Gaybutton

Whaddya mean those clothes are unforgivable? He borrowed that shirt from me!

I can't remember quite what it was, but wasn't there some sort of incident between her and then-President Lyndon Johnson? Is it my imagination or does anyone else recall something like that?

Most likely I will be here, yes. I'm one of the few crazy farang who truly loves Songkran. And I really do want to meet you. With all kidding aside, I think you're one of the most interesting people ever to grace the message boards. If I miss the chance to meet you, I will consider that a true sadly lost opportunity.

I think that will be one important factor. I think two other important factors include the Chinese economy and the stability (or lack thereof) of the Thai government. I feel sorry for the Thai people who are going to suffer as a result of all that's been going on, but I have to admit that if a side effect is a better exchange rate for us farang, then I certainly would have no objection.

I used to use them for roasting a whole chicken, making a brisket, and a few other things. I used to like the way the food would come out. By the way, I was in Villa Market yesterday and I looked for them. I couldn't find any.

No. You're supposed to check his national ID card. The fact that you weren't sure is no excuse and won't help you if you try to use that as a defense. If you take a boy, under the law it is your responsibility to be certain of his age. If you are not sure; if the boy has no ID card; if you have any reason to suspect the boy is using a fake ID or someone else's ID, or anything at all that causes doubt, then the solution is very simple: Don't take the boy. No matter how much we debate the issue among ourselves, one thing is irrefutable: If you are caught in a sexual situation with a boy who has not yet reached his 18th birthday, or if it is later discovered that you previously engaged in sex with a boy who had not reached his 18th birthday, then you're going to be arrested and will have to face the consequences.

The following appears in the BANGKOK POST: _____ Police Step Up the Pressure on Foreign Paedophiles A Male Briton Runs a Website Offering Child Sex in Thailand By: Wassayos Ngamkham A foreign mastermind and at least 20 more foreign paedophiles are being sought under Operation Naga, a joint investigation between the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and the Royal Thai Police. Four foreigners and one Thai were arrested on charges of sexually exploiting minors in Pattaya on Dec 11, but the operation is not over yet. On the Thai side, police from the Children, Juveniles and Women Division (CWD) are running the operation. Panya Cha-emtes, an inspector at the CWD, is gathering evidence to arrest other suspected paedophiles who are customers of a male Briton running a website offering child sex in Thailand. ''It's an organisation deeply involved in the sex trade with a British man as the mastermind,'' Pol Lt-Col Panya said. ''He contacts customers through a website and has a Thai transvestite procure children for customers, most of whom are Europeans who have businesses in Thailand or retirees who have settled here.'' According to the inspector, the British man is a big procurer in Pattaya. However, on the morning of Dec 11 when police arrested four foreign paedophiles there, they did not find any evidence linking them to the mastermind. Operation Naga unfolded on Nov 17 when CEOP representatives took a huge stack of files to CWD chief Pol Maj-Gen Chaiwat Ketworachai. The CWD formed a team of 18 detectives to go after members of the ring, with their inquiries centred in Pattaya. CWD deputy chief Suwitpol Imjairat, who is heading the mission, said the first phase of the operation took place between Nov 17 and 21 when detectives split into three groups to gather information from the abused children and seek out the procurers and suspected paedophiles in Pattaya. Detectives collected enough information to be able to begin the mission's second phase from Nov 24 to 28, when abused children were asked to identify the suspected paedophiles. ''This stage had to be carried out carefully because most of the victimised children are normally reluctant to speak out. We worked with difficulty because the parents of some children did not know their children had provided sex services in return for money.'' Pol Col Suwitpol said abused children tend to be uneducated, aged seven to 16. Police spent five days interviewing eight abused children, a week before the raid. The children's accounts and other evidence were submitted to the Pattaya court, where police sought arrest warrants for four suspected foreign paedophiles. The alleged Thai transvestite procurer, Eknarin Chaicharoenchokdee, 30, also known as Saeng Kaetdee, was sought on an arrest warrant before that. On Dec 11, five groups of police conducted raids at various locations around Pattaya. They arrested Malcolm Payne, 59, and Robert Horsman, 45, both from Britain, as well as 62-year-old American Robert Lond and 66-year-old German Fritz Blattner. The four were charged with sexually abusing minors, separating the minors from their parents and torturing children physically and mentally. The other group of police reached the residence of the main British procurer suspect, but they did not find any incriminating evidence. At transvestite Eknarin's house, police seized six dildos, photographs of the four foreign suspects allegedly having sex with children, pornographic VCDs and books, a computer hard disk and documents. ''Most of the foreigners who bought children from the service have been staying in Thailand for a long time and were frequent customers. They love Thais but they did wrong and broke the law, so we must take action,'' Pol Col Suwitpol said. ''Police are monitoring at least 20 more people and seeking warrants for their arrests,'' he said. Police are hunting not only the British ringleader but also three more Thai suspects who allegedly procured children for him. ''These gangs exist not only in Pattaya. We believe they are in other major tourist destinations in Thailand as well, including Chiang Mai and Phuket. Countries in the region are exchanging information and we might conduct raids on other tourist spots soon,'' Pol Lt-Col Panya said.

I wonder why they do that. Just another item on my "I Don't Get It" list.

It must be the size of an olympic pool!

The rate I'm seeing shows the baht closed at 34.77 today. But let's hope it works out as you say. Only a couple days ago it looked like it was going to go back into the 33's. If it reaches 35 on the sites I check, I'll start posting the daily rates again. Monday's opening should be an interesting one.

That's the whole point. Thailand has its own definition and, quite frankly, it can be confusing to try figuring out just what that definition actually is. However, anybody who ends up arrested for sex with an under-age boy can show the arresting police officers a dictionary. They may even read it . . . the whole trip downtown.

If anyone knows cooking, it's certainly you. But there are times when I would like to use a roasting bag for other things. So, I'm still curious if anyone has spotted them anywhere.

Not only that, but this time there probably will be an attempt to control. During the PAD protests nobody did much of anything to control any of it. If the Thai government wanted the police and/or military to intervene, they weren't listening. However, I agree with you that this round of protests could escalate into at least police intervention. I don't think Thailand wants to see airports or anything else that could cause serious disruption happen again. I think Thailand is really beginning to feel the pinch. The first indicator, in my opinion, is the exchange rate. Only a couple days ago the US dollar to baht exchange rate was 34.3. This morning it opened at 34.53. At the moment I'm writing this, less than an hour after the opening rate, it's 34.71. The next indicator, in my opinion, is the gay personals web sites. I like GayRomeo. For quite a while the ads I saw were the same ads that had been there for a long time. Now I'm suddenly starting to see a lot of new faces appearing on the personals sites. That tells me something. The tourist industry is also beginning to really suffer. I'm hearing about more and more lay-offs and people either ending up out of a job or having their number of work days and hours cut back. However, I'm still not seeing very many boys working the beaches. That surprises me. Maybe they can't even afford the bus fare and concession fees.

They don't. I'm registered and all I ever get is an occasional Email from them with an ad specifying what kinds of promotions and specials they have available. Even then, I only get those Emails because I checked a box requesting those Emails. Other than that, if I'm getting any kind of Email from other advertisers, fine with me. I never see any of them. I don't know about other Email services, but on Gmail those kinds of ads never make it to my Inbox. They all end up in the Spam folder and I enjoy deleting the contents of that folder without reading any of the Emails there. I also never receive phone calls or text messages from anyone advertising air travel, or any other kind of travel for that matter. So I'm pretty well convinced that they don't sell any of your personal information to anybody.

The first thing that grabbed my attention was "We have two different licenses available: A ten-year license priced at 5,500 Baht and a twenty-year license available for 6,500 Baht. This license is valid in over two hundred countries around the world, listed below on this page." Until now I never knew an International Driving Permit is available for greater than one year. In the USA, the only place I know of to obtain an International Driving Permit is AAA. As far as I know, they only issue the permit with a validity of one year. If they have ten and twenty year permits available, they never told me. Of course, the one year permit is much less expensive than what is being advertised on that web site.

Does it really matter how dictionaries define it? I don't think so. I think what really matters is the practicality. We can debate the fine points as to what constitutes a pedophile from now until Kingdom Come, but the fact is that under Thai law you're a pedophile and you're going to jail if you are caught engaging in sex with anyone under age 18. Some people might say, "Yes, but that only applies if money is involved. Under Thai law the age of consent is 16 provided no money is involved." While that may be true, I wonder if any farang actually believes that if he is caught engaging in sex with a 16 year old the police and the Thai courts are going to accept a claim that no money was involved. I wonder if anybody really wants to find out. The point is that whether it is technically correct to refer to someone as a pedophile if he engages in sex with someone who has already reached puberty, that's not going to change what will happen if caught engaging in sex with someone under 18 years old despite whatever dictionary might be available.

My favorite comedian, George Carlin, made dozens of comments about the ludicrousness of organized religion. My favorite one is the following: _____ Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man who lives in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! But He loves you.

Photoshop is a wonderful thing . . .

Now that you mention it, I haven't seen roasting bags in Thailand at all. I haven't been looking for them, but I think I would have noticed. Has anyone spotted them anywhere?

The following appears in the BANGKOK POST: ____ UDD Will Rally Until Abhisit Calls an Election Red-Shirts to Start Gathering on Sunday By: Post Reporters and TNA Published: 26/12/2008 at 12:00 AM Anti-government forces yesterday promised to begin a mass rally that would continue until Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva calls a general election. Leaders of the red-clad pro-Thaksin Shinawatra group, the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), said they would start their demonstration on Sunday, the day before the government is due to deliver its policy statement to parliament. It would continue until the prime minister dissolved the House. They said they did not believe Mr Abhisit and his cabinet would run the country honestly. The UDD leaders and hosts of Truth Today, a political talk show recently removed from state-run television station NBT, said their protest would be peaceful. Key UDD leader and veteran politician Veera Musikhapong, one of the Truth Today hosts, said the protest would start at Sanam Luang on Sunday about 3pm. Supporters would show their disapproval of Mr Abhisit. "Mr Abhisit is not qualified for the job as he avoided military conscription. His behaviour violates the constitution and the UDD cannot trust him to lead the country," Mr Veera said. Puea Thai MP Jatuporn Promphan, another Truth Today host, said attempts to prevent UDD members in the provinces from joining the protest rally in Bangkok would not be successful. Natthawut Saikua, a former government spokesman and leading UDD member, said a new strategy had been planned and a House dissolution was the only target. Mr Natthawut said some UDD members would rally at parliament on Monday, but would not resort to the tactics used by the People's Alliance for Democracy, which seized Government House and both of Bangkok's airports. Mr Abhisit said yesterday it was far too soon to think about setting a date for a general election. The government's priorities were to turn the economy around and bring about peace and reconciliation. Only when the job was done would he consider whether to dissolve the House. "I do not think it is necessary to fix the timeframe," said Mr Abhisit. When the time was right power would be returned to the people, he said. People needed to be realistic. There were several factors to consider and several pressing matters, including political reform. He dismissed concerns that conflict within the party over the distribution of cabinet seats could be his government's undoing. The government's stability would depend mainly on its ability to solve the country's problems, Mr Abhisit said. If the government could not regain the confidence of the public and foreigners, its stability could be at risk. The prime minister said he had impressed upon his cabinet ministers that they were working against time to achieve those aims and he required a total commitment from them. He stressed that the government would press ahead with political reform and would bring in people acceptable to all sides to work together on the political reform. Responding to a warning by social critic Prawase Wasi to beware of adopting the populist policies of the Thaksin government, Mr Abhisit said other countries had also taken necessary measures to jump-start their economy. Failure to maintain the purchasing power of the people could lead to a severe economic slump, he said. Dr Prawase warned that embracing Thaksin-style populist policies aimed at helping rural people could be "addictive" without proper management. Mr Abhisit said urgent measures were needed to ensure people have ready money in their pockets. But disbursements must be controlled with a clear aim to generate returns. He said his frequent interviews with the foreign press were necessary to clarify the country's situation to the world and win back foreign investor confidence. Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart was confident the Abhisit administration would remain in power far longer than most people expected. After the government's policy statement is delivered in parliament, dissident members within coalition parties, particularly the Democrats, could be tamed, he said. He was confident the military would not meddle in politics.

I think, but am not certain, that with a valid Thai driver's license the better travel agencies can issue them. If not, they can probably point you in the right direction. If you are able to find out, please let the rest of us know.

I've always had a warm spot in my heart for a major religion that preaches all about how God and Jesus loves you, but in history didn't have much of a problem about gruesomely torturing people and burning them alive if they said or did anything the church didn't like. I also enjoy the idea that someone elected by humans gets to declare himself infallible. I was under the impression that overpopulation is the current major threat to the future of the human race. If that's the case, then he ought to be grateful for the existence of gays and lesbians. Not too many gays and lesbians are adding to the overpopulation problem. I believe one flaw in the evolution of humans is the tendency to hate and condemn minority groups. How would you like to have been a European Jew during the Nazi regime? What makes me sick is that here we are about to enter 2009 and this kind of hatred toward minority groups is just as rampant as ever. I believe if some anti-gay fanatic ever gets into a position of leadership, then another form of holocaust can easily happen again. If there really is a God, then I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to live in a country like Thailand, where being gay is acceptable.

Come over to my house. He stopped by for a quick drink . . .

That's a new one to me. I've taken many people to get both licenses and they were denied the motorcycle license without an International Driving Permit that had motorcycle marked on it. Maybe the trick is to do just what your friend did; just fill out the applications and go for it. Obviously, until we know for sure that it can be done that way as a matter of policy, it's still best to have an International Driving Permit that specifies both. Actually, as long as you fulfill all the other requirements, you can get a Thai driving license, one for car and one for motorcycle, without an International Driving Permit at all, but you will be required to sit through the movie, take the written test, and take the "road" test, which is really only driving around a small obstacle course. It's an all-day affair, but at the end of the day you will have both licenses.

I agree. I believe Sunee Plaza earned its reputation years ago, when bars were operating with under-age boys, very under-age boys, with virtual impunity. There were also a lot more under-age freelancers in those days. There is not nearly as much of it going on today, but it does still go on. I think as long as bars continue to employ under-age boys and as long as pedophile arrests continue to occur in Sunee Plaza and vicinity, the reputation has little chance of changing.