Anon999

In most other countries, 39 killed in one day would be considered a national disaster and called for a day of national mourning!

In Thailand it is same <deleted>, and life goes on!!

In Sweden the number was 354 in a year!!

As the population of Sweden is just 9.5 million what's the point in quoting that figure? A fair comparison is with the UK which has a similar population and road deaths of 1,900 (5.2/day) including those that died within 30 days. Road deaths UK 2.75/100,000 and Thailand 38.1/100,000 or if you prefer nearly 14 times as many and that's only deaths at the scene so it's even higher.

Because his sister and her government provided him with a diplomatic passport.

Again, even if this is true, it happened after the military dictatorship. It does not answer the question why he was never extradited during the military dictatorship.

Seeking and obtaining extradition is not the work of a minute. It takes a great deal of time, effort and diplomacy. Also there is the consideration of the countries where the person is holed up and have they had their palms greased to put any application on the back boiler, just demand more detail, one item at a time and a thousand and one other reasons. If the fugitive is staying out of trouble locally and the inter government relationship is not good then it can take years as has been shown in many cases around the world.

Well do something <deleted> !!!

Looks like Suthep is bribing the Police?

And what evidence do you have to back that up?

The O/P wrote "Got a mad buzzing in my lugs and it's not going away!"

If, indeed it is in your lungs and not in your ears, then its not tinnitus. Probably a visit to any good general practice physician will get you a proper diagnosis and guidance on solving the problem.

If it is tinnitus, and it is stress related, then Hydroxizine Hydrochloride may help a lot (It helps me). It is sold over-the-counter under names like Dormirax Ucerax, and Hydroxim among others. Most pharmacies carry it and it is pretty inexpensive at about 2 baht per 25 mg tablet at the mom-and-pop places, but its good to discuss this with a general practitioner or ENT because he might have a better treatment based on his diagnosis of the cause.

By the way, I asked two doctors whether they could help my tinnitus and they both smiled and said "You are getting old." and did nothing. I had to approach one of them with a potential solution before he would help.

An additional ray of hope: Hyperbaric treatments have give some relief.

"Lugs" is short for Lugholes an English (UK) slang word for ears!

Bangkok Hospital they have a Professor and Assistant Professor in the audiology department. They also speak good English.

He was probably confronted by a fan who happened to be one of the anti-government demonstrators. No doubt the whistle was given to him as a gift, a gesture, Anyone trying to make anything out of this is really stretching things to the limit...!!

That's being polite about it.

Don't her views reflect those held by the yellow bellies? If not expressed so forthright in public it is certainly expressed in private and implicitly expressed in their actions.

Her views don't reflect those of the yellow shirt hillbillies from the south of course. I mean the Bangkokian yellow bellies.

Must drive the high-so's crazy at the protests and look around and see all these people from the south of the country. Especially to see those from as far south in Thailand as you can go! They're basically Malaysian at that point.

You don't have to make it so obvious that you're red sympathiser. Bearing in mind you don't appear to have been in Thailand long enough to learn much about anything maybe a more neutral stance would have been better, along with refraining from making derogatory comments. Your view that the opposition are all yellow further betrays your ignorance of the oppositions make up.

The majority of the posters on here deride anything that is positive come what may. Why they ever bothered to come and live here is beyond any form of logic or sensible thought. Whingers and moaners of the first order and with no alternative ideas, as can be seen from their posts.

Maybe once in their lifetime they could have made a positive comment and offered support for the proposals but then again that's asking a lot from such people. Furthermore they also accuse the Thais of failing to come up with any positive and sensible ideas! Wonderful people.... to avoid.

The business groups who have been giving the situation serious thought and have come up with a unanimous proposals need and should be given the backing of every sensible minded person, Thai and Expat as well. Despite the fact Expats have little influence here moral support is important.

If the Dems ever want to win an election then they need to win the hearts of people nth of Bangkok. Shift their focus away from the minority elites and start working for the people who hold the majority of votes.

Possibly correct but some people have principles. Obviously the people of Isan do not.....

The Dems obviously do not support democratic principles. Their supporters throughout the whole country must feel frustrated that they will not have the opportunity to elect a government of their choice.

For your information, the people of isaan are ordinary people. They have principles they believe in and hold similar views on many things to Thais in other parts of the country. They have learned from experience that the Democratic party has done very little for them.

Displaying your ignorance about them just reinforces the falang stereotype sexpat here for the cheap alcohol, drugs and sex trade.

I personally object to your ignorant comment and so would all of my expat friends both in Isaan and other parts of Thailand. You are by definition the ignorant one.

"She received 49.22 percent of the votes from 1,177 respondents sampled from 20 northeastern provinces for being the most favoured female politician"

The typical Isaan voter probably can't even name another female politician. With that considered, it is amazing that she received only 49%. It would seem "none of the above" was more popular than YS. A survey of only 1,177 people isn't very statistically significant considering the population of many millions in Isaanland.

1,177 respondents is definitely an acceptable sample size for a survey of this nature. At a 95% confidence level, it would have a margin of error better than 2.5%. This is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, once you get samples of this size, further increments in sample size have relatively little effect regardless of population size (so long as the sampling itself is unbiased).

To make things more concrete:

Assuming the population of Isaan is 25 million... given the sample size here and the fact that 50% chose Yingluck, had the whole Isaan population been surveyed, we could be '95% certain' that the result would be between 47% and 53% in favour of Yingluck. So basically the same outcome.

This is why we do sampling... to avoid the cost of surveying most of the population.

As for your other comment (which smacks of contempt for the people of Isaan). I wonder how many voters in your home country can name two or more sitting female politicians (as opposed to political activists, like Palin in the US, etc.).

How do we know, for instance, if the sample was mainly form the Red villages?

If only the otherside could bring themselves to showing the poor some respect, then they mightn't have to do their petty footstomping, coups, and city-halting every couple of years because they cannot win an election.

But my Lord, rich and powerful Thais be humble enough to do that.... only the Shinawats have the intelligence and humbleness to do that.

You have been a busy boy with your membership spanning all of 24 hours. Maybe you can tell us all how you managed to establish "the Shinawats have the intelligence and humbleness"?

Suthep has played his hand.

The Dems don't want an election because they know they can't win it.

Therefore he wants chaos.

The people pulling his strings are willing to risk all (read my earlier posts) because the prize is so big.

A totalitarian state run paying lip service to monarchy, the establishment back in control.

Big business won't care, tourists don't care as long as there is some signs of stability.

But of course there are the people, who won't stand for this.

So we need to have a revolution and sort out these elites once and for all.

As I stated earlier, we are witnessing the death rattle of the establishment, who won't go down without a fight but it's too late, you can't put the genie back in the bottle.

The military needs to be careful, the USA won't accept any more coups which put these bastards back into power.

So just as the establishment yielded power to the people in most western democracies, so they will yield here too.

No, if there's a death rattle, it's the death rattle of a corrupt government that wants so much to continue stealing. The smart thing for them to do was to compromise and to work together with the opposition and impliment some reforms. Now, look at what has happened. It's going to be 2006 all over again. You think the USA cares if there's a coup. They'll do their usual doublespeak about supporting democracy blah blah blah then it's business as usual. 2006 is the perfect example. Any sanctions by the Americans or anyone else for that better?

Ah, Gerry, there you are.

before Thaksin there was no credible opposition.

The pigs spent 12 months a year at the trough and thought it could never change.

the bonanza of natural resources plus the booming tourism economy was all theirs, and rightfully theirs from family rights and blood ties to the ancient establishment.

this upstart, Thaksin, not even from Bangkok came along and played the game to his advantage, and ever since they've been crying foul.

Thaksin was smart, he unleased the power of the people.

The yellows are just Bangkok public servants and are all brainwashed, hence the significance of their yellow colour. Forelock tuggers every one.

They are absolutely snookered.

They know they can't win an election.

So the only choice left is to bring on another coup.

yes the USA does care, or didn't you listen to the US ambassadore's comments?

These greedy corrupt families who control the Democrats and have controlled Thailand for the past 200 years are just about to have it all taken away from them.

Of course, they'll fight to the death, and they have no concience about what damage they cause.

But, you can't stop the tide, and the tide has turned.

Watch and learn.

Maybe you should wait and see before once again trying to enforce your opinion. Your opinion is exactly that, your opinion and nothing else. Furthermore your assertion that all the opposition are yellow shirts is totally crass and indicates you probably do not live in Isaan. Remember "Thaksin thinks PTP does" so why should any opposition legitimise a 'government' controlled by a convicted criminal? It beats me.

According to Social Science, any poll needs to have at least 2000 respondents to be a good sample, and it must be a random sample. If the poll was conducted by internet, the results are invalid (all Thais do not have internet). If the poll was conducted by cellphone, the sample is almost half the sample required, and is likewise invalid.

In short, how were these figures derived?

Pollsters here and abroad never show their sampling technique for a simple reason...there are lies, dam_n lies, and statistics (which can be easily manipulated to support any conclusion).

In short, polls are for punters. News is for newbies. And politics is for procrastinators.

Polls in the UK often use a sample of less that 2,000 people.

She told me I stink last night.

I think not so.

When Thai lady say you are "stinky" they mean something entirely different! For some reason they use the word 'stinky' to mean stingy, so I have been reliably informed by 2 of them, because I was a bit confused as the first time it was over the internet.

this isnt the answer, education does not give people the right to vote, being a citizen of the country does. What they need to stop are the populist policies(village fund, rice scam etc) that are being run by the ptp to garner the poors votes. If these schemes are stopped and outlawed then it removes the power the ptp/thaksin holds over them. As the article says, the poor vote for who ever is willing to pay them so this needs to stop in the north and south. Until the bribery/vote rigging etc is removed there will never be fair and honest voting in Thailand, it isnt a matter of reds and yellows, the political vote buying has to be stopped before it destroys the country.

Can an educated Bangkok person go to a Red Village and buy votes? Nope.

Can a uneducated Red shirt go to a hi so condo in Bangkok and buy votes? Nope.

I don't see much of a problem here.

I think Red shirts are being paid to vote how they would vote anyway and Yellow shirts are being paid to vote the way they would anyway.

I don't see a problem?

In that case why are there 'Red villages'?

Yellow politicians are just showing their true colors...they want their "precious" old feudal powers back! It is so nice to see these elite, pampered SOBs squirming and throwing tantrums while their powers are being taking away from them.

Thaksin, no matter how corrupted or crooked one thinks he is, was the first to actually do something for the people outside the Thai elite and outside Bangkok. Yellows had centuries to do something about it but they never did! The elite never does.

Unfortunately, these things ebb and flow. While Thailand seems to be going to the right direction slowly, USA for example is going exactly to the opposite direction. Republic is turning into a plutocracy...this struggle is never going to be over. There are always going to be rich elite SOBs who want ALL the power and money and then some.

Maybe you would be better occupied doing a bit of reading on relatively recent history, before posting. Obviously you do not live in Isaan and haven't been here long enough to know a great deal either.

I very much doubt his cause needs any more money. Be careful what you wish for. There are more powerful and wealthier elite forces behind this guy than Thaksin could ever muster. They want to put an end to democracy and one man one vote with their peoples council and if they succeed it will not be for the short term.

If Yingluck and the PTP continue to capitulate at every turn it may well happen. That said, should there actually be elections expect to see a massive turnout from the PTP supporters that will make the last majority win in the previous election look like a drop in the hat.

There's nothing like being an optimist, however, we'll have to wait and see what happens in 6 weeks time. It looks nearer to a hung parliament to me.

Tune into Blue Sky TV !

Witness the thousands of Thai people supporting Mr Sethup.

See hundereds (?thousands) of Bht being freely donated to the cause !

Truly an awe inspiring sight.

Now you see that the Thai people are serious about the need for change ! Donating !!! Instead of recieving for a vote, truly amazing.

Never ever seen this !

Yes inspiring

Interesting fact. If this was the north or northeast, they'd all be out screaming at Yingluck in adoration looking for a handout.

She was in Roi Et yesterday but it must have been a very low profile occasion.

The US could care less about these street tugs. They call them students most of them look like they didn't complete the 2nd grade and that was 30 years ago.. The US will do what it wants

The US should just stay out of it altogether. Except that the big money is coming from there and in all probability the Ambassador is being leaned on.

Seems that a number of posters cannot read, not to mention the inane posts. The OP does not say he has paid for his gf's visa or given her money for the airline ticket.

Get her head office to officially instruct her not to be the courier. Let some lesser mortal take the responsibility.

"What I don’t understand is why (she) behave(s) like that?"

Because she's Thai.

You must have led a sheltered life it happens in all countries so don't blame anyone because of their nationality.

I have not seen one farmer that has not been paid yet. I just don't believe it sorry. If thousands of farmers would not have been paid yet they would be in Bangkok already.

The Rice Mills are the one that didn't have been paid yet but many give cash out to farmers that bring their supply in for a discount.

Most rice from farmers in Isaan at least that I know off don't qualify for the pledging as the quality is not Grade A. Many have been turned down in our village.

You contradict yourself. First you say you don't know any that have not been paid and then most of those you know do not qualify for the scheme so the total you know is minuscule maybe all of a handful. Your comment brings to mind the words 'shot' and 'foot'. Well done!

So you expect to pay less than you should because you don't have the right change?

rounded up or down to the nearest baht usually the point im trying to make is no give and take only take

If the cashier is short on takings she has to make it up out of her own money. Why should she pay part of your internet bill for you?

were talking about 0.15 stang here impossible to make up that amount up as the lowest denomination is 0.25

Pay on-line and the correct amount can be submitted.

Here is a better idea.

Why not create a professionally made motor cycling safety HD video and publish it on UTube, including other video hosting sites, facebook, or even create a website dedicated to motorbike safety.

Easy to register with the search engines such as Google and Ask.com.

My advice is, have the video produced by Thais for Thais rather then it appearing as foreigners trying to teach Thais how to drive, as I doubt they would like it and may consider such an enterprise as an insult. Only need to finance it and use farang names in the credits. Perhaps it would be possible to convince a high ranking Thai police officer, Government spokesman or even a Thai celebrity to participate in the scheme and appear in the video. Maybe even try to convince a well known motorbike manufacturer and helmet maker to sponsor you.

Your first line of inquiry would be to see how much such a project would cost to produce and then to approach the right people with your idea and see if they would be interested. Also considering that by uploading the video online rather than by a one off TV ad, it can remain in the public domain for all time with only a need to update once in a while.

Just a thought.

It would also be worthwhile using the road signs book that is provided when applying for a driving licence. It's 99% copy of UK road signs with the notable exception of a 'T' junction.