What's on when we are away?

 Technical problems, along with censorship issues, with automatically uploading and downloading some programs we have decided to set static programs in their place.  So, what's on when we are away?

In place of DemocracyNow! at 11:00pm.

From Jungle And Street To Cyberspace
Internet Politics And Censorship In Thailand

A Talk by Pitch Pongsawat on Internet Censorship in Thailand at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Feb 2009.


At noon and 6pm instead of Free Speech Radio News

Community Radio In Thailand

An interview with Thai scholar and activist, Ubonrat Siriyuvasak. Dr. Ubonrat is associate professor and deputy dean of research and International affairs in the faculty of communication arts at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. She is currently the UNESCO chair in Freedom of Expression, a joint project between UNESCO and at Chulalongkorn University. She has numerous articles and books to her credit and has been very active in media reform in south east asia for many years.

We will not have Thai news at the 1/2 hour until around April 12.

Contest until April 14

We have joined with King Bizkit Records in the UK to bring you another contest.  This time for the re release CD of 'HOOKED ON YOU' by The Sensational King Bizkit Blues Band in the run-up to the release of their new CD in May.  'SELLING MY SOUL' and we will have yet another draw for an autographed CD.

Same rules as before send an email to kbbb@lukamar.ca. with KBBB Contest in the subject line.  That's it, as we hate spam the only time you will hear from us is if you win or on occasion if we know each other.  We don't sell trade or give away email addresses, 'cause that just wrong, let alone annoying and a breach of trust.

For those that have not heard this group we'll give you a bit of a taste of what you are in for in April, some really great blues.

ANOTHER KINDA LOVE

http://www.kingbizkit.com/music/01-sample-64bit.mp3

HOOKED ON YOU

http://www.kingbizkit.com/music/02-sample-64bit.mp3

A GOOD FOOL IS HARD TO FIND

http://www.kingbizkit.com/music/03-sample-64bit.mp3

JEALOUS WOMAN

http://www.kingbizkit.com/music/04-sample-64bit.mp3

Now if you can't wait you can always go to their website and put in your order.

King Bizkit Records

Opposition to ask PM to clarify blacklisting of 212 persons

The opposition Puea Thai Party will on Tuesday submit a letter requesting Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to set up a committee to investigate whether his government has blacklisted 212 persons who are staunch supporters of fugitive, ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the party spokesman said Monday.


Spokesman Prompong Nopparit said he would submit the letter at Government House asking the prime minister to establish a committee to probe the issue after a number of persons on the alleged blacklist complained of being followed by unknown people.

If true, it could be considered a violation of individual rights, Mr Prompong said, adding that the ruling Democrat Party had obviously denied knowledge of the preparation of the list.

He said some Buddhist monks whose names also appeared on the list would travel with him to Government House.

Leading members of the Democrat Party, led by Prime Minister Abhisit, have come out in full force and denied the allegations.

Thepthai Senpong, spokesman for Mr Abhisit, said the government has “never done anything illegally”. The list, if it exists, could be published by anybody.

Democrat Party spokesman Buranaj Samutharak said the government had never violated anybody’s rights. He said the names of political activists and troublemakers are already held by courts. (TNA)

Mr. Buranaj must have selective memory how about the forced expatriation of the Hmong and Burmese and we won't even get into the sending out to sea to die of the boat people.  "never violated anybody’s rights", my ass!

2010 Winter Olympics have ended

With the closing Ceremony the 2010 Winter Olympics have ended and athletes will travel to Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia in 2014 where the weather will likely be less Mediterranean.

Overall the games went off well with few problems, regardless of what has been reported.  Weather was the big one, warm weather followed by torrential rain which washed away a lot of the snow pack on Cypress and made the mountains at Whistler laden with heavy snow.

For the Canadians the big Game came to fruition and they got to struggle with the USA in mens hockey for the gold medal.  This game was hyped to the point of hysteria.  Canada came out fast but the USA scored with seconds left in the game forcing overtime.  Canada won with a golden goal but in all the game was quite good, that coming from a soccer fan.

I won't miss the constant singing of Oh Canada at the drop of a hat but it is touching to see, once or twice, but not once or twice an hour.

If  I can sort out my notes before we head back to Thailand I'll try and write a bit more.  One more week and we are out of here. 

2010 Winter Olympics Final Results

2010 Winter Olympics Final Results

United States 9 15 13 37
Germany 10 13 7 30
Canada 14 7 5 26
Norway 9 8 6 23
Austria 4 6 6 16
Russia 3 5 7 15
Korea 6 6 2 14
China 5 2 4 11
Sweden 5 2 4 11
France 2 3 6 11
Switzerland 6 0 3 9
Netherlands 4 1 3 8
Czech Rep 2 0 4 6
Poland 1 3 2 6
Italy 1 1 3 5
Japan 0 3 2 5
Finland 0 1 4 5
Australia 2 1 0 3
Belarus 1 1 1 3
Slovakia 1 1 1 3
Croatia 0 2 1 3
Slovenia 0 2 1 3
Latvia 0 2 0 2
Great Britain 1 0 0 1
Estonia 0 1 0 1
Kazakhstan 0 1 0 1

Thaksin - the Verdict

Thaksin - the Verdict.

We will post some audio from BBC and some random thoughts.





Might have some time later to write a bit about everything right now it's an hour to the Hockey game and I'm a bit punchy from getting up at night to check the verdict from Thailand.  I'd rather be fresher when I'm commenting.

I can't comment on the entire verdict at the moment as I've only seen pieces of it. I have said that for it to be accepted by society it must be fair, Neutral, reasonable and not seen as being contrived. Initially the verdict appears to be reasonable, but again i have not read it completely. It does however appear that there was a leak to the government from comments and actions by the government and others prior to the verdict, if that relates into society feeling the verdict was preconceived time will tell.

Does this matter in the grand scheme of things .

#thai1 In the grand scheme of things what matters? In Thailand everyone is waiting for the bomb to drop and the yelling and screaming to begin at the assets seizure. Here in Canada at the Olympics the yelling and screaming hasn't stopped since the Canadian Women's Hockey Team took the gold medal this afternoon. Not that there isn't controversy here the IOC is annoyed that the women had a bottle of Champagne and a couple of bottles of beer on the ice after the medal ceremony.

If you want to see a country erupt just strip the medals off the Canadian women and the Canuks will draw and quarter the IOC members that can't get out of town in time.

Beer, Pizza and Hockey is the Saturday night entertainment in 90% of the country as it's "Hockey Night IN Canada". I remember a long time ago that the CBC had a comedy program and they went onto the street in Toronto. They ask if people could recognize the song they were playing almost half said it was the Canadian National Anthem, in reality it was the theme song to.... You guessed it "Hockey Night IN Canada".

In Thailand, reports from some very well respected foreign media are saying that there is little action at the court house. Newley Purnell reported on twitter, "In courtyard outside supreme ct. Dozens of police, TV crews, and photogs. but very calm. haven't seen single protester outside."

You have to think the UDD sucker punched the government on this. They have decided not to protest and the Government has more security, troops and police on the street than the Burmese junta did during their last crackdown. Sure will make a good picture for the world press and help to restore the tourist industry.

In the grand scheme of things what matters? Well here in Canada it would be Hockey because if you ask anyone who Thaksin is they'd probably tell you some European Hockey player.