halloween

1 minute ago, David Walden said:

If you are living in Thailand and receive the single rate of aged pension presently $888.30 p/f after 6 weeks reduces to about $835.p/f.  What ever you do don't get married or your pension will be reduced by about $210p/f to about $610p/f as you will only receive half he married rate ofabout $1320p/f  ($610 p/f).  The Thai wife will get nothing.  Of course there is nothing wrong in having a Thai lady carer live in with you.  Just don't  get married.  If you do it it will cost you about Aus $220 p/f.

David, you are replying to posts from NINE years ago. While what you are posting is correct, I doubt those posters will be interested.

25 minutes ago, tryasimight said:

It will be interesting to hold a similar survey in 20 years when the Chinese who are US citizens by birth (after living in US for one month after they were born while Mum was on a tourist visa and then return to China) decide to return and the bring over their aging family members.

They were born there but never actually spent any significant amount of time there - are they really US citizens?

 

Apparently this go-to-the-US-and-have-a-baby thing is very popular.

In oz the rule is a child born there has citizenship rights of its parents. Illegals rush to have a child expecting the same as treatment as US, but no luck. Next trick is claiming life in internment camps is too harsh for children, so they want them fostered out. Guess what's next, poor little darlings know nothing of home country, how can you send them home?

A drug baron using a public defender, what's the world coming to? Surely there's a lawyer out there somewhere who would take his case for a couple of kilos.

If as many young black males were killed by police as by young black males, there would real reason for outcry. From 15 - 25, 50% of the deaths of black males is homicide, and guess who is killing them? 

https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/lcod/men/2011/LCODBlackmales2011.pdf

If you were a police officer that deal with someone from this group, would you have your hand on your gun?

BTW 15% of YBM deaths under the age of 5 is homicide - bloody charming.

Great mug shot, just a pity the photographer didn't include the numbers on the scale.

What do loopholes in the law do except encourage more law breaking?

1 hour ago, Gregster said:

I also transfer money from my Oz bank (westpac) to my Thai bank account.

Just to clarify...my questions are:

1/ does one have to declare all assets to Centrelink when applying for the OAP?

2/ If yes to #1 does one have to declare the balance of any overseas bank accounts?

3/ if yes to #2, does one run the risk of having his OAP denied if Centrelink search and find undeclared money in an overseas bank account?


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

I'm using the KISS principle and not opening an account here, at least not before OAP is granted. CL will deposit into an o/s account, but you have to declare yourself a non-resident. My OAP will be deposited into a credit union which doesn't charge for offshore withdrawals, and Bangkok Bank will let me pull out B50,000 from my VISA debit card (over the counter with passport) without fees. Current exchange rate was B25.4 which is acceptable.

Doing that and maintaining address, phone number, etc lets me claim I am an Oz resident doing a lot of travelling. A few weeks work each year will let me top up my pension, get medical services, might even get Oz resident tax rate if I can get a favourable ATO ruling.

Hoping my trip back will also reset the 6 months of allowances that you lose. anybody have any experience with that?

15 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Give me a better link than altthainews. There not exactly a non partisan media. Surely you know that before linking. 

There was another article giving 6 steps that need to be taken to make it work, none of which were taken. It is written by Suranand Vejjajiva (I suppose you will call him biased as well), but is a BP article so no link. However google "thailand computer tablet scheme failure" and it is first up.

Like most things PTP promised, another expensive failure.

1 minute ago, giddyup said:

Thanks.

If you take medication, it is possible to get a script for 6 months of it at the one time. Tell your doctor you are leaving the country and it shouldn't be a problem. Even better, it works out considerably cheaper, as there is only one chemist's prescription fee.

I haven't had a problem with customs while leaving, but always have the paperwork with you.

2 minutes ago, giddyup said:

Would a trip back to Oz with a couple of doctors visits there keep me "on the books"?

Can't hurt. I'm planning on 3-4 weeks a year in Oz, with a bit of light work, and working the Medicare card hard.

2 minutes ago, jayboy said:

It's a common belief among large numbers of the Sino Thai urban middle class that politicians are "corrupt" and that democracy is inefficient.In practice what they really mean is that resources should not be shared more equitably and that the views of the Thai majority should be muffled.Why they take this unenlightened position is a matter for speculation which is beyond the scope of this thread but I would submit they are not acting in their long term interests.Why the Thai ruling class hates politicians and democracy, for all the lip service involved, is plainly obvious and does not require further comment.

 

As to your other remarks which predictably touch on your lack of enthusiasm for Thaksin these are clearly miles off topic which is about the 2011 floods.If you cannot control the urge to rant about Thaksin may I suggest two options.Firstly find a relevant topic where you can discharge your load.Secondly and more preferable try and be more reflective so that even those who don't share your opinions may take them more seriously than is presently possible.

I speak to quite a few Thais who are not Sino-, urban or middle class who believe many politicians are corrupt, and what they mean by corrupt is conniving, bent, lying mongrels only out to fill their pockets with other people's money. That belief is instilled and re-inforced by press and court reports of politicians defrauding banks, evading tax, nepotism, cronyism, secret deals, unnecessary commissions, 3rd party payments and incentives, laws written for personal benefit, and outright theft of government funds and assets. Of course, Sino Thai urban middle class probably can't see those things happening, in your opinion at least.

My initial reply was to a post suggesting politician's don't need supervision. Personally, I would like to see about 1/3 of them shot, another 1/3 jailed for long terms and maybe the remaining 1/3 might try responsible government for a change. That won't happen, so I will have to settle for oversight and prosecution.

6 minutes ago, jayboy said:

Politicians are a mixed bag but are more accountable if they know they can be voted out of power.The current collection of generals who seized power illegally cannot.Subservient bodies like the NACC composed of appointed stooges have no accountability at all, and its lack of integrity is a matter of record.Your question as who has done the most harm doesn't make any sense.It just reflects the common but inane belief that all politicians are "corrupt", the people are deluded and that rule of self appointed "good people" is best.Still when in doubt just resort to another cloud of "whataboutery".Anything than face up to reality.

I wonder what causes that common belief that you consider inane. Perhaps its watching the governing party line up to take handouts from a criminal and vote to his orders? Or could it be the revelation that billions of baht were spent on truly inane policies, and much of that has ended up in minister's pockets and commissions for the criminal's mates?

The slope that those pool villas is built on looks very close to the regulated maximum. Perhaps Thai protractors are different.

8 minutes ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

"The floods were caused by mismanagement. No denying that. Somebody should be held accountable."

 

Respectfully, are you saying that, after studying the issue for SIX years, the NACC got it wrong by clearing everyone? Perhaps the NACC was 'criminally negligent' in their duties by not assigning blame? Wouldn't it be nice if the NACC were... accountable?

 

Kinda makes you wonder about other decisions made by the NACC, doesn't it?

 

555555. You wonder about decisions made by the NACC, and think they should be accountable, but supervision and accountability of politicians is wrong. So whose decisions have done the most damage to the country, politician's or the NACC's? When has the NACC blown hundreds of billions of baht on corrupt policies?

2 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

Thailand has created an ugly monster in the NACC.

 

This case is a text book example of appointed bureaucrats judging whether the political leaders have done a "good enough' job, while at the same time being accountable to no one.

 

"Abhisit had been accused of misconduct for having kept a huge amount of water in the Bhumibol and Sirikit Dams and failing to unload it". Is this really the job of a counter-corruption organization to judge whether he was right in a decision to keep water in a dam? 

 

"Yingluck, who took office in August after Abhisit, was accused of dereliction of duty for allegedly failing to divert the water in the dams to the east and west of the country, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Plan, and which resulted in severe flooding." Again, is this really the job of a counter-corruption organization to judge whether she was right in her decision about water levels?

 

Who judges the NACC? My own view is that the NACC has been one of the primary reasons for a HUGE amount of discord in Thailand. Who will be judging that?

 

If political leaders have every decision second-guessed by an appointed body of bureaucrats with a spotty (at best!) reputation, what is the point of having political leaders?

 

Put strong limits on the monster before it is too late!

 

If the bureaucrats are spotty, what are the politicians - blacker than sin? Let's lift poor farmers out of poverty - B500 billion spent and how many farmers are no longer poor? Let's buy billions of baht worth of 3rd rate Chinese tablets to educate out children - that worked well didn't it?

More on topic, let's hold back the dam releases so we can get some rice in storage. Our pals are waiting for their storage fees and sales commissions.

With decisions like these, why would politicians need someone looking over their shoulder?

I will say this again, hold a 'peaceful protest' that leaves 5 police/military/security officers dead and many more badly injured in any other major city in the world, and your protest would be finished so fast you would think you had been run over by a steamroller.

And while that dispersal was taking place, if buildings started burning, there is a good chance that suspected arsonists would be shot.

1 hour ago, Eric Loh said:

So who exactly shoot at the military. Reds, black or some renegade mercenary soldiers that were targeting some key senior officers. Ever wonder why those rising star officers that belong to certain camp were targeted? You need a bigger brain than just information from posters here.  

Or it could have been feral boy scouts, or a gang of lady boys with non-PMT. The question to ask, before swallowing any of Eric's BS, is just how did they manage to wander, guns, balaclavas and all, through the red camp like they owned the place, with nobody even looking their way.

We seem to be missing a few of the usual suspects. Where could they be now?

Perhaps it's time somebody had another look at the bail conditions set for the rest of these mercenary propagandists. Revoking it could even cause a call for a speed up of their long overdue trial.

15 hours ago, nausea said:

The proportion of young men in the general population is going to be very different from that in the immigrant population. It would be useful to have some kind of demographic breakdown; then we could compare the rape rate among immigrants with that among a similar section of the general population. I mean just how much worse are immigrants than the general population when comparing like with like.

 

Certainly, an influx of single young men into any population is going to have an effect sexually; just what that effect is depends on multiple factors, including the cultural attitudes on both sides. For example, in Thailand during the Vietnam era there was a massive increase in prostitution, but young American soldiers coming from a relatively liberal minded background were perceived as mostly wealthy and attractive, by a culture with a long tradition of prostitution. 

 

In Europe, by contrast, we have a mass influx of mostly young male immigrants coming from a misogynistic culture who are perceived as mostly poor and, I guess, unattractive, into a culture where females dress how they like and do what they want. Predicting the resulting increase in sexual offences is hardly rocket science, and denying this effect, in pursuit of some idealistic dream, is foolish.

 

How you deal with it is another matter, but certainly both sides in the debate need to recognise the reality of the situation. Immigrants are human beings acting in purely human ways, demonising them as monsters or idealising them as poor victims doesn't help, if we're to have an effective solution to the problem.

 

Interesting, back in the 70s my sister and her friend (both teenagers) went to Paris, and had no end of problems being followed around by groups of North Africans, even then.

" I mean just how much worse are immigrants than the general population when comparing like with like."

Easily calculated. Let us give migrants the benefit of the doubt and assume they are ALL young men. then .08 (8%) times the propensity to rape equals 0.4 of rapes. Similarly, let us assume there are no female rapes, making Italian men's propensity higher, and that the Italian population is split 50/50 male/female. 

Now we have Italian men's proportion of the population as 0.42 (50% minus the 8% immigrants). 0.42 times Italian men's propensity to rape equals 0.6 of total rapes.

Simple maths then gives us immigrants are 3.5 times more likely to rape than Italian men. What it doesn't allow for is the proportion of "Italian men"  who are from the same culture/religion as the new immigrants.

".... if we're to have an effective solution to the problem."

What solution is there going to be to a problem based on culture and religion? Wait 3 or 4 generations and hope they learn to adopt western values rather than those passed on to them by their families and religious leaders?

Just now, AGareth2 said:

Theory?

We are talking about the law

Are you a lawyer

or just making it up?

I'm talking about YOUR inane theory of criminal intent. I'm not a lawyer, and it is quiet obvious neither are you, but here is a gem for you "Ignorance is no excuse under the law." This pathetic little turd got himself mixed up in one of his father's corrupt scams. He accepted the cheque, he deposited it and spent the proceeds, and unless he can show a VERY good reason why some con artist was handing him B10 million, he will pay for his part in the crime.

9 minutes ago, AGareth2 said:

yes

but you have to prove the criminal intent

or if I'm wrong could you please quote the relevant law/statute

Do your own homework, it's your theory. Accepting a cheque, depositing it in your account, and then using the funds to buy shares shows both knowledge and intent to me. The next big test is when he returned the money; did he approach the BIB after the scandal became news, or did they come to him? My theory is a bent DSI officer cut him a deal to keep him out of jail.

Just now, Becker said:

You didn't answer the question. You never do. You run away from inconvenient facts like a.....fill in the blanks yourself.

We can't all see (including you) the differences in the workings of the last elected governments and the last juntas because the juntas are not accountable and answer to no one. What they do they can do in secrecy. That much should be obvious even to you.

My answer was, and still is, I don't know and I don't care. Your hypocrisy is showing when you attempt to paint the last government's workings as transparent and accountable - we still haven't seen the accounting for the rice scam and the G2G only became clear in court. Yingluk and co only became accountable after they were thrown out, and they (and their sycophants) don't like it one bit. tough TIT.

What is obvious is that instead of wasting hundreds of billions in handouts and corruption, there is infrastructure development. Huge amounts of corruption and public land encroachment are being uncovered and prosecuted, and the green among the BIB are energising them like never before.

Why don't you try addressing the credibility issue? or do you accept that it has no basis?

16 hours ago, AGareth2 said:

there needs to be evidence of criminality

not your say so!

Receiving assets from a corrupt scheme forms the basis of money laundering under Thai law.

16 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

 

The old 'Greedo shot first' revisionist waffle.

 

The red-shirts were fired upon by the army using live ammunition long before any 'gunmen' or mysterious men-in-black appeared. 

also known as "The Big Red Lie" and hardly worth argument with the likes of you.

How many protesters had even been looked at sideways before Arisman made his bring your bottles speech? peaceful protest my Rs.

2 hours ago, The Old Bull said:

I wonder if Taksin took his dog with him? They will be going after the dog next.

Quite possibly. Can you tell us how many bank accounts he has, and his share holdings.