PhootThaiMaiDai

I was just glad to hear there was no mention of "abuse," beyond the obvious financial, sociological, etc...

So are we still overlooking, or forgetting, that the Red Shirts were found guilty of BALLOT FRAUD? This doesn't seem to be quietly mentioned over the screaming, parading, and hoodlum-ing of the Red Shirts. They lost the election or were forfeit though an ILLEGAL TAMPERING WITH DEMOCRACY. Having suffered through the Bush Party & Slave State Republicans & subsequent destabilization of the world economy because of it, if only the US had done what the Yellow Shirts did, might we all be in a better place. What is it with the word "democracy" that allows the crazies to use it like a battle cry for anything but... (I guess the same could be said about G_D, religion, love, and sex...).

Red Shirts, Yellow Shirts, maybe it's time for some middle of the road (Buddhism right?), Orange Shirt "Progressives?" They could start to balance the political climate of Thai. Maybe the Monks can upset this power struggle and sides taking and find the smarts to bring peace to this disturbance (at least not support the criminally aggressive and offensive Red Shirts).

I find it most disconcerting that by breaking from the adherence of the 200+ precepts of Buddhist Tenants, these monks would not be admonished by their leadership. Has no one has raised an objection to BUDDHIST MONKS SUPPORTING POLITICAL TURMOIL. Now, if they are there as merely a stabilizing, calming factor and neutral peace keeping presence, that would be another case.

Nice post and subsequent replies. And it was refreshing to see the percentage of supporters to detractors on the thread.

I find that conservation, like education and selflessness, are popular while misunderstood - or require a level of opportunity that most choose not to find. Unfortunately in third world countries where scarcity and archaic standards maintain a momentum, the nobility of hoping to bring a first world level of opportunity is seen as condescending or intrusive, if not merely futile.

I’d agree to a certain extent, just like “trying,” talk can be cheap while the written word or posting does little more than echo talk, even if it does allow for some permanence. You’ve got a good idea, especially with the volume of talk that could come with it. "There are plenty of other good causes..." yet this one seems already earmarked for you, if not segue to others. If you don’t feel comfortable, find a likewise interested local and help them to champion this idea and do something with it. Those same static words now more something in motion can finally do something.

Beyond the matter of garbage and scorched earth policies, this idea does resonate that of the King’s “Sustenance” and could find positive reception. Change, like effort, like physics, follows a “path of least resistance” principle, unless motivated by something more principled. There will always be those that stand in the way or do worse in the face of weak and ineffective change, the trick to knowing better, is doing better.

Aiding and abetting a country with an active border dispute with your nation. This ain't like a Canadian going to work in Washington as an adviser. More like Argentina and Venezuela....

Wow, Argentina and Venezuela must have worked seriously hard to create that border dispute, given that they are 2000 kilometers away from one another....

Guessing he meant Venezuela and Columbia...

I just recently found out that in the US you can't even have grating anymore. There are special fittings now a days that prevent potential damage from the suction. It reads like an urban myth, but "people" have had their intestines sucked out their a** because of the old design, and a bit of luck (bad luck). As well as disembowelment, just being stuck, literally trapped from the suction of the old design and drowning took it's share of innocence. It happened enough that a few people with government jobs had put their heads together, earn their living, and solve a problem.

These are the regulations for a 12 month extension based on having a Thai Wife.

(6) In case of marriage with a Thai lady, the husband who is an alien must have an average annual income of not less than 40,000 baht per month or a money deposit in a local Thai bank of not less than 400,000 baht for the past 2 months for expenses within a year.

Is it possible to have a bank account in Thai, when you don't *already* have a visa?

This from a post I found doing a search for casino.

Living in the Sukhumvit area in Bangkok, I opted to take one of the casino buses to the border at Aranyaprathet since they leave from Lumphini Park which is pretty close by. I took a taxi from my apartment and arrived in front of the HSBC building on Rama IV road across from Lumphini Park at 4am. There was a double-decker bus across the street and I verified that it was going to Poipet, then hopped on. The bus left at 4:20am and made a couple quick stops in Bangkok, then went straight to the Market at the Aranyaprathet/Poipet border getting there around 7:20am. I was asked to pay 200 baht for a one-way journey (or 300 baht return).

I have seen the same info in other posts.

A few things, from my experience.

The 0400 bus from the Lumpini side of the HSBC Bank building, leaves at 0400, not at 0420. You get on, you pay, you sleep, if you're lucky you wake up just before the boarder, one of the great bargains in Thai.

Good luck buying a return ticket. I asked and they said no, "mai mee!"

If you plan to gamble, and/or spend the night, leaving in the early morning is much more preferable than leaving to catch traffic hours in Bangkok. Waiting, waiting, waiting through traffic, through each of the various stops the casino bus makes, my bus made five stops at various points, and as far south as Bang Na... I wouldn't want to drive a bus in Bangkok, especially during rush hour, the next worst thing is sitting in the bus.

I know of no other country in the world where you can run to the border and get another stamp therefore allowing you to stay in the country practically indefinitely.

The authorities are only doing what they should have done years ago.

Spoken like a true cog... With all due respect.

what has Abhisit done wrong

Other than making too many deals with the devils to get the job in the first place, not too much.

First, he made a deal with the Yellow Shirts just to get the job.

...if you are remotely under the impression the present PM did not make a deal with the Yellow Shirts to over throw the democratically elected government, you could not be more wrong.

Second, he made a deal with the army to get his job. Did you ever see this kind of effort to put down the Yellow Shirts demonstrations? Of course not, they let them invade anything and anyplace they wanted.

Third, he has refused to state when he will hold new elections. Why, because he knows he would lose, once again.

A much better question on you part would have been, "What has Abhisit done right?"

Actually the quote, as stands, could be better interpreted as; What has Abhisit done to justify this kind of vilification, or, to create an air of illegality or immoral standing… to incite this kind of backlash. "Much better" is fun and interpretive, but I was asking a simple question as to why the country was coming apart at the seams for a substantiated reason, versus the he said-she said of who some don't like because they just don't like.

If it wasn't for the record of Toxin and his cronies, and the *convictions* of election fraud, and then the subsequent tail tucked scamper of the PPP to prompt all this, I might agree with you. When the Somchai and his band were dismissed, the Red's reaction was knee jerk and suspect and can be interpreted as business as usual for their tactics.

Comparing to the two actions (BKK to Pattaya) is a bit lopsided if you try objectively. An occupation/sit in of the airport to bring national and international attention to your "injustice," is not quite as vicious sounding as the attempted murder of the PM by storming a rescheduled international conference, followed by all the trappings of a Civil War with petrol bombs, bus attacks, and rhetoric of overthrow of the government. Still speaking to the election fraud, if only the US-Democrats had done what the Yellow Shirts had, when Toxinesque Bush stole office in 2000, also with election fraud, the world wouldn't be in the same shape it is today.

While I couldn't believe the limp wristed response to either side by Governmental Authority, comparing offensive to defensive tactics also takes a bit of understanding to objectively compare. Unable to preempt or proactively repel the Yellow Shirts at the airport, the military would have been offensively walking into a hornet's nest at the airport and then a massacre. On the flip-side "puppet" Abhisit didn't seem to receive any help from anyone while he was under attack, which is highly suspect in itself. Then watching the Reds on offense, the military's response petrol bomb attacks and buses being used as battering rams is nothing short of pathetic, more untrained and ill prepared, and just embarrassing. I don't see any playing favorites here.

I've had it with most politicians and their pathos ridden, opportunity starved mobs of hostages that mindlessly appear like lackeys for their side’s talking heads - everywhere - but until someone allows for the better solutions to stand, we're all stuck and will have to make do with what's available lest more perpetuation of hate and anger for the greedy's sake.

There is only 1 beef with abhisit and it's not even something he did, it's all about how he came to power.

After the previous (free and fair) elections Samark became PM, but he was later disqualified due to conflict of interest laws.

The lower house then elected Somchai, after the whole PAD airport debacle somchai had to step down and PPP was dissolved. PTP was made but some members defected to the democrats, this gave the democrats and their coalition a majority in the house. The lower house then elected Abhisit. The gripe is that abhisit got elected by the lower house without there being a general election before. pretty much the same as somchai, but since he is thaksins boy, the UDD don't have a problem with it.

I think your understanding of what happened is somewhat simplified, What happened was that PPP, the largest party in parliament, was dissolved, several MP from that party was banned from politics. What would normally happen if someone is banned, is that #2 (or number 3,4,5 etc.) on the list from that party would take the seat. Since the whole party was banned, there was no #2 and the seats of PPP in that electorate was up for by elections. This happened while MP's from the other parties in that electorate got to keep their seats. Hence they were able to put forward their candidates a second time to compete with the PPP elected seats, and in many peoples eyes got a second round at the cost of the PPP MP's. i.e a district has 10 MP's lets say the original vote gave a result of 5 mp's for PPP and the rest for other parties, the other parties got to keep their MP's and could put forward new ones to compete for mp's they didn't win in the first round. In this situation the normal thing would be to call for a new election for the whole district, or new elections for the whole country. since this didn't happen the by elections altered the majority in parliament and gave the new PTP some MP's and all the other parties MP's they shouldn't have had. This was the reason Aphisit could secure majority and be prime minister. Democratic or not, is not up to me to judge, but it seems a lot of Thai voters feel this is not what they voted for.

I was under the assumption (based on the popular media or public conversations or my own misinterpretation, phoot thai mai dai), that there was a strong case against the PPP for election fraud or vote tampering, which sparked the PAD and then the Yellow Shirt mob at BKK, and finally overturned the previous election process. Where might I have got that impression, why is it missing in these posts, or am I totally off base and suffering from premature senility or distracteditis?

Short of something drastically outside the norm, and besides the typical grievance with governance, and no one's perfect, it seems there hasn't been enough time for Abhisit to form a record for himself in a terribly unstable and critical time. One might think that this would be the time to put away childish things and use what power the country still has to get through these troubling times.

One observation though - I'm impressed that everyone in this post has been civil and articulate and after a day on the board, hasn't disintegrated into drivel and he said-she said. Which is also interesting in that not one (apparent) Red Sympathiser had chimed in... anything... Just an observation.

Other than the usual back and forth, right or left, us versus them, what has Abhisit done wrong - besides have the backing of the Yellow Shirts? If he's actually done something wrong, or been found doing something that he has been charged with, I could understand at least some reasoning (not for what has been going on) behind the up in arms, get him out of office rhetoric. But absent that, has there been anything substantial besides the Red Shirt's version of democracy to overturn his appointment?

This is similar to the hundreds of British students who took part in large 'Free Tibet' protests here in the UK last year. They don't really know what they're doing, they just do it because they think it's the right thing to do. Deporting them would be a huge overreaction. They just need someone to explain to them why what they are doing is wrong and they'll very quickly find a new bandwagon to clamber aboard.

Umm, no... What's happening in Tibet affects all of us, even if indirectly today, and is a shame for the whole planet. The fact that the IOC allowed Red China to host the Olympics while still in violation of human rights and minimize the chance for the world to influence change, was a black eye that continues to move on unabated in an Unsustainable Habitat sort of way. When you're miserable because the world is falling apart in 10 -20 years, as "leaders," aren't, and the greedy fight over what they can take versus what can be perpetuated Sustainably, you'll have a better idea what we are talking about. Anything you wouldn't want someone else to do to your own child, is a good rule of thumb to motivate conscious, mature contemporaries.

What's happening here, with farangs wearing red shirts has nothing to do, what so ever with those that were taking a stand for someone else's benefit. Red shirts and Toxin are toxic. Farang wearing red shirts can only be explained by greed and good ole' boy networks, greed or stupidity, plain and simple if a bit simplistic. What Red China is doing, has done, and will continue to do to Tibet because we've all allowed them enough leeway to continue, archaically, for money's sake and political face, and will continue to do to any of the surrounding territory that violence and force can take - is also toxic.

Wearing a shirt to take a stand is not the same as wearing a shirt to brandish a sign.

This should be free country to anyone.. if they got doported., it mean not Thailand is not real democracy country like it is now.

We are talking foreigners getting involved with bringing down the present Thai Government by brute force, which should never be a free for all and is nothing to do with

Democracy.

The actions of these idiots may have serious repercussions on the lives of ex-pats living here.

It seems that these morons believe that wearing 50 baht red tee-shirts turns them into some sort of superhero Thailand self recruited policemen.

Good point. I also wonder the motives of the Farang wearing Red Shirts, not the same as Yellow Shirts on Monday. But then again, Good Ole' Boys are everywhere, and "accomplice" in any language is someone else's greed stepping in the way of good decision making.

In Merica!, the Slave States, there are people still caught in the perpetuation of archaic behaviors, and typically because they don't know any better by tradition or custom. And like the recent administration that gave the entire planet something they can either use to solve problems or not, most can't see far enough in front of their own programming to realize how they look or what they are doing to the long run.

I'm guessing these Farang are motivated by what motivates anyone to do something that's contrary to common sense or convention. Themselves.

Back when I first came to Thai, I guess I didn't ask the right questions, but joining in with my Thai comrades and showing respect to the King, I bought and wore a yellow shirt on Friday. I never knew there was anything political about it, I thought (that I thought) like everyone else, I was happy that somewhere in the word, people loved their King. I scored points with my Thai friends and the locals and was touched with the sentiment, and didn't dig very deep as I was always just told that Yellow was the color of the King and Pink or Blue shirts, the Queen.

I guess it would take a Thai to answer this question, but I'll leave it open for an objective response; were the Yellow Shirts on Friday a sign of unity or fealty, or a political ploy?

Less tourists can be a good thing; quieter beaches and easier to find accommodation just two benefits.

Money isn't everything.

How right you are! On the bright side, I hope this is the shot in the arm or ass that Thai has needed since they went half the distance of appreciating the King's Sufficiency Economy.

By focusing on education and industry (notice I didn't say industrialization), putting the under-utilized workforce of idle Thai, or wasted or worse, pillaged resources, to proper use - Thai could better regroup and redirect its potential towards self-reliance, opportunities and an episteme free from at odds with itself, depreciating infrastructure, and whoring their sons and daughters to earn a living. Back on track, the misguided strength in Thai people, now caught in the strangle hold of the rich greedy and selfish self-centered could bring them back in the fold of progress, to one day appreciate a standard of living on par with Singapore. Don't get me wrong or overly critical of Thai, next to Singapore I think Thai has done the best of the SEAsians. Compared to their neighbors Lao, Cambodia, and Myanmar, they are light years ahead and free of the yolk more noose of of their past, almost. This latest round of political instability, in a long line of doomed to repeat itself, proves that until Thai makes a commitment to true democracy, and not just illusion of a free-market's free-for-all, their hopes and dreams and reality will be at the whim of Politics more than the Buddha...

HELP!

Over the last few days I've been unable to post using my CAT HiNet Internet connection, yet I have no problem with TT&T's Maxnet (other than it being very slow).

When I try to post on CAT HiNet the reply editor doesn't load fully. The "initialising attachments" Java applet keeps circling. When I click on send, I get the IE "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" page. Refreshing will get me back to the editor with all my text missing.

Does anyone have any suggestions, solutions or answers?

IT issue or TIT issue?

Start with this, http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Can-t-Read-Post-s-t199754.html

If you've used CAT before you may want to pull a ticket with their help desk and find out what's going on; sometimes it's just a bottleneck when too many people try to use the system at one time which causes you to loose enough bandwidth (simple explanation), or they may be performing a routine or maintenance that accidentally, as a side effect, fails certain operations. If you've never used it before, then you may have problems with you ISP (rare) and then it's a simple matter of getting them to see it your way.

With computers, it may be that you need to reinstall software, or add a plug-in, or there's the distinct possibility that you might log in and post and everything will be all better.

If you figure it out, give us a follow-up post and maybe your lesson with help someone else down the road...

At the top click on My Controls then left side > Subscriptions > View Topics. You can change the subscribed topic from "Immediate" (which gives you an e-mail for every reply in a topic) to "Delayed" which will only give you an e-mail if you posted a reply in the topic.

Moved to forum support.

So there's no selective setting to only be notified if someone responded to your response? Some of these topics have hundreds of posts, but my measly two or three posts and their direct affect or trickle down is what would get lost in the mix unless I hunted through all several hundred responses, each time.

Especially on YouTube, when there's a six month running thread on a video, and some get quite heated and lengthy and back and forth, several times, that's what I'm curious if I can do. I can't solve the world's problems if I can't straighten everybody out, one at a time...

If there's a better way to do on the ThaiVisa forum, what I'm looking for, that would be my follow up question...

Thanks again!

Anyone know if the system can be tweeked, so that a post response to only your post response is emailed as a notification to your regular email, versus every single time someone posts to the main topic. Not that I mind clearing every one of the hundreds of posts, but it would save me some time to only see who was commenting on my comments, to their comments.

I checked my email settings, not sure what else to tweek. This is the first time I've had this problem on a forum...

Thanks!

Pattaya police chief transferred after attack on PM's car

PATTAYA: -- A superintendent in charge of Pattaya's central police station was Wednesday transferred to inactive post for 30 days in connection with the attack on the prime minister's car, in which the PM's bodyguards and others were injured.

The order to transfer Pol Col Sarayuth Sanguanpokai came after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's life was put at risk when his car was besieged and blocked by red shirt protesters, who injured his bodyguards and smashed the rear window of the PM's car with a helmet.

Police Region 2 also ordered a disciplinary probe against Sarayuth. Pol Col Theerapol Chindaluang, the deputy police chief for Chon Buri province, was sent to replace Sarayuth.

-- The Nation 2009-04-08

call me a conspiracy theorist if you must but why did the driver stop for a red light?

it must be the first time in thai history a motorcade has stopped for anything

more importantly, the car was a Toyota Prado, it has an auto locking system that activates when the car is on the move

the toyota fortuner has the same system, as do many toyota models, its an auto defence against car jackers

so the car doors must have been locked when it came to halt at the red light

so why was the drivers door open for the protesters to get inside the car?

the driver must have opened the door himself, maybe he panicked but surely a driver from the PM's security detail would not do this and know how to deal with the situation.

a few more questions to be asked here methinks

I was amazed in another report, on the same incident that a woman stuck her head, inside Abhists car and screamed at him... It didn't mention that it was the hole they the punched in, that the driver waited for to drive off, but incompetence trumps conspiracy I think, but anythings possible, TIT.

I always find it interesting when an angry mob outside a car, has angry mob intentions to the people inside the car, yet the driver gingerly and careful negotiates the herd instead of driving just fast enough to maintain momentum and riding the horn to pre-clear the crowd. As if he cared. Beyond "self defense," I think "just deserts" should be a legal argument. What was he afraid of a 200 THB ticket?

The yellows never attacked anyone, they only defended themself.

No attacks with machetes and Molotov cocktails....

Seriously now. Do you believe the crap you're saying? Just a few examples:

"In Chiang Mai late Wednesday protesters wearing yellow shirts pulled a 60-year-old man from his car and shot and killed him, Reuters journalist John Sanlin told CNN.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/...port/index.html

Then there is the popular video of the young man being chased down the street by the yellow shirts running behind him with bats and knifes. He was found a day later in a khlong nearly dead and rushed to hospital.

Then there are the photos and videos of the yellow shirts attacking the police when they tried to get even near the airports.

Then there are photos of yellow shirts holding guns and long knifes on Viphavadee Rangsit road and waving them at reporters.

There are bad people and opportunists on any "sides" taking venture, but, the yellows (and the public) have rightfully ratcheted up the defensive offense to counter the red offense. I can't imagine anyone comparing the airport demonstration, overturning proven election fraud, corruption, and a hijacking of government for selfish gain, with the red shirts storming an international summit to disrupt a much needed international conference and take the head off the PM. Toxin, his crimes against Thailand and his red army are history and too overtly perpetrated to be anything but obvious and obscene.

Thailand analysis: 'land of smiles' becomes land of lies

Thailand, sad to say, is in a terrible mess. With the very future of the monarchy at risk the stakes could not be higher. The country is deeply polarized with goodwill, moral authority and the truth itself in desperately short supply. Thailand could be heading for a very hard landing.

By Thomas Bell in Bangkok

Last Updated: 6:38PM BST 05 Apr 2009

A light cast on what takes place in the comfortable sitting rooms of power is long overdue.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...nd-of-lies.html

At last someone with a concise, informative, balanced and perceptive view of current events in Thailand. Contrast this article with 99.99% of the posts on here and it makes the other posters look like bonehead neanderthals. I guess that is why he is a paid journalist for a reputable newspaper and the rest are just "would be if they could be's" full of bluff, bluster and b*lldust.

But sadly, Thai wouldn't be in the position it is if more of the people could be connected to, read and understand a concise, informative, balance and perceptive view of current events. hel_l, the world wouldn't be. Even seems like only a small percentage of the forum posters do, but they are probably 20% Thai if that. Those locals with enough education are either yellow, red, blue, or black, fighting for the scraps that the rich let trickle down. Just like home, only we let our PM's or Rep's fight for us... Lot of good that does...

The solution seems to be a multi-colour shirt Blue, red and yellow together

Poor bastard wearing it better be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Or just not hang out in Bangkok...

Well done the Blue Team, even if they were out numbered and out gunned.

They showed the side of reason and how the vast majority of Thai's are fed up with this Red rabble and their mob tactics.

If the Reds are mob, then what are the Yellows????

Defense

I remember the good old days when I thought wearing a yellow shirt on Friday was a sign of homage to the King and national unity. Funny how bad people ruin things for everyone, especially the mob.

i never understand why pansies think violence doesn't work. It *always* works. Most people don't respond unless you use force. Look back in history. Almost every human and animal that ever wanted to achieve anything used force of some sort. You think criminals get stopped by using flowers or "puppy power"?

It is no coincidence that those behind all these conflicts are POLICE or ARMY related...both are entities which monopolize force to achieve specific goals.

Maybe the red/yellow/blue shirts could use their "care bear stare" or get rainbow brite to show up at the scene. What a rainbow that would be!! bahaha.

Jeff

Sling shots with bolts and fire bombs... Pretty much shows me what I needed to see about red shirt protestors.

You obviously didn't follow the tv and articles about the yellowshirts with guns shown on tv firing at people, or are you one of the baying mob on here kissing the arse of the incumbent government,it appears from a lot of posters here that it was perfectly ok for the yellows to do what they wanted but not for the reds,hypocrites the lot of them, espousing about democracy my arse your just a baying mob most of you and a lot just getting on the bandwagon.

All violence and all weapons at rallies should be condemned. Doesnt matter the colour of the shirt. Now we have people in their homes and a mob with molotovs milling around. That is wrong, dangerous and it is time for the authroites to protect innocent people.

A little history for the poster that uses words like pansy and glorifies hate and anger... Violence does not only continue to escalate problems, it further confuses them. Non-violence, like education and furthering the aims of the majority to an undisturbed progressing development is what the civilized world is based on, within their own borders. This is what has allowed first world countries to rape and pillage other colonialized countries that can't.

Violence only works on tv, with the weak minded, those that have nothing to lose, and those that fear actually doing something meaningful in life. Those that give into rage and loss of control, have given in. There is a time and place for violence, but only as a last resort. Ask any other successful, educated person and they'll probably tell you the same thing.