Bob

There was an editorial cartoon I saw earlier today (not sure where, either a local US paper or perhaps the CNN website) of Cheney sitting at a table trying to hawk his new book to people standing in front of him. One woman looked at him and said: "No thanks, I'd rather be water boarded."

Sadly, the answer to that is "yes." And one begins to understand how really bad Bachmann is when you occasionally hear people say after being exposed to Bachmann that Sarah Palin in comparison is looting "better!" I somewhat twist the old adage about "you can't fool all the people all the time" to the current version of "many of the people are fools much of the time." That's the only way I can explain the general tenor of current American politics, especially within the Republican party. It's really that bad.

I'd suggest that it's mainly the same thing that motivates a lot of people, i.e., money. When somebody dangles 5-10 million dollars up front and you've got a bloated sense of your importance in the first place, that'd be almost impossible to resist for most people. As for Cheney, I'm sure he probably exercised good judgment much of the time but, for me, he remains a petty, twisted, conservative that did more to harm the country than to benefit it. It was him and a couple of the neocons that led the charge into Iraq, he has utter contempt for anything considered progressive or liberal, and he's the father of the present-day Republican party (and that's not being kind at all).

The "luck" he had was the previously unknown history of this particular woman. But for that prior history, he'd still be in jail awaiting trial.

Yes, poor, poor, DSK. The bottom line to me is that he had extraordinary luck in picking this particular victim. We'll see how lucky he is with the other case in France.

I sure have and have been making that comment for 3 or 4 years now. It's my guess that it's the change of diet doing it. A decade or more ago, one normally didn't see that all many Thais at the burger joints (McDonalds or Burger King) or the donut shops but they're the main customers for the last few years. Unfortunately, we're seeing more and more of those chubby kids who I call the "little buddhas." I'm guessing that the increasing obesity isn't all that much of a concern as yet to the Thais and I believe they've historically equated "fatness" with a person who's well off or special. You've never seen a skinny Buddha statue, have you? Another thing I've noticed is the Thais are getting taller and taller. I'm only 6'1" but, other than seeing the very tall Thai national volleyball team at the airport 5 or 6 years ago, I rarely saw a Thai as tall or taller than me. But the last year or two, I see a whole lot of them, mostly on the west end of Chiangmai (university area). Fairly commonplace now.

Although the Defendant might not buy this, I look at the outcome here as a fair result and I congratulate the prosecutor for doing what he's required to do (make non-emotional judgments about whether he can prove his case and turning over to the defense all possibly exculpatory material). I also don't blame the cops as, other than the "perp walk", they did what they were supposed to do. As ugly as the case was, the system worked. In spite of all that, I happen to believe DSK is a slime ball and it sounds like he just may have a similar bit of trouble when he gets back home.

Yikes. I'm 0 for 2! I ain't pretty and I can't seem to remember the other thing I ain't.... P.S. If you and Fountainhill would shorten up your names, I'd make an effort to see what I could come up with!

I couldn't find it in the Bangkok Post either....but the Thai Visa copy reflects it as a Nation story of 8/19/11 (today!). Because the story was so provocative, I thought it wise to at least find the original story and, as noted, so far I can't. Maybe a fake story or the Nation simply deleted it? Hell if I know. Edit: Just found at least a follow-up story in the Nation (the army chief saying that people shouldn't jump to conclusions yet): Nation Story Tsunami victims? Why the heck would they transport bodies from the south all the way over to Rayong Province? Couldn't somebody fairly quickly tell the difference between a body that's been buried for 15 months from one that's been buried for 5-6 years? Something is strange here.

Two Mass Graves I'm not one to normally paste a news clipping but this one caught my eye. The link is to a ThaiVisa story about an article in the Nation. Having followed most of the news stories of the events of the protests, etc., I don't recall seeing any claims by the Redshirts that there were a lot of "missing" people. And, if one believes the Abbot in the story - that two men brought in all the bodies - that stinks to high heaven. If it actually turns out that these are redshirt corpses, somebody ought to hang for this. [Edit: I've tried to find this story in the online edition of the Nation but, so far, I can't. That puzzles me a bit given I would think this would be one of the top stories of the day.]

You, of course, are correct. A man in Pattaya goes to a bar, planning on an exciting night out, and it's CLOSED! And then the owner of the bar doesn't respond fast enough to the righteous indignation of the victim of this terrible event. I can't even imagine how traumatic this must have been for you. You have my deepest sympathy.

I too love Thaiworthy's idea about leaving a bottle of wine with a note. The key to me is to make the note humorous and anonymous. Maybe we ought to have a contest to write one...hehe. Something like(?): We wish to inform you that the auditory level of your love-making has been a topic of interest around the condo building. Some wish to donate to assist the sound-proofing of your walls whereas others are wondering if video tapes might be available. Regardless, this bottle of wine is offered as a token of our collective amazement. Your Neighbors

The only annoyance for me is how slow the photos load (and, frankly, I'm not trying to look at the photos (as I'm not into ladyboys at all, but rather trying to follow the discussion). But I also simply don't get it - if you're not into the topic, then simply don't click on the thread (everybody that's had a complaint, however mild, is an intelligent person who knows how to click or not click a mouse!). At the risk of irritating some - which isn't my intention - the mild complaints and the other thread about whether ladyboys are "gay" seem to me to evidence just a wee bit of intoleration for the preferences of others. As a group that's been historically thumped by societies for being different, one would think that we would exhibit the same toleration levels for others that we've clamored for societies to give to us. Just my thought. And, while I'm on my mild rant (worth, of course, exactly what you're paying for it), most of us who are over 30 or so (and, in GB's case, that's in dog years!), should have learned from our life experiences (let alone what we've seen in Thailand) that "gay" isn't a label or classification that's easily applied (and, of course, means different things to different people). Whether somebody is 5% or 40% or 80% "gay" is a bit irrelevant to me; besides, I've never understood how we at times try to describe somebody because of behavior that occurs during about 5% of the time they're awake. Okay, have at me....haha.

Geez, would you like some cheese with that whine???

Lol. Wishful thinking. What you should be hoping for (should GB and Michael truly join in the thong festivities) is that the bars will strictly enforce their "no camera" policies.

Because I suspect right up front that there's some history here that I'm not aware of, it'd be foolish for me to offer personal advice. To those in general who are assaulted or robbed, I would think an immediate call to the cops would be the normal reaction.

Nothing is technically risk free. But inflation has not been much of an issue in the US for some time now (and, given all the deflation talk by analysts these days, not likely to be a problem for the next year or two). Condolences to the equity holders the last week or so. Rather ugly out there at the moment.

Everybody's situation is different and dependent on one's age, need to take risks, and risk tolerance. For various reasons (mainly no personal need to take risks and the likelihood that my retirement would become more "nervous" should I lose 20-30% of investment value), I am about 90% in cash and cash equivalents in only the US and Thailand. The money I have in Thailand is there to protect me against currency fluctuations and, frankly, is doing much better interest-wise than the funds in the US. I have nothing against equities - in fact I retired largely because of success there over the years - but I'm absolutely negative on the US and Europe for the long-term (I personally believe we will never see in our lifetimes the good economic and investment times we saw during our working lives). But I have no need to take any significant risks and doing so could affect my lifestyle. And that's a risk I'm currently not willing to take. But I've wanted to invest in Chinese currency for years. I used to hold funds which were heavily invested in the Chinese economy and did rather well; however, I've not directly played the Chinese currency game and would love to hear any suggestions you might have to do that safely ("safely" for me means my money is in a fund controlled outside of China, i.e., I'm not going to attempt to open and stuff money into a Chinese bank account).

Your timeline directs the only answer - cash and cash equivalents (cd's, T-bills, and the like). Most experts I've read suggest that for anything under a 5-year timeline. You live in Thailand (or at least I think you do) and, given you're talking about such a short timeline, why not consider a couple years worth of cash in a Thai savings account. That would protect you against currency fluctuations and you could earn more interest there than accounts back in the US or UK. Just a thought (and worth what you're paying for it?).

If you felt the service was fine and that's the amount you wanted to tip, it's fine by me. I probably would have tipped the same.

Presuming the interest on T-bills goes up, who'll mainly get the additional interest are the Chinese, Japanese, etc. (whoever continues to buy them). Within the US, it's likely a somewhat zero-sum game (other than the eternal axiom that the consumer always gets screwed). If general interest rates rise, it's likely the money the banks borrow will also carry a higher rate of interest. The day US bonds become worthless will be the same day that the entire world's finances swirl down the porcelain receptacle (i.e., it ain't gonna happen).

I see no basis to question if there is or isn't a need for a vote, it was ChaseLB himself who added the vote comments. That's his right (I'm guessing he's just trying to gauge how many are into the ladybody pics) I suppose. I don't understand why you'd even say that (unless I missed something in the thread where somebody said that he might be prevented from posting the ladyboy photos). A few people (including myself hereafter) saying they aren't into ladyboys is just a statement of personal opinion (which I think the OP was effectively requesting in the first place) and hardly a threat of preventing the OP from continuing. I have almost no interest in ladyboys (not sure why, just the way it is) but I can appreciate that some guys are into that sort of thing. And, while I won't be studying the pics, I don't have an issue so long as a significant portion of the website doesn't turn in that direction (and, if it does, that's fine, I'll then just vote with my feet). On another board (not sure which one) there very recently was a thread that touched on ladyboys and some poster made a comment about "alter boys." While there's no doubt given the context the poster simply doesn't spell too well (it's "altar"), I concluded it was the perfect Freudian slip....hehe. Carry on.

I think your anger at this particular incident is slightly increasing the percentage of lousy motorsy drivers. I actually think most of them are pretty damn good drivers given they're still alive after driving through Thai traffic all these years.