11 hours ago, stephen tracy said:

She was on the pill but had forgotten to take it for a week or so. She didn't tell me this until after the fact. We were just scared young kids really. I pressed like on that because I agreed with you on that point. Better safe than sorry. We don't have to disagree on everything :)

I rest my case.

7 hours ago, poanoi said:

i'd sooner be dead than dad

Why, if that's not too personal a question (from a incredibly happy and fulfilled dad with a child of my own and five stepchildren). Just seeing what you have written makes me sad.

3 hours ago, Artisi said:

Did you miss the sarcasm directed at the proponent of this idea ?

 

Ooh, you are awful! Don't you know sarcasm is the lowest form of wit? 

Did this luckless Brit actually catch the super-bug here and not in one of the numerous other South East Asian countries where sexually transmitted diseases are rife?

He must have a pretty good idea. And that goes for the doctors treating him. None of the UK newspapers where I have seen the story, including the Guardian and Mail, specified the "guilty" country. Probably worried about losing lucrative advertising contracts if they did!

So it is a bit rich for the Thai Visa News to point the finger of suspicion at LOS without any supporting evidence. Unless, of course, they know something the rest of us don't.

I doubt TAT will sue for libel or defamation, though. The scare story will help the junta in rolling out their plan - already in full swing in places like Phuket and Pattaya - to transform Thailand from a sex tourist destination to a family holiday paradise.

It's an ill wind. . . 

4 hours ago, stephen tracy said:

Yes I was the father. Yes I was consulted about her decision to terminate. Yes, I respected her wishes and agreed with her that it was probably for the best because we were too young and were students with no money and only halfway through our degrees. No, neither of us were "traumatized". It's a big decision but we were both relieved after and there were no regrets.

Thank you for filling in blanks. Interesting.

I couldn't help noticing that you (and only you) hit the "Like" button on an earlier posting, replying to one of mine, which advised: "If you don’t like abortion. . . be careful when partaking in sex. Be safe and double bag it. Be sure the person you’re having sex with is also being safe and taking the necessary precautions."

Why, one feels bound to ask, didn't you practice what the poster you endorsed was preaching while you and your girlfriend were having your fling at university ?

Had you done so, there would have been need to for an abortion - albeit, in your case achieved with only with feelings of "relief" and without the regrets and the trauma routinely associated with this procedure.

Hopefully, the experience will have taught you a lesson about personal responsibility more valuable than anything you ever learned in the lecture room.

2 hours ago, Artisi said:

But But - it doesn't work, haven't you been following the thread closely - all you need to do is stop feeding them, neuter them and in a few years all will be roses - no dogs- no rabies - no problem - no ongoing threads on the problem.

Thais won't stop feeding them because doing so is endemic to their culture and religion. Nor will they neuter them, either because they are not their "owners" or don't have the money or both. Sorry to wilt your roses, but you need a Thai cultural reality check more than I need to spend more time poring over endless Thai Visa threads on this dogged problem.

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I will address your lies about Hillary Clinton.

No, it's a total lie that Hillary Clinton ever supported as you say --

no restrictions on the stage of pregnancy at which an unborn child can be killed.

Also, it is a total lie that "trump" received the majority of the women's vote. Do you actually believe that lie? Actually "trump" did receive the majority of the WHITE women's vote. Other demographics, definitely not, and totally, definitely not. You've been corrected.

Please stop posting lies, OK? 

If nothing else for your own sake as there are reasonable arguments for your extremist anti-abortion position, but you degrade them massively but posting so many blatant lies.

The record shows Hillary Clinton voted in Congress against a ban on late-term partial-birth abortions, which in my view amounts to the same thing. She also believes a fetus (by which she of course means an unborn child) has no Constitutional rights because these belong exclusively to the mother.

You are correct in pointing out that Trump won the majority white women's vote. My error. Hillary's laid back attitude to taking babies' lives obviously resonated more than Trump's conservative stance on the issue with black, Hispanic and other ethnic women who between them account for six times the US abortion rate for white women.

Oh, and if it is "extremist" to campaign against the massacre of millions of unborn children, then I will wear the label with pride.

1 hour ago, Morch said:

 

I don't think Russia claims this. The Russian move is described more as a tit-for-tat response. 60 for 60.

And you actually believe all 60 Russian diplomats given the heave-ho by Uncle Sam are spies? If so, what does the fact that they have only now been unmasked say about US counter-intelligence?

Talk about life imitating art. I find Homeland more credible.

4 hours ago, rkidlad said:

Utterly, utterly shameless. What more can be said about all of this? 

This. . .

Probably died of boredom if it was cable.

The United States charges that the 60 Russians that it targeted are intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover.

Just like their opposite numbers in Russia.

Rotten to the core.

On seeing the headline, my dearly beloved assumed the story was about some randy falang who had been caught in the act and had his equipment decapitated by a wife with diseased gums.

Nasty suspicious minds some Thai women have!

7 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

"...The 11 member nations signed the TPP agreement earlier this month. The partnership will go into force 60 days after at least 6 member countries complete domestic procedures, such as gaining parliamentary approval..."

Thailand's government apparently decided to join the TPP to avoid losing out in multilateral free trade.

 

Hmm... actually, Thailand may APPLY to join the TPP. And likely enter into negotiations to see if it is feasible.

 

A serious question; what does Thailand have to offer that Vietnam and/or Malaysia can't provide? Is there a good reason to accept Thailand?

 

Anyone knowledgeable on the details of the TPP? And on how it may benefit from having Thailand as a part of it?

 

How's this for starters? Lots more where this came from via a quick Google search.

9 Ways the TPP Is Bad for Developing Countries

The TPP is supposed to create a level playing field for trade. Instead, it unfairly shackles developing economies.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/07/9-ways-the-tpp-is-bad-for-developing-countries/

11 hours ago, etbowe said:

In vitro = in test tube??

Presumably meant to be in utero

When I was in the Army and a C.O.'s inspection was due, they'd make us whitewash everything. Just saying. . . 

12 hours ago, stephen tracy said:

First off, 12 weeks is not early, that's leaving it late. Most women abort well before that. In fact many just take the morning-after pill rather take the chance. No, you have no right at all to dictate what women do with their bodies, whether they were raped or otherwise. It's none of your business. If you doubt me, go take a survey of women's opinions on the matter. Do it on Facebook and see how many likes you get.

We clearly are on different sides of this debate. Unlike you, I believe that a child in the womb has a right to life - and that this right should be denied only in the most extreme situations where an intolerable physical or mental burden would be placed on the mother.

Instead, we seem to be reaching the point where free abortion, available up to 24 weeks (by which time, more than half of all babies are developed enough to survive outside the womb) is used increasingly an alternative to responsible sexual behavior and contraception. 

A staggering (to me, at least) one in every six pregnancies in Britain is unplanned, according to a study published in the Lancet, and the latest annual abortion figures are the highest for five years at around 200,000. Clearly, something needs to be done - more sex education campaigns, easier access to contraception seem obvious initial measures - to turn the this tragic tide.

As a father who vividly recalls the joy a decade ago of seeing scaned images of our first child in my wife's womb, I find it hard to believe there are women, including Hillary Clinton, agitating for no restrictions on the stage of pregnancy at which an unborn child can be killed. I would like to think this is one reason Donald Trump garnered more women's votes than she did.

Your anecdote about your university girlfriend's trauma-free abortion begs more questions than it answers. Who was the child's father - you? If so, did you have a say in her decision to terminate and not find the experience at all traumatizing? And no regrets later? If so, you must both be made of stern stuff.

1 hour ago, geriatrickid said:

Raping women is a violent crime and not something to be made light of.

However, as you are a supporter of  the man, it does not surprise me that you find the allegations of sexual assault and rape funny.

1 Assange has not been found guilty of any sexual assault, let alone rape and contests the allegations which have been made.

2 You have no idea whether or not I am "a supporter" of Assange.

3 I will continue to "make light" of anything I choose, with or without your consent.

43 minutes ago, stephen tracy said:

Totally agree. And I'm curious to know what Krataiboy meant by this: "Getting rid of an unwanted baby is a traumatic tribute to failure and a lack of responsibility."  First off I have no clue what a "traumatic tribute to failure" means. And is being raped and aborting the fetus a traumatic tribute to failure? After all, he's made it clear that women should be forced to give birth even if the pregnancy is the result of a rape. I suppose to him a woman getting pregnant from a rape is "a lack of responsibility" on the part of the woman. I expect he was one of posters in the recent Songkran groping thread that blamed the victim for being groped/sexually assaulted because of what they were wearing.

Only a tiny minority of abortions are the result of rape. The vast majority are a caused by the failure of the parties involved to take sensible precautions. This "tribute to failure and irresponsibility" (Got it now?) leads to the trauma of termination, which is considerable for the pregnant woman and even more so for the unborn child.

49 minutes ago, stephen tracy said:

And once again, at the end of the day, . You have absolutely know right whatsoever to dictate to others on such an issue. And your views on a woman being forced to give birth to a child as a result of a rape are totally abhorrent.

A fetus in the early stages of pregnancy is not chopped up.

After 12 weeks a baby has grown to the point where has to be dismembered and crushed to remove it from the uterus.

it's absolutely none of your business what a woman does with her own body 

It would be if she were carrying my child. In any case, I have as much right to stand up for unborn children as you have to support the women who decide to abort them.

I accept that forcing a woman to have a rapist's child is likely to be counterproductive in some instances, but in others women who complete their pregnancy love their child as much as any other mother.

4 hours ago, stephen tracy said:

You think a woman should be forced to give birth to a child as a result of a rape? An abortion would be far less traumatic. You can debate the rights of an unborn fetus all you like, but if I were a woman and someone else tried to dictate to me what I can and cannot do with my own body, I would happily tell them to go and fist themselves. It's easy to harp on about the rights of a fetus when it's not you carrying the result of a rape in your womb. At the end of the day, it's no ones business but the woman in question.

I agree that an abortion may be the only viable choice for some women who conceive as a result of rape. On the other hand there are others who opts to have their baby and feel, as one of them put it,  they "get something beautiful from something terrible".

2 hours ago, rkidlad said:

There’s a cut off point as to when you can’t abort anymore. I’ll let doctors and professionals decide that point. Ben Shapiro is misrepresenting this actress’ ideas. She doesn’t want the right to kill her baby one minute before birth. She wants the right to abort her child within a legal and compassionate timeframe. 

Shapiro is not misrepresenting anyone. He is pointing out the bitter irony of a woman who has clearly gone beyond the legal time frame for an abortion advocating for the killing of unwanted babies.

You defend for her right to abort her child within "a legal and compassionate time frame". Legal or not, chopping up a living human in the womb seems anything but compassionate. Unfortunately, we can't ask the opinion of countless children who have had no choice suffer this fate.

16 minutes ago, BuaBS said:

No it's not .

I won't even ask how you know.

19 minutes ago, stephen tracy said:

The decision is entirely up to the woman who has managed to get pregnant, no one else. No one has the right to dictate that. If it was men that had wombs, you can bet that abortion would be legal everywhere. And certainly in the case of a pregnancy as a result of rape, there should be absolutely no question about legalizing abortion.  

Don't unborn babies have rights, as well as the women who, deliberately or accidentally, are carrying them? Clearly, since there is a cut-off date after which unborn babies cannot be lawfully be chopped up and pulled out of the womb, they do. The question is: at what point in a human's child's gestation do they start.

Rather than my attempting to deal with what is the key issue here - the rights of a child not to be "terminated", whether inside or outside of it's mother's body - I will let a young father whom I must confess I rather admire do it for me here:

Babies conceived by rape are as entitled to life as any others. There are many childless people out there who would be willing to adopt such a child in those cases where the mother cannot or will not take care of the child.

25 minutes ago, JAG said:

Mr Assange now lives in the Ecuadorian Embassy because he rather wished to avoid telling, or at least discussing, the truth ( about his sexual antics), with the Swedish authorities. A little matter of buggering women whilst they were asleep was it not?

Someone should have told him it's more fun when they are awake.