by the United States but also by Poland and other East European countries.
Opponents of the idea said at the time that an E.U. planning headquarters would be a competitor to NATO and eventually would lead to the loosening of the trans-Atlantic alliance. Now, however, Poland increasingly sees Europe in need of a stronger security and defense policy, with its own civil and military planning headquarters, as the United States expects it to pull its weight in defense and security matters.

nytimes.com/2011/05/21/world/europe/21iht-poland21.html