MW72

He said security forces are closely monitoring the group

Really? Why not just arrest them, or is just another announcement out the behind.

Too busy with the important stuff like cracking down on driving without a shirt.

Or advising people on not dressing provocatively during Songkran. I mean that's a really important issue that must be resolved. (Sarcasm Alert)

Never worn sandals. My Father did when I was young and he wore sock. How embarrasing but he's about the same age as Costas so it's probably a generational thing or they are both uncool. I'm sure the kids of today think I'm totally uncool.

Socks with my trainers (sneakers) and barefoot with flip flops.

I didn't post this to gain sympathy guys. I suppose it's just to warn anybody (because I didn't see it coming) that even a short time of usage of such a drug as ya ice is so addictive that it can make you forsake everything as my wife has done. I certainly hope it doesn't happen to anyone else here on TV. It's broken my heart.

Nonetheless, sorry for you, your daughter and even your wife. People who deal drugs and entice people into getting hooked are worse than murderers since the "death" they cause goes on and on and on.

Taking drugs is a lifestyle choice. Being murdered isn't. I'll spend the night partying with the dealer. You spend the night partying with the murderer. In the morning we can compare notes. That's right I forgot you'll be dead by the morning.

My sympathy goes out to the OP even though he doesn't seek it. Addiction is a terrible thing. Please don't blame yourself or anyone else. Your wife has a problem and needs help but no matter how much help she gets she has to want to give up. If she doesn't want to stop then there is nothing you can do. Devote your energies to your daughter and yourself. Maybe one day she will need help and the choice will be yours to make. If you choose to support her then be careful. There is no overnight cure to addiction. She will live with it for the rest of her life no matter how long she has been clean.

Dear Pheu-Thai supporters,

Please shut up and hang your heads in shame. It's your fault this mess needs bailing out to this degree. Farmers took loans to plant as many rice crops as possible thinking they would be in easy street with all the money from the government. Which ran out because it was a completely unsustainable policy.

Please google 'shame' and try to imagine what it is.

Yes there's lots of farang red supporters who cast their vote for the PTP in this forum isn't there.

I don't see very many Thai PTP supporters post here either

Google bullshit whilst your on a Google <deleted>!

It's all the fault of TVF farangs for the plight of the farmers then?

Google dilusional after you've looked up bullshit!!

Probably needs to Google "Personal Responsibility" while he's at it. The GF's older brother borrowed 100,000 THB and has never been able to pay it back. He borrowed it 26 years ago. I can't imagine any way anyone could pin the blame on PTP for that.

I would love the see Surin Pitsuwan and Korn Chatikavanij in charge of Thailand!!

Thank you JOC.

Both of them respectable men.

Korn Chatikavanij

http://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%93%E0%B9%8C_%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%93%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%8A

Surin Pitsuwan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surin_Pitsuwan

But both without any history of leadership capabilities.

May be in the future one of them will shine and get elected.

But for the moment there is no alternative, available.

From reading Surin's wiki page I'd say he had more leadership skills in his little finger than any of the clowns in charge just now. Being a general does not mean you have leadership skills. In the army people have to obey or else. Only in battle do leadership skills come to the fore. Not to mention the fact the generals have no clue about the real world.

This Surin bloke seems like an all round good bloke. Not easy to tell from a wiki page but he seems to have good real life skills, a good grasp of economics and he even seems to want to make a difference to the whole country including the poor.

Thailand really needs someone who can unite the country. Someone who is not in it for himself and someone who has a vision for the future. That would rule out the Monk, the Shins and the Generals but Surin seems to be a good alternative.

Comparing this with the wealth the Vatican and other churches possess in Europe and America, it's not such a big deal.

Also comparing the life style and habits of the clergy in other religions again there is no much difference here.

All wrong.....here and there, but nobody had the guts up to now, to put an end to this.

Pleasantly surprised to agree with you on this one. At least the first two sentences. Let's see how the third one works out.

This story reminds me of the catholic church in medieval times where indulgences (money) were given for the forgiveness of sins. And I thought Christians believed that only god could judge.

I spent a few hours transiting through Munich airport and that was enough time for me to say that German beer is the best. Sat outside in the beer garden drinking locally brewed unfiltered beer. Heaven

Never tried Belgian beers except for Stella so I'll have to try some time. Peroni Malto from Italy is quite nice. Nothing like standard Peroni.

As for warm flat English ale, the less said the better.

28,000 Farmers borrowed 4 Billion Baht, that is roughly 1,42,857.14/Head. I don't think any small farmers will borrow such a money.

Anyhow good for bringing happiness to the pockets!

I think you have got your comma's wrong??

It is about 140.000/farmer. Not a very astronomical amount!!

I think you got your decimal point in the wrong place. My calculator says 140 million per farmer.

I think it all depends on what the Thai translation is. In English speaking countries a billion is a thousand million (short scale) whereas in Europe and French and Spanish speaking countries a billion is a million million (long scale). The UK used to be the same as Europe but changed. SE Asia uses a different naming system so I couldn't say what billion they are talking about so one of you is right but which one? Imagine living in Canada where they use both systems. Confusing.

those who are unhappy are far more likely to shout about it than those who are happy. nothing strange there, it happens everywhere.

therefore OP dont be misled by the vocally unhappy minority.

i'm happy here, obviously not everything is perfect but then neither has everything been perfect in any country i've lived in.

I see your point and agree with it to an extent.

If a contractor does a bad job in your home you will tell everyone about it. When they do a good job it is expected and you are less likely to tell everyone.

Most will have good experiences every day of their lives but don't feel the need to share it with all on TVF. When they have a bad experience they will tell all. Even if the majority of a posters comments are negative it doesn't mean that the are miserable and hate life here. They may enjoy most things about Thailand but feel that TVF is a way to vent their frustration at the things they do not like.

A minority are trolls who will post something just to get a reaction whether they believe what they post or not. What makes their twisted minds work I will never understand.

Then there are those that are just having a laugh but due to cultural and language issues their humour dosen't translate and some think they are being serious or trolling.

I would say this isn't unique to TVF. Happens all over the internet world.

I have mixed feelings about this. What message does this send out? Get up to your eyeballs in debt but don't worry as someone else will pay for it. Then again farmers are providing the food we all eat and as is done in other countries there should be a subsidy to ensure that farmers can make a living. ( We all know what happened the last time there was a subsidy. Corruption messed that one up.) That's if you believe that food is a good thing for society.

Before we all jump on the band wagon and critisise, it is worth remembering the billions of debt our own governments are in from bailing out the greedy bankers who are still awarding themselves huge bonuses.

Given the choice I know which group I would chose to bail out. In the developed world it is capitalism for the poor and socialism for big business. The poor get their businesses and houses repossessed but big business gets a government bail out courtesy of the tax payer.

Yet another story highlighting that the man in charge is a couple of cans short of a six pack. Even Costas and DJJamie aren't defending him on this one but it's nice to see some people are still desperate enough to try and bring the previous regime into the debate.

The lunatic is in charge of the asylum.

If you are not selling them on then there should be no problem. There is an old dried out fish pond on some land my GF has. We intend to get some fish in there and build a little shack. Maybe plant some banana and mango trees. It is her land and it will be her fish so if they get over populated and she sells them on then no problems. Me, I'm gonna sit on the bank with my fishing rod and a few cold ones and enjoy the sunshine. No work involved.

Be sure that the pond will have water all year, and will be oxygenated in same way. I put 200 baby fish on my wife pond during rain season...

Now..all dead.

Funny you should mention that. The GF is insisting we dig a new pond as she says there is not enough water where the old one is located. I thought that didn't make sense as she would lose some good rice paddy where she wants to dig the new one. Looks like she is the clever one.

So the the pix of the F-16 and Hercules on the tarmac is pointing to the RTAF lending aircraft to civilian airlines to keep em in the air. If your lucky enough to score a seat (deck chair!) in a Herc due to lack of inflight service you will need to take a bottle of water with you and a bag of sandwiches. After your finished the water hang on to the bottle cos you will need to pee later and hang on to the sandwich bag.......just in case you need to vomit!

Nothing wrong with the toilets on a Herc. As long as you are male, only need to pee and don't mind an audience. You may need the sandwich bag for more than just vomit.

Mabye just the PM's star rising even higher.

Or even crashing back down to earth in a ball of fire.

If you are not selling them on then there should be no problem. There is an old dried out fish pond on some land my GF has. We intend to get some fish in there and build a little shack. Maybe plant some banana and mango trees. It is her land and it will be her fish so if they get over populated and she sells them on then no problems. Me, I'm gonna sit on the bank with my fishing rod and a few cold ones and enjoy the sunshine. No work involved.

So is the OP a troll or a lesbian? I'm guessing the former.

This was one of the things that took me by surprise when coming to Thailand and talking to Thai people, even educated ones. Almost every Thai believes in ghosts and some of them have tales of "personal encounters". Just accept it as part of their culture and get used to it.

Same as in some parts of Scotland in fact.

Same as in some parts of the World would be more accurate. Sadly the belief in superstitious nonesene is a worldwide phenomenom.

Why has military rule never worked, in no country?

One reason - obviously - is that usually the military is not concerned about the well being of the country, they only want to protect certain groups, and that can not last forever.

But there are military regimes that honestly mean well, they believe they are saving their country, for the benefit of all.

And yet they too mess up. Why?

Army commanders have a special way of thinking: "when an order is given, it will be executed", and if not, the people responsible for the non complying will be dealt with. Result: at the worst, a short delay (and some dead bodies).

But that is not how human society works.

f ex try to tell lottery sellers to.... euh.... and so on

Or tell business people and workers to put the interests of the country first.

Or even: Return to traditional values! That's an order!

OK, I admit that my examples are a little bit far fetched, I am exaggerating to make my point.

In Greece, Patakos was a fine example of this. He actually went to Athens university to confront the rebellious students, convinced as he was, that he could explain.... And then there was The Genius of The Karpat Mountains, who was laughed away while delivering a speech, holding his scepter, the look on his face was priceless.... Or The Shah, in his interview with Frost, with the same "how-can-they-do-this-to-me" face. The last 2 were not generals, but same style of thinking.

I hate politicians. All of them, the lot. But the military is not an improvement.

If we start thinking from there, maybe we will get somewhere.

In a few hundred years perhaps?

Your comment on Army commanders is spot on. I have worked on a few maintenance contracts on UK military bases over the years and the incompetence of the military is staggering. If the public were aware of the waste of their taxes they would be horrified. Almost every military procurement contract is way over budget and late. Most of these guys wouldn't last in civilian life as they would be sacked, but in the military they get promoted.

I am talking about the ranking officers who actually run things. I believe Lions led by Donkeys was a phrase once coined to describe it.

Oh the irony. I had a wee chuckle to myself when I read this. And before anyone fires back at me, let me stress that I don't find what happened on the death railway funny in any way. My grandfather was a Japanese POW.

I just think that some people are getting a bit worked up about nothing. If it hadn't escaped your notice we have been at peace and doing business with the former axis powers for 70 years now. There is however an issue with the Japanese' inability to face up to their past and admit their wrongdoing unlike the Germans.

This 500b pay to vote really makes me laugh. In the UK, Labour literally pays over 1 MILLION baht to individuals to secure their vote!!

Agreed. The complaints about the buying of votes in this country are so hypocritical. Most political parties worldwide "buy" votes. Not necessarily by offering hard cash but all of those election promises are the sweetners to secure votes. Unemployed and want more benefits? We'll increase unemployment benefit. Run a small business? We'll cut red tape and give you a tax cut. You get the idea.

Sadly most western democracies are corrupted by big business and the voters are apethetic. People vote on personalities and the type of sweetners on offer and don't really think of, or are ignorant of the big picture.

If a political party were honest enough to say that the country was in debt and they proposed raising income tax and corporate tax to pay the debt, do you think they would get voted in?

When I read the headline I thought it was a bit of good news. You don't need marshall law to stop thugs with assualt rifles and grenades or corrupt politicians. I am sure Thailand has laws against this. The laws just need to be enforced which was the problem to start with. Then I read the bit about "absolute power" and I put my head in my hands. This could be the the start of what many of us feared and what we are not allowed to call this regime. I'll give you a clue. It starts with D and it is not Democracy.

Richardtator

Yes, the Richardhead wants to be a Richardtator

When I read the headline I thought it was a bit of good news. You don't need marshall law to stop thugs with assualt rifles and grenades or corrupt politicians. I am sure Thailand has laws against this. The laws just need to be enforced which was the problem to start with. Then I read the bit about "absolute power" and I put my head in my hands. This could be the the start of what many of us feared and what we are not allowed to call this regime. I'll give you a clue. It starts with D and it is not Democracy.

In the West our societies are run by criminal banking cartels & their Central banks, they buy governments and are above the law. Conveniently they also own indirectly the media so you certainly never hear about it, most of the corruption is at the very top. Most people are completely oblivious to the big picture as they indulge in the provided bread & circuses.

In Thailand the corruption is more obvious as top to bottom scramble for their share of the pie.

In Thailand politicians pay voters directly for votes, in the West the wealthy finance advertising campaigns for their stooges for the same outcome. At least here they know they've been bought, in the West the welfare handouts are the same thing but people don't even know they've been bought.

In Thailand the wealthy are above the law, the West is the same but the population seems largely unaware as the odd nobody is thrown to the sharks.

Thailand is just human nature on display in its raw form without the media manipulation pretending it is otherwise. Average people just adapt to the rules of the system in play.

This is exactly the point. I explain to my Thai friends that the US, for example, probably has more corruption than Thailand, but it's not at the street level, so to speak. The cop who stops you for speeding is probably not looking for a bribe and it would be very dangerous to offer him one. Nevertheless, the political system is driven by corruption on a vast scale. Here's just one example. Before Dick Cheney ran for Vice President with Bush in 2000, he was the president of Halliburton, a major supplier of oilfield services to the oil industry. During his tenure running Halliburton the company bought another company, a rival in the same oilfield services business called "Dresser Industries." The combined companies would become the largest provider of services to the oil industry in the world. After acquiring Dresser Cheney plundered the pension plan of a Dresser unit called Dresser-Rand resulting in loss of pension benefits to workers originally covered under the plan amounting to $25 million. When Cheney left his job at Halliburton to become VP of the US the Halliburton board in gratitude voted to award him an early retirement pension, for which he had not qualified, that was worth $37 million.

But that's just the warmup to the corruption story. In an economy the size of the US, sums like $37 million are not so important even if the corrupt acts are outrageous. As Vice President Cheney pushed for and got the illegal war in Iraq based on fraudulent claims about Iraq's military capabilities and intentions. During the ten years beginning in 2003, the single company that received the most US government contracts in Iraq was Kellog, Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton until it was sold off in 2007. The total value of the contracts was $39 billion, some of which were awarded without competitive bidding.

Total cost estimates of the Iraq war range from $1 Trillion to $3 Trillion. The estimated value of the annual oil production in Iraq before Cheney's war began was $15 billion per year.

That's how corruption works in the US. The average voter can't comprehend that ruinous wars that end in military failure come about to enable war-profiteering of companies and their stooges.

Don't forget the massive corruption with foreign aid.

Poor countries are given huge loans they cannot afford for infrastructure the poor do not need. The elite of the country take their cut, the western companies carry out the work at huge profit, the rich landowners who own the land the development is built on get their cut and the banks get their profits in the interest on the loan.

What do the poor get? They pay for the loan through their taxes. They get a new road that they can't use as the can't afford a car. They get electricity but the can't afford electrical appliances or the electricity bill. These people can barely afford food or health care and we pretend these aid project are for their benifit.

Here is the hypocricy. I read an article the other day (I can't remember where off the top of my head) about Chinese companies winning contracts in the US. There is uproar because the Chinese will use Chinese workers on the contracts and not Americans. How hypocritical is that? I am not singling out the US. It would be the same if this happened in Britain or France etc.