Maggusoil

"...dead with her face submerged under water."

This is odd. What water? How much water?

Difficult to drown in a small amount of water unless you are unconscious

. Can't really stick your head in a puddle and commit suicide.Very difficult to do.

Attention, there was no

Mention

of a "small" amount of water.

Great customer service by Foodland - sending an indisposed client to hospital with a stranger.

Not sure Foodland should be blamed. An actual rescue guy arriving in an actual rescue vehicle is quite convincing. Even the boyfriend waited at the hospital thinking the rescue vehicle would deliver his girlfriend.

Maybe it would be better to leave the woman as is? In the US many bystanders would not help for fear of legal repercussions. The 'sue' capital of the world.

Don't worry it happens in Thailand a lot too. On top of that, I know of people who stopped to help a motorbike accident victim and took him to hospital and he turned around and told the police they ran over him.

So there is a lot of the thinking should we be doing this? in Thailand.

Also wondering if she had a military boyfriend, could the repercussions be more severe on the rapist!!

What a caring brother he is, protecting her from a gaol term. Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Yes he's all heart and the bribees of Isaan know he's all money

PTP won the election in 2011. Thaksin installed his sister as PM. No protests. No one was in the streets raising hell. It was only when they tried to pass a Thaksin amnesty bill at 4 AM that these protests began. That is the catalyst for these protests. To everyone complaining that these protesters are trying to subvert democracy, why didn't they come out in 2011 when PTP won then? This isn't about PTP winning an election. This is about one meglomaniac in Dubai trying to whitewash his crimes. I guess if you take a snapshot in time of the last few weeks, these protests seem like a bunch of elites trying to subvert democracy. If you look at all the events in total since roughly 2005, you'll understand why people are in the streets. They're sick and tired of the country being run by a criminal fugitive and the latest attempt to absolve him of his crimes was the last straw with them. I'm actually a little surprised they didn't come out sooner. Right after Mrs. clone was made PM. I guess people didn't think they would actually go as far as to try and clear Thaskin of all his crimes. If they didn't do that, these folks would be sitting at home right now, not causing mass traffic jams in BKK.

This is quite spot on, however, what it has raised since has been a profound escalation of the awareness, that the side of politics that should

present the checks and balances available in democratic government, are as hairy as the ape in Dubai. Scary hairy.

I'd say he's a realist and doesn't look at Thai politics through the lens of western governments.

Well, if one looks at it through the lens of an oppressive totalitarian state such as Zimbabwe or Belarus, then yes, I can see your point.

Nice try. Even you know that comparison is laughable.

I'm looking at this purely from what's on the table.

Democracy has been reduced in people's minds to having a vote. That is for those involved and those looking on.

Party politics guarantee that centralised power groups take precedence in the running of government,

over, for example an independent member of parliament who is directly representing his constituency.

Too many people seem to imagine that a "vote" is the entirety of democracy. After the vote, you just get on

with whatever those you voted for dish out.

The next important ingredient of democracy, is the countries constitution. Thailand has recently had a direct attack on its constitution

from both "parties" in vying for power. The Amnesty bill and the reaction to it and secondly the power mad idiots that used that ruction

to up the ante and try to turn the whole democratic process on it head and run the country with an unelected council. Look at America if you want a great example and remember that recently George Bush attacked his own countries constitution with the Patriot Act.

How did he do that? By the destabilising of the political and social structure brought about by acts of terrorism, which some analysts believe had

domestic roots. Lets not get too bogged down in that comment, but it is laughable that people imagine that there are no hidden, or outside influences in what happens to and within countries, to destabilise the status quo.

It is extremely difficult to penetrate, the real workings of government even in so-called, modern, enlightened "A-list" democracies. That difficulty is always perpetuated by that countries so-called need for the secrecy needed to combat evil forces. Children's book stuff.

I think a very good example, is what happened to the whistle blower Andrew Wilkie in Australia. A straight down the line military university trained, high level intelligence officer, who blew the whistle on the so-called intelligence of weapons of mass destruction which was used to start the Iraq war. Wilkie was sacked and faced a parliamentary enquiry, not in Australia, but in England!

He was reduced to selling carpets in Tasmania. Its a wonder he is not a household name because he came from a far more right wing, conservative background than any of the other famous whistle blowers.

He has since become an effective independent politician, however the 8 pages of his book that the Lords of the English parliament, deemed "inappropriate" for public consumption are still missing from his book, while we sail on in democratic bliss.

What do we have to do to get those 8 pages of his book published? Don't forget that this censorship was not only directed at the citizens of Australia and England but affected every citizen in all the countries of the 'coalition of the willing' that became allies in the Iraq War. Thailand's autocracy has nothing on the machinations of the "democratic?" British Establishment and what it actually controls.

Do you think that most citizens in most of those countries are even aware of that? Or care? Or even have time to care? How about you? Have you thought about it?

People whose governments were all complicit in spending their people's countless billions of money on warfare and directing the profits of that warfare, into the world's most profitable business. The killing game.

Is there anything better we can spend our money on? Apparently not.

I think we can be reasonably sure there are international political influences in the State of Thailand. Destabilising is the field play of the Agent Provocateur. That's a term that has not had enough air play in modern politics, but is appearing lately in the ruminating of a number of academic,

political analysts.

The Thai Army on more than one occasion has stood in as the referee and blown the whistle several times before the game gets too bloody.

They then return the levers of government to power mad bureaucrats, criminals and megalomaniac multi millionaires to "run" the

Thai economy. For their own benefit. Lying, defrauding, delluding the Thai people for power and profit.

The Thai Army are not representing, as they have done in many other countries, as extensions of the state, ready to be State executioners.

Well disciplined, it presents as an Army of the people. To protect the people.

Judging by the personnel available for the role of government, I would favour a good Army General over any one of the "elected" autocrats,

available from the Government benches.

What will happen in Thailand? How will the people get their country back from the ghouls?

The colonel said this lawyer will be considered an undesirable person for the country, he said.

Since when is it the decision of an army to consider someone an undesirable person?

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, as you would well know yourself.

"is now known as Khakkingrak Khikkhiksaranang."

Love this name although can't pronounce it unless I got hiccups.

Also good for people with a stutter!

I reckon what actually happened is she wanted to change her name to Kat but the typewriter key got stuck are the local amphur office

Yes I was thinking something similar. Kat King for example. . . news?

Anything can be news. How about current affairs?

Makes a change from the politicians who are about as sensible as actors anyway.

A well-written piece. It makes me wish Thailand could reform, but not Suthep's way. They need to find a way go sweep away the main protagonists and try to elect those who might engage in non-confrontational politics (at least for a while!) to give the country some time to recover from this turmoil.

But that is western-style thinking..... TiT. ?

you don't get fair elections without reforms first.

. . but you can't get reforms by disbanding the democratic process. Yes the article is well written and to me this has been spelling coup signs for weeks.

There is no fall back position other than relying on the democratic constitution. Thailand has to educate itself as to how government works and how to use the court system.

The saving grace for the evolution of the West was the coming of the Magna Carta which guaranteed people rights before the law and indeed for the people to be the law and not the parliament.

Awareness of this tool for justice, it is being watered down as fast as the legislators can water it down in the west.

In other words, as we hold up the rule of democracy in the West as a beacon of legal and social justice and cohesion, it is actually in decline itself.

Those who have accepted democracy, have expected too much from it, hoping that a vote is all that it takes.

It takes a much greater form of participation and using the tools of democratic freedoms to pursue individual cases of corruption

and call for parliaments and governments to reform, from within the democratic process.

We have to build on what is there.

No instant answers. No miracle cures. No political messiahs.

We have to do our home work as citizens. That needs education, now available on the net. No more secrets.

It also means doing research and becoming more politically aware.

The use of internet petitions has grown in popularity the world over and achieving good results.

These are getting results in case by case instances where reform had to take place.

Issues like slave labour in India. The non prosecution of rape in India. The illegal infection of organic farms in Australia from nearby genetically engineered crops grown by Monsanto. Juts to mention a few.

It is just a matter of time before they come here.

It appears that it may get worse before it gets better.

Generally speaking though, those with the biggest backing, get the best tools.

You know where all these people get their money. From Big Oil. The sharia law mob in Arabia.

Saudi Arabia? Really? How do you know that?

It may sound like a wild assertion however I used to work as a journalist, news director and so forth, and have kept abreast where possible of what I believe is quality information.

From the sources I tap, for example researchers from University etc, this is generally considered fairly common knowledge in current affairs.

Please feel free to follow up. Dispute it if you will.

You die ,end of road ,there is nothing .

Speak for yourself.

I think more accurately, you could say. "I die, end of the road, there is nothing."

That leaves others untrammelled by the objectification of their experiences by the assumptions of yours.

It is interesting to observe that those who dispute the existence of God, love to sound God like

That's right, change the subject.

Take any god outside of your own that you do not believe in and use the same argument why you do not believe in that one with your own.

I am not arguing anything. That is your apprehension . . . and I reject your assumptions about what I am doing and you have fallen short of understanding anything. As far as I can see.

I realise it is important to you to be right about something, however you have not communicated what it is sufficiently for me to respond in kind and it certainly falls short of how it relates to the topic, outside of your assumptions.

Whatever else, this thread seems to have produced a miraculous quantity of opinions.

What is Christ trying to teach us? That we should love one another and should not sin. What is so objectionable about that? Let's even suppose that Christ was only a mythical figure that never existed. Wouldn't living by those rules make our world a better place? Of course this would mean sacrificing all the selfish indulgences that are so hard to resist. Much easier to reject the whole idea and carry on with our own selfish little lives where we make our own rules to suit ourselves.

Greed, lust, envy, pride, wrath, sloth, gluttony are the roots of all evil.

The Buddha was trying to teach us that 500 years before Christ was born. Leading an ethical life isn't confined to Christians. It isn't even confined to those who are religious.

This is an excellent point. Reiterating the obvious idea that people do not need religion to have ethics. Even animals and babies have observable ethics, often more than adults.

At the age of six I was introduced to religion at the English boarding school I attended. I immediately rejected that religion out of hand. I think that was a genetic problem I had with it.

Since then without going into the details I have seen God and experienced (it), seen and heard ghosts and witnessed what was for me a miracle, which saved my life in totally inexplicable circumstances. I have also left my body and experienced being in another body in another place and another time.

It seems that we have the capacity to experience more than the provable physical world we seem to live in.

Despite having experienced what I will call God for want of another word, I no longer desire to explain it to others, convince others of the validity of the experience, or work it into anything more meaningful to anyone else intellectually or spiritually and even to myself.

That would be a waste of time. The experience was mostly ecstatic and so has no relevance other than the remaining awareness that this, what I will call essence, exists in everything.

Having had the experience, I recognise that there is no way of proving the unprovable.

Has it im'proved' my life? I have no way of knowing.

The only meaningful things in my life are the love of some family members, some friends and my deceased dog.

My avatar is just a memory now. Beautiful guy. One of nature's gentlemen.

Seeing is believing, but no one would believe you. . . I feel sorry for those that have not seen the light

The same would be true of alien abduction.

Yes, of course that would be true however, it has an opposite connotation of doubtful desirability

I haven't heard it is quite so pleasant

Truth is not based on desirability. To wish theism to be true is to wish to be a slave but it is not that which makes it untrue.

It is interesting to observe that those who dispute the existence of God, love to sound God like

and in English of course it is dog spelled backwards, would I not be a believer

God is a poor name for the nameless

Seeing is believing, but no one would believe you. . . I feel sorry for those that have not seen the light

The same would be true of alien abduction.

Yes, of course that would be true however, it has an opposite connotation of doubtful desirability

I haven't heard it is quite so pleasant

Seeing is believing, but no one would believe you. . . I feel sorry for those that have not seen the light

When all else fails, condescend.

None of you have taken the right drugs

keep your failures to yourself

Seeing is believing, but no one would believe you. . . I feel sorry for those that have not seen the light

I doubt there's a politician in Thailand that can deal with this bunfight.

Massive government corruption. The highest alcohol consumption in SEA, the highest road tolls, the highest violent crime and murder rates

in SEA.

It makes you wonder where the checkpoint is.

It's a shame the headline doesn't read Bomb detecting methods improving saving lives and carnage.

Generally speaking though, those with the biggest backing, get the best tools.

You know where all these people get their money. From Big Oil. The sharia law mob in Arabia.

I don't think the farmers are very interested in politics, but they sure don't like not having money. The start of their protests today is far more dangerous to Thailand than the Bangkok drama.

Agree with this. When this gets rolling we'll see plenty of action. . . real action, real reaction most likely too

A woman cannot consent to sex if she has been drugged (against her will) by the person who gains access to her via that drugging.

It is irrelivent whether while drugged (against her will) if she gave her consent. She was not in full control, as she was drugged against her will (there is a common theme here).

This is a law in any country in the world (maybe not in Saudi or other non-civilised places).

It amazes me that when I open these updates there are so many morons in one place ready to comment about things which they know so little about and equally the same people are so inappropriate in their responses. This maybe the reason 'they' cannot function in a society where basic decency is required?

Some of you are a disgrace, you really are.

Agree with this Its all very well to criticise people, who get doped for getting drunk and "asking" for it. Its much more common than you think and its not only used for sex crimes. A friend of mine was slipped a "mickey" by a jealous bartender in Bondi and later fell down a flight of stairs outside a restaurant. I've never seen him legless in my life and he had only had a few.

It will be just another of those things we have to be wary of when drinking in bars. I do agree to some extent regarding alcohol. It is dangerous enough, without the added 'cocktails'.

this is a fighter

full of testosterone

he wants to show his power

he will be in the ultimate cage fight

his wish comes true

for the rest of his live,he must be very happy.

So leave the man alone ,he's off the streets,

not our business anymore.

Speak for yourself.

This IS the business of everyone on the outside, who live their lives on the outside without causing harm to others.

It should be the business of the public in both England where this animal got his training and Thailand where he has committed his crimes, the family of the deceased and all Americans, and the judicial system in Thailand that he remains out of "our" harms way for as long as possible.

Preferably forever.

Interred, isolated, and finitely imprisoned on some island, like Australia's Christmas Island, from which he could not escape and would be better used than to house hapless refugees.

Real sentences like that ensure our safety and may, maybe force the animals to "think" before acting out their violent fantasies and wreck other people's lives.