Bob

I'm having the same problem....the hairy little beast talks way too much (poot mak mak).

Yep, I confess, it was rude. Couldn't help myself...

What absolute bullshit - the guy getting a ticket smoking alone in his own friggin' truck. Notice to Mountie Dumbshit: I'm coming to yore neck of the woods, I'll be renting a truck for work, and I'll be smoking up a storm in it. You'll never take me alive!

Frankly, guys, I try to stay away from cousins and anybody that'd look like me! (Stealing one of Dangerfield's lines: I was so ugly as a child they had to tie a pork chop to my face to get the dog to play with me!) By the way, who's Nookie? And is he/she available?

I, for one, love the fact there is an attempt at reasonable moderation here. It makes the experience much more pleasant. For the banned poster (I can guarantee you that the guy will come back to at least read this thread): glad you're gone, dickhead!

Shhh! I'm trying to get my avatar to make due with the cheap shit!

Yep, adequately fits ol' Bernie. And I hope his cellmate finds him most attractive.... There are a fair number of filthy rich people that, in spite of their money, are pretty much lowlifes in my view because of their attitudes regarding their own self-importance. And easier to find ol' elite Bernie even more detestable as he stole the money in the first place.

Not having the balls, good sense, or decency to condemn human rights violations within their own member countries, ASEAN is basically worthless in my view.

I'm with you on this one. While I know many of the parents mean well, most of the home-schooled kids and young adults I've ever met seem a bit socially stilted in my view. That also applies to the kids I see that go to one of the small exclusive (private) schools in my neck of the woods. I'm not sure what the right mix may be but I do believe it's very important for the kids to be socially attuned (and not awkward) with kids of their own age group.

In my view, there isn't much difference in those two concepts in Thailand, at least when it comes to those in power and the rich/elite. Unfortunately, I start with the concept that most Thai politicians are corrupt (meaning at the least that they provide favors for political support) and Shinawatra was no different or better at it than most of them. His governmental policies (two prime examples of which were the 30-baht health scheme and the loans to rural farmers program), as you note, at least somewhat favored the poor and that's why he obtained most of the rural vote. One of Shinawatra's first foreign trips as Prime Minister was a trip to India and, while there (in between the diplomatic junk), he signed a deal for Shin Corporation (a satellite company he and his family members owned). A year or so later, he pushed through the legislature a Thai governmental loan to Burma - which was largely used for deals with Shin Corporation. Now that's what I call major corruption - but nobody much in Thailand seemed to care or squawk too much about that (I guess it was business as usual). What's rather funny/bizarre is what the coup government actually chose to go after him for - a rather questionable charge at least in my view. A governmental parcel in Bangkok was put up for public auction and Shinawatra's wife ended up with the property as she had the winning bid (apparently there were 3 or 4 other bidders). The legal basis for the charge was that there is a law which prohibits any member of the family of a national government member to have any contractual deals with any governmental officer where that governmental office is directly overseen by the given national government member. A division of the Treasury Department conducted the auction in question and, while there could be some fair argument that Shinawatra, as Prime Minister, did directly oversee to some extent the Treasurer himself, it was strenously argued that Shinawatra had no oversight at all over the lower Treasury division or the people conducting the auction. But that, in a nutshell, is the charge for which he was convicted. Those that liked Shinawatra thought the conviction was pure political gamesmanship, whereas those that hated Shinawatra in general were happy he was convicted of something (after all, they had to philosophically justify the illegal coup in some fashion). Those few (falang and Thai) who actually want to analyze the law he was charged with violating ought to at least go read the law itself. I did (sorry, don't have time at the moment to google it and paste it here) and I concluded that the charge wouldn't have made it past a preliminary examination in the west.

Actually, I was rather surprised at this given I thought the Chinese were smarter than that. If GM can't make a profit on the Hummer in the land of ostentatious barges driving down the wide streets, I can't believe the Chinese can ultimately make any money on it. Given the width of most asian roads, the congestion, and the cost of gasoline, I'd guess that only a very few wealthy show-offs will buy it - and nobody is going to make money without selling a substantial number of them.

I heard Elvis attended - and he brought the donuts.

The best example of that might be Jesse Ventura as Governor of Minnesota (when he said in part in a Playboy interview: "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers"). I didn't disagree a bit with what he said but I was rather shocked that he was dumb enough to say it in public.

I don't either as he's free to do whatever he wants. Unfortunately, the fact that he can make money this way only demonstrates the lack of taste of the people who are paying him to do it and the lack of taste of people who actually pay to see the photos. But nothing surprises me. At one time, the National Enquirer was the largest selling "newspaper" (haha - that's being generous) in the US.

I would note that I erred in saying that Cambodia won the dispute by a 4-3 vote. Apparently, there were several decisions in the final judgment and the judicial vote finding that the temple was within the sovereign territory of Cambodia was 9 to 3.

Actually, the dispute was submitted to the International Court of Justice, the primary judicial body of the UN, by Cambodia in 1959. Both Cambodia and Thailand participated in the proceedings, each providing various pleadings, written arguments, replies, oral arguments and replies, etc. In 1962, the Court ruled in favor of Cambodia. As noted in the New York Times (Asia edition): "In 1962 the International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia, based on a map prepared at the start of the century by colonial French rulers. Unesco referred to that map in designating the temple a World Heritage Site." It appears that there were 7 judges and Cambodia won on a 4-3 vote. It was that designation by UNESCO some years back (4-5?) that started the current dispute. Thailand apparently chooses to ignore the World Court's decision as Thailand apparently doesn't like the final judgment (which, in my view, is rather chickenshit since both countries submitted the dispute to the World Court and agreed up front to abide by whatever decision was reached). If you'd like to read the judgment (and majority and dissenting opinions), you can do that here: World Court Decision

Doesn't surprise me about SCB. Prior to this year, I wasn't charged for anything using my SCB account excepting for a charge (I think 50 baht) for using my ATM card out of zone. This past January, they started charging me for doing stuff in zone (such as getting my passbook updated - even when I did it myself on their machine) and everything out of zone. Later this week, I'm going to stop by my home branch of SCB in Chiangmai and have a direct chat with the manager about what they are or aren't going to charge me. If I don't like the answers I get, I'm also off to another bank. We'll see.

And, maybe just as important, afterwards!

Actually, I thought Shinawatra had actually calmed things down prior to the coup. The whole issue has now been resurrected by the wacko Pad group (spell that: Sondhi Limongkul) and it's rather sad that the worthless Abhisit government doesn't have the balls to tell them to keep their nose out of it. The UN has already spoken about the temple - it belongs to Cambodia - and, with respect to any minor land border issues in the area, you handle that calmly, diplomatically, and reasonably (which the current Thai government seems incapable of doing). For christ's sake, what's at stake is hardly worth a dispute with a neighboring country let alone a single injury or death.

Can they do that with a broken hand? (which is what they'll have if one of their paws approaches my nether regions....)

I'm sure I don't know the record switcheroo time period but I had one immigration guy tell me two different things in about a 3-hour time period. But, what the heck, he did have lunch in between my two appointments....

I've understood that you don't need the full 90-days for the first time you get a long-term (also called retirement visa by some) visa. But, as usual, that may vary from office to office (or week to week).

I think they thought Osama was hiding in the crater.

I could be wrong but I think he was only nominated then. But, same difference - it remains perplexing to my why he was either nominated or actually given the award.

Actually, other than a few neat interfaces (which I never use anyway), works pretty much the way XP did. And I suspect Windows 7 (and Windows 2479) will do the same.