Day 137: Poland

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/pl.html

Discuss.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Really hot girls and really horrible politics.

That pretty much completely sums the place up.

[Michael Z]

Most of these hot girls are staunch no-sex-before-marriage Catholic types, though.

[Rob]

Great country.

[Gabu]

Glad to see we didn't forget Poland.

[minionofmidas]

Most of these hot girls are staunch no-sex-before-marriage Catholic types, though.

No...

[??????????]

I hear they invented the submarine screen door.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

mmm... tasty perogies

[WMS]

One of the U.S.' strongest allies in Europe, in large part due to their concerns about Russia and Germany.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Glad to see we didn't forget Poland.

I think that a certain dictator from the 1930's wished that we had.

[Cubby]

Over the past 9 months I've grown to dislike Poland. For the same reason I currently dislike Nigeria and Iran. Anyone who knows why gets a cookie and zero points.

The Western (pro-European) half would appear to be less HP than the Soviet influenced Eastern Half, judging by last October's election results. It was the east that gave the current President his victory.

[minionofmidas]

I know. I'll eat my cookie now.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Glad to see we didn't forget Poland.

I think that a certain dictator from the 1930's wished that we had.

Stalitler, sending you to gas chambers in Siberia.

[MasterJedi]

This is where half of my ancestors came from.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Most of these hot girls are staunch no-sex-before-marriage Catholic types, though.

I've seen enough Polish girls in porn sites to know that's probably not the case overall, I doubt they're anymore uptight about that than hot Catholic South American girls. Lewis would know better and look what he said.

[Bono]

It's so great that both major parties are right wing.

[Michael Z]

Most of these hot girls are staunch no-sex-before-marriage Catholic types, though.

No...

Well, the ones who come to London are. Either that or they're gold diggers.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I like Poland. A lot of new immigrants to the U.K are from Poland.

It's also got one of the most unstable party systems in the E.U; both the main parties of the right (AWS and their various allies) and left (SLD) have collapsed (AWS totally; a rump of the SLD survived last years elections and the party is still strong in some industrial areas) over the course of just two elections resulting in a political vaccum which has been filled by various personality-driven parties with no real ideology (beyond (let's take PiS as an example) vague rhetoric about wanting to clean up politics/society/both and clever attacks on rival parties) and apathy; IIRC turnout was around 40% last year. Perhaps astonishing the old PSL is still around and in the Sejm, but it's a shadow of it's former self (in 1993 it took 132 seats in the Sejm) and it's role as the voice of rural protest has been usurped by the dubious personality cult of Lepper.
PiS's longterm prospects can't be too good; despite nation-wide success last year, the party did badly in it's early stronghold of Warsaw (where they only gained a little ground in the Sejm elections and were thrashed in the Presidential election) a city which they'd been running for a while. And there honeymoon period (they were as high as 44% in the polls earlier this year) appears to have ended (having dropped something like 15pts in a few months).

[opebo]

Most of these hot girls are staunch no-sex-before-marriage Catholic types, though.

No...

Well, the ones who come to London are. Either that or they're gold diggers.

Actually there are a lot of Polish prostitutes, I hear.