spidermike007

Perhaps these officers should look within for the source of the problem. I am no fan of Obama. But, I think he is right to speak out against the killing of civilians, when they are unarmed, and not a threat. Sometimes, it feels like there is a percentage of law enforcement in the US, that is very hostile to the public. I am a white man, and am not profiled by the police. I am nearly invisible, as far as they are concerned, and I like it that way. But, when I do have an interaction with these cops, they are typically hostile, and unfriendly. Most are. Some are cool. But, not enough. Especially with certain departments, like the LAPD, where they seem to be trained to hate the public. Many are buttheads. Some are racist. Many make mistakes, and abuse their power.

I find the CHP, and the LA County Sheriffs Dept. to be far better at dealing with the public. And while living in NY, I found NYPD to be pretty cool too. So, some department are better than others. Some are really bad when it comes to public interaction. Really bad. Nasty. Abusive. Power hungry. This has been building for a long time. Many of my black friends in the US feel really oppressed by law enforcement. These are honest, hard working men and women, who do not commit crimes, but are often treated as such, by the color of their skin.

It feels as if many in law enforcement just do not want to take any responsibility for the recent killings of their own. As a white American man, I can say I am not surprised by the recent killings. I do not condone them on any level. But, I am not surprised. People are really angry at the police, and as someone who has a law enforcement member in their family, I can say I understand their anger. My brother in law is a really great guy. And my guess is that he is very respectful when he pulls someone over. But, many are not.

It is a great story. One can only hope there will be a trial, and the cops will be convicted, and sentenced to prison, where they will be treated very kindly by the other inmates. Cop convictions are extremely rare here. Judges just do not have the courage, nor the moral conviction, and it appears that the government discourages the pursuit of these fools.

Hin Sen is one of the great despots of this region. Worth billions, and completely intolerant of opposition. He continues stealing land, killing his opponents, and running a fascist nation posing as a democracy. It is about time the US spoke out. They have been supporting this fool for years now. And allowing him to get away with anything he likes. Same can be said for the UN, and the NGO's. All a house of fools.

I find this scary. Even i have nothing to hide and have a valid visa, i would feel very uncomfortable if my condo get raided.

True that. Another example of a very small man overreaching his authority. And on what grounds? Is this just more bit of anti-farang nonsense, from a nationalistically oriented simple mind?

Perhaps one day they will succeed, and we will all choose to move on to greener pastures.

Very poor journalism. In one paragraph it says the head monk defrocked these two guys, which leads us to believe they were real monks, who became real monks illegally. Then it says they were living in a shelter on Patong Hill. Which is true? They had over 200,000 baht in the bank. That is alot of cash.

No doubt, monks, priests, preachers, etc, should be dealt with severely when found to be committing these acts of fraud. Hopefully, they will be sent to prison for a very long time, where they will make alot of new friends.

The entire transport system on Samui is completely broken, the mayor does nothing, to improve it, and the government has never cared one iota about that island. No effort has ever been made to develop any sort of public transportation. This new taxi app still sounds quite expensive. But, any alternative to the taxi scoundrel heathens has got to be an improvement.

Yes you keep telling us that, many of us find it not to be the case....

In over a decade here I have seen announcements of changes in the taxi regulations. I am not aware of any improvements with the taxi prices or behavior and have never seen any other public transport other than the motorcycle taxis, and they don't seem to have the usual public visibility here on Samui. What have you seen that leads you to not agree with the post above, Jimmy?

Jimmy has not seen anything. He simply has a knee jerk tendency to defend Samui. While I respect his sense of loyalty, it is always preferable to intellectual minds, when opinions can be backed up with facts. Samui has had multiple chances to develop effective public transportation for decades. You cannot label the taxi, overpriced tuk tuks, and local mini van services effective public transportation, by any standards. I am referring to an electric monorail around the island, natural gas powered small buses, that drive around the Ring Road every 30 minutes for 20 baht per person, regardless of destination, and the like. Come on guys. You are taking in billions. Spend a small amount of that improving life for the people.

When you are having to spend 400 baht to take a taxi 2 or 3 kilometers, and 100 baht or more for a tuk tuk in the evening, the system is completely broken. It is time to stand up to the taxi mafia, and improve the place. A weak and highly compromised mayor does not help.

Many in Burma are afraid of traveling to Thailand. The current administration has done a great job of sabotaging the countries once decent reputation. Burmese people are not held in high regard here, and are treated very poorly. Not even sure if the Thai people would understand the concept of a Burmese tourist. I am sure there are some who visit. But, the idea of making it a destination is a bit far fetched. Like most of the TAT's other policies. Hair brained, lacking in vision, poorly thought out, lacking innovation, and just plain old simple minded thinking.

The war on drugs has been an abysmal failure worldwide. Countries like Norway, and Portugal, who devote little or any resources to drug convictions, show no increased signs of drug usage among the population. Countries like the US, that spend a fortune on this silly war, have epidemics, and spend billions housing over 2 million people, a ridiculous number. Thailand should consider legalization of drugs. They are being used anyway. In my opinion the allure of drug usage drops once it is legal. Drug usage will drop. Maybe not all drugs. But, certainly the less heinous ones could be legalized. It is a silly war. One that does not need to be fought.

(Cost Effectiveness of Prison Compared With Treatment) "Substance-involved people have come to compose a large portion of the prison population. Substance use may play a role in the commission of certain crimes: approximately 16 percent of people in state prison and 18 percent of people in federal prison reported committing their crimes to obtain money for drugs.21 Treatment delivered in the community is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent such crimes and costs approximately $20,000 less than incarceration per person per year.22 A study by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy found that every dollar spent on drug treatment in the community yields over $18 in cost savings related to crime.23 In comparison, prisons only yield $.37 in public safety benefit per dollar spent. Releasing people to supervision and making treatment accessible is an effective way of reducing problematic drug use, reducing crime associated with drug use and reducing the number of people in prison."

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Prisons_and_Drugs#sthash.hQOc9JyM.dpbs

(US Drug Prisoners) "The United States leads the world in the number of people incarcerated in federal and state correctional facilities. There are currently more than 2 million people in American prisons or jails. Approximately one-quarter of those people held in U.S. prisons or jails have been convicted of a drug offense. The United States incarcerates more people for drug offenses than any other country. With an estimated 6.8 million Americans struggling with drug abuse or dependence, the growth of the prison population continues to be driven largely by incarceration for drug offenses."

She's funny, THAI culture, run down temples, dirty wash rooms, dirty food handlers, thieves, not 1 person speaks English at my local LOTUS store, under trained technicians, underage drinking, kids on motorbikes, 15 people in the back of a pick-up, trucks and buses crashing every day.

Take away the income for the sex trade, no more new motorbikes bought for girlfriends, no new houses or farms and education for their kids because the lazy Thai man who knocks-up a girl and then leaves her with the kids.

Please Ms. TOURIST police get a grip on what is real. I BET you have a nice 20 million baht house, good job, where did all that money come from.

SHE would be a great girlfriend for Clinton, both live in the clouds.

Yes, no doubt she is wealth. According to this filing, as of two years ago, in the range of $9 million US.

Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, Minister of Tourism and Sports, has assets of 315.4 million baht together with her spouse and children.

http://thaitribune.org/contents/detail/112?content_id=6723

I find your description of Thailand to be a bit harsh. Sure, we all have our issues here. But, many of us find the place rather charming. And I for one, really like the Thai people. As much as I may complain sometimes, I find them to have alot of redeeming qualities. Especially their disposition, humor, lightheartedness, willingness to work hard (most), and kindness. And Thailand has a fairly dynamic and diverse economy. The sex trade is only a small part of that. But, without it, the pain would be felt no doubt.

I do agree with the issues about traffic safety, and the lack of english skills. Both are deplorable, and completely unnecessary. Both are the result of institutional indifference and sloth.

Of course, we all know it will not disappear, regardless of how misguided this current tourism minister is. She will be gone soon enough, and for some of us that cannot happen fast enough. Her background was completely, and utterly inappropriate for the portfolio position of tourism and sports minister. She could not possibly be more out of her element. As usual, with the little man, she was not picked for her talent in the tourism area. No merit in his administration is ever considered. Her studies and experience are as follows:

Fine Arts, Wellesley College, US; degree in Architecture, Rhode Island School of Design, US. Former Assistant to Project Manager, MahBoonKrong Center Co., for the interior design of the largest shopping complex in Bangkok. Joined Toshiba Thailand Co. as Advertising Manager; successive promotions leading up to post as Chairperson. These are not qualifications to lead the country into a new era of tourism, and certainly not the proper qualification to lead the sports ministry. Just the fact that the two departments are combined shows such a dramatic lack of wisdom, vision, and clarity of mission.

For her to even hint that they are looking at high quality tourists is beyond disingenuous. At a time when they have boosted the Chinese tourism up to 35% of the nation's total, when they are one of the lowest quality tourists to be found anywhere on the planet (in terms of spending per person) she has demonstrated, and continues to demonstrate her complete incompetence, at her job. I believe this swing toward the Chinese tourists will go down in history, as one of the greatest blunders of the Thai tourism industry. They cannot be considered a substitute for western tourists, who spend far more per day, than these tours, who book hotels at perhaps 40% of the rack rate, require massive discounts in restaurants, and do not stimulate the overall economy. Her utter lack of vision when it comes to developing the market is becoming legendary.

As for her sports ministry position. What can one say? She does not have her hands full enough as it is? Or is this just a way of the government telling all the nation's athletes, you just do not matter. You are not significant for us to devote a department to you. We could not find someone with a background in sports. We found a fine arts graduate, who has a small amount of design experience. You just do not matter. Sorry. We had to combine the departments to save some money.

She went to RISD? The Rhode Island School of Design? Being a Rhode Island native I am surprised that she found her way to that little place. It is an interesting institution and I guess if one were in the North East USA and interested in architecture it is understandable.

No doubt it is a very good school. But, as a qualification for tourism and sports minister? Where is the meritocracy? How much thought was given to her background, before appointing her to this rather important position? Hello!

Watch the GDP plunge 30-60%.

How can you say that when all of tourism is only about 10%???

You guys need to get out of the tourist areas more, Thailand has a large industrial sector and exports products worldwide!!

The real size of the tourism industry in all of it's facets is closer to 13% of the total economy. That is quite significant. Or course with the visionary policies of the little man, and his fabulously incompetent tourism minister, that number is shrinking every single day. It is a vital industry, that is not being supported with any sort of intelligent or visionary policy. The industry is being sabotaged from every angle. People just have too many options these days, and other countries are trying far harder to attract the tourists. Thailand is not only doing next to nothing, it is actually establishing policies that discourage tourism. My belief is that the industry will continue to shrink (Chinese tourists do not count. They are not contributing much to the local economy), as the real income is shrinking, in dollar volume, due to the continuing policy of deliberately targeting very low quality sectors of tourists.

It it true that Thailand has a very large economy. But, that economy has shrunk from the 22nd largest in the world ten years ago, to the 29th largest as of today, by most estimates. The economy is slowing down. Part of that can be attributed to the world economy, but a far larger part of that is being caused by disastrous fiscal policy, on the part of this very incompetent administration.

http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/thailand/overview

“We doubt growth will pick up strongly this year. Thailand’s unstable political situation will continue to hang over the outlook for private investment, while high levels of household debt will keep private consumption growth subdued,” Krystal Tan, an Asia economist at Capital Economics, said in a note. “Meanwhile, lackluster external demand and declining competitiveness will weigh on goods exports.”

In 2009, Vietnam's electronics exports were worth $2.8 billion, a tenth of the size of Thailand's. Last year they had reached $37.3 billion, compared with Thailand's $33 billion.

IMO in the mid-term (5 years or so) the following is likely to happen:

The garish in your face establishments are in the crosshairs. The shops closed last week on Soi 7/1 are an example of that.

The suspected underage and trafficking shops are in the crosshairs. AS THEY SHOULD BE. The recent Rachada Road raids are an example of that.

The screws will be tightened on the silver pole and floorshow venues. Slowly so everyone will have time to adjust to the new economic normal. Farang owned and operated businesses will be top of the list of course.

Neon will be out of fashion. Marketing will be curtailed. Websites will be plain vanilla. What some call underground will still really be quite visible to those who are looking for it.

The organized nightlife clusters will be tamped down on to the point of financial extinction. The property will be put to a higher commercial use. The reborn will be smaller and scattered.

Opportunities for horizontal mingling will still exist. Ladies will still be about on the streets. Bars and disco's will still attract the usual following. Discrete massage shops will still offer all manor of happy happy. The internet will become more important as a primary point of introduction.

More like the pay-for-play scene around the planet really.

SL

You hit the nail on the head, I have been watching this slow process for the past 10 years when I visit Patong, Phuket.

I wouldn't be giving her the credit, like I said, its been in the pipeline for a while now, whether its good for Thailand with all those families who already are hungry with mouths to feed is another question, that is unless the government is going to step up and provide some kind of welfare system for their losses, through the corruption fund ? I am all for shutting down places that use girls that are under aged and trafficked.

I suppose at the end of the day, you will have the disco's to pick up the girls/ladyboys if your so inclined, no ridiculous bar fines of 1,000 THB to make you go elsewhere either....never been one to throw the $ when I know I don't have too, leave that for the mugs.....lol

I also tend to agree. I think in general the entire industry has been on the downturn for the past decade. It is especially apparent in Samui or in Phuket. Chiang Mai is taking it's last gasps of air, when it comes to the little bit that it offered. Pattaya, Bangkok, and Hua Hin still seem to be doing ok, or at least holding their own. These high profile shutdowns of the soapies mean very little. Like you said, they are very conspicuous. They will never shut it down altogether. It will just go underground, and they will succeed in developing a repressed society like in the US. A friend of mine, who managed the largest foundation in Thailand, devoted to caring for HIV positive people (generally without means to care for themselves) for 10 years, and speaks fluent Thai, told me it is well known in the NGO community that the sex industry in the US is far larger than in Thailand. It is so far underground, that few Americans that I speak with have any idea. They laugh when I tell them that. And she also told me the current figure of the amount of people directly employed by the industry is closer to 800,000 here, not the silly number of 120,000, which is fabulously inaccurate. But, it is underground, the result of failed policy, prurient, moralistic, false religion, preachy petty doctrine, which criminalizes sex, those that offer it, and those that support it. The very fact that a man can be arrested for a happy ending massage, and become a life long sex offender as a result, speaks volumes about how broken a society America has become, and how repressed it's people are. As an American, I can tell you that desire for the appearance of purity exists only on the very surface. There is nothing to it. It is all false, and it is all coming from entirely the wrong and misguided place. And it has accomplished nothing but drive it underground. It has not decreased the desire one iota.

Same will happen here. Of course the tourism minister does not know this, as she has not studied the problem, nor does she have the vision, intellectual power, policy making ability, experience, or wisdom to see what the result of her disastrous efforts to stamp out this industry are going to have on her country, and her people. She has no idea what she is doing. Not a clue. And neither does the little man. Clueless once again.

Of course, we all know it will not disappear, regardless of how misguided this current tourism minister is. She will be gone soon enough, and for some of us that cannot happen fast enough. Her background was completely, and utterly inappropriate for the portfolio position of tourism and sports minister. She could not possibly be more out of her element. As usual, with the little man, she was not picked for her talent in the tourism area. No merit in his administration is ever considered. Her studies and experience are as follows:

Fine Arts, Wellesley College, US; degree in Architecture, Rhode Island School of Design, US. Former Assistant to Project Manager, MahBoonKrong Center Co., for the interior design of the largest shopping complex in Bangkok. Joined Toshiba Thailand Co. as Advertising Manager; successive promotions leading up to post as Chairperson. These are not qualifications to lead the country into a new era of tourism, and certainly not the proper qualification to lead the sports ministry. Just the fact that the two departments are combined shows such a dramatic lack of wisdom, vision, and clarity of mission.

For her to even hint that they are looking at high quality tourists is beyond disingenuous. At a time when they have boosted the Chinese tourism up to 35% of the nation's total, when they are one of the lowest quality tourists to be found anywhere on the planet (in terms of spending per person) she has demonstrated, and continues to demonstrate her complete incompetence, at her job. I believe this swing toward the Chinese tourists will go down in history, as one of the greatest blunders of the Thai tourism industry. They cannot be considered a substitute for western tourists, who spend far more per day, than these tours, who book hotels at perhaps 40% of the rack rate, require massive discounts in restaurants, and do not stimulate the overall economy. Her utter lack of vision when it comes to developing the market is becoming legendary.

As for her sports ministry position. What can one say? She does not have her hands full enough as it is? Or is this just a way of the government telling all the nation's athletes, you just do not matter. You are not significant for us to devote a department to you. We could not find someone with a background in sports. We found a fine arts graduate, who has a small amount of design experience. You just do not matter. Sorry. We had to combine the departments to save some money.

After working in the hospitality industry here in Thailand for years, it seems to me that many people in this forum are sadly mistaken about the state of the tourism industry over here.

In all of the hotels I've worked at (4-5 stars), 90% of the clientele are couples and families. Only 10% are single male travelers. Those 90% also tend to spend a lot more on average than the other 10%, at least within the confines of the hotel (spa, food and beverage, excursions, etc...).

The same is true on the other end of the spectrum, in very cheap guesthouses. Those tend to cater mostly to groups of young people or young singles who typically can find sex without having to pay for it and mostly tend to hookup with other foreign travelers anyway.

That leaves the 2-3stars hotels, which are where most single males stay. In such hotels located in tourist destinations, it's about a 50%/50% ratio, with 50% groups and families and 50% single 30y+ men. I sincerely doubt, however, that travelers who can't spend more than 1,500 to 2,000 baht/night for accommodation spend a considerable amount of money while they are outside their hotel.

Edit: Those ratios apply to places where I actually have hands-on experience (BKK, Phuket and Samui). Pattaya, on the other hand, probably has a much higher single men ratio, but that's only one town out of about ten major tourist hotspots in Thailand.

I completely disagree with alot of what you said. I just do not think you have the perspective on this. You are looking at it from high end hotel perspective. Very few single men stay in hotels like this. Personally, I stay in very nice 4 star hotels in Bangkok, in the 1700 to 2000 baht range. No need to spend any more than that, when you can get a hotel like the Davis or the Dawin, for that kind of money. Comfortable enough. Families and couples tend to spend more. I have many friends who visit, or live here, and they spend that same 2000 per night on a hotel, and then go out and spend 2,300 on a 90 minute session in a fancy massage place, without a second thought. Sometimes twice a day! Plus meals, drinks, etc. That is alot of cash being pumped into the local economy. So your doubts about men who spend 2000 baht on a hotel having the money to spend a considerable amount of money while outside the hotel is utterly groundless, and completely wrong. They are the ones who are supporting this industry. And they are the ones who will probably never return to Thailand, should the "industry" disappear. I am referring to both Bangkok and Samui, places where I have a great deal of experience.

Sorry boys , but I don't think one of you would want to see your sister, daughter, girlfriend on the streets ? I have no answers to this huge problem, and I think it's all a bit too late anyway to do much about it. If there had been an obligation to educate Thai kids in school , they in turn , would have their children educated. This not being the case has thrown millions of kids into brothels and bars, and turned young men into thugs, transvestism and violence. It's evidence can be seen every day on the streets of all tourist Venus, cities, and is now hitting the smaller quieter towns of the north. We've all seen the nice girl from reception, or at the 7/11 ending up selling herself for money she never dreamed of making. It's all about money nowadays. The girls all want to shop in the fancy stores and buy the latest fashion bags, which she / he will never earning normal wages. The manicure shop I use once a month is full to the top of these young Thai girls, having manicures and pedicures , extensions and all the rest, spending 1500 baht in an hour or two ! I do not mean, as some will say, I have this right and they don't !!! Just that in one busy shop doing hundreds of girls a day, 90 per cent are street/ bar girls. Have a look in any mall ! The boys/ men want the same, clothes, cars and big bikes, money to drink and smoke. So, what can the government do about all this, I have no answer.

Only a small part of this problem is about education. When you invest four years of your life for a degree, and graduate with the ability to only increase your wages by 3,000-5,000 baht per month, something is wrong. It is the elite, the government, and perhaps the Japanese manufacturers (there are over 7,000 Japanese companies working in Thailand today) who have insisted that wages be kept artificially low, for all of this time, and done little to improve the lot of the workers. It creates a difficult situation for the average Thai. Work 60 hours a week, or longer, for 8,000 to 12,000 baht per month. Get a four year degree, and hopefully you can increase your pay to 15,000 per month, and perhaps work 5-10 hours per week less. Not what I would describe as an amazing choice.

Great Idea, does she realize most of the girls send a lot of the money they earn, back to their families and kids in Issan for them to survive..

She will put a huge area of Thailand into more poverty than it already is....

Plus Thailand is no different than most countries in the world, they all have a sex industry, they just may not be as open as it is here...

What's that saying "Sex is the oldest profession in the world" and it is alive and well in Thailand.. good on you girls, love you all !!!

You are giving her way too much credit. What you are suggesting is forethought, planning, vision, and imagination. Impossible.

It is simply impossible to do , since it is part of the culture . Now they are pointing at the massage parlors like Emmanuelle etc... were the vast majority of costumers is Asian . Next will probably be gogo bars since the connection there is obvious .What is next ... bars and disco's ? You can close the 1st 2 as of massage and gogos but bars and disco's are just nightlife . All the working peolple will move there will will draw the tourists and Thais over there . It is a simple shift in places , nothing more . As long as you do have the pleople wanting to work in it , and you have people wanting to pay for it , it will never go away .

Do not overestimate the role of sex tourism also Probably in some places like Pattaya it is huge impact but in general , the impact will be a lot less . Thailand has got a lot more then only tourism

If however she shut's down the bars and disco's alltogether , the impact will be huge , Nowhere to have a beer will draw even the rich tourist with families ( where she is aiming for ) far away to any other place ( hey even the middle east is an option then .... ) .

The one thing the punters can count on, is that the little man, and virtually his entire incompetent administration has very poor concentration, and almost no follow up. So, more than likely this will dissipate as with all his other plans, proposals, ideas, hair brained schemes, improvements, crackdowns, lies, promises, steps to move the country forward, and "innovations".

"Sprawling" as if implying this is a recent and rapidly spreading outbreak? It is an aspect of Thai culture as ingrained and totally normal and accepted as tuk-tuks, temples and rice farms. It's not viewed as sinful or shameful or degrading to women. In fact, a large part of Issan's economy relies on working girls sending big money back to mom and dad on the farm. While it exists here to some small extent, Thai prostitution seldom involves enslavement, human trafficing or forced drug dependence. I't also is, for better or worse one of the key attractions of Thailand for eestern tourists.

Wrong on every point, it is regarded as shameful, it' s the money that's not, and it is not a mainstay of Issan economy however much the users of prostitutes like to fantasize that it is, thus justifying their paying for sex.

I tend to disagree. Yes, it may be considered shameful, when talked about in the open. But, there seems to be a ridiculously permissive attitude in Issan, regarding their women working in the sex trade. The whole notion that the girls, when they grow up will be sending money back home, is so antiquated and outdated. And what do you think the parents really believe is happening, when the daughter starts sending 15,000 or 20,000 baht per month home? She found a restaurant that has really big tippers? She found the highest paying factory job in the country?

I believe they know what is going on, but turn the other way, in order to take advantage of the lifestyle. Little do they know the details of what their sweet, lovely daughter is having to do on a daily basis, to get that cash.

I seriously doubt the tourism minister came up with this idea. I am fairly certain where it came from. The US government. Only they are stupid, prurient, prudish, churlish, falsely moral, falsely puritanical, preachy, disingenuous, and non visionary enough to come up with policy like this. It is probably through the long arm of the American NGO's, those horrific organizations that go around the world pushing the US political agenda, posing as do gooder organizations, and charitable groups. There is also a small chance that there is come pressure from China. 35% of all tourists within Thailand now are Chinese. And they do not partake of much of this. The government here is doing a good job of deluding themselves into thinking the growing Chinese tourism, is a good thing for the Thai economy. It is anything but. They are very, very low quality tourists, who do not spend much money, anywhere. Not a substitute for the far superior (in terms of spending power) western tourists, that they are losing in droves.

In the US it is almost against the law to enjoy sex. For that matter, to enjoy anything. So, it stands to reason that this house of fools would want the world to be subject to the degree of silliness, and intolerance that Americans are subject to. And as much as they try to make it appear that they just don't care, my guess is that the Thai government just cannot say no to the aid, and the promises.

Hopefully, like nearly all the policies coming from the little man, this will blow over too, and be forgotten very soon. This is a terrible idea.

What the prince is really saying, and possibly thinking is:

They are man children. They are some of the least secure men on earth. They have absolutely zero faith and trust in their women. They are really small men, with no regard for women, and frankly, little regard for ourselves. If our women show their beautiful faces to the world, then every man will want them. And if a man wants them, who knows what these women are capable of. It appears they determined that left to their own devices, their women are not capable of fidelity. Most of that nation is absolutely locked in the 12th century, and refuse to budge. Keep the women in the house, in the kitchen, or the bedroom. Let them out only with another man, who will make sure she is not getting busy with friends or strangers.

Recently a member of the religious police, There is a new hero in SA named Ammed Qassim al Ghamdi, and he is speaking out about how out of control his government is, and how they have prevented the word of the Prophet.

For years, Mr. Ghamdi stuck with the program and was eventually put in charge of the Commission for the region of Mecca, Islam’s holiest city. Then he had a reckoning and began to question the rules. So he turned to the Quran and the stories of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions, considered the exemplars of Islamic conduct. What he found was striking and life altering: There had been plenty of mixing among the first generation of Muslims, and no one had seemed to mind.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/11/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-islam-wahhabism-religious-police.html?_r=0

They are a shameful nation. If it were not for their oil, they would mean nothing to the world. No significance whatsoever, beyond their continued financial support for terror, worldwide. Personally, I do not like fracking, and the costs to the communities where it is taking place. But, if that is what it takes to wean ourselves off of these worms, than it is a good thing.

Another result of disastrous Obama foreign policy. He does not seem to be able to fight his way out of a paper bag, when it comes to foreign policy. Everything he touches turns to crap. Granted, the US in general has had horrific foreign policy for the past couple of decades. Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Afghanistan, Algeria, not to mention our policies with regard to rogue and out of control nations like Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.

We are now completely beaten, so why not talk to the Russians? if anything, our policy seems to have made Assad more powerful.

I wonder that standards they used to define trustworthy. I certainly do not trust the US govt. But, I do not trust the little man either, one iota. Not only does he have alot of silly and dogmatic ideas, but he is incompetent to boot. At least the US has a semblance of competency within the judicial system. Not one iota of justice here. And at least the US has competent (though certainly overreaching to an extreme degree) law authority. Not a dog and pony show, or laurel and hardy, like they have here. At least.

This is what is known in other parts of the world as progressive thinking. I do not see alot of it here. Hope this happens. They need those tourist buses in the central area, like they need cancer, or a hole in the head. Same goes for Samui, downtown Bangkok, and other tourist areas.

I did some calculations a few years back, and came to the conclusion that the mayor of Samui could put together a beach cleaning crew for 75,000 baht per month. A four person crew that would make the rotations, and clean up two or three beaches per day. It would do wonders to some beautiful beaches that are consistently fouled by trash. That is peanuts for a government that collects billions, from the local community. Any community can do that. The ones that do not have a boil on their faces, officials completely devoid of pride, competency, and the ability to run their tourist areas properly. This is such a basic necessity.

Of course the officials were grateful that the foreigners had volunteered to do their jobs. The question remains, why were they not doing their jobs to begin with? Sloth? An extreme lack of pride? Incompetency? Greed? Pick one.

A lot of Thai bashing in this thread. You were not there so you do not have a clue most of yiu.

So, let me understand your position. From your point of view, is it ok to charge someone for spoiled goods? It is ok to charge nearly 2,000 baht for a rotten lobster, that should have been discarded days earlier? Is it ok to attempt to pass off bad food on an unsuspecting tourist or foreigner? And is it acceptable, once caught in the act of perpetrating this crime, to continue the charade, and deny, obfuscate, and shed blame on others?

Where are the standards? Where is the morality? Where are the ethics? Is there no code of conduct? Please explain.

That's not what I meant . Thai media reports that the German ate the lobster , not only the tail, and then complained. We have two different articles about this story . Also there is a question about how to prepare a frozen lobster compared to one who is alive from the tank. I am not an expert , I would never pay that much for a lobster anyway. All I know is that the restaurant has many satisfied customers, and inspectors concluded that the standards according to them were fine.

That was media show. The media was present when the inspectors arrived, or they arrived together. What do you think the chances were, that the inspectors were going to censure the restaurant, in front of the media, and then have them publish that for national consumption? In my opinion the possibility of that happening was next to zero.

This man did not finish the lobster. He brought a good chunk of it to the police station, to offer to the officer, who would not touch it, after examining it. So, we do not know how much he ate. My guess is not more than one bite.