halloween

If prints or DNA traces are found, I wonder if he'll offer the obvious alternative as to why she was in the back seat of his car? Perhaps not.

2 hours ago, Eric Loh said:

So who burn down the buildings. The courts seem to have a habit of acquitting the red shirts that they charged. The airport occupation perpetrators were more obvious and damages in terms of financial and image were measurable. And those 80+ civilian and foreigner deaths must be their responsibility for running into the high velocity bullets of the military and snipers.

So because the courts can't identify the culprits you would have us believe buildings spontaneously combusted? That despite speech after speech that the redshirts would burn BKK if they didn't get what they wanted, they actually had nothing to do with the flames that followed their dispersal?

Actually it's just the sort of BS I would expect from someone who claims the black shirts were anything but an armed group within the red camp.

17 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

Thai's call a Silver car "Bronze", why ,Thai logic.

regards Worgeordie

Perhaps because the Thai word for silver also means money.

17 hours ago, Dave67 said:

Meanwhile, the Junta are out buying submarines, attack Helicopters, armoured personnel carriers and borrowing billions from China for an unnecessary High speed railway network. Sickens me 

Waiting for your post in world news thread re the US $700 billion dollar INCREASE in military spending.

2 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

A criminal trial to start (perhaps) in March. It is truly amazing that a trial of Yingluck could be all but completed, assets seized, bans put in to place, etc. so quickly...

 

...but a major terrorist incident of capturing an international airport is still under investigation, nine years on.

 

That is amazing, but even more amazing still is that people come here and claim that there is justice in the Thai legal system.

 

One law for 'Yellows', and another for 'Reds'. Over and over again...

 

What's even more amazing is they are all still here. They waited to hear their verdict and are now making arrangements to pay their debt.

BTW a new court with no backlog has been instituted for political office holders, and it is doing a great job.

BTW2 terrorism? Perhaps you should look at the news reports from that time. The closest thing to terrorism was the attacks on the protesters.

Poonyawat, you are a cooked goose. Just hope you don't get to share a cell with Natcha.

Just now, jacko45k said:

Straw clutching of infected straws?

No, just pointing out that you have presented no proof that the 17% you quoted have been infected during heterosexual intercourse. Nearly all "hetero" men who have denied homosexual contact have admitted they lied before death.

10 hours ago, kaorop said:

and you cant grasp that any of those who have or are in power are the same, but please continue to single out just 1 of those types, it is quite funny to see just how one eyed you can be...

There are many documented instances of elected politicians, especially of the shin variety, abusing their position for personal benefit, which I refuse to ignore. If you want to claim anybody else is equally bad, put up some examples and I will join you in condemnation. Without that, your claims of one-eyed bias are rather funny from someone with both shut.

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Optimistic I believe.

You do not include bisexual men?

Nevertheless that group, (gay and bisexual men)  in the last statistics I read, did account for 83% of male HIV cases, but what of the other  17%?

The risk is substantially less, but far from zero.

 

Have you forgotten intravenous drug use which would be most of that 17%. Then there is that small portion attributed to accidental transmission from exposure to contaminated blood, as in needle stick, bites,etc.

Here's the deal. We give you B2 million, you give us back B1.3 million and keep B200,000 for yourself. The locals will be impressed with half a mill in repairs, and you get family members or the contractor who offers the best kickback to do the work. In return we won't ask about how much you get from donations, car parking, rents from vendors or any other scam you've got going.

8 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Chechnya is part of Russia. Analagous to a state or province.

Thank you, I was aware of that. Also that they are not a part of Russia by choice of the residents.

The point of my post was questioning who is more to blame for the deaths and injuries, those who botched a rescue operation, or the terrorists who took young children and teachers hostage and threatened to kill them unless their demand were met.

A pity Chechnya is not a member, then the european council could have apportioned blame for the deaths and injuries of an attempt to free hostages from terrorists.

5 hours ago, yellowboat said:

Does that mean we are in agreement ?  You find the courts less than competent and lacking in altruism ?

 

I see Thailand as a direct democracy, a bit better than mob rule, which may evolve into something more representative if nurtured.   From you comments, your expectations are fairly high.  You really do not feel Thailand needs a military law and could evolve into something better over time ?  Things you mentioned about Thailand are some of things we use to say about Taiwan 30 years ago.  Taiwan evolved.   

 

Most luxury cars, even pink ones, incur a 300% tax.  That might be a law, but it is not a just one. 

 

From a business person's view point, the junta and its mentality is hampering Thailand's development in favor of the entitled and government inc.   Not uncommon to get a sales pitch for visas when passing through immigration.  A bit of a turn off. 

 

Not sure why you would be happy to see Thailand fall behind China over a pink Bentley and a poorly devised rice scheme.  

"That might be a law, but it is not a just one. "  That statement alone shows you didn't understand what I was saying. It is not a matter whether a tax on the wealthy is just or not, it's the fact that the DPM feels that it should not apply to him, and doesn't care a hoot that everybody knows it. The same applies to most politicians and most laws - they feel they can pass laws to increase their wealth, or commit fraud on the state bank, or allow their supporters to murder protesters, because the police are either family illegally promoted, or simply in their pocket. Anything that attitude evolves into will not be democracy.

10 hours ago, yellowboat said:

So If one is to buy all that historical fact as fact,  the army stepping in 20 odd times, since 1932, was just divine intervention and not a coup.  Why does the army have do that?  Why not somebody like a judge take control until another election gets called?    Otherwise, it just looks like a coup to those unfamiliar with the Thai definition of the word. 

You don't have to "buy" it, it is easily researched, but the truth doesn't sit well with some factions. I am only familiar with the coups of the last 20 years, and I cheered both of them. This country seems ill-prepared for democracy, there is no tradition of public service, altruism or even shame at publicly committing crimes, ineptitude, or negligence. Have you ever heard of a Thai politician recusing himself from a vote because of a conflict of interest? Which is more likely, recusal or proposing a law to directly benefit himself, family and other government officers?

Have you ever heard of a Thai politician resigning over corruption claims, or even self-suspension until they are heard? Which is more likely, resignation or appointing a relative or crony to a high police position to avoid prosecution?

Even worse, there is a large section of the population who don't even see this as a problem. You don't even have to tie a real carrot to the stick, you can lie about an imaginary carrot, and they will trot off to the polling booth, happy to vote for someone they know lies, cheats and steals. After all, in 6 months they'll all be rich, there will be huge pay rises for everyone, and rice will be a valuable commodity.

BTW a judge? Would you like to review your earlier posts on the Thai legal system and an unelected PM.

Edit to add: If you think there is nothing wrong with Thai democracy why did our last government have as PM a political novice running things for a fugitive criminal, one DPM a drunken fool flaunting a pink Bentley without paying import duty, and another DPM deeply involved in a well known illegal land deal to benefit the criminal pulling the strings?

Her scholarship debt amounts to B24 million. Hard to understand how this could be value for money.

2 hours ago, yellowboat said:

They weren't

Most of the world doesn't buy the sterile, Thai version of events anyway.  The truth is the Army loves being in charge so they have coups all the time.  That is why most do not pay much attention to that caretaker garbage.  The army usurped power from an elected government.  That is what is called a coup.   

 

The Chinese people now enjoy more opportunities and freedoms than Thais, so please continue to tell us why martial law is such a great thing in Thailand. 

"the sterile, Thai version of events" is otherwise known as historical fact, often twisted unrecognisably for propaganda purposes. It is an inconvenient fact that the "most popular man in Thai politics" after his re-election in 2004 was forced to call a snap election 14 months later because of public outrage and unrest concerning his corruption, and the results of that uncontested election caused him to resign 2 days later.

Far better to claim he was ousted by a coup, even if it was 5 months later. Failing that, claim an elected government had been overthrown, even though the last election had been declared void by the CC and undemocratic by the head of state.

1 hour ago, cooked said:

If you want to suppress alcohol and tobacco misuse, double or triple prices. 

Can't do that, revenue would be lost. I saw this happening in Europe for years, prices were raised just a bit every year, under the pretext of health concerns. People carried on as usual after a week or two. 

 

 

The percentage of people who smoke cigarettes daily has been steadily dropping for decades in those countries that have introduced increasing taxation.

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/tables/trends/cig_smoking/index.htm

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

5 minutes ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

...And if a fair election were held today, he would win.

 

I know it, you know it, all the Thai people know it, big P knows it, Abihisit knows it.

 

All of Thailand knows it. All of it.

 

You present a very persuasive argument why Thailand is not ready for democracy, when a known criminal who blatantly fills the position to benefit himself is the most likely candidate to succeed in an election.

Correction - While on a flight to the UN General Assembly where he intended to present himself as the PM of Thailand, he was reminded, that having resigned, he longer held that position.

1 hour ago, zyphodb said:

No, it'll be the few who make all the money constructing the dams, is cheap hydro energy worth the starvation of the millions who rely on the fish in the Mekong?

 Why not go solar? there's plenty of sun after all.....

They've built quite a few dams on the Mekong, how many millions have starved so far?

The capture of rain is solar power, part of the evaporation/rain cycle. The big difference is hydro is available 24/365 rather than 6hrs/day, without expensive batteries. More importantly, hydro power has the best return on energy investment (energy In energy Out ratio).

10 hours ago, zyphodb said:

His last sentence says it all...

“However, I think that the best solution is to refrain from constructing the harmful projects in the first place, or we are sacrificing the food security and rich biodiversity of the region to projects that benefit only a few.”

 

Of course as money trumps everything else they will be built and the fish will be lost.....

 

   

Would that be 'the few' who use cheap, non-fossil electricity?

Under new Oz legislation, even legal long term residents can have their visa cancelled if convicted of an offence carrying a 12 month jail term, and that includes driving offences. People with over 40 years residence are being given their marching orders.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-24/convicted-criminals-have-visas-cancelled/6254120

Talked to Mum toaday, OAP has increased $5.70, supplement $0.40

https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/government/pension/age-pension-increases--20-september-2017