luk AJ

I think discrimination has to be re-defined, IMO not allowing a headscarf is not discriminating. Relegion should be separated from state, public and business. It belongs at home and in places of worship.

So Sihks have to remove their turbans, Jews their yamulkes, Christians their cricifixes (crucifices?), Hindus their tulsi bracelets and red dots.....?

excuse me, where I come from crucifixes sre banned from schools and state buildings!

We know nothing about Bob. We know nothing about that business. We know nothing about Bob's background. Hearsay and speculation. Why are posters so "concerned" about Bob's anticipated loss? Maybe, £15000 is peanuts for him.

This type of concern can be experienced in many ways. Just tell your buddies that you want to spend 4 million Baht on a decent middle class car from Mercedes, Audi or BMW. They might get concerned that you are wasting money. They might suggest to buy some Thai assembled Japanese pickup truck. They will explain why they made their own smart decisions and how much they saved. They just want to help.

In your own eyes, a 4m model could be a modest choice. In your home country and in your home circles nobody cares. In the expat community, a melting pot of all social classes, people get "concerned".

Leave this Bob alone! Mind your own business, if you've got one.

---------

maybe read the previous posts first before you comment, it was mentioned the 15k was an important psrt of his life savings. And yes I have my own business.

I think discrimination has to be re-defined, IMO not allowing a headscarf is not discriminating. Relegion should be separated from state, public and business. It belongs at home and in places of worship.

Did Gen. Prayut not subsidise the rubber prices recently? Did he not claim the rubber would be used for sport fields? How does this differenciate from the rice scheme?

If the government also makes up for lost revenue and friction in a team then I am all for those rules.

Small businesses in the Netherlands have a lot of problems when they hire a female and she gets pregnant. Yes its a human right.. but its an inconvenience for a business. Why should business owners need to take non sound business decisions.

I have hired a female.. and now she is pregnant ( i knew it could happen ) but its still not easy on the business. She is my brothers wife but I can see the problems stuff like this causes in small businesses. Seriously I am against discrimination.. but to force people to make unsound business decisions is unfair.

Seriously I am against discrimination.. but to force people to make unsound business decisions is unfair.

Seriously, I'm against requiring people to make unsound business decisions, but I am for business functioning within the parameters of the society, within the laws, consistently with the national culture and its norms and mores.

It is well and long established that Title VII and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that contains it are a constitutional law.

Yes business is about money but the laws are about society to include money. Government regulates the hours of the work day, minimum pay and age of work eligibility, laws pertaining to work safety, health, terms, conditions contracts, torts etc etc etc.

The CRA enforces the laws of employment and discrimination. Everyone has to honor and respect the laws. It is the right and necessary thing to do, which also means it is almost always good for the bottom line.

agree, from the moment somebody is employed you need to follow the labour law. But I decide who gets hired.

What a screwed world we live in...with all efforts, experience, creativity and own money you set up a business, try to make it profitable and you can't choose the people you want to work with to make this happen?

because you end up with a society that will not employ black people or women or gays, for example. Discrimination will occur if it is not regulated.

Do you propose that society may discriminate because of religion? What about gender? Race? Sexual orientation?

Obviously, and the law accommodates for this, some jobs require a person who is specifically NOT something or other, eg a woman's toilet attendant can not be a man, but in general, discrimination has to be discouraged with regulation.

by the way in Thailand all toilets attendants for male toilets are women! But hey try to go to Iran or any arab country and go for a job application with your Hawaian shirt and shorts and dont forget your cap. Think any chance of being hired? Why should I refuse a black person if he fits my job requirements? But if somebody does not want to work on Saturday and all the other colleagues need to than no law will force me to hire this person. That they go work for the government

One law for the microphone scam and another for the rice scheme

68 million vs. 700 billion baht. I can see a little difference.

This is a very strange logic...

There was alot of Vietnamese rice being sold in the markets that had been rebagged .... Product of Thailand.

The rich families in Bangkok were buying Viet rice for about 8,000 baht/tonne and cashing in here with the Gov for 15000 b/tonne.

The money will never be recovered because alot people involved in the rice scam are lawmakers.

I wonder if the rich and powerful would play this game... Gross profit 7000thb/ton minus transport costs, bribing customs etc.. Maybe results in 3000thb/ ton net. 20 ton per truck makes 60.000thb/truck. The rich and powerful will not move for less than 100 mill this is equal to 1.666 trucks..i dont see this happening...

Backpackers have made Thailand into a big holidaydestination. They told their family's back home about their stay and later the big herds came here.

Then Thailand was still cheap and honest. Now it's expensive and full of scams.

It's time Myanmar opens up their beaches in the Andaman sea, can't wait to go there.

absolutely, once Myanmar is ready it will be the top touristic destination in Asia. I hope I can move to Myanmar in a couple of years.

This is a great piece

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/

We're not talking about EXTREME islam we're talking about LITERAL islam

Just the same as evangelical christians ("american taliban") take the bible literally and want to teach creationism in school

And the zionists.

I can't wait for the day when the lot of them wake up to the fact that there isn't a god.

It's about time all countries were secular with insurmountable barriers between state and religion.

It makes me vomit when I here world leaders on any side invoke "god"

It is indeed a telling article, which is why the ideologues for progressive multiculturalism tried to shoot it down so quickly. P.S Zionists are not necessarily religious but that's another topic. As an atheist I would happily junk the lot, but I see Islam causes more suffering than the rest combined, the likes of Sam Harrris and Richard Dawkins are of that opinion too.

Yes, you are absolutely correct. Should have referred to ultra orthodox jews.

Richard Hawkins is a personal hero of mine. "he God Delusion" should be required reading for all.......

the problem is that atheists are not a force, it's a vacuum between different believes and as such there is no counter weight for any religion. Islam became stronger because Christianity became weaker.

Religion is the glue which agglomerates individuals to powerful masses. If it wouldn't be religion it would be other drivers. My point is we would always end up in the same situation because of our nature.

Same story, different perspective: Worth reading to compare and costrast.

http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/cityofbrass/2015/02/is-isis-islamic-wrong-question.html

Thanks for posting this. A little different to the messages being spewed by Fear Inc'...

'Overwhelmingly, Muslims around the world reject ISIS, they reject ISIS’ flavor of Islam, they choose the 21st century over the 7th, they choose the Prophet’s message of love and the Hadith and the schools of jurisprudence and centuries of wisdom and thought, over an illusion that we are somehow still a ragged and persecuted minority at the edge.'

Hopefully Muslims all over the world reject ISIS, but for me there is a big difference between the results of a "poll" compared to massive opposition by Muslims through the media or manifestations. Their silence is chilling.

It is clear there is no simple solution, it's unfortunately a problem to stay for a very long time. It is sad that the Western world allowed Islam and with it extremism to feed on their grounds and become as strong as they are today.

Just imagine what would happen if Taksin decided to come back. He won't because he has proven to be a coward. But if he did, how would a trial against two Shinawatra's be digested by the now hybernated reds?

To be honest, the places I visited in the past are not worth the entrance fee. (Not comparable to Yellow Stone)Again You missed the point, I am not discussing the price itself but the principle. The Royal palace is free for locals but 400Thb for non-Thai. What if tomorrow all toll ways follow the same principle and instead of 60thb they will charge you 600thb. Still agree?

I'm still not clear how "The dual pricing in Thailand is not comparable with reduced pricing for locals in other countries." Can you explain the differences?

Do you mean cars registered in foreign countries have to pay more?

While it's been 30 years since I visited Yellowstone, I don't remember it being all that. When was the last tme you were there?

So what is the principal anyway?

just answer my last Q re toll way. Thanks

To be honest, the places I visited in the past are not worth the entrance fee. (Not comparable to Yellow Stone)Again You missed the point, I am not discussing the price itself but the principle. The Royal palace is free for locals but 400Thb for non-Thai. What if tomorrow all toll ways follow the same principle and instead of 60thb they will charge you 600thb. Still agree?

The posters who complain the loudest on these double-pricing threads are the ones who travel the least. I wonder if they've ever been anywhere besides their home country and Thailand.

In the last few years I've traveled to the following countries and all had dual pricing:

China, India, Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Croatia, and the US.

I work, live, pay taxes in Thailand so your effort to list all these countries doesn't change anything for me...

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Why does no one ever complain that Westerners in Thailand generally earn more than Thai nationals for the same work?

Isn't that dual pricing?

That gives them something to strive for , cause they haven't got anything else.

yes, in most cases Farang earn more but for those who work here, they also pay more taxes no? For me it is not about paying 400thb entrance fee but about the principle and respect. So as long as this practice of unfair dual pricing is in place I will join the boycot and not visit any of these sites. The dual pricing in Thailand is not comparable with reduced pricing for locals in other countries. Does anybody know if the dual pricing in Thailand is only for "whites"? In other words, do tourists from Laos or Cambodia pay also the higher prices?

Davaun T Kurcz

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

“Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”

The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”

The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”

The second insisted, “Well I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.”

The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover if there is life, then why has no one has ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”

“Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.”

The first replied “Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now?”

The second said, “She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist.”

Said the first: “Well I don’t see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn’t exist.”

To which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and you really listen, you can perceive Her presence, and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.

Which kind of goes to show that if there really is anything after this, then it doesn't matter whether you believe or not - we will all end up in the same place afterwards anyway.

exactly, but it is interesting to look at the perception. All what we feel, see, hear is built up from within us. Simple example, a bat cannot see blue. So for him blue doesn't exist.

fortunately we are neither fetuses or bats. we are,well at least some of us are, slightly more developed. For instance there are portions of the spectrum on either end we cant perceive, but no one would insist they do not exist, we do not simply rely on our senses, , in fact we know or should know that our senses are unreliable. So we rely on reason

anything else is simply un-reasonable

we need reason but as you know the results of our reasoning still change constantly. Just look at the progress of quantum physics, it seems now that the same electron can be in two places at the same time. We absolutely have no answer on gravity. So yes in a way we are still bats.

Davaun T Kurcz

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.”

“Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?”

The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.”

The first replied, “That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded.”

The second insisted, “Well I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore.”

The first replied, “Nonsense. And moreover if there is life, then why has no one has ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes us nowhere.”

“Well, I don’t know,” said the second, “but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us.”

The first replied “Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now?”

The second said, “She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist.”

Said the first: “Well I don’t see Her, so it is only logical that She doesn’t exist.”

To which the second replied, “Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and you really listen, you can perceive Her presence, and you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.

Which kind of goes to show that if there really is anything after this, then it doesn't matter whether you believe or not - we will all end up in the same place afterwards anyway.

exactly, but it is interesting to look at the perception. All what we feel, see, hear is built up from within us. Simple example, a bat cannot see blue. So for him blue doesn't exist.

No need to argue, there is no God and there is no heaven. When my life ends and it turns out I was wrong I will consider this as a bonus.

I'll bet my left ball there will be another coup within 5 years of the next election..... If and when an election takes place!

A leopard doesn t change it spots and what else can the Thai military do that they actually have experience in!

I bet a lot of TV members will remind you in 5 years time! In the mean time I strongly advice you not to bet on the right one...

The dog is an extension of yourself, if they treat the dog bad, it's a sign they don't like you. So in the first place get out of the house! If your GF allows her parents to kick the dog, I would leave and never go back. We all know that in Thailand the family sees us as ATM's and why not help them if you have the financial means. However it is your money and your decision. If you have savings, never ever let them know. I understand your situation, many of us had similar experience so the only good advice is read the threads of so many TV members who want the best for you.

Does this confirm that the Russians are not coming?

No there is still Nordwind and Transaero which will benefit from this. Of course Aeroflot !!

right, I have gold card Thai which gives a lot of privileges which I now loose. Transaero?? Did you ever fly with this airline? This is retro with wings..