Washington Post censorship

Just in case of WP's overzeaulousy:

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DebunkerUS wrote:
Why did you remove 007 comment

http://wtemaciemaci.salon24.pl/30015,index.html#comment_460079

8/30/2007 12:12:25 PM
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staryw wrote:
Why was the following comment by 'Dr 007' removed from this discussion, while a rebuttal to that comment by 'nihil' was left on? Did the Polish ambassador ring the Washington Post direct? Fortunately, the censored text had been reposted elsewhere on the net. A very interesting take on the First Amendment, gentlemen. Shame on you...

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It seems that Poland may have given up Communism, but not the Communist techniques of propaganda and disinformation. Mr. Reiter conveniently forgets to mention that Congress has just amended (and the President has signed into law) the VWP regulations raising the visa rejection cutoff that qualifies for participation in the program from 3 to 10%. And this will allow a number of additional countries to qualify. This generous gesture has accommodated the requests of our mostly New European allies, acknowledging that their Communist legacy may prevent them from meeting the more stringent standard and rewarding them for their political cooperation. Yet this is not enough for Poland - why? - because its citizens are the most egregious violators of our immigration laws notorious for the army of illegal immigrants already here and their current rejection rate is a whopping 26% (although down from 40% thanks to the generosity of our consular officers). So because Poland is not able to meet even the new, more relaxed, standard, we should now be bending backwards for it even more and additionally abolish any selectivity in granting visas so that their rejection rate goes down and allows them to qualify for the VWP. Instead of being grateful for a significant concession and seeing it as the first step toward their goal of visa-free travel, the Poles continue to complain and make more demands. While the Washington Post may fairly be criticized for printing this piece of propaganda, I think it is useful to have this illustration of the twisted and self-serving thought process of this "ally".

The Polish American community - of which I happen to be a member - has been watching with a certain degree of embarassment and a significant degree of satisfaction Poland's futile and abrasive attempts to get into the VWP. We were the first victims of Poland's arrogance and delusions of grandeur (such as considering themselves a normal European country, see this discussion) when it refused to recognize the American citizenship of those with Polish descent, in particular the recent refugees from Polish Communism, and declared us legally bound by all obligations of that Communist citizenship. Poland even implemented the policies of harassing departing Polish Americans, considered by its authorities exclusively as Polish citizens, at the border and preventing them from leaving Poland until they obtain Polish passports (the infamous "passport trap"). Yet this incident hasn't stopped them from asking Polish Americans to lobby for their visa obsession.

All these issues, starting with Mr. Reiter's dishonest article, paint the picture of a bizzare, dishonest, irrational, and self-serving country and the final question is whether something isn't wrong with our foreign policy if such eccentric parasites like Poland are considered our key allies? Shouldn't we have stronger allies among the countries that are much closer to the U.S. culturally and that share our Western values?
8/30/2007 12:22:45 PM
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DebunkerUS wrote:
It is called "double standards" or hypocrisy or both

http://tinyurl.com/38mh7l

comparing with

http://www.techliberation.com/archives/021602.php

8/30/2007 1:24:01 PM
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