Opinion of opebo?

[opebo]

I'm going to say FF obviously not because of his views but how he has shaped this forum regarding his humor/posting style. Plus, honestly, he's a nice person.

Thanks.  I appreciate the approval of my fellow forum Democrats but particularly find it encouraging that many Republicans can look past ideology. 

[opebo]

If not the heart of the forum, an important organ of some sort. The brain perhaps.

Who gets to be the forum Johnson?

[opebo]

If not the heart of the forum, an important organ of some sort. The brain perhaps.

Who gets to be the forum Johnson?

I mean, you can be that if you like. But in the greater scheme of organs, the penis is more of a nonessential and ignorant, brainless worker of an organ.

No if I get to choose I'd like to be the nose.

[opebo]

He does have a better understanding of economics than a lot of people here, I'll give him that.

On a personal level, he's self-absorbed to an absurd degree, of course, which I find thoroughly repulsive. I blame his parents for that. I can understand why he'd hate them, given what they did to him in making him what he is.

I also pity the fact that he's never made love to a woman. But there is always hope for everyone.

Dude I'm only guessing on the 'economics', and everyone's totally self-absorbed.  At the root.

As for your little jest, its certainly true that my practices are not 'making love'!

[opebo]

...all I can think about when I see his avater is my hatrid for the Tigers.

At first I thought perhaps 'hatrid' was a unique emotion experienced only by your good self, but then I noticed you also referred to an 'avater'.  So perhaps you're just an ignorant.

[opebo]

Highly intelligent in reasoning, erudite in expression and commendable in his passion for social justice.  I do wish I could persuade him to see the beauty and goodness in America, despite what obviously ails us as a nation.  But I hope voices like his are never quashed or silenced.

Thanks, appreciate that.  I always try to avoid getting quashed.  But I supposed we're all quashed in the end.

[opebo]

My guess is that he used to consider himself and his family "rich" but something happened causing their financial situation to take a hit, thus prompting his change of parties. All his other advocacy and positions thusly also changed to fulfill the Machiavellian purpose of electing those whom he perceives as serving his interests.

Pretty correct there, Num, though they're still quite well off (though the depression has effected certain aspects).  The difference was I just finally had to go to work, partly because they reduced my access to an allowance.

[opebo]

He also applauded Pinochet for killing communists.

Yeah, and he hasn't changed any.

No I still think Pinochet was good at killing communists.  Of course now that I'm one I don't reall support it, but if you're into communist-killing Pinochet was your man.

You know I was just over in the 'what are you listening to now' thread, and far be it from me to cry out for attention (but if I were going to do it I guess this my thread would be the one to do it in), but I was just wondering, does anyone ever click on the obscure stuff I post youtube links to on there?

I don't know why I do it, but I just love looking at weird old music on youtube and then sharing it, but maybe no body finds any of that stuff interesting.

[opebo]

I will comment on Nym's statement that the querant understand economics.

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Not quite. He understands the behavior and mores of the underclass poor, whose financial situation he assesses fairly well. He is also keen enough to understand that their exploitation lies at the hands of his slumlord parents. But for some reason, he then projects the condition of the tenants of the St Louis slums onto "the workers," which he presumes constitute 80%+ of the population of the entire country, and the abuses of his idle absentee landlord parents onto an "owning class" that makes up half of the remainder. It's the extrapolation of the uncontested evils of tenement economics onto the rest of society that makes his judgements so absurd. 

Not really, storebought.  The system works precisely the same at the slightly different levels of workerdom to which you refer.  Its just that it is less obvious above the slum level. 

[opebo]

He could try on anarcho-racism for size. Stark needs company and he already said he's not too comfortable with the blacks...

Sounds like a GREAT idea!

But I prefer Asian girls to White girls, Stark.. is that acceptable?

[opebo]

Yeah, its amazing men in America spend at least a thousand dollars to bang 40 yr old chicks at the Bunny ranch when they could spend that on a plane ticket to Thailand. Opebo claims he could get 18 yr olds there though he is probably just picking that age in case the FBI is checking out to see what he is up to in Thailand and than arrest him if he tries to return to the US. The legal age is 15 in Thailand but there is an 18 year old limit for any sexual act that involves any exchange of money. Also it is a US Federal crime to go overseas with the purpose to have sex with anyone under the age of 18.

Actually 18-19 is somewhat rare in the biz, and under eighteen, while it does exist, is very, very rare.. needle in a haystack; not to mention highly unlikely to be available to the foreigner.  In Thailand all the 'best stuff' is reserved for the rich Thai men, simply because Thai girls naturally prefer their own (they're cleaner and far, far less demanding than the foreign barbarian).

But if you are happy with 20-30 years old, there is a wealth of opportunity, and the 30-40 age range are positively desperate for a customer.

[opebo]

... opebo... lives in an impoverished country, paying enslaved Thai girls to sleep with him...

Well, let me just point out that Thailand is hardly 'impoverished', and that these girls are not 'enslaved', but rather just prostitutes.  Most people go into prostitution for the same reasons they go into any other job - just to get a living.  Nobody is specifically forcing them into that specific job.  So, yes, all workers are 'slaves' in a sense, because they must work, but generally speaking sexual workers are no more so than any others, particularly in countries where selling sex is largely tolerated by the authorities.  (It is true that there is an element of slavery in many cases in puritan countries like the US where selling sex is outlawed).

[opebo]

That's a nice justification.

http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/thailand

Fezzy, you're nuts.  That's like posting the web site of the Catholic Church as the definitive source of information about abortion.

Most of the claptrap on that website is about illegal immigrants working in the sex business in Thailand - of course that is a very tiny portion of the industry.  And it is extremely absurd to accept the proposition that even those illegal immigrants are 'being held against their will'.   Can you imagine how much trouble it would be to imprison someone, particularly when there are thousands of others who would be glad to have the job?  It just makes no sense. 

In practice what does occur is non-Thais (mostly Lao, Burmese,and Cambodian) who work in illegal brothels may not be able to leave and wander freely about the town.  This does not in any way mean that they are 'imprisoned' by the mafia, but rather merely by their status as illegal immigrants.  I have frequently visited such brothels, and the lineup of girls changes continuously, with girls often going home to Lao to see their families and distribute their sizeable earnings.  Sometimes they come back, other times they stay or change venue. 

The places I've visited work like this - the fee for one session is from $10-20, and the girl gets half, with the other half going to the mafia who operate the place.  From their half the mafia have to pay the cops, etc.  Whether there is some debt owed related to smuggling the girl into Thailand I don't know, but the girls typically do around 3-5 guys a day, so they make far more than the typical Laotian - say $40-50/day - in other words they make a Laotian's monthly salary in one day.  All the girls have mobile phones, stereos, and many have TVs in their rooms.  However I have not seen any owning a motorbike.  When I used to visit such places in Cambodia (before they were closed by the do-gooders), many of the girls also owned motorbikes and drove freely about the city.  The distinction is that in Thailand there is a relatively advanced police force which might catch them for being illegals, while in those good old days in Cambodia there wasn't (it was a 'free' country then).

I have very often seen girls say directly to the pimp-man (a tough character I wouldn't want to have trouble with) that they declined to go with a foreigner, or to provide oral sex services, etc.  And the man accepted it without the slightest sign of displeasure.  In other words the girls were easily able to refuse particular acts or customers (some girls don't like to go with foreigners because of the enormous penis or the extremely long intercourse sessions - Asians normally only take 5-10 minutes. also many girls do not do oral sex at all, as Thais don't request it and it is somewhat taboo.)  Of course it might be more difficult to refuse a Thai customer - no one worries about the feelings of the foreigner, but the boss might hate to see a Thai's feelings hurt.  And after all there would be no obvious reason for the refusal, as they all perceive Thais as the same or liking the same thing.

[opebo]

Mmhmm, whatever helps you sleep at night.  Like I said, I don't really care, I just pity you.  But I feel genuinely sorry for those poor girls whose pain and suffering you contribute to.

Dude, you're doubtless more 'responsible' for their pain and suffering than I am!

[opebo]

Mmhmm, whatever helps you sleep at night.  Like I said, I don't really care, I just pity you.  But I feel genuinely sorry for those poor girls whose pain and suffering you contribute to.

Dude, you're doubtless more 'responsible' for their pain and suffering than I am!

Yep, ok.

Its all interconnected - your privilege, their oppression.  Whether they're knitting t-shirts or giving BJs is pretty irrelevant.