taharkin

16 hours ago, NeverSure said:

So it's Crooked Hillary,  Take the money and run Bernie, Creepy Biden...

 

What a laugh. It's apparent that the Democrats have no bench.

 

It's nice that the Democrats aren't smart enough to change anything after losing the House, Senate, White House and more than 1,000 state legislature and governor positions.

 

The Democrats have been wiped out but are still dumb enough to repeat with 78 year old Creepy Joe?

 

Stay The Course!!

They've got plenty of bench--Ed Rendell, ex-governor of PA, Jim Webb, blue dog senator from VA and former secretary of the Navy under Reagan, and a bunch from California--Alan Schiff, among many congress people and a new Senator.  But Nancy Pelosi's gotta step aside!!!

Kudos to Nancy for speaking on our behalf in a clear, calm voice.

1 hour ago, R123 said:

This Damien May is one of these typical do gooders who should not be allowed in Thailand; if there is a problem with under age workers let the Thai's sort it and these foreigners who are in Thailand on a moral crusade should be in there own countries sorting out problems.

Exactly!  I moved here to get away from Christian hypocrisy.  In the US the highest percentage of infidelity per religion takes place among fundamentalist Christians.

She proved to be fake, morally corrupt cow.Real politician!!!

After what she has been through, living under house arrest for years, not allowed to see her English husband? She's being the best kind of politician and diplomat, a pragmatist and realist. Compared to a Donald Trump and most American politicians, she continues to be an inspiration. And locally? There is NO comparison.

kiwi organisation involved. when i was in nz a few years ago i watched a documentary about some fellow kiwis who came over to pattaya to try to rescue some girls out of the bars. they had a car with the engine running out side a bar and offered the girls a fast escape. in the end they did not rescue any girls, the conclusion was that the girls did not seem to want to be rescued. what is the point of temporary closing this soapy? will be back open for business again in a week or 2.

NVADER has little understanding of Thai society. The men best suited to be husbands here--who don't drink, gamble, and womanize--are celibate monks. It doesn't seem to have changed a whole lot since I was a GI in Ubon 40 years ago. Many of the girls working in the bars and massage parlors were single, often single moms, with limited prospects of finding a dependable husband. Unlike the West, or at least the US and NZ, they didn't have hangups about sex, as long as it was safe. The International Organization of Labor did a study thirty-some years ago and the findings were fascinating and eye-opening. Thai women had a long history of pragmatic independence evolving out of hundreds of years of running their farms three months a year while their men entered the local monastery for Rains Retreat. Sexual service workers at the time of the survey were NOT fallen women or outcasts, they worked in the industry for a few years, sent enough money home to raise their family's standard of living (new teak houses, plows, water buffalo, and TVs in the 70s an 80s) and then returned to their villages where they were often regarded highly by younger women in the village. I don't pretend to understand police and government corruption and hypocrisy, but I do understand the women's perspective. Even the bright, well-educated women teaching at language schools here in Chiang Mai in recent years often complained about the scarcity of Thai men who wouldn't squander family resources on drugs, booze, gambling and other women...

"No definitive cause of the fire has yet been found but the most likely answer is that a plastic casing of a ground floor neon light in an activity room melted and dripped onto four piles of clothes below that then ignited...One dormitory staff member was having a shower nearby when the fire took hold. Two maids had already gone home. Of two teaching assistants one was on holiday and another - Suchada Sase-mua. 23 - was sleeping with the children."

So typical. Divert the blame and responsibility away from the real culprits. Were the fire alarms and smoke detectors also on vacation? Did everyone forget what they were taught to do during fire drills? Did the fire retardant materials of which the building was constructed somehow fail? None of these safety measures were in place in the first place. So, how could they have the chance to fail.

This tragedy was a result of ignorance, stupidity and pure irresponsible neglect. The building was probably a tinder box waiting to be ignited. There was absolutely no fire or emergency warning systems in place. No sprinkler systems. No one was trained to act responsibly in such an emergency and I am sure that instead of holding fire drills which might have contributed to some more children surviving, they spent that time singing songs about how great everything is.

Yes. Thai authorities and most of the population will tell us not to try and force them to adopt western culture and mind our own business. In fact, in this case, what they are saying is that in Thailand life is a cheap commodity and doesn't deserve the attention to develop proven ways to save those lives in emergencies such as this tragedy.

Unfortunately, so many innocent young lives were sacrificed due a nation of adults who are too stubborn and ethnocentric to adopt responsible behaviors which would benefit the society as a whole. This isn't a case of cultural values. This is a case of how little value is placed on life.

No fire alarms! So simple--can be battery powered. But then again, the batteries have to be changed every year....

Visit Wat Umong often for Phra Charles' brilliant Sunday talks. Have watched the pond shrink alarmingly this year. Kudos to the students for doing something I thought impossible!

Visit Wat Umong often for Phra Charles' brilliant Sunday talks. Have watch the pond shrink alarmingly this year. Kudos to the students for doing something I thought impossible!

Colleges in thailand have big gang problems among the students. It's a big problem here. Unheard of in the states.

Before moving to Thailand two years ago, did some homework. Value Thai sense of "jai yen yen." Admire the teachings on Vipassana meditation of Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Buddhadassa. Alas, whatever the motives, the murder rates in the United States, with its reputation for violence, and Thailand--are, according to the UN, identical!