hanuman1

When a law like LM becomes so politicized, and going soft on it could contribute to a coup, you just know that people like this are NOT going to get out any time soon.

Just part of the price of maintaining a facade of democracy in this land we love.

Post deleted, Do not attempt to lead other members down a path that contravenes forum rules

Sorry, what I meant to say of course is that I can't believe how lucky we are to have the army protecting us and state institutions from some bad things that can happen.

Indeed.

And since my post led you to act by posting here, I guess The Nation would have me down as a 'TV Leader'. I suddenly feel an added sense of responsibility to my important role here.

Sorry to say it will probably be an honorary position (i.e. no financial compensation), but the feeling of added sense of responsibility is reward enough in itself I assume.

I fear that my own feelings about my new position would be quite lost amid the conflicting attitudes among the general (farang) public towards what it is to be a TV Leader and TV itself. In fact, I'm thinking about retiring. I don't need all this extra pressure, man. They don't even know me!!!

You disappoint me, old thing. For a wee moment I thought you did this out of an altruistic attitude. With any pressure only what you felt rather than what others applied or tried to apply.

Aww. I bet you say that to all the left-wing/liberal/maoist/red/fascist/Thaksin/terrorist/communist/PTP - loving posters on this forum.

Totally correct, my dear chap. These eight are not just common red-shirt, or even UDD leaders. No, not at all. These were just the red-shirts leading other red-shirts in torching a BBL branch.

One can't be too precise in ones accusations.

Indeed.

And since my post led you to act by posting here, I guess The Nation would have me down as a 'TV Leader'. I suddenly feel an added sense of responsibility to my important role here.

Sorry to say it will probably be an honorary position (i.e. no financial compensation), but the feeling of added sense of responsibility is reward enough in itself I assume.

I fear that my own feelings about my new position would be quite lost amid the conflicting attitudes among the general (farang) public towards what it is to be a TV Leader and indeed about TV itself. In fact, I'm thinking about retiring already. I don't need all this extra pressure, man. They don't even know me!!!

8 Red Shirt Leaders? Another example of political bias sh1tting over journalistic integrity from The Nation.

Identifiable red shirts clearly shown up as having done wrong? Call them Red Shirt Leaders!!!!

Nice going, Nation. You just brainwashed another few farangs into a state of hard-line, misinformed anti-red sentiment. Just as planned.

Totally correct, my dear chap. These eight are not just common red-shirt, or even UDD leaders. No, not at all. These were just the red-shirts leading other red-shirts in torching a BBL branch.

One can't be too precise in ones accusations.

Indeed.

And since my post led you to act by posting here, I guess The Nation would have me down as a 'TV Leader'. I suddenly feel an added sense of responsibility to my important role here.

8 Red Shirt Leaders? Another example of political bias sh1tting over journalistic integrity from The Nation.

Identifiable red shirts clearly shown up as having done wrong? Call them Red Shirt Leaders!!!!

Nice going, Nation. You just brainwashed another few farangs into a state of hard-line, misinformed anti-red sentiment. Just as planned.

I've got to agree with the OP. That jolly GH jingle drives me nuts too - several trips a day sometimes for about five months and I'll probably never forget it. Big C's "Shopping Station, Shopping Season" comes a close second and both should be classed as dangerous weapons. Sylvia's Mother heads my all time list of things-that-go-round-and-round-in-your-head and I hope never to have to hear it again.....

A war crime in the battle between consumerism and common sense, Big C's "Shopping Station, Shopping Season" was an atrocity.

Have been in Global House many times but never heard an annoying jingle. To discover something that undercuts "Shopping Station, Shopping Season" being played at GH is like discovering that your best mate beats his wife. And kids.

It is not going to happen, they can't even build decent roads for ordinary cars to travel on, let alone F1 cars.

Au contraire, I've no doubt a shiny new circuit could be built to rival the best looking tracks in the world. As long as they didn't want to come back the following year...

I just got back from Vientiane.

For the past 6 years I got the 90-day non-O visa on the basis of having a Thai child using my son's birth certificate, his tabien baan and my passport picture page. 3 photocopies. That was all and it worked fine.

3 months ago when I applied with the same 3 things, they said that next time I should also bring a photocopy of my wife's ID card.

So this time, that's what I did, and also had the mother write a couple of lines on the photocopy saying that I was indeed the father of the child. Signed by her.

Bearing in mind the discussion on this board about needing to go through courts etc to legitimize fatherhood (I'm not legally married to the mother in Thailand, and he's 5 years old), I asked the woman at the Thai consulate if the documents I was presenting now would also be enough if I came back and applied again in 3 months and she said yes, they would be fine.

She did also say that it would be good if I included a photocopy of the mother's tabien baan, but I didn't ask if its absence would be a deal-breaker or not, and got the impression that it wasn't an absolute necessity, just an added plus point. Got the visa no problem.

So no panic about requiring lawyers, court orders etc either now or in the foreseeable future to get a non-O visa in Vientiane, at least.

Hope this helps someone.

Maybe not quite that easy, SB2, as I believe there are several other cases remaining outstanding that cannot be heard until his return.

So it could in fact be substantially more than the 2 years, depending on the outcomes of those cases.

Does anyone know why Thaksin can't be tried in absentia for the outstanding cases?

One would imagine - after the lack of success in getting him to return home and stand trial over the past number of years - that seeing these outstanding cases settled one way or another would move the current impasse along.

One CAN be tried in absentia here provided they were present to hear charges laid against them; Thakisn was not.

Perhaps a phone-in could satisfy this requirement.

Flippant though your remark seems to be, I wonder why this is not considered as a possible way forward.

Presumably, both sides would want to resolve the issue of these outstanding charges and doing it as a trial in absentia seems a less contentious and volatile way than having Thaksin suddenly appear at Swampy, and a clear progression in this political stalemate that has been stifling the country's development for years now.

May be Red and Yellow should work together to stop future coups, and bring Thaksin home to serve his 2 years.

Maybe not quite that easy, SB2, as I believe there are several other cases remaining outstanding that cannot be heard until his return.

So it could in fact be substantially more than the 2 years, depending on the outcomes of those cases.

Does anyone know why Thaksin can't be tried in absentia for the outstanding cases?

One would imagine - after the lack of success in getting him to return home and stand trial over the past number of years - that seeing these outstanding cases settled one way or another would move the current impasse along.

The guys with the tools need to eavesdrop and record this maniac's phone calls. If proof were found that he instructed Yingluck to do anything, and she followed it through, then she would be ousted immediately, and this whole shambles of an organised red-shirt govenment would be disbanded once and for all!

-mel.

Are you implying that so far there has been no proof that Mr T has instructed Yingluck to do something and she has followed through with it?

Say it ain't so!!!

This is the perfect opportunity for PTP to show moral fortitude, impress voters and install a more TV-friendly cabinet minister in Chalerm's place.

Like the Khumer Rouge, if you don't fall inline they will shoot you? Do I dare say it: this is fascism?

You forgot to say that prior to shooting you, they will eat your babies and forcibly cancel your spouse's account on Thai Visa. Despicable.

Thanks for the laugh.

You may laugh, but red violence knows no bounds. The latest unbelievable and wholly unsubstantiated rumor is that there's a red splinter cell operating in Mukdahan that is training dogs to deliver ordinance to targets. They are apparently copying a little-known IRA tactic employed on the British mainland in the mid 90's.

Surely it can't get any lower than this......?

Next it will be Red Thailand! BTW, what happens if you live in a village that becomes a Red village but you aren't a red? Do you opt out of this...erm... democracy... or stay yellow, or try to mix in and turn a kind of orange, or go multicoloured or try to preserve your village life and go green. The Thai political spectrum is truly amazing.

Like the Khumer Rouge, if you don't fall inline they will shoot you? Do I dare say it: this is fascism?

You forgot to say that prior to shooting you, they will eat your babies and forcibly cancel your spouse's account on Thai Visa. Despicable.

I could care less, yes, I think it's an Americanism. I grew up with it. Saying or hearing I couldn't care less sounds funny to me. The usage is not going away.

Personally, I agree with the theory that the seemingly odd usage was due to the cultural influence of Yiddish language irony/sarcasm on American pop culture. There aren't a lot of Yiddish speakers left alive but there were many in our cultural capital New York at a seminal time. But if you want to think we're just stupid and don't know what we're actually saying, we could care less.

As Liberman observed in a 2004 post at Language Log, “could care less” is not uniquely odd. Its pattern is familiar in other phrases like “I could give a dam_n” (and its ruder variants), and in the lyrics of Sammy Cahn’s 1940s classic, “I Should Care.” But whatever its sources — sarcasm, irony, Yiddish, or (as its detractors say) ignorance — “could care less” is snugly embedded in the American idiom. Yet the complaints keep rolling in.

http://www.word-dete...ould-care-less/

Well, I could care a lot less about your kind explanation, so thank you for that.

I could careless who she wants to sleep with if it's the same species.

The first three words of that make no sense whatsoever - is it some sort of faranglish truncation of what should actually be five words?

I don't get this terminology either, though I see a lot of people say they

'could care less'

when the gist of what they're saying is that in fact they

'couldn't care less'.

If you could care less, surely it means that to a certain extent, you do care since it is possible to care less.

If you couldn't care less it means that you are at the zero level of caring, as it is impossible to care less than not at all.

If it's an American thing, maybe an American person can explain it to me. As an Englishman, I naturally find this use of the English language annoying of course, but have up till now kept my annoyance to myself. But since you've brought it up....

Hi guys, I'd just like to thank everyone for their kind advice.

I haven't got onto the engine/clutch part yet and feeling quite apprehensive about it, but I'll let you guys know how it unfolds.

At the moment I'm doing reccies for a local welder and the pulley wheel I need to weld onto the (active) rear axle.

Thanks again!

So, they're trying to plant trees to prevent runoff causing flooding....

Yay for Red Deforestation!

... if the overwhelming sentiment on this forum is any indication of the world's view of the Thai incompetence and mis-handling of this increasing threat, the Thais might want to consider getting a top drawer foreign public relations consultant.

... for all the Thai government's mis-spent pronouncements that "There is no terrorism" (Minister Chalerm), and "I guarantee your safety" (Prime Minister Yingluck), they would do well to recruit someone who understands normal human behavior and how to honestly relate to the world of normal humans what is really happening here.

... Thais certainly don't understand normal human behavior ... as they are proud of saying themselves, "Thais are different" ... they sure got that right!

... if the Thai elites want to continue misleading their own people with these imbecilic charades, so be it ... but, they do so while displaying to the world their incompetence and the values of a lesser civilization ... (think, third world feudal nations) ... pathetic, really, and so very painful to watch ... a nation of children, truely.

if the overwhelming sentiment on this forum is any indication of the world's view of the Thai incompetence and mis-handling of this increasing threat,.....

Don't worry, the overwhelming sentiment on this forum is usually pretty dam_n far away from the world's view of anything at all to do with Thailand.

Using the often-touted method advocated by some on this board of apportioning blame to whoever benefits from certain criminal activity, I see the US coming out of this in a very good light.

Not blaming the US for this, just highlighting the fundamentally flawed method some people around here use to apportion blame when it comes to beating up on their favorite political targets.

oops...

The way I see it, it could have gone one of two ways:

Don't legalize it - it will continue just as it has done in the past.

Legalize it - it will continue just as it has done in the past, but with the potential to tax it.

There is nothing in history to suggest a government of any persuation would stop it happening in any case.