Gaybutton

That's a very nice thought, but I doubt it's necessary. Jim does read the boards and I'm sure he is already quite well aware that the vast majority of people who read these boards want him to return. It's the people who attacked him and sent him a threatening Email whose posts have no value of any kind, and rarely ever do. There was nothing in Jim's original post that contained anything that should have provoked this brouhaha. It was worthy of discussion and intelligent opinion. The people who attacked Jim don't ever seem to mind someone's opinion, as long as it agrees with their own. As a matter of fact, one poster did try posting an attack on this very thread. You may notice that you can't find that post. Guess why. That person has been duly warned and already knows what will happen to his posting privileges if he ever tries it again on this board. We don't put up with that here, whether it's Jim or anyone else being victimized by an idiot.

Why keep it a secret? Probably many could benefit from your experience. Why not share it with us or at least post some guidelines?

The following appears in the PATTAYA DAILY NEWS: for photos, see: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000008617 _____ Interpol Request Arrest of 2 British Paedophiles in Pattaya Following a request from the English division of Interpol two convicted British paedophiles have been detained by the Pattaya Immigration Police. At 2.00 pm on 11th March 2009 an operation was mounted by a team of Immigration Police led by Pattaya Chief Inspector Pol.Col. Arnonnat Kamonrat, accompanied by Sriracha Chief Inspector Pol.Lt.Col.Pakapong Sai Ubol and Koh Srichang Chief Inspector Pol. Lt. Col. Panomprai Jangah. The police arrested two British nationals, Mr. Charles Thomas Hadley [58] and Mr. Brian Peter Lielson [66], at the entrance of Aree apartment, Soi New Leng-Kee, Pattaya third road, Nongprue, Banglamung. The two men were both former London real estate businessmen and had committed more than 10 offenses of child sex abuse in England together with similar offenses in Cambodia before visiting Thailand. Pol.Lt.Col.Pakapong Sai Ubol said Mr.Hadley had previously been jailed in England for 9 years and Mr. Lielson for 7 years for under aged sex offenses. On their release from jail, they came to Thailand and Pattaya on a tourist visa in 1993. They made several trips to Cambodia during which they built up a record of sex offenses with young boys. Following the request from Interpol on 16th February 2009, the immigration police cancelled their visas and four days later their names were put on the blacklist . On the 5th March, the Sriracha immigration discovered that they had arrived in Thailand and traveled to Srichang Island [Koh Srichang] in the Sriracha district. The suspects were later traced to the A-ree apartment in Pattaya at which point the Sriracha police requested the co-operation of their Pattaya colleagues to make the arrest. The two paedophiles will be processed and sent back to England. ____________________ And this, from PATTAYA ONE: _____ Immigration Police Arrest Two Convicted English Pedophiles and Deport Them In a joint operation between Pattaya’s Immigration Office and Police from Sriracha, two English Nationals were arrested on Wednesday at the Aree apartments here in Pattaya based on information received from Interpol regarding their previous convictions. Both men, named as Mr. Charles Thomas Hadley aged 58 and Mr. Brian Peter Nielsen aged 66 are convicted sex offenders from UK and are known to have committed similar offences in other countries, including Cambodia. It is known that both men have been coming to South-East Asia since 1993. Immigration Police detained the two men under new rules governing individuals who have been convicted of serious crimes in foreign countries. Immigration can now deport these individuals regardless of whether they have committed offences in Thailand or not. Pedophilia is one of a number of serious crimes the new rules cover and both men were later transported to the Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok where they await deportation back to the UK. Their passports will also be stamped as “persona non grata” meaning they will not be allowed to re-enter Thailand. We also understand that one of the two men is currently wanted on sex offence charges back in UK.

Personally, I hope that's exactly what the ones who plague Thailand will do. Good riddance.

The following appears in the BANGKOK POST ( a tip-of-the-hat goes to Shebavon for supplying the article): _____ New Delhi- Sexual exploitation of boys in three of India's major pilgrimage centres is pervasive and on the rise, a study said yesterday. The study focused on male child prostitution at Hindu temple sites in Puri, eastern Orissa state, and at Tirupati and at Guruvayoor in southern Andhra Pradesh and Kerala states. The study said that in Tirupati, where tourists are mostly Indians, boys aged between six and 18 years said prostitution is rampant due to demand from domestic tourists. "Family members saw less risk when male children are involved in selling sex as compared to girls, as the social stigma is less and the fear of pregnancy does not exist," the report said. DPA

Isn't that precisely what I predicted at the beginning of the contest? Some of the more prolific posters during the contest period have suddenly disappeared. Well, that's their choice, but I'm definitely disappointed if their posting motivation was only the contest.

And that's a perfect example of why utter idiots such as those who thought it was a great idea to hurt Jim's feelings like that or people such as that moronic, gutless coward who actually sent him a threatening Email, hidden of course by a program to make the Email untraceable, ought to be completely disregarded. People like that are worthy only of contempt. I'd like to see any one of them life a finger to help someone else or spend one baht out of their own pockets to help people the way Jim does. Those are the people who ought to be leaving the message boards, not Jim.

I have never heard about any farang having any problem whatsoever in that situation. No arrest and no fines. No law says that it is incumbent upon a farang to check the ID of anybody. You're being foolish if you don't and you would have definite problems if the boy is found to be under age, but as far as it being your responsibility to check whether the boy is actually Thai or whether he is in Thailand legally, that's not your problem and, as far as I know, the police do not regard it as your problem. In this case, the boy would be in trouble, but not the farang. I know of no law that prohibits sex with boys of other nationalities provided that the boy is at least 18 years old.

No problem. He'll just buy the prison . . .

I don't think anyone is disputing that, but the question is not about that. The question is what did Pope Pius XII do that makes the Catholic Church want to canonize him as a saint? There must be a reason. I'd like to know what it is.

I would also contact both the bank and the police to report it. THE NATION now has a graphic display that shows how it's done and what the scamming devices look like. See: http://nationmultimedia.com/admin/specials...d/file/How2.pdf

I see. I didn't read the other forums and I almost never read one in particular, the one on which I'm guessing the attacks to which you referred occurred. The fact that he was attacked on that one comes as no surprise. If anything, the surprise is that anyone who posts on certain forums would not know in advance that they will end up attacked. That's virtually a given. Well, it doesn't happen on this forum. That's because I'm a "control freak," remember? And those are the freaks that need controlling. However, I still don't understand why, if he was attacked on other forums, he would remove his post on this one. There wasn't a damned thing wrong with his post and I hope he reinstates it so that people who wish to discuss it can do so intelligently. Of course, the issue can still be discussed whether he reinstates the post or not, but Travelerjim's opinion is just as valid as anyone's and if someone dislikes his opinion, then they can just fuck off if they can't debate the issue rather than attack the poster. Also, there's really no need for anyone to post on multiple forums. Most people reading one forum read all of them anyway.

Here are some more details, from THE NATION: _____ Protecting ATMs against Skimmers By The Nation Published on March 11, 2009 A special device to prevent the theft of information embedded in ATM cards is being installed in more than 30,000 ATM machines nationwide, Phol Thanachote, chairman of the Automated Teller Machines' businesses community, said yesterday. The community is also considering installing devices that jam wireless signals in areas near ATM machines, to prevent stolen information from being relayed wirelessly, he said. Stickers will help ATM users determine which machine has been protected. Skimming techniques have been in use for the past few years, though it has become more difficult to come up with protective measures due to fast-developing technology. However, he said, educated users should be able to protect themselves because they know about the tricks being used by scammers. On Monday, the Thai Bankers' Association issued a statement saying that they would consider compensating victims on a case-by-case basis, but would be completely responsible if victims can prove that they were not at fault. In Chumphon, three commercial banks yesterday agreed in principle to pay money to victims who have lost money through skimming after an investigation proved that their cash had been stolen, not lost through carelessness. The Bangkok Bank branch said its decision would soon make a final decision and make payments from March 23 onwards. Kasikorn Thai and Thai Military Banks have not coordindated with the provincial authority's taskforce in Chumphon about the conditions and the date of payments, senior provincial official Suthin Phayak said. "We expect that they have contacted their victims and made personal agreements." Police in Chumphon's Lang Suan district said they were going after four more suspects, all part of a Malaysian ring led by a man called Teo Puex Heng. So far, 15 victims have registered with Lang Suan police, who police say have made agreements with the three commercial banks. In Chumphon, around Bt3 million has been stolen so far. Police had earlier said the racketeers had stolen around Bt50 million from victims in Surat Thani, Phetchaburi, Trang, Krabi, and Songkhla over the past five months.

The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Banks to Protect ATMs Against Skimming Scams A special device to prevent the theft of information embedded in ATM cards is being installed in more than 30,000 ATM machines nationwide, Phol Thanachote, chairman of the Automated Teller Machines' businesses community, said Tuesday. The community is also considering installing devices that jam wireless signals in areas near ATM machines, to prevent stolen information from being relayed wirelessly, he said. Stickers will help ATM users determine which machine has been protected. Skimming techniques have been in use for the past few years, though it has become more difficult to come up with protective measures due to fast developing technology. However, he said, educated users should be able to protect themselves because they know about the tricks being used by scammers.

I know of no troll posts that appeared on this thread. What troll posts? What post on this thread appears to be a troll post? Oogleman, why did you say that? Travelerjim, why did you eliminate your original post and replace it with an apology? Am I missing something here? Every response that was written on this thread is still there, completely intact. Where are you getting the idea that anyone here was offended? I see nothing to indicate that in any of the responses and I saw nothing offensive in your original post. And even if someone was offended, too bad. That's their problem. Anybody posting here has the right to post an opposing opinion, as long as it contains no personal attacks, but nobody posted anything that indicates they were offended by your original post and I see no attacks or even opposition to your opinion. Also, you know that if someone had written an attack post, then I would have immediately gotten rid of the post and would have placed whoever wrote it on moderated mode. Where is this coming from? I don't understand what the problem is. Why are you leaving this board?

Does the first class or second class accommodation have any electrical outlets?

The following appears in PATTAYA ONE: _____ Pattaya Music Festival 2009 Announcement. On Tuesday Morning at the VIP meeting room at Pattaya City Hall, Khun Wirawat, Deputy Mayor of Pattaya chaired a further preparation meeting for the upcoming Pattaya Music Festival which will take place between 20th and 22nd March. Representatives from the GMM-Grammy Record Company and the organizing committee were in attendance. It was confirmed that there will be three stages, one at the Bali Hai Port at the south end of Pattaya Beach, one on Pattaya Beach Road between Soi’s 4 and 5 and a third stage will be located further up the beach in front of the Central Pattaya intersection. Singers and groups from Thailand and around the region are set to appear at the event. Some of the featured international artists include Cirque de Freak from Australia and Girls Generation from South Korea. ____________________ For photos and a second article, see: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000008597

Ask at Thais for Life. They might be interested. Some of those types of items eventually become collectors items and may already have value. Don't be so quick to throw it all away. My mother did that to the baseball card collection I had as a child. If I still had those cards, now they would be worth quite a bundle. Sometimes I see programs listed for sale on eBAY, and people do buy them.

The next PGF (Pattaya Gay Festival) dinner will be held at the La Dolce Vita restaurant on Sunday, April 5 at 7:00pm. There is a very good review of the restaurant, including location and directions, at: http://www.pattayamail.com/812/dining.shtml The information is included on the following flier. You can make reservations through Jim Lumsden at The Ambiance (telephone: 038 424 099) or you can make reservations online at: http://www.liberty-computers.com/mail_pgf/...cation_form.php _________________________________________

It's a problem, but I don't see it as particularly catastrophic. Even if someone is thinking with his crotch, rather than his head, and takes a boy off without checking his ID, then the boy will be refused admittance to most reputable hotels if he has no ID. Another part of the equation is that I know of no incidents, ever, in which a farang was arrested when he took a bar boy off. So, this is not necessarily a big problem, but it becomes one when a bar tries to pass off a boy working illegally as if he were a boy working legitimately. Obviously, the safest and most cautious thing to do is to take boys off only if they can produce an Thai national ID card, checking to make sure the card is actually his own, and that he is at least 18 years old. If you do otherwise, then you have to judge for yourself how much of a risk you're taking. I do agree that the bars are wrong to hire boys who are working illegally and it's even more wrong if the bars encourage the boys to lie to customers about who they really are.

Wal-Mart

Oh, come on! You say that as if it's the adult version of a child saying, "But he did it too." Can you explain to me how the fact that the silence of the Americans and British justifies the Pope's silence or enhances his qualifications to be canonized as a saint? If anything, the USA and UK did what they did in the name of politics and trying to fight a war. That doesn't make it right in any sense, but I thought the Pope was supposed to be acting in the name of religion and virtue, hardly the same thing as politics or war. I think the USA and UK were dead wrong to be silent about the Holocaust when it was happening. I also think the Pope, who is supposed to be infallible, was also dead wrong. Why didn't he try to do anything about it? Why didn't he ever say one word about it? Just for the sake of argument, suppose he was totally unaware of the Holocaust. Again, what it is that qualifies him as a saint or motivates the present day Catholic Church to be moving in the direction of canonizing him as a saint? With respect to Catholics, that is something else that made it to my "I Don't Get It" list.

To find out, click the following link and watch the video. I thought it was truly fascinating. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/06/...ail;mostPopular

That's not 100% true. There are resorts out here, mainly along the reservoir.

It's not nearly as bad as you might think. When you live out here it doesn't take very long to find ways around most of the problems and you quickly get used to the days and times that traffic problems are likely. The good news is that during the times you would normally go to and from the beach and to and from the gay venues there is rarely a traffic problem at all. Rush hour is between about 5:00pm to about 7:00pm. That's when you usually run into serious traffic delays out here, but that happens only intermittently. Mornings, however, are rarely ever backed up. I have no idea why. Personally, I wouldn't object to living in a luxury condo at View Talay, but since that's not affordable for me, I'm perfectly happy right where I am. Unless I could afford a luxury condo at the beach, if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I would still choose to live on the Dark Side. I would not want to live on the Dark Side, however, without my own transportation unless I live relatively close to Sukhumvit, where public transportation is readily available on all the Dark Side sois.