Gaybutton

I'm glad you got to see the Bang Pa-In palace. That's one of the nicest stops in all of Thailand, in my opinion, and very well maintained. It's well worth a side trip for anyone visiting the Ayutthya area.

The following appears in PATTAYA ONE: _____ Frenchman Badly Hurt in Sunee Plaza Attack by Three Thai Men Just after 2.30 on Friday Morning, Police Lieutenant Colonel Prichar from Pattaya Police Station was called to the Bangkok Hospital Pattaya to investigate a serious assault on a French National. Mr. Damien Latoure aged 35 sustained multiple knife wounds to his head and other injuries consistent with a fist fight. He was in a serious condition and was unable to tell Police what happened. Witnesses explained that the incident occurred inside Soi Sunee Plaza, which is full of Boy Bars. The man was seen to walk alone and was approached by three Thai Men who set-upon the man and then left the scene. Police are now determining the motive behind the attack which remains a mystery at this time.

My apologies. I didn't have time this morning to post the opening rates, but here are the closing rates. I'm going to stop these posts for the time being. If the US dollar to baht exchange rate falls below 34 or looks as if it's going to get up into the 35's again, then I'll continue these posts on a new thread. Friday, December 19 CLOSING RATES: US Dollar: 34.26 Euro: 49.145 British Pound: 51.485 Australian Dollar: 23.2725 Canadian Dollar: 27.625

I have a feeling that the first significant group of tourists to start returning to Thailand will be the gays. Rising costs and all, Thailand is still quite inexpensive for gays seeking readily available boys. But I think the days of bargain basement prices for bars, booze, boys, and sex are over. If the gays want what Thailand has to offer, then they're going to have to spend more money to get it. I think raising prices is acceptable, within reasonable limits. I think some of the prices being reported in some of the Bangkok bars are outrageous. The bars charging that much won't get any of my business, they can rest assured of that. The tactics some bars are using are right up there on my "I Don't Get It" list. 250 baht for a glass of water? Not me, especially when I can go to plenty of other bars that charge reasonable prices. I have yet to ever see a bar at which the boys are so irresistible that I would willingly pay that kind of a price. Just why these same bars can't figure out that the way to run a successful business is to attract customers goes beyond me. The first thing I think they ought to do is put a stop to overly aggressive touts who try to literally pull customers into the bar. Any bar employing touts trying to do that to me, or blocking my path while they're insulting my intelligence with shouts of "have BOY, sexy BOY, new BOY, go-go BOY," or any of the other aggressive things they sometimes do, can forget all about my business. The second thing they can do is to charge reasonable, fair prices for drinks and off fees. Next they can get rid of the pushy mama-sans. I haven't met anyone yet who enjoys being high-pressured by a mama san. They can also lower the music volume to an acceptable level. The law says no more than 90 decibels. Very few bars are in compliance. They can also get their dancers to actually dance. Having their boys just standing there like narcissists, admiring themselves in the wall mirrors, or doing nothing more than the 'one-knee shuffle' is not my idea of a fun bar. So, if you happen to be a bar owner who is reading this, if you want my business then employing under-age boys so that I have to check IDs if I want to take one off, using aggressive touts who try to physically yank me into your place of business, watching go-go boys doing everything except go-go dancing while you're busy blasting my ear drums with uncomfortably and illegally high music volume, while being high-pressured by your pushy mama-sans, and paying 250 baht on up for a watered-down drink for the privilege, and paying you 300 to 400 baht to take a boy off, isn't exactly the way to get it. Not interested. I'll go to a bar where I am treated decently and can have an enjoyable time, while paying fair and reasonable prices. Your bar, if you're running it as described, can close down permanently tonight for all I care. You're not going to get my business or my support and I doubt you'll have many repeat customers. If the current economic crisis and lack of tourists drives bars like that out of business, I never thought I would find myself saying this, but as far as I'm concerned, good riddance.

Gay Leaders Furious with Obama Ben Smith, Nia-Malika Henderson Ben Smith, Nia-malika Henderson Wed Dec 17, 5:59 pm ET Barack Obama’s choice of a prominent evangelical minister to deliver the invocation at his inauguration is a conciliatory gesture toward social conservatives who opposed him in November, but it is drawing fierce challenges from a gay rights movement that – in the wake of a gay marriage ban in California – is looking for a fight. Rick Warren, the senior pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, opposes abortion rights but has taken more liberal stances on the government role in fighting poverty, and backed away from other evangelicals’ staunch support for economic conservatism. But it’s his support for the California constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage that drew the most heated criticism from Democrats Wednesday. “Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans,” the president of Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solomonese, wrote Obama Wednesday. “[W]e feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.” The rapid, angry reaction from a range of gay activists comes as the gay rights movement looks for an opportunity to flex its political muscle. Last summer gay groups complained, but were rebuffed by Obama, when an “ex-gay” singer led Obama’s rallies in South Carolina. And many were shocked last month when voters approved the California ban. “There is a lot of energy and there’s a lot of anger and I think people are wanting to direct it somewhere,” Solomonese told Politico. The selection of Warren to preside at the inauguration is not a surprise move, but it is a mirror image of President Bill Clinton’s early struggles with issues of gay rights. Obama has worked, and at times succeeded, to bridge the gap between Democrats and evangelical Christians, who form a solid section of the Republican base. Obama opposes same-sex marriage, but also opposed the California constitutional amendment Warren backed. In selecting Warren, he is choosing to reach out to conservatives on a hot-button social issue, at the cost of antagonizing gay voters who overwhelmingly supported him. Clinton, by contrast, drew early praise from gay rights activists by pressing to allow openly gay soldiers to serve, only to retreat into the “don’t ask, don’t tell” compromise that pleased few. The reaction Wednesday in gay rights circles was universally negative. “It’s a huge mistake,” said California gay rights activist Rick Jacobs, who chairs the state’s Courage Campaign. “He’s really the wrong person to lead the president into office. “Can you imagine if he had a man of God doing the invocation who had deliberately said that Jews are not going to be saved and therefore should be excluded from what’s going on in America? People would be up in arms,” he said. The editor of the Washington Blade, Kevin Naff, called the choice “Obama’s first big mistake.” “His presence on the inauguration stand is a slap in the faces of the millions of GLBT voters who so enthusiastically supported him,” Naff wrote, referring to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. “This tone-deafness to our concerns must not be tolerated. We have just endured eight years of endless assaults on our dignity and equality from a president beholden to bigoted conservative Christians. The election was supposed to have ended that era. It appears otherwise.” Other liberal groups chimed in. “Rick Warren gets plenty of attention through his books and media appearances. He doesn’t need or deserve this position of honor,” said the president of People for the American Way, Kathryn Kolbert, who described Warren as “someone who has in recent weeks actively promoted legalized discrimination and denigrated the lives and relationships of millions of Americans.” Warren’s spokeswoman did not respond to a message seeking comment, but he has tried to blend personal tolerance with doctrinal disapproval of homosexuality. “I have many gay friends, I’ve eaten dinner in gay homes. No church has probably done more for people with AIDS than Saddleback Church,” he said in a recent interview with BeliefNet. In the same interview, he compared the “redefiniton of a marrige” to include gay marriage to legitimizing incest, child abuse, and polygamy. Obama’s move may deepen some apparent distance between him among gays and lesbians, one of the very few core Democratic groups among whom his performance was worse than John Kerry’s in 2004. Exit polls suggested that John McCain won 27% of the gay vote in November, up four points from Bush’s 2004 tally – even as almost all other voters slid toward Obama. But despite the symbolism of picking Warren, Obama is likely to shift several substantive policy areas in directions that will please gay voters and their political leaders, including a pledge to end “don’t ask, don’t tell” in military service. And some gay activists were holding out hope that they would either persuade Obama to dump Warren or Warren to change his mind. “Rick Warren did a real disservice to gay families in California and across the country by casually supporting our continued exclusion from marriage,” said the founder of the pro-same sex marriage Freedom to Marry, Evan Wolfson. “I hope in the spirit of the new era that’s dawning, he will open his heart and speak to all Americans about inclusion and our country’s commitment to equality.”

I didn't know either. Is it a buffet or menu breakfast? How much does it cost?

Every year, Boyztown Pattaya hosts a Christmas Eve snowstorm. If you have a Thai gentleman with you, take him! The boys love it!!!

When I received the photos in the first post on this thread I didn't know who provided them. I now know they are courtesy of Gay Affairs. Many thanks, Gay Affairs. Be sure to visit the Gay Affairs web site at: http://www.gayaffairspattaya.com

I admire your courage. An injured hand, getting sick, and you are still pursuing this and still enjoying it. I don't know how you do it. What kinds of roads do you and the group travel, back roads? I can't picture you doing this on main highways and thoroughfares with all the crazies driving.

Thursday, December 18 OPENING RATES: US Dollar: 34.19 Euro: 49.235 British Pound: 52.99 Australian Dollar: 24.0175 Canadian Dollar: 28.5875 _____ CLOSING RATES: US Dollar: 34.16 Euro: 49.85 British Pound: 52.925 Australian Dollar: 24.055 Canadian Dollar: 28.6475

I thought some of you might like an update on this contest. The following posters, as of December 17, have exceeded 100 posts since the contest began: Steve1903 - 110 Pattayamale - 141 Laurence - 148 Lvdkeyes - 181 Fountainhall gets honorable mention with 99 posts. The leader of the pack is MonkeySee - 355 posts so far.

The following appears in the BANGKOK POST: _____ Airport Seizure: Never Again "We regret the incident and will not allow it to happen again," the newly elected prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told Thai tourism industry representatives. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (BangkokPost.com) - Newly elected Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Wednesday he was sorry for the damage done to the country by the week-long occupation of Bangkok's two airports. He spoke just hours before he received a royal proclamation which officially appointed him as the 27th Thai prime minister. The Tourism Council of Thailand said Wednesday that 3 million tourists will skip the country this winter, costing 109 billion baht and thousands of jobs. Council president Kongkrit Hiranyakit directly blamed seizure of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports, which stranded 350,000 foreign tourists in the country. "We regret the incident and will not allow it to happen again," the newly elected prime minister Mr Abhisit told Thai tourism industry representatives on Wednesday. During the airport closures Mr Abhisit stayed silent and did not condemn the action by the People's Alliance for Democracy. One of the PAD leaders is a member of his Democracy party, which now controls a majority in parliament. On Wednesday he defended the military for not intervening to clear the airport because the army had been put in a "difficult position". He did not elaborate. Mr Abhisit personally gave tacit support to the PAD when he showed up at the funeral of a PAD supporter killed during clashes with police outside parliament on Oct 7. He also visited injured PAD protesters. Tourism accounts for an estimated six per cent of the country's gross domestic product, and industry experts have warned that tourist numbers could fall by half next year - roughly seven million visitors - because of the damaging airport closures. "I am fully aware that the tourism sector was hit hard and it had an unreasonable loss of revenue," said Mr Abhisit. But he stopped short of promising government aid. Because of the severe damage to tourism, "Therefore I will create national unity and national reconciliation," he added. Hotel occupancy has already plummeted after tourists cancelled Thai trips, scared off by television images of trapped travellers sleeping on baggage trolleys and PAD guards with wooden stakes stationed at the airports. There was some help for the industry at hand, though. Southeast Asia's leading budget airline said on Tuesday it will give away 100,000 plane tickets as part of a regional marketing campaign to woo tourists to Thailand after that nation's political turmoil. AirAsia said it was working with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to send the message "it is now safe to travel back to the Land of Smiles." The airline said the free tickets would be good for travel to Bangkok from Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and China as well as for flights within Thailand. AirAsia was also offering another 400,000 sites to other destinations at its website, including free tickets out of Thailand to nearby tourist centres such as Bali and the airline's home country of Malaysia. Tickets can only be obtained at the AirAsia web site through Friday. They will be good for travel between Jan 6 and next March 31.

That's why they don't have any. They killed them all. Next week they start burning the books.

That's not true at all. Nothing personal, but I really get annoyed when people accuse me of being some sort of a control freak when the only time I ever control anything is when people come here and start posting in violation of the rules or when a thread starts getting out of hand, which as a moderator is exactly what I'm supposed to do. I already posted on this thread that nothing from our end prevents him from posting, did I not? He can post as often as he wishes and he knows it. I made a suggestion. It's his choice whether or not to go by that suggestion. I've never told him he can't post as many times as he wants or set any kind of limitation at all. What I did tell him was that the number of posts was annoying people, and it was. I received numerous complaints about it and I advised him, not demanded, that he cut down on the number of posts, which he did. I think four posts about it would do the trick. It would be enough so that people will know, but not so many that people would have room to complain. If you have a better suggestion, make it. If he prefers to follow your advice, fine with me.

If you send money, then to be certain I would suggest looking at their quote and then finding out how much your recipient actually received. Hopefully, the amounts will be the same.

Wednesday, December 17 OPENING RATES: US Dollar: 34.43 Euro: 48.34 British Pound: 53.605 Australian Dollar: 23.7425 Canadian Dollar: 28.4425 _____ OPENING RATES: US Dollar: 34.32 Euro: 48.265 British Pound: 52.98 Australian Dollar: 23.66 Canadian Dollar: 28.26

If you want a "magic number" then I would suggest four. One announcement on the same day you make your initial announcement on all the web sites. Two reminders along the way. One more announcement about a week before the production.

Videos available at: http://cbs4.com/local/Adam.Walsh.Abduction.2.888349.html _________ Fla. Police Close Books on '81 Walsh Killing AP- HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A serial killer who died more than a decade ago is the person who decapitated the 6-year-old son of "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh in 1981, police in Florida said Tuesday. The announcement brought to a close a case that has vexed the Walsh family for more than two decades, launched the television show about the nation's most notorious criminals and inspired changes in how authorities search for missing children. "Who could take a 6-year-old and murder and decapitate him? Who?" an emotional John Walsh said at Tuesday's news conference. "We needed to know. We needed to know. And today we know. The not knowing has been a torture, but that journey's over." Walsh's wife, Reve, at one point placed a small photo of their son on the podium. Police named Ottis Toole, saying he was long the prime suspect in the case and that they had conclusively linked him to the killing. They declined to be specific about their evidence and did not note any DNA proof of the crime, but said an extensive review of the case file pointed only to Toole, as John Walsh long contended. "Our agency has devoted an inordinate amount of time seeking leads to other potential perpetrators rather than emphasizing Ottis Toole as our primary suspect," said Hollywood Police Chief Chadwick Wagner, who launched a fresh review of the case after taking over the department last year. "Ottis Toole has continued to be our only real suspect." Toole had twice confessed to killing the child, but later recanted. He claimed responsibility for hundreds of murders, but police determined most of the confessions were lies. Toole's niece told the boy's father, John Walsh, her uncle confessed on his deathbed in prison that he killed Adam. Wagner acknowledged numerous missteps in the investigation and apologized to the Walshes. "I have no doubt," John Walsh said. "I've never had any doubt." Many names have been mentioned in connection to the case in the years since the killing, including serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, but Toole's has persistently nagged detectives. John Walsh has long said he believed the drifter was responsible, saying investigators found at Toole's home in Jacksonville a pair of green shorts and a sandal similar to what Adam was wearing. Toole died in prison of cirrhosis in 1996 at the age of 49. He was serving five life sentences for murders unrelated to Adam's death. The Walshes, who appeared Tuesday flanked by their other children, long ago derided the investigation as botched. Still, John Walsh praised the Hollywood police department for closing the case. "This is not to look back and point fingers, but it is to let it rest," he said. Adam Walsh went missing from a Hollywood mall on July 27, 1981. Fishermen discovered his severed head in a canal 120 miles away two weeks later. The rest of his body was never found. Authorities made a series of crucial errors, losing the bloodstained carpeting in Toole's car — preventing DNA testing — and the car itself. It was a week after the boy's disappearance before the FBI got involved. "So many mistakes were made," John Walsh said in 1997, upon the release of his book "Tears of Rage," which harshly criticized the Hollywood Police Department's work on the case. "It was shocking, inexcusable and heartbreaking." For all that went wrong in the probe, the case contributed to massive advances in police searches for missing youngsters and a notable shift in the view parents and children hold of the world. Adam's death, and his father's activism on his behalf, helped put faces on milk cartons, shopping bags and mailbox flyers, started fingerprinting programs and increased security at schools and stores. It spurred the creation of missing persons units at every large police department. "In 1981, when a child disappeared, you couldn't enter information about a child into the FBI database. You could enter information about stolen cars, stolen guns but not stolen children," said Ernie Allen, president of the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, co-founded by John Walsh. "Those things have all changed." The case also prompted national legislation to create a national database and toll-free line devoted to missing children, and led to the start of "America's Most Wanted," which brought those cases into millions of homes. What it also did, said Mount Holyoke College sociologist and criminologist Richard Moran, is make children and adults alike exponentially more afraid. "He ended up really producing a generation of cautious and afraid kids who view all adults and strangers as a threat to them and it made parents extremely paranoid about the safety of their children," Moran said.

You also have to factor in the exchange rate Western Union gives on the receiving Thai end. It's usually two to three baht lower than the bank rates.

It's a little more expensive to fly from U-Tapao, but the convenience of it and its proximity to Pattaya makes seeking flights to and from that airport my first choice. When you factor in the inconvenience of getting to either of the Bangkok airports, along with the higher cost if you use taxis rather than a bus, I think it's worth the price. Yes, it's more expensive for flights at U-Tapao, but not that much more. If there is a silver lining on the airport siege cloud, the fact that so many more people are now aware of the existence of U-Tapao might result in a few more airlines deciding to use that facility and more flights to popular destinations.

The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Red Shirts Being Mobilised for Siege By The Nation Published on December 17, 2008 Right from day one, the Democrat-led government faces a major obstacle to running the country, with thousands of pro-Thaksin "red-shirt" protesters being mobilised from 11 provinces in the North. Supporters of Pheu Thai are en route to Bangkok to lay siege to Parliament in a bid to stop the Abhisit government from announcing its policies - the same ordeal that the Somchai government went through with the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in October. Petcharawat Wattapong-sirikul, chairman of the Rak Chiang Mai 51, the red-shirt group that supports ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, decided to send protesters to Bangkok on a daily basis to rally against the Democrats' government. Some reportedly left their homes yesterday to join the rally in Sanam Luang.Meanwhile, the red-shirt group in Ubon Ratchathani has called for an "uprising" of Isaan people against MPs who betrayed Thaksin to rally against the new government. Theerapat Watcharapol, a radio anchorman led 500 protesters to rally on the streets of Ubon yesterday, damning the MPs who defected from Pheu Thai to the Democrats coalition as traitors. They accused the MPs of being selfish and betraying poor people who voted for them. The protesters gathered outside the house of Withoon Nambutr in Muang district and burnt an effigy of the MP. Ubon Ratchathani governor Chuan Sirinanporn urged people not to join Theerapat's movement, saying the country stood to loose if the people were divided. Former government spokesman Nattawut Saikua, a leader of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship, said the group would join red shirts across the country to protest against the new government but his group would resort to peaceful and legal ways to do it. "We will not lay siege to Parliament to prevent the House meeting," he said. He defended the red shirts who blocked MPs from leaving Parliament yesterday, and destroyed cars and injured some politicians after voting for the new PM, saying no leaders ordered the mob to behave that way but they were angry. Charan Distaapicha, a leader of the DAAD, said the group would organise rallies at Sanam Luang to protest against the change of government, which he said had been done unfairly with outside influence. The group would pressure the new government to amend the Constitution and take legal action against the PAD for its illegal occupation of Government House and closing the country's two main airports. He said the DAAD would not resort to violence in it protests, claiming violence occurred on Monday because the red-shirts did not have leaders to control them. He believed Prime Minister-elect Abhisit Vejjajiva would not survive the political storm and his government would be short-lived because he faced political pressure from both the PAD and the DAAD. He said the PAD made 13 demands the new government must meet and the DAAD had two. "This will show that the change of political camps will not solve the crisis facing the country," he said.

Not according to their president. They don't have any homosexuals there, remember?

I'll let the posters speak for themselves:

For that you'll need a forklift, six bellboys, and a truss . . .

Within the next few days I'm going to go over to the Ambiance and Le Café Royale and see for myself.