Ricardo

Every year or so our village near Mae-Jo has a 'clean-up day, when we all turn out armed with shovels or weed-wackers or whatever, to clean up the sides of the roads, cut the grass on the village petanque-field & market, paint the village-hall, or whatever.

Rather than 'hands-on' working, my wife and I were providing drinks, and using our pick-up to provide transport as-needed.

This year the paluang and his assistants had decided, it was time to clean-out and repair the local irrigation-ditches, digging out the mud & weeds and then using concrete to fix the holes, where the water leaks out. So we all arrived with buckets & shovels at-the-ready, and started clearing the silt & mud, to ensure that the water will be able to flow better, once the rains arrive.

About an hour after work commenced, we heard shouts go up, from the top end of the village, so we headed over there, to see what was going-on, and found the villagers closely examining some of the mud, recently excavated onto the side of the klong. Looking closely ourselves, we were surprised to see something glinting in the sunlight, scattered through the mud, and the paluang talking excitedly with the other villagers.

He took a sample of the mud, to send off to the Dept. of Metalllurgy, down at the local University, and has now apparently just got the results back, which he was announcing this morning, on the village loudspeaker-system. He says that there will probably be enough money to cover the cost of our annual sonkran-festival ceremony, where all the over-60s are blessed, and get a good meal & bag of 'goodies' to take home as well.

But I'm still not sure myself, I mean can it really be true, that there's gold 'in them thar hills' ?

Whatever one thinks of Thaksin, the sight of a former-PM calling for a coup or civil-war on the streets of his homeland is a sign of extreme desperation or mental-illness, and I would have thought it unlikely to help his repeated-demands for a pardon.

He has attacked Prem and the Privy Council before, look where that led, now he repeats the failed strategy. He simply fails to learn from experience. Not the sort of person who should be running the country, or indeed anything else, in the midst of a global economic crisis, when the country has more important things to worry about.

Good points, but......

From TOC

FLASH NEWS: Royal Household Bureau Denies Existence of Pardon Requests by Thaksin

UPDATE : 13 March 2009

The Royal Household Bureau reveals that it has never received any pardon request from former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Following news report by Japan Times that ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra has submitted, not one, but 3 requests for a royal pardon. But the Royal Household Bureau reveals that it has never received such a request from Thaksin.

Staunch supporter of Thaksin, Jatupron Phromphan, has also come out to clarify the matter. He explained Thaksin hadn't submitted a request for a royal pardon. According to Jatuporn, Thaksin merely submitted documents in his defence against the various charges which have been filed against him.

Fair comment, but it was reported as a request for a pardon, and the denial & explanation by Jatupron is a familiar Thaksin stratagem, saying different things to different people, then denying it all or spinning yet another version. One reason why many farangs no longer believe anything Thaksin says. It is all too open to reversal a day later.

Another good example is the promise, that all the upheaval will cease immediately he gets what he wants, while his followers are assured that this is a fight to the death, for justice and democracy. Pure B.S. throughout.

I heard from a regular tv channel (I think it was TNN. I was in the kitchen) that tomorrow morning Abhisit will go to GH. The reds said they will hear news around 3am to 8am and will wake up and run immediately to stop Abhisit.

Khun Thaksin has just finished the video link. He said if Army uses violence to the reds when the reds do not break law and have no weapons, he will be in Thailand and will lead the reds in provinces to enter Bangkok right away.

He said Kasit will take back his passport.

Koo, if this information is correct, than Thaksin is committing an act of High treason. proclaiming an civil-war from a foreign country could lead to capital punishment. I wonder how his host country think of that.

This is the end of thaksin, he must be realy desperate to proclaim such idioty.

I would agree.

Whatever one thinks of Thaksin, the sight of a former-PM calling for a coup or civil-war on the streets of his homeland is a sign of extreme desperation or mental-illness, and I would have thought it unlikely to help his repeated-demands for a pardon.

He has attacked Prem and the Privy Council before, look where that led, now he repeats the failed strategy. He simply fails to learn from experience. Not the sort of person who should be running the country, or indeed anything else, in the midst of a global economic crisis, when the country has more important things to worry about.

I suspect DTV would not have felt that welcome when PAD/ASTV were running their show inside GH last year.

But since DTV didn't start broadcasting until this January, that situation couldn't have happened, anyway.

For me the good news is, you now have a choice of two opposing points-of-view, in DTV & ASTV, which represents an improvement on just one or the other, depending on who was in power. Media freedom comes in small steps !

It is time to plant some line & lemon to flood the Thai market.

Perhaps China might oblige, as with pungent Thai garlic, then one might get a decent lime-cordial too !

In the past, when clearing protests, they sent new set of soldiers to do because old set understood the reason when hearing what protestors said.

Just like Somchai, sending in the border-police against the PAD, because the regular Bangkok cops weren't willing to behave like thugs for him, against people they knew ? Deja-vue all over again.

Right now there have been police with weapons seen near Government House.

Forgive me, but every policeman I ever saw in Thailand carries a hand-gun, so this is hardly earth-shattering news.

Yellows occupied Government House for 3 months and 2 airports at Bangkok for a week with no problem and reds are in danger now.

Selective memory Koo, to forget the five hundred people put in hospital on October 7th, or the dead. They too were normal well-meaning Thais like yourself.

(my comments above in red)

I hope it all stays quiet & peaceful, I particularly hope (whether you choose to believe me or not) that you yourself don't get hurt, but the rabble-rousing speaches you've previously described are not designed to keep things calm, Koo.

I'm also sorry that the number of protesters seems to be only a small fraction, of what you had hoped for, and been promised by your leaders. But I sincerely doubt that the country is ready for revolution, despite what Thaksin or Giles may say, from the safety of Africa or Nicaragua or Dubai.

What's a 'hoagie' ?

Two great nations, divided by a common language, but both blessed with a good sense of humour, thank the gods.

wait till they realise you can light your own farts - a dedicated baked bean consuming group could create enough gas to cause an international incident

I heard a rumour, Ryanair are considering using this potential new biofuel, to run their planes and sell tickets for less.

In the UK, lost-luggage is sometimes auctioned-off, for charity.

At the end of the day it is the Thai people who should decide who is PM.

Of course, but I don't have a problem with the current parliamentary system, although it is good to see, that not all MPs follow their party-line, when they think it's wrong. Kinda like recent USA in that, at least, with McCain sometimes supporting his former-opponent, for the good of the country.

A few more years and the five year ban will be lifted and it will be election time.

I'm not sure that the current coalition will last that long, given the tsunami of bad global-economic news, which is now impacting Thailand. Depends whether Thaksin can 'sell' the idea that this is the fault of the current government, but not also the fault of the previous two PMs.

I doubt very much abhisit will win the next election, he simply cant connect to the rural populace. They just wont vote for him.

But it will be interesting to see, does the current Democrat fairly-populist strategy work before then, in changing the support-base of the old TRT, in those rural areas which are loyal to Thaksin, which is by-no-means the whole of the country. Also can Thaksin still win an election, which isn't being organised by a government which he controls, an interesting question. I would suspect not, in the current state of his proxy-party, at least.

Thaksin only needs to continue to inspire his supporters, be patient, maintain momentum and hope, which is exactly what he is doing.

If he can do this, it will certainly impact the arguable slow downward-drift in his support-base to some extent, however there is the little problem of the outstanding sentence/unresolved-cases. Will he still prevail, if he can't actually campaign here, in person ?

About money, his funds may be dwindling but his family and friends have billions stashed away in the various corps, its enough for an extended campaign that can and will go on until next election.

If they continue to support him.

(my comments in red above)

i.e. a french fry sandwich with butter and ketchup (and they have the nerve to talk bad about our food).

No, a sandwich would imply, that it is made with sliced-bread. Although the original 'Earl of Sandwich' reportedly just cut the loaf in half, to insert his beef, hope there are no double-entendres there.

Anyway, aren't they supposed to have been renamed 'freedom-fries', in the New World ?

A legal amendment to three laws will be implemented later to nullify regulations permitting elephants as a carriage animal,

So no more elephant-rides, for the tourists, at the elephant-camps ? Seems unlikely.

Thanks, but at those prices, I'll just have a photograph of a drink ! It's a rum do.

The other things can be proceed when Thaksin comes back, but as he is a convicted criminal on the run the courts can not proceed.

h90,

I can't understand that.

We know you can't, which is why we keep trying to explain to you, the reason all these other cases are delayed, is because the 'hero of justice' has absconded, and is not in court to face the charges.

Not because he won't be found guilty of some/all of them, as he well knows, which is why he skipped bail.

By the way, may I say 'Thank-You' to you, for the photos of the rally, which you have been posting ? Also, as somone who has actually been there, what is your estimate, of the numbers of people there ? Are the various estimates, of 20-30,000 protesters, accurate or too high ?

Or even better, if slightly more fattening, a thread on 'chip-butties', a buttered burger-roll filled with English-style chips, best eaten with tomato-ketchup drizzled over the chips IMO !

I take it you mean neighbours.

Neighbors is the valid US spelling.

But only valid in the US.

Give it up man.

Trans. : Desist foul varlet !

This could be bad news for us Limeys.

Go Red Go! Let freedom ring...

Including perhaps the freedom to hold an Aids-awareness rally in Chiang Mai, or to be the father of a yellow-shirt, without getting murdered by red-shirts ? The freedom to travel to Chiang Mai, when you're a politician they don't like, without having eggs thrown at you, or having your hotel blockaded ?

And as I already commented previously, the freedom to travel to a peaceful-rally in Bangkok, without being stopped or turned-back by the police, regardless of what colour shirt you wear.

How about combining the best of both worlds, and starting a thread on fish-burgers, good idea or what ? !

Whether for times of growth, and new businesses starting-up, or decline, when they need people to close them down, there is always a demand for qualified experienced accountants. It can be well-paid and rewarding work.

Unfortunately a relevant degree is just the first step, and will get you credits towards a professional accountancy-qualification, but any of the serious institutes (recognised world-wide) will also require further study/examinations plus a lot of hands-on experience as well.

Where do you wish to work, in audit or tax-work, in public-finance or in industry or commerce, and what countries ? Are you being sponsored by a multinational or a major accountancy firm ? Will you work part/full-time while studying or just use the first-degree once-obtained as a springboard into employment and later qualification ?

Personally I'd say, a specific Business-Studies or Accountancy degree-course is a reasonable start, you might also consider adding languages or Marketing, as part of the mix, to improve your attractiveness to potential-employers, who will be looking for a proven ability to learn.

What colour shirts were this mob wearing??

Surely most TG staff wear purple uniforms ?

Certainly looks like some Democrats are in panic mode.

The earlier Nation news article said Suthep will remove governers and police who fail to stop demonstrators coming from the provinces.

So how he thinks he can stop the freedom of movement of innocent Thai people in their own country - whatever next...............

Perhaps he got the idea from the way first Thaksin, then later the PPP governments, tried to stop the yellow-shirts from getting to Bangkok for their peaceful protest-rallies ?

Whatever, I would agree, free (If not necessarily innocent) Thai people ought to be able to travel, without these attempts to restrict or control them. It doesn't work anyway.

The unexpectedly high number of abstentions among the opposition MPs was what irked the party's leadership the most. There were 12 each for the votes against four Democrat Cabinet members, including the prime minister. But in the case of Interior Minister Chaovarat Charnveerakul, the number of abstentions rose dramatically to 20, and for his Deputy Boonjong Wongtrairat it was 18.

The fact that Chaovarat is the leader of the Phum Jai Thai Party, and Boonjong of its deputies, underscores the emerging power of this third party that could pull the rug from under Thaksin's and Pheu Thai's feet.

What's worse, some of the cobras were ready to step out to explain why they had decided to ignore the party line. One told reporters: "For one thing, I used to work closely with Khun Chaovarat and Boonjong. It's hard for me to vote against them. For another, the opposition MPs' evidence against them was too weak to be convincing. So, I was following my conscience in casting the vote."

The rebels could, in fact, claim that they were doing more than just following their consciences. They could also claim they were exercising their constitutional right to a free vote. Unlike the 1997 constitution, the current charter doesn't bind MPs to their respective party lines in casting major votes.

It must be really irritating for PTP & its advisor, when votes have been bought-and-paid-for, that people insist on doing what they think is right, rather than doing as they're told !

Perhaps some recent convert to democracy might have to explain to these MPs, that democracy is not his aim, and all this stuff about 'fighting for democracy' is not meant to be taken seriously, or actually acted upon ?

Or does he just need to pay better ?

This would make a very funny story, except that the Bangkok Post article doesn't say anything, about the supporters donating their money to the Red-Shirts. Do you have a source ?

It's in this article that SJ posted http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/1404...without-thaksin

Thanks !

Just found the statement of the year in a todays Bangkok Post article

The protesters left Sanam Luang about 1.30pm, after a brief delay, and began marching to Government House, demanding the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Protest leaders earlier delayed the start, explaining they needed to wait for supporters who went to collect their 2,000-baht gift cheques from the government in the morning.

Bangkok Post 26 March Full Story

Love it - they got the cheques then donated the money to the UDD.

Ha Ha Ha.

Looks like money cannot buy votes or support - even though they are trying hard to buy it.

This would make a very funny story, except that the Bangkok Post article doesn't say anything, about the supporters donating their money to the Red-Shirts. Do you have a source ?

The Thai version of fish-and-chips can sometimes be quite novel, I recall ordering the dish in Pattaya when I first visited, and having the fish sliced into 1cm batons, dipped in batter & cooked. OK it was finger-food, not a traditional piece of fish, but it was also tasty !