XPost: soc.culture.thai   
   From: takin&kanoknuan@stuck-in-a-wheelchair.org   
      
   Steve 'Kombat' Kramer, Kung-Fu master, expert swordsman, expert deep sea   
   diver, Martial Arts expert, Fencing Master, decorated Vietnam War veteran   
   and "award-winning" photographer.   
      
   Here's looking at you Steve...   :o)   
      
   In a recent Usenet poll, Steve 'Kombat' Kramer's post to the rec.scuba   
   newsgroup back in May 2000 in which he claimed to have kicked Charles   
   Bronson's ass was voted the most ridiculous and preposterous post of all   
   time!   
      
   Here is Steve's post:   
   "Classic! But first, let me preface it by saying that I truly admire Charles   
   Bronson as an actor, but as a person, I want nothing what so ever to do with   
   him. Perhaps it's the same that I may feel about some of the divers here...   
   Great dive skills and knowledge, but it takes more than that.   
      
   When Bronson first moved to Vermont, I was working in a sporting goods   
   store. He came in and wanted to buy a 'resident' hunting license. I refused   
   to sell him one because he hadn't been a resident long enough to qualify, (6   
   months needed) and didn't have the required ID (a Vermont State ID or   
   Driver's License.) I offered to sell him a 'non-resident' license but he   
   refused. That license was much more expensive, of course, and as he had just   
   purchased his Vermont home that month, (it was in all the newspapers,) 'he   
   felt' that he was entitled to resident status.   
      
   He went to another shop, bought a resident license, got nabbed by Fish and   
   Game (who in Vermont, check the registers often,) to the tune of $5000 and   
   loss of license. He blamed me for turning him in, (he was simply too stupid   
   to realize that someone of his fame can't NOT get away with anything in a   
   small 'town' like Vermont!) came back to my store and started a fist fight,   
   not just a shouting match.   
      
   Bronson was a scrappy son of a gun, but small, standing about 5'5" or so,   
   and powerfully built. But in those days I was about 24 years old, teaching   
   Kung-fu every night and fighting in tournaments on weekends. I stopped his   
   attack, and delivered him out to the sidewalk. He came back the next day and   
   started again. I put him outside again, telling him that if he tried again,   
   I would call the police and have him charged with assault. He never returned   
   to that store.   
      
   A year later I was hired away by another shop to manage the camping, scuba,   
   and mountaineering side of their business. Bronson came in with some   
   friends, recognized me and started mouthing off (only) again. I ignored it.   
   Then he demanded to be shown a spear gun, telling his friends that they   
   would use it to spear trout in the river behind his house for dinner that   
   night. I refused to sell him one, as spear fishing for trout is illegal in   
   Vermont. He got huffy, and demanded to see the owner. I brought out the   
   owner, who at first was delighted to have such a star in his shop, but   
   quickly changed his tune after listening to the man. Bronson 'insisted' that   
   I be fired on the spot. The owner turned to me and said "OK, your fired. But   
   first throw this idiot out of my store! Then go get us some lunch. I'm   
   hungry." I did both. Neither Bronson, nor his friends, ever returned to that   
   shop. I continued to work there until I began my own business two years   
   later."   
      
      
   **Substitute Charles Bronson for Bruce Lee, or Chuck Norris, or Arnold   
   Schwarzenegger and you will really see how preposterous and downright silly   
   Steve's post really is!   :o)   
      
      
   January 8, 2004, the day 'Kombat' got his come-uppance:   
   http://www.takingthepiss.net/stevekramer/farang_kii_nok.html  *grin*   
      
      
   --   
   "Bob, I don't care how many people get pissed off at me. I will not stop   
   until you are out of the Kingdom, LarGai deported back to Australia, and   
   Taken arrested for cyber stalking." - Steve 'Kombat' Kramer   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)