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DNPBC0
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Posts posted by DNPBC0
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The irony is that the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly is government owned and a good earner.
...and probably a 'good earner' for government officials. The Wikipedia article refers to US Court documents which in 2010 showed that three tobacco companies had paid US$1,238,750 in bribes to officials of the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly to secure sale prices:
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......... and the contribution of those who burn off land used for growing biofuel crops as opposed to, for example, rice is?
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As usual, no details of the sampling frame, the method of polling (eg questionnaire, structured interview) or the response rate. To suggest that the results indicate some commendation for Thailand's stability is beyond belief!
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Unless these Cambodians were an imminent theat to the lives of Thai soldiers or civilians, this appears to be clear case of extrajudicial killing and as such needs to be thoroughly investigated by the Thai authorities. Of course, the USA's model of blowing people to bits with drone rockets in Pakistan, Somalia and the Yemen on the pure suspicion that they are terrorists sets everybody sliding down this slippery slope.
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The dictator of Siam and puppet of the elite has spoken .......again. The subtext is as usual, "Democracy is fine as long as it doesn't get in my (ie our) way."
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The current dictator of Siam and puppet of the elite has spoken .... again.
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"SET President Charamporn Jotikasthira, addressing the seminar, said the impact on Thailand from the European Union’s economic crisis, including SET-listed companies, has been slight."
I suppose it depends on what he means by 'slight', but see this item also on MCOT today:
http://www.mcot.net/cfcustom/cache_page/406499.html#.UD3bMOSX6-I.twitter
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'Mega-infrastructure investment' in exactly what? .....And, when he tells us, how exactly will the specific projects help Thailand? If the European crisis doesn't hit Thailand, an ensuing global recession certainly will. If this doesn't happen, then the continuing increase in demand for oil and rise in the price of oil will wreak major havoc in Thailand.
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Pangasius (a freshwater catfish, also known as cobbler or basa fish or bocourti) is sometimes sold as cod in UK fish-and-chip shops because it's very much cheaper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basa_fish
I cook it - for me the flavour is not as good as fresh cod, but it's OK, and I'm getting used to it.
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It's a scam. For example, none of the expelled stringy mucous stuff or rabbit-like droppings are observed during colonscopy which is performed after a simple laxative has done its job, and if you had viewed the inside of the colon on a video screen during colonscopies, as I have, you would know that no such contents could possible exist without being clearly visualised. The products collected in the collanders come from the various 'cleansing agents' which the customers swallow, and which form chunks or expand into rope-like shapes ("rubbery brown flatworms") as they pass through the gastrointestinal tract. The feelings of increased energy and clear-headedness are the direct results of fasting and associated physiological effects, and they are very temporary adn no more meaningful than the effects of a mind-altering drug.
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The Nation article fails to mention that 100% of people will die. The question implied by the article then becomes how can we toss in the towel for the least cost. The answer is, of course, die as soon as possible, thereby avoiding the medical and related costs which would have accumulated over the years of a longer life. Die young, folks - it saves money.
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I am not in any way a supporter of tobacco smoking, and I would certainly strongly discourage anyone from starting to smoke. It's a very powerful addictive habit, and the regular smoking of cigarettes reduces life-expectancy by around 12-15 years. However, I do wish the anti-smoking lobby would stop regurgitating misleading and incorrect propaganda:
- smoking does not actually kill anyone, and we all eventually die. Smoking does make it more likely that we will die of certain diseases rather than others, and it clearly results in dying sooner rather than later, but slogans like 'smoking kills xxx people every year' are simply nonsense.
- smoking does not increase health costs. There are no health costs when you are dead. When the years of shortened life-span are taken into account, the life-time health costs of smokers are less than those of non-smokers. http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050029
Anti-smoking propaganda also distracts attention away from other very serious health risks, especially the increased risks associated with traffic pollution, which is a major problem in Thai cities. The problem here is made much worse by the large number of 2-stroke motorbikes. These produce as much harmful pollution per km (some argue more) as the family car, because the engines are less efficient burners of fuel than 4-stroke engines, and they are not fitted with catalytic converters. While most smokers these days do attempt to avoid situations in which non-smokers breathe in their smoke, I wonder how many of us are willing to consider the health of pedestrians and those in houses or schools when we drive past them..
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Australia is a rice producer and exporter of medium grain rice, the size of the crop limited by water availability. Around 1 million tonnes/year is grown with the highest yield/hectare (around 10, Thailand 3.3) and lowest water usage in the world, and of course FAR fewer people employed so much higher incomes.
Can you imagine the look on Yingluk's face if it was suggested we could teach Thais how to grow rice.
I suspect the same lack of efficiency operates for all Thailand's agricultural products. Yet, here we are surrounded by areas of increasing food deficits with a huge market potential if only Thailand could pull it's finger out and improve its productivity and agricultural systems.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/05/daily-chart-17?fsrc=nlw
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Great news from the PM of Thailand. It shows some vision for the future at a time when global food security is increasingly threatened by population growth, water shortages, energy uncertainties and climate change. Thailand is in a good position to make a positive response, but farmers here are very badly remunerated, poorly resourced in terms of modern technology and seriously undervalued as keystones of the nation. I am hoping that Yingluk will lead a revitalisation of Thai agriculture and the status of farmers.
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The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.
The problem with capitalism is that it allows investment bankers to turn other people's money into global financial crises.
No, that's corporatism.
By far very different things, since both socialism and corporatism counts on the governments intrusion into the market place.
No. it's capitalism - a particularly rampant form of it. It was precisely the lack of government regulatory control of the financial market which allowed the investment banking system to create worldwide economic havoc.
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The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.
The problem with capitalism is that it allows investment bankers to turn other people's money into global financial crises.
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Minor earthquakes frequently precede major ones and to talk of the recent handful of small quakes being a good sign because they relieve tectonic pressure borders on the bizarre. The earthquake magnitude scale is logarithmic. This means, for example, that to release the energy of a magnitude 6 earthquake there would need to be 1000 magnitude 4 or 32,000 magnitude 3 smaller earthquakes.
The painful ignorance of the Director of the National Disaster Warning Centre comes as no surprise, but his failure to have his stupid statements checked by one of his team of scientists tells us that he is also dangerously arrogant.
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Let us hope the government starts listening to the military now and stop their impotent attempts to negotiate with groups they believe are in control.
On how exactly do you think/recommend the military will 'deal with it'?
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We can all keep track of things here:
http://water.rid.go.th/flood/flood/res_table.htm
Click on the reservoir (listed in column on left), and you will see a graph of levels for this year compared with the last two years.
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"She was also attempting to win the confidence of business people by affirming that Thailand has prepared measures to prevent a repeat of the flood crisis after massive floods in the country caused widespread damages."
Exactly what 'measures' and what exactly will be in place before this year's rainy season?
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He said the city administration has a direct responsibility to speed up the drainage of floodwater in the capital.
The central government did not interfere with flood control under the city jurisdiction, he said.
What was the Disaster Act enabled for? Did it get withdrawn?
There does seem to be considerable confusion about the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act 2007. To refresh everyone's memories, an English translation of the Act is here:
http://thailaws.com/law/t_laws/tlaw0397.pdf
Of course, as is usually the case in Thailand, there are two jokers in the pack: (1) how accurate the English translation is, and (2) how far the provisions of the Act can be ignored or bent by Thais.
If the translation is accurate, then my understanding is that under s.15 the BMA Governor has the responsibility for disaster prevention and mitigation in his own area until, and unless, he is over-ruled by the Commander in Chief (the PM says she is that?) under s.13.
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This should have been done two weeks ago at least.
But let's see what actually get's done to prepare for this disaster .... besides a press conference.
So far almost everything is a reaction .... haven't seen much significant preparation ... except the sandbag walls ... which only delay the floods.
The delay;s that the sandbags are providing should be used for evacuations and preparations.
I agree, especially since there is no special procedure for 'invoking' the Act or declaring a 'disaster'.
A full copy of the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act 2007 (English versions) is available here:
http://thailaws.com/...ws/tlaw0397.pdf
It is interesting to see that under the Act all provincial governors (including the BMA Governor) were expected to have prepared disaster plans by the end of 2009. I wonder where these are, or even if they were done. If not, then the governors should be held accountable for some of the chaos. Of course, TIT
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......"the flood water will be diverted to the least affected areas" = areas where the least important people live.
...."the prime minister refused to answer the question of whether the Chulalonkorn sluice gate will be opened or not" = she hasn't as clue as to what's actually happening, but then who does?
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Unsubstantiated assertions aside, I guess that no-one will really know how many were killed as a consequence of Thaksin's 'war on drugs' or how many innocent people died at the hands of the police. That's the problem. Unless the police and the criminal justice system abide by due process and unless homicide investigations are instigated, conducted, completed and reported according to established protocols, we are left floundering in doubt, debate and distrust, and the door is wide-open to those who believe that 'collateral damage' and extrajudicial killings are fine and dandy.
It's probably time to re-read the 2003 Amnesty International report, which clearly documents the lack of investigation and follow-up ( My link).
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Thai farmers threaten to occupy all rice warehouses after talks with Govt fail
in Thailand News
Posted
Maybe the farmers should seek Suthep's help in putting pressure on the EC to clearly agree that the caretaker government can borrow the money. While this seems to be the obvious solution, Suthep may feel that any solution would undermine his current anti-government rhetoric.