Tod Daniels

Given the MP's which previously supported the redz jumped ship to the Demz side garnering them a majority of MP's in the Lower House, and thereby the mandate to form and run the government; I guess it's "cry foul", "the people didn't get to vote for PM", "it's not fair" or "insert your lame argument here".

Firstly, the tone of your response amounts to little more than childish mocking, as if that somehow makes your argument in any way more valid.

Then, in a long and rambling way, you are saying that you agree with a bunch of corrupt generals kicking out a government that was elected, and replacing it with one that wasn't.

Then, you go on to deny the fact that the reds may actually have a majority, as was proven in two successive elections. Why are you people so afraid to put it to the test - hold an election and then respect the wishes of the people by allowing the people they elect to rule.

If Abhisit is so popular like you seem to think that he is, then what is he afraid of? He can get elected, keep his job, and confound teh reds argument that his position is illegitimate.

Unfortunately, I don't suffer fools lightly, nor people who won't spend a little internet time researching facts before they post. It appears that in all likelihood my inclusion of facts in the post must have confounded you, and not my mocking tone.

BTW: If you think that's a mocking tone, consider yourself mocked.

Now in rebuttal

Nope, no where in the post did I say that I agreed with what happened during the coup, BUT only all that had happened; the coup, the new constitution, the change in electoral law, had ALL taken place BFORE Samak (the I am Thaksin's nominee) and Somchai (the I am Thaksin's Brother In Law) came to be PM's. The lower house voted for Samak, and again Somchai because they had a majority of MP's on their side. Once they couldn't get a majority it was a free-for-all on who could, and the Demz did under the SAME constitution and same electoral laws as Samak and Somchai.

Sorry man, the entire mess the country's in is all about what's happened post-coup stuff and really mostly about the Redz (aka; TRT/PPP/PTP) not getting to run the government. It's just plain sour grapes which has turned this country on its ear. Last time there were elections which was post coup; NO party got a majority of Lower House seats, necessitating the forming of coalitions.

Also no where did I say Abhisit was popular, what I did say was that he, using the exact same constitution and electoral rules, got a majority of MP's and thereby the chance to run his government just like Samak and Somchai did before him. Why did the thai people think it was okay then, but then a minority of them came out of the proverbial woodwork AFTER the PTP couldn't get a majority of MP's on their side to wave their frickin' red flag?

It's an argument that doesn't hold water, especially given the current minority in the government the "Beau-Thai-Party" said they wouldn’t participate in the constitutional reforms unless there were pre-agreed conditions which had to be met before they'd even show up at the table to begin discussions about the amendments. That effectively shut down the amendment process because under the current constitution the government can't do it with a simple majority of MP's, that's not how it's written.

Hey but thanx for taking my words out of context, and misquoting me, <mock> <mock>. ..

Hope you feel better now. Your posting superiority and keen sense of the obvious clearly outweighs mine. I humbly bow to your incredibly insightful if awfully skewed posting penchant.

Now be a good little posting puppet and go wave your foot-clapper..

Why learn thai;

Why to listen to the ever informative and oh-so helpful take on all thingz thai the newly created "Rajaprasong Red Radio" located at 106.8 on your FM dial. Although be warned; it's about as far from 'easy listening' as you could get.

Sounds about like this;

Announcer; "Stay tuned, after this hideous rendition of a mor-lam thai song (which sounded remarkably like someone strangling a cat with a shoe lace ), we'll right be back with more politically skewed hate filled anti-government rhetoric by such illustrious speakers as Jatuporn, (failed pop singer) Arisman, and our perennial favorite none other than "Issan Rambo" himself Suporn." Sadly due to previous speaking engagements more moderate reds like Veera and/or whacky Dr Weng will not be present during tonites broadcast..

I think they purposely broadcast it at such a distortedly high volume so a person can ONLY understand the following spoken words; พี่น้องครับ, มึง, อภิสิทธิ์, กู, ยุบสภา, ไพร่, or the oft repeated entreaty ใช่ไหมครับ. ..

And now back to the pissing match; already in progress. ...

Abhsit was not himself elected freely and fairly, so how on earth does he expect anyone to listen to him when he talks about free and fair elections?

Still beating that dead whore? Opps, I meant dead horse. .

Hey, don’t let confusing things like facts come into your posting penchant; you’re far more interesting when you babble nonsensical stuff.

I guess when Samak & Somchai used the same constitution in place now, and nearly the same breakdown of MP’s by party list in the Lower House to form a COALITION of the various political parties and got a majority of MP’s on their side to run the government it was “red business as usual”.

Sadly due to the two previously mentioned PM’s penchants for breaking the law as it is currently written (written well BEFORE either came to office) they got booted. Man go figure, break the law, get kicked out of office, wow the mind wobbles at that travesty of justice.

Given the MP’s which previously supported the redz jumped ship to the Demz side garnering them a majority of MP’s in the Lower House, and thereby the mandate to form and run the government; I guess it’s “cry foul”, “the people didn’t get to vote for PM”, “it’s not fair” or “insert your lame argument here”.

Abhisit already said time and again he would dissolve the Lower House and call for elections in a MUCH abbreviated time frame than his government’s full term which last time I checked runs until the end of 2011.

Sadly that just wasn’t good enough for what is clearly a minority of the thai people also known as the “red rabble”. Listening to red radio or the hate rhetoric being spouted on stage, you’d think they speak for every single thai in the frickin’ country, which given an estimated population of 63+ million, they don't by any stretch of the imagination.

As an aside; I just came from Silom and Rajaprasong on a recon mission. I doubt there are even 5000 people at Rajaprasong; most of them are lying in the shade of the buildings, or up on the sky bridge . Very few are under the “protective screening” (read dirt-cheap shade cloth) erected by the red leaders to; and I quote a red shirted guy I talked to down there; “stop the HUNDREDS of government snipers who are stationed in the high buildings just waiting for the command to open fire on the crowd”. OMMFG, I don’t know which is worse, that he told me that, or that he actually believed it.

While this is anecdotal to the Chamchuree Square topic title, it still is about 90 day reporting.

I just heard back from two retired friends of mine who previously had been using Bumrungrad Hospital for their 90 day reporting (to the tune of a 500 baht fee to report for you).

Both guys went there today only to find out Bumrungrad Hospital will no longer accept or do 90 day reporting for people; effective today.

What good is it to arm soldiers with guns but NOT hand out live ammo? It's like a country bragging they have a nuclear weapon but no triggering device. It's just a big paperweight.

The Military has been remarkable restrained in their use of deadly force, as evidenced by their less than cohesive actions on the 10th. The casualties could have been FAR higher had they not been on such a tight leash.

However, simply lining up unarmed soldiers who are NOT trained as an anti-riot squad with plastic shields is tantamount to failure. Last time I checked the reds had not yet returned the weapons and ammo they confiscated. Nor have they done anything reconciliatory in their preaching of the hate filled rhetoric to the thankfully ever diminishing mob of red rabble. Anyone notice that the infamous 'third hand' in the violence Seh Daeng is suddenly absent and the red leaders don't even mention him anymore. Wow, wonder why?

BKJohn,

You need to check your work after you run your spell checker.

I totally concur with the above quoted post. ..

It would behoove the poster known as “BKjohn” to actually re-read his post and use a spell checker BEFORE posting. Any credibility (of which there was very little to begin with ) is lost on a nearly incoherent post.

"Innocent" protestors don't attack military with spears, grenades, petrol bombs and guns.

yeah, the guy with the top of his head blown off was so threatening waving that flag and footclapper, he deserved to die

No. He didn't deserve to die.

But, there is no evidence that the army shot him.

And he was in an area where the army were being attacked with grenades, bombs and firearms.

He wasn't just an "innocent" protestor.

who you think shot him? Santa Claus?

Quite the witty come back there ChiangMaiFun, little short on anything factual are we?

This topic has been beat to death (NO pun intended against the deceased ).

Even a cursory perusal of the video shows him facing his red cohorts in crime who are screen right when he’s hit.

He is clearly NOT facing the soldiers who are off the screen to the left when he’s impacted by the round. In fact, he falls TOWARDS the soldiers; screen left, indicating a hit from the right of the screen. The spray pattern (and most of his brain) bears this out on the ground.

Rampant speculation about the caliber, the gun, and who fired it are just that, rampant speculation. Last time I checked no one else had any more video of the scene.

It’s much like the Zapruder film in the JFK assassination, one poor quality film, and TONZ of rampant finger pointing.

Correct me if I’m worng <sic> ; but didn’t the reds come out the other day and say that Tuesday’s mobile rally would be their BIGGEST EVER?

Hmm, not only does it seem to be far from their best effort to date, but also would appear to be far from mobile..

To quote Monty Python; "And now for something completely different"

If you'd like to read a totally skewed take on all things thai; go Google a wordpress blogspot called “redphanfa2day” and see what Jatuporn discerned by consulting his oh-so small 'crystal balls'. He's truly an idiot savant, right up there with rainman.

It is some of the most distorted rumor mongering a person would ever read, oh and btw; it’s even in engrish too.

Isn't everyone tired of hearing farangs talking about the reds spouting violence all the time. How do you know??? I speak fluent thai, read and write too and i must admit when i watch red tv i hardly understand any of it! Some farangs are just reading out of context pro govt tripe ie nation etc etc. Only condemn the rhetoric if you hear and understand it first hand!!!

I must take exception with your evidently overly optimistic assessment of your thai ability.

You say "I speak effluent<sic> thai, read and write too. Obviously in your quest to master thai, you left out the most important one, understanding spoken thai.

To say when you watch red-t/v or listen to red-radio that you can't understand it, shows how marginal your understanding of spoken thai actually is. The speakers on the stage speak some of the lowest class of thai, with some of the easiest to understand hate filled, angry, mindless mob oriented rhetoric ever preached. Then again a speaker caters to his audience, (speaking in the fashion the illustrious speakers on stage do to a room of uni-grads would be unlikely to garner a high opinion of the speaker from the listeners).

It is also some of the most colloquially spoken thai you're likely to hear and once you know a few key anti-government phrases a person who understands even intermediate thai can follow it fine. (Christ even I can follow it and I make NO over the top assertions in my thai language ability ). Add in the fact it is so repetitive that you can turn off the radio for an hour and then listen again without missing any of the context makes me wonder just how 'effluent' <sic> you are...

BTW: if you do understand even a smattering of thai you can quickly discern they're NOT preaching love, peace, flowers, and unity for all, but hate filled rhetoric designed to keep the ever diminishing mob as whipped up as possible. The entire context is 'us' (the reds) against them (Abhisit). It is truly 'shock-radio' at its best. ..

The redz are about as far from speaking for "all thai people" (or even a majority of them), as the 'yellowz', the 'dark bluez', the 'pinkz', the 'many colorz', or the 'periwinklez' (sorry in checking I see periwinkle has not been claimed as a color by any faction yet, quick, reserve it now!!).

I think we are fast moving to the point of a stalemate and a solution to save face for both sides will come about.

Elections in 6 months.

(I could be totally wrong and another battle breaks out).

I hope for something like the former.

Sadly, though I am loathe to admit it (just as I am sure he is loathe to have me on his side) I hope for the sake of all thais concerned that bkkjames’s observations are true and each side can find a way out, a way to save face, and a way NOT to kill anymore thais no matter the color of their shirt. ..

No, no, no! He does NOT have "the support of the representatives of the majority of the people in Thailand"

The choice of the LARGEST block of voters was ignored as a result of the mass disqualification. He may have the LEGAL right to the PMs chair under the new constitution. But this country can't even agree on which constitution is legal?!? The ethical thing to do would have been to hold a NEW election ASAP in Dec 2008 so that the wishes of the LARGEST BLOCK of voters would be represented in the government.

Still posting without letting facts get in the way or having the slightest understanding of how thai politics really works huh?

I give you a +1 for tenacity, but -15 for your feeble understanding of the thai political system as a whole.

What ever you want to think, the facts bear out that the 2007 constitution IS the one which was in effect both when Samak and Somchai FORMED COALITIONS with smaller parties to get a majority of MP's in the Lower House to side with them as they didn't have a majority with their own party list of MP’s alone.

Even when some MP's were banned for let me check, oh yeah, breaking electoral law as it's written; by-elections were held in those constituencies and those people were able to vote AGAIN for an MP to represent their interests.

I find your argument both tedious and lacking any substance other than red-shirt rhetoric.

As I have pointed out repeatedly; the linchpin in all this, is banned politician Newin Chidchob and the 32 odd MP's he controls via Bhum-Jai-Thai Party and his "Friends of Newin" group.

When he had those MP's jump ship on the PTP they lost the majority, and thereby the mandate to 'run the government'.

In case you were wondering the vote in the Lower House for Abhisit when he ran against Pracha Promnok endorsed by the pro-Thaksin party, PTP was 235 MPs voted for Abhisit versus 198 votes for Pracha.

Those 32 MP's Newin controls were the deciding factor. You want to blame someone blame General Anupong as there is speculation he was the one who 'encouraged' Newin to side with the Demz, although it is unsubstantiated by any evidence.

As I have said before, when Samak & Somchai used the current constitution to form a coalition of parties and were able to run the government I guess you think that was okay, business as usual? But when Abhisit used the same constitution to form a coalition of parties and then gets to run the government suddenly it’s “the people didn’t elect him”.

Sadly my clueless posting pal, the people of thailand NEVER EVER elect a PM, they elect the MP’s for the lower house who votes in their best interest for the PM of their choice.

Now I know this is thailand and some posters on T/V seem quite thick, but an intelligent person might be lead to believe that if the MP’s switched sides to allow another party to run the government, it might have been in the best interest of their constituents seeing as that’s who elected them and that’s whose interests they are supposed to watch out for.

And to answer another posters pathetic whine; Nope MP's aren't bound by ANY law under the constitution as it's written to go back to their constituients and tell them they are changing sides.

<SNIP>

Didn't think we understood it the first time you posted it?

Or didn't refresh your screen to see that you'd posted already?

Again, another 22 post thai political pundit weighs in TWICE. ..

IN OTHER NEWS:

General Anupong Paochinda is NOT a person to be trifled with nor one who would let himself be pushed into a corner that he didn't choose first.

Google his name yourself and read his list of "accomplishments". IF by some stroke of blind luck you can read thai; Google his thai name; อนุพงษ์ เผ่าจินดา

He is one of the most deadly serious players in recent history. He plays hard ball and he pitches very FAST.

He's definitely a person to take seriously I mean deadly serious.

There is not a single person in this country who should underestimate hime as far as his capabilities, or the "rain of fire" he could call in, all in the name of "democracy".

Frankly he scares me. ..

<SNIPPED OUT THE MINDLESSNESS AND IT LEFT NOTHING!!!>

Read his posting history. He is nothing more than another 20 post thai political pundit on T/V. Probably being spoon fed the thai take on things from his thai gurl.

He joined on 2010-04-11 and couldn't even take the time to fill in ANYTHING on his profile, not even his gender. For all we know he might be a gurl; he certainly posts like one.

That in and of itself says it all.

Man if you can understand thai and not take the second-hand watered-down translation from your thai "(in)significant other", listen to the new red radio broadcast from Rajaprasong.

It is some of the most hate filled rhetoric I've heard in a long time... Oh BTW; it's 106.8 FM. A person understanding thai would be hard pressed NOT to buy into the same old song and dance of "them versus us". It is bad, really, I mean bad. .

It's definitely got a lot more of a 'fighting edge' to it, especially now that the three firebrands (read as total whackoz) are the ones in charge and the 'old dogz' have been sidelined. However even the 'old dogz' are paraded out from time to time to appeal to their demographic.

I've listened to it for the last three hours, and it seems the only line they keeps seeming to say on stage is:

If you can't say anything constructive about the way forward (other than dissolve the Lower House now, call for elections, as well as demanding the PM leave the country); it's better to denigrate the people who are actually trying to move the country forward with destructive trash-talk.. No mention of what might actually happen if/when the red-rabble have a majority in the Lower House and might actually get to run the government. No plan, no insightful way forward, just the same old B/S. They are totally whacked in their take on all thingz thai. ..

We might say in the US; "blind 'em with hate filled B/S and half truths" or listen to Fox News

Sadly after all it seems to be the thai way of politicz.

<SNIPPED>

If the genuine rural Reds want to win, they need to block off the roads and the borders to the agricultural provinces and do their trading there. Declare an independant state, sell their produce at ten times the current trading prices, and levy a tax. If they don't sell, they have all the food they need. The repressors cannot touch them. The new territory will be theirs by de facto. After a few months, Bangkok will grind to a halt. No honey, no money.

Yet another incredibly insightful post from a 14 post thai political pundit.

The mind wobbles at some of the things written here.

I am and always will be proud to be an American. Some times I'm sad that I'm a foreigner here and have to be lumped into a 'catch all category' with the likes of the above quoted poster.

edited for sa-pelling something worng

In the interests of fairness and balance the current Deputy PM is as dodgy as they come.

I don't believe Abhisit is as "dodgy as they come", as that could be a grossly oversimplified statement of thai politics. I do believe he's trying to hold together a tenuous coalition of political parties who have very dissimilar ideas about what way is the "real way" forward. What is immediately clear is that he's in a tough place and can't appease everyone of his political allies every whim.

Last time I checked, given how the Constitution currently in place is written; the Demz have the legal mandate thru holding a majority of MP's via coalition in the lower house to run the government. Last time elections were held no single political party got enough Lower House seats to hold a majority alone. They were forced into forming allegiances with a coalition of other smaller political parties. Samak and the old PPP didn't, nor did his replacement after he resigned; Somchai and neither did Abhisit.

Although we know the real deal clincher was banned politician Newin Chidchob, and about 32 odd MP's under his control via the "friends of Newin" power clique or the now Bhum-Jai-Thai (thai pride) Party. No small coincidence that it was those same MP's who gave Samak & Somchai the majority.

But of course as the redz spin it, then it was totally okay, politics as usual. No one cried the government was illegally elected without the people having a vote in deciding the PM. The thai people NEVER have a voice in 'electing a Prime Minister', and leave that up to the MP's they elected to represent them. But let’s not let facts cloud the red tinted P/R spin. Or bring up that Thaksin in a recorded message blasted the Newin group as 'traitors and betrayers of the people’ when he switched sides.

This is what lead to the vote in the Lower House on December 15 where 235 MPs voted for Abhisit versus 198 votes for Pracha Promnok endorsed by the pro-Thaksin party, PTP. That gave Abhisit, and the Democrat Party the majority and him becoming the new prime minister. One whose term isn’t officially up until the END of 2011, although for the good of the country he’s offered a much abbreviated timeline to dissolve the Lower House and call for elections, but of course, that’s not good enough, because everyone must bow to the radical demands of a minority of people over the wants of the majority of the country's populace.

If this is indeed what passes for democracy here, an intelligent person might be lead to believe that if the thais don't like the constitution, they would to lobby their elected MP's to change it (or vote 'em out next go round) much like a "real democracy" does things. If the same thais don't like whose in power, it could also behoove them to actually think about who and what they're voting for instead of a village voting just however the pu-yai-baan tells them or selling their vote. Then again, this being thailand, maybe not.

the yellows must <SNIPPED OUT THE NONSENSE> (leaving actually nothing to the post ). ...

OMMFG: Another 42 post thai political pundit is born.!!

Back On Topic:

Quite the "motley crew" of illustrious red mob leaders there doncha think? (NOTE: abso-tively posi-lutely NO disrespect to the rock band of the same name intended and/or implied!! )

I've still yet to hear a single thing from any of the red loose screw leaders on what might happen after a lower house dissolution, IF by some wild stretch of the imagination the “Buea Thai Party” (purposely misspelled to be the engrish transcription of the thai word for "BORING" ) could form a coalition of a majority of MP's and there by get the mandate to lead the government. Not even one frickin' idea, and I've listened to and read the transcripts of the majority of the red-mob leaders speeches.

In fact other than the endless chant to "yoob sa-phaa" (ยุบสภา) or the disparaging "mung Abhisit" (มึง อภิสิทธิ์); I don't ever hear anything but hate filled, name-calling rhetoric from the red-mob ‘leaders’. (Of course that is ruling out the clueless Dr Weng, whose clearly 'lost the plot' and in his mind is still roaming the jungle somewhere near Kanchanaburi) .

Even when I had the chance to meet Veera Musikapong a few weeks ago, and spoke with him thru a much more fluent thai/english translator than my grasp of spoken thai is. (BTW: he totally bites in speaking anything resembling english) he had no vision for the future, no future policy, actually no foresight at all. Upon being asked some pointed questions he fell back on the old thai condescending standby "you don't understand thai culture". When I mentioned this was thai POLITICS, not culture, he found conveniently he had another appointment. Obviously he felt he had wasted enough of his superior intellect on a mere foreigner; one who actually knew something about recent thai political history. I guess I was asking questions the mindless-red-mob camped in front of the stage would never dream of asking their oh-so fearless leaders.

Sad really, as I believe the “redz” have some valid gripes, just as the ‘greenz’, the “yellowz”, the “dark bluez”, and now the "many colorz" do too. However anything I hear from the reds is just heavily recycled trash talk. I am NOT for or against any particular color and just point out mindless rhetoric when I see it.

Thaksin, Samak & Somchai did &lt;deleted&gt; all to resolve the wide disparity between the ‘prai’ (ไพร่) and the 'amataya' (อำมาตยา), and in fact the case could be argued that Thaksin did more to make the rift even bigger than he did to lessen it. Other than financially unsustainable pipe dreams designed to throw government money at the poor to garner support during voting time, I saw very little in the way of true reform to what was already a severely flawed system. Most of all the schemes put forward by Thaksin were already in place from the previous government, but that didn’t stop him from taking credit for them, did it? During Thaksin’s tenure as PM I saw more and more things designed to shut down the voice of any who dissented with his heavy handed control of the media, (litigating them into silence with multi million baht slander cases) the changing of foreign business laws, and the consolidation of power to himself nearly making him untouchable thru constitutional changes/rewrites.

Although not a strong suit here on T/V; if the truth be told Abhisit has, in his short term as PM implemented and attempted to implement far MORE things which are geared towards the poor than any of the TRT/PPP/PTP prime ministers EVER DID.

If the "Beua Thai Party" wouldn't block so much legislation and start running their "shadow government" like the Demz did when they held a minority things actually might get done. When the “Beau Thai” boycotted the lower house because, "the high security impinged their rights to free access" more legislation was voted on in a single day that in the previous 3 months. Wow, go figure.

BTW: I am an AMERICAN, and quite honestly don’t care one way or the other, (I follow thai politics and this situation because it’s interesting’.) The thais hafta work out the political problems and the huge social rift existing in thai society all by themselves. That doesn’t stop me from calling a spade a spade, instead of calling it a shovel, no matter what someone else says to call it.

One last thing; NO ONE in the current government came out and called all the red protestors "terrorists". (I believe the engrish papers are sorely lacking in their translation of thai to what passes for engrish in the daily ragz available here) They have repeatedly said that “terrorists had infiltrated the red-mob”, which by all accounts seems to be true. Well Kasit did refer to Thaksin a "bloody terrorist", but if the "fuu-shits", I mean the shoe fits. ..

Did anyone else happen to notice that both Veera Musikapong and the 'infamous rambler of nonsense' Dr. Weng Tojirakarn have been noticeably absent not only in the media but on-stage too.

Strange that the only guy (Veera ) who said he might find a way out o this MESS might be actually negotiating with the government is NO WHERE to be found.

Have they been "shuffled off to Buffalo" (no buffalo pun intended ) or have they been sidelined by the more radically minded "red-rabble-rousers" Jatuporn, Sunporn and Arisman?

Enquiring Minds May Want 2 Know . ... or read that as "SANE" minds might want 2 know (if you are in thailand now). ..

And now back to the Red/Yellow/Dark Blue or Sky/Blue/Pink (whatever your persuasion) Mindless Mob rhetoric, already in progress. .. ..

Strange that Veera Musikapong and the infamous rambler of nonsense Dr. Weng Tojirakarn have been noticeably absent in the media lately.

Have they been "shuffled off to Buffalo" (no buffalo pun intended ) or simply sidelined by the more radically minded "red-rabble-rousers" like; Jatuporn, Sunporn and Arisman?

A sad day 4 the frickin' Redz (yes, that was purposely mis-spelled)

Elections will come... it's inevitable - so why not sooner rather than later - the government (<SNIPPED INANE REMARK>) is undemocratic - Abhisit has admitted as much - waiting will lead to more problems - let the people SPEAK, and of course, yellows are unlikely to be elected - but this has nothing to do with this lot clinging onto power? oh no!

Of course elections will come. Why not sooner rather than later? Hmm let's see if we can work that out without me resorting to drawing frickin' pictures for you with colored pencils ;

Here's a quick recap for the thick ;

Samak (who ran on the incredibly inventive "I am Thaksin's nominee" platform); who was subsequently axed for receiving money for hosting a cooking show, and then who conveniently died before his GUILTY verdict could be heard on appeal didn't have a majority when elections were held either, but he made a coalition of smaller parties to garner a majority of MP's who voted for him as PM, letting him 'run the government'.

Likewise Somchai (who replaced Samak under the equally inventive "I am Thaksin's brother-in-law" platform), didn't have a majority either. Again relying on a coalition of parties to garner a majority of MP's to vote for him as PM giving him the chance to 'run the government'.

Now when the banned politician and former best buddy of Thaksin; Newin Chidchob FLIPPED sides, he took with him his coalition of smaller parties to the 'other team', (which is perfectly legal in thai politics). That gave the Dems a majority of MP's to vote for Abhisit, and by rights should actually give him a chance to 'run the government' too. All this is post coup stuff, and is how things worked out.

Can you perchance post a link to where Abhisit actually "has admitted as much" in regard to the government being undemocratic? (even one in thai will do ) By rights barring the OAG/Constitutional Court ruling against the Demz they should be in power until the END of 2011, but Abhisit said he would be willing to hold elections early "for the good of the country".

Unfortunately for the rabid reds, the definition for "the good of the country" does not include catering to the gun-boat diplomatic demands of what is clearly a minority splinter group who cry that Abhisit must do so immediately just because they don't like (or maybe even don’t understand ) how thai politics works.

Last time elections were held the people did speak, they voted for MP's, in the case where MP's were banned or disqualified, those people got to vote again for another MP. Now the MP's can vote and side with who they see fit (one might believe it is for the benefit of their constituents ).

Another news flash, the Democratic party is NOT "the yellows", that would actually be the PAD who have their own political party, just with no MP’s.

(edited for factual errorz and sa-pelling)

I thought the red leaders said "we are not afraid", "we have nothing to fear".

You can sure see the fear in Arisman's eyes as he dangles from that rope.

Note to Arisman; lose a few kilos, you could certainly stand to.. ..

What a bummer that the Police couldn’t catch them. ..

Oh well, back to the “dog and pony show”; err I mean the red mob rally; already in progress. …

I think the Songkran Festival is a good way for thais to blow off steam, "let their hair down", and have fun but. ...

However I vote it is definitely NOT FUN due to the penchant for these ever smiling, yet diminutive people to enforce their single-minded "mandatory participation policy" regarding it.

It has taken the better part of 4 years here to get the thais on my soi 'trained' to understand that while I accept Songkran I DON'T participate. At least now they don't try to get me wet on my forays to/from the store, etc.

Sadly the same understanding is not shared by the ones on Sukhumvit Road near my soi.

<SNIPPED OUT MINDLESS CHATTER> thailand doesnt want people like him

What are you the frickin' gate keeper for allowing foreigners in here?

Boy you just can't stop posting negative &lt;deleted&gt; in this thread can you?

My question is; don't you find it difficult to type your oh-so witty and eloquent responses with both your foot in your mouth and your head up your arse? You must be quite the contortionist.

I'm sure your mother's proud of you, now be a good little sock puppet and bugger off this post.

BACK ON TOPIC:

The man is trying to do what ever he can to make it work. Who are you to denigrate him?

I think the TEFL and teaching option is about the most viable given the O/P's age which will definitely work against him in about any other endeavor.

Seh Daeng merely commented that there might have been some but he does not know who they are.

So please, do not lie. He is also not a core "red leader".

For someone with a posting name like you have, I must say you post some of the wackiest takes on all things thai I've ever read. Were the situation NOT so serious I'd almost laugh.

While this is somewhat long-ish it certainly gives insight into what kind of person it would take to be the “third hand” or find ‘ronin warriors’.

My vote’s that it’s none other than Army Senior Advisor Maj.Gen.Khattiya Sawasdipol; ( A person who BTW is a definitely a "legend in his own mind", as well as a frickin’ loose cannon.)

Khattiya Sawasdipol alias Seh Daeng, is a major general in the Royal Thai Army, assigned to the Internal Security Operations Command. He came into conflict with the Thai police commander, General Seri Temiyavet, during the investigation of a large gambling den in 2006. General Seri filed a libel suit against Khattiya, who was arrested and sentenced to prison for four months. Khattiya has since brought a 600 million Baht libel suit against Seri for defamation. (Kinda reminiscent of Thaksin when the press critiqued anything he didn't like; "litigate them into silence.)

Khattiya made news on October 18, 2008, by announcing "he would mobilize government supporters against any military attempt to seize political power." Khattiya said members of the pro-government Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship (DAAD) would use petrol bombs against tanks and military vehicles taking part in a coup attempt. (Although NO coup attempt was made..)

Khattiya was reassigned as an aerobics teacher by Gen. Anupong Paochinda, Thai Army commander. Khattiya responded by saying, "The army chief wants me to be a presenter leading aerobics dancers. I have prepared one dance. It's called the ‘throwing-a-hand-grenade' dance." (Guess he didn't like the leotards and spandex outfit. .. )

On 14 January 2010, Army Commander Anupong Poachinda ordered a suspension of Khattiya Sawasdipol after an inquiry committee found that Khattiya has expressly paid loyalty to the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship, a political pressure group supporting Thaksin Shinawatra, breaching official disciplines. The following day, Anupong's office in the Royal Thai Army Headquarters was bombed by rockets launched by M79, left the office demolished but no person injured. Seh Daeng has also denied any link to war weapons seized in raids on his home and the living quarters of his aide on Thursday. He also denied any involvement in the Jan 15 M79 grenade attack on the office of the army chief. (WOW, that's a lot of denials.)

Another great quote by the infamous Seh Daeng: "In the past, what have the three leader of the Red Shirts achieved? They have led the Red Army and lost twice. On the contrary, I – the soldier – have always won and was always loyal to the Red Shirts. Thus the UDD leaders should step aside with the exception of Natthawut Saigua and make space for Arisaman Pongruengrong, Suporn Atthawong and Kwanchai Praiphana to be the new leaders.“

And yet another news blurb of note; UDD leaders distanced themselves from Khattiya and another hawkish veteran general, Pallop Pinmanee, after they claimed, following a visit with Thaksin, that they had started a 'people's army'. (Sure seems like if you're distancing yourself from someone already in your camp that he held quite a sway with which way things swung.) Also doesn't the term people's army sound really close to an 'unknown force' or 'ronin warriors'?

And the last one from "he who likes to hear himself talk"; "Maj-Gen Khattiya Sawasdipol said Sunday that the so-called 'Ronin' warriors or underground warriors helped red-shirt protesters battle troops on Saturday. He admitted that the "unknown force" or "Ronin warriors" fired M79 grenades at troops and one M79 grenade landed at the tent of the commander of the operation. "This caused the troops to have no commander and caused them to lose the battle," Khattiya said. "The Army commander thought the red shirts were easy to be crushed but there are not," Khattiya said." (For a man out of the loop, he seems awfully in-the-know about the ronin warriors" doncha think?) Guess he was consulting his "crystal balls" again. Here let me check mine.

Google “UDD leaders using Arisaman, Jatuporn and Khattiya’s names” it certainly gives enough hits and pix

Anyway you spin the P/R on this guy; he is a frickin' loose cannon and certainly advocates a level of violence that even Jatuporn and/or Arisaman with their fire-brand rhetoric don't come close to.

Khattiya is NOT someone the reds need in their corner; EVER!!

Oh and in answer to him NOT being a 'hard core' red leader, here's a pic for you. ..

The people are; Seh Daeng, Arisman, Suporn and Panlop with Thaksin. Look at the date stamp on the pic 3/2/2010.

Nope he certainly could NOT be a red leader. ...

The owner of BOTH branches is most likely the one who answered your emails and she is most always at the Asok branch.

She is one of the nicest thai language school owners I've ever had the chance to meet. She genuinely has the desire to teach thai to foreigners. The vast amount of text books, the accompanying home-workbooks, all the extra hand-outs and supplemental learning materials which she has reflect this philosophy.

I sat several different levels of classes at her school, and enjoyed them all. I also reviewed her school in the "Best Thai Language School" thread pinned at the top of this forum. Here's the review I did of the school;

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Thai-Languag...t&p=3301350

I think the Phaya Thai branch is a ‘pilot’ program designed to teach thai to people whose native language isn’t english, and there by opening her market more to that demographic. I wholeheartedly concur, that a school would try another method to teach thai, speaks volumes about their sincerity and their drive to teach.

After I wrote the review they partnered up with the guy who developed the "Rapid Method" system. This is an overview from their website;

http://www.thaisolutions1502.com/our-methods/#rapid-method

Good luck,

tod

I can only repeat, the EC is firm and fair.

Just an FYI about the Election Commission and a little about Abhisit's "claim to fame" in the current state of events;

Election Commission;

All Commissioners are recommended with the advice of the Senate of Thailand for a term of seven years. The current Commission was appointed on 20 September 2006 (immediately after the 2006 coup). Hmm, who exactly was in charge then? It wasn't Anupong was it? (That's like saying Fox News in the US is "fair and balanced".)

A little bit about the history with the Demz and Abhisit Vejjajiva and the current recommendation by the E/C

Abhisit has been the leader of the Democrat Party since February 2005. Abhisit successfully ran for MP in Bangkok under the Democrat Party following the 1991 NPKC military coup. Abhisit quickly rose through party ranks but failed in a bid to become party leader in 2001. He was accused of covering up illegal donations by failed petrochemical firm TPI Polene to the Party during the run-up to the 2005 elections.

Abhisit boycotted the subsequent 2006 elections. Abhisit voiced displeasure at the 2006 coup that overthrew Thaksin, but otherwise did not protest it or the military junta that ruled Thailand for over a year. An Attorney-General's Office fact-finding panel found that the Democrat Party bribed other parties to boycott the 2006 elections to force a constitutional crisis, and recommended dissolving the Democrats. The new Constitutional Court acquitted Abhisit and the Democrats of the vote bribery charges, while banning Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party for the same charges. (Quite the double edged sword)

It is far from as cut and dried as one might think that an EC ruling recommending dissolution of a political party will actually result in that party's dissolution. Certainly it is not the 'slam dunk' win the Redz are playing it up to be. Ultimately it rests with the OAG to decide whether the evidence warrants forwarding the case to the Constitutional Court, and then again with that court to decide whether the evidence warrants dissolution.

It is a LONG drawn out fairly convoluted process and not something that's gonna happen tomorrow. Although with that being said, there have been times in the recent political past where the proverbial wheels of justice have turned quite a bit faster than normal, so who can really know.

I concur this was the E/C handing a 'hot-potato' off to the OAG, and now they hafta hand it off to the Constitutional Court. Shrewd move on the E/C.

(edited for sa-pelling, but still probably got some wordz worng <sic> )