Central Scrutinizer

"One of our founders, Alexander Hamilton was not born in the U.S." Er, well, he came into the country before there actually was a country didn't he? We were still colonies I believe then? And, did he arrive in the colonies legally? Big difference between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants anyway. Many legal immigrants/citizens were not born in the USA. It is part of what/who we are, a nation of immigrants, especially the early years. My grandparents were immigrants, 'legal' immigrants. Irish, French, and Swedish. All became citizens with all the rights that entitled them. You need to differentiate between the legal immigrants, who come to the US looking for a better life for themselves and their children/families, and the illegal ones (looking for the same thing for themselves and family granted, usually), but they cheated, and so, should get nothing of these same rights granted legal immigrants who work hard to become citizens and Americans.

Serfing USA: Corporate America Is Robbing American Workers Wednesday 29 December 2010 by: Dave Lindorff | This Can't Be Happening | News Analysis Serfing USA: Corporate America Is Robbing American Workers Along with the staggering theft in broad daylight of Americans’ assets that has occurred in the course of the ongoing financial crisis, as taxpayers funded multi-trillion bank bailouts and banks stole homes through foreclosures with the help of fraudulent paperwork, American companies have also been picking the pockets of workers more directly. This second round of paycheck theft has come in the form of stolen productivity gains. Historically, the relatively high and rising standard of living of American workers--both blue and white-collar--which once gave the US one of the highest standards of living in the world, has come courtesy of rising productivity, which has allowed US companies to produce more goods with less labor, and to then pass some of the enhanced profits on to workers in the form of higher wages, without having to raise prices. That has been important because, when higher wages are financed by higher prices, it tends to be a kind of zero-sum game: higher wages cancelled out by inflation. But beginning in 2000, the old system already creaky, broke down. (It must be noted that this system was never the result of the capitalists' largess, but rather was because of a tighter labor market and, critically, a powerful labor movement.) The corporate onslaught against trade unions and against the minimum wage, which began with the Nixon administration in 1968, combined with so-called “free-trade†deals that allowed US companies to shift production overseas and then to freely import the products of their overseas production facilities back for sale to Americans at home, by weakening the power of workers to demand higher wages, has led to a situation where companies can just pocket all the profits from productivity gains, leaving wages stagnant, or even driving them down. The recession that began in late 2007 has only made matters worse, giving owners and managers the opportunity to really hammer employees. With real unemployment and underemployment now running at close to 20%, employees are in no position to press for higher wages, even as those who are still working are putting in extra effort to keep their jobs, thus pushing productivity gains even higher. The figures speak for themselves. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, productivity gains during the 1990-1999 decade averaged just 2.1% per year. The prior decade, from 1980-1989, the average productivity gain was 1.5% per year. But between 2000 and 2009, when the economy suffered two recessions, the average annual productivity gain has been 2.9%, almost 50% higher than the prior decade, and almost double the rate in the 1980s. During this same period, however, wages have actually declined. According to the BLS, wages in 2010 rose 0.1%, but inflation, running at an official (and grossly under-measured) 1%, more than ate that up. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, for the whole decade from 2000 through 2009, wages actually sank for most people. In 2000, the median weekly wage for a high school graduate was $629. By the end of 2009, high school graduates were earning a median weekly wage, in inflation-adjusted dollars, of just $626--three dollars a week less than a decade earlier. A college degree didn’t change things, either. In 2000, the median weekly wage for a college grad was $1030, but that had fallen to $1025 by the end of 2009. Remember, all during that decade, companies were seeing productivity gains averaging almost 3% per year. If 50% of that gain in productivity annually had gone to workers, as might have been typical back 30 years ago when unions were stronger and before Congress gave away the store by signing onto the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Act and similar trade agreements, that high school grad would have been earning $729 a week in inflation-adjusted dollars by 2009, while the college grad would have been earning $1,195. Of course as a whole, Americans have been doing even worse, because these are just the mean wages of people who are working full weeks. In fact, many companies have been laying off workers, and making the remaining workers, desperate to hang on to their jobs, work harder to produce the same amount of product, meaning that besides not getting any pay increase, they are producing much more profit for the boss. Many workers who are still hanging onto their jobs are actually working fewer hours, and thus are taking home smaller paychecks, all of which goes into that higher productivity figure for output per worker the government is reporting. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal today reported glowingly that US production of goods and services had returned to its 2007 pre-recession level, but this is with unemployment running at an official rate of 9.8 percent, and an actual rate of about 19 percent. What we’re witnessing is a massive national “speed-up†which is enriching the owners of capital, while the workers are getting stiffed. It is the payoff to the ruling class for decades of hammering of trade unions, and also of trade unions cutting deals with the Democratic Party, which in turn has refused to defend workers’ interests. Look at the sell-out of Labor during the first two years of the Obama administration. The union movement’s one big issue--restoring some measure of fairness to the Labor Relations Act, so that it would be at least possible to organize unions and to win contracts and improved wages and working conditions--was dropped without even a fight by the Obama administration and the leadership of the House and Senate. The government, fully in the hands of Democrats, has also continued to sign trade agreements, most recently with Korea, that further shift jobs overseas, thus further weakening the position of workers here at home. A cynic might speculate that this is also why the Democrats have refused for over three years now to come up with any real public jobs program despite the desperate straits of tens of millions of jobless people who have been without work for more than a year. The Democrats, in thrall to corporate interests, would on the evidence much rather spend $50 billion on a program of extended unemployment benefits that leaves those millions of people hungry for any real job, than spend that same sum on providing them with government jobs, as that would actually reduce unemployment and increase the bargaining power of all workers vis-a-vis employers. Meanwhile, the national corporate media, itself viciously anti-union, continue to skew news coverage to portray unions as corrupt and greedy, so that the 90 percent of American workers who are not in a union don’t even realize that any pay gains or benefits they get are because employers are trying to avoid unionization of their workforce. Unless Americans wake up soon to how this process is impoverishing us all, we will see this shifting income and wealth to the top strata of the population continue until most of us are little more than modern-day serfs. A start would be for people to at least recognize that this stagnation and decline in incomes we’re witnessing is not some natural phenomenon. It is, no less than the fat salaries, perks and bonuses paid by corporate managers to themselves, simply another manifestation of corporate greed gone wild. Link: http://www.truth-out.org/serfing-usa-corporate-america-robbing-american-workers66399

Ah, yes, you mean the farang 'baht millionaires' here? Same thing isn't it? Men with the equivalent of a million baht, or many more, compared to the average Thai woman's income? Rather similar, even for just a ST 'marriage'. :content: Makes for a mini 'Hef' experience? 55555 Part of the lure of the LOS isn't it for many? And no pre-nup agreement required.

Perv, yes that point comes when you become a multi multi millionaire. Age no longer matters, no one can say shit as they all know what the score is. Old man with big bucks, young lady with good looks. Age no longer matters. All know it is true love. I suspect she was crying while she was signing the prenup.

Stooges not funny? Well, that's because Curly wasn't in that one. Shemp sucked (and Curly Joe was even worse), but the original Curly made the Stooges funny and worth watching as a kid all those years ago. :-)

Munchie, It needed to be done. I could not in good conscience let Acockasian travel to the dangerous and strange land of the Scots without a tutorial on what to watch out for. It needed doing, and I's a dones it. A public service message for those not clued in to the Scottish culture. CS p.s. Many thanks to Munchie for posing for the Scotsman porno stud pic. They are proud of him back in the old sod. Justifiably so.

ACA, Before you decide to actually go to Scotland there are a few things you should know. The cattle are all blind. It is very hard to find a parking space if you are not Scottish. Scotsmen lie a lot. The pussy is all fat and hairy. This man is the most famous Scotsman ever in their history, and the highest paid. Above is the most recent winner of the Miss Scotland beauty pageant. Inexplicably there are very long lines to the bathrooms. It is one reason the men wear kilts sans underwear. The horses there are carnivorous! The natives are not friendly. There is something very wrong with their dogs. They absolutely despise the poor Puffin. As well as the English. Understandably so. The fishing though is grand and some trophy catches have been made over the decades. They have yet though to figure out how to build a proper doorway. This mad man is their funniest comedian. We'll just have to take their word on how funny he is as no one besides a Scot can understand what the fuck he is going on about. This slop is their national breakfast. God save them. This Scotsman above is their best hung porno star. Now you can see why they are known to be such liars. The men though do so love to get flowers. Remember this and your kilt and I am sure you will have a wonderful time there. Give us a trip report on your return Acockasian. I am sure it will be very interesting to the other gay men wanting to expand their sexual horizons beyond Pattaya and Bangkok.

Sort of, but I went back in time for a better comparison. Rome was a better one than Pakistan man. :nahnah:

Not odd at all. Would have been the same in Roman times if they had internet and forums such as we have now. 'Damn those Roman-centric posts and threads! They drive me crazy! Hate those fuckers! They should all be in one area/thread!' This coming from one of the ancient Roman gods likely, nervous gods likely, as they were soon to be disregarded... like most gods should be.

Well done. No more and Now god can get back to more important issues like solving world famine and helping flat chested women grow some tits. This US post ranting and raving was a waste of his omnipotence.

Just downloaded and watched 'Crank'. Some funny stuff among the blood and gore and killing. Fast paced, some amazing stunts. Nice tit shots. Having found a decent bit torrent site that works well with my Thai/Surin adsl I have watched a ton of movies lately. 1. Seven Pounds 2. Zack and Miri Make a Porno 3. Jumper 4. Slumdog Millionaire 5. Pineapple Express (don't bother - some funny bits) 6. Australia 7. Outlander (sucked) 8. The Children of Huang Shi (not as good as I thought it might be) 9. Twilight 10. Role Models (funny one I thought) 11. Punisher - War Zone 12. Underworld - The Rise of the Lycans 13. Madagascar 2 14. Ice Age 2 15. Wall-E 16. Bolt (Hey, I DL these for my daughter and a friend's kids- and watch them myself as they can be fun and amusing.) 17. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People (funny) 18. Death Race 19. What Happens in Las Vegas 20. Ghost Town 21. The Incredible Hulk 22. X-Men Origins Wolverine (I like the X-men series) 23. Flash of Genius 24. Taken And a bunch more I forget now. Saw the latest Bond 'Quantum of Solace'. None of the earlier camp and humor really. Just a killing machine. Was a good movie, but not your usual Bond. All downloaded easily from BTjunkie.

A man boards an airplane for a trip and as he sits down he sees the man beside him has a black eye. This amuses him as he has a black eye also. They look at each other and laugh. The first man finally asks, "How did you get that shiner?" The second man replies, "Well, it was a tongue twister. I was at the counter buying my ticket this morning and the girl behind the counter had the most gorgeous boobs I have ever seen. I looked at her and meant to ask for a ticket to Pittsburgh, but I actually asked for a picket to Titsburgh. She got pissed off and smacked me one right in the eye." After a good laugh, the second man asked the first, "So tell me your tale, how did you get your shiner?" The second man replied, "Same way, a tongue twister. This morning I was at the breakfast table and meant to ask my wife to pour me a bowl of cornflakes, but I actually said, You ruined my life you stupid bitch."

Three Doctors walk into a bar together and discuss surgeries they had performed. The first one said, "Iâ??m the best surgeon in Texas. A concert pianist lost 7 fingers in an accident, I reattached them, and 8 months later he performed a private concert for the Queen of England." The second doctor said, "Thatâ??s nothing. A young man lost both arms and legs in an accident, I reattached them, and 2 years later he won a gold medal in field events in the Olympics." The third surgeon said, "You guys are amateurs. Several years ago a cowboy who was high on cocaine and alcohol rode a horse head-on into a train traveling 80 miles an hour. All I had left to work with was the horseâ??s ass and a cowboy hat. Now heâ??s president of the United States."

Loved those 2 Munchie! I just read this on another site that has to do with Thailand stuff. Cracked me up. ----------------------------- A woman was shopping at her local supermarket where she had selected the following items: A half-gallon of 2% milk, A half carton of eggs, A quart of orange juice, A small head of romaine lettuce, A 2-pound can of coffee, And a 1-pound package of bacon. As she was unloading her items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind her watched as she placed the items in front of the cashier. While the cashier was ringing up her purchases, the drunk calmly stated, "You must be single." The woman was a bit startled by this proclamation, but she was intrigued by the derelict's intuition, since she was indeed single. She looked at her six items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about her selections that could have tipped off the drunk to her marital status. Curiosity getting the better of her, she said "Well, you know what, you're absolutely correct. But how on earth did you know that?" The drunk replied, "'Cause you're ugly."

A young man walked into a bar.. sat down and ordered a drink. As he started to drink his beer an older fellow came up to him and said, "I licked on your mommaâ??s tits!" The young man lowered his head and shook it in shame. Ten minutes later the older fellow came up and said, "I fucked your momma in her mouth!!!" The young man shook his head again and kept drinking. Ten more minutes passed and the old fellow came back and said, "I fucked your momma in the ass!" The young man finally got tired of it and said, "DAMN IT dad go home, you're fucking drunk!"

A man approaches a prostitute on the street and asks, "How much?" She says "$300". The man says "ok". He takes her to his hotel room and immediatley begins to masturbate. She says, "What the hell are you doing?" He says, "What, you think youâ??re gonna get the easy one?"

A man walking down the street sees a sign on the side walk "HAND JOB $100" so he walks in the shop and says to the lady behind the counter, "100 bucks for a hand job thats a rip off." She replies, "Come over here. See that BMW parked over there? I paid for that in cash by my hand jobs." The man thinks then hands over the cash and gets the best hand job he has ever had. Two weeks later heâ??s walking down the same street and sees another sign that reads "BLOW JOB $250". So he walks in the shop and says to the lady behind the counter, "250 bucks for a blow job, thats a rip off!" She replies, "Come over here. See that huge boat down on the harbor? I paid for that in cash by my blow jobs." The man thinks then hands over the cash and gets the most amazing blow job heâ??s ever had. Same man power walks down the street, no sign this time. He walks straight into the shop anyways. He says to the lady, "Iâ??ve had your hand job and your blow job, but this time I want the full deal." The lady replies, "Come over here." He moves over with a huge grin on his face. "See that huge mansion on the water front?" He starts to nod his head, still with the stupid grin on his face. Then she says, "Well if I had a pussy I could have paid for that in cash."

All the government would need to do is place signs at the usual tourist traps in English saying, "Beware of strangers offering gem deals and other 'too good to be true' deals. If it is too good to be true it probably is a scam."

Well, good to see the BKK Post pick up on this and do the article. Maybe it will help a few tourists to not be taken in. But only in the papers one day. It does need to be told in a more wide-spread manner, but how? The TAT doesn't seem to care (and they are pushing tourists to 'buy gems'). The cops don't care. The security guards at these tourist traps don't care, and may even be somehow in on it. And the government does not care really or they would place warning signs at many of these areas and in the airport as well. Cent

I was wondering that myself SD. I like plain old fashioned salted potato chips. All that flavoring crap tastes like shit really. MM, why do you want to know this anyway? A strange poll really. :smirk: Are you working for a crisp company? :evil: Cent

Alholk, I was being sarcastic/joking. It can be seen everywhere online, some guys are worse than others, and some only at times. A lot depends on your mood, what you've experienced lately, etc. Everyone has their moments. I get tired of certain Thai traits at times myself and can grumble myself once in a while. But it is the ones who are constantly doing it, every turn, that make you wonder why the fuck they even live here or holiday here. Hey, it takes all kinds. I just try to avoid the worst of the lot and live my life here. I do hate pessimistic people and negative people, no matter where I am. It ain't all good all the time, and it ain't all bad all the time. Some expats could live here forever and still never get it, and some newbies/tourists come over and seem to thrive while they are here and get along fine. The ones who piss me off are the racist shits. It's obvious with some of these guys. But the Jungle Jim/Bwana Diks are a pain to deal with and listen to. They make me think of the old Beatles tune 'Don't Bring Me Down'. I just avoid them as much as possible and ignore when possible when they can't be totally avoided. Like I said though, we all have our moments. And vice versa for the Thais as well concerning the farangs. Cent p.s. Meanwhile, I was with a friend last night eating and drinking at the German restaurant. After we finished we decided to take a walk down the soi entertainment area, as the restaurant is on that soi. Damn! You should see all the new young ladies sitting in front of all the karaoke places there! The area seems to be growing and a lot of ladies are flocking there. Is it the economy and rising prices? The place was packed, and this is on a Tuesday night.

Stan' date=' glad to have your input since I was thinking it was just me. We'll see how smug they are when they are the fool everyone is laughing at. Throw in the expats who gloat, cheer and ridicule those whose visa strategy just got axed (happens on another message board). [/quote'] There is a passage on page 207 in Jake Needhamâ??s â??Killing Platoâ?? that I think describes this farang â??som nom naâ?? attitude to other farang getting ripped off. Here it is, and I think it hits on this pretty good on a couple of levels. I hope Jake would not mind my using this short passage from his excellent book as an example of this attitude. Here's the quote: â??The Thai press generally uses phrases such as â??the farang communityâ?? to refer collectively to Bangkokâ??s non-Thai residents, but the truth is that there is neither anything particularly collective nor community-like about foreigners in Bangkok. On the contrary, most foreigners in Bangkok hate most other foreigners in Bangkok, and many of them go out of their way to inflict whatever harm they can on each other. My own residency was only a couple weeks along when I started noticing the whole phenomenon. I began calling it the Jungle Jim syndrome, since the whole business rekindled childhood memories of a television series I used to watch every Saturday morning when I was about ten years old. The series told the tale of a suitably strong and naturally quite handsome white guy whose name was Jungle Jim. He lived in some nameless country in Africa, and he spent his weekend mornings having adventures in the jungle and rescuing people in distress, frequently damsels with quite amazing hooters straining against their tight blouses. The natives whom Jungle Jim encountered in the course of all these adventures respected him because he was a decent and honorable guy and, in return, he treated the natives he met with an equal degree of respect. But that was not to say that Jungle Jim had no human enemies. A frequently recurring plot line was Jungle Jimâ??s arrival in some isolated village where he would find a couple of old European traders already living happily among the locals. They were usually Dutch, for some reason, perhaps because they had funny accents. Regardless, these traders were inevitably grizzled old drunks who were working on all kinds of evil schemes for swindling the natives, but they were still living among them like kings and pulling all the babes since the locals didnâ??t know what pathetic losers they actually were. When Jungle Jim arrived on the scene, of course, all that changed. The attention and loyalty of the natives shifted instantly from the old traders to Jungle Jim, not only because he was clean-cut and handsome and decent, but also because he was â?¦ well, new. At first the old traders inevitably claimed to want to make some kind of common cause with Jungle Jim, but by the end of the show you always discovered that it was these jokers, not the locals, who were Jungle Jimâ??s real enemies. His arrival at the village had put the continuation of their little scam at risk. The original white guys on the scene had to get rid of Jungle Jim somehow or theyâ??d never get back to being the big cheeses, or more important, ever have all those babes to themselves again. Bangkok is exactly like that.â? End of quote from Jake Needham's 'Killing Plato'. If you havenâ??t read this book â??Killing Platoâ?? of Jakeâ??s yet, grab a copy. A great read, one of the best to come out of this genre of Bangkok Fiction. After reading it I intend to get a copy of all the books he has done so far. I see this myself in a few different ways in some of the Bangkok expats attitudes at times. Not from those on Thai360 here, of course. But there is a certain glee in relating these tales of misfortune by some of these expats, and a definite air of superiority at times. An â??in the knowâ?? attitude that gives no quarter to the poor â??not clued inâ?? tourist misfortunates is definitely there at times. There is also possessiveness there at times, an â??us against themâ?? attitude. Itâ??s always the â??tourist wankersâ?? that seem to be screwing things up for the clued-in expats. If the Bangkok expat hasnâ??t experienced whatever the â??touristâ??sâ?? complaint is, well, it just ainâ??t so and complete bollocks, or just silly and not worth worrying over. It is an annoying trait to be sure. I think Jake nails it there in his example passage. A song that fits this from Frank Zappa is â??Bwana Dikâ??. I think this â??Bwana Dikâ?? attitude is seen many a time when the expats get all huffy and condescending and superior toward the â??newbiesâ??. There are quite a few â??Jungle Jimsâ?? out there on Sukhumvit Road and in the bars, and yes, certainly in the provinces from some of the â??gone nativeâ?? expats as well. Not all of course, but you can definitely see it at times. They see themselves as the protectors of the realm from the clueless 'foreigners' invading the shores of the LOS. They are the farang who out â??Thaiâ?? the Thais. Many seem to forget they were clueless â??touristsâ?? at one time themselves. So, don't be a Jungle Jim! Cent

ClubSiam, You should post this over on Thorntree.com message board, the Lonely Planet website as well as to many other Thailand related sites as you can. It does look organized and people should be warned. When I first came to Thailand I was bothered by these pests as well. They are pretty slick and their English for the most part was pretty good. But, do not get so close to these people. Obviously they are making a good deal of money off this, and they will probably do nasty things to anyone, especially a farang, messing with their 'rice bowl'. Be careful and don't place yourself in any more situations that could literally end up lethal. And, if the police are involved (and I don't see any reason to believe they aren't really) getting anyone to do something about it is highly unlikely. Maybe sell your 'story' to some Western newspapers? Or give it away for free and just show them what you have and know. One of them might do a piece on it. Have you approached the English language newspapers in Thailand about this? Maybe letters to the editors of both? Maybe Private Eye Stickman will take the case and do a piece on his website? Send it in to his 'Reader's Submissions' section.