connda

Annual increases or not, wait for it to be "means tested" or "income tested". Any other income/pensions will reduce your SocSec "benefit".

Not only no increase, but a reduction. Wait for it!

To add to this I can foresee the day when your SS payments will cease if your living outside the country. They hate to see these benefits sent to and spent in foreign countries. They claim that SS is an entitlement not a right. They are scrounging for every buck they can lay their hands on and it will only get worse. FATCA is only the beginning.

I'm not so sure of that, basically because there is such a large Hispanic population that contributes to Social Security, and many of these folks, I would assume, will opt to head back to Mexico, Central, or South American to retire (less expensive on a fixed income). The Hispanic lobby probably holds as much weight if not more than AARP. Any legislation like that would probably hit a brick wall with Latino lobbyist groups, and possibly AARP.

Largely based on lower gas prices but many, like me at 81, haven't driven indecades and I cancelled my $ 100 + a month Medicare, years ago, as it is

not valid in Thailand even though many European Health Plans are

Fred,

Just curious, but how are you handling health insurance. The insurance companies here want to drop you like a hot potato once you hit 60 to 65. If the do cover you, then I'm assuming your premiums at 81 have to be off the charts. How do you handle health care and insurance if you have it?

yep. The metric they use today is ridiculous. My Medical is up 28 % every year and is now becoming close to unmanageable. The price of cars is up dramatically for anything above shoebox size. Clothes and furnishings can be kept under control (except for one of my ex GFs that was a shopping nut). Food is not so bad given Wal Mart cheap prices and the competition among so many big store chains

I left the US for about 2 years and went back for a vacation. My family went out to buy food for a BBQ and I was like, OMG, what happened to the prices in the last two years?

That was about 7 years ago. Now I can only imagine. And yeah, Health Care. It's that one item that essentially stops me in my tracks from going back to the US. I'd be in poverty just trying to pay the premiums, and if I had to use it, the automatic $5000 deducible and co-pays would bankrupt me. And if I could actually get my wife a visa to live in the US (seems you need to be Hispanic or an Muslim 'refugee' to obtain a visa), the Health Care system would put us in abject poverty.

About 15 minutes ago my wife called me into the living room to watch a Thai PBS news clip covering a conference where doctors, government officials, and members of the public where discussing the pros and cons of the use of medical marijuana in Thailand, often citing the clinics established in various states in the US and the various medical conditions that medical marijuana is used for.

That's a quantum leap for a opiate-paranoid government and medical establishment that are about 50 year behind the West in palliative (pain management) medical care.

Maybe Webfact can dig some more information up on this. It played at about 7:30PM on Thai PBS on channel 13 here in Lamphun province.

"This law has been brought about because of the number of fatal shootings of students this year"

How about radical idea of enforcing existing laws regarding possession of firearms and underage drinking? Oh, but people walk around or ride around (which makes the distance factor so inane, imho), so involves a little walking and effort. Businesses aren't mobile, so can squeeze them at leisure.

The laws regarding the possession of a firearm in Thailand is incredibly strict. It's just the fact that a connected Hi-so can kill someone and get off because they have the money and connections, whereas the average Somchai will see serious jail-time or a intravenous injection. The Hi-sos probably have legal guns and license because they can afford them; the average Somchai is probably carrying an unregistered firearm, primarily because the average price of a handgun is 5 times the retail price of the same handgun purchase in the US from a US manufacturer. Needless to say the average Somchai has no license. Actual concealed carry permits are rare from my understanding. People aren't suppose to be carrying them around except in very specific situations, like a businessman who routinely carries around large sums of money between his business and the bank, or deals in gold, diamonds, etc, and VIPs who are sans their bodyguards.

So, don't confuse the US with Thailand. Large areas of the US allow ownership and legal carry, and handguns are a fifth of the price that they are here. Gun ownership is highly regulated here. So for the anti-gun lobby who love to spout, "If guns were outlawed, only outlaws would have guns." The latter statement is the norm here in the LOS. It has little to nothing to do with enforcement. If you're caught with an unregistered gun, you're going to jail, unless your rich, or otherwise can buy your way out.

As a resident of Muang Ake which is the housing estate that surrounds Rangsit University I can understand the law on the alcohol ban and the discretionary enforcement upon certain establishments.

IMHO many posters are missing the point and I can understand that to them the law seems frivolous and somewhat unreasonable.

This law has been brought about because of the number of fatal shootings of students this year.

The infamous Bungalow venue is closed now - there have been 2 fatal shootings here that I know about this year.oo

These have not been shootings of student on student but on the dek weng gangs who also go to the bars. Rich UnI kids angry with the dek weng kids on their turf and dek weng kids jealous of the guys who seem to have it all. Alcohol, testosterone and jai ron don't mix and tempers flare quickly.

This is the problem that I see here and it is this the police want to stop.

It sounds like Natural Selection to me. Let them have at it. It's better if they are removed from the gene pool.

She is doing you a favor by way of revealing how she could be or would be acting all the time...forever maybe.

Who needs to be around that kind of personality and or attitude.

Leave her and find a better woman and do not feel sorry for her and do not look back.

Cheers and good luck.

It sounds like you could break off amicably. Better than dragging it out if she is that unhappy. You haven't supported her long enough for her to claim anything (and you were smart enough to have a prenup agreement, yeah?), so head to the Amphur and sign the papers. The longer you wait, or if you attempt to keep it together, then divorce at a later time becomes a stickier situation. And for you? Too many fish in the sea. Find one that gets along with you. You need to be happy too.

Problem solved. Your dog will love you unconditionally.

Looks like a makeshift drinking corner in someones attic. 4 people and a dog around a table with a cop standing there watching.

Actually, what immediately came to my mind was, "Man! That looks posed. Like a poster for the Sobriety Police to place across Uni campuses."

Why can't Thailand pass a law requiring ID to be shown when purchasing alcohol?

No more "300m from school" nonsense, and shops could start selling alcohol between 2PM and 5PM again. It isn't rocket science.

Many people in Thailand carry fake IDs.

When I was under 21 many of my friends carried fake ID. Nothing new there.

Why can't Thailand pass a law requiring ID to be shown when purchasing alcohol?

No more "300m from school" nonsense, and shops could start selling alcohol between 2PM and 5PM again. It isn't rocket science.

That would be too simple plus someone has a point to make, who do you think the hackers are that are threatening government websites

It seems Thailands mighty military have gone to war with their university students

and are slowly going off the rails

There are lots of things that need fixed here - a few students having a piss up ain't one of them

The problem I see here is that those in charge are taking stuff personally, it is a failure to think that way, nobody is perfect - governments get things wrong - people let them know, take it on the chin and move on

The whole thing is quite childish

University students are change agents, and this wouldn't be the first time the Thai government has gone to war with them, plus the government has firearms so they feel invincible; well, until the Ministry of Whatever web site is hacked.

The fact that there is dissent with the universities tells me that there may actually be hope for the future of this country. The 'why of it' you'll have to figure out on your own.

Why can't Thailand pass a law requiring ID to be shown when purchasing alcohol?

No more "300m from school" nonsense, and shops could start selling alcohol between 2PM and 5PM again. It isn't rocket science.

But, but, but - that's what farang countries do. God only know that the Sun, Moon, and Stars revolve around Thailand, and never, ever, will they take the lead of something that works in another country. Now, if they could take credit for thinking of the idea - maybe - but Thailand uber alles, they couldn't fathom using common sense and practical ideas used successfully in other nations. Anyway, it's difficult to collect tea money if a law is too specific; it needs to be vague and open to interpretation. TIT.

God, how many years has this been going on? Ever since I was a young child and the aftermath of the 1967 war and the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Talks of peace are like leave blowing in the wind; never still, never able to coalesce. 40+ years: talks of talks of talks of peace. Never to come to fruition.

It's a nice gesture. I support it. I eat in Arab and Muslim restaurants all the time. Hummus even. No discount has been offered! But it's pretty naive to think this PR gesture is any kind of major peace breakthrough.

Act locally; Think globally.

A 500 year old cedar doesn't just happen. It's starts from a seed and the right conditions.

If nurtured, and allowed to grow, it may prosper. One can only hope. It's a start.

It's little things like this that take the government's out of the picture and brings regular people together. Inspiring! I wish the venture the best of luck.

Send in Team America: World Police.

Send in Team America: World Police. It would be the MIC's wet dream come true. Send in the drones, cruise missiles, tactical aircraft, B-52s, and get those NATO troops back to Inchon, but with tactile nukes this time. Yeah buddy. Make the DMZ a 'hot as melted glass zone'. Show Kim Jong-Un what Gangham-Style means. No more targeting Pashtun wedding parties. Have the Nobel Peace Prize winner show the world his cojones and regime-change a real tyrant with a really bad haircut. Target a country with a military that will fight back and prove "American Exceptionalism" isn't a joke.

-Signed

General Jack D. Ripper

"Purity of Essence. Must preserve our bodily fluids at any cost. Now let's nuke those commie bastards! And see if you can find Major T.J. "King" Kong? We got a little 'nuke riding' for him to do."

<caveat: I'm dating myself. Go watch Dr. Stranglove. Probably a little before ya'll time. I watched it with my Dad at a B-52 SAC base where my dad was a pilot just after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The audience, mostly SAC crew members, where falling over themselves laughing. That was probably as fun as the movie. >

Send in Team America: World Police.

What the hell is wrong with the federal government.

In this case they are interfering in State's rights.

One state, maybe Texas, should step up to the plate and build a laboratory just to manufacturer that one drug and sell it to all the other states.

More appropriately, what the hell is wrong with Arizona. We should give Texas back to Mexico, although that would probably be considered a hostile act.

I'm thinking you'd hear "Remember the Alamo" first. Texas is more likely to seceded that to ever become part of Mexico. And I agree: What the hell is so difficult about making phenobarbital? A small business specializing in Chemical Manufacturing should be able to accomplish that with a minimum of venture capital.

Air tight room, vacuum pump, Nitrogen or Helium, pump out 0_2, pump in N or He, no problem. Humane, inexpensive, no problems with legalities.

<caveat: I'm not a death penalty advocate, but if you're gonna do it, stop making it so difficult>

This is a situation where the UN should be imposing sanctions. Indonesia is essentially attacking surrounding countries.

I hate to say it but maybe when some of their own people start dying the Indonesian government will do something.

You could say the same of Northern Thailand during mid-April though Songkran in April.

I live out in the mountains of Northwest Thailand. The haze isn't farmer's slash and burn, although that adds to the problem; the problem is ignorant rural Thai going out to the forest and setting it on fire to burn off the under-growth so they can pick mushroom and other forest edibles during the rainy season. Millions upon millions of baht in damages, especially to the health of people in the North, just so a few people can make a pittance selling mushrooms at this time of year. And what's the government do? Lip service. Just like enforcing traffic laws. Lip service. So yeah, the UN should impose sanctions - uniformly.

Wow! Looks like Chiang Mai every year between mid-April until Songkran in April.

This is pure genius. Studies demonstrate that no Thai person can walk more than 300 meters outside of a mall.

My own plan is to rent an empty space in Sukhumvit and extract Tea money from local bars not to turn it into a school for young impressionable Thai students.

Are you accepting Venture Capital. Like your idea!

We had the people who are policing this around to our bar. They had a hi-tech piece of kit and that showed that were were precisely 310 metres awy from the school. Will be expecting another visit in the near future.

The Midnight closing is another scam, enforced here because we are on the main road, the places around the corner can stay open and off the main road can stay open, nonsensical!

Pray that no 'slip-fault' earthquakes take you 10.25 meters closer. Lol

I'm assuming that all the Hi-so and military watering holes are well outside the 300m limit. Or will this be a case of 'close', like horse-shoes and hand-granades. "Well, Club Hi-so isn't that close." I wonder how many schools on military bases are within the 300 meter range of an Officer's Club. Or perhaps they don't have schools on base. But if they did, I'm assuming they'd have to tear down the school. Maybe?

BEST NEWS THIS YEAR !

Congratulations to a Responsible, sane Government for introducing this law to rid us of the drunken oafs who have no idea of self control.

May the drunken louts and those idiots who support them, use this opportunity to sober-up...they may live longer and at the same time cause less carnage on our roads.

Signed,

"One day at a time" Bill (angry that he can't partake anymore, boo hoo)

Alcoholic Zealots Anonymous

(caveat: I don't drink either, but I don't give a tinker's da*m what other people choose to do. That's their lives and their business, not mine.)

Next up - No food stalls on any streets. May the over-weight, obese idiots (like alcoholics who have given up the drink and turned to food) use this opportunity to get skinney...they may live longer and at the same time cause less clog-ups in the sewer systems.