WUI (Writing under the influence)

Lech Kaczynski of the socially-conservative Law &
Justice (PiS) party scored a stunning victory in the
second round of the presidential race and beat Civic
Platform (PO) candidate Donald Tusk by a margin of
54.47% to 45.53%.

What's worth considering at this point is that Poles
had enough time to listen to ideas presented by both
parties and chose welfare state with progressive tax
rates and rejected flat tax and market reforms.

The only silver lining is that by choosing PiS, Poles
also chose Catholic conservative values. So I guess
even though so called "social justice" is in, same-sex
marriage and abortions on demand are probably out.

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As I mentioned just after last month's parliamentary elections in Poland, communism may be dead, but the new populism may be even worse. Professor Orlowski explains why.

If PiS’s populist slogans become policy, government spending is likely to expand, which will exacerbate Poland’s already weak fiscal position and consequently trigger inflationary expectations. Worse, boosting social spending will contribute little to resolving the country’s staggering 17.5% rate of unemployment – most of it structural –while any hope of quick euro adoption will be dashed.

What Poland needs most is fiscal discipline and market-oriented reforms, including relaxation of the rigid labor laws that are inhibiting job creation. After all, over the past two decades, the enduring goals of dismantling communism and central planning, as well as joining the European Union, have served as important driving forces of reform. But can the political will for renewed reform be mustered in a government that is half liberal and half populist?

Some think that 14th Amendment to the US Constitution says that being born in the US doesn't automatically mean becoming a US citizen.

The statistics are shocking. At least 383,000 babies are born in the United States every year to illegal immigrants; that's 10 percent of all U.S. births and about 40 percent of indigent births.

The cost to U.S. taxpayers is tremendous because all those babies, called anchor babies, claim birthright citizenship. Their mothers and other relatives then sign up for a vast stream of taxpayer benefits.

The high cost of illegal immigration, especially of so called "anchor babies" should "shock" our representatives into action.

Many American businesses are leaving the US to do business in Asia. With lower taxes and fewer unreasonable regulations it just makes sense. But the situation is Western Europe is even worse. Maybe that's why many US politicos are not paying enough attention.

Something that many people in the US don't realize is that American business are also investing in Eastern Europe. For example, "American automobile component manufacturer Delphi [which recently filed for bankruptcy in the US] signed an agreement with the Polish government to expand its research and development center in Krakow." The deal will create 264 jobs for high-skilled engineers in Krakow.

IBM, together with a consulting firm Capgemini will invest about $10 million for various IT-related projects. A call center employing 500 people will be opened by Affiliated Computer Services.

IBM will also open a new software laboratory in Krakow employing 200 software engineers. Intel has a software lab in Gdansk.

What's more ironic is that many Asian companies want to invest in Eastern Europe as well.

Korean tiremaker Hankook is considering the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland as possible sites for a $600 mln factory after Slovakia fell out of contention, a Hankook representative said.

The deal will create 1,600 jobs by 2008. But that's not all.

Hankook, which also has factories in China, wants to expand overseas production to Eastern Europe to supply Kia Motors Corp. and France's PSA Peugeot Citroen, taking advantage of lower taxes and cheap labor costs.

Kia, South Korea's second-biggest carmaker, is building a EUR 1.1 bln factory in Slovakia that will produce 300,000 vehicles a year.

Another Korean company, LG Phillips, will invest EUR 429 mln in a LCD screen factory in the southern town of Kobierzyce. The deal will create 12,000 new jobs.

There is more.

Volvo [is it Swedish or American?]will receive EU's funds for an investment project in the further development of production capacity at the Volvo Bus plant in Wroclaw.

Volvo employs 2,000 people in Poland.

Toyota has several plants in Poland that opened between 1999 and 2002. Thanks to high sales and strong growth prospects, Toyota will be increasing employment to 6,000.

Michelin Poland is "in the middle of a EUR 253 mln investment to increase production capacity" of its plant in Olsztyn despite weaker results in 2005.

The unemployment in Poland is still the highest in Europe and hovers around 17%. This makes Polish labor very attractive to foreign investment. The Polish government, on the other hand, sweetens any deal with tax moratoriums and various grants.

In fact, Poland ranked recently as the eighth most attractive location for business in the world.

The definition of poetic justice: Ben & Jerry being sued for stuffing people with cream and sugar. Luckily for them, even stupid people are covered by good laws.

BTW, Americans are really too fat. But instead of letting trial lawyers sue restaurants, we should also protect taxpayers from funding universal health care system that would at first cover diets and stomach stapling but later turn into the nightmare many of us experienced in the old country.

PBS in Oregon is running one of its pledge drives. It's now in its second week. Good for them. Let them find enough people willing to support their anti-American bias. But no one cent of my taxes should be spent on them. Oregon de-funded OPB last year. Unfortunately, PBS still receives federal money. Around $560 million every year. There is just no reason to fund some elitist news outlet. Funding it in while running budget deficits is simply criminal.

If it were up to me, the UN would just have to pack and move to France.

unfortunately, 22% of its budget comes from the US. And it gets us 0% of good will.

Paul Volcker "suggests the organization should suffer financially if it doesn't reform."

Maybe it should also suffer when types like Mugabe are invited to talk ill about the US and being applauded by other lowlifes in the UN.

This is from Limbaugh's piece in the Opinion Journal on the "crackup" over Miers.

I love being a conservative. We conservatives are proud of our philosophy. Unlike our liberal friends, who are constantly looking for new words to conceal their true beliefs and are in a perpetual state of reinvention, we conservatives are unapologetic about our ideals. We are confident in our principles and energetic about openly advancing them. We believe in individual liberty, limited government, capitalism, the rule of law, faith, a color-blind society and national security. We support school choice, enterprise zones, tax cuts, welfare reform, faith-based initiatives, political speech, homeowner rights and the war on terrorism. And at our core we embrace and celebrate the most magnificent governing document ever ratified by any nation--the U.S. Constitution. Along with the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes our God-given natural right to be free, it is the foundation on which our government is built and has enabled us to flourish as a people.

I don't have much to say about Miers and her selection. But I couldn't have said anything more (assuming that "the rule of law" excludes illegal immigration) or take anything away from this paragraph if I had to explain why I am a conservative. Even the part about the faith...

I know you are not loved much lately but I still think
you were a great explorer. We share the first name
and that's good enough for me.

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I'm not sure if this is such a good idea.

I don't know exactly how it happened. What I know is that I had been waiting in anticipation for the 2000 Bordeaux to hit American stores. Thanks, in part, to "global warming", the 2000 vintage was supposed to be one of the best in history.

Then, the French pissed me off. It must have been something they said after the 2000 elections. They didn't like Bush or something. Nevertheless, I've had not purchased any French wine since. I have to say "purchased" because, unfortunately, I've been tempted several times and succumbed to those temptations and had some French wine on occasion. The last time, however, I actually enjoyed celebrating the failed EU constitution referendum with some Champaign.

In any case, it seems that the combination of the growing repulsion for the French politics and growing appreciation for American wines have resulted in a big headache for the French.

Makers of Bordeaux wines have been told to reduce their output this year by an unprecedented amount because of overproduction and falling prices, according to the body that controls French winemaking.

In response to a growing surplus of French wine in a tough global market, France's Institut National des Appellations d'Origine instructed growers in most French wine-producing regions to reduce output for the 2005 grape harvest -- but none by as much as Bordeaux. Bordeaux makers were told to reduce output by about 12 percent, the institute said in a statement.

In the first quarter of 2005, exports of Bordeaux wines fell by 11.4 percent in volume and 17.9 percent in value.

I can drink to that!