Bob

I'm with GB, Khor Tose, etc., on this issue. Some posters (here or other boards) have just railed against the US because it chooses to prosecute its own citizens who travel to other countries to have sex with persons under the age of 18. Those posters argue that the US has no business saying what anybody does in another country or that somehow it's wrong to intervene because it's legal to have sex with somebody under 18 in that other country. The US certainly has its issues (and makes a lot of mistakes both home and abroad) but the intent of this particular law is to prevent the sexual exploitation of minors. The US only enacted the law after years of inaction by other countries (the continual reporting of foreigners diddling kiddies in Southeast Asia does eventually have an effect). If the law only stops a few pedophiles, it's fine by me - it's about time somebody did something. It's fairly obvious to all of us that Thailand really doesn't give a rat's ass to seriously stop the problem (sorry, might as well call a spade a spade). And, as GB indicated, I'm not aware of a single prosecution under the law that involved a 16 or 17 year old (but, since the US has the right to make laws that apply to its own citizens, I wouldn't really care if they enforced it strictly). P.S. As to the prosecution of the so-called "Max Hardcore" [he's a 50-something year old who produces and stars in porn films where the big ticket item is to have his little (but legal-age) starlets dress up and act like pre-pubescent girls], I believe his prosecution and conviction rested mainly on other laws. In any event, from my point of view, he's a slimeball and gains no sympathy from me.

I suppose it's only fair that this guy gets any attention in Russia given the National Enquirer is still one of the highest sold "newspapers" here in the US. We all have our idiots.

In a sense, yes. Most (if not all?) viruses enter through the bloodstream and an open cut is an open invitation for the virus. I've too read as Khortose said that the HIV virus doesn't live long outside the body although I'd guess it'd live longer in your mouth (a warm and moist place) than it would elsewhere. However long it lives, you don't want it to come into contact with your bloodstream. I've always understood that the cold virus enters our bodies through cracked nasal/sinus cavaties (bloodsource) so, while it may be difficult for the HIV virus to enter our bodies through our mouths, it would seem logical that you'd increase the risk if you had or created an open sore in your mouth. Maybe reading this PDF file from the CDC will help: Oral Sex & HIV

The US started using GITMO in 1903 under a lease arrangement with Cuba. In 1934, the two countries signed a treaty that provides for the continued use by the US, an annual lease payment (not much), and a provision that the lease could never be terminated unless it was consented to by both the Cuban and US governments. Hardly "occupied" territory.

Hmmm....I'm wondering if you're the guy that was in Vietnam when the newspaper article "Drooping Dong" was published....

Think about it.....brushing your teeth involves minor abrasions and tears to your gums, thus leaving an opening for viruses present.

Only sad for those Republicans who feel they cannot speak up against the right-wing elements of their political party (I suspect they are not as enamored of Palin). As for the Democrats, I'd guess they are happy as hell about it and are praying daily that Palin remain as one of the idols (to be read "chain around one's neck) of the Republican party through the 2012 elections.

Yep, the SNL moments were definitely a hoot and a highlight of the political season. They skewered her but good (and, like you said, GB, on one occasion by simply parroting the self-immolation she had already accomplished all by herself). We all seem to have the same attitude about Ms. Palin and her views. And it would seem that we all would like to see the same end - that being the end of her political career, at least on the national level. What we disagree with is the appropriate means to achieve that end.

For whatever good it will do, local prosecutors do not pass that kind of information up the chain let alone to the governor or state attorney general. Local (county) prosecutors don't work for the governors and rarely ever talk with even the attorney general's office (and, then, only if the AG has been involved in the particular matter or investigation - usually one of state-wide significance). My beliefs there are based on a 33+ year career working as a lawyer and having worked with colleagues both in local prosecutors' offices and the attorney general's office. Your comments are pure speculation based on nothing but....speculation (and, of course, you're doing that because you detest Ms. Sarah). But, for whatever reason, you seem to know better here and are so sure of yourself. I'm wondering if you could give us one iota of evidence (or, perhaps, what you know about communications between local prosecutors and governor's offices) that might help us understand why you're so sure of yourself here. And, yes, I think it's inappropriate to blast Sarah Palin by making public disclosures or snotty comments about her kids, their boy/girl friends, or their inlaws, all of whom didn't choose to surrender their privacy to the internet papparazi (spelling?). And doing the "guilt by association" routine simply smacks of Joe McCarthy who we buried 50 years ago (and, just because they did it to Obama with the Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, or whoever, doesn't make it any more justifiable). If her daughter's boyfriend's mother actually was engaged in some illegal drug activity, what the hell does that have to do with Palin herself? That somehow says something about her? The mind boggles.

Your choice but I do note and agree with you that it's mostly, as you say, "crap." I vehemently disagree with her politics but that's really not enough for me to make up stories and/or to speculate that she slept with Big Foot.

Can you seriously claim you had no knowledge of the aliens landing in your backyard? I doubt it! [And this inanity is supported with the identical level of knowledge/proof as your insinuation. Come on, Palin's maybe a political idiot but that's no excuse to just tar and feather her with every nutty idea.]

Just a bit up the road, GT - taken from the pier in Hua Hin one morning this past October:

Yikes.....not exactly the picture I was referring to, GB. But, if that is what god/buddha has in store for me, please bring a couple of towels (to soak up the blood from my wrist slitting...).

Hey! There could be worse things in life! But, for the life of me, I really can't think of one at the moment.... (Melly Chrissmat, Geezer.....and I sure as hell hope I find the guy in your card beneath my tree in a couple of days...)

My dad, who was born in 1915 and died about ten years ago, rarely ever talked about his youth on a rugged farm in northern Michigan. But, when he did, whatever story he was telling ended with the same line: "You know, I don't miss it a goddam bit!"

I've flown Air Asia a fair amount - maybe a dozen times or more internally in Thailand, once to and from Hanoi and Bangkok, and once to and from Chiangmai and Kuala Lumpur. Once the departure was delayed an hour (without any explanation, of course) and maybe the departures were late a couple of other times for 10-15 minutes. Actually not too bad given the rather inexpensive tickets. What really irritates me, though, is the habit of airlines flying into Suvarnabhumi and then busing you to the terminal - rather than paying to use one of the 20 or so open chutes. Air Asia does this all the time. Once, I flew in a loaded Thai 747 (yep, that's right, a 747) from Chiangmai to Suvarnabhumi and, in spite of the fact I counted 22 open gateways, they took us out in the middle of nowhere and took us in by bus. You'd think the nation's #1 carrier might have been able to afford offloading a 747 at one of the open chutes. That really pissed me off.

When using Air Asia, be mindful of their weight limitation with respect to your main suitcase. If you're overweight, they'll tell you that when you check in and then you're required to go to the Air Asia ticketing office to pay your "fine" and then return to the check-in desk to retrieve your tickets. I'm usually 4-6 kilos over and that usually costs me 300-400 baht per flight. The bigger problem, though, is the time it takes sometime to stand in line at the ticket office to pay your overweight charge. But, regardless, I regularly use Air Asia (4-6 times per year or more) because their schedule is more convenient and the cost is usually far below that of Thai Air or Bangkok Airways. The "all aboard at once" manner in getting on the plane is rather crude at times but you can avoid that by paying an extra $5 and you'll get to board first (allowing you to select the seat you want and avoid being trampled).

Yea, we've come a long way. When I was 13 and 14, I flew four times away to school aboard flights that would make The Shining movie seem like a soothing new-age experience. Don't remember whether those planes were DC-10's or whatever but, to go 340 miles, the planes made 4 stops along the way. Flying those planes through thunderstorms and heavy winds scared the bejeebees out of me and the 2-3 bounce landings weren't much fun either.

Maybe I'm just pining for the days when news was news and gossip was left to the parties and backyard fences. But that's not the modern era, I admit. When I was a teen and in my early twenties (too damn many years ago), I used to read Time magazine cover to cover on a weekly basis and actually learned something (back then, most of it was news and much of it was many words beyond a sound bite). Today it's sometimes difficult to distinguish Time magazine from People magazine. And, now, Shaun Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and even Lou Dobbs attempt to pass themselves off as legitmate news sources (and some of that is almost believable when comparing them to the British tabloids!).

You're quite correct, nothing like that would have been allowed in almost any other country in the world....the cops (and military, if need be) would have arrested them within hours. But there is no airport security force in the world that could have stopped a mob of 10,000+ so I hardly blame the airport administration or the fact that they didn't have a huge riot team standing by. And I agree with you that the Thai government and the cops and, perhaps, the military are to blame for not promptly acting to remove the protesters. But saying all of that doesn't at all imply that Sondhi and his cohorts shouldn't be responsible for breaking the law and causing all of the damage that they and their followers did.

No need to apologize as I think you make a fair characterization about Bush Jr. But democracy is a concept that in no way guarantees that we elect intelligent or wise leaders; besides, the electorate can be fooled by bullshit promises and policies and, in my view, was very fooled when Junior was first elected (none of us seemed to ever see the "compassionate conservatism" that was the cornerstone of his first campaign). Then, frankly, Kerry was the best that the Democrats could dig up in 1984? (I had to hold my nose to vote for John). But you don't fool the electorate for very long and that's why ol' Junior has the lowest public approval rating of any US President in history (or for as long as they've ever taken polls about such things). And (God, I hate to say anything almost nice about Junior) could there be an argument that Junior's swing to the right and huge unpopularity gave us the necessary political background and turmoil that could allow Obama's election 6 weeks ago? Maybe so.

I suppose there is nothing "wrong" with bringing it up here as anybody has the right to do that; however, I don't accept the notion that somehow the information is perfectly fine to spread around just because somebody else does it. I understand the dilemma but I actually feel sorry for her kids. They didn't choose to insert themselves or their private lives into the public discourse and I frankly don't agree that the kids' private lives (or, for example, who may be or may not be the father of the teenage girl's baby) is fair game. Responsible journalists (where or where are you, Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite?), I suspect, would take the same position. The fact that the National Enquirer is the #1 "newspaper" in my country is neither a matter to be proud of nor a license to lower the standards of reasonable public discourse. Anyway, just a personal opinion. I'll blast the "I can see Russia from my home" genius with anybody but I'm not going to make fun of her kids.

Wow, that's a leap of logic. It's the bank security guard's fault that he didn't stop a bank robbery? In most normal countries (okay, Thailand may be an exception there...), it would be extremely easy to find the trespassers and/or disturbers of the peace legally accountable for their acts. I'll grant you it would be practically difficult to prosecute (let alone identify) them all but legally it's no problem at all. My view is that the Thai government - presuming there is anyone within the government with any gonads at all - ought to go after the main leaders of PAD (most are wealthy anyway) and every individual who can be identified as personally doing any damage to Government House or at the airport and seek to recover the damages (at least hundreds of millions of baht) for the illegal acts. And I hope the Airport authority also continues and is successful in its lawsuit against the Pad leaders, especially dear old Sondhi. Doing nothing is no better than telling Sondhi and his cohorts that they can do anything they want with impunity. Not the right message in my book.

Whether it's going way overboard, I'm not so sure. Given they are expecting 1-2-3 million people (i.e., absolutely huge crowds), they've got to have a lot of rules in place to prevent some problems purely from a safety point of view. I'm from a dinky town (15,000+) people and I occasionally go to our dinky farmer's market on Saturdays during the summer months. A rather large group of people are there, at times it's like walking through the night market in Chiangmai or Chatachuchak Market in Bangkok (albiet on a tremendously smaller scale) and I am dumbfounded how stupid people will occasionally try to push a stroller through there (thus clogging everything for 10 yards), bring their horse-sized dogs, attempt to stop in groups for conversation in the main paths of travel, etc. It's inconvenient to the majority and, at times, a little dangerous. By the way, the 2-year-olds and strollers aren't there to shop for vegetables or baked goods, they're there so the parents can, so to speak, walk the dog with them. It's safe or intelligent to place small children or strollers or whatever in crowds of this size? Not to me.....and, if an incident happened where crowd panic occurred, the personal injuries the crowd would cause would far outweigh whatver the incident created.

This board the National Enquirer or something? The Alaskan idiot deserves any political or personal attacks one might want to muster but splashing public comments about her kids, their boyfriends, or the boyfriend's family is simply an invasion of privacy in my book.