WUI (Writing under the influence)

I'm back in the US after a 4-week trip to Poland with my whole family (yes, it was expensive.) There is a lot to say and I will over the next few days. In summary, however, I have the following quick thoughts.

1. Many Americans, especially those supporting Obama don't know how good we have it here. And Poles are actually doing quite well. There was an article in a Polish daily just the other day comparing salaries and prices in many European countries that concluded that leaving Poland to work in England, Ireland or recently France may not be worth it anymore.
2. People in England, Ireland and recently France are not learning Polish or becoming bilingual (as Obama suggests he will force us to do) because there are many Polish immigrants leaving in those countries.
3. Our gas is cheap. The picture below shows that I paid almost $9/gallon when in Poland. Half of the price there are taxes and this is where liberals in the US want to takes us. So don't believe them when they say they feel your pain. They will make sure you will suffer even more. The current prices are the direct result of their policies starting with Jimmy Carter (whose passport should be revoked the next time he travels abroad.)

For those educated in government schools (especially in the Forest Grove district where just recently the eggheads in charge have admitted that different children learn differently but haven't arrived to the right conclusion that only school choice can solve the problem of low GPAs and high drop-out rates) I present the following calculations to arrive to the aforementioned $9/gal price.
334.39 PLZ was about $161. 69.81 liters is about 18.44 US gallons. So one US gallon of diesel I was paying for in Poland was about $8.73.
What's more interesting to the liberal conspiracy nuts is that as the gas was becoming more expensive in the US so it did in Poland. In other words, there is indeed such a thing as the global oil market and nationalizing the so called big oil in the US will only result in higher prices and gas shortages. But that's exactly what liberals want. They hate cars. The latest example is the vote of the Portland city council or whatever they call themselves to allow for a new bridge across Columbia to be built but only if it includes light-rail, bike and pedestrian lanes but, more importantly, no more than the current 3 lanes in each direction. Why would you spend billions of dollars and not make any difference whatsoever? Well, I'm asking too many rhetorical questions.
4. Polish beer is very good. I just had a few bottles of Mac's and I already miss various Polish pilsners and lagers. But...
5. ...I'm not going back. Poland is slowly becoming a nanny state country like most EU countries it joined. Furthermore, there is a slight fascistic undercurrent with Police being able to pull you over randomly and you better have no more than 0.2 in your blood or you're toast. Anything above 0.5 makes you a criminal and if you had children in your car at the time, you will be accused of child endangerment. If convicted, you will spend a few years in jail. Seriously, though, I've learned to cherish the freedoms the US offers (notwithstanding what Feinglod says about the wiretap law that just passed) to risk losing them by going back.
6. I was happy to see how capitalism (albeit with a lot of socialistic policies) is triumphing over communism. Poland is rebuilding, its economy is growing and people seem very happy. In fact, most people I met asked me not why I left Poland 22 years ago --- they understood that -- but why I was not coming back. It was hard sometimes to explain that having a right to bear arms (as it has been reaffirmed by the SCOTUS) and to be able to say whatever one wants is too important to lose. Maybe I could get used to it but I'm raising my children not to tolerate it so I will not punish them by going back.

That's all for now. More and many pictures to follow.