Plainsdrifter

With crime rates going down, it becomes very challenging to keep feeding the private prison industry with inmates. One way to do so is to place more laws on the books.

I believe petrol in China is unleaded, regular and premium grade.

So it is illegal to buy beer in Virginia? Or is this about underage or Sunday beer purchases?

For a change, I agree with Carter.

A David vs Goliath match.

I personally know of one officer a family friend, don't know his exact rank, that collected about 60K for signing up for another tour in Afghanistan. So the army was quite keen on signing up bodies for duty. How times change.

The White House and the dems lost a lot of ground to the GOP by waiting this long to release these documents.

Diabetes, the modern day killer

It's all coincidental.......isn't it?

I wonder what his son does for a living.

well I don't agree with your statement that they would all be better off without receiving US aid.

He ran out of money, from being a billionaire to losing a multi-billion dollar lawsuit. Very sad indeed. Some are saying he was assassinated by Vladimir.

Unfortunately that would only result in other powers stepping in with their own aid. I would hate to see Iran enter the game with aid like they did in Syria. Look at the result there. With their aid, the US is only paying to remain in the game. That is why the US aids both sides of the conflict.

Unfortunately, the prospects for peace in the Middle East is not very promising. The Israeli political situation is too fragmented for there to be a leader strong enough to enter into peace talks. On the Palestinian side, Abbas doesn't enjoy support among all Palestinians, only a majority in the West Bank. Until this situation on the ground changes there will not be peace talks or peace followed by two states.Obama, or any US president, can only play a supporting role facilitating the peace process. Another thing that is holding back peace between the two sides is the, yet to unwind, "Arab Spring." Israel cannot give ground and watch the Palestinians turn Islamic a la The Brotherhood. The Palestinians will not enter into talks and give ground if they believe they can achieve the same result with a militant Islamic evolution. When both sides feel it is in their own interests to talk and compromise there will be peace.

Well, there may also be shrinkage....

Boy, would I love to get a piece of that 1.6 billion rounds sale profit. Do you suppose that is annual?

With the amount of free porn available these days on the internet, actors make very little in the way of real money. 20-30 years ago it was the actresses that made the higher salaries. At least Harry survived the Vietnam war.

Nothing new there. I remember registering for classes at City University of NY about 35 years ago. Most of the students that graduated from city high schools needed to attend remedial and remedial bilingual classes first before being allowed to take regular classes.

Several years ago I came across a Youtube video of a group of accused African pirates being gunned down by Russians. Can't say to have heard of Russians being taken hostage for ransom. You have to admire that cold blooded determination to not negotiate with terrorists and pirates.

GD, I'm afraid I don't know too much about Indonesian Moslem affairs, same goes for Africa.

I don't believe there is a Islamic master plan to conquer the world. Instead, whenever times are hard, there is a longing for time, long ago, when things ran better. So if Islamic communities in Europe find themselves isolated, jobless and hated, there comes to mind the time hundreds of years ago when Moslems ruled these same countries. It doesn't seem fair. The fact that actually things were not as that way back then doesn't come to mind. Islamic history accents the glorious and victorious times, not the defeats, infightings and routs. Today Islamic Jihadist movements are busy trying to take back empires Islamic history claims Moslems rightfully ruled long ago. In Kashmir they are trying to defeat Indian domination, and while they are at it, take back India itself from the infidel Hindu Indians. In Western China, Southern Thailand and Southern Philipines the same thing is playing out against the godless Chinese, Thai Buddhists and hated Christian Filipinos. Did I forget to mention the Middle East? Now it seems Africa is the new islamic battleground. Sometimes the thought comes to me that all this effort would be more productive if applied to educating and developing populations in their own lands before embarking on adventures offshore. The Americas is the only place were this doesn't take place.

Great idea FM, unfortunately they are not content to fight and kill each other.There is their noble concept of conquest of the non-muslim world. Live and let live is somehow thought of as a weakness.

One's standard of living is an important consideration. Most Americans may not have a high net worth, but their standard of living, what the consume, makes them very comfortable and richer feeling than most people on this planet.

Thais traditionally do not service machines, from aircon to cars. In the case of aircon, filters don't need to be changed, simply removing the filter, hosing the dirt off and then re-installing it. Even that is not done. So if the Penthouse hotel had a water leak in one room leading to paint damage and mould. Old paint and mould needs to be removed before painting. Unfortunately, the old paint and the mould is simply painted over, the mould that ended up on the aircon filter remains to disperse onto room occupants. So if I was a person that would be at risk in this kind of setting staying in this hotel is risky. I should stay at a hotel that is several months old, before this kind of risk had a chance to develop.

I agree the Penthouse is a Pattaya institution of sorts. However, I would recommend a visit to their bar rather than an actual stay in the hotel. Visiting their mixed LB/GG bar may result in their drink tab being padded or experiencing an interesting exchange with the dancers or mamasan. However a stay in the hotel may not be good for their health. Besides seeing roaches on the walls there is a risk from mould in the rooms IMHO. I have heard of one guest that suffered a respiratory infection while staying there.