Zappadappa

gosh so very sad

poor girl minding her own business

brings me to tears

Sure hope they have the right guys and take them down good

This is truly a sad event. I can't imagine the horror of it all, but please don't make this a Thai thing. It's happening all over the world even in so called civilized societies. Just last week someone went on a rampage in the Neatherlands where I have the highest regard for their social programs and their attention to building a sustainable society.

We have gained such understanding of drug abuse and we can clearly see which progams are most effective at reducing the damage caused, but we refuse to invest in our own societies to try to solve the problem. This is a human problem that has no national boundries.

Yeah awesome comment there Schooner !

Right on the money !

Finally a law protecting innocent mature non Thai gentlemen from throwing all their life long hard earned cash away at scheming young Thai women !

my taxes shouldn't have to pay for peoples foul behaviour, u go Alex, tell em like it should be!

I dont like people I prefer animals, trees, water, birds, clouds, flowers, rocks, reptiles, books, coffee, sleeping, fish, alone time, sand, food, ignoring

555

Actually i'll be civil to anyone who is civil to me but that dont mean I like you!

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0...5006703,00.html

By ALEXANDER DOWNER

May 24, 2009 11:30pm

I DON'T know about you, but it's always nice to get emails. Once upon a time you'd look with pleasure at a handful of letters which dropped through the letter box. Now all you get are those threatening looking envelopes with windows. Or if you're Tom Koutsantonis, those nasty missives which tell you about passing unknowingly through a speed camera.

But this is a generalisation. At the height of the Schapelle Corby affair I received 5000 emails in one day from fellow Australians pleading with me to save "our Schapelle" from the horrors of the Indonesian legal system. Or, to be a bit more honest, the few I looked at said that.

I'm sure my successor as foreign minister, Stephen Smith, had his in box bursting last week as people demanded he save the beer mat mum, Annice Smoel, from the ravages of the Thai police.

I felt for him especially when the media started demanding he "do something" to save her.

After about 10 minutes as foreign minister I was a little surprised to learn I was "responsible" for miscreant Australians who got into trouble in foreign countries.

No, no, no, don't get it wrong - drug traffickers, drunks, kleptomaniacs and fraudsters weren't responsible for their own stupidity - I was.

It's about time that great nanny in Canberra, the Federal Government, turned around and told people they are responsible for their own decisions.

I was in Lebanon the other day and went down to the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre. They're fascinating places - old Crusader castles, bustling souks, colourful little food stalls with generous owners offering you a taste of their wares.

But I couldn't help remembering the awful events in those same places three years ago when Israel went to war with Hezbollah.

There were said to be 20,000 Australians in Lebanon at that time and a hefty percentage of them were demanding the Australian Government save them and fast.

Lebanese support groups hit the airwaves screaming that the Government was too slow getting those Australians who wanted to be evacuated to safety. But hang on, Australia's about 15,000km from Lebanon and we don't dock ships in the eastern Mediterranean ready to ferry Australians to safety.

And there was something else. We'd issued a travel advisory months earlier warning Australians of the dangers of southern Lebanon and the risks of going there.

It didn't matter - apparently we had to get them out.

We were lucky. The Australian ambassador, a petite, charming professional called Lyndall Sachs, worked day and night chartering ferries and providing comfort to the evacuees, who hadn't cared about the travel advisories, and whisked them to safety.

It was one of the great achievements of an Australian diplomat. Almost single handedly, she managed to get around 5000 Australians to Cyprus and Turkey.

We then chartered planes to take them back to Australia. I hope they built shrines to her. Some did, at least metaphorically.

But some just whinged. They felt seasick on the ferry and that was our fault. Could they get frequent flyer points for the free flight back to Australia? And all this cost around $30 million dollars - your dollars.

I'll tell you this - I didn't get 5000 emails of thanks but I got plenty of abuse because we weren't fast enough, the ferries didn't go from their port of choice and we were slow because we were racist, and so on. I mean, we'd warned them and told them not to go to the south of Lebanon. They went all the same. And when the proverbial hit the fan it was, you guessed it, "our fault".

Then there was Hurricane Katrina, which flooded much of New Orleans. A mother of an Australian who arrived in New Orleans the day the hurricane hit came to see me in Stirling and demanded I get her son out. Americans couldn't get out but I had to get her son out. I asked if he'd heard the warnings from the U.S. Government that week to avoid New Orleans.

She started shouting. He doesn't follow the news, he doesn't watch TV or read the newspapers. I see, I said. It was my fault he was in New Orleans, was it? What were we to do? Fly helicopters from Australia to America and pick up Australians and leave the Americans behind?

I didn't have the guts to say this as foreign minister but don't you think you should take responsibility for yourself when you go overseas?

If you're too dumb or idle to read the travel advisories and too mean to take out travel insurance when you go overseas then you ought to take responsibility for your own behaviour.

Sure, if there's a catastrophe like the Bali bombings or you're trapped in a corruption scam the government should try to help. But not if you're too lazy and silly to help yourself.

Remember two things when you travel. First, there are no special laws for Australians overseas. Foreigners make the laws over there, not us. And secondly, foreigners do things differently and they're entitled to.

If you go to a Muslim country and get wildly drunk and women start dressing down (if you know what I mean) it can be bloody offensive to the locals. You'll soon be in trouble.

And learn to take responsibility for your own behaviour. Stealing is wrong, even stealing beer mats. I know, I know, the beer mat mum had a few drinks but, no, she wasn't drunk and she was charmingly polite to the local police.

But she was in a foreign country with a different culture and all of us ought to respect that.

Alexander Downer was Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister from 1996 to 2007

a free lawyer then about 6000bht for the next one?

Pay peanuts get monkeys!

Oh, you know, the visa rules in my home country and here in Britian, where I live now, are far more demanding then Thailand's rules.

In Australia, forget just arriving on a plane.

In the UK, unless your from the EU, which makes you a conditional citizen of the UK, you must get a visa. Getting these visas is no simple matter - some of the Thai people I know here have to prove, in part by paying for expensive language courses, that they are here for legitimate purposes.

I'm not sure about the US, but I do know they've tightened up lately.

It saddens and surprises me that I regularly hear from some disgruntled Australian's, Briton's and American's that the Thai's are 'so bad' to us.

It is problematic that the visa laws do cause such inconvenience, but we 'can' get into Thailand, all of us!

Many Thai's cannot get into my country at all, not for any reason.

How welcoming is your country to Thai's?

Are you really benefiting Thailand by being there, as some suggest, or are you self-seeking benefits, but using the 'I'm benefiting Thailand' cliche in misrepresented, but, self-serving cliches?

etr

BRAVO Couldn't agree more!!

my god...

how can paople say things such as "lets break some eggs" and "they should stop this with any means".

Protest is the heart of our democracy. If you could fly to thailand with your foreign money to make your bellies bigger, sitting on your desks, and talking shit, because you know how "things should be", its just because you come from a country well we had MUCH BIGGER protests than these in the past..

how pathetic.

What a waste of human brain.

The total absence of any criticism.

I am totally disgusted by most of comments here.

Bravo!!!

Nice to see decent people exist!

Any PAD supporters still holed up at the airport have ZERO sympathy from me if they get hurt or killed. They know what they did, they know what's coming. You can't just seize an international airport and expect to be greeted with flowers and cookies.

If they had seized the JFK or L.A. airport, it would have ended a long time ago, and probably much worse than the Thai police will hopefully end it tonight. As far as I'm concerned, if you run past security at the JFK or L.A. airport, protesting something or not, you get shot in the back before you get anywhere. The Thai government and police have been more than patient, but enough is enough.

Oh yeah killing people and taking away their freedom of speech will solve everything...............NOT!!!

It's good to see that Thailand is more civilised and democratic then the US is and allows freedom.

So a few people get stranded, is that the end of the world?

Violence begats violence

Peace begats peace!

I cant fathom callous comments like yours mate?

You couldn't care less if people died ?????

<snip>

NEVER

You will meet english speaking Thais all over but not always good English (if beyond a few words)

You will meet Thais who speak great English but may never say as much as boo to you so you will not know they speak English or after an hour talking in Thai to your Thai friend suddenly turn around and start an English converstion with you.

oops double post

If your senses tell you that there is something wrong then I'd put money on it that there is more wrong than your senses can begin to imagine.

Little Creatures Pale Ale

it's not about the sanctity of marraige as it is about the public proclamation of love and equal rights under law.

Allow same sex couples these rights then u can call what u want,marriage ,union etc etc

Everyone should have the right to freedom of love between adults and to marriage regardless of their partners sex!

If that makes you sick then it's obviously none of your business to interfere with other peoples personal lives and you can stop trying to force your prejudice onto others!

You can't beat thousands of years of evolution, the female of our species will always be attracted to a man who can provide for her future offspring whether it be through clubbing buffalo's to death or buying and selling stocks. Males will always be attracted to healthy females with large breasts to produce healthy offspring. Can you find love without money YES but it's a hel_l of a lot harder when you have to compete with basic instincts.

The only answer in this thread worth reading! Nice work!

I have been offered some land agricultural (rice) in Chayaphum - approx 9 rai for around 300k baht. does that sound about right/

thanks for any advice

Sounds about the going rate before negotiation depending on location to main road water power

mozzies h8 lavender

seems most have only their self interest at heart

Pity the indigenous folk who can but watch their basic self interests (food fuel family) fade into red!

I don't want to scare you off, or space-shuttle your dreams, but apparently for example Bangkok will

be (possibly) anyway under water in 15-20years. According to Khun Smith, who predicted the Tsunamie

in Phuket etc, but nobody listened to his warnings.

Question to all future investors (near seas and rivers etc.)

Sure you (we) wanna invest your money in Bangkok in such property investments??

Read the other TV-thread regarding: "Instable Climate Change & Rising Sea Levels" here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...t&p=2002144

any comments on the sinking feeling topic, please post there...thanks

Holland has been under water for years!

I was wondering what the age limit is on a Fiancee Visa? My girlfriend is 19 years old. I was wondering if they have to be of a certain age?

Without knowing any legalities on this I would suggest that so long as you are both adults, age would not enter into the equation!

MARA. Migration Agents Registration Authority.

http://www.themara.com.au/Online/default.asp

Ah cheers double heaps David

I'd never heard of that place before !

It should be remembered that the applicant and the sponsor (if applicable) are legally responsible for what they sign for in the documentation. One should make sure all information is correct before signing. It would be very difficult to hold an agency liable for errors or false information in Thailand. (If you have to use an migration agent use one that is registered with MARA for Australian visa applications.)

Or better still fill all forms in yourself if you use a Thai agent and they do the translating of Thai documents to English.

And remember Thai agencies are not subject to Australian legal requirements.

Cheers Dave

Because i'm dumb could you just let me know what MARA stands for ?

Thanx heaps