halloween

11 minutes ago, edwarda909 said:

So in Thailand you can be indicted for mismanagement, which is just another term for incompetence. And who sets the bar at what the minimum level of competency is. This seems like this determination could be very subjective and thus political. Doesn't it bother the Thais that they can appear so transparent in their attempts to hang their opponents?

In this case the charge is not negligence/incompetence, it is corruption.

" Former prime minister Ms Yingluck Shinawatra today petitioned the chairman of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) voicing her strong opposition to the appointment of Ms Supha Piyajitti to head inquiry of the mismanagement of flood prevention funds which she was indicted of malfeasance and corruption. "  http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/yingluck-opposes-supha-head-inquiry-mismanagement-major-flooding-2014/

Can anybody explain why a winch is needed on a city fire-truck?

2 hours ago, kotsak said:

 

The blurs are from the fountains' water hitting the pool  Two from the elephants, and one from the jacuzzi pool on the top right..

The baldy at the peak of the A is clearly pixilated.

11 minutes ago, Alive said:

It would be nice to have a mother around when you are in your 20s and 30s. Maybe she'll make it to be there for her. I have no problem with abortion just the same and I recommend it to all who want control over their futures. The world is awash with poor teens having kids they can't afford who will have kids that will do the same. Slaughtering (Killing dead if you like) all those fetuses would give those poor teens who got pregnant a chance to grow and be better parents. Anyways, back  this woman. I hope that she is wealthy and can give this kid a secure future. Financial security is one thing that makes a difference. If the old die and their kid has a good life, good education etc, that's much better than having and old parent die and leave you in a life of worries. Ultimately, people will do what they do. I hope their kids don't suffer from their decisions.

So which is better, not having parents in your 20's or not being born?

7 hours ago, Scotwight said:

Where did they poop?

In the mid 1970's I lived in a small mining village called Catherine Hill Bay. All the original cottages (built by the mine) were 4 rooms with a straight through hallway, no bathroom. Outside toilets were long drops, no plumbing involved. After the day shift, wives and children used the mine's bathroom facilities.

After the mine closed, they were left with no job and unsellable homes without bathrooms or plumbed toilets.

BTW haven't been back for many years, but now probably prime real estate on a narrow strip between ocean and lake Macquarie, with a 4 lane h'way to Newcastle or Sydney.

1 hour ago, kotsak said:

Seems they are short of one member to form a complete letter "T".

I think he/she may have been blurred out. There are 2, perhaps 3 blurrings in the photo.

Make that large blur outs, lots of others where the fig leaves normally go.

5 minutes ago, sharecropper said:

 

Surely that's irrelevant to Yingluck? Otherwise she'd be charged in a criminal conspiracy case.

 

Sounds like you have evidence to present about Thaksin's culpability, however, so good luck with that.

" The company monopolised the government's rice stockpile from 2003 to 2005, distributing rice to traders through a variety of methods including bidding, ex-warehouse sales and the secret release of stockpiles to specific exporters.

Political backing allowed President Agri Trading to grow rapidly during the time that Thaksin Shinawatra was prime minister. Apichart, a former executive of President Agri and the real top manager of both President Agri Trading and Siam Indiga, has close relations with Thaksin.

Under commerce minister Wattana Muangsook in 2004, the company won the biggest lot in the rice-stockpile auction, 1.7 million tonnes. Its total winning bids with the Commerce Ministry that year amounted to 2.3 million tonnes. "

" On January 12, 2010, the company filed for bankruptcy, as it owed a combined debt of Bt12 billion to nine commercial banks, both Thai and foreign, including Bangkok Bank, Krung Thai Bank, and TMB Bank.
President Agri was also sued by the Public Warehouse Organisation for Bt6 billion in compensation for defaulting on bidding orders in past years. "

" After President Agri Trading ran into trouble, Siam Indiga, which had close ties to the bankrupt firm's principals, was set up and has participated in many of the ministry's rice auctions. "

" Siam Indiga also won part of the government stockpile under the silent-releasing method with total volume of 300,000 tonnes. The rice was set for export under a government-to-government deal to Indonesia only. The bid was Bt11-12 per kilogram compared with the government cost of Bt21-Bt23 per kilo while the market price was Bt15. With this lot alone, the government lost Bt3.3 billion. However, Siam Indiga enjoyed a profit of Bt900 million. "

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Former-head-of-troubled-Agri-Trading-stands-to-gai-30192330.html

" Jun 25, 2014 - The trader is widely believed to be the head of Siam Indica, a rice trading company at the address previously used by President Agri. "

http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL4N0P60X720140625

43 minutes ago, sharecropper said:

This is a totally different kind of wrongdoing to Yingluck's. Hers was at best a Political and Administrative malfeasance and her assets should not be sequestered. An analogy in the real world would be Tony Blair's or GW Bush's assets being sequestered for their disastrous and culpable decision to invade Iraq, which cost both countries billions of $.

 

For the criminally fake rice deal, where an outrageous (but typical) high level criminal conspiracy has gone on, then of course, sequester the assets of the guilty.

Staying away from the Siam Indica thread must have helped you maintain your view. Otherwise you would know that that the profits reaped from this little scam were via the same criminals her brother used.

1 hour ago, chiang mai said:

 

The average figures at the bottom of the spreadsheet are clearly distorted by the larger reservoirs, for example:

 

Bhumibol, a large reservoir, has a max. capacity of 13.462 MCM (100%), currently it contains 5,374 MCM (40%), of which only 1,574 MCM (12%) is usable.

Mae Ngud, a small reservoir, has a max. capacity of 265 MCM (100%) currently it contains 122 MCM (46%), of which only 110 MCM (42%) is usable.

 

The difference between 28% unusable in the larger dam and 4% unusable in the smaller dam suggests Bhumibol is more flat whereas Ngud is V shaped, adding those numbers to get an average is pointless and very misleading.

It takes longer to refill a big dam than a smaller dam, and you see that as a distortion? When the big dam empties slower, will that also be a distortion?

The usable figure gives a more accurate value for the water available.

5 minutes ago, PTC said:

 

Since you like Wikipedia:

 

The Black War was the period of violent conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832. The conflict, fought largely as a guerrilla war by both sides, claimed the lives of more than 200 European colonists and between 600 and 900 Aboriginal people, all but annihilating the island's indigenous population. The near-destruction of the Aboriginal Tasmanians, and the frequent incidence of mass killings, has sparked debate among historians over whether the Black War should be defined as an act of genocide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_War

 

I find your attempt to rationalize genocide grotesque. As are your lame attempts at humor.

" Before British colonisation in 1803, there were an estimated 3,000–15,000 Palawa ....."

Some were killed in the fighting. Most were killed by disease. That does not equate to slaughter, and "all but" does not equate to a disappearing race.

1 hour ago, PTC said:

 

From your own link:

 

"[using the] UN definition, sufficient evidence exists to designate the Tasmanian catastrophe genocide."

 

The footnote reference to this statement on Wikipedia:

 

Madley, Benjamin (2008). "From Terror to Genocide: Britain's Tasmanian Penal Colony and Australia's History Wars". Journal of British Studies

 

I have been to Tasmania many times. My best mate has a mooring there for his yacht and I look forward to sailing there on my now rare visits to Australia. I cannot see how your assumption that I have never been to Tasmania or that the State has rugged countryside has anything to do with the extermination of the indigenous people.

 

I am very pleased to know that so many people identify as indigenous Tasmanians. I hope that they continue to maintain their indigenous heritage. However, this in no way excuses the actions of the invaders in their genocide of the indigenous population. I made no claim about your urban myth. Those are your words. If you did not intend to address the issue contained in my post, why reply? You could have done this as a stand alone post unless you believe that your reference somehow mitigates the actions of the 19thC English occupiers.

Reading the link you may have found that the majority of deaths were from disease, not unusual when an isolated community comes into contact with a much more widely travelled group.  Which makes your claim of slaughter about as ridiculous as that the local aboriginals had disappeared like the dodo.

With the high ration of aboriginals in the population, it's strange you didn't manage to see any from your yacht.

29 minutes ago, PTC said:

 

Gross over-generalizations based on a typically English notion of race and class.

 

I wonder if the indigenous population of Tasmania would be proud of taking a crap in their flushing loos made possible by the superior 'water management' skills of the Colonial Masters. Unfortunately we will never know. The indigenous population of that island were slaughtered by the English in the space of 80 years since the invasion of their territory.

 

"In that strange, sorry island so far away, the antipode of the antipodes, it was said that a race of indigenous people had, within 80 years of the English invasion, disappeared from the face of the earth as surely as the dodo. Glosses on their fate varied, but no doubt was had as to the fate itself. With the death of Trugannini in 1876, the last of the Tasmanians was gone."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/14/australia.features11

 

You can place your city planners and road and water engineers, who were primarily Scottish, and shove them in the same place you keep your awful and disgusting observations about the differences between 'equatorial people' and their brawniness and lack of brain power and the 'English'.

 

Perhaps you can tell us what the Commonwealth 'stands' for. Nobody else can.

'it was said' like so much other tripe. You've never been to Tasmania have you? Over 68,000sq km of some of the roughest country anywhere, but urban myth has it that the white settlers formed a line and cleared it of natives.

"The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Tasmanian: Palawa) are the indigenous people of the Australian state of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. In the 20th century the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were erroneously thought of as being an extinct cultural and ethnic group[1] but, today, almost 26 000 people identify as Palawa. This makes Tasmania the state with the second biggest proportion of indigenous to non-indigenous people in Australia."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Tasmanians

On 19/09/2016 at 7:12 PM, CGW said:

So the "state" owes the "state" why don't they just write it off?

The "state" is not holding B400 billion in bonds, and the BAAC  requires its operating capital to fulfill its purpose.

2 hours ago, jesimps said:

Can't recall ever seeing a post from you without "But but Thaksin.." in it. Indeed, that goes for most fanboys. So you're saying that if Thaksin did something wrong then it's ok for the junta to follow suite? Thought you'd have learned at school that two wrongs don't make a right. Also, thought that investigating corruption was the junta's main ticket to power?

 

Actually, what I was saying was that there is very little wrong with a minister's wife opening a public works, and even having it named after her for that matter, as long as she was acting in a voluntary capacity. That despite the far-fetched claim that people might think she or her family had financed the scheme.

And yes, it did recall another slimy lie from the great benefactor of the Thai people.

4 hours ago, aussieinthailand said:

"but everywhere in the democratic world"    Not in my home country rob, which is considered a democratic country.

 Usually an official stay's in place until the overwhelming public calling for the official to voluntarily step down or aside or then removed until investigations are complete. 

Do you believe this bloke's comment that the soldiers' military no matter in which era are neutral and will not interfere? 

If yes then why has the junta not removed the PM's brother regarding his alleged military budget and a certain bank account???  You do recall the PM's response to reporters regarding this question?   Was that neutral?   Was that not interfering?

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/dec/29/mal-brough-steps-aside-as-minister-while-police-investigate-slipper-affair 

http://finsia.com/news/news-article/2014/11/20/anz-stands-down-seven-staff-pending-investigation

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-29/mal-brough-and-jamie-briggs-stand-down-from-frontbench/7058266

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/asada-investigation-into-australian-cycling-still-pending/

http://www.nickxenophon.com.au/media/releases/show/qantas-chairman-must-step-aside-pending-investigations

34 minutes ago, CGW said:

We see this a lot in the mainstream media, USA national debt, money owed from "pledges etc, who exactly is this money owed to- anybody? If its the "banks" they seem to be doing rather well out of it

The bank in this case is BAAC, a state owned bank  which issued Finance backed bonds for B400 billion and directly paid out B110 billion on government instruction.

5 hours ago, SOUTHERNSTAR said:

After your darling AV in 2011 decided not to let water out and ended up flooding Bangkok. The problem is a total lack of a water management plan controlled by one institution. At present there are more than 20 departments involved in water management and thats the problem. The present junta decided to use the B 350 bn that was ear marked for this plan to drill boreholes, wise arent they ?

While I am against the extended use of groundwater, I can see that a critical problem can require a short term solution.

When your up to your butt in alligators, it's hard to remember that you're here to drain the swamp. 

4 hours ago, chiang mai said:

The useable versus capacity numbers are distorted by the two larger dams, compare those numbers at Mae Ngud and Bhumibol as an example.

I don't see any distortion, the usable figures are what is actually available without the distortion of unusable capacity. And I don't see 2014 as being that good a year either, levels in the bigger dams never approaching the old target levels or even Yingluk's lower control targets.

Hopefully any assets seized will go directly to reducing the accrued debt from her scam. Post article say 16 years to pay off, current annual payment B39 billion plus B20 billion interest.

13 minutes ago, ratcatcher said:

Judging by the emoticons, he thinks it's hilarious. Even though we may have another 6 weeks of rainy season left, management of the stored water needs to be done with great care. I'm not sure which northern nation is entirely flooded, but certain areas of the north and northeast of Thailand have been hit by localized floods. Happens every year. Thousands of rai in Phichit province are under water due to controlled water storage under the "cheeky monkey " system.

Don't worry, those shallow ponds will evaporate rapidly after the rains stop.

7 minutes ago, baboon said:

Well, it is news because the wife of a public figure may be giving the misleading impression that the dike / water containers come from her / her families' munificence when in fact they were paid for from the public purse. The wife not even being a defence ministry official. Now I don't know whether or not this is the case, but I would certainly call it newsworthy as must you, seeing as you replied to it....

Gullible lot in the north, aren't they, or just prone to misconception when someone opens a public work?

Now if they had got a flood assistance package labelled  ‘with love and care from Thaksin Shinawatra’,  their confusion might be understandable

19 minutes ago, Chris Lawrence said:

So halloween your nose not smelling the BS. The press release doesn't sound like a tool to legitimise the actions of a few? Granted the 237 are involved with forms of corruption, they still remain unfriendly with the new Government, which is a crime in itself? That being the case it is political.

How many people are "friendly" towards their prosecutors? Perhaps what you are saying is that they were more friendly towards those who chose to ignore their corruption, so it must be political.

Oooh, you said THAT word. One week suspension coming up?

2 minutes ago, Chris Lawrence said:

But what about the new list of corrupt officials? 237 officials having been suspended or removed from their posts ahead of investigations and possible punishment. This is not political?

So there's no chance that they are actually corrupt? And they were removed " ahead of investigations" with no prima facie case to answer?

40 minutes ago, chiang mai said:

Nationally the reservoirs are at 57% of capacity (overall average) and the levels are fast approaching those of 2014 which was a very good year for rain. The details are here:

 

http://www.thaiwater.net/DATA/REPORT/php/rid_dam_1.php?lang=en

When you read the table, try moving 2 columns to the right to the Usable level. At 23% it doesn't look that rosy.

Then if you click on the blue dam name, (Bhumipol is a prime example) you can see how truly miserable the situation  has been since PTP's darling decided to dump the dam levels in 2012.