eljeque

A few years ago in the the USA

How many people died each year from drug use? About 3,500

How many people died each year from alcohol use? At least 20,000

Companies state that alcohol use by employees costs them a fortune,

but the cost of employee drug use is small.

I neither use, nor do I wish others to use drugs or alcohol, but it is really none of my business.

I can sell cigarettes and the buyers can die in 20 years, but I will not be prosecuted for assisting in suicide, but there is no doubt that over along period of time, cigarettes will damage an individual's health to such an extent that it may very well kill them.... and cigarettes are legal.

Should these people receive psychological assistance for their behavior?

A mean, they must be crazy.... or addicted.

McDonald's and all of the other fattening foods that kill people over an extended period of time - It is not just plain old everyday food, but the garbage that American companies manufacture and fast food outlets sell. This "food" is poison. Over the lifetime of the consumer, he will experience decreasing health, clogged arteries, and the list goes on and on. It may very well cause his death. He must be insane to eat this stuff knowing the information that is readily available. It is not food in the traditional sense. It is not designed for nutritional purposes. Should these companies be closed down and their CEOs jailed for assisting in the deaths of thousands of people?

Simply do with drugs what is done with alcohol - tax them at a rate low enough that the penalty for avoiding the taxes makes it worth paying them.

Great movie idea.

The actress with short hair who was in "Ong Bak" would be a good choice

PUMWAREE YODKAMOL

She is true spunk and extra cute as well.

However, other witnesses say Somchai had a row with Mr Lloyd in the restaurant and left to fetch his handgun. He killed Mr Lloyd in the street and ran down Miss Arscott as she fled, before coldly shooting her three times.

This sounds more likely

Somchai is known as a womaniser and according to some accounts had tried to force Miss Arscott into his car before Mr Lloyd intervened.

This also sounds more in character with policeman

It now appears that the boyfriend was saving his girlfriend form this idiot trying to "abduct" her.

After his public confession Somchai was taken to the scene to re-enact his version of events. He appealed to the crowd of onlookers to back up his account.

"Lie for me. Lie for me. They want to jail me for shooting the farang."

Although he would really like to be in charge, he is too frightened to go down there and actually figure out what is wrong and to stay around long enough to get everything fixed. He ran away the last time there was a boom, boom, boom near him. In many countries, the generals who run the wars have actually been in the field. This is not the case with the new head of security. I am curious as to whom his new appointment will be.

It appears that several of the posters are taking the murderer's word for being spat upon - as if it should make a difference. Would they all automatically accpet the word of said murderer who has just shot one man and then driven over his girlfriend prior to shooting her dead as well ... and then split to Burma for a month?

If anyone finds this logic flawed, please state it as so. If others find it rational, please agree.

The murderer-cop drove after the two in order to harm them - not help them.

Please vote Yeah or Nay

I am not familar with Thai people or Thai policemen actually driving out to get people whom have eaten at his restaurant and then argued with, in order to assist them. Westerners do not make a habit of it either. It seems a little out of character to me.

He went drove after them to harm them and may have gotten into an argument on the road or a fight with the man. Eitehr way, the cop went looking to make trouble.

First we heard that the Brit hit the cop, and now we have heard that he spat at him. What will we hear next? Oh, and I almost forgot about the affair. I am sure that many more stories all equally divergent from the truth will appear over the next few weeks.

Yes, some of the tourists from Britain, Germany, the USA, France, Italy, the Middle East, etc., come here with the idea that they are above the law. But, generally with young couples, that is not the case. If this was a skinhead with 4 of his pals, tattooed from head to foot, in a bar in Pattaya, then some of the negative statements made on this board might hold true, but since these two were actually seeing the countryside, not the bars and the girls, and there is as of yet no proof of their being drunk and disorderly or behaving in any way that would justify arrest or any other punishment from the Thai courts, they are victims, not criminals.

In case you seee one of his friend's spying on you again, tell the police the man's name and they will locate him. After his friend and friends learn that they themselves will have problems if they follow you, then they will no longer abide with his requests and he will have to do it on his own, or forget about it. I wish you the best of luck.

I am told that Immigration is encouraging people to get a proper visa at home before they leave. The extension process is causing them hassles.

*************I can see the pain on their faces wehnt hey take 1,900 baht for about 5 minutes of work.

***********When I got my driver's license, I was thre for hours, ilistening to a lecture, taking written tests...over and over, taking a driving test, etc. I took up a lot of their time, and the total cost including my little plastic card was about 50 baht for each license. My memory fades. Now, I did give one hundred and fifty baht to the kind lady who rented me her car and the same for her motorcycle. She also changed an answer on my test so that I could pass.

These people actually worked for the money they received, and I did not se the kind of cars in their parking lot that I see in on Soi 8 - Beach Road, Pattaya.

Thaksin: Wipe out bird flu or face sack

******** This means that they have to go to bed early.

Thai premier gives his ministers a month to solve problem after crisis meeting to save Thailand's stricken poultry trade

******* Save CPF exports, and local sales as well. I do not eat pork or seafood, and find that on occasion it is a bit of a headache to get beef in the dishes that I want. I have always been willing to substitute chicken for beef, but now some restaurants do not carry chicken.

This could be because the PM felt insulted when the Sedish PM would not accept chicken for the jets.

The orders came at an emergency meeting with provincial governors, who were summoned to Bangkok a day after Thai authorities and international experts confirmed a probable case of human-to-human transmission of the virus.

******* How does one confirm a probable? See above sentence.

While the case appeared to be an isolated one, it prompted Mr Thaksin to crack the whip in an effort to put an end to the outbreak, which has killed 10 people in Thailand this year and another 20 others in Vietnam.

'The government will wage a war on bird flu... because it is a big problem that sparks fear both domestically and internationally,' he said.

'By Oct 31, we must be able to declare there is no more bird flu in Thailand.'

********** ONe way or another, the PM is going to say that the bird <deleted> has been eradicated in one month. Exactly "how eradicated" it is, will be the big question. Mostly eradicated? NO deaths eradicated? None in Bangkok eradicated?

The Premier, who had declared 'wars' in the past on drug trafficking, corruption and software piracy, ordered the governors to launch a house-to-house census of chickens, assume every dead fowl was a bird flu fatality, and cull birds ruthlessly wherever the deadly H5N1 virus was detected.

********** Lets see exactly how CPF takes to a government scientist stating that 10 million of their birds must be destroyed.

Confidence in Thai poultry, tourism and food safety would be damaged if the campaign failed, he warned.

'Should there be a Cabinet reshuffle, a few people, including the deputy prime minister, agricultural minister and health minister... will be moved out.'

************* I wish the true father of the country would give the same ultimatum to the PM.

But deputy prime minister Chaturon Chaisang said yesterday the problem would probably take three to five years to bring under control.

He told a radio station. 'There are no fences along borders of countries in Asia to block migrating birds. As long as the disease persists in China, Vietnam and Malaysia, Thailand won't be able to get rid of bird flu and vice versa.'

***********If the leaders of the above named nations, including Burma, Cambodia and Laos get together and declare eradicatrion in one month, then the border issue would become moot.

Migratory wildfowl are thought to spread the virus. Among the measures the Thai authorities have taken are a ban on raising chickens and ducks in open air farms, providing more testing and isolation facilities for government hospitals.

But some economists believe Thailand's poultry industry, which last year was the world's fifth largest exporter of chicken and chicken products, would never fully recover from the bird flu outbreak.

A Thai woman who died on Sept 20 from the H5N1 strain in Nonthaburi province was probably infected by her daughter, the Thai Health Ministry and World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.

Her death was the first case on record of probable human-to-human transmission. For the virus to become a public health threat, it must be passed from person to person, not from bird to person.

'The hope is this is an isolated cluster,' Dr Robert Webster, an influenza virologist at St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, told the Washington Post.

'If it goes to a second round from this family, then we are in trouble.'

***********My gf frind worked for CPF. The showrooms are lovely, as are the show henhouses, show this and show that. But what goes on in the real places where the chickens for the table live was vile.

When I read one man's mockery of the whole situation, with the Swedish PM whispering to his swedish aide, I thought it was entirely made up. Then, when I saw it in black and white, I decided to move to Malaysia.

The chickens could be ground up into fish food or crocodile food. I doubt that the virus is transferable between mammals and fish or reptiles.

That was even wrong in the colonial American dialect. I changed what I was going to write in mid-sentnce and did not go back and correct it. The letter to the Queen was written more carefully.

It said the pills, estimated to have a Thai street value of 3.4 million baht (5,400 UK pounds)

Someone needs to be more careful when they post currency conversions.

Has the Pound increased by 10 fold?

[email protected]

Please request that they follow the story

The department’s director for national park development, Mr. Winij Rakchat, said that under the insurance scheme tourists would be required to pay an extra 10 percent on the price of national park admission tickets, which would give them insurance coverage of up to Bt100,000 each.

We pay 200 baht. Thais pay 20 baht. Now, we will pay an additional (10%)

20 baht for insurance as well. What about insurance for the Thais?

How much will that cost?

I wonder if it will include life insurance as well.

Around 2,000 visitors to national parks each year undergo accidents, whether drowning, falling down mountainsides, or getting knocked on the head by tree branches.

At present Thai citizens pay Bt20 for national park entrance, while foreigners are required to pay USD5.

Mr. Winij stressed today that the new admission fees were still extremely cheap when compared to those levied by other countries.

NO, they are not. Why doesn't he list the fees levied in other countries.

Many countries have free National parks. They also have clean bathrooms,

and a host of other facilities.

He expressed confidence that the scheme, which will be instituted by November, would be welcomed by tourists.

"Scheme" is right on the money. Anyone out there want to be the first to

try and collect on the insurance?

A much better idea would be to make the city, province, country responsibble

for accidents caused by potholes, damaged sidewalks and the like. But then,

Thai people would actually pursue the insurance and the number of claims

would be enormous. A man sped by me on his motorbike and drove into

a large hole for a storm drain in the middle of a a new road. The workers

had simply forgotten to put the covers on and or not put up the orange

cones. I doubt that he received anything from the city administration.

Dear Mr. Liquid:

"I also wrote the queen"

Mwhahahaha!

So funny!

Their parents don't think it is funny to write to anyone and everyone possible.

You have the time to mock, but what about the time to write or call anyone

you think of might be able to exert some form of pressure on Thaksin.

QUOTE (eljeque @ Thu 2004-09-16, 01:53:18)

[email protected]

this is the email of the Daily Telegraph

I just sent them a letter with photos in black and white from my printer

If anyone has a list of email addresses for British newspapers, please list them.

I also wrote the Queen. Everyone, please try whatever you can come up with.

The Thai Hotel Association or anything....

All of the addresses are available on the site.

Please spend a few minutes to help this family.

Thank you

"I also wrote the queen"

Mwhahahaha!

So funny!

For those of you with a few ezxtra minutes to burn, please utilize the information provided by the Aussie in Korat and pick a newspaper in the UK to write. Send a word document with jpg photos of the kids before and after, the murderer, and the picture with the money covering his face.

I am not British and do not know the names of the checkout line papers, "The Daily Mirror?" and the others, but for thpse of you who do, please write to them and inform them of the mass of THIAVISA board members who are trying to contact every possible British government and business group, newspaper etc, to bring pressure upon the Thai government.

I am not a tabloid man, but I guess that one of these papers would like to see the information that has been made available on this board and put it in one of their articles. I do not mean to say that I would like to lower this catastrophe to the level of tabloid news, but anything that raises the awareness in England to people who will keep up the barage of enquire to the British government is a step in the right direction

The families thank you for your efforts

You might try www.onlinenewpapers.com ... there is thousands of newpapers from all around the World including many from the UK.

Aussie in Korat.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that someone who the PM respects told him that the country - specifically a lot of his associates stand to lose a lot of money, in the billlions of baht, if this killer is not brought to justice and quickly. I believe that a couple of hundred thousand Brits come here each year, spending over one thousand dollars each. A couple of dred million dollars in foreign exchange would hurt this country's currency and especially those involved in teh tourist industry.

For whatever reason this man is caught, I am thankful for it.

[email protected]

this is the email of the Daily Telegraph

I just sent them a letter with photos in black and white from my printer

If anyone has a list of email addresses for British newspapers, please list them.

I also wrote the Queen. Everyone, please try whatever you can come up with.

The Thai Hotel Association or anything

All of the addresses are available on the site.

Please spend a few minutes to help this family.

Thank you

I really doubt that this man will do very well in Burma, if he has actually gone there. That is a convenient story, but I do not believe that it is factual. Has anyone ever been to Burma near that region of the country? There is not a lot to do, even keeping away from "the police" would become tiring there. If he is there, he will return soon.

I am sure that the Thai and Burmese authorities have an extradition agreement. The Thais simply need to utilize it. I would hope that the Thais would utilize it in order to improve the image of being toleratnt to tourists who bring so much foreign currency to the country.

The above note which mentions harming Thais in the writer's own country should be altered, not exactly in behavior, but in direction. Going after the wife is one way. If she did withdraw one million baht, and as they are married the money is 1/2 his as is the rest of the money in the account. Maybe I am a little too Californian here (sue happy), but if the kids parents can sue for damages on a wrongful death, and actually access the money, it would be one ###### of a scare for her. She would sell her husband out in a matter of minutes if she thought that she would lose any money from his actions.

Again, I might be behaving a little too Californian here. Another option that might actually be legal and applicable is for the parents to sue the Thai government directed at the Thai Embassy in England. They may have received a visa from the Embassy, but that is not necessary for the lawsuit. The two people were killed by a national government official. The police department is a national, not a local department. Policemen are on duty 24 hours each day. He used his police department approved weapon, whether he purchased it himself or not. The national government bears some responsibility for this. The Embassy is the representative of the national government in England, and possibly where the visas were issued.

Lets hope that he is caught soon.

Again, please send a letter or an email to the Embassy , Tony Blair, the Queen of England, the British Chamber of Commerce, Thai Hoteliers Association, etc. The email addresses are listed on an earlier page.

Don't let it die.

I was in Porncharoen, a small city in Nongkhai last year. I was with my wife, who speaks English. We were chatting in Thai to a bunch of young men at an open air bar. I had a hard time understanding their Thai as they were drunk. I asked my wife where they worked. She told me that they were English teachers at the local high school. She told me that it wa the reason that Thais cannot speak English.

Another possibility on the language issue is that not only is English taught poor;y here, but so are a lot of other subjects. Which are taught more poorly - I don't know. Which receives the least practice outside of the classroom, I would expect English.

Could you imagine if the country did speak English? If all of the cheap little hotels throughout the country had English speakers actually giving you what you asked for, understanding your requests; and the restaurants as well. Imagine how much more they could charge for their services. How many people go back to the same restaurant or shop because someone there speaks English well. I do not do it a lot because I can seak Thai, but I know others who do.

Also, think about all of those poor Thais learning everything that is written said in English about their PM, government, views from the outside... would it change anything?

Another reason that English is neither pushed hard, nor pursuesd is because it is not "Thai," in a cultural sense, not just a lingual one.

The linguists on the board can improve this statement a great deal.

The grammar of a language is the sturcture that people use to perceive reality.

I do not belive that Thais actually want to perceive reality the same way as English speaking people do. Now, English speaking people do not want to perceive reality in the same way that Thais do, either.

The same goes for English and German speaking people versus French, Spanish and Italian speaking people.

Who wants everyone to be like themselves anyway?

They start training little boys @ the age of 4 to hate americans

######There was one news show with children of 10 or 12 and up who were learning to be warriors or terrorists or freedon fighters or whatever you choose to call them. I saw it as well. How many 4 year olds are really out there training? It is a sad fact that there are any, but how many are there really? As a general statement, it cannot be said that 4 year olds are training, because it is a minute percentage of the entire populace. Itis better to be generally right than precisely wrong. -Einstein

######And, on hating Americans, I can think of a lot of Europeans who do as well. They were able to learn it on their own.

and teach them how to be soldiers.

#####There are also military summer camps in the US for kids above the age of 13. These kids have been indoctrinated by their fathers from a very early age.

##### I have retired US military friends who were training 12 year olds to use weapons in Vietnam. It happens on both sides.

How can a 4 year old possibly know and understand enough to hate americans bad enough to want to become terrorist . It's simple brainwashing.

######Yes, it is brain-washing. And it occurs in a lot of countries. I remember friends of mine in high-school wanted to join the army right then and there if they would be allowed to go to Grenada and "kill communists." The fact that Grenada had a population of 60,000 and over 600 banks, with a poor standard of living for the majority did not make them wonder what was going on. The country was neither a democracy recognizeable by Thomas Jefferson nor was it a capitalistic country.

to say they were like you or me at one point is insane.

They may be like you but definately not like me.

######I have lived in Saudi 8 1/2 years, including during 9/11. Upon arriving to work on 9/12, my military students had smiles on their faces and in fact told me how happy they were and that Osama was such a good man. The next day, a general told them to conceal their glee as the military did not want to show the foreigners that the cadets were so happy with mass the murders.

#####The cadets are from the more impoverished areas of Saudi Arabia. I had a very wealthy private student on 9/11. At 4:15, when we were at his office, his father called down to us to come upstairs to see the WTC on fire. He was in shock and very disturbed about the people who were in the building. Then, the second plane hit. At that time, he realized that it was not an accidental fire. He understood it to be a terrorist attack. He, a Saudi, would never condone an action like that. In fact, I told my student, who was an adult, to call his broker and short the dollar immediately. His father told him not to, as he did not want to make mony off of other's misfortune. I am Jewish. A Jewish person would hae shorted the dollar and everything else American at that moment.

######There, you have a very rich and cosmopolitan Saudi with one view, and a lot of poor Saudis with another view. Now, not all poor Saudis share the same views, and neither do all rich ones. Spending time at the coffee shops late at night, one can get an idea of the general mood. Again, you get both sides, but those who are not strongly Islamic (strongly Islamic does not mean pro-terrorist, it means strongly Islamic), need to be a little mroe careful of what they speak. Why?... As Saudi Arabia has fanned the fires of fanaticism for many many years, and disagreeing with extremists makes the reasonable Saudi appear as a pro-American, anti-Islamic renegade.

to say they were like you or me at one point is insane.

They may be like you but definately not like me.

#######No, they are not the same as us. A Fox news clip had an "expert" saying that the typical Afghan man was the same as us(meaning Americans, I think), that he wanted the same for his children. That is not the truth. People are different, and when people are pushed to a certain point, there are no longer themselves, either. "Most" although certainly not all, of the people moving around the world as Allah's soldiers are from the poorer ranks of Islamic countries. Most of the people in the US military are from the poorer ranks of the US citizenry as well.

#######In Saudi, there is no form of organization in which people can gather. In fact, if 10 people form a group on the boardwalk at the beach in Jeddah, the police will come to see what they are doing and separate them. The only way that they can congregate is in the Mosques. The Saudi government forces this on them. If anyone believes that Islam is not forced on the citizens of Saudi Arabia, they need to live there for a while before making that decision.

######The "leader" of Saudi Arabia is still King Fahad, "Custodian of the two Holy Mosques," until he finally keels over. The purpose of this title is so that the populace takes his word as the word from the Koran or the word of Allah. Anyone who disagrees with his orders or rules is therefore unislamic. In fact, the penalty for attempting to change religions is death. I am unaware of anyone ever doing it. No form of any other religion is allowed in the country. NO books, papers, crosses, cassettes, etc.

###### The purpose of all this extraneous information is so that one can begin to understand what kind of lives governments like Saudi put their people through. They do this for a reason - control. The government of Saudi is responsible for more of this terrorism than anyone else. Don't blame to poor guy who could not find a job for joining the "jihad army" to go across the world and fight. The Saudi government has not built an education system or an economy for the populace, but teir money available for those who want to go towar overseas. Believe me, he would much rather be at home with his wife and kids - if married, but he needs to feed them as well. Being poor and not caring for one's family is undignified, but dying for a cause is. So, what do they do?