Gaybutton

Aha! Until now I never knew you were Swiss . . .

No, you will not need to keep it. They have all of that on their computers. I know that for a fact. A couple years ago I managed to lose my passport. When I received the new one I went to Immigration with it. There was no problem. They replaced the stamps and even were able to issue a duplicate of my arrival-departure card and staple it into my passport. Actually, you probably won't be able to keep your old passport whether you want to or not. I don't know how it works elsewhere, but at the USA Embassy they require you to turn in your old passport when they are ready to issue you a new one. If your old one was lost or stolen, you are required to submit a police report.

What's to infer? You would have to be blind and dead for several days not to see that this guy, a newbie on this board, is using the boards for very obvious purposes. Nice try.

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I don't mind a little false happiness once in a while. Your Christmas analogy works fine if you've got it to give in the first place. I'm perfectly willing to see if you're right. I'm very unhappy. Anyone out there want to try buying off my unhappiness?

"That's... not buying happiness. That's just... buying off unhappiness. " - Frank Albertson, 'Psycho'

I agree.

I agree that there have been times when innocent people suffered because of the media, but on the other hand I think that allowing these kinds of gag orders to restrict the press is too great a price to pay. Had that been the norm, Woodward and Bernstein might very well have been prevented from reporting on their investigations and Watergate might never had come to light. I don't think judges should have the option of overriding the Constitution. The Constitution provides the basis for the courts to issue rulings in the first place. I think the press should police itself into responsible reporting, but I don't have any idea how that can be accomplished. However it can be done, if it can be done at all, I would not want to see it done through gag orders. That would, as I said, override the Constitution, set a precedent for the courts to be able to override other areas of the Constitution, and would give carte blanche for judges to rule subjectively without any standard criteria they would have to follow for gag orders to be issued.

Former Congressman Charlie Wilson Dead at 76 (CNN) -- Former congressman Charlie Wilson of Texas died Wednesday at age 76, a Texas hospital said. The 12-term Democratic representative, who served Texas' 2nd Congressional District and inspired the book and movie "Charlie Wilson's War," had been in a meeting with a friend Wednesday morning when he complained of difficulty breathing, said Yana Ogletree, a spokeswoman for Memorial Medical Center in Lufkin, Texas. The two men were heading to the hospital when they passed an emergency medical services vehicle on the side of the road and stopped for help, she said. Paramedics took Wilson to the hospital emergency room, where he was pronounced dead, she said. Wilson, who had undergone a heart transplant at Methodist Hospital in Houston in September 2007, moved back to Lufkin when he retired from Congress in 1997 after having served since 1973, she said. "Charlie was a man of courage and conviction who worked hard, loved his country, and lived life to the fullest," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey, D-Wisconsin. "We will miss him." Tom Hanks portrayed the flamboyant congressman in the 2007 movie "Charlie Wilson's War," based on the book by George Crile. The book and the film told the story of Wilson's efforts to get weapons to mujahedeen fighters after Soviets invaded Afghanistan. "Hanks did a great job," Wilson said in 2008. Wilson also praised the other actors. "They were too close to the truth," he said. The U.S. Naval Academy grad and Navy veteran was elected to Congress in 1972 -- a Democrat bucking the national Nixon landslide -- and quickly became known for his high-living escapades, which earned him the nickname "Good Time Charlie," and shrewd accumulation of political chits. His savvy came in handy in the early 1980s, when Wilson, a staunch anti-Communist, decided to help Afghan rebels in their war against the invading Soviet Union. Over several years, working behind the scenes, his efforts to raise funds through his defense subcommittee, to establish a bond with a CIA agent named Gust Avrakotos (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in the film) and to negotiate support from Middle Eastern countries helped the Afghans take the upper hand and eventually forced the Soviets out of the country. Asked what led to the Soviet departure, Pakistani leader Gen. Muhammad Zia ul-Haq was blunt: "Charlie did it," he told CBS News' "60 Minutes." Some people criticized the film because it didn't do much to highlight what happened in Afghanistan after the Soviets left: the Taliban's takeover of the country and al Qaeda's use of the nation as a base. Wilson was asked in 2008 about the consequences of helping the mujahedeen fighters. "I don't think there was a serious blowback," Wilson said. "I think there was the point that [author] George Crile made in the [book's] epilogue, that the Muslims saw that they took down one superpower and then the radical ones thought they could take down another one. But they're wrong." Wilson is survived by his wife, Barbara Alberstadt Wilson, a sister, a niece and a nephew. Funeral arrangements are pending.

I think we can dispense with the smoking issue. I can't imagine what someone could post about it that hasn't already been said and isn't already common knowledge. I think smokers have all figured out that non-smokers don't want any part of their smoke and that they think a smoker's clothing stinks.

Don't make the mistake of assuming my post was necessarily in your behalf. It was addressed to anyone who intends to start up the personal attacks. Just one question: If somebody wins, does he have to eat with you?

Gentlemen, I would be most grateful if we keep the posts from getting personal, and it looks like this thread is going to head that direction if I don't say anything. I'm sure that GT will agree with me that a little nudging is ok, but out-and-out personal attacks are going to result in deleted posts and users placed on the moderated mode. I don't think any of us want that, so please keep it in check. Nobody is saying anything that hasn't already been said a trillion times on the various boards, so I don't see much point in rehashing it here. Personally, how someone behaves on other boards is not my concern and I really don't care. The moderators of the other boards have their own rules and their own methods of dealing with problems. My concern is this board, and as long as nobody is violating any rules here there isn't a problem. So please, let's not needlessly create any.

Of course not. I don't have a work permit . . .

I'm even more surprised. You have no way to know what I'm thinking unless I tell you. I haven't told you. If you want to know what I'm thinking, ask me. I don't have any suicide patients. I'm not a doctor and I didn't know there is a treatment for suicide. Not only do I not have any patients, I don't even have any patience.

The same way so many other threads end up being hijacked. You're right. Let's get back to the subject of Jomtien Complex.

Where are you coming up with this nonsense from? That is simply not true. Neither is what you say about the streets not being well lit at night. The restaurants here get just as crowded as anywhere else in Pattaya. Sometimes you can't get a table. And all these road deaths? I suppose next you will tell us all about hordes of people filling hospital emergency rooms due to injuries suffered from tripping over all the dead bodies. Come over here some time and go around to these places with me. Then we'll see who's right.

I did say that I stand to one side, didn't I? Now, being a person who can't anticipate every possible reason people still physically push others on escalators, somehow I have a feeling that not everyone who pushes me is suffering from incontinence.

I'll have to give them a try. It will be interesting to see how their bacon compares to Mr. Moo.

I'd like to also use this thread for requests for information. I have one. I'm looking for a really good quality computer chair. Everywhere I've looked so far either sells garbage or chairs at prices I can't afford. If someone knows of a good place to look, I would appreciate it. What I don't want is a chair upholstered in Naugahyde. I hate Naugahyde. I stick to it as if someone had poured Super Glue all over it. I prefer a cloth upholstery.

For those of you looking for plants, flowers, and tropical fish, along with all kinds of equipment and supplies, in Pattaya every Saturday and Sunday that big open field right next to the McDonald's-Mini Siam on Sukhumvit becomes a huge open air market devoted to only those kinds of products. You'll find everything from an incredible variety of orchids to fruit trees, along with plenty of tropical fish and supplies, all at prices much lower than you'll find elsewhere. In Bangkok many people think the famous Chatuchak market is solely a weekend market. Not so. If you are interested in plants, go on a Wednesday. That's the day they bring in all the plants. You can easily spend the entire day there and still not see them all. It's an incredible variety, again at prices lower than you'll find elsewhere. If you are not getting there in your own vehicle I like to get there on the Metro. Get off at the Kamphaeng Phet stop. That puts you right inside the Chatuchak market. All the tropical fish shops are open on Wednesdays too.

Hmmmmmmm, that all depends on how you look at it. I've discovered that a great many young gentlemen around here have had their meat smoked, often well smoked, quite a number of times . . .

Ok, that's a good idea. I hope our friends don't let their posts get out of hand. Some have found out the hard way that I'm very good at locking threads and putting people on moderated mode if the need arises.

In the Thai language "moo" means pork. On the access road at the Big-C at the junction of Pattaya Tai and Sukhumvit there is a row of shop houses. One of them, between the parking lot entrance and Sukhumvit is Mr. Moo. I've passed by many times, but yesterday I stopped in to see what they carry. He has quite a good selection of pork products, including several different sausages, one of which is labeled "American Sausage," something difficult to find in Pattaya at reasonable prices. He also has a variety of different types of bacon, British style meat pies, etc. His prices are quite reasonable and apparently he does the curing and packaging himself. I decided to try some American style "streaky" bacon. A 255 gram package for 67 baht seemed reasonable enough to me. This morning I made my own breakfast at home and tried the bacon. I was very pleasantly surprised. I thought it was some of the best bacon I've ever had, certainly much better than any of the commercially packaged bacon I've tried in Pattaya. It crisps up very well and has an excellent delicate flavor and texture. For those of you who do your own cooking, you might want to stop in, see what they have and perhaps give some of their products a try. From now on, when I want those kinds of products, that's where I'm going to do my buying.

I've got a better idea. Wrong board for this kind of a cat fight. Thread locked! If GT wants to reopen it, that's his prerogative.

If that is what he was trying to do, yes it did. I don't see any need for people to be put off by people who don't know what they're talking about and probably have never even been over here themselves. You have been over here on "The Dark Side" with me. At any time did you feel unsafe? Did you observe any of the dangers HeyGay says are so rampant over here? Was there any problem crossing Sukhumvit? People who write such posts do a disservice to an up-and-coming community and also do a disservice to themselves by diminishing their own credibility.