allan michaud

Would seem that most posters did not read the first line of the piece in which the author made it clear why you used the term racism.

By political racism I mean total discrimination against those with differing political views who - once categorised as belonging to the opposite political camp - induce a sense of hatred and discrimination.

Partisanism does not adequately describe what the author is talking about. This goes beyond just a blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance. It’s about just because somebody disagrees with one part of your viewpoint, you must be an evil person that supports everything bad that you oppose.

Many of us have had, or at least attempted to, discussion with CalgaryII. In virtually every case when faced with a reasoned balanced point, the response has been one of categorizing the person as a yellow shirted, coupeist, Bangkok elitist amart.

There is no room for agreement on anything, you are either like me or I hate you. I think the term political racism is pretty accurate as that is exactly how a true racist reacts to someone of another race he hates.

TH

Nice post good to see someone actually reading the article.

Pheu Thai Party List MP Sanoh Thienthong disclosed that the amnesty bill is likely to be proposed by the Pheu Thai Party, not by the government."

Eh? <deleted>, so we have 2 Pheu Thai Parties? One running the country one not?

He asserted that the bill will certainly be introduced because the current condition is ripe for national reconciliation, as the government and the armed forces are having an understanding.

That would be "Our lord and master gets off scott free and none of you get prosecuted for anything you might have done"

Sanoh added that the proposed political amnesty should not be opposed by the public if the recommendations from the House reconciliation committee are followed.

Why not? they are the voters, it is their right to disagree if they wish.

The senior Pheu Thai MP also said that the resistance from the Opposition's Democrat Party on the bill should be ignored for the sake of reconciliation.

Again, <deleted>? So how do you get reconciliation if you ignore the other side?

Sanoh also alleged that former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra may have to forfeit his claim on 46 billion baht seized from him in order to receive amnesty.

At last something vaguely sensible. Yes he stole most of it by having his cronies change the telecoms regulations so yes he has to pay it back... and probably a lot more truth be told.

He pointed to the 1997 Charter in which the independent monitoring organizations were given too much power and resulted in legal confusions.

Wow and I thought it was the other way around as the Big T managed to worm his way around all the 1997 clauses meant to stop people like him abusing power.

Absolute brain donor

Talks of assasination, yellow shirt protests, coups, now you know how far his enemies will go to keep this popular hero to the majority of Thai people from returning to this country.

Oh please, change the damned record mate. Less than 75% of Thais voted in the last election and of those just over half voted PT. There is no way on earth anyone with half a brain can claim 100% of those, voted purely for Thaksin. Even if they all did as you claim then you still have considerably less than half the (voting) population. It's simply a matter of numbers, although clearly you don't like to let the facts get in the way of good old fashioned rhetoric.

Rather thoughtless use of the word "Flood" in the title.

My thoughts exactly, I see no mention of floods

If the 5.3 afterquake today is huge, what was the 8.7 quake last week??

According to the Richter Scale a 5.3 quake is 4000 times weaker than a 8.7 quake, so definitely no need for a Tsunami warning.

Sorry but that's far too simplistic, the damage inflicted is directly related to the depth of the quake so on their own the numbers don't mean that much.

Then why not grant a re-trial so he can return. I don't blame him not wanting to spend 2 years in a Thai jail and what about thos in the democrat party who were involved in the ordering of troops to fire live rounds at red shirt protesters 2 years ago. Will they be brought to justice? Wipe the slate clean, let Thaksin come back and move on, that's what the majority want not just Thaksin.

Don't wipe any slate clean! If the Democrat Party is responsible for crimes against society, let them go to prison for it! They would fully deserve it. But first have an independent investigation in what really happened, don't you think that's fair. You might be surprised to find out who bankrolled and ignited these killings. Also let's look at the War on Drugs, Tak Bai and other incidents during previous governments. Let's investigate that as well, just in respect for the families of those who were killed.

Your remark of a re-trial is ridiculous, sorry to say so, but 'If you can't do the time, don't do the crime' mister Thaksin.

Didn't Abhisit propose that a possible amnesty would not involve himself, Suthep and Thaksin?

I wholeheartedly agree, Thailand needs to start investigating and locking up these so called leaders for the various crimes they have committed (on both sides). No more, mai pen rai, no more talk of amnesty, no more inactive posts. JAIL!

Lets face it you couldn't go too far wrong if you simply turned parliament and the police HQ into jails.

The Thais, that is the majority of Thais have already decided and always believed in Thaksin. Why do you think his sister is PM, because the majority voted for her because of who she is the sister of. The sad fact is that the country is split between the majority (the poor Thai people) and the minority ( the power hungry rich elite) who think that the poor are their servants and incapable of voting because they believe they are uneducated buffalos.

Absolute twaddle, I know plenty of Red Shirts who understand very well just what a self serving scumbag Thaksin really is. They still vote for PTP becuase they really hate the Dems and the Hi So's, who they know will not do anything for them. It's very much a case of which bunch of thieving scumbags do you want to vote for. For most they know that the Big T has given them something, 30 baht health care, housing whereas historically the Dems did nothing. I understand why people vote for PTP but to claim that they all want Thaksin back is complete rubbish.

From several news reports I've read, it was not "thousands" of Thais that went to see him ... it was less than one thousand.

Far beit for me to support the big T in any way but the Cambodian immigration said 7,400 odd red shits went through Arranyapathet where they took several hundred buses to Siem Reap. Still well short of the 10's of thousands some Red's have tried to claim. But, they were all getting free transport, accommodation and entry to Angkor so it was still mostly a rent a crowd and so nothing to be proud of.

Then why not grant a re-trial so he can return. I don't blame him not wanting to spend 2 years in a Thai jail and what about thos in the democrat party who were involved in the ordering of troops to fire live rounds at red shirt protesters 2 years ago. Will they be brought to justice? Wipe the slate clean, let Thaksin come back and move on, that's what the majority want not just Thaksin.

No its not what the majority want, just because PTP won doesn't mean all the votes were also for Thaksin to be let off scot free. I agree we need to see a lot of the Dems prosecuted too, lets face reality here most Thai politicians, on either side, deserve to be in jail for one reason or another. Red, yellow or otherwise, they are all self serving with no genuine consideration for the people.

So , it's pretty clear.

About 50,000 people attended.

Looks like Calgary had a point.

Calgary's point being that you can make up numbers as you go? 50000 people expected to go to Ankor Wat, not 50.000 Red Shirts crossed the border to stroke Thaksin's ego.

LOL. Yes, these Thais were going to take advantage of the freebie at the wat. RRRRRRRRRRRRRight.

After you get tired of treading in the sea of farang despair, please have the decency of apologizing to Calgary before you drown.

Thanks.

So are you suggesting that in a normal year no Thais would visit Angkor during the holiday? Laughable to say the least, especially given the Khmer figures of less than 8,000 red shirts. Trying to claim all 50,000 Thais taking a holiday in Siem Reap are there for your lord and master is pathetic.

To me the great unanswered question is if the oft quoted opinion of "Thaksin should return and serve his sentence" were to come true then what then? You've got a "clean slate" Thaksin on your hands with a sister as PM. Hardly an ideal situation for his Democrat etc "fan club". I can hardly see him simply buying a motorcycle combo and riding around selling luk chin in his dotage.

He is a Messias, a Messias can´t go to prison.

"He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy"

I have alway said if you wanted to create a holiday that would kill the most amount of people, Songkran is perfect. Everybody gets drunk, rides around on motorbikes, then people standing on the road throw buckets of ice water into the faces of the riders. Not really sure why, but somehow a charming and beautiful Thai holiday has morphed into a killing machine. But things will not change unless there is bad international press about a holiday that kills so many people. Then the concept of national face will kick in, and action may occur.....

Agreed but "May occur" are the operative words here. I think its disgraceful how a buddhist ritual has been turned into this annual slaughter.

Maybe it has something to do with being Budhist, afterall they believe in re incarnation and so maybe everyone just thinks Mai pen rai? It could just be selfish stupidity and a general lack of common sense though.

Any comments from the Yingluck groupies?

Yep, predictably conspicuous by their absence. Come on guys we could all do with a laugh.

"..................................during a red shirt anti-government protest..................."

It is these seemingly innocuous, off-the-cuff references to R'song stated as fact, are 'in fact' misleadingly designed, historically revisionist statements............. R'song was not an anti-govt. protest.....it was an anti-coup protest. This kind of revisionism is simply Coupists trying to hide behind anti-Govt. rhetoric...... What protesting taxpayers fought and died for, was not against any Govt., but against the theft of their political rights - the right to be governed by those they select..........Hence their mantra about early elections, that were violently suppressed and denied by those who feared losing them, as indeed happened last year...........To this Opposition who will be faced with the truth of what they did, as described above, any progress to that objective would be a 'rushed". They want to drown this thing in interminable processes until it fails just by the sheer weight of itself.

"..................................during a red shirt anti-government protest..................."

It is these seemingly innocuous, off-the-cuff references to R'song stated as fact, are 'in fact' misleadingly designed, historically revisionist statements............. R'song was not an anti-govt. protest.....it was an anti-coup protest. This kind of revisionism is simply Coupists trying to hide behind anti-Govt. rhetoric...... What protesting taxpayers fought and died for, was not against any Govt., but against the theft of their political rights - the right to be governed by those they select..........Hence their mantra about early elections, that were violently suppressed and denied by those who feared losing them, as indeed happened last year...........To this Opposition who will be faced with the truth of what they did, as described above, any progress to that objective would be a 'rushed". They want to drown this thing in interminable processes until it fails just by the sheer weight of itself.

"..................................during a red shirt anti-government protest..................."

It is these seemingly innocuous, off-the-cuff references to R'song stated as fact, are 'in fact' misleadingly designed, historically revisionist statements............. R'song was not an anti-govt. protest.....it was an anti-coup protest. This kind of revisionism is simply Coupists trying to hide behind anti-Govt. rhetoric...... What protesting taxpayers fought and died for, was not against any Govt., but against the theft of their political rights - the right to be governed by those they select..........Hence their mantra about early elections, that were violently suppressed and denied by those who feared losing them, as indeed happened last year...........To this Opposition who will be faced with the truth of what they did, as described above, any progress to that objective would be a 'rushed". They want to drown this thing in interminable processes until it fails just by the sheer weight of itself.

Total codswallop, you're frothing again

If you have problems with this I'm willing to use a larger font, but the mod's tend to dislike that:

"Because our self-styled dictator was happily busy to undermine all democratic statues and move his family members in positions to 'ensure' conformance. Doesn't mean a coup was rushed, but explains why a coup was set."

I dont have any problem with my vision. Maybe your vision of democracy is a bit blurred. An election had been set for September originally but October in reality. What would have been the problem of waiting a month or so and then contest the election and win it , you know, democratically? As Thaksin was obviously the anti-christ in most peoples minds at this point it shouldn't have been too hard to garner support.

Your vision may not be a problem, may be just reading / understanding. I know English is a difficult language, even for English.

So let me try for a last time:

"Because our self-styled dictator was happily busy to undermine all democratic statues and move his family members in positions to 'ensure' conformance. Doesn't mean a coup was rushed, but explains why a coup was set."

This is pointless. Good night.

I understand where he is coming from, I think it is very clear “why” the coup happened.

Thaksin put his family members in charge of the police, the military and was well on the way to total control, a coup was inevitable. He made it possible for himself to buy ITV the only non-government run TV station, began suing any and all journos that said anything untoward in an effort to gag the press. He was very clearly after total control. These are the actions of pretty much every dictator in history. As someone else pointed out he was also doing a great job of taking the trough away from the Hi So’s, which was probably the last straw.

There are of course his many other questionable actions. Almost his very first action as PM in 2001 was to have his cronies pass legislation that benefitted his company, by as much as Baht 20billion annually by some estimates. Then we have covering up bird flu; 2,500 people murdered; tax avoidance; dodgy land deals; gov’t loans to Burma to be spent with his company and numerous other things he did, none of which were of any benefit to Thailand. Anyone who mentions Thaksin and democracy in the same breath must be blind.

I want to make this clear I think the Dems/HiSo’s are no better, but Thaksin is a very nasty piece of work who will stop at nothing. He is in every sense of the word a megalomaniac and while he is around I fear for my sons future growing up in this country.

PAD is brewing up.

Next time it won't be just taking the Airports, but something more that important and meaningful to Thai people.

Som tam stalls????

all these farlangs thinking they know better, it is for the thai people to decide the outcome of there own country, not just a hand full of farlangs that know nothing.

I wonder whether the Red Shirts actually know anything about the history of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen's background and how he came to power.

My wife is a typical issan girl and had no idea war was still going on in Cambodia right up to 1998. Education, as we all know, is not Thailands strong point. Lets face it Thai's deserve an alternative to red or yellow, many redshirts i have met don't trust thaksin either, they know he's a thief. But they feel there is no alternative as the dems have long proved how little they care for the poorer members of society. I feel a political movement that echoes many of the red ideas but doesnt support thaksin would pull a hell of a lot of votes from both sides of the colour divide.

Oh boy, here we go again. Another test for them to try and master without actually learning.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

Thai govt will tackle the problem of improving the countries PISA score by:

1. Trying to find someone to give a large brown envelope full of money to.

failing that

2. Tell teachers they must improve but offer no advice, training or money to do this.

3. If all else fails blame farangs.

So where are the Red fan boys on this post? where are the comments to back up PT in their continuing efforts to destroy the Thai economy.

I have yet to see even one sensible, well thought out idea for ANYTHING by PT. I am no fan of the Democrats and the thieving HiSo's but at least they seemed to have some idea how an economy works. These muppets are clueless.

Cue, the frothers to blame PTP and Thaksin for the drought conditions.

Please, try and engage your brain before you post! And if you do not have anything to say that will move the issue further, do not post at all. Please.

Really, look at some of the comments. I suggest you follow your own advice. The national government is not responsible for leaking pipes in the villages. it is the local administration. if some foreigners are that concerned, they should go and talk to the local chief. BTW, one respondent has illustrated my statement by intimating that the government is responsible for weather conditions.

Get a life and stop frothing

Here , here, I have never seen a more bloviating outpouring pile of gobiligook than this presented by the master of nonsensical , Khun Kavi.

As an American and a lover of Thailand , it disgust me to read of all the negativity presented by him as facts. The average Thai citizen would have absolutely no idea <deleted> he is talking about.

Neither does he

I note the PM says SHE didn't do it.... can we take it that means someone else did