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| THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA |
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| SENATE RESOLUTION |
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| INTRODUCED BY STACK, STOUT, FARNESE, WARD, ARGALL, ALLOWAY, GREENLEAF, TARTAGLIONE, ERICKSON, FONTANA, RAFFERTY AND ORIE, APRIL 21, 2010 |
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| INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, APRIL 21, 2010 |
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| A RESOLUTION |
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1 | Expressing sympathy for the people of Poland in the aftermath of |
2 | the devastating plane crash that killed the country's |
3 | President, First Lady and 94 other high-ranking government, |
4 | military and civic leaders on April 10, 2010. |
5 | WHEREAS, The United States and Poland share a bond of |
6 | history, friendship and international cooperation; and |
7 | WHEREAS, Polish immigrants were among the first Jamestown |
8 | settlers and Polish Generals, Casimir Pulaski and Thaddeus |
9 | Kosciuszko, fought for America's Independence in the |
10 | Revolutionary War; and |
11 | WHEREAS, Millions of Americans of Polish descent now reside |
12 | in the United States, and more than two million reside in this |
13 | Commonwealth, bringing vitality and history to this |
14 | Commonwealth, from the traditional Polish neighborhoods of |
15 | Philadelphia, to the northeast coal region, to the western steel |
16 | towns; and |
17 | WHEREAS, Polish Americans have been leaders in all walks of |
18 | American life; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, The American people stood in support of the |
2 | Solidarity movement as it fought against the oppression of the |
3 | Polish communist government through peaceful means, eventually |
4 | leading to Solidarity members being elected to office in open |
5 | democratic elections held on June 4, 1989, events that helped |
6 | spark the movement to democracy throughout eastern Europe; and |
7 | WHEREAS, Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization |
8 | (NATO) in 1999, joined the European Union in 2004, and |
9 | contributed to United States and NATO operations in Iraq and |
10 | Afghanistan; and |
11 | WHEREAS, Poland has enjoyed a thriving and prosperous free |
12 | market democracy since the end of the Cold War; and |
13 | WHEREAS, The Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other |
14 | people, including Poland's First Lady, the deputy foreign |
15 | minister, dozens of members of Parliament, the chiefs of the |
16 | armed forces and the president of the national bank, were |
17 | tragically killed in a plane crash in western Russia on April |
18 | 10, 2010; and |
19 | WHEREAS, President Kaczynski and his colleagues were |
20 | traveling to Katyn, Russia, for a memorial service to mark the |
21 | 70th anniversary of the Soviet secret police killing of more |
22 | than 20,000 Polish officers, prisoners and intellectuals who |
23 | were captured after the Soviet Union invaded Poland in 1939; and |
24 | WHEREAS, Also killed in the crash were Anna Walentynowicz, |
25 | the former dock worker whose firing in 1980 sparked the |
26 | Solidarity strike that ultimately overthrew the Polish communist |
27 | government, and Ryszard Kaczorowski, who served as Poland's |
28 | final president in exile before the country's return to |
29 | democracy; and |
30 | WHEREAS, President Barack Obama said, the "loss is |
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1 | devastating to Poland, to the United States, and to the world. |
2 | President Kaczynski was a distinguished statesman, who played a |
3 | key role in the Solidarity movement, and he was widely admired |
4 | in the United States as a leader dedicated to advancing freedom |
5 | and human dignity"; therefore be it |
6 | RESOLVED, That the Senate of Pennsylvania express its deepest |
7 | sympathies to the people of Poland and the families of those who |
8 | perished for their profound loss. |
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