EarthAlien

...and I thought that someone couldn't spell "hookers" and that this would be an interesting amazing article!

To predict the future look to the past.

In the past 80 years of Thai governement there have been 18 coups (or coups attempts) that's approximately 1 coup for every 4 and half years.

Following that pattern then we'd be right on cue for another one any time soon given that the last one was 5 and half or so years ago.

Something's gotta give with the current Mexican standoff in the attempt to whitewash rewrite the consitution with neither side seeming inclined to back down and therefore I would say that a coup may be inevitible.

Someone should tell Abhisit and his yellow shirt cronies that the Thai people voted against their policies at the last election, an election acknowledged as being fair and democratic. This time the army will not heed the yellowshirt calls for another bloodletting coup.

"Fair & Democratic",..... are you on drugs or something?

Votes were paid for plain and simple and the Abhisit government in its apathy and fear to induce yet another red shirt riot did nothing to disqualify PTP from the election candidates based on it clearly being a proxy party for Thaksin,.. something that could never have happened in a truly democratic and properly governed country but of course This is Thailand and anything goes!

What about upgrading and utliizing DonMuang BKK and extending CNX as has been mooted for years now? That way the influx of travelers and tourists to Thailand could at least be spread out and ease the burden on Suvarnabumi.

Brilliant idea to propel Thailand into the hi-tek era,...

... this will go along perfectly with the nuclear power station plans,.. 4G, and computer tablets for all 6 year old students!

So we have the next 6 years to develop a public awareness campaign for Pick-up truck drivers to train them to flash their headlights sooner, faster, longer at road/rail crossings to allow time for the high speed train to slow down enough to allow them to complete their uninterrupted rail crossings!

Ask the writer of the Immigration Act 2545.

Why should the minimum income for a married foreigner (to a Thai) be THB 45,000/month and for a retiree THB 65,000/month?

Similar question.........must be Thai logic.

Whilst this would appear to fall into the category of Thai "logic" it in fact does make sense.

I am married to a Thai and can vouch for the fact that we as a family live more able to make funds stretch further as she knows how to buy most things cheaper and negotiate better deals overall when making any purchase.

On the other hand a retiree without such support is more likely to incur a higher cost of living and theirin lies the logic which isn't too hard to accept when you've been through both experiences.

This guy is a regular Einstein

Is it just me... or does his name sound like "Plod The Sod"?

Very well done,... he's quite charming!

traffic police chief Pol Maj-General Uthaiwan Kaewsaard said. "There is no law against watching TV while driving"

This is amazing,... and even if there was any such law would it really make one scrap of difference?

Although we can't blame Facebook, I'd like to,.. a platform for narcisists, scammers and Fed agency infiltrators!

Sorry to say that anyone who can't figure out the beer bar girl money scamming routine and plays into that system is just asking to get ripped.

Surely the poor girl did not deserve to die and in such a violent way. She was just using her natural resources to survive and it's not as though the German guy was giving away cash for no return.

You get what you pay for (well sometimes!). Seems the German guy was emotionally and psychologically unstable.

"There will be no floods" "Commodity prices will come down"

..."and all of these things shall come to pass because I said so"!

Let's not require any safety equipment. That would cost too much money and, anyway, workers are so cheap.

How many deaths will it take to make people understand that helmets, safety belts, decent shoes (boots), etc. can save lives. Does anybody care?

Yes people care but you forgot that when you are not on TV you are in a different culture and they have different beliefs than you do,

You are so sure of your beliefs because that was what you grew up with. As well as others around you having beliefs a little different than yours.

The same here in Thailand the big difference is no body around them has other beliefs and yours are as foreign to them as there's are to you. I am sure there will be people who morn for them. But will feel that death is inevitable and let it go in time.

My condolences to the people who cared for them.

Oh,.. so ignorance is fine just as long as you don't know you're ignorant and that you were raised in a culture that engenders ignorance and false beliefs?

This is accident is very sad and whilst equipment can fail anywhere this again falls on the responsibility of the government and the lack of industrial laws and protection. There should be a mechanism in place that forces all companies involved in hi risk work to educate and train workers in essential safety measures.

Yes I understand that This Is Thailand and I understand the cultural MPR sentiment which has its positive side but all of that is no excuse for not starting to take responsibility and to understanding that there are always consequences to action and non-action. That in fact is a fundamental Buddhist principle "cause and effect" and yet it mostly is ignored.

Condolences to the families. Let's hope this serves as a wake up call to all persons involved in such work.

"police found the body of Sutchadech, riddled with 10 gunshots to his head, face and upper body"

If this was a "suicide" as someone suggested then he sure wanted to make sure that he did a proper job on himself using 9 rounds more than the typical single round generally associated with suicide.

Seems someone wanted to make sure that his silence was absolute!

"Reasonable English speaking ability".... struth mate, what about being able to understand a bit of good 'ol "Strayan" lingo,.. construction site variety mate?

Oh yeah... I'd like to see that!

Though EGAT is quiet now about boosting nuclear for Thailand (hoping thoughts of drawbacks will fade from Thai peoples' short memory), EGAT still hasn't announced abandoning their plans for up to five nuclear plants for Thailand. Until they make such an announcement, we can assume they still have such plans. Be vigilant.

And EGAT do decide to build some NPS, what you going to do about it ?....if you are so anti-nuclear....dont live near it then, if you are none Thai you dont have a say

You evidently have been living here too long and/or been drinking too much of the Koolade. That is such a "Thai" statement of irrelevant "logic" that it typifies mainstream national "thinking".

Maidu has every right to comment just as we all do whether or not we live here despite not being Thai that does not detract from the actual relevance of taking a citizen's perspective especially if one does actually live here under whatever visa arrangement made necessary by a narcisistic, xenophobic and ignorant government (did I leave out "incompetent".... oh never mind) who's visa laws are archaiic to say the least.

Taking an interest in, and showing concern for a very much flawed and poorly conceived intended nuclear program that could be disasterous not just for any region in which a plant was located, but for the entire country as well as neighboring countries considering fallout spread and not to mention the financial cost and the effect to tourism which would effect everyone seems to me a very responsible position to take.

"some parents who wanted to put their kids in a new school had to pay "tea money" of up to Bt400,000"

Bt400,000 is not "tea money", it's a plain and simple extortion and should be addressed as such,- i.e "an illegal bribe".

More fool to any such person who would be stupid enough to pay such an astronomical sum.

Amazing Thailand,.. if it ever changes it'll be a Miracle!

Hmmm....time to dump my blackberry.

Any suggestions from fellow readers on best android phone for receiving gmails?

I've got a Samsung galaxy mini which works great for emails including gMail and is generally very good for Internet browsing!

This issue is a lot deeper and more insidious than we might imagine.

118 illegal resorts equates to a lot of palm greasing and insider support.

Anywhere in the western world, any such illegal construction would get halted before it even got completed. Imagine going into a national park in Australia or NZ for instance and starting to construct any kind of "resort" or village. It would get jumped all over in a virtual heartbeat and yet here we have 118 (that have been counted at least) finished projects.

In the two years that I first read of these illegal resorts being "discovered" I haven't heard of one single instance of any part of any construction being dismantled.

Too much is at stake and vested with deep rooted corrupt persons that I doubt we'll ever see anything but commenting on this issue without any real action being taken.

I would be dleighted to be proved wrong in that regard but in the meantime I look on with amazment!

Even if all were immediately granted the 300bt per day increase it's still not enough to keep up with inflation.

In the 8 years I've been living here I have seen petrol more than double and housing is a close runner up as are many grocery items.

I know of people here that have university educations (for what they're worth) that are earning the same now as they were 8 years ago,.. except for a pay hike of 400bt per month. No wonder people resort to crimes and scams as means to advancement (heck,.. this works wonders for govt officials so why hot?)

7,500bt per month (300bt per working day) after all expenses and cost of getting to and from work leaves a pittance,.. and now they're saying wait until 2015!

At some point the people will wake up a realize that they have been duped and used as stooges.

I feel sorry for the working classes of this country who are constantly being betrayed and taken extreme advantage of by their own government.

Cowardly scumbags!

RIP to the victim

This is a government problem as is the case with most things.

Apart from there being virtually no effective policing of traffic offences (real offences,- not tea-money excercises) there are no real consequences arising from any of these road calamities.

Police are inadequately trained or compensated and there is no road awareness safety or effects of alcohol in driving given as education to school students or any serious advertising campaigns to educate adults.

I've lost count of the number or red traffic light jumpers I've seen (some within a whisker of a major accident), add to that totally unroadworthy and unregistered vehicles as well as those monsters that drive at nigtht without headlights on (either broken or too drunk to realize they we're off?). Motorcyclists that insist on driving in the wrong direction on the left shoulder becuase it was convenient,..and/or cutting across 2 or 3 lanes of traffic to make a turn (some of these with mum, daughter and baby on back all without helmets.

While ever we have governments and the hi-so rich capitalizing on the ignorance of the common people we shall always have these sad statistics with us. They have no desire to educate and elevate and whilst ever this prevails there will always be tragic circumstances.

And its not just the present day government,.. we've had the best part of 80 years of government in this country that have all failed to rise to the call.

Shame on them and pity the wonderful common people of Thailand!

"“In making the arrests, police seized two mobile phones, two digital cameras, handcuffs and some cash from Ae’s house."

What about the lady's thumb?

No mention of what happened to it. Was she able to retrieve it and get it stitched back on?

Not too good for tourism in such a small and yet high profile "peaceful" destination.

The sad thing is that there is very poor example for Thai youths from Thai officials when they condone and profit from crime themselves.

Unlikely that the police or courts will do anything to seriously deter and correct these young men. For a start they should add "Assault occassioning Grievous Bodily Harm" to the "Armed Robbery" charge.

any body know if this is just the "tip of the nice breast" and are the Thai police keeping the general public 'abreast' of events?

'arrest these suckers'

Was expecting your post to end in " We are not amazed TIT"