Gaybutton

The BANGKOK POST has an article and survey about how the Thai people feel about a liquor ban during Songkran. Some of this may surprise you: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1421...s-sobering-news _____ Possible Ban is Sobering News Having a drink with family is an essential part of Songkran for many in the Northeast even though they are aware of the dangers. By: Apiradee Treerutkuarkul in Yasothon Published: 30/03/2009 Charoen Wienwan, 54, sits and watches as a relative lies in a hospital bed suffering the advanced stages of liver cancer. He is not afraid. He still drinks heavily even though he knows this is a cause of many serious illnesses and road accidents. "Of course, I know that drink driving leads to road accidents. But it's impossible not to drink during Songkran," Mr Charoen said. "It's the culture here. This is how we celebrate our holidays with our families. Even the elderly females drink." Mr Charoen, a second-hand car dealer in Roi Et, said drinking was considered unavoidable by most northeasterners, especially during the Songkran festival, because many travel a long way from Bangkok to visit their families and relatives to party. But he said he would have to take it easy with the booze if accidents were to be avoided while driving. Hundreds of thousands of Thai holidaymakers hit the road during the traditional new year. Drink driving is the biggest cause of road accidents during the long holiday, followed by speeding. Most road mishaps involve motorcycles and take place between 4pm and 8pm, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. Road accidents during Songkran left 477 people dead or injured last year. Bangkok recorded the highest number of casualties at 1,965, followed by Nakhon Ratchasima with 1,355, according to National Emergency Institute figures. Teerasak Jonburom, who runs a small restaurant in Warin Chamrap district of Ubon Ratchathani, said he was willing to stop selling alcohol during Songkran even though it would cost him about 1,000 baht in earnings a day. "If I can save some lives by doing this, I would certainly do so," he said. "But how will the ban work if drivers can't stop themselves from drinking?" If shops and restaurants are banned from selling alcohol during Songkran, drinkers will stock up in advance, Mr Teerasak said. Kamron Choodecha, coordinator of the Alcohol Watch Network, said it would have made more sense if a campaign calling for a ban had been promoted early. With Songkran just two weeks away, the government has not decided whether to impose a booze ban. Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopanornbodi has proposed two options: a complete ban on alcohol sales from midnight April 11 to midnight April 14, or a partial ban whereby hotels, pubs and restaurants would be able to sell drinks from 6pm to midnight on each of the three days. The National Committee for Alcohol Consumption Control, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart, will meet again today to discuss the issue. Maj-Gen Sanan's committee was afraid a ban would be in conflict with a National Executive Council (NEC) announcement made in 1972. But the Council of State ruled last week the ban could be issued under the 2008 Alcohol Beverage Control Act as it did not contravene the 253rd announcement of the NEC. The committee's resolution will be tabled before the cabinet tomorrow for a final decision.

I received my first deposit into the Direct Deposit account. Here is how it all worked: First, I have never received a direct deposit before 11:00am, Thailand time. I received the promised text message at 11:32am the day I was due to receive the deposit, which means the message must be sent out automatically and immediately. The message tells you that a deposit has been made, how much you received in baht, the dollar amount that was deposited, the exchange rate you received, the source of the deposit, and the time of the deposit. I looked at my online bank account. Both the Direct Deposit account and my new savings account show up. Whether the Direct Deposit account will continue to show up, I don't know. I had understood there is no access to it via online banking, but at least for now, there it is and the balance shown is current. I did try to do an online transfer from the Direct Deposit account to my savings account, but as I expected they don't let you do that. Passport and both bank account passbooks in hand, I was off to the bank. I was lucky. When I arrived at the bank there was only one person ahead of me, waiting for the bank teller. When it was my turn I simply told the teller how much I wanted to withdraw from the Direct Deposit account in cash and how much to transfer to my savings account. There were no problems. By the time they make a copy of your passport and get you to sign the documents they require, it takes somewhere between five and ten minutes to complete the transaction, but it was painless. Despite the inconvenience of physically having to go to the bank, it did work out just fine with no problems at all. It really was no more difficult than going to an ATM to withdraw cash, so I guess there's really not all that much to complain about.

This story is a true heart-warmer. It's amazing that the firefighter was able to somehow come up with a costume quickly enough to rescue the boy. I hope he is rewarded not only for saving the boy, but for his quick thinking to be able to rescue a boy who was delighted by the Spider Man outfit instead of having to attempt to rescue a boy who might otherwise have been panicking.

Thai 'Spider-Man' Rescues Autistic Boy BANGKOK (AFP) A Thai fireman turned superhero when he dressed up as comic-book character Spider-Man to coax a frightened eight-year-old from a balcony, police said Tuesday. Teachers at a special needs school in Bangkok alerted authorities on Monday when an autistic pupil, scared of attending his first day at school, sat out on the third-floor ledge and refused to come inside, a police sergeant told AFP. Despite teachers' efforts to beckon the boy inside, he refused to budge until his mother mentioned her son's love of superheroes, prompting fireman Sonchai Yoosabai to take a novel approach to the problem. The rescuer dashed back to his fire station and made a quick change into a Spider-Man costume before returning to the boy, he said. "I told him Spider-Man is here to rescue you, no monsters are going to attack you and I told him to walk slowly towards me as running could be dangerous," Somchai told local television. The young boy immediately stood up and walked into his rescuer's arms, police said. Somchai said he keeps the Spider-Man costume and an outfit of Japanese television character Ultraman at the station in order to liven up school fire drills.

They don't really tell you all that much on their site as to what the difference is. From what I see, with 'plus' you automatically get to see any "X" rated pics if people put them on their profiles, instead of having to ask for them. You can store many more messages, favorites, searches etc. It seems to give further access to the "X" pictures and increases the amount of storage you get. Other than that, I don't see much of a significant difference. I guess more is better.

When you go out with him, ask him if they're going to start arresting farang for being in a bar where under-age boys are employed . . .

Next time, the least you could do is fill us in on the details . . .

Are you a member of Gay Romeo or the former Guys4Men? If you are, you just received a free 3-month upgrade to their "PLUS" subscription. If you haven't seen it already, then next time you log on to Gay Romeo you'll get a message telling you the following: http://www.gayromeo.com _____ Recently Guys4Men & GayRomeo joined forces. This means there are now many new users in your country. To get all the former Guys4Men users off to a good start we gave each of them a free GayRomeo PLUS subscription. Naturally, we don't want our own users to feel left out. Therefore today we have given you a 3 month PLUS subscription for free! New registrations also benefit. Everyone in your country who registers a profile before 30th May will get 3 months PLUS for free! The PLUS subscription will be activated automatically at the time of registration. So if you would like to invite your friends to join GayRomeo, now is the perfect time :-) We'll be very happy if you do. After all, word of mouth is still the best kind of publicity. All our users benefit, you enjoy GayRomeo with your friends, and we can concentrate on further developments and improvements. Currently in development: - A new, more modern design - Local area search - Simplified navigation - A new version for mobile devices - Authenticity level of users displayed directly in the profile And many more improvements – big and small :-) We wish you a lot of fun on GayRomeo with your new PLUS subscription! Best regards, Mother and her GayRomeo Team Amsterdam

Soi10Tom, I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of merging your post with a topic about the same person that's been on this board since March 20. I didn't see a need to run two separate topics about the same incident. Also, please everyone include the source of news articles when posting. The one Soi10Tom posted is: http://www.pattayamail.com/current/news.shtml#hd11

The following appears in the PATTAYA DAILY NEWS: _____ BRIT PAEDOPHILES FINALLY DEPORTED TO UK As an update to the report on PDN on March 12, about the two convicted British paedophiles, Peter Brian Neilson from Sheffield and Thomas Charles Hadley from Petersfield, Hampshire, we are pleased to announce that these two offenders were deported to the UK, on March 25, following their arrest in Pattaya on March 11, 2009. The two men were arrested by Pattaya police and the Immigration Office following the issuance of an arrest warrant by the UK's Child Exploitation and Protection Agency. The agency apparently has an international tracker team that attempts to keep tabs on convicted sex offenders who pose a risk to children, working both at home in the UK and also abroad. It was by their assiduous efforts in collaboration with Interpol and the Thai police that the two paedophiles were brought to justice. The two men have criminal records and have served prison sentences of 7 and 9 years, respectively, for abusing children in Britain. However, because their British offences occurred before the Sexual Offences Act was introduced in 2003, they avoided having to sign the Sex Offenders' Register and thus slipped off the radar. Having done so they were able to continue preying on children in both Thailand and Cambodia until they surfaced recently. Neilson even ran a website called ‘kids r us’ through which he made contact with vulnerable children. Comments on the website of a newspaper in Neilson’s home town, Sheffield, are apparently no happier about having to have him deported back home. One comment says” Why do we have to have them back here, leave them in a Thai prison to rot or leave them alone with parents for a while.” Other comments recommended dire treatment for the two. Meanwhile, two other British paedophiles , described as ‘child sex monsters’ and ‘sex fiends’ by the UK media are being sought in Thailand. The two are Keith Vincent, 65, from Salisbury, Wilts and Keith Richardson, 61 from Blackpool. Their names have been posted on a “most wanted” internet site by British police because all other attempts to track them down have resulted in failure. Vincent has the reputation of being a potential child killer despite having undergone sex offender treatment in prison. His two previous victims were girls aged 11 and 12 respectively. He is currently thought to be in Bangkok. Richardson, too, confessed “I am a danger to children.” Anyone having knowledge of the whereabouts of either of these two men is urged to contact the police.

The media seems to be stressing the possibility that the protesters may try to close Suvarnabhumi Airport again, in their efforts to oust the current "government of the month." Some government officials have also expressed concern. However, so far there has been no attempt to close or blockade the airport. Everything seems to happening around the Government House area. I have no idea whether the airport is actually in jeopardy or whether the concerns are nothing more than media hype. However, according to THE NATION, the number of protesters has reached somewhere between 30,000 to 40,000. 2000 police officers have been stationed at the airport in case of an attempt. I wonder, though, if being outnumbered by 20 to 1 would be of much help. Of course, if an airport seizure attempt is made, most likely a great many more police officers would be deployed. I have seen nothing in the media to indicate whether the military would play a role in this. All I can tell you is so far the airport is open, the roads leading to the airport are open and clear, and there has been no attempt to seize the airport. At this point, whether things will remain this way is anybody's guess. The following appears in THE NATION: _____ PRO-THAKSIN RALLY Govt 'to Avoid Clashes,' Protect Airport Published on March 27, 2009 Police and officials would exercise utmost restraint in dealing with red shirt protesters surrounding Government House, sources said yesterday. Meanwhile, some 2,000 people dressed in blue, consisting of police and troops plus health volunteers, gathered at a building at Suvarnabhumi yesterday in case an effort is made to seize the airport. The authorities would try their best to avoid clashes between protesters and security forces, sources said. Chief government whip Chinnaworn Boonyakiat said urged ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra to avoid causing further social division by improperly mentioning royal advisers in his phone-ins. Tens of thousands of pro-Thaksin protesters surrounded Government House yesterday and planned to camp there "until the government leaves office", rally leaders said. Thaksin phoned in shortly after 8pm last night. He said he would "tell it all" about his political enemies when he calls again tonight. Earlier, he claimed Privy Councillor and former PM General Surayud Chulanont and some top judges were behind the 2006 coup that overthrew his government. He also complained about "double standards" in politics. Thaksin, who said he was in an African country, spoke for just about 10 minutes in a link that sounded scratchy. Jatuporn Phrompan, an MP from the opposition Pheu Thai Party and one of the protest leaders, said Thaksin would address supporters every night for half an hour via a video-link system. He said the rally and Thaksin's phone-ins would continue until the government leaves office. He claimed broadcast signals of the pro-Thaksin D Station satellite TV were being obstructed. Government sources said most protesters came from Bangkok and surrounding areas. Provincial authorities admitted they had failed to block red shirts from their provinces. Deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban earlier threatened action against governors and police chiefs who failed to block protesters from their provinces, the sources said. Interior Minister Chaovarat Chanweerakul described the protest as worrying. He said a report estimated the crowd had surged to about 30,000. Chaovarat could not predict how long it would last. He said police were closely monitoring the rally after threats to protest at other government agencies, including the new airport.

In both areas, depending on the bar and whether it is a go-go bar or beer bar, the average price is about 100 baht, give or take about 10 to 20 baht.

Rather than reprint the latest developments here, I suggest clicking the following link for information and photos: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/1...rt-rally-begins There is also some ominous news. Several government officials have expressed serious concern that the Red Shirts may attempt yet another takeover of Suvarnabhumi Airport. The powers-that-be have been saying they will do everything they can do to prevent that from happening again if an attempt is made, but the numbers of protesters have now surged to over 30,000. If they attempt an airport takeover, stopping 30,000 protesters may prove to be quite difficult to do, especially if violence is to be avoided. All we can do is sit back and wait to see what will happen. My personal opinion is that whatever happens depends primarily on who has the military backing.

Oh well, obviously I don't know everything. I had no idea.

I don't know. They get millions to come and millions to go. That seems pretty bright to me.

Damn! Too late for me.

Actually, the markup on a soft drink is probably much more than the markup on an alcoholic drink. Observe for yourself next time you buy a drink for a boy. In most bars the boy gets a 20 baht tip from the bar when he orders a soft drink. If he orders an alcoholic drink he gets nothing.

I was with a close friend one evening and he actually did that. He asked the boy to show his ID card. The boy disappeared momentarily to get it. As soon as the boy proudly handed it over, Geezer asked him his birth date. The boy had no idea. End of off . . . I also didn't know that Thais can't get ID cards until they are 15. That's definitely interesting.

It wasn't quite as often as that, but just for the record I did point that out in an earlier post on this thread:

Why don't you tell us how you really feel? I hate to break the news, but my post was in response to Laurence's post, not yours. I used what you had written as an example of needless fear and it is needless fear. Your diatribe has absolutely nothing to do with the reality here, no matter how many paragraphs you write. Write a book for all I care. I'm sorry if it upsets you, but I stand firm by what I've said . . . conjuring up scenarios that don't exist, have never existed, and without evidence of any kind that they ever will exist is my idea of bullshit and remains my idea of bullshit. As I said, until any of these scenarios actually happen, then you are trying to convince people, and apparently yourself, to fear probabilities and possibilities that don't exist. You call me naive. Ok, since you have labeled me as such, then I hope you don't mind me countering by labeling you as paranoid. There is no justification for your position other than what you are making up with no evidence whatsoever that any of the things you say could happen, will happen. I, on the other hand, have the evidence of no such things ever having happened and so far nothing has occurred to suggest they ever will happen. If that makes me naive, then I'm naive. The way I see it, trying to convince people not to go to the bars at which under-age boys are employed because the police may, after all these years, start arresting farang for being in there is no different from advising people to avoid Phuket because a tsunami occurred there. Actually that advice would make more sense. At least that advice would be based on something that has actually happened. That's a little different from the fears about going to certain bars, considering that nothing has ever happened. You wrote ". . . a sudden change of future policy towards the customers or patrons of bars engaging in employment of underage boys............ " What sudden change is that? What has changed? Have you heard about any farang being arrested while patronizing a bar? I haven't. Have you seen so much as one news article that says the authorities intend to start cracking down on farang patronizing bars at which under-age boys are employed? If you have, please share it with us. I missed it. Can you cite so much as one law, regulation, city ordinance, or anything at all that says it's illegal for a farang to be in a bar at which under-age boys are employed? Has there been even a suggestion by the police or authorities not to patronize those bars? I missed that too. If you truly believe that the picture you paint is going to happen, then the solution for you is very simple: Don't go to the bars. That's all you have to do. Then you won't have anything to worry about, will you?

The following appears in THE NATION: _____ About 35,000 Protesters Expected to Rally Today Coalition politicians and security advisers braced themselves yesterday for the red shirts' mass rally starting today in the capital that is viewed as setting the stage for an "all-out battle" to force the government out of office. Sources from the administration and security agencies estimate that 25,000 to 35,000 protesters would gather at Government House. If this final push fails to bring about any significant political change, the government would stay in power for a long time, the sources said. Some 5,000 to 6,000 supporters from the provinces would be brought by MPs belonging to the opposition Pheu Thai Party and 15,000 would come from Bangkok alone, according to estimates. Others would join the rally as detractors of the government, the ruling Democrat Party and the People's Alliance for Democracy, or simply as observers, the sources said. Authorities will not allow demonstrators to enter the Government House compound or any state agency, the sources said. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban ordered security at Government House to be beefed up. Military officers were seen congregating inside the compound as plans were laid to prevent the mob from gaining access. Leaders of the red shirts said the protesters would gather at Sanam Luang in the morning and proceed to Government House sometime before noon. Nattawut Saikua, a Pheu Thai politician and one of the protest leaders, said the red shirts would surround Government House and set up a stage for a long siege there. However, government sources said the protesters were expected to disperse by Sunday to make way for the opening of the annual Red-Cross Fair nearby, with HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presiding. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he would be absent from his office in Government House as he would be busy all day attending meetings at Parliament. He reminded the protesters to abide by the law. Any attempt to blockade or occupy Government House would not be tolerated, he said. Deputy Premier Suthep said the special Bt1-billion budget for Internal Security Operations Command projects would be used to dilute anti-government protests. Suthep, who is in charge of security affairs, said that since the country was facing a serious political divide, the funds would be spent to boost loyalty to the monarch among the people and pre-empt lese majeste cases that could destabilise the country. Isoc would also use the project funds to tackle economic problems in line with His Majesty the King's principle of sufficiency economy, which was the best way to cope with the country's recession, he added.

Something is really wrong when many are struggling just to make ends meet and then they see their tax dollars, dollars that were supposed to rescue the industry, go directly into the pockets of executives who were enormously wealthy in the first place. Liddy may have made his case, but I work for my money. My money is for me. It sure as hell isn't for those people. If it wasn't for the lying, cheating, price gouging, cover-ups, wasteful and unnecessary spending, and lord-knows-what else, our taxes would probably be able to be cut at least in half. To paraphrase John Houseman, let them make their money the old fashioned way; by earning it.

I don't understand what you mean by 'player man.' What are you talking about?

My cousin bought a bridge in Brooklyn once. Unfortunately it was a bridge made by a dentist.

The following statement appears on the Gay Romeo web site ( http://www.gayromeo.com ): _____ There are various reasons why Guys4Men was our dream partner. Their objectives, concepts and ideas were very similar to ours. Moreover most of their users are from countries where we have not been strongly represented – e.g. Philippines, USA, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa & Australia. At the moment there will be no changes to GayRomeo itself – except that it will be easier to get in touch with gay guys all around the world. After all, the bonds which unite us are stronger than the differences that divide us - like our different time zones for instance. Now we’ll be able to use our servers more evenly throughout the day and night. And in the long term our combined forces mean we’ll be able to develop our community much faster and better than before Best wishes, Mother and her GayRomeo Team