Checkered Lounge Pants

Here are some pictures from the week I spent in Laos. I went on the trip with 2 friends, a married couple, Gerry and Val.  It took 2 days to drive to the Thai-Laos border. Val is Chinese Laos and grew up a small village named Thukhet and after spending a few days with her family and motorbiking around the mountainous countryside, we hopped a bus and went to the capital city Vientiane.  I call it a trip but it was really more of an adventure. Laos was a french colony in the mid-century, so there was many french influences assimilated into the Asian culture such as;  the language,  the architecture (notice the Arc de Triumphe resemblance),   pastry...Yummy. . The pics, in the Laos spirit of no particular order, include  the Mekong River,  a traditional Laos bowl of noodles as a meal,  a Tuuk Tuuk women planting rice in a rice paddy,  Laos massage lady ...

Happy New Year. I wanted to do a blog post today's last day of the year, but the internet is down in the area. It was a good Xmas week outside of being away from family and friends. I had turkey on Xmas and Santa treated me to something special with a Thailand twist for Xmas. The beach has been fairly scenic and hot hot. I have ventured much further into the Thai cuisine and culture from last year with the help and guidance of refreshed friendships from last year. Not all experiences have been delightful but someone once told me, “Asia is like swimming in the waves, you can dive into the wave and swim out the other side, or you can let the wave knock you down”. Some aspects of the Thai tourist culture are still morally condemnatory for me to understand compared with many travellers, but, as they say here, “this is a Buddhist country and as such, Buddha is tolerant and forgiving”. With thanks to Buddha and Santa, I will persevere. LOL I dont know what New Ye...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to family and friends from Thailand...this is the day that seems to fill me with homesick blues while in Asia...this always cheers me up: I'll be in touch.

Jetlag is done and bodyclock is in the groove. Beach lady is on the job and so is massage lady, and, one more appt with the dentist and his work is done too. I bumped into Seattle Sam down in the city last week, and he is heading to Philippines next week. I met an old school chum on the train to Vancouver and he invited me to his villa in Manila so that will be an option sometime in the New Year. I will be in touch.

Hello from Jomtien Beach in Thailand, Hope all is well and swastee khob as they say here when greeting. I hopped the train in Windsor on October 16 and stopped off in Winnipeg to visit family and then carried on to Vancouver for some more visits before my flight to Bangkok on November 18. The flight is a long arduous journey clipping through 15 time zones from the PT zone on my departure. I would be remiss if I did not mention I get quite confused when explaining time differences to folks back home..or dates for that matter. The immigrants I have met here, Americans for the most part, jokingly claim the flight is what keep the masses away. I can testify to that. I arrived in Bangkok and cabbed it to Pattaya City, arriving at 4am. The hotel, I had destined to stay, was full so I hoofed it to the Arab quarter and got a room until I finalized my condo. I moved in yesterday morning and, once my body-clock gets online, let the beach-combing begin. Cheers! Ill ...

  "And yet, there remains between us massive and yet untapped economic potential and so it will take concerted efforts by both our countries to reap all of the benefits that this relationship can yield," Harper said . MORE MIDDLE CLASS JOBS EXPORTED AND MORE IMPROVED PROFITS FOR MAPLE LEAF ET AL...

EVERYTHING MUST GO Scott Olson / Getty Images Get those Twinkies while you can, as they might soon be a thing of the past. Hostess announced on Friday it is going out of business, claiming that a union strike ruined its operations. Hostess has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court asking to close and sell its assets. This may mean the end of Twinkies, Ding Dongs, and Wonder Bread, although the company said it may sell its recipes to the highest bidder. Bakery operations have ended at all company plants, and the company will lay off all 18,500 employees. Hostess Brands will continue to be sold for the next several days until all of the already-baked products are sold

Big bucks can’t buy change in the White House 1  With a projected US$6-billion pricetag when all is said and done, the Romney-Obama showdown had the biggest budget on record. But money from cash-flush super PACs couldn’t score a massive transformation. America still has a Democratic president, a Republican House of Representatives and a Democratic Senate. “The people who spent the majority of the $6-billion … were primarily supporters of Republican candidates,” said Greg Anderson, a University of Alberta associate professor of political science. “It’s actually organization that determines everything,” he said, pointing to Mr. Obama’s get-out-the-vote success in battleground Ohio. Take the high road when you win 2  In such a race, there was no shortage of mudslinging and attack ads — repeated mentions of Mr. Romney’s 47% fundraiser comment and dragging Big Bird into gaffes among Mr. Obama’s sins. “[The U.S. President] failed just as miserably as others to change the ton...

Winnipeg Free Press photo - Stones surprise fans

ERIC MARTIN AND SIMON TREMBLAY-PEPIN   At the beginning of May , the British newspaper  The Guardian  reported that the student struggle against tuition fee hikes in Québec represented “the most powerful challenge to neoliberalism on the continent.” Even  Paris Match , a French tabloid typically given to celebrity gossip, wondered whether “the first large-scale socio-ecological movement could be emerging in the Belle Province.” Just as we write this article,  La Presse , a major Québec daily, is predicting that a worldwide student strike is being planned for the fall, noting that the red felt square worn by protesting students has now become a “symbol of student struggle well beyond Québec’s borders.” Following in the footsteps of the Chilean student protests, the mobilization of Québec students has ignited the fuse of a growing powder keg of popular anger against neoliberalism in Québec, in Canada and in other parts of the world. We are witnessing an un...

by   Michael Tomasky This   excellent piece   by Greg Palast from The Nation deserves some attention. Ann Romney's blind trust was invested with a hedge fund that took over (and took apart) Delphi, the GM parts maker, and closed down 29 unionized plants here in the US and moved almost all the jobs to China. Accoroding to Palast, the Romneys made millions from this process, partly courtesy the US taxpayer, and the fund managers, big Romney backers, made billions. The description of the Romneys' role comes toward the end. Singer is Paul Singer, the head of the hedge fund in question, which is Elliott below: In  their 2011 and 2012 Federal Financial Disclosure filing , Ann Romney’s trust lists “more than $1 million” invested with Elliott. This is the description for all of her big investments—the minimal disclosure required by law. (Had Romney kept the holding in his own name, he would have had to reveal if his investment with Singer had made more than...

Koch Employee Says Billionaire Kidnapped & Interrogated Him By IULIA FILIP       (CN) - Billionaire William Koch imprisoned and interrogated one of his executives at a secluded Aspen ranch, under a sheriff's guard, because the executive suspected Koch's companies of tax evasion, the employee claims in Federal Court.      Kirby Martensen, of Berkeley, Calif., says he was an executive for several companies owned and controlled by William Koch, including Oxbow Carbon & Minerals Inc. (OCM) and Oxbow Carbon & Minerals International (OCM International), until March, when he says he was suddenly fired.      OCM and OCM International are part of the Oxbow Group, an energy development holding company based in West Palm Beach, Fla. Koch founded the Oxbow Group in the 1980s after leaving his family's oil-refining conglomerate, Koch Industries.      Oxbow Carbon is the largest...

Jack Welch, Rupert Murdoch & More Angry Old Rich Guys Who Hate Obama by   Daniel Gross Jack Welch, who accused Obama of manipulating the jobs report, is just one of the wealthy white dudes, mostly in their late 60s and 70s, who’ve been stalking the airwaves, print, and social media, attacking the president. Daniel Gross offers a guide to the aging moguls who loathe Obama.   They’re everywhere! In the past few weeks, it’s been hard not to notice a new species:  Maleus Americanus Crustius.  Sure, they’ve always been with us. But these days, the alpha-male specimens, white dudes mostly in their late 60s and 70s, have been stalking the airwaves, print, and social media. They’re full of rage and fury about politics, tax policy, and the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They share certain characteristics: north-south migration patterns, brittle egos, receding hairlines, and long records in business. While they respond well to obsequiousness and stroking...

Tories spend millions on ad blitz as federal programs cut By:  Bruce Cheadle OTTAWA -- The Conservative government has approved tens of millions of dollars in "economic action plan" ads this year even as it cites fiscal restraint to cut programs such as scientific research and environmental monitoring. While Finance officials are refusing to disclose the budget for the current "action plan" media blitz blanketing airwaves, a Treasury Board document shows cabinet approved $16 million in "economic action plan" advertising in the first quarter of this year alone. That doesn't include $5 million approved for a "better jobs" ad campaign, $8 million to sell Canadians on cuts to old age security, and $5 million to promote "responsible resource development" -- the slogan given to an environmental assessment system that was cut back and restructured in the last budget. All the measures are promoted on the government's...

Bill Clinton Speech Asks Undecided Voters To Hang On, Give Obama Another Chance Former President Bill Clinton, in his speech Wednesday night to the DNC, asked undecided voters to give President Barack Obama another chance. CHARLOTTE, N.C. -– Bill Clinton made the nation a big promise Wednesday night, pledging to those still struggling that their economic fortunes will turn around if they reelect President Barack Obama. “A lot of Americans are still angry and frustrated about this economy," Clinton told a spellbound audience of delegates at Time Warner Cable Arena. "If you look at the numbers, you know that employment is growing, banks are beginning to lend again, and a lot of housing prices are even beginning to pick up. “But too many people do not feel it yet,” he said, and then vowed: “If you will renew the president's contract, you will feel it. You will feel it.” He paused, and then added, “Folks, whether the American people believe what ...