chantorn

The lottery is just a replacement for personal income tax, which most Thais don't pay. And you get a change to win something too.

Cynical, but partially true. Most people I know who buy lottery tickets, however, buy the underground tickets where the chances of winning are higher. The payouts are smaller of course. No revenues go to the government coffers unfortunately.

I have never quite understood the difference between the two.

But is Thailand the only country to have a nationwide, publicly distributed and marketed illegal lottery?

Thailand is not the only country. I know of some thai's in the United States who play these underground lotteries, where they check Thai newspaper from abroad on every 1st and 16th of the month. The payout there is huge sometimes in the 6 figures.

And the American law enforcer allows this to happen?

OK so they've sacked the messenger. That does not detract from the major implication that the democrats were trying to influence the judicial system. Whether this is the case or not, maybe we will find out. After all the Constitution Court has taken it seriously enough to "to pursue a criminal investigation against anyone involved in the alleged lobbying". In addition "an internal investigation will be carried out". When, or even if, the results of these actions are made known, it will make for interesting reading. We shall see, maybe.

http://www.nationmul...d-30140301.html

Actually it does detract from the implication that the Democrats were attempting to lobby the court. Here are the facts as known today.

1) Secretary to Court conceals cameras in judges chambers and videotapes their deliberations.

2) Secretary to Court arranges a meeting with a Democrat Minister.

3) Secretary to Court leads Democrat MP into a conversation about the case.

4) Secretary to Court films this conversation as well.

5) Secretary to Court provides all video footage to PTP Ministers.

6) These videos are posted on youtube with inaccurate and misleading captions.

7) PTP/UDD have a history of making public doctored videos in an attempt to smear the Democrat Party.

Smells like a carefully orchestrated set-up to me.

Nowhere in the articles I find that the Dem's talked with one of the judges. There's a secretly filmed scene with judges, a disjoint scene with the secretary Pasit discussing the case with two Dem's. Next you know the tapes are in PTP hands and on youtube. A setup, who knows.

It really is a pity that the lunchbox case wasn't filmed, even more suspicious someone returned the box before filing a case. The two lawyers got six months.

How much for a deliberatively and secret filming of judges and equally deliberatively setup of MP's ? Don't worry about the framing of MP's though, they get used to that

No film get 6 months.

Filmed get nothing?

Speaking during his weekly TV program, Abhisit said his government does not want to encourage the people to gamble much more. The Nation

Does he mean we can continue gambling the way we do right now - underground?

Don't forget that this is a Buddhist country.

Any gambling, big or small should never be allowed.

I guess if the government won't attack them they will do it themselves.

... including to each other, which they may have already done as there is a possibility that UDD militants ("black shirts") shot their own supporters during the riots.

There is also a possibility that Khattiya Sawasdipol was shot by someone aligned with Thaksin, as Khattiya was revealing a lot of information to the media at the time. Maybe they didn't want him to be taken in by authorities for interrogation.

Agree, as the shooter was MOST LIKELY a sniper in army uniform, behind the army line.That is the reason why the govt cannot release the report of the bullet trajectory.

"In the old days if an agent did something that embarrassing he'd have a good sense to defect." - M

Maybe this Russian should consider.

mmmm 10 am is 3 am GMT is it? Not at the moment it isn't.

I wonder why he could not eject?

He was not the only Thai pilot with ejection problems.

Let the women stay. they could contribute to Thailand GDP.

Doesn't exactly look like as clandestine lobbying meeting,

more like a well attended public legal meeting.

And there are reported to be tow very different sub-title transcriptions

depending on the side presenting the videos leanings.

It is an obvious fake. Just look at the shadow. It does not match the time of the day. 555. Just like the Thaksin photos that prove that he is alive.

Very interesting article. Taxes come into play for sure. I remember reading an article about Ted Turner donating something like $1B. Then I read that it actually saved him money to do so! Crazy...and so is this!!!!!!!!

"The three richest people possess more financial assets than the poorest 10% of the world's population, combined "

Wow, I wish I could be rich too.

LOL charges exaggerated

they only closed the whole country down

DK

The airport was only closed for only 9 days. We do not use the airport every single day of our life do we? Maybe only 2 days a years, flying out & back from our annual vacation to Phuket. So we still have 365-9-2 = 354 days where we don't use the airport.

Chantorn , first you have to WIN the war before you can claim victory , all the best equipment in the world does not equate to victory , a-la Afganistan , Thailand does not seem to have the troops trained to use all of their equipment to the best advantage , they also have little armed combat experience . Guerila warfare reduces the worth of equipment , but more produces the worth of the man , diplomacy should be used to the fullest , standing on a soapbox behind your computer achieves little to nothing .

Sure Thailand can win. We are trained in Cambodia aren't we, so we knew all the trick up their sleeves.

Also, we have the advantage of having a strong Baht. Make it cheaper to hire G.I. Joes or the A-team.

The Baht is strong now. Why not pay up front with cash now. TG have planes to fly a plane load of dollar bill to Seattle / Toulouse.

Somyot Pruksakasemsuk is a Re-shirt leader. Why is he not arrested for causing public nonsense? Like the flip flop seller?

http://trinleychodron.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/somyot-pruksakasemsuk-says%E2%80%9D-i-wanna-sacrifice-my-liberty-but-my-humanity-%E2%80%9C-the-written-declaration-was-being-written-before-he-was-detained-on-26-may-2010-bangkokthailand/

Adults should have the right to do as they wish if it harms no one but themselves. if that's what they want to do,It's their lives at the end of the day.

Do you know that commit suicide is a crime.

Do you know that taking illegal drug is a crime.

http://freelawanswer.com/law/1943-2-law-6.html

My boyfriend bough back a toilet roll printed with Bush face. Will this also be considered printed materials which contained messages which might cause panic or misunderstanding, affecting national security or the good morals of the people ?

I wonder how many John Smith in US. Or how many Mr. Chan & Ms. Wong & Madam Li in China.

PTP MP shacks up with his daughters friend and gives her a job too.

This man is PM material to a red shiit!

Kuhn Thaksin should be so proud.

How will Prompong spin tbis one?

IS there proof of the shagging?

Photos / Videos link please?

Else don't make such allegation.

It has a negative image on us Thai women in general.

Right, like dropping the atomic bomb for example.

After we had our chat about hitler and some simpelton approaches to explain - can we now return to the topic?

First of all the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not done by suicide bombers and nobody involved was brainwashed. There was much debate about dropping the atomic weapons on Japan at the highest levels of the U.S. government and Japan was given fair warning and clued in to the potential devastation of the Atomic bomb. When Japan replied that it would not surrender and that it would fight to the last man, then and only then was a decision reached about dropping the bomb and the decision was reached because the invasion of the Japanese mainland would have lasted for years and resulted in 500,000-700,000 allied deaths and well over 2 million Japanese deaths, not to mention the absolute destruction of most infrastructure and commerce in Japan. While the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were horrific, they pale in comparison to the devastation and death that an invasion of the Japanese mainland would have produced.

Agreed also,

in spite of a few biased modern revisionist historians pulling selected documents and trying to say they represent thinking across the board at that time. This description does fit the facts as understood for many decades.

The 2nd bombed was dropped because Japan's leaders STILL couldn't believe their own reports, and the repeated warnings to surrender, or it will be repeated, and continued the 'fight too the last man attitude'. Finally they understood and bowed to reality.

Was it horrific? Certainly. Was it likely the lesser of two evils? Much more likely still. The reconstruction of Japan was made quickly and benefited the Japanese people and the whole world, because of the lack of 'utter destruction' caused by a protracted invasion. As was clearly seen during the longer reconstruction of Germany after the protracted invasion there.

Doesn't stop some from hating Americans for things done by long dead leaders in different times. Then again some are still living angry about battles a millennium ago. No accounting for jingoist myopia.

Even in this age of communication.

Do we wish any of this madness on Thailand and the Thai people.

No, almost none do, and those that might are clearly brainwashed

The killing of a million Japs by the bombs was a good thing. Else a billion non-japs (Asian, Hawaiian, Australians, Oceania) will be killed.

If history repeats itself, the US will not regret, and certainly drop a hydrogen bomb in japan. This time, maybe Tokyo could be the target.

Sorry to say this, but Serve Them Right.

Can there ever be peace in thailand

I know what I know from Thais and not from Wikipedia.

Why would Samak also make the claim that only 1 person died??

He was after all in charge of the operation at the time.

Did he have a bad memory?

I am actually happy they have updated the quota to something more realistic.

You are way out of line and somehow I think you know it. So here some from Thammasat students

http://www.asiamedia...?parentid=87178

Ok not going to pursue the matter any more and take back my comments as being false at this moment in time.

As I recall, I received the information just before Samak became PM it was actually from anti Samak people i.e. Thai Democrats

I will however make some personal investigation just to confirm the information is wrong.

Are we discussing about the airport here?

Fine words, however one needs to remember that the financial system of any sovereign state is controlled by the international band of robbers . Oh sorry speculative currency manipulators, better known as bankers.

trollololololo.

I smell conspiracy bullshit.

I believe Korn took a position before issue those statement. He was a financial market junkie before his current post.

Bomb shelter business must be booming.

The demonstrators would continue to hold rallies or conduct violence because their “big boss” has ordered them not to stop, Mr Abhisit said.

Please back up with a link. Please.

So the law requiring mandatory retirement does not count? can see a lot more such cases lining up, and the rich and powerful will hang on to their position until they die.

"Meanwhile, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said that the baht's value is still relatively low compared to many other currencies." Like which one. Care to name some?

The typical responses coming from a few users who refuse to accept the facts.

- The UDD leadership is a group of people, employed by Thaksin Shinawatra, to cause as much damage to the country as possible in any way, shape or form.

- 11 indentified people (stop lieing please) have admitted that they are part of a network of bombers and assassins paid for by the above.

Whether or not the UDD en-masse are violent or not holds no relevance to this conversation. The UDD leaders threatened mass arson, bomb attacks and assassinations. We have seen many cases of the first two, so I think it's fairly likely that we'll see the third (maybe we already have, in the case of Khattiya Sawasdipol).

The DSI have confirmed that there are Red Shirt arms training activities being held in Cambodia. I very much doubt they are either making this up or they are wrong - but your typical response by the UDD faithful on Thaivisa is "where's the evidence?". Well, we've already seen it in this thread! Unfortunately the UDD has shown time and time again that evidence is not required or wanted, as it just gets them into more trouble. However, I believe that the DSI report which I expect to made public in late 2010 or early 2011 will be very comprehensive - it will have to be.

A big problem with the Red Shirts is that they are unwilling to listen to other viewpoints. I remember watching a reporter that asked a group of Red Shirts at Rajprasong, "What do you want Abhisit to change; what policies do you want to see?". He was forcibly removed from the protest area by UDD guards amidst boos and jeers from the crowd! Well, the UDD supporters here have a very similar pretense - they are not interested in facts or solutions, they just seem to want to push their view that the army opened fire on unarmed protesters and Thaksin's Chinese-Thai mafia are actually Abhisit's... even if evidence clearly shows the opposite.

Wait until the DSI report comes out, and watch Jatuporn go through his usual denials and finger-pointing - but this time in more of an effort to prevent his own state execution.

This is where all these "You're being paid to write this crap, aren't you" questions are coming from. If you're not stupid, what are you?

Wait until the DSI report comes out?

You mean after 50 yeears?

DSI can't even tell which direction the bullet that shot Seh Deang came from; despite knowing where he was standing at the time he was shot. Can't tell or must not tell?