55Jay

1 minute ago, dick dasterdly said:

This thread is about Poland and, I gather from the OP, that they already have very strict abortion laws - but are now looking to ban abortions entirely.

I would feel very badly for Polish women trapped in a country run by puppets of the church.

Had a Mexican GF is San Diego.  She was an illegal but got her green card during Reagan's amnesty.  After years together, she told me her story and how she came to have a child, who was I think 7 or 8 when I met her. 

She was raped in Mexico as a teenager.  The solution was she had to marry her rapist to keep up appearances.  No abortion thanks to the men in funny hats who determine the "culture".  She took the hush hush advice of adult women and drank some kind of preparation they gave her to induce a miscarriage.  She got very sick but it didn't work.  She ran away, made her way to the border and crawled through a pipe into the US and eventually had her "anchor" baby at UCSD hospital.  The father of her child back in Mexico was later killed in a drug deal gone bad.   The kid (Michael) was a nice boy, but he had some fairly obvious coordination, speaking and learning troubles.  I often wondered if that was a result of the home remedy attempted abortion.

1 minute ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

if people act in an irresponsible manner they need to pay for those actions especially if those actions lead to loss of life. in a civilized society the value of human life must be held above everything else. there must be some compromise where all these unwanted babies being killed off can go to the growing number of people wanting babies  who can make their own.

There are processes in place for that already for willing parties on both sides of the equation.  Willing being the operative word.

Legislation rewinding abortion into murder is a step too far and turns women (and men) who've made a mistake, into victims of the state. 

1 minute ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

think i referenced god in response to another comment. i have no interest in talking about god.

the church needs to stay out of everything. there is a mess in australia weather gays should be able to get married. think they should ban marriage outright. just bring in a system where people register their assets and there intent to start a relationship. would make things simple. see young couples getting into debt spending big on weddings when that money should be use to give their kids a better up bringing.

if i break the law and drive my car and kill some one i should not be allowed to say ooops and not suffer the consequences. people need to be held accountable for their actions. 

I think we agree and flew past each other because of my incorrect assumption when you mentioned god. 

I agree you should be held responsible if you kill someone. 

When it comes to bringing a child into the world, that takes planning, commitment and resources to do it properly.   We can chastise those who act irresponsibly and get pregnant but no matter what we think or feel about them or the situation, there must continue to be a safe, legal way to deal with the plethora of "oops" situations. 

35 minutes ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

i am not religious and never have been. you were the one that bought religion into it, i dont know why.

i am very serious about getting married here. almost always it is a big mistake. like i said i have several friends who paid the price for that mistake but that is another discussion. so is religion so lets leave that out of it as well.

No, the church is involved in supporting this proposal and it's quite common for fervent religious people to have strong views against abortion, as you do.   You referenced god in a post you made on page 1.    But OK, if you are arguing against abortion because it's murder, then I've got no issues with that.

I bristle up when the church involves itself in governmental affairs.

As to your views about marrying Thai women, I'll go with your rationale for a moment.  It's often a mistake.  These dopes fly in the face of a mountain of anecdotal and statistical evidence, and still do it,  but can terminate with divorce and hopefully there are no kids involved.  So yes, people make "mistakes", even when they know, or should know, better.  There is a legal remedy. Imagine if there wasn't and you were forced to remain in the marriage for the rest of your life. 

What about casual sex?  Humans are one of a few species that engage in sex for pleasure, not just reproduction.  Men and women both know it could result in pregnancy.  Take one-night stands, where one or both parties may be intoxicated.  They may not even exchange family names and phone numbers.  They may or may not take precautions but ooops....   a month later she's pregnant.   She doesn't want kids.  It was a careless mistake on her (and his) part.  Should she be forced, by law, to have no legal way out?  The rest of her life is forever altered.

3 minutes ago, stevenl said:

And that is important why?

It's not but it is of interest if arguing with such passion from a religious perspective.   Having children outside of wedlock would be hypocritical cherry picking. 

1 minute ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

why any man would marry a thai woman is beyond me. several of my friends have made that mistake.

edit, yea whats that go to do with it?

Now you're just trolling.

17 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

a baby in a womb is not living? champ not sure what sort of science you are into but if it is cooking crack you need to lay of testing too much of  your product. a baby in the womb has a beating heart for almost the whole time of its development. it has a brain and of course it is thinking and moving. this can be shown in ultra sounds, ultra sounds i saw when my kids were developing in my girls womb. why do you nutters keep trying to bring god or the devil into this? makes you sound like crackpots.

What do you mean "your girl"?  You're not married to the mother of your children?

0100.  "Camp Beer".  Add alcohol, armed Thai police and some tourists.  What could go wrong?

Glad I live up country among the simple peasants. 

You can watch my house.  Package deal, just add some monopoly money and stir gently.  Comes with a complimentary wife, SUV, pick up truck, motorbike, MIL, 4 lovely dogs, 2 fish ponds, chickens, a cat, Wifi and hot water.   It could be heaven or it could be hell.  You can check out anytime you like.... but you can never leave!

Not familiar with Lomsak but if you're remote, head into the nearest largish town/city area or even a good size market and ask the guy selling aquarium fish.  He may not sell it himself, but could likely provide a lead to someone who does.

8 hours ago, joeyg said:

My last 30 years were in San Diego.. Tough place to leave but here I am

 

Guess I was just blathering on a bit about my own situation and how it influences my practical, somewhat indifferent outlook on Thailand, and other places like it that star struck newbies might refer to as "Paradise".   I wasn't inferring you were the later, you're not bubbling over, you just really like it here.  And that's great!   

2 minutes ago, Rorri said:

Wow, you should write novels.... love the imagination, hey, an elephant could have run amock and sorted all of them out.

Thanks but that didn't take much imagination.  It's a very plausible scenario, most likely to end with TVF members saying "RIP" and "Tragic, senseless loss of life", etc., etc.

I think my level-headed coolness about Thailand stems from why I/we landed here and also my wife's attitude about it. 

Thailand was a practical decision, not a lifelong goal or a new, exotic adventure.  I've been living/working/traveling outside the US almost all my adult life and just don't get the "Wow" thing anymore.  I've got nothing in the US, so we needed an address to ship all our stuff to.  I can stay here on visa extensions and we can live quite comfortably on just the military pension, without needing to work or,  more importantly, without tapping cash reserves and investments.  And so when I pulled the plug on the post-military work, here we are.

My wife is Thai but she wasn't thrilled about moving here.  She has a healthy dislike for some of the quirky aspects of "Thainess" and dysfunctional aspects of Thailand, many of which are vented here on TVF in color terms and a nod to the OP's whole point of this thread - over and over and over again.   I often joke that when the time comes to break suction from here, my Mrs. will probably beat me to the airport. 

In the meantime though, we try to enjoy where we are best we can.  Travel around, made some friends, have a laugh and some good times.  I like it alright here, it's OK, but it doesn't have what I really REALLY like and want.  I'm starting to wake up to the fact that I've got it all a$$ backwards.

Funny thing, last summer in San Diego, one of my old school mates bought a 37' boat.  I  volunteered to help him shift the boat from San Diego Harbor up to his slip in Oceanside.  It was a perfect Southern California day with cool, low hanging marine layer that starts burning off around noon, nice easy cruise up the coast, half-heartedly trolling for tuna along the way, just BS'ing and catching up as a pod of porpoise swooped in to ride our bow wave, saw a gray whale along the way.  I was on Cloud 9.  This is the life!  But my mate was all over me about living in Thailand.  He said, "Dude! You're livin' the dream, man!".  I looked around, then back to him and said, "No, dude, YOU are!"

On 9/21/2016 at 5:04 PM, JAFO said:

I'm with the OP.  I too really like Thailand. I could have moved and lived anywhere. In fact I could have easily just stayed in the US. I traveled around and just like the place.

 

I work with Thai folks all day long. Nicest folk. Easy to get on with. I see more smiles in a day here then I would see in the US in damn near a month. One thing clear is work isn't everything to Thai's. They seem to balance it very well. While many criticize the "Mai Pen Rai" attitude, for me its refreshing. They do not get their underwear all cranked up in their butt over silly things versus where I just moved from. Point in case, Wife and I were at a restaurant the other night. Place had a rush of customers and 2 poor waitresses were swamped. In the US I guarantee you people would have been screaming, demanding to talk to the manager, wanting their money back and so on and so on. They would have not even left a tip even though the waitress had nothing to do with the surge of customers. Here folks understood, were patient, carried on with the discussions, waited and got their food. Same with us. Our waitress apologized and it was OK. No worries.  We left her a tip.

IMO, the debate about Thailand is similar to what many folks say about Trip Advisor reviews.  Ignore the ones laced with over the top venom as well as lavish praise about paradise found.   The needle usually comes to rest in the middle.

All sorts of tribes packed into Pattaya.   OK for the occasional visit, but wouldn't want to live down there. 

Could have continued to escalate further.  Out comes a knife or a 9mm pistol, shots are fired,  bullets go astray into a nearby noodle shop, killing a 6 year old girl having dinner with her Mom.  

Over some damage to a motorbike. 

6 hours ago, ClutchClark said:

 

Actually they salvage many parts from those mothballed aircraft so it is our tax dollars at work.

 

One of the few things I don't mind paying taxes to finance.

Off-topic, but your comment reminded me of a now dated article about the C-27J program. 

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/10/07/new-air-force-planes-go-directly-to-boneyard.html

Thailand's fine, unique in some ways within the Asian experience.  Some I like, some I don't,  mostly indifferent.  Thailand is just another place.  Nothing to gush over.  I just live here.

Here we go!   

3 hours ago, Linzz said:

 

I just love it when the Americans enter into  the UK political conversation to tell Brits how to vote as did Barack Obama on  Brexit.

Believe he prefaced his comments with, "It's a matter for the British voters to decide", and then gave his long and winding opinion.  At least in the clip I watched on Youtube a few moments ago.

I don't follow the tabloids but remember when they (finally) did get married, I wondered why.  My impression was they were into this trendy, new age lifestyle where people have "life partners" in lieu of  the old fashioned tradition of marriage, seen as an unnecessary religious and legal pantomime.

14 minutes ago, muzmurray said:

 

On 8th September you posted;

"

I'm about to attempt to live in Thailand for a few months to see how i get on.. i only have a few hundred quid a month as an income so i'll be cheap skating it.

I have figured the cheapest way for me to eat will be cooking rice myself in a rice cooker in whatever apartment room i rent.. and supplement it with some meat or a tin of tuna.

 

How much is a large sack of rice in Thailand these days?"

 

I think the chances of you dating a HiSo Thai are pretty damn slim.

 

:-)

 

 

He may post under different aliases and forgets what each character has said previously. 

Some think he shares a flat with JJGreen.  Never an unspoken, random thought between them.  It does keep the General Forum ticking along though. 

21 hours ago, jeffandgop said:

U brought in a container by ship and paid zero duty? How large was the container and what were the ports of loading and arrival?

The Santa Fe agent in BKK called us during the clearing process.  Wife did all the talking in Thai.  I seem to remember Customs picked up on multiple computer monitors, wanted 1,000 Baht, something like that.  My wife argued the "family" talking point.  They never called back, may have billed my company, I'm not sure, but we never paid any money.  Had Customs actually done a physical inspection, they would of had a field day.

E-cigs/vaping is alright.  I used it as a replacement tool to quit smoking cigarettes.  It is nowhere near as offensive as smoking tobacco.  Stand in a bar where people are smoking fags.  Then stand in one where they vaping.  No contest, but you can whinge about it on principle, which is what the hard core anti-smoking nutters are on about.  They ought to be pleased with a less offensive alternative.  Nope.  They are just as militant about this.  If it wasn't this, it would be something else, that's how these tight <deleted> are.

My Mom is a mild anti-smoking person, never smoked in her life.  Despised me smoking even outside on her balcony because it stinks so bad.    At my last holiday staying at her house, she was thrilled I had quit smoking cigarettes and was curious about my little vaping pen, never saw one up close before.   I showed her how it worked, did a vape and exhaled.  She said, "Oh!  Well, that's not bad at all!  Has a faint cherry odor to it!"  - I used cherry or other fruit liquids.    She had no problem with me using it in the house after that, could sit on the sofa, watch TV and vape.

Once Thailand gets a weed up their arse about some random thing, they sure do get stupid about it.