Saturday, March 01, 2008

No, the truth is that you can't trust the judiciary in Poland...

Just a few minutes ago I posted the 500th Polish Police and Administrative Corruption Story. Interesting accomplishment all things considered. I have gotten a couple of letters lately telling me that I should cease and desist "writing" stories about corrupt, inept or generally evil Polaks who have been abusing or betraying their positions, communities, host countries, clients, spouses, neighbors and of course, themselves. I could say something related to the fact that the letters all came from Polish last names. This could, in better world I suppose, relate to patriotism but more likely it was just from thoughtlessness and a lack of homework on their parts; isolating me for my spite, vitriol and vindictiveness without understanding that I am doing this because of what they did to me would pretty much seem to be par for the course. I mean, that was exactly the thinking that cost me a year, right?

Good to see they are progressing so well.

IN ANY CASE, there was a cool story sort of correlating to the big #500 from my favorite Polish news source, Polskie Radio:

Can you trust judiciary in Poland?

The Polish press reports on how the Poles evaluate the courts of justice in the country.

Generally, Poles don’t trust the judicial system in Poland, a poll in Gazeta Prawna reveals.

Almost 70 percent of respondents said that verdicts by Polish courts are too lenient and 67 percent negatively evaluated the impartiality of judges. The poll showed also that only 2 percent of Poles support restoration of the capital punishment – a figure much lower than is generally expressed to pollsters.

Dziennik daily has found that in a few day’s time Washington is to offer Poland help in modernising the Polish army. This is on of the conditions Poland’s government set in exchange for the country’s consent to deploy elements of antimissile shield on its territory. The next round of Polish-US negotiations is to take place on Friday.

Polska writes about the proposed changes in Polish law making it easier for patients harmed as a result of treatment to assert their rights in court. The project, prepared by the opposition Law and Justice, would also stipulate new, more rigid penalties for corrupt medics, including financial fines and restrictions on exercising a profession.
Pretty much tells us that my little sarcasm above is, you know, pretty much still the way it is even after several years of prideful participation in the wonderfully ever expanding European Union, staunch defenders of truth, justice and other people's democracies such as they are.

But even for those of you out there who really do believe that Donald Tusk was all that was needed to right all of the ongoing, obvious, inevitable and amazingly reliable "screw thy neighbor" dramas I get to print in my little media space here, it must be just a little obvious by now that I have a point to make. Of course there would have to be opposition to any point. All four of my Polish lawyers, the prosecutor and the three judges on the court's panel all thought that my story, that I was attacked by a lunatic while riding my bike in Warsaw, should be opposed and that a most-probably drunken psychopath with a criminal driving record should be allowed to, without evidence or a case, basically wreck my life and the lives of anybody who had believed in me. For money.

So really, as we approach the sixth May 15th anniversary, one would have thought that there would at least have been a little headway. I mean, does it all really have to amount to nothing? Don't they ever learn over there? Doesn't anything ever get better?

And as for my anti-BEING HAD readers out there, for those of you who can't or simply won't see the point; for all of you who fail to understand that recognizing simple human rights is not a political issue here in the 21st century, but rather an inalienable civic, social and community obligation, I beg your forgiveness but at the same time I also beg every potential traveler not to go there until they fix it. Don't go to Poland. Don't trust them. Just stay away or go somewhere else. It isn't worth it.

What the above story says is simply the truth: If you cannot trust those who are supposed to be in a position of power over you, you have no life. Out here they say that Polish is not a nationality, it's a profession. And I believe this. I mean you don't have to believe me if you don't want to. But basically, I didn't write any of those 500 Polish corruption stories. I just pulled them off the internet and made a blog about it. I mean, hey, don't kill the messenger.

See what I mean?

More soon…