News / Degenerate "rainbow" eyesore to disappear from Saviour Square (Plac Zbawiciela) in Warsaw [297]

Shame. It was a nice touch in the city, and I thought it was a very pretty rainbow when I stumbled across it a while ago.

Yet more short sighted decision making - the rainbow provided a focal point to the square, and if people get upset with biblical imagery, well, it's their problem ;) Strange that people would get so upset over a rainbow though - but I guess if someone thinks about gay sex constantly, then...

News / Coal-Powered Poland Refuses to "Go Green". EU Ain't Happy. [304]


It fits entirely in with their electorate - uneducated and menial working.

Still, nice to see that PiS is now officially the political arm of Solidarność.

History / The Warsaw Uprising memory. To remember who you are. [180]


Perhaps you might explain why people were whistling and acting like utter tw*ts, then?

Life / What is Poland's view on obesity? How healthy, fit are Poles? [166]


To be fair, summer is great - it's winter when the choice is ridiculously poor. But it can still be done, just that it's not very varied.

Life / What is Poland's view on obesity? How healthy, fit are Poles? [166]


Would you eat fish from the horror that is the Baltic? I wouldn't... :)


Yes! I've noticed this as well - it's especially obvious if you go into Biedronka or other similar shops. There's plenty of decent stuff there (I'm forever making salads from there) - yet people are just buying rolls, sausages and all sorts of other crap.


But even then - think about what you can buy in season. There's plenty of decent stuff available, and it doesn't take much effort to make seasonal salads. Even in the depths of winter, it's still perfectly possible to make decent soups using cheap local produce.

But why make a decent salad when you can just feed chips, sausages and bread to your obese child instead?

Life / What is Poland's view on obesity? How healthy, fit are Poles? [166]


Yes, it wouldn't be a bad idea at all. They're getting there with the ban on junk being sold in schools, but it's a long way yet.

Speaking of the ban on junk food in schools, there's been a huge amount of moaning by the people that operate such shops. Apparently kids won't buy healthy food, so they just won't buy anything at all. Boo hoo.

Having said that, the big problem with upping the tax on such things is that the money would probably be spent on social measures to help those most likely to buy such crap, so it's a vicious circle.

Law / Poland's residence permit lost abroad? [11]

Is he from a country that Poland requires entry visas from?

Law / Poland's residence permit lost abroad? [11]

Report it to the police and try and get copies of any documents (such as a decision letter) and all will be well.

News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]


This is because of the idiocy of the NFZ not paying for hospital stays less than 3 days. It's absurd, and I can't figure out why they're doing it, especially for small routine operations.

News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]


It's the classic case of having to justify their existence, so more and more nonsense is created in order to justify it.

I'm personally of the opinion that the biggest mistake was not to draw a line in 1990 and say that any pension contributions made between 1947 and 1990 would no longer be recognised, or that they would only be counted at the black market value and not the actual numeric value. It's utter nonsense that the pre-1989 złoty was worth far less than the PRL claimed it to be worth, yet ZUS still recognises those contributions on the actual numeric amount. We're essentially massively subsidising pensioners as a result.

News / New poll before the autumn elections in Poland [14]

Remember, victory means putting together a viable government. Winning the most votes isn't enough.

News / New poll before the autumn elections in Poland [14]

I can't stand him as well, and even many PiS voters seem to absolutely hate him. He's embraced Ruch Narodowy, and for that reason, I hope he gets absolutely crushed in the election. The fact that he's associating with all the black sheep of Polish politics says it all - the guy is desperately clutching at straws to find some support among the establishment.

But I wish for a genuinely liberal party. Perhaps NowoczesnaPL will be it...

News / New poll before the autumn elections in Poland [14]


I think a lot is resting on Duda - if he vetoes laws and starts to massively interfere with the running of the country, the PiS vote will collapse. The problem that PiS have is that they might be in the horrific situation of getting 37-38% of the vote and then not having any coalition partner.

I wouldn't be terribly shocked if PiS entered a coalition with the likes of the SLD, however.


Yep. I'm not allied to any party, although I can't stand PiS and Kukiz. I tend to vote for the best candidate from the rest.

News / New poll before the autumn elections in Poland [14]

Summer holidays. PO voters are away, PiS voters are at home ;)

News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]


Yep, it's exactly the problem. It's so fundamentally unfair to expect them to pay 30%+ in compulsory taxation.

If someone is bright enough to open a company, then they should be able to take responsibility for their own pension payments. The fact that Poles might choose to spend everything rather than saving is their problem - make them sign a very clear document saying that if they choose not to save, then they will have nothing in their retirement and the state won't help them. Allow pension contributions to be tax-deductible (like at present) and everything will be fine.

News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]


Well, not so much - obligatory contributions are just short of 1,100zl. The extra 200zl is optional.


It all goes back to political realities - KRUS is a huge money sink and should be abolished (and was only ever introduced in order to bribe rural farming morons to support the government rather than the SLD), but almost every government relies on the PSL vote in some way and so we have the current situation. Add that to the fact that a lot of people were bribed during Communist times with early retirement, and you've got a funding gap that can only be made up by screwing the small business owners.

Another thing that's fundamentally unfair - why is it that someone can have a company worth several million and only pay 1100, while the small shop owner has to pay the same?


The problem seems to be a lack of organisation - not all business owners are bothered by ZUS (let's say you earn 10,000zl gross a month - 1100zl means a social security rate is 11%, which is nothing), but they're bothered by other things such as being forced to use a kasa fiskalna, etc etc.

News / Poland's PiS party members and crime [346]


Oh yes. Adam Hofman was an excellent example.


thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/186888,Opposition-MPs-kicked-out-of-party-after-travel-expenses-fraud

Wasn't only him, but he was certainly the highest profile fraudster.

Any other examples? Remember, this thread is about PiS and crimes committed by PiS members.

News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]


Yes, it is a huge problem now. Logical would be to allow people to opt-out of pension payments, but then again, who will pay for the millions that took early retirement?

News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]


Not quite. She'll get 80% for the year of maternity leave and 100% for the sick leave (up to half a year...) as far as I know. ZUS pays for it, which might explain a lot... ;)

But this is actually the biggest problem for women - so many have used and abused pregnancy that no employer would take a female on umowa o prace between the age of 25-40. ZUS apparently does conduct controls, but they're obviously not strong enough. In my view, the employer should be entitled to conduct their own checks - if someone is genuinely on sick leave during pregnancy, they certainly shouldn't be in shopping centres!

News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]


Well, what I mean is that some of the more insane provisions (such as the trade union "inspector" being untouchable in work) should be abolished. Of course, the more normal protections should be kept - but for instance, employers should be allowed to inspect whether or not someone is genuinely sick. If Agnieszka is seen in the shopping centre trying on new dresses when she's on sick leave (when pregnant) - then the employer (rather than ZUS) should be allowed to instantly dismiss her for gross misconduct.

I don't think anyone minds that a woman should be able to return to work to the same job and the same conditions, but I do understand why employers get incredibly angry when someone sees two lines on the test and immediately runs off for sick leave.


Out of curiosity, was it your choice to work in such a way?


Yes, a friend works in this way. He makes it clear from the beginning that the project is new and won't necessarily succeed, but he agrees set goals with the entire team at the beginning. If they meet the goals (and the project succeeds) - then they are given full contracts without time limits as the project is now self financing. It seems to work well.

News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]


It was explained to me once by a PO member and employer that he would like to see the labour code reformed so that it offers less protection to employees (some provisions are beyond ridiculous, especially when it comes to trade union rights) - but in return, employers would be obliged to use umowa o prace for any fully directed work. It makes sense, I think. The problem is that the trade unions will scream and howl as soon as any reform to the kodeks pracy is discussed - so you end up with the situation that umowa zlecenie / umowa o dzieło are used because no-one wants to work together for a common goal.


It's a huge question, to be honest. I know one employer (who is a great guy, and very fair to his employees, including giving them extra days off over the "long weekends" so they don't have to use their holidays) who is very open about it - he said that the abuse by pregnant women and young mothers is so huge that he simply won't hire any women between 25-40 as a result. Part of the problem is certainly the macho role played by Polish men - "My job is more important than your job and so you need to stay at home when the kid is sick" - which to me is complete ********.

Certainly, one obligation should be for the male to either take 6 months paternity leave or it's completely lost - the current situation with women getting almost 2 years as a result of abusing sick leave and then a year of maternity leave is causing immense problems for young women in Poland.

News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]


As usual with them, they've pledged to abolish them. But we all know that they won't, for the simple reason that anyone with half a brain knows that many jobs would vanish overnight if they did - which would hurt their electorate badly.

Having said that, some changes are definitely happening. Umowa o dzieło is now very, very dangerous to use if it's not a genuine "dzieło" - the tax office has gone after many language schools for using it recently. Umowa zlecenia contracts are also starting to be scrutinised, particularly if it's in an area where the work is completely directed.

The problem is that for the employer, the burden of giving umowa o prace is just massive. The social protections provided by umowa o prace are huge - one lawyer friend estimated that in his experience, employers only win around 10% of disputes if umowa o prace is involved. Some of the provisions are staggering - imagine that someone is entitled to 60 days a year to care for a sick child? The system is just far too easy to abuse.

The solution (in my view) is to allow small businesses (say, under 50 employees) to grant a special kind of contract that offers restricted labour rights while still offering all the benefits in terms of health insurance, pension, etc etc. That kind of contract would allow small busineses to give people job security without them having to worry that Agnieszka the secretary is going to go off for 2 years on maternity/sick leave. As it stands, the current situation causes incredible discrimination towards women :(

News / There is no Poland without the Church! [178]


Honestly, Polonius, he's not the kind of Catholic we want here. That stuff about healing (I'm open minded about Lourdes, Fatima, etc - so I'm not against the idea) is just surreal, but the stuff about raising people from the dead is utterly inexcusable. I'm not sure if he's saying this stuff in Poland too, but he seems to be your typical Pentecostal type dressed up as a Catholic. To me, he's the kind of person that can do much more harm than good - people will use him as an excuse to ridiculous and mock Catholicism, even though he's very much on the fringe.

Lednica is a much better event to discuss - by all accounts, even by non-Catholics, it's a wonderful event that steers clear of anything that might be dubious. And yes, it is remarkable that a clearly religious event in Europe can attract the regular numbers that Lednica does.

News / There is no Poland without the Church! [178]


Polonius, have you got any idea what you're going on about? The guy claims to be a faith healer, he claims to have brought back to life more people than Jesus... come on :/


But it's not a good thing! The guy is very much on the fringe of the RCC - even the Church itself seems to be rather divided. If you mentioned the rather good Lednica, we wouldn't have an argument - but you're instead choosing to highlight a charlatan of the worst kind.

But anyway, I'll humour you.

rt.com/news/197296-catalonia-independence-protest-elections - 110,000 on the streets for Catalan independence

ucb.co.uk/content/united-prayer-event-calls-christians-wembley - 65-70000 Christians at Wembley Stadium, London

pinknews.co.uk/2006/06/30/gay-community-awaiting-europride - half a million at London Europride

More?

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


And if someone slaps the gun right out of your hand, what then?

Anyone in any way proficient in martial arts or with military training would know that it only takes around 5 degrees of movement of the gun to cause you to miss. You won't have a second chance.

News / There is no Poland without the Church! [178]

Could Polonius perhaps explain his support for this guy?

But who the hell is he anyway? Just another charlatan that's turned up in Poland and managed (through slick PR) to convince people to give him 2 million złoty for a one day event?

News / There is no Poland without the Church! [178]


From what I've read, he's exactly the kind of guy that most normal Catholics are warned to not listen to. Even Fronda.pl seems to be rather confused about him.

There was a lot of advertising - I stumbled across it randomly, and it seems as if it's been promoted as a kind of Lednica event.

From what I can see, he's like a Catholic Joel Osteen. Ugh.

News / There is no Poland without the Church! [178]


Isn't this the guy who claims that he brought people back to life, among other very dubious things?

Not sure why you'd promote him on here as being a good example.

Hahaha. 40,000 turned up to see this guy, while 60,000 turned up to see some enactment of the Battle of Grunwald. :D

Does that mean that more people are interested in history than Catholicism?

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]


Most of the Guns n God brigade wouldn't have the slightest clue about tactics or discipline. They're far too individualistic - and they would be nothing but good old cannon fodder for even a part time army.

In Poland, what do people need to carry guns for? You can buy stun guns in some places (are those really dodgy shops under Warszawa Centralna still there?) as well as perfectly legal pepper spray. You can even buy handguns that shoot gas rather than bullets - really, why does anyone need bullets if they want to harm someone?