TotallyOz

I am not breaking up with my beloved. He and I get along great when I am out of LOS. However, my best friend in USA just broke up with his BF and is having a hard time. How do you recover from a bad break-up? The proverbial pint of ice cream? Quality time alone? Going out with friends? Getting laid? Going to the bars? What are your personal healing strategies?

SAN FRANCISCO — Lawyers arguing a landmark federal case involving California's same-sex marriage ban made their final arguments Wednesday, with supporters describing matrimony as an institution intended to promote childbearing and opponents saying the U.S. Supreme Court had recognized it as a fundamental right. Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson delivered the closing argument for the two, same-sex couples who sued to overturn voter-approved Proposition 8, claiming it violated their civil rights. He told Chief U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker that tradition or fears of harm to heterosexual unions were legally insufficient grounds to discriminate against gay couples. "'We have always done it that way' is a corollary to 'Because I say so.' It's not a reason," Olson said at the start of the five-hour hearing. "You can't have constitutional discrimination in public schools because you have always done it that way." Former U.S. Justice Department lawyer Charles Cooper, who represents religious and conservative groups that sponsored the 2008 ballot measure, countered that cultures around the world, previous courts and Congress all accepted the "common sense beli ef that children do best when they are raised by their own mother and father." "The plaintiffs say there is no way to understand why anyone would support Proposition 8, would support the traditional definition of marriage, except through some irrational or dark motivation," Cooper said. "That is not just a slur on the 7 million Californians who supported Proposition 8, it's a slur on the 70 out of 108 judges who have upheld the decision as rational." Walker is being asked to strike down the ballot measure that banned same-sex marriages in California five months after the state's highest court legalized the practice and after an estimated 18,000 couples from around the nation had tied the knot. The judge heard 12 days of testimony in January, but closing arguments were delayed until Wednesday to give Walker time to review the evidence and because of a skirmish between lawyers about putting additional material from the 2008 campaign into the trial record. Walker did not indicate when he might make his ruling in the trial, the first in federal court to examine if states can prohibit gays from getting married. Whatever the judge does will be almost surely be reviewed by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and could land before the Supreme Court. Olson invoked the high court often during his closing argument, stressing that it has afforded prisoners serving life sentences and child support scofflaws the right to marry and refused to make procreation a precondition of marriage, as evidenced by laws allowing divorces and contraception. "It is the right of individuals, not an indulgence to be dispensed by the state," Olson said. "The right to marry, to choose to marry, has never been tied to procreation." Judge Walker pressed Olson on that point, noting Proposition 8 supporters have gone to some lengths to argue that gays and lesbians only can have children with help from a third party, unlike opposite-sex couples. "That is a difference," Walker said. "And why is that difference not one the Legislature or voters could rationally take into account in setting the marriage laws in California?" Olson said that argument would only work from a constitutional standpoint if the ban's backers had proven that allowing gays to wed was a threat to heterosexual relationships, a requirement Olson said had not been met. "You would have to explain or make some statement that allowing these other individuals we represent here today to engage in the institution of marriage would somehow stop people from getting married ... or cause them to get divorced," he said. Cooper used his closing argument to try to persuade the judge that it was up to the plaintiffs to prove that voters lacked justification for outlawing same-sex marriage, even if they acted only out of fear of the unknown. He urged Walker to sidestep the "judicial tsunami they are asking you to sail into." "The plaintiffs have to negate every conceivable rational basis that might explain the policy at issue," he said. Cooper's repeated efforts to use the procreative abilities of opposite-sex couples as the rationale for Proposition 8 drew a series of challenges from Walker. The judge asked if similar arguments were once used to keep interracial couples from marrying, and if procreation was so central to marriage, why didn't the state refuse to sanction marriage by infertile couples or couples who choose to remain childless? "It is Orwellian, but isn't that the logic that flows from the premise that marriage is about procreation?" Walker asked. Cooper answered that it would be impractical for governments to test couples to see if they were capable of having children before they marry or to require those that were capable to sign pledges that they would have children. With respect to laws that banned interracial marriage, Cooper said, "those racist sentiments and policies had no foundation in the historical purpose of marriage, and in fact they were at war with it." During Olson's rebuttal, the judge seemed to wrestle with whether he should declare Proposition 8 unconstitutional when public opinion appears to be moving toward accepting same-sex marriage, which is legal in five states and the District of Columbia. A premature judicial edict, Walker said, could harden public opinion in the same way as the high court's 1973 decision legalizing abortion. When the Supreme Court invalidated interracial marriage bans in Virginia and 14 other states in 1967, "there was already a tide running, a political tide with respect to interracial marriage," Walker said. "Do we have a political tide here that is going to carry the Supreme Court?" "Your honor, there is a political tide running. And I think that people's eyes are being opened," Olson answered. "But that doesn't justify a judge in a court to say, 'I really need the polls to be just a few more points higher. I need somebody to go out and take the temperature of the American public before I can break down this barrier and change this discrimination." http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hOiMLmsztmiGlNvjNLQLw4N41h1QD9GCNNJG0

"She Loves It When You Poke Her Face" “When it comes to gag factor, Lady Gag Gag’s got it,” says Kevin Johnson, Marketing Manager of Pipedream Products. “This is going to be one of those boxes people are going to collect and display proudly for friends to come over and talk about. We definitely recommend everyone stock up because she is going to sell out fast!” http://www.pipedreamproducts.com/email/060110-Press-Release/060110-Press-Release.html

The BF wanted to be sure I paid UBC when I was away from Thailand. Why? The World Cup of course. He had not touched the TV in 3 months. But, now he wants to watch all the games late at night with his friends. When the UBC bill came, he SMS me to make sure I knew there was a bill that needed to be paid. I found this poll on live journal and thought it was great.

Has someone you loved and respected ever done something you consider despicable? If so, how did you deal with it? Did you try to forgive them? Did it permanently change your feelings for them?

If you could only visit one website for the rest of your life, what would it be? Me: I choose BBC

Perez Hilton posted a photo of Miley Cyrus on his Twitter. It was her getting out of a car without panties. Her pussy was showing. The problem. She is 17. Thus, Perez is in hot water. Miley has said she is very comfortable with her body and wants to show it off. Personally, I think Miley is stupid for this and her parents should have been in charge of the situation. However, she is almost 18 and I don't think Perez really thought about the consequences of the photo before it appeared. Do you think Perez should get charged? The photographer? Or, is this even a big deal?

I am currently in the USA on business, pleasure and family time. I have been in hotels for a bit and have had issues with Firefox on my Mac. Does anyone else use these with no trouble? If so, I think it may be a provider issue. Thanks.

OK. Silly question I know. My beloved is going away to be a Monk for his mother's good luck. He will be gone for one month. He says that the cost will be over 25k baht. Is this accurate? A complete fabrication? He said that I can hand the money to the monk myself. LOL But, I still have a VERY hard time understanding why anyone would pay to be a monk for a month. Anyone gone through this?

The season finale to Breaking Bad was fantastic! Can't wait for next season.

(Reuters) - Iceland, the only country in the world to have an openly gay head of state, passed a law on Friday allowing same-sex partners to get married in a vote which met with no political resistance. The Althingi parliament voted 49 to zero to change the wording of marriage legislation to include matrimony between "man and man, woman and woman," in addition to unions between men and women. Iceland, a socially tolerant island nation of about 320,000 people, became the first country to elect an openly gay head of state in 2009 when Social Democrat Johanna Sigurdardottir became prime minister after being nominated by her party. "The attitude in Iceland is fairly pragmatic," said Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a political scientist at the University of Iceland. "It (gay marriage) has not been a big issue in national politics -- it's not been controversial." The prime minister's sexual orientation garnered far more interest among foreign media than in Iceland, where the attitude toward homosexuality has grown increasingly relaxed in the past two or three decades, Kristinsson added. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65A3V020100611 Iceland's protestant church has yet to decide whether to allow same-sex marriages in church, although the law says "ministers will always be free to perform (gay) marriage ceremonies, but never obliged to." The largely protestant countries of northern Europe, including Sweden, Norway and Denmark, have all endorsed some form of civil union between same-sex couples, but the issue creates more controversy in Mediterranean Catholic nations. In the United States, gay marriage remains a frought political issue, with laws varying widely from state to state. Vermont was the first state to allow same-sex civil unions in 1999, followed by Massachusetts and Connecticut and others

Tony Award show host Sean Hayes had implied in a press call last week that he might make a nod to the Newsweek article that said he wasn't convincing as a straight man in his Broadway show Promises, Promises. And last night night during the Tony show he did. He didn't say anything, he planted a big wet kiss on his play co-star Kristin Chenoweth. "I know what you thinking," he said afterward. "She's too short for me." A photo doesn't really do it justice. Here's video: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2010/06/sean-hayes-makes-out-with-kristin-chenoweth-at-tony-awards/1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdAPagwN55U&feature=player_embedded

Tony Award show host Sean Hayes had implied in a press call last week that he might make a nod to the Newsweek article that said he wasn't convincing as a straight man in his Broadway show Promises, Promises. And last night night during the Tony show he did. He didn't say anything, he planted a big wet kiss on his play co-star Kristin Chenoweth. "I know what you thinking," he said afterward. "She's too short for me." A photo doesn't really do it justice. Here's video: Sean Hayes makes out with Kristin Chenoweth at Tony Awards - USATODAY.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdAPagwN55U&feature=player_embedded

I am absolutely positively amazed at all the talent you find. I have yet to meet someone that seems to find so many hot guys. And, on top of that, you always get me yearning and longing for a return visit to Brazil. Thank you!

I am a VERY regular person to get the extra screening at airports when returning from abroad and especially Thailand. Today was no exception. I was sent for the extra screening and they searched everything I own (typical and they have never found anything inappropriate). But, today for the first time the guy asked me to turn my hand over and he felt my pulse and measured my heart rate while he was asking questions. I was stunned. I didn't know what to say or do. I answered all his questions as truthfully as I could. He asked if I went to Thailand to visit ladies, did I have a girl living with me, etc etc. It seems after 50 or more extra searches and me talking about the BF and even them asking for his photo in the past that they would have it written down. But, they were asking me about ladies. Flattered I looked straight and not flamboyant but also wondered if they knew something I didn't. I wonder if my future is to be with ladies? Am I not gay? I am dazed and confused and after a few nights of sleep I'll reflect back on the cute TSA guy holding my hand and my pulse.

Spent a few hours in Boyztown last night. Had drinks in 3 bars. Wild West still has the best deal for 98 baht per drink before the show starts. IMHO, this is the best deal in Pattaya. Wild West has some cute guys and other than Funny Boys had the most on stage. There was on hottie that I would have been happy to spend time with. Funny Boys always is great. One of the best run bars in Thailand IMHO. Great atmosphere. Great ambiance. Great staff. Music is right level. It is clean and comfortable. Also went to one other bar and as it looked like the left overs from the streets, I'll not comment on it. Needless to say, you can go on any given night and you may find a stunner in any of the bars. Or, you may go on a night like last night and end up walking home alone. Amor was empty every time I went by. No one was there at all. Many of the bars seemed like a ghost town. Come one guys, lets get out and drink some booze to support the bars!

Does anyone use online banking to pay for their Electricity and Water bills online? K Bank?

The street riots which culminated with the arson of Bangkok's central business district have been put down as inevitable. Both the ragtag red shirts' perpetrators of violence and the more organised armed "men in black" were no match for a uniformed army supported by armoured columns in the end. The 70-odd death toll so far from the Ratchaprasong-centred protests over the last two months exceeds each of the previous crises - the entwined Octobers of 1973 and 1976 and the straightforward pro-democracy uprising in May 1992. On the other hand, the arson attacks have set back the Bangkok-concentrated capitalist boom by at least a decade. The symbolic damage could be more costly as the knock-on effects on tourism and investment come to the fore. While all stakeholders assess the mounting costs, several troubling questions warrant clarity in the days during the immediate aftermath of the Ratchaprasong rage and rampage. First, had the various peace overtures run their course? On the eve of the crackdown, a senate-sponsored peace deal appeared in the works. Leading senators were shown on state-run and army-owned television stations in discussion with the leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship. Perhaps the UDD hardliners hijacked and vetoed the negotiations. Perhaps convicted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra told the UDD hardliners loyal to him to pull the plug. Perhaps the rank-and-file protesters at Ratchaprasong were intransigent to any deal, having been indoctrinated day in and day out on the stage rhetoric of social injustice and al leged murders of their fellow demonstrators from the April 10 clash. But it was clear that the UDD moderates were intent on standing down. Might more time allotted to them for persuasion of their crowds and bargaining with their opposing hardliners have helped bring a peaceful way out? And the failures of earlier olive branches need to be explained. What happened to the promising negotiations brokered by Bangkok Governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra? Was it scuttled by the Thaksin hardliners, rejected by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, or both? Mr Abhisit came up with a five-point peace proposal with a concrete election timetable for November polls just two weeks before street riots spiralled out of control. This proposal was accepted by the UDD with the additional condition that Deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban turn himself in to police to own up to the civilian deaths on April 10. Why did Mr Suthep surrender to the Department of Special Investigations instead of to the police when he was certain to be freed because no charges had been filed against him? Such gamesmanship and leveraging between the two sides have incurred sombre costs in the streets of Bangkok. And why did PM Abhisit withdraw his peace offer and election timetable if he was intent on finding a peaceful exit out of the brinkmanship? This reversal may have strengthened the hand of UDD hardliners and tipped the balance among the UDD leadership towards a more violent outcome. Second, should the Abhisit government preside over what its finance minister calls a "healing process" when it has been party to the conflict and is culpable for the dead and injured? Early government noises suggest more pacification policies and campaigns to placate the reds in the countryside. But we have been here before. After the Songkran riots in April 2009, Mr Abhisit pledged reconciliation and reform. The consequent recommendations for con stitutional amendments came to naught. Further antagonism and alienation of the reds have partly brought on the Ratchaprasong protests. He and his government had the entire year in 2009 to bridge the divide and bring the red shirts on side, but the result has been the opposite. What can the Abhisit government do this time that they did not do after the reds' rioted in April 2009? Third, what now happens to the reds? Having been forcefully dispersed and roundly condemned for the burning of Bangkok, will the rank-and-file reds simp ly go home and sit quietly? For the reds, nothing has changed. They rioted then and now in April 2009 and May 2010. Their grievances remain unaddressed. What they see as injustice, including their systematic disenfranchisement through the judicial dissolutions of their poll-winning parties not once but twice, the banning of their politicians, and the street-based ouster of their elected governments in 2008, persists. Will these claims of injustice be accommodated by the pro-Abhisit coalition? If not, will the reds come to Bangkok in rage again? Or will they resort to underground activities, including an overtly armed insurgency, and establish their own Thailand away from Bangkok in enclaves of the North and Northeast? Finally, will the arson and looting of the capital be condemned as vehemently in the North and Northeast as in Bangkok? Will the net effect from the protest and crackdown further divide or begin to reconcile Thai society? More questions will emerge while answers will be hard to come by. Picking up the pieces from the last two months will be arduous, and this is all just a beginning. In the eyes of Bangkokians, the reds are disgraced yet again. But the reds may not care because they no longer accept the Thai state such as it is and the political system it upholds, because the system is seen as rigged and stacked against them. The onus rests squarely now on the Abhisit government to bring the reds back into the fold beyond Thaksin. Lumping all the reds under Thaksin's long and manipulative tentacles has been a mistake all along. Accommodating the rank-and-file reds and working with their more moderate leaders, including some of the banned politicians from 2007, may offer a way to bypass Thaksin. If Mr Abhisit is too compromised and tainted for this task, he should consider his position and make a personal sacrifice to enable others to be put in place for the healing to take place. Troubling questions after Operation Ratchaprasong

A good start to the Elite vs Poor issues that were the cause of the past months would be for the current government that has been appointed by those in power to actually take advantage of the time they have before a new government is actually elected by the people. They have a rare opportunity to step up to the plate and show the country that they do care for those that don't have the massive amounts of money. My suggestions are below. Any others? 1. I think the elderly get 500 baht per month. I would suggest raising this number. How about raising it to an actual amount that one could live on realistically? 2. Give the rice farmers an increase in the subsidies they are paid. 3. Take some of the land the government has seized or taken control of in the north and give it to the people by lottery. 4. Ensure that every student can afford to go to school as long as they have the grades and the desire. 5. Raise the minimum wage.

I was reading BBC and came across this. It really does make you wonder about the power of a few over an entire nation. Texas schools to get controversial syllabus Education officials in the US state of Texas have adopted new guidelines to the school curriculum which critics say will politicise teaching. The changes include teaching that the United Nations could be a threat to American freedom, and that the Founding Fathers may not have intended a complete separation of church and state. Critics say the changes are ideological and distort history, but proponents argue they are redressing a long-standing liberal bias in education. Analysts say Texas, with five million schoolchildren, wields substantial influence on school curriculums across the US. The BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani in Los Angeles says publishers of texbooks used nationally often print what Texas wants to teach. Jefferson out Students in Texas will now be taught the benefits of US free-market economics and how government taxation can harm economic progress. They will study how American ideals benefit the world bu organisations like the UN could be a threat to personal freedom. And Thomas Jefferson has been dropped from a list of enlightenment thinkers in the world-history curriculum, despite being one of the Founding Fathers who is credited with developing the idea that church and state should be separate. The doctrine has become a cornerstone of US government, but some religious groups and some members of the Texas Education Board disagree, our correspondent says. The board, which is dominated by Christian conservatives, voted nine-to-five in favour of adopting the new curriculum for both primary and secondary schools. But during the discussions some of the most controversial ideas were dropped - including a proposal to refer to the slave trade as the "Atlantic triangular trade". Opponents of the changes worry that textbooks sold in other states will be written to comply with the new Texas standards, meaning that the alterations could have an impact on curriculums nationwide. BBC News - Texas schools to get controversial syllabus

Going out tonight to Sunee, I saw the Central was closed but Tuk Com looked open. The bars along the road to Sunee were sporadically open. Some were closed and had signs, most appeared to be to try to open. In Sunee, there was a nice crowd in the beer bars. All the Beer Bars seemed to be open. The GoGo bars were open around 6. Most were not full staff but they were open. Nice Boys, Good Boys, Euro and Mic My all had staff. None were dancing at 5 but most were starting at 6. Good Boys was the latest of the group to get the boys in. Most of the beer bars looked like they had customers. Crazy Dragon was not open and no one around at all. I did not get to see any bars other than the above.

Thai authorities on Thursday imposed a curfew for three more nights in Bangkok and 23 other provinces to quell conflict in the aftermath of an army offensive against anti-government protesters. A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva "agreed to impose the curfew to better secure the area and curtail their activities", said Dithaporn Sasasmit, spokesman for the army-run Internal Security Operation Command. A curfew was ordered in Bangkok and 23 provinces Wednesday night between 8pm and 6am to control looting and arson that broke out after the deadly campaign to close down the "Red Shirts" six-week occupation of central Bangkok. However, the new curfew would be shortened to between 9pm and 5am, Dithaporn said, "to lessen the effect on the public". - AFP Channel NewsAsia - Thailand imposes curfew for 3 more nights - channelnewsasia.com

Thailand's capital Bangkok remains tense after a night under curfew, following a deadly army assault on anti-government protesters. Gunshots were heard early on Thursday near a temple where many red-shirt protesters had sought shelter. Some 27 buildings had been set ablaze after protest leaders surrendered, and pockets of resistance remain. Some 40 people had died since troops ringed the protesters last week, with at least 14 more deaths on Wednesday. Reuters news agency quoted a spokesman for Bangkok's governor as saying there were 31 fires on Thursday morning. There are fears that Central World, one of South-East Asia's biggest shopping centres, could collapse after it was set ablaze by the protesters, Thai police officials were quoted as saying by AFP. Buses were running in the capital on Thursday morning and TV channels continued to show approved programmes. At least six people died on Wednesday during the army crackdown on the protesters' fortified camp in the Lumpini Park area of central Bangkok. However, witnesses and police now say that at least eight more people were killed in the temple inside the protesters' site after the army assault. Thai authorities also imposed the overnight curfew in 21 provinces, after outbursts of unrest in some regions in the north-east - a red-shirt stronghold. In a televised address late on Wednesday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he was "confident and determined to end the problems and return the country to peace and order once again". Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister living in self-imposed exile whom many red-shirts support, warned that the crackdown could spawn mass discontent and lead to guerrilla warfare. 'Out of control' The curfew, the first imposed in Bangkok in 15 years, ran from 2000 to 0600 (1300 to 2300 GMT), and the government ordered television channels to broadcast only officially sanctioned programmes. I am confident and determined to end the problems and return the country to peace and order once again Thailand's deep divisions have been brutally exposed, our correspondent adds. There are reports of tension in the north and one group operating in the capital declared itself independent of the main protest movement and said it would continue fighting. In the north-east of the country, a town hall in Udon Thani was set on fire and another, at Khon Kaen, was wrecked. Violence was also reported in the northern city of Chiang Mai. In Bangkok, the main rally stage area was empty after the protest leaders' surrender. One protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, appealed to his supporters to "please return home". The leaders, labelled terrorists by the army, earlier urged supporters not to give up the fight for political change. Defiant protesters later attacked shops and property and masked men could be seen apparently looting. Protest leaders appealed to supporters to go home The US state department said it deplored the violence and urged restraint on both sides. EU parliamentary president Jerzy Buzek said national reconciliation was now "not simply an option, it is absolutely mandatory". Among the dead on Wednesday was an Italian photojournalist, while three other reporters, a Dutch person, an American and a Canadian, were among scores of people injured. The red-shirts had been protesting in Bangkok since 14 March, occupying the shopping district, forcing hotels and shops to close. But events took a deadly turn last week when the government moved to seal off the area and a renegade general who backed the protests was shot dead. The red-shirts are a loose coalition of left-wing activists, democracy campaigners and mainly rural supporters of Mr Thaksin. They are demanding fresh polls because they say the government - which came to power through a parliamentary deal rather than an election - is illegitimate. BBC News - Bangkok remains tense after night curfew

7-11 and everywhere is now closed in Pattaya. The BF had to get some cigarettes for himself and the many Thai boys now stuck for the night in our place. They had to pay 100 baht for them and that was after they were able to talk them down. I sent him to the ATM as someone said they would be closed next 2 days and I wanted to be sure I had some cash. He said there was a group of red shirts gathered out of Carrfour. I wonder if other prices are going to go high?

NY Times put together some photos and videos. Images of Unrest in Northern Thailand and Bangkok - The Lede Blog - NYTimes.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mftG2J0yT9Q&feature=player_embedded