Trentham

"The students said that in civilised countries, freedom of expression was a major premise of education."

In civilised countries, thinking and learning are the major premises of education.

If teachers and students do not have freedom of expression then good education is impossible.

Why are you being so picky??? They said it was "a" not "the" major premise.

This is good stuff '

There are more than enough unfortunate children waiting in orphanages all over the world to get the chance of finding loving foster parents. Take one of them as your child!!!

At some point kids want to know their true biological parents, so what they gonna tell those surrogate kids? Something like this? "It was a business you know - your biological mom carried you out just to make some extra cash but did not have any bond with you, letting alone love you? By the way, we have no idea who she was, where she lives and are also not allowed to check up on that... Oh, before I forgot - I am not your real dad, neither is Joe, your other dad... Your bio dad was a anonymous donor, I'm sorry!"

This is important and the response seems to be ' don't worry, it'll be ok'..... so blasé with predicting a kids feelings in the future.

Gays need to accept, 1) their union doesn't allow for the production of natural offspring

2) When it comes to kid raising, we don't know if there any negative outcomes to two blokes or two girls raising a kid, maybe being romantic in front of the kid, bullying at schools etc.

3)Purchasing children IS NOT THE <deleted> CORRECT ANSWER

All you poor bewildered creatures who want gays to adopt cannot get past your sexist natures to understand that the same applies to straight people. Why do you not tell them to stop procreating and adopt also????

You are all completely ignorant of the calling of nature, to follow what our genes demand, that is to have children. Many gay people use their own sperm to use with a surrogate mother.

I know a lesbian couple who, 26 years ago, used a gay friends sperm who wa..ed in the next room and then used a turkey baster to deliver it. The child born from that is now a straight well adjusted young man, a real hit with the girls, is well aware of his origins and would not have it any other way. He says that if they went to so much effort to have him then he knows he is really wanted and loved by his 2 mothers.

There has been quite a bit of research done already on the children raised by gay and lesbian couples that shows they do not suffer any detrimental effects any more than kids from straight unions. GET OVER YOUR FEAR OF THE TRUTH AND DO SOME SERIOUS READING ABOUT THE SUBJECT. Don't go looking in Catholic or Southern Baptist type websites. Look for scientific research.

And finally - grow up and get a life and get over all your prejudices.

I totally disagree with same sex couples bringing up children. The child is reared in an unusual environment whatever the gays might like to make out.

Oh you holier than thou sexist. My father was STRAIGHT and I watched him beat and rape my mother. I saw him throw my 2 year old brother against a wardrobe. Then he deserted us and left us penniless.

And you think straights can raise kids better than gays. Think again.

I don't think anything matches it for being an overpriced vanity purchase, no.

Oh I'm going head to head with that comment

Very true, the Mac is overpriced if you compare it to a similar Windows machine. I really have to swallow hard before I coughed up the cash. But, what you get for your money will be the most trouble free piece of hardware you have ever bought.

I'm a nerd, and on some level liked the downloading drivers, editing registries, re-imaging hard drives. But after experiencing the flawlessness of the mac, you get what you pay for.

I'm not an Apple fanboy, I still have Windows laptops, Android phones (don't own an iphone), but the Mac Air as a piece of hardware and software may well be overpriced, but it's as solid as anything you are ever going to buy, and probably outlive 2x any windows hardware you buy

The Mac is also the product of exploited workers and a company without ethics and as the Chicog said, "an overpriced vanity purchase".

Intersting , that is 1000 years before Christ is said to have been born.

It is often better to be quiet than to expose lack of knowledge. Reread....this reference was to the time of King David. Yes, Old Testament, long before the time of Jesus so....your point is?

How up yourself you are wwest5828. You should keep you mouth shut [or break your one typing finger] instead of trying to put someone down. All the guy wrote was that it was "interesting".

I guess that if the posters of this article were hoping for comment from the expat intelligentsia they should have woven into the story something about drinking beer in the ancient Middle East and a bit about depictions of beautiful girls on amphora of antiquity.

Being in the possession of a couple of 3000 year old pots, I find the story fascinating.

I think there is a typo in the headline. Year should read "day".

The Australian government is in for the money. I had to laugh when they executed the 2 Australians in Indonesia and the firm message that PM send to Indonesia.

After the bodies was shipped back to Australia business is normal but the only factor was that the Indonesians said Australia can stick their aid in their ass.

Don't know really what to say about Australia but they don't fit in any region.

I agree with your first 2 sentences except that I never laughed during that sad period. What sickened me was the Indonesian ambassador offering his condolences to the families the very next day after killing those 2 guys.

As for where we fit, well we allow the world to fit in here. See the following http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-24/study-reveals-refugees-boosting-nhill-economy/6417620 . Melbourne is the second largest Greek city in the world but even so we have more Italians than Greeks. Oz is a highly successful multicultural country where it really works.

Most people love and accept all the countless nationalities that go there to live. It is mostly the press beating up stories [half of it owned by right wing Rupert Murdoch] and a right wing Liberal [only in name] government which is stirring up hatred against Muslims to try to stay in power.

Julie Bishop, the foreign minister who is doing a deal with Thailand is a part of that government. As an Aussie I am embarrassed and ashamed of of that.

But don't give up on us. Most Aussies are laid back, easy going people who accept others from all over the world. After all, 25% of us were born in another country and most of the rest of us have foreign parents or grandparents from somewhere else. I am in fact a "First Fleeter".

The only true Australians are the aboriginal people and I acknowledge that although I am white, I was born and raised on the land of the Dja Dja Wurrung people

Oz is a highly successful multicultural country where it really works.

Totally disagree

We used to be a multinational country with one culture that people aspired to be part of and embraced

Multiculturalism has destroyed that thanks to Keating and Australia is rapidly becoming a second world country economically and socially.

You poor thing. They don't let you out much do they.

Trentham, arrive in Australia with no passport by boat & expect to be locked up, you put your child on that boat at your peril. Australia now has clinics for diseases that were eradicated. Arrive in Australia as a genuine refugee & not economic refugee you wouldn't care if you were on Manus island, if you weren't being bombed or murdered, you were safe, you'd be eternally grateful. Not complaining about everything & wanting the host country to change to suit you.

I was referring to the kids being locked up which is causing enormous psychological damage to them.

It seems you are just another heartless Liberal voter trying to make lame excuses for their breaking of international law and locking kids away.

As for this - Australia now has clinics for diseases that were eradicated. - bit of nonsense, it just reveals your true racism.

So what is the alternative?

BTW never voted Liberal in my life.

I don't know what the alternative is but we should not lock up little kids. Europe is also struggling with this question. Just look at the recent tragedies there. We should also not send any of them, adult or child, to Cambodia which is run by that monster dictator, Hun Sen.

Did you know that Australia paid, I think $40,000,000 to Cambodia to make that deal? With the corruption in that country you can just imagine whose pockets it ended up in.

AND does not that payment make Australia a party in the human trafficking business?????????

I used to vote for Menzies and Fraser. But I would spit on Abbott. There were some good labor men as well.

The Australian government is in for the money. I had to laugh when they executed the 2 Australians in Indonesia and the firm message that PM send to Indonesia.

After the bodies was shipped back to Australia business is normal but the only factor was that the Indonesians said Australia can stick their aid in their ass.

Don't know really what to say about Australia but they don't fit in any region.

I agree with your first 2 sentences except that I never laughed during that sad period. What sickened me was the Indonesian ambassador offering his condolences to the families the very next day after killing those 2 guys.

As for where we fit, well we allow the world to fit in here. See the following http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-24/study-reveals-refugees-boosting-nhill-economy/6417620 . Melbourne is the second largest Greek city in the world but even so we have more Italians than Greeks. Oz is a highly successful multicultural country where it really works.

Most people love and accept all the countless nationalities that go there to live. It is mostly the press beating up stories [half of it owned by right wing Rupert Murdoch] and a right wing Liberal [only in name] government which is stirring up hatred against Muslims to try to stay in power.

Julie Bishop, the foreign minister who is doing a deal with Thailand is a part of that government. As an Aussie I am embarrassed and ashamed of of that.

But don't give up on us. Most Aussies are laid back, easy going people who accept others from all over the world. After all, 25% of us were born in another country and most of the rest of us have foreign parents or grandparents from somewhere else. I am in fact a "First Fleeter".

The only true Australians are the aboriginal people and I acknowledge that although I am white, I was born and raised on the land of the Dja Dja Wurrung people

Trentham, arrive in Australia with no passport by boat & expect to be locked up, you put your child on that boat at your peril. Australia now has clinics for diseases that were eradicated. Arrive in Australia as a genuine refugee & not economic refugee you wouldn't care if you were on Manus island, if you weren't being bombed or murdered, you were safe, you'd be eternally grateful. Not complaining about everything & wanting the host country to change to suit you.

I was referring to the kids being locked up which is causing enormous psychological damage to them.

It seems you are just another heartless Liberal voter trying to make lame excuses for their breaking of international law and locking kids away.

As for this - Australia now has clinics for diseases that were eradicated. - bit of nonsense, it just reveals your true racism.

It is money that counts for the Abbott Government. They do not care about ethics and morals. Otherwise they would not be locking up kids on Manus Island and Nauru. Abbott is also sending political refugees to Cambodia which is led by an ex Kmer Rouge dictator.

Maybe that is why he is cuddling up with Thailand considering its attitude to asylum seekers vis-à-vis the atrocities being revealed in Songkhla right now.

"The task of tackling human trafficking has to be jointly tackled and it should be understood that the problem did not originate in Thailand, he said, adding the Kingdom was just a transit point."

Thailand is more than just a transit point. It is a warehousing site to store trafficked goods until a sale can be arranged. It is irrelevant to the salesmen that these goods are human beings.

"It could even reduce the level of profits."

That line says it all.

If it is an Aussie boy's hair then I guess the escalator will need repairing.

Get well soon kid.

You are describing 80% of the expats in Thailand.

"We found the second camp yesterday evening," national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri told reporters, saying the location was close to the first camp which lay 25 kilometres (16 miles) west of Padang Besar in Thailand's southern Songkhla province."

25 Kms west of Pedang Besar is in Satun, not Songkhla. What is going on???

It's time the UN stepped in and placed serious sanctions on Myanmar, Thailand, Bangladesh and Malaysia.

Mass murder should not and cannot be tolerated. It is simply impossible to even comprehend how the Thai authorities managed to miss all these people which can only lead to one conclusion ... they are in on it.

Still amazes me how many expats here find this atrocious and yet remain living in a country that allows such to go on and profit from it. Remember your money fuels the system and if the expat community pulled out it would make news and maybe Thailand would begin to realize that this type of profiteering is unacceptable.

How comfortable is your bar stool?

If expats were to pull out then crime and corruption would be stepped up a few notches to make up for the loss.

what does maa lao mean?

Dog whisky (rum) as in it tastes like dog ****.

If it meant dog whisky it would be written "lao maa"

Yep, $200,000 will cover about 4 serious operations. Thailand is SOoo generous.

Has it forgotten the help it received during the 2004 tsunami?

Why are you guys helping each other escape the consequences of your offenses? Usually you are complaining about people who disobey the law.

Stop panicking everybody. All those spirits at Suvarnabhumi will take care of us.

Mind you, if they build the new terminal they will have to build more condos for all the extra ghosts.