Thailand, politics, RWHL, gems

It is always a pleasure to read comments on my articles. And so it was with Scott Montgomery's discussion of my column, Death of the Thai Ruby" (Letters: JewelSiam, Dec./Jan., 1997, pp. 14–15). But his letter brought particular joy, for, as someone whose self-righteousness is quite literally off the scale, it is rare that I find myself in similar company. Truth be told, I had written a sequel to my previous column, "Death of the Thai Ruby," in which I expanded upon some of the questions raised in the first piece. This is it, modified to address some of the issues raised by Mr. Montgomery in his letter, along with a few other thoughts germane to the subject. Readers bothered by discussion of sex, politics or religion should probably close the magazine now. Are we ready? Okay, let's go to war."