kmart

Remember I went to see quite a racy Thai movie; "Jan Dara" a few years ago. Okay, it was a cliched, art-house type of movie, but wasn't short in the nudity / shagging dept. Although the film had already garnered a bit of notoriety in the local media; there were still parents with young kids in there watching it.

Maybe when films here have a coherent classification system as to the age of people allowed in to view them, then a sensible attitude to censorship could be adopted? Probably not.

i agree , for a public official , she stands out for her honest approach to her work , her determination to find the truth and her refusal to be intimidated.

attitudes like that are rare in the slop filled trough that is thai politics , justice and civil procedures.

with more people like her to inspire the younger generation here there is hope for the future of politics and public service here.

Agreed wholeheartedly. She has ethics; education; dedication; and principles. I really admire this woman. If Thailand could produce more like her, it might climb out of the sludge one day. Here's hoping.

But at least we arn't shouting.

I need to ask a question for the past three years my American neighbour has given my wife and I a Valentine card and flower. He also gives these to all his friends whether male or female. He is not gay at all. In the UK you would only give a valentine card to a spouse or lover and not to your next door neighbour. A serious question, is this normal behaviour in the USA?

Its probably normal behaviour for "swingers".

Anyone else forget to say Happy Velentine's Day to the missus?

I'm still getting the cold shoulder quote "today special day but you not think, maybe not for you blah blah?" that was yesterday and she's still not spoke to me this morning!

I think I'm in the dog house any ideas?

It will be expensive.... And will probably involve lots of shopping and food.

Mrs kmart got the flowers and Italian Bistro treatment yesterday. I now have Brownie Points stacked up to the ceiling. Probably....

I always feel proud, and indeed comfortable, walking around with a troll on my arm.

555!! Have you been taking funny pills this morning Kmart?!!

It was my post #666. Thought I'd knock myself out. Oh, and your soul is damned for Eternity for laughing along with me. Have A Nice Day.

As far as the educational standard of this forum is concerned, I am not sure the proportion holding university degrees is anything than an approximate pointer.Nevertheless I suspect it would be rather few.It is obvious from polls recently conducted and frankly from the internal evidence of posts that this is primarily a blue collar discussion group.

Are you holding your nose whilst you slum it with the riff-raff here?

No because I do not confuse social class with intelligence or perception.Many without much formal education have a great deal interesting to say.I do not pay much attention to those interested in sex tourism, drinking beer, football, Pattaya, bargirls, barboys, visa running and obsessive one subject posters.I must confess to a slight prejudice against uneducated Brits (why do I always imagine them as fatties?) expounding uncritically on Thai politics and culture in terms of the current received opinion.There are however some excellent posters, many of whom I often disagree with, and I suspect there is a wide diversity in educational background.

Fair enough.

I sometimes wonder though.... Why does Thailand and TV forum attract intelligent, educated people; to discuss and intellectualise what is an essentially uncomplicated, unsophisticated country? Thailand is probably the "dumb blonde" of SE Asia. Okay, the Philippines is riding shotgun under the "Sharon & Tracy" sun screen, but,....

Maybe should be a separate thread?

Ooh! Look at that shiny thing over there!....

Another thing i would add is that he was actually wearing a 'Fox' T-shirt and you guys saying he must have been a Brit i can tell you i have never seen a Brit wearing a 'Fox' t-shirt.

well there you go... He's a big fan of Fox News. That sort of behavior is common amongst its promoters.

Maybe a big fan of fox-hunting? Seems to draw the "pro" and "anti" nutters out of the woodwork every time, in the UK.

Set a pack of Beagles on him, and see which way he runs....

Every government is. Thais are not the most sensitive in SE Asia.

It sounds faschistic simply because we have a different set of taboos.

Apparently very recent taboos, btw?

Yes, Steve.

I always feel proud, and indeed comfortable, walking around with a troll on my arm.

Censorship is rife here now. I don't buy legit DVD's or vcd's any more, because I will not pay money for ruined art or media. Ruined by the spastic mentality of the People In Charge. They are simply just fascist book burners.

As far as the educational standard of this forum is concerned, I am not sure the proportion holding university degrees is anything than an approximate pointer.Nevertheless I suspect it would be rather few.It is obvious from polls recently conducted and frankly from the internal evidence of posts that this is primarily a blue collar discussion group.

Are you holding your nose whilst you slum it with the riff-raff here?

... You shuffle and I'll deal.

On a normal day, Stephen Hawking calls me before breakfast for advice. I've cured cancer by midday. I've built a particle accelerator that makes electrons dance the hokey-cokey before dinner, and I have simultaneously hacked into NATO's supercomputer; crashed the Belgian stock exchange, and taken the new Chinese spy satellite out of orbit and put it down on the nearest local 7/11. - Just dickering around on my laptop, before retiring to my anti-gravity bed.

A different line of thinking for the ones who think drug runners should be hanged or something similar. Repression has not reduced, let alone stopped, people from getting high on whatever is illegal. It has simply increased the cost and made some people extremely wealthy which, before terrorism made it big, has led to governments trying to control money transiting across border under various scheme such as money laundering prevention and the rest of it as we know it. It has affected all of us and reduced our freedom. I believe it is fair to say that harsh punishment has not detered drug smugglers, dealers and users.

If there was no demand, there would be no supply. So perhaps understanging why people needs the stuff could be the key. It might also be a good idea to separate stuff like grass to the really nasty such as Heroin and the rest of it.

Prohibition never stopped people from drinking, it just created smuggling and distributing gangs that became very wealthy.

Correct. Prohibition launched organized crime in the US. Drugs are the same. Cartels in S. America have more money and influence than their supposed governments.

War on Drugs is a worldwide joke, and just glamourises a shitty lifestyle and personal choice. Legalise them all, and demand would fall away.

Another thread dissolves into sniping and backbiting. I always think about this forum when I want to delay orgasm. This really works, trust me.

The new puritans can go hang. I think she looks great.

Old Fossils like this need to find a f#cking tar pit to blunder into.

Maybe this thread could be merged with the "Its hard to find a screw in Thailand" thread?

It is a pity they do not see infrastructure as being;

Reliable water.

Reliable power.

Usable roads.

Usable footpaths.

Rapid transport links between airports.

Rapid transport links between airports and popular destinations.

Freight transport that does not rely entirely on the road system.

And the Thai government isn't working on any of those?

They have done in the past. Solutions normally involve "mega-projects" to line the pockets of people who first buy the land proposed for the projects, then form companies to bid, with no transparency; for the construction. Like the waste-water projects in Samut Prakarn; like the new airport; sub-standard IP gas powered stations; etc. etc.

Roads vary in quality depending on which province they are built in; local politicians seem to be able to make more money from the repairs later, so initial construction is always flawed.

The new government really has its work cut out supervising any new work / projects, and seeing how it is comprised of old soldiers with no business or engineering background; I'm not very confident of any change in this system.

If merchants charge rip-off prices for vegetables during the Vegetarian Festival, then I can't see much hope for roses on Valentine's Day.

Yes there does seem to more of this stuff going on. I've been propositioned--quite out of the blue-- recently in a low class department store in an industrial area of Bangkok by two relatively young girls (16-18 maybe). They wanted me to go with them for 200 baht each/400 baht for both.

Sometime back the same sort of thing happend with two young boys who made some lewd gestures and wanted 100 baht. They came out of a video arcade. They were quite young (as in 14-16) and in school uniforms.

I am beginning to think the Culture Ministry is just one of the jobs created so another crony could be on the take.

It was. It was created to give then Interior Minister Sanoh Thienthong's wife a job. Mr Sanoh also has / had a mistress also.

They will all drop out of the limelight for a while before re-emerging in some other form or other. No political parties here ever have policies or roadmaps for the future of the country, they just need to get their feudalistic faction's snouts back in the trough of public funds.

Thais seem to have the memory spans of autistic goldfish in allowing these people back into power. It always makes me laugh when they achieve power; then turn around and start talking about the nation's "morals" though.