When the driver was asked very politely to turn and park his vehicle on the side of the road, he exploded: pieces of terrorist flesh, car parts, and flesh from honest men flew everywhere. Suddenly, the checkpoint was under attack: mortar fire scattered a few troops but then they regrouped. Union helicopters began firing rockets into houses in various neighborhoods in eastern Berlin, especially around Berlin Mitte, which the Union General Staff believed was the center of operations for terrorist activities throughout the beleaguered city. Small arms fire gave the generals an excuse to target buildings that they thought were terrorist strongholds. Many innocent people died.

– Verse 676 from the chapter called Adolescence

It was difficult to be sympathetic, considering that everyone else was also suffering. If America had one ally though, it was Poland. After the Russian Federation and China, Poland had the next largest economically recoverable coal reserve in the world. Crippled by pressure within the European Union (namely France and Germany), Poland ultimately ratified the Protocol, but, if not for Australia's demurral, would have been the next to the last sovereign country to do so.

– Verse 9 from the chapter called Security

"Anyway, despite the fact that in the United States I had always received Communion in the hands, I didn't feel the need to rebel. I always enjoyed going up to the altar rail and kneeling - it made me feel closer to God. Once I were kneeling, I also enjoyed taking Communion on the lips - why not? After a few years, however, the archbishop changed his mind. Now you could take Communion in your hands. However, the priests didn't mention that. They kept silent. Instead, they announced that, from now on, we should form lines instead of rushing up to the altar rail. To ensure that we did it, they came out from behind the railing and had deacons and altar servers form the first lines.

– Verse 681 from the chapter called Security

In those days, out of all the member states of the European Union, Poland had the strictest gun control laws. It was hard to get any kind of firearm, but even handguns took two years of paperwork. They were expensive, and thank God I bought a stolen one for four hundred dollars from my friend. That was a gift, even if the numbers were scratched off.

– Verse 763 from the chapter called Adolescence

The Google Protocol had successfully controlled the emission of dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere by proscribing the unlimited burning of biomass and fossil fuels. The Polish government, which, in the case of European Union protocols, had already established a precedent of absurdity (by, in that case, insisting that restaurants serve soup at exactly sixty-five degrees Celsius and pork cutlets, for example, at exactly seventy-five degrees Celsius or else lose their licenses), took a step further. After several homeowners had successfully sued local Catholic cemeteries for allowing masses and masses of people to light candles on All Saints' Day weekend, the next year, Parliament, under pressure from the Catholic Church to do 'something,' passed a statute which completely outlawed the burning of candles. Obviously, this satisfied no one.

– Verse 301 from the chapter called Vows