Stany Zjednoczone – USA

In George Lucas’ film THX 1138 (1970), the police in a futuristic state make citizens compliant by shocking them with “pain prods.” After seeing the movie, I remember thinking that if the police were ever allowed to use implements such as these, we would rapidly move into a police state. This has now happened with tasers.

Tasers are electro-shock weapons that are currently used by more than 11,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States. Designed to cause instant incapacitation by delivering a 50,000-volt shock, tasers are hand-held electronic stun guns that fire two barbed darts. The darts, which usually remain attached to the gun by wires, deliver a high voltage shock and can penetrate up to two inches of clothing or skin. The darts can strike the subject from a distance of up to 35 feet, or the taser can be applied directly to the skin. Although a taser shot is capable of jamming the central nervous system for up to 30 seconds, it can disable the subject for even longer. And because tasers can be aimed anywhere on the body, they can immobilize someone more easily than pepper spray, which must be sprayed in the face.

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[caption id="attachment_26390" align="alignleft"] Polish Numismatics[/caption]Polish numismatics tops charts, landmark sale of rare polish coins to be held by stack’s in Chicago, April 24

NEW YORK – On January 14, a Polish 1621 gold 100 Ducat coin sold for $1.38 Million, setting a world’s record price for a non-U.S. coin. Sold by Stack’s, one of the oldest and most successful rare coin Auction Houses in the U.S., in its Kroisos Collection Sale, the coin was struck to commemorate Poland’s victory over the Ottoman Turks in the famed Battle of Chocim.

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[caption id="attachment_26395" align="alignleft"] Sample image[/caption]

Poprzednicy Benedykta XVI – Paweł VI i Jan Paweł II – którzy odwiedzali już nowojorską siedzibę ONZ, byli tam zawsze w październiku, „ponieważ w październiku rozpoczyna się Zgromadzenie Generalne, w tym roku jednak, ponieważ w Stanach Zjednoczonych są wybory, podróż była niemożliwa w październiku” – wyjaśnił na specjalnej konferencji na temat najbliższej podróży papieża dyrektor biura prasowego Stolicy Apostolskiej ksiądz Federico Lombardi.

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NEWS from THE POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS
HOLOCAUST DOCUMENTATION COMMITTEE

177 Kent St. , Brooklyn , N.Y. 11222 – (718) 349-9689

Americans first heard about a “thousand points of light” from George Bush Sr. when he was campaigning for the presidency of the United States in 1988. Now, a Polish Catholic survivor of Auschwitz is starting a different kind of campaign to promote his own “thousand points of light.”

Michael Preisler feels “thousand points of truth” would be a more precise description. What are these thousand points? They are a thousand copies of Andrew Hempel’s book about a six-year period Preisler lived through and its title is simply “ Poland in World War II.” It will be distributed by the Holocaust Documentation Committee of the Polish American Congress where Preisler is co-chair.

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