Bob

I'm not sure if anybody can adequately answer why people lie to each other on occasion. But I also see an issue here as to the sometimes unexplained expectations of the falang who in reality don't know much about their Thai counterparts in the first place. If someone had a long-term and/or solid relationship with somebody, I can understand asking the question of why do some partners lie but I'm having more difficulty understanding how a falang, involved with somebody 20-40 years younger than him and only knowing the kid from either a few short trips and/or via the internet can justifiably have an expectation that the kid isn't seeing other people and/or is obligated to inform as to his activities.

I've never been a huge Madonna fan but I rather enjoyed (thanks to the gracious hosting of Khun Khortose) her show during the Superbowl halftime. Still looks and sings pretty good for an old broad!

I really don't know enough to comment about what happened to your friend......and probably shouldn't even if I thought I knew enough......but I'm wondering if you can advise just a little as to how "solid" their relationship was before the so-called extra activities occurred. How long had he known the Thai guy and what was the nature of their contacts? Was this a falang who occasionally came to Thailand for short trips and/or was this only an internet "relationship?" I am suspecting (unfairly without the facts, for sure) that this wasn't a solid or even much of a relationship in the first place but, before jumping to that conclusion, I'll await your filling in some of the details (if you will, of course).

I'd guess he'll make a few comments about his trip once things get back in order - or at least I hope so. If I remember my first trip over here, it took me a good week after the trip to get any of my thoughts in order (not to mention get rid of the jet lag I had).

Shows you how deranged my mind has become.....of course it was Peck, not sure why I said Stewart. Yep, watched it umpteen times, can repeat the entire plot, and, obviously, can't properly unload the brain. I guess Jimmy Stewart was Captain Ahab too....(nah, I know better).

I still believe most of his statements are pedantic logic attempting to triump over common sense and common usage; regardless, the persistence in tilting at windmills is somewhat amazing. For example, a very few people get all upset when somebody refers to the 30-day stamp you get on arrival as a "visa" or a "30-day" visa. They want to play pedantic games and say it's an "exemption" or whatever. In reality, it's governmental written permission stamped on the "Visa" page of people's passports and is permission to travel and stay within the country for 30 days (some could also argue it's after-the-fact permission for entry into the country). Many, many, people over the years have referred to this as their 30-day visa and there is absolutely no rational reason to "technically correct" them or to argue otherwise.

I only new about half of the prior ones (actually, GB's list was a bit easier) but this one (Khun Thaiworthy's) is really easy.....Jimmy Stewart in To Kill a Mockingbird (which I watched a few weeks ago for the umpteenth time). As for #6, it surely was Heston and I would probably have said Moses too. But how about The Ten Commandments (hell, I'm not even sure that's the name of a movie)

Iococca also supposedly added at some point in time words to the effect that "why should I put up with all that crap and, on top of that, take a 15 million dollar pay cut?" The sad reality of our "best and brightest" not being willing to step forward and run is not only at the national level but even at the lowest poltiical level in the US. This has been going on since the early 90's when both political parties seemed to head left and right (although I'd give special mention to the beginning of the purge in the Republican party of all moderates and reasonable people under the tutelage of none other than Newt the salamander). At the lowest level - county, city and township, the people who generally had knowledge and respect in a community refused to get involved and, more pointedly, refused to take political positions that they justifiably felt were totallly irrelevant for the given political office. For example only, what does the abortion issue have to do with being Registrar of Deeds? Doesn't sound logical but that's the only question ("are you for or against abortion?") that the local Republican party asked the woman who they then supported and then won the office. Hell, silly me, I would have at least asked her if she could spell "deed" and knew a little something about real estate descriptions. In Michigan (and my guess most states), this partisan bullshit has invaded the poltiical system at every level - from the Sheriff's office (yea, it's stupid to elect a lawman!), Treasurer's office, the city councils, and even at the local Boards of Education. One of the last reasonable Republican moderate we've had in Michigan politics was Mitt Romney's father! (George). Unless and until a strong independent party can take over national poltics, I see no chance or hope for any significant change. But it'd be nice to see people like Bloomberg or even Buffett take the plunge and form a party based on moderate positions. But I'm a dreamer.

Out of curiosity only, Bkk, what's your definition of a "visa?" I'd note that in my passport is a nice blue stamp which is marked Non Immigrant Visa at the top which was issued in Thailand (I was already here via a document issued in the US named a Tourist Visa). If you are defining a visa as only written governmental permission to enter a country, it's interesting that they would give me permission to enter after I was already here for more than a month.

As Khun Thaiworthy said before, again we have much ado about anything, pedantically speaking. Bkk, you can play your pedantic games if you want but nobody's going to buy into your narrow definitions. A visa under many definitions and as most non-pedantic people understand it is both a permission to come into a country and permission to travel and stay in that country. There are hundreds of internet sites that refer to the "retirement visas" and, of course, everyone of those posts are by people who simply must be stupid (as, under your logic there's no such thing as a "retirement visa" in Thailand and it's only some wildly different beast called a "permission to stay"). You might as well go tilt at windmills as you have zero chance to get your "logic" accepted in this or any crowd. And you're somewhat hoisted on your own pedantic petard. Under your logic, a visa is only governmental permission to enter a country and, if that's your definition, then one can't understand why you aren't arguing that a "re-entry permit" is in fact a visa.

The "retirement visas" I've had issued in both Hua Hin and Chiangmai have never had that word (retirement) anywhere near them. And it is a bit funny that we even call it that as none of the requirements for the "retirement visa" involves being retired! But, again, we all know what it means and so it doesn't matter what we call it. And, while I acknowledge that each year I apply for a "new" one-year time period on a form saying I am asking for an "extension", I get a new stamp on a "visa" page that says that my "application of stay is permitted up to" a given date. That's a written governmental okay to be in Thailand during the one-year time period and, if that isn't a 'visa", I guess I don't know what is.

Maybe in a new thread although I see no (zero) possibility of any "consitutional convention" being held. First you'd need to get 34 (2/3rd's) of states' legislatures to agree for the need and, after the convention is called by Congress and proposes any change, you then need 38 (75%) of the states to agree to it. Hmmmm.....when is the last time 66% or 75% of any group in the US ever agreed to anything? Ain't gonna happen.....

The one negative of living over here most of the year - versus coming here 2 or 3 times a year - is I'm not accumulating the air miles; so, "upgrades" are events that only happen to me every 3-4 years. But I can't fly cattle class anymore so have to shovel out the extra cost of the premium economy ("elite" or "evergreen deluxe" on EVA). It's not quite as good as business class but just about the same to me and half as expensive. It'll do. For those who haven't read before Khun Thaiworthy's experience with the "elbow-poking bitch", you ought to click on his link above and read it. While it's difficult to understand why this woman or anybody would act like that, I still can't believe that Khun Thaiworthy didn't stuff the bitch into an overhead compartment.

I had no problem following his story and, given you're the apparent expert on just about everything, you shouldn't have either. It appears he came into the country with a 60-day Tourist Visa issued in his home country. And, as you should know, you can't get the one-year visa (retirement visa, or whatever one wants to call it) directly from a Tourist Visa. So, he had to first get the Non-Immigrant O visa and, from that, can apply for and get the so-called retirement visa. In his particular situation, they did it all at once. Not strange to me at all as that's exactly the process I had to go through a few years back (I came into the country with a Tourist Visa, they cancelled that and issued me a Non-Immigrant O visa, and then, within the same 30 minutes, issued me a "retirement visa" that began or took effect on the day that the Non-Immigant O visa expired 90 days later). I suppose somebody could get all pedantic and even argue that neither he nor I got a "retirement visa" but a one-year extension of the Non-Immigrant O visa. Most people call that stamp in the passport (the one that says you can stay until one year later) a retirement visa and I commonly refer to it as the same thing. Somebody else can call it a duck if they want to. The bottom-line of the story, as far as I'm concerned, is that one can't get a retirement visa directly from a Tourist visa (unless, perhaps, some immigration officer doesn't follow the "normal" procedure which probably happens all the time). I'm totally flummoxed at BKK's comment of "I am surprised that life in Pattaya is so different because in Bangkok not only do the Immigration Police not issue retirement visas they don't issue re-entry visas either!" Is there some hidden meaning here that I'm missing? I've gone to immigration offices both Chiangmai and Hua Hin and the people that work there are often referred to as Immigration Police but, again, who cares what you call them. And those "Immigration Police" in both of those offices have previously issued retirement visas (or "extensions" for the pendantic) and re-entry permits for me. Just because he referred to either of those items as "visas" ought to leave your skirts unruffled - anyone with a modicum of sense understood what he meant.

Um......Khun Augieeee has already landed in the Land of Smiles and my guess is he'll give us a report in a week or two as to how much fun he had. Hopefully, he ignored most of our advice and just went and did what he felt like doing at the given moment.

Hmmmm.....that's a cause I could support (annoying the hell out of the evangelicals). Praise the lord....and pass the basket!

In perhaps a bit of a surprising defense of Romney, I see neither his wealth (apparently legally obtained) or his religion (his choice) as a source of true criticism of the guy. The issue I have with him is his lack of personal backbone - the shifting of core beliefs and principles to correspond to whatever electorate he happens to be facing at a given time. And I also take some issue with some of the over-the-top right-wing pap he's occasionally spouting in this election cycle (especially his hawkish comments about various foreign policy issues). I don't even see the recent news about his tax return and his effective tax rate as a source of criticism for him as all he did was legally take advantage of tax laws that do exist (i.e., nobody ought to be criticized for paying more taxes than the law compels). But I do see that news as another impetus to change what I think is an absolutely corrupt income tax system, a system peppered with provisions that favor this group or that (all, of course, bought and paid for via donations to politicians).

I belong to no poltical party (believing in the Groucho Marx theory that I wouldn't belong to any party that'd have me as a member!) and, like Thaiworthy's dad, I vote for the person and not the party; regardless, I've voted 95% for Democratic candidates throughout my voting life. It amazes me that "good" (semi-sane, respectable, intelligent) people generally don't want (or can't stomach) running for poltiical office and we too often get the choices of dumb or dumber. Too many damn times have I pushed a lever effectively selecting what I thought was the "lesser of two evils." But absent a traumatic head injury, I see no choice but Obama and I see him personally as the class of the entire field (although, if I had my dream team, Biden would bow out and Hillary would run as VP to set herself up for the following election). Romney's a relatively decent guy but I just can't abide anybody switching tunes that often to appease the political winds du jour. Ron Paul's also a decent guy but his thinking on many issues is almost bizarre. Gingrich is in my view the ultimate nasty and mean politician and has grandiose visions of being God (for the right wing only, of course). But he too hasn't practiced what he's preached. If Gingrich is the nominee, at least we'll all be spared the usual regurgitation by the Republican Party that they are the one and only party of "family values." Thanks, Newt, for fucking around....hahahahaha. On the other hand, if Romney is the nominee, then we can trot out our Mormon jokes. [A mormon is happy as a lark to live in Tennessee as then he gets to marry all his cousins!]

"Democrats attacked President Bush for his North Korean policy. And Bush said, 'Gotcha. I don't have a North Korean policy.'" --Jay Leno I always liked Albright but I sincerely wonder when she made those (and only those) statements - was it before or after we found out she and the US were totally snookered by the deal made in the 1990's? The concept of you "can't bully bullies" is beyond my comprehension as that's often the only language they understand. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we do have proof that sitting down with them directly and making deals doesn't work. I have no problem with direct talks but we're not going anywhere without a huge (Chinese?) stick threatening to strike or at least threatening to withdraw all support. The emergence of Baby Kim at least rekindles some hope that things will change for the better. We shall see.

Not that important but, no, they don't mess with any stamps or pages when you do the 90-day report. All they do is staple part of the form (TM 47?) on the last page of your passport to remind you of the date that you have to do your next 90-day report. 6-7 pages isn't all that bad but, if Thaiworthy plans on doing any travelling outside Thailand, it'd probably be a wise investment now to go ahead and get a new passport. Will cost you $100.00 now. Khun Thaiworthy....might as well do that right now so you have the new passport back in a month or so.

Sorry but while Green might share some neocon thinking that neither you or I would agree with, I was hoping that you'd see that my position is that the only way North Korea is going to fundamentally change is to apply more pressure (and mainly from China). Talking sweet to them hasn't gone anywhere and anybody that thinks just trying to be nice to them or talk in a level-headed manner with them is going to accomplish anything is dreaming and ignoring history. The Clinton foray back in the early 90's was admirable in intent but, as we know, led to total violation by North Korea of the accords they signed. That history and the results of the sporadic talks over the last 6 years have led to one result - nothing. Yes, I can and do blame China for part of the present day nightmare in North Korea and I take that position for the same reasons previously stated. China "telling" North Korea how life was going to be would have made a huge difference. At least that's my opinion (and well worth what you've paid for it!).

An apt description (the rigged 18th century schooners). The rich and elite have bought and paid for their privleges (whereby they ride the elevator to further riches and, of course, the rest of us simply get the shaft). And I suppose I agree that there are no absolutes when it comes to describing free markets; however, some markets and economies are freer than others? That's rhetorical, no need to answer.

No criticism but some comment. I think you're comparing things that aren't all that logically comparable. While I too am concerned about the massing of wealth in many/most countries in the hands of a very few (yes, it's bad and even getting worse in many countries including the US, the UK, Thailand, etc.),we might start out paraphrasing (I say "paraphrasing" as I'm too lazy to look up the actual quote) Mark Twain's: "There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics!" I believe the US government (using god only knows what standards) sets its own definition of what constitutes "poverty" level and to use US statistics to compare to what the Chinese relates to its own citizens might actually lead somebody to believe that somebody below the "poverty level" in the US is actually worse off (economically in terms of basic access to food, decent housing, and health care) than somebody at or above the "poverty" level in China. Apples and oranges in my view. But, let me ask you a question or two: Do you believe that exchange rates for the various currencies ought to be set by the governments of the individual countries or by the free market? If for any reason you believe it's okay for individual nations to individually set the exchange rates, don't you believe that such a course of action actually leads to problems (even harm) to other economies?

I missed the point about Khun Thaiworthy coming here on a one-way ticket but, if that's the case, I join you in saying he ought to get the retirement visa in the US. With that in hand, no worries and he won't have to do anything at all other than show up to report his address 90 days after he arrives. Plus, doing it that way avoids the cost and minor hassle of getting the Non-Immigrant O visa in the first place. Cheaper, easier, and affords the most peace of mind.

If you're getting "scared shitless" over this, you're wasting your energy. It isn't that difficult as GB notes. However, I don't necessarily dismiss getting your retirement visa in the US before you leave as that'll at least afford you some peace of mind that you're seeking. And it's not that hard - although you do have to have a doctor fill out the medical clearance and get the police clearance from your local cops but those are actually easy to get too. What I wouldn't do is just come here without a visa (i.e., just show up, get the standard 30-day permission to stay, and then attempt to go from there). You could just get the 90-day Non-Immigration O visa (although it might be called an "O-A if you get it in the states?). That gives you plenty of time to get your bank account in order here (if you plan on doing the 800k routine versus the embassy income certification). By the way, don't get the so-called Tourist Visa like I first did as you can't use that as a basis to get your one-year visa (how immigration handled that for me here was to cancel the Tourist Visa, issue a new Non-Immigrant O visa, and then give me the retirement visa). As to why you've had problems in setting up a bank account over here is beyond me. I've had accounts for more than a decade....and they were set up when I was here on vacation under the 30-day routine (yes, the first branch of Bangkok Bank said I couldn't do it so I walked a few blocks to the next branch which handled it in a jiffy). So quit fretting....it's simple. Either get the one-year (retirement) visa in the states this summer or, alternatively, get the Non-Immigrant O visa this summer and then take care of the retirement visa routine after you get here. It's easy if you just do it.