jdinasia

geeze ... guess I am going out to dinner tonight .... maybe on top of some nice hotel on Sathorn .... I'll probably spend more than greenwanderer's monthly budget (not food budget --- total budget) During that time I'll ponder why this diatribe about soccer was not on the sports section

Not complicated? ... no not if you don't want to be able to speak what you read correctly!

otherwise it is incredibly complicated

3 classes of consonant with 5 tones .. tone markers do not mean the same thing for each class of consonant

3 classes of vowels that change the rules as well .... not to count the special classes of vowels

2 types of words depending upon the ending consonant .... also change the rules ...

easy to "read"? mostly if you exclude the special classes of vowels that are mostly found in proper names and words imported from Pali... but if you don't understand the other rules you'll never pronounce it correctly

your 1 month claim taken in that light is just silly! The best school program in Thailand gives 300 hours of classes to get people to the "basic" level" of understanding of Thai

Section 98 & ??? (I don't remember the other section) of the constitution, this has nothing to do with a quorum. A quorum of the house is stipulated in Section 155 At a sitting of the House of Representatives or the Senate, the presence of not less than one-half of the total number of the existing members of each House is required to constitute a quorum. The house has to sit prior and has enough members to form a quorum.

Well obviously, the Electoral Commission does not agree...

Your forget that the Constitution has been amended or Thailand has had in the past some ruling from the Constitutional Court regarding this matter.

If the House cannot be filled after the third round, the EC will ask the Cabinet's Secretariat and the Secretariat of the House of Representatives to seek the Constitution Court's advice, he said.

this morning, in the BBK post.

alas ... the new parlaiment would be sadly unconstitutional if seated that way because it did not open in time .... these elections were a farce ... have been shown as a farce ... but still they try!

The best article in my opinion so far:

Is that what friends are for?

Outgoing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has left Thailand on a trip to five countries: the UK, France, Russia, Japan and China.

Why? Thaksin said on Sunday that during his itinerary, he would brief leaders of each country on the current political situation in Thailand. He told reporters that the trip was "private" and he would meet leaders he regards as "friends".

But during his statement, he said that in Japan he would talk with Japanese leaders about the signing of a bilateral free-trade agreement, which has been postponed after the political crisis in Thailand. Thai media have reported that Thailand hopes to be able to sign the FTA with Japan by July. If this is a just private trip to visit friends, how can he discuss the FTA?

Streetwise's impression is that this trip is weird. The destinations are unmistakably the countries that have shown interest in joining the bidding for mass-transit mega-projects in Thailand. Thus, the trip sparks suspicion that it is connected with big bucks investment. Would part of Thaksin's conversations with the leaders be to assure them about the continuation of the projects, even if he steps down?

Next, as an "unemployed" politician, as he called himself, Thaksin is in no capacity to arrange such meetings. If these "friends" want to know about what's going on Thailand, why he did not simply dial their personal phone numbers? That is an intimate option that friends usually take.

Whatever. It is good to know that the government is not sponsoring this trip, as if to confirm that it is really "private".

But it's not a usual practice for former political party leaders or prime ministers to arrange such trips to say official goodbyes to their friends. This could set a whole new precedent for any number of successors.

Imagine all these politicians flying around the globe to brief their friends after their office days have come to an end. That should greatly raise aviation demand, with or without a huge increase in fuel bills.

Moreover, Thaksin might be willing to board planes as an ultra-frequent flyer for he'll have plenty of free time once out of office.

http://nationmultimedia.com/2006/04/25/bus...ss_30002442.php

We've heard similar things from Captain Outrageous on here ... "I was backstage with the leaders od PAD" ..... then later when called on it .... "not the LEADERS, just some academics" (not to mention being the only farang yelled at at Siam Paragon etc ;-) hel_l ... you can say anything!

yeppers ... I love the silly contention that the book will lead to facism! wheeeeeeeeeee there's a stretch from someone that says he just posts this to balance people that approve of PAD's actions

What do you want with you pointless snides?

You have sufficiently discredited yourself already with your comments on how you love and admire Chuvit the mafia godfather who was wellknown to have empoyed seriously underaged girls from Burma and Yunnan in his Massage Parlours (yes, i know he was not convicted for the usual reasons), who has hired a few hundred naklaeng to evict illegaly businesses who had legal contracts on the plot of land that now houses the latest park on Sukkhumvit.

If Chuvit represents "democracy", "transparency" and the upkeep of "human rights" in your view, then we know already where you come from.

Gotta love this post .... everyone else got the humor in my Chuwit post but Captain Outrageous .... or did he get it and instead of addressing the silly contention that the book would lead to facism .... so he does a quick trollish aside to make it about Chuwit?

The TRT now has some MPs (even if elected a bit suspiciously) in the South. If parliament is allowed to convene by the CC you will find that the TRT, through the government, pours vast amounts or farm-aid, support and other perks into those new MP's ridings very fast. This would be very bad news for the Democrats. People in neighboring ridings would see this and be more willing to vote for the TRT the next time, it's only natural to want what your neighbor has, especially if that is jobs, infrastructure or just perceived better living conditions.

Now HERE is a funny post ......

let me paraphrase ..... "now that TRT has people in the south .... even though they are illegitimate ... the people in the south will forget Tak Bai ... they will forget Martial Law ... they'll forget everything! They'll just suck at the public tit and be happy!"

http://www.relaxingsauna.com/

was reading one of the "secret" Thai gay websites and ran across this

if you are staying FREE? go for it

other than that ... that road gets jammed up BAD

anyways ... knowing the alphabet only helps when you know the rules that go with them ....

very complicated iff you want to be able to say what you read

yeppers ... I love the silly contention that the book will lead to facism! wheeeeeeeeeee there's a stretch from someone that says he just posts this to balance people that approve of PAD's actions

actually they are promoting Thai CC's to Thai people ... Thais know where to go .... but people LIKE to go to Singapore (Thais at least) ... it is different!

yes ... 25 baht for a newspaper! That's crazy!

Sounds like the difficult-but-not-impossible-to-obtain drug, Trollazapam, is responsible.

LOL 555555

Psychiatric services in Thailand are pretty poor ... but you did describe a schizophrenic ... may suck big time .. but if she is getting food and a place to sleep ... sounds better than her space on the streets ... (she's probably not getting any real treatment ... but who knows)

Life is good here ... if you need to dance 24/7 ... try someplace fun like ..... well ... can't really think of a place ... after all Singapore sure aint as fun as BKK

try he Thai Language sub-forum .... but the alphabet won't help you if you don't understand the classes etc ... so buy Thai For Beginners ... Benjawan Poomsan Becker

Tell her you will get her one of those giant checks like you see the lottery winners getting.

999,999

That;s a Hi-So type payment. Movie Stars etc.

Way out of line asking to show that kind of dough, up country in my opinion.

The people up there are sweet but dumber than dirt for the most part and anything can happen when you get a village full of drunks at a wedding.

Keep that kind of money in the bank.

This ain't kindergarden, you're the man, give the family 99,999 and forget about it. That's plenty.

They will respect you more if you don't let them jerk you around.

Fair but firm.

don't i remember a recent thread about 4 million baht .... houses ... drama?

Green ... so lets get this str8 ... you want Thailand to NOT develop or change ... and for e-pats not to spend $$ is that about it?

Opposition is not seeking "anarchy". Just the only pragmatic solution : a governement appointed by the King, and then new general elections in a few months. That's the only way to defuse the situation.

The problem with your thinking is that it will set a strong precedent. Every time a political party, no matter who they are, feels they will not win a majority they can boycott the election and seek to have the elected government deposed by the monarchy. It may be a good way to defuse the situation now but may not be in 5, 10 or 20 years.

TRT is going to seek this week a ruling from the CC, in order to by pass the rule of quorum.

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c'mon luk ... you understand what he means ... the same wording is used in the newspapers as well .... not a quorum to pass legislation etc ... but to convene the house ... simple ...

pedantry at its worst

TRT is going to seek an order from the CC re:- Section 98 & ??? (I don't remember the other section) of the constitution, this has nothing to do with a quorum. A quorum of the house is stipulated in Section 155 At a sitting of the House of Representatives or the Senate, the presence of not less than one-half of the total number of the existing members of each House is required to constitute a quorum. The house has to sit prior and has enough members to form a quorum.

I quit with Ando's responses ... they were done when the house dissolved .....

what the Democrats did was constitutional .... what the PAD did was true Democracy ...

Conveneing parlaiment without all constituencies being represented is truly undemocratic ... pretty simple really

Taiwan is part of China over thousand years, so they speak Chinese

Not quite. Taiwan was actually colonized by Chinese only over the past few hundred years. Prior to the late 17th century it was an island inhabited by "barbarians" speaking non-Chinese languages. Of course in the face of continued Han migrations to the island, these indigenous people have all but disappeared, the most likely fate for the Tibetan people as well, another land recently imagined as having been Chinese for millenia. Don't think that Thailand, also once perceived as a vassel State in some of the older Chinese chronicles, is immune to such historical musings as population presssures mount over the decades.

It is always a bit startling to observe well educated Chinese believe in some of the imagined history emanating from Bejing to justify their colonial endeavours.

Sorry to disturb the fascinating topic of speculating if Thaksin has maybe met foreign leaders or maybe not, might be going to, or not, may be lying, or not, but I beg to differ here in the question of China's claims on Tibet and Taiwan.The present political status of Taiwan is rather complex, but so far Taiwan has not officially declared independence, but considers itself still the sole legitimate government of unified China. And so does the PRC. Therefore it is not considered a nation, and does not consider itself an independent nation.

The Tibetan question is complex as well, but Tibet is not considered a independent nation as well, does not appear so in the UN list of independent nations. Tibet, or better Lhasa, declared independence in 1911, this though was neither accepted by China, nor by any other country in the world. Many feudal fiefdoms of Tibet have also not accepted Lhasa rule at the time. The government in exile, led by the Dalai Lama, presently does not claim independence as their goal, but wider autonomy. The more radical parts of the Tibetan resistence may claim independence, but their historical reasoning is at least as fishy as China's.

Fact is, that Tibet never really was a nation in the modern sense of nationhood, but a collection of feudal fiefdoms that for nearly a millenia were moving between being dominated and neglected by China depending on the strength of the dynasties.

Unfortunately the debate on Tibet is from both sides of the fence more dominated by propaganda and historical revisionism than facts, which does not really help to come to a solution.

Sorry to disturb this off topic bit of proselytizing ...... but the thread is .... Thaksin Returns to Thailand

Geeze ... take a few days off and Captain Outrageous is STILL at it ... but now it is not because he believes any of what he says ... it is to balance the anti-PAD folks

it just keeps getting sillier and sillier ... but I look forward to his next report from the dangerous crisis areas he goes to

I wonder if the people in the south and other places where TRT is not popular will eventually feel let down that they now have no real representation in the democratic process? The democrats and tag along minor parties choose to abandon their constituents by not participating in democracy. The people in these positions need only look to their own failed political candidates to see who let them down and denied them a voice in government.

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Ando ... scroll back a few months

this has been dealt with already. not worth dealing with you trolling to bring it back through and explain it to you.

the Thai language forums on Pantip might be useful ... that is where Bambina pulled the info for dog friendly hotels ....

and where my partner posts about cars ... etc

reading the story doesn't affect its meaning? but forget it ... you need for your guy not to be a laughingstock ... you are heavily invested there

Read the story ... before he went and after he returned ... then tell people he's not just trying to keep from looking like he was rebuffed ....

A really smart man would not have mentioned Bush or Blair before going if he didn't have an appointment ... but ... well ... maybe his astrologer told him to!