tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18330979111214817102024-03-05T12:26:00.010+07:00Ricefield Radio ThailandServing the English language and foreign community of Thailand's North and Northeast. News, Weather, Music and Views for Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phayao, Korat, Udon Thani and the surrounding areas, but serving the entire globe.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-71217194718750758152012-01-12T00:12:00.000+07:002012-01-12T00:12:37.307+07:00Article 112I haven't written much for some time but I feel compelled.<br />
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First I want to be very clear, I truly believe we have to protect the Monarchy with some form of law. I also believe that Article 112 of the LM law has been abused for way too long as a political tool.<br />
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We need to protect the Monarchy while at the same time protect the People's right to comment. After all this is a supposed Democracy. The way the law is setup and used often does not protect the Royal family or the People. I also believe that recent abuse of article 112 has actually hurt the image of the Monarchy, which is the exact opposite of what it was intended to do.<br />
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There is a couple of simple solutions that could solve the problem of abuse of the law while still protecting the royal Family.<br />
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First we could change the law slightly so that accusers were not anonymous. This would help eliminate all the frivolous accusations that the police have to act upon. We could go even further and write into the law that there was a substantial penalty for anyone bringing forward a frivolous accusation of LM and the onus is on them to prove they did not.<br />
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The very easiest way to stop all this politicizing LM is to allow only a single entity, like the Royal Household Bureau, to bring forward accusations. This would stop radical fringe groups from bringing frivolous charges and at the same time protect the royal family by allowing the Monarchy a say in what it deems offensive to itself.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-45269636388280318752011-06-16T23:27:00.005+07:002011-06-17T11:53:47.765+07:00Bangkok Post and the Military<div>Just after Army Chief Phayruth came out on the military owned TV channels with his very political statement that the military would crack down on any Media outlets who were not putting out the correct information the Bangkok Post responded quickly. Although not in a way you would think a newspaper would, especially on their web page.<br />
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</div><div>What did the Bangkok Post do that I personally find so vile. As a media outlet they bowed and groveled to the army chief. Soon after his "words of wisdom", more of a threat in reality, the Bangkok Post removed all their website reader comments that had been online for a day on anything concerned with the military and General Prayuth and now they don't even allow comments at all on these issues. In a heartbeat they capitulated their freedom of expression and media freedom passing it to the Military.<br />
</div><div></div><div>For Thailand to have a free media be it radio, TV or print they have to be allowed, without threat or intimidation, to put forward a variety of thoughts from all sides of the spectrum. I'm not talking subversion or fringe press, I'm talking the mainstream media here.<br />
</div><div></div><div>There is a reason that Reporters Without Borders rated Thailand (153) with less press freedom last year behind countries that we would all agree have little to no press freedom some of them we think of as third world. Cambodia, Ethiopia, Russia, Honduras, Columbia, Nigeria, Congo even Afghanistan and Pakistan are ahead of Thailand. Although we were 3 places ahead of the Philippines who had mass shootings of reporters last year as if that's a consolation.<br />
</div><div></div><div>Until The Thai Media has the courage to report neutrally even while under pressure rather than capitulate to the government of the time, the rich, the powerful or even worse the Military it's little more than a propaganda machine for whatever party is pressuring it.<br />
</div><div></div><div><strong>The Thai people need to do their part in a couple of ways</strong>.<br />
</div><div></div><div><strong>We need to get out and vote.</strong> Vote for the party or politician of your choice think about what will help Thailand, what will help you and your family, what will help your immediate area, and what is needed to move forward. Think about what you had, what you have and what you pope to have in the future. Then be sure to Vote.<br />
</div><div></div><div><strong>We need to fight for Media Freedom.</strong> When you see something like the situation at the Bangkok Post, or the indiscriminate closing of radio or TV stations, without a court warrant, don't just throw up your arms in frustration. Say something. Say it to your friends, say it to your neighbor, say it on Face book or twitter, buy say something. Say it even if you don't agree with the views of the outlet. If you remain silent, the situation we find our self in, will just worsen. Be part of the solution to this very severe problem.<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><strong>UPDATE:-</strong></span> <span style="color: blue;"><strong>In fairness to the Post one long term employee has contacted me and said they are looking into what was described as a 'Big Issue".</strong></span></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div>Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-20172591800500037332011-04-18T23:58:00.000+07:002011-04-18T23:58:07.588+07:00The Lunacy of it AllLately the heat is getting to a lot of people, not the heat of summer but the political heat. <br />
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The Army or more rightly stated an Army Chief is once again meddling in politics. He's decided to become Thailand's Great Inquisitor, the upholder of the Monarchy the only one who will be righteous to a fault. Problem is that's not his job. His job is to be the protector of the Thai people from outside forces, nothing more nothing less. To start dictating, and yes I used that word on purpose, to the populous on who should be charged with sedition or LM for clapping and cheering at a pep rally is well, incomprehensible from a man in such a high position. What's he going to do next, decree who can and can't clap and cheer at a football match? It's outright dumb. In any other country on earth the head of the military making statements and acting in this manner would be unemployed. To me it looks like he's just trying to sway the outcome of the election by pointing fingers at the opposition and the opposition is rightly pointing back this time.<br />
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Then we have the matter of the three young girls vs the Cultural ministry. The girls danced topless on a car and the Ministry had a hemorrhoid. Problem is the Ministry had pictures of 3 nude Thai women on their web page when all this started. Being Songkran it's hard to get a web page changed fast. Oops. Who really cares if three young women took off their tops and danced around a bit, not me. Maybe the Cultural Minister never took off his cloths on a hot summer day when he was a kid and went skinny dipping. Too bad, because he missed one of the true joys of hot weather and childhood. Maybe that's why they are such a stuffy lot. While I'm on the subject, traditionally women in Siam did walk around topless and just maybe the cultural ministry should suck up some of that ancient culture they feel needs protecting by visiting a museum or two and looking at the art. The same art they HAD depicted on their web page.<br />
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Now a bit of a rant on the Bangkok Post. <br />
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There is one thing that bothers me about every second article in the paper. They use the word source too freely. In journalistic terms you want to protect your source so you will have it again when needed but at the same time you have to do your own leg work to write a story. Often "the Source" is some low key person a secretary, a janitor or a tidbit heard over lunch from another table. Sometimes "the Source" is someone disgruntled about a situation or someone that can advance their own position by lessening someone else's. AND THEN sometimes "the Source" is just the journalist's way of stating his own opinion without actually putting his head in a noose. Come on Bangkok Post reporters, do some work, ask some questions, state your own opinion and quit hiding behind, "The Source". <br />
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I have no idea who moderates the Bangkok Post comments section but this is what I feel. If you are going to allow comments then get moderators who are neutral. To constantly allow anti red comments without any censorship some of which are quite provocative while at the same time censoring most comments that are either pro red or anti government is not moderation, it's Censorship. One would think that all media outlets in Thailand would be sensitive to censorship but apparently at the Post it is alive and well used in their comments section continuously.<br />
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It's not just me that feel this way I've talked to a few other commenter's and they often are censored when the replies to their comments are let go often times being quite radical.<br />
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I'll just add that they even sent me an email if I continued to comment against Abhisit my account would be terminated. At least they are showing the true intent of their publication.<br />
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Now a comment on the election, if it ever is even called. With all the panic by the Army about the UDD and with all the lop sided articles in the media favoring the Democrats even after the Democrats have changed the ground rules in regards to the make up of the house to favor themselves, one has to wonder if panic has set in. The EC today has decided to allow EU election observers for the next election. There must be some major panic in the ranks on that one. The Democrats and Suthep in particular do not want observers that could well tell the world community in no uncertain terns that the election was not fee and fair if the Democrats manage to win the most seats. The incredible worst case scenario for the Democrats is that the PTP win a majority and the EU election observers declare that everything was 100% above board or that the PTP won even with interference from groups against them. Lets wait and see what transpires but it's going to get interesting. Very interesting indeed.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-30640150262217362852011-02-26T03:32:00.002+07:002011-03-05T01:22:54.785+07:00Surgery on my face - A new experience<div>I sit here looking through one eye of my bifocals trying to type. In August I bloged that I had to have a mole removed from my nose by a special procedure. </div><div></div><div>HERE>> <a href="http://ricefieldradio.blogspot.com/2010/08/lost-in-space.html#links">http://ricefieldradio.blogspot.com/2010/08/lost-in-space.html#links</a><br />
</div><div></div><div>Well the day has passed and I've had the surgery. It was a long procedure 7 hours, give or take a bit, but was broken up into sections. For the first hour it was mostly an assessment by the team and a q&A about all sorts of stuff, like medications, that could affect the outcome and talking pulse oxygen and blood pressure. Then it was waiting time.<br />
</div><div></div><div>With this type of surgery you do a lot of waiting and if you are the "ants in the pants" type you will go crazy. After another 45 minutes I was called in to the operating room and huge amounts of anesthetic was injected into my face. I was literally numb all over. They drew some lines on my face with a felt marker and then it was time to start the cutting procedure. Having never gone through anything like this I didn't know what to expect. There was no pain involved at all but it felt like they were pulling chunks out of my skin, a very strange sensation. You could feel the scalpel cutting and the forceps pulling and when they cauterized the bleeding it made the end of mu nose itchy. Then back to waiting while the new pieces of flesh were sent to the lab for analysis.<br />
</div><div></div><div>45 minutes later the results were in and it was back to the operating room. The nurse was holding a piece of paper with a big map of my face. In the center was this big red circle. That area was still cancerous. The whole area BTW. This started out with a mole that was smaller than the end of your little finger now it as a hole about the side of your index finger and still cancerous. The temporary patch was removed and I was numbed up again. The surgeon started to cut away for another hour. This time the hole was the size of your thumb if you look at it from the fingerprint side. Then back to waiting.<br />
</div><div></div><div>Like clockwork after 45 minutes the nurse arrived and informed me that they had cut out all the cancer and that they would stitch me up in about 5 minutes. In I went. More anesthetic, and way more cutting. She cut for the better part of an hour, more about her later. The head plastic surgeon came in and they had a discussion about skin flaps and where to put the stitches and to cut a bit more, "here and here". Then it was stitch up time, she stitched and stitched and stitched. I was thinking of asking her if she would stitch the hem of my jeans at one point. That took another hour and a half.<br />
</div><div></div><div>At one point she told me I was going to look like I'd been in a fight and I told her that I'd look just like one of my clients. (A tidbit for all those who don't know what I do in Canada to pass my time - I have an interest in a gym and do personal training) We got talking about the UFC - Ultimate Fighting Championships and Mixed Martial Arts. Seems she's a big MMA fan. Strange, I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years. She's very professional, about 6 foot, blond, incredibly pretty and has a body like a super model with very long legs. This young woman with a blood thirst patched up people all day it was just surrealistic.</div><div></div><div>I was all done and the nurse patched me up with this huge compression bandage, and I was on my way. I was glad I brought a huge bottle of Tylenol for when the freezing wore off. <br />
</div><div></div><div>The surprising thing is that it really didn't hurt much at all. I took the Tylenol just in case but I really don't think I needed it at all.</div><div></div><div>My Right eye did swell shut and I iced it continuously for the entire evening. The next morning I could just see out of it. Today it's a bit better and my wife (It's nice to have a health care professional in the family) took off the old dressing and put on a less bulky one. It's feeling much better now.</div><div></div><div>The prognosis, Cancer free maybe 98%, The swelling should go down in a few days, only one black eye although they predicted two, and I can finally go for a new eyeglass prescription in a month or so.</div><div></div><div>Now for some pictures. This one is from 2 hours after the surgery, taken by my 5 year old.</div><div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://lukamar.ca/boo/face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" l6="true" src="http://lukamar.ca/boo/face.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><div></div><div>This one is from 48 hours after the surgery when the compression bandage was removed. Somewhere in the 40 - 50 stitch range.</div><div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://lukamar.ca/boo/face2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" l6="true" src="http://lukamar.ca/boo/face2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div></div><div>Next week I have to go to have them all removed. Rats!!!!!!<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><strong>UPDATE.</strong></span><br />
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I've had my stitches removed and everything is healing well. Still swollen but the stitch line down the side of my nose is almost invisible although a bit reddish.<br />
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</div><div></div>Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-52268410673900545082011-02-17T03:13:00.001+07:002011-02-17T08:56:17.821+07:00Education and the Education Budget in Thailand.Today the parliament passed the mid-year budget in principle with 265 votes to 61 while 93 MPs abstained and 2 didn't vote. What does that mean in reality. Well to put it into perspective 28.3% of the budget is on education spending. What you say, can't be!!!! Well it is. <br />
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According to visualeconomics.com Thailand spends more on education than anyone on their list. A full 11.2% more than the USA, 15% more than Australia and 15.6% more than Canada. There are probably a few who would argue that the Thai education system is as good and they will likely also argue that the world is flat. A hollow arguments at best. <br />
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So, I'll tell you a little story. Once upon a time last year, in the Summer, Thai summer that is, when I was doing research for a story on the Reds. We also decided to try and find a decent school for our son who was then four. We had some criteria. The school had to be primarily English language, had to be clean , had to have a low teacher turnover, realistic student teacher ratio and had to be somewhat affordable. Guess what? We couldn't find one at least not in Phayao, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Lamphun or Lampang. We found lots of schools but all failed on one or two counts, sometimes all of them. Now, as a family, we may be a bit biased. I attended school in the West and my wife worked on her graduate degree at University in Canada.<br />
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We decided to send our son to school, in Canada. The opportunities offered by the better end of the Thai school system were just downright lousy, not to mention expensive.<br />
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So off to Canada we trundled, bags in hand. The move wasn't all that traumatic as we have a nice little house on the West coast and we all have Canadian citizenship. So off to the school we went to register prior to the first day. Only the principal was in the school but she was so helpful and made our son feel at home instantly. The school is relatively new, maybe 10 years old. Only bad thing I could find was the soccer pitch was not draining too well, but I digress.<br />
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This school is chocked full of computer labs with wide screens, Teaching aids, well stocked library, a gymnasium and it's clean as our house. Did I mention WiFi?<br />
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In our son's class there are 18 other students as the class limit is 19 from the local school board. For those 19 students there is one teacher, one teacher's assistant and one special needs teacher. As our son speaks a second language, Thai, he's got a ESL teacher that he shares with two Filipino students and a Mexican. Funny part is, they now all speak English better than they do their native languages, but they insist the ESL teacher is a necessity. I'm not sure - kids adapt very quickly.<br />
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My kid just loves going to school. No rote learning, just it's all interactive kids teachers in a loosely laid out setting that they all feel comfortable about. Kids are allowed and actually encouraged to explore and ask questions of themselves, their friends and the staff. Yesterday, we went to the school because they had a Parent student learning session, based on mathematics, where the kids could move from one station to another and ask questions of the parents and the teachers. Try that one in Thailand. Not likely, it's more like - Ga Gai - Ka Kai - Ror Rua over and over and over again - Ga Gai - Ka Kai - Ror Rua.<br />
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Now to the costs. If we stayed in Thailand we would have had to put out at least 70,000 baht a year for a school we felt a bit confident with, or God knows how much for one that was acceptable, but with reservation. Then add on all the extras like school trips busing etc and you can add a couple of thousand more a month easily.<br />
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In Canada the school costs us nothing, it's on our house taxes that we get to pay, even if we are in Thailand, about 15,500 Bt a year. We don't have to pay for the bus as it's free. Now the extra cost items. The school buys all the yearly supplies in bulk for a year - books, pencils, rulers, crayons, felts etc cost 625 bt. They just went for swimming lessons for a month, cost 750 baht and it was optional. They have a hot lunch program, also optional, on Fridays cost about 75 baht. <br />
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Not counting the house tax, that you would pay anyway kids or not, the total cost for a year at a Canadian Elementary school somewhere around 5000 bt or under 500 bt a month. Even a peasant could send their kid to school here.<br />
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Not to be outdone the Government will cover the entire cost of correspondence via the Internet for 2 years when we decide to move back to Thailand. in the future, which we plan.<br />
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<strong><em>Now after reading all that can someone tell me, what does that extra 15.6% do for the Thai school system other than line someone's pocket?<br />
</em></strong>Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-65267401485388798852010-12-18T02:30:00.000+07:002010-12-18T02:30:44.546+07:00This doesn't have much to do with politics, or does it?As parents we all wonder what our grade may be bringing up our children. Will we make the right decisions, give the correct answers and make our kids better people. This is a little story to ponder a bit.<br />
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My son entered the last year of kindergarten this year. He's always been a very emotional kid, not in a bad way, but his feelings get hurt easily and ponders stuff. He's also always said he's going to be an artist when he grows up. I'm not sure if they are related or not, but I digress. <br />
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In his kindergarten class is one young boy who uses crutches. I'm not sure what his affliction is but he's sure not putting out the vibe that he's affected by it. One night in our ritual of the bedtime talk I asked him if he played with him. He said no because he's not very fast running and he can't use much of the playground equipment. How do you answer to that? Not easily.<br />
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I asked him to think about what it would be like to be in that kid's position. To think about things that he can do better than you can. I told him that people in his position normally have much stronger upper bodies and arms to compensate for their lower body strength, and there will come a time when he can do things you can't, as you both get older.<br />
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Yesterday, we went to the school to help out. They were making Gingerbread houses out of crackers, Yes, I thought it was strange too. But if you put on enough icing you really can't tell once it's decorated with a bunch of candy and stuff.<br />
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To my surprise my son had picked the crippled kid as his partner for this project. They helped each other make their houses and shared their decorations and candy. In talking to the other adult helping him they had apparently become good friends and played together all the time when it was something like this.<br />
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I believe so far I'm getting a passing mark, I just have to keep it up.<br />
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In politics if one side would look at the others strong points rather than their weakness and visa versa they would find that they had a lot more in common than they believed. Unfortunately in Thailand everyone wants the whole cookie instead of breaking it and sharing it around. This leads to constant confrontation and bickering over trivial matters. If both the opposition and the coalition would just take a step back they would see where the problems arise, not just with themselves, and they could correct it. After all the Army has been elected by no one but themselves, so why are they constantly trying to run the show.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-417222210748769472010-12-08T05:17:00.000+07:002010-12-08T05:17:18.731+07:00FSRN in Crisis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fsrnorg.dreamhosters.com/thetallnathan/fsrn-crisis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" ox="true" src="http://www.fsrnorg.dreamhosters.com/thetallnathan/fsrn-crisis.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Our News feed, Free Speech Radio News, is in a crisis position financially.<br />
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Starting Tuesday, December 7, FSRN has had to pare down its newscast to a bare bones staff. If they don't raise the needed funds by Monday, December 20, that will be their last day on the air. <br />
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This will leave Ricefield Radio without a proper news feed for our listeners. FSRN has been supplying their news feed free of charge to us for the past 2 years. We feel that it is a service worth keeping on the air. If you can, please visit their website and make a donation, no matter how small.<br />
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On behalf of Ricefield radio and FSRN we thank you.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-70819147173809478662010-12-06T12:17:00.002+07:002010-12-06T12:23:25.662+07:00Odiogo turns Our Blog into a PodcastWe have just added some new technology to our Blog, Odiogo. With this new service you can now listen to our blog posts, like this one. For users this means Odiogo mobilizes your media, transforming textual content into audio formats down loadable directly to the PC, iPods, MP3 players and mobile phones! <br />
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Odiogo's media-shifting technology expands the reach of your content: It transforms news sites and blog posts into high fidelity, near human quality audio with files ready to download and play anywhere, anytime, on any device. <br />
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Just click the listen button on every article or bookmark the Odiogo Ricefield Radio page by clicking the link below.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://podcasts.odiogo.com/ricefield-radio-thailand/podcasts-html.php" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="http://www.odiogo.com/images/odiogo_listen_button_b2.gif" /></a></div>Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-1104882387879963372010-11-24T00:32:00.000+07:002010-11-24T00:32:32.221+07:00CRES, Abhisit, You, Me and DemocracyAndrew Spooner just wrote a piece on Asian Corespondent on this situation.<br />
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<strong><em>Abhisit's conundrum - how to appear democratic AND stay in power</em></strong><br />
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<a href="http://asiancorrespondent.com/siamvoices/abhisit-s-conundrum-how-to-be-democratic-and-stay-in-power.#comments">http://asiancorrespondent.com/siamvoices/abhisit-s-conundrum-how-to-be-democratic-and-stay-in-power.#comments</a><br />
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Way back in July, I wrote a guest post while Bangkok Pundit was on sabbatical entitled <strong><em>Thailand: CRES has decided, again</em></strong> <br />
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<a href="http://asiancorrespondent.com/bangkok-pundit-blog/thailand-cres-has-decided-again">http://asiancorrespondent.com/bangkok-pundit-blog/thailand-cres-has-decided-again</a><br />
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At that time I wanted to draw attention to the fact that CRES had, for the most part, replaced the civilian government that according to the Constitution, pick any version, is in fact their employer.<br />
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The situation appears to have worsened since them and it's important that we seriously all look at the repercussions of the situation, not just on Thailand, but on everyone in the country.<br />
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I feel very uneasy having an appointed military dominated council, CRES, decreeing the rules we all have to live by, not only to me but the Prime Minister. I don't like it that much when a government in Parliament passes a law I'm not crazy about but at least it's gone through the democratic process and I can live with that.<br />
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As I see it, the problem is self replicating. In that I mean, the military gained control through the old army chief who was wishy washy at best. Then they appointed someone in the reshuffle that appears to be somewhat of a megalomaniac, or at least fanatical. My feeling is that this was a ringer pushed upon the PM as the military knew he wouldn't have the backbone to stand up to the reshuffle list. In fact Abhisit is not PM material, he's proving that by not tasking a firm stand on anything in a year.<br />
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What happens next? That's one tough question. If there is an election it's almost ensured that the PTP will win the most seats and have the highest percentage of the popular vote. The military won't like that outcome because the only platform the PTP has announced is they WILL bring back the '97 constitution. Personally I favor that, just for the record. What that also means is that the immunity the Generals of the last coup gave themselves will fly out the window. Three things can happen in my view. The military could overthrow yet another elected government making Thailand a Burmaesque country and draw the wrath of the rest of the world. The PTP could clean house fire the generals and charge the former coup makers with the overthrow of the government, very popular worldwide lately. Or the PTP and the Military could form an agreement where both sides back off a bit, this would be the best alternative.<br />
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My feeling is a lot of what will happen will hinge on the By-elections that are coming up shortly. If the PTP cleans up it will send a very strong message to everyone that the present government is looked at as illegitimate and we will see MPs from smaller parties moving in the direction of the PTP. If it's split PTP and BJT then there will be talks between then shortly (in secret) about forming the next government. And if by some chance the Democrats manage a win in Khon Kaen well everything is up for grabs; but, if they lose there and if their big gun in Bangkok just happens to get knocked off or even if the race is very close it won't auger well for the Democrats in early 2011.<br />
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I've even hears some scuttlebutt, some time ago from a source, that a high profile Democrat has been approached by PTP to lead the PTP party but the timing was not right. Anything can happen over the next few months, anything.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-43073237569425111752010-10-20T23:39:00.002+07:002010-10-21T04:34:18.123+07:00Abhisit and his Damn Gucci LoafersIt's probably not that fair mentioning Abhisit's footwear with the flip-flop scandal and all but I just can't help it. He such a, well can I say it, an Elitist.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic5qhCNnqT73ZSvM4gQIcF6yQk6gyWosKIba4SaM28pfHXPkFKVuWShmRCkvwAeMsoySiO6D0IBDS6aQDgcDU10QVw7VmnMKRTGP_Q5Vxz_I440bar3Kelxb7_TwzxEKJu5djT_nCybU4/s1600/flood.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic5qhCNnqT73ZSvM4gQIcF6yQk6gyWosKIba4SaM28pfHXPkFKVuWShmRCkvwAeMsoySiO6D0IBDS6aQDgcDU10QVw7VmnMKRTGP_Q5Vxz_I440bar3Kelxb7_TwzxEKJu5djT_nCybU4/s400/flood.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He's so out of touch with people I just have to have a good old belly laugh every time I see one of these photo-op pictures of him in a totally alien environment. For him that's everything North or South of Bangkok.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you look at the picture on the right you can almost hear him saying as he points, "Is that a Kwai over there neck deep in the water?" or " We should have brought our water-skis.". He just looks so out of place like he's more worried about getting his Gucci Loafers damp, than helping those in need.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As for those Military types in the boat behind well they can't get out because all those medals and bling would either tarnish or weigh them down. Having a few of them drown wouldn't be a big loss to the country there are thousands more to take their place, in a vacant post at full pay. These guys lead from behind and that's the last thing you want from a military in an emergency situation.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Take a quick look at General Russell Honere during the New Orleans Disaster and then look at these guys they look like they are going to the Officers Ball not a huge disaster. Do they even own fatigues or is it below their cast to wear them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/08/24/vosot.katrina.honore.2005.cnn">http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/08/24/vosot.katrina.honore.2005.cnn</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That's what we want from the Military Generals not a bunch of people going on a boat cruise.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now look at the left of the picture. That's how the local people are helping themselves loaded on a tractor without any military or police help in sight. That's the Northeast that city folk don't know or understand. The closeness of the people. Unless we can link it somehow to HiSo shopping and lunch with a girly friend at Zen, they just don't understand.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now look at the far right of the picture. There sits an empty boat couldn't it have been put to better use helping flood victims than sitting there empty? Or is it a backup so that if Abhisit's boat springs a leak they can use it so his Gucci Loafers don't get wet.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><em><strong>I feel that I have to make a bit of a clarification as a friend Tweeted me and said that he doubted Abhisit wears loafers because of his English public school upbringing. I do have to agree but the Gucci loafer comment is meant as a commentary on his upbringing, attitude and the fact that he has little or no idea what life is like on the other side of the coin. After all a pair of those plug ugly suckers will set you back a minimum of $450USD which is about 2 times the monthly wage of a Thai worker making over the minimum wage he has just put forward. </strong></em></span></div>Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-57660408040956273192010-10-20T12:17:00.001+07:002010-10-20T12:18:35.257+07:00Media in Thailand faces increasing crackdownInterview with Chiranuch Premchaiporn (Jiew) on Ricefield Radio on our Hour and Half Hour newscasts.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-63133097931989152542010-09-20T09:43:00.004+07:002010-09-20T11:11:06.822+07:00This is the End, the End my friendIn January 1967, the Doors put out this Jim Morrison song.<br />
<br />
<em>This is the end</em><br />
<em>My only friend, the end</em><br />
<em>Of our elaborate plans, the end</em><br />
<em>Of everything that stands, the end</em><br />
<em>No safety or surprise, the end</em><br />
<em>I'll never look into your eyes...again</em><br />
<em>Can you picture what will be</em><br />
<em>So limitless and free</em><br />
<em>Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand</em><br />
<em>In a...desperate land</em><br />
<br />
Absolutely nothing could describe the situation that happened in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and across the country better than those words. <br />
<br />
Tens of thousands poured into the streets to defy the SOE imposed bu the Abhisit Government and the CRES in the exact place that almost a hundred of their compatriots were slaughtered without so much as a tertiary investigation into the incidents.. This was a symbolic gathering but very telling for the future.<br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_AzvaTt3crZ0/TJZGynEqD9I/AAAAAAAAB-M/u5W_0PDnhb4/s1600/DSC_0403.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" qx="true" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_AzvaTt3crZ0/TJZGynEqD9I/AAAAAAAAB-M/u5W_0PDnhb4/s400/DSC_0403.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I have been thinking how much the Red movement is like my son. When he was young he used to falter and fall over. One time when we were kicking a soccer ball I managed to hit him in the stomach. He hit the ground crying but was really not hurt. When he recovered he ask me, "Dad why did you hurt me?" This is exactly the same with the reds. They have faltered and fallen over a few times, sometimes quite hard. The military, the Police and the Government are supposed to protect the citizens of a country, that is their duty, their responsibility,their only excuse for being at all. The Thai government, the military and the Police did not only let the people of Thailand down they gut shot them at the same time. <br />
What you are seeing now is the citizens, at least a lot of them, asking, "Why did you hurt me?"<br />
<br />
Through all the dubious court rulings, the lopsided constitution, the back room money politics and the budgetary payouts to the military and coalition parties the Reds, as a blanket group, have not really been deterred. They still want an election.<br />
<br />
I see this latest act in Bangkok and other places as the beginning of the end of the old system and the start of a new one. The new one may or may not be better only time will tell but change is coming and it's coming at a speed a lot faster than 3G networking in Thailand. If the elitists don't figure out a way to work alongside the majority soon they will be the ones between a rock and a hard place, because on the anniversary of the coup the CRES and Government drew a line in the sand and the Reds showed the courage to cross it and show <strong><em> the times they are a-changin'</em></strong>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_AzvaTt3crZ0/TJZIdsyUKSI/AAAAAAAACDE/nQqujANo-0A/s1600/DSC_0547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" qx="true" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_AzvaTt3crZ0/TJZIdsyUKSI/AAAAAAAACDE/nQqujANo-0A/s400/DSC_0547.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<em>Come gather 'round people</em><br />
<em>Wherever you roam</em><br />
<em>And admit that the waters</em><em><br />
</em><em>Around you have grown</em><em><br />
</em><em>And accept it that soon</em><em><br />
</em><em>You'll be drenched to the bone.</em><em><br />
</em><em>If your time to you</em><em><br />
</em><em>Is worth savin'</em><em><br />
</em><em>Then you better start swimmin'</em><em><br />
</em><em>Or you'll sink like a stone</em><em><br />
</em><em>For the times they are a-changin'.</em><br />
<em><br />
</em><br />
<em>Come writers and critics</em><em><br />
</em><em>Who prophesize with your pen</em><em><br />
</em><em>And keep your eyes wide</em><em><br />
</em><em>The chance won't come again</em><em><br />
</em><em>And don't speak too soon</em><em><br />
</em><em>For the wheel's still in spin</em><em><br />
</em><em>And there's no tellin' who</em><br />
<em>That it's namin'.</em><br />
<em><br />
</em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">For the loser now</span></strong></em><br />
<em><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Will be later to win</span></strong></em><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><em>For the times they are a-changin'</em>.</span></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">ADD ON</span></strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: black;">After talking to a number of people who were at the protests in Bangkok or were covering them, it appears that there has also been a major shift. It appears that more middle class were there and I was informed a lot of the crowd spoke English. This makes it somewhat different from the previous protest where protesters came in from the provinces.</span></strong>Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-31342592804130005782010-09-16T06:17:00.000+07:002010-09-16T06:17:55.845+07:00What the heck is wrong with the Justice System?<strong><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">The jury, passing on the prisoner's life, </span></strong><strong><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two, </span></strong><strong><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Guiltier than him they try. </span></strong><span style="font-family: inherit;">William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure</span><br />
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Other than it's broken! <br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: blue; font-size: large;"><strong>There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.</strong></span> Mohandas Gandhi <br />
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If you burn some tires in protest in front of the Air Force Base Wing 21 or some old politician's house in Ubon Ratchathani. you may find yourself doing some hard time. If you are wearing a red shirt that is. According to the Nation, "<em><strong>Twelve red-shirt suspects confessed to taking part in the tire burning at the Air Force headquarters and their penalties were halved to 15 months jail and Bt8,000 fine. They were released on probation, but have to report every three months. Meanwhile, five red shirts who burned tires in front of Suthas's house also confessed and their penalties were halved to 14 months' jail and Bt3,500 fine. They were also released on probation and must report every three months</strong></em>". That's in addition to the seizure of two cars used in the offenses. This seem,s a bit harsh to me. Last February March and April there was so much illegal brush burning that often in the North you could hardly breath. No one, to my knowledge, was arrested, charged, fined or thrown in jail for any of that. BUT, burn a few old tires in a red shirt and your on the Terrorist Watch list. <br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><strong>Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. M</strong></span>artin Luther King, Jr. <br />
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Just to add insult to injury the same day the Criminal Court, such an apt name never there was, decided in their wisdom to "<strong><em>drop the Crime Suppression Division's request for arrest warrants against 45 members of the People's Alliance for Democracy in the airport seizure case</em></strong>". The PAD group had "<em><strong>objected to the form of their arrest warrants</strong></em>", so there was no reason for their arrest. Astonishingly, the court came up with, "<em><strong>the suspects' failure to show up did not hinder investigation</strong></em>". WTF!!!!!!!!<br />
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The Reds have come up with a 4 point demand. In brief here they are:-<br />
<br />
1:- Release "political prisoners"<br />
2:- Reform the economic system by setting up the welfare state system<br />
3:- Reform the judicial system by adopting the trial by jury system<br />
4:- Guarantee commodities' prices for farmers<br />
<br />
Of these Point 1 and 3 need urgently to be addressed. While the Reds were not entirely in the right, they are not entirely in the wrong either. The Red leaders are being treated wrongly in my opinion and should be allowed bail OR the court should rescind bail for the PAD Leaders charged with "Terrorism". Oh Wait!! They have not been charged yet. see Demand 3.<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><strong>Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both. </strong></span>Eleanor Roosevelt <br />
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The courts appear to be totally controlled from outside the judicial system with verdict after verdict appearing to be not only biased but biased against a single group. This is not justice it's something else entirely. If it is being controlled from outside the justice system it's much more sinister, much more oppressive, much more subversive and much more of a threat to national security than anything the Reds could throw at Thailand. For without a free, fair and impartial judiciary you have no justice at all.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>In the Halls of Justice the only justice is in the halls.</strong></span> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lenny Bruce</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Some quotes from the Nation and BKK Post</span>Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-84394180045037457482010-08-21T22:30:00.000+07:002010-08-21T22:30:36.087+07:00Lost in SpaceLately I've been a bit MIA. I have not died or been arrested and I'm not on the run from anyone or anything. <br />
<br />
About a month ago I did something to my back and the doctor thought I may have herniated a disk. Pain is not a word to describe it and anyone with a back problem can sympathize, at least a bit. He put me on some medication that helped but knocked me out cold. Once I recuperated a bit, I decided to take a bit of a hiatus and look at some property while I waited for the results of the CT and other things.<br />
<br />
The good news is my back is not as bad as we had originally thought. I have 2 bulging disks but some other minor stuff that is causing the pain. I need to have a special procedure, non surgical, done that should curtail the problem temporarily but I do have arthritis that's not going to go anywhere.<br />
<br />
Also I had to go to a specialist over a mole I had removed some months ago. It was biopsied and found to be cancerous. What luck can one have in a few months. He was to remove the thing but opted not to because of a problem with involvement of two ligaments of my eye. Seems that if he did it there is a good chance I could not close my eye. Hmmm. Now the kicker. We maintain our Canadian Medical coverage and I have this special operation set up for February for this MOHS Micro-graphic surgery in Vancouver,BC. I'm not sure which I'm most not looking forward to, the trip or the surgery. Now if nothing else pops up I'm back.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-81354422493315261622010-07-11T05:35:00.002+07:002010-07-11T05:35:59.055+07:00Global Dance SessionStarting next Saturday night at 1:00am<br />
<br />
<br />
'Global Dance Session' is an upfront 2 hour uninterupted dance music radio show that is aired across the world on FM on a weekly basis. It's mixed and presented by Brian 'Cheets ' Cheetham and incorporates a weekly guest mix by the biggest names in Dance exclusively for 'Global Dance Session'.<br />
<br />
‘Global Dance Session’ is a high-caliber weekly radio show encompassing all genres of Electronica. Every week, GDS presents a star guest-DJ for an hour-long presentation. Past acts include David Morales, Paul Van Dyk, Krafty Kuts, Sister Bliss, Deep Dish, Stonebridge, Tiesto, Axwell, Groove Junkies, and numerous other stars of the scene.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-22495363256858052812010-07-07T03:37:00.001+07:002010-07-07T03:38:28.578+07:00Guest Post on Bangkok PunditI have written a guest post on Bangkok Pundit, just click the above link.<br />
<br />
I had initially been asked to write a few but I declined while at the same time leaving the door ajar. It's not that it wasn't very flattering, because it was, as they get way more traffic than this little blog. I could have had my Warholian 15 minutes of fame. <br />
<br />
The fact is I don't thrive in a pressured environment I don't like deadlines, as I found out with a small newspaper. I like to chew on what I'm going to say for a time and look at it in differing ways from differing angles. I actually enjoy commenting on other people's work the most. Maybe I'm just a bit lazy, shy or paranoid. I'm sure no intellectual or academic by any stretch of the imagination.<br />
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I'd been thinking, yes I have that ability on occasion, about the way CRES seemed to be taking over the country and dictating to the elected officials. CRES in the most part is appointed as set down in the Thai Emergency Situation Law which was never intended to deal with protests but emergencies against the state. I still fail to see what a bunch of people singing on stage demanding elections has to do with and emergency. There wasn't one until the military, armed to the teeth, were used for crowd control. Then all hell broke loose. As in the previous year there was not a problem until the government, who felt very pressured, instated the SOE. <br />
<br />
If you throw the first punch you are hard pressed to call the recipient of it the assaulter. This is what the Government has done and shame on them.<br />
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So, I decided to write a post for Bangkok Pundit.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-11229632950480432312010-06-04T10:28:00.002+07:002010-06-04T10:31:20.675+07:00Swift “justice”<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>"Swift justice demands more than just swiftness." </strong></span>~Potter Stewart <br />
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This is a copy of a post from Political Prisoners In Thailand. It is important to look at all sides but it is paramount that all sides are looked at equally and fairly. I've added memorable quotes that are not part of the original.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;"><strong>Swift “justice”</strong></span><br />
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<strong><em>Just look how fast the judiciary can work when it puts away red shirts!</em></strong><br />
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The Bangkok Post (3 June 2010) reports that two “radio show hosts of a community radio in the northeastern province of Udon Thani were on Thursday sentenced to one year and six months jail term without suspension in connection with the arson attacks on the city hall and the municipality office building on May 19.”<br />
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<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">"Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both".</span></strong> ~Eleanor Roosevelt<br />
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Prasit Wichairat and Jakrapong Saenkham from 97.5 FM community radio <strong><em>“surrendered to police on June 2.”</em> </strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: blue;"> <span style="font-size: large;">What? That’s yesterday!</span></span></strong><br />
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<strong>In less than 24 hours, the Udon Thani District Court has “found the two guilty of violating the emergency decree by urging the people through their radio programmes to stage an uprisin[g], leading to the torching of the city hall and municipality office building on May 19 in violation of the emergency decree.”</strong><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>"I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice".</strong></span>~Abraham Lincoln <br />
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<strong>It would be hard to imagine how justice is served by such swift decision-making; another example of double standards.</strong><br />
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<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">"There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts."</span></strong> ~Mohandas Gandhi <br />
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I'll leave you with this final quote which shows we as humans have learned little over time. <br />
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<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">"Extreme law is often extreme injustice". </span>~Terence</strong> 170–160 BC<br />
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From Political Prisoners in ThailandRicefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-90408130370995419112010-05-30T08:40:00.001+07:002010-05-30T11:41:45.664+07:00Enemy of the State #13 - The Military<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given </strong></span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.”</strong></span> ~Albert Einstein </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="color: black;"><strong></strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><strong>Does Thailand need a huge standing Military in this day and age and if so why?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<strong><em><span style="color: black;"></span></em></strong></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">That’s a good question and in my view it does not. Although the military comprises units like the Navy </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">and the Air Force it’s the Army that has headed the charge in dispersing the recent protests. So for </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">argument sake let’s just call the entire Military the Army for now. There is a self centered reason for this, </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">later on I’ll give some figures and I’m too lazy to break them all down, if that’s even possible to do.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong><span style="background-color: white;">"They talk about conscription as a democratic institution. Yes; so is a cemetary</span>".</strong></span> </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">~Meyer London </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">For those that don’t know the system. Thailand has military conscription on a sliding scale depending on </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">your education level. High school or under you have to serve 2 years, Bachelors degree – 1 year and if </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">you have a masters or a doctorate you get to do 6 months or less of pretty easy service. As an example <span style="background-color: white;">Abhisit </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">with a Masters got to lecture at the Military collage on economics. It also involves drawing a ball and if </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">you get the right color you are off to the Army, Navy or Air Force. Compulsory service is also in the </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">area you are registered in your house book. If you are in the North or Northeast, that means the Army in </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">almost every case. As the North and Northeast also have the worst education in the country chances are </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">the majority are serving 2 years. This also puts a huge burden on the farming community of the </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">North and Northeast through the loss of part of their traditional workforce for 2 years on a continuous </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">basis.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><strong><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">“The military caste did not originate as a party of patriots, but as a party of bandits”</span></strong> ~Henry Louis Mencken </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Thailand’s military spending is 1.53% of GDP. That is lower than Malaysia (1.78%) and Myanmar </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">(25.75%) but higher than Laos (0.28%) and Cambodia (1.23%). Where you really see the difference is </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">in the Total Forces of each nation. Laos (129,000), Cambodia (191,000), Malaysia (160,000) and then </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">there is Thailand (506,600) and Myanmar (513,250). It appears that Thailand is closer to the Burma </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">model than any other nation in the area.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">The difference is that Thailand and Myanmar have large armies where the others do not. In fact </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Thailand with a Military force of 506,600 outnumbers the combined military of Laos and Cambodia by </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">186,600. We know from our history the last time Thailand and Laos came to blows,Thailand </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">lost decisively. But, do we have to outnumber the Cambodians by 2.65 times or Laotians by almost 4 </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">times?</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>"Never base your budget requests on realistic assumptions, as this could lead to a decrease in your funding."</strong></span> ~ Scott Adams</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Other things come to light as well from the numbers alone. Malaysia with a similar overall military </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">budget ( 3,940 Million<span style="background-color: white;">USD</span>) has far outstripped Thailand ( 4,180 Million <span style="background-color: white;">USD</span>) by investing in high tech </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">weaponry which needs less but higher trained forces to operate. Thailand is stuck in the trench </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">with foot soldiers which are very vulnerable to high tech things. On April 10th this year we witnessed first </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">hand that a group of flip flop toting farmers from Issan were more than enough match for the arms and </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">APC’s of the Thai army. Leaving a fleeing military and the hulks of 6 APS’c in the wake. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Another question we have to ask, has the huge forces of the army outlived it’s usefulness on the modern </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">battlefield in this day and age. The only answer is yes to this question unless the main aim of the Army is </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">and has always been to suppress its own people and then the answer is still, yes.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><strong><em>Thailand needs to drastically readjust the military and upgrade it to more modern and streamlined units.</em></strong> </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">We need to drastically cut the huge amount of general and officer staff and to cut the numbers of foot </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">soldiers down to acceptable limits for the risk in the area. Make the forces 100% volunteer and end </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">conscription. Make them directly accountable to the Government and have an independent committee </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">audit their spending, every baht of it. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>“If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military”</strong></span> ~Harry S Truman </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Cutting military numbers by half would be a good start while maintaining the budget at a rate just </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">slightly under what we are spending now. That way we can invest in the long term training of long term </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">highly trained military personnel and the purchase of more modern higher tech hardware rather than golf </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">courses, swimming pools and flashy housing for Generals who have nothing better to do. Thailand </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">would then be in a position to protect herself in the event that it was ever necessary. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>“Military glory - that attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood”</strong></span> ~Abraham Lincoln </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">At the moment the Army may be hard pressed to fend off the battle hardened Cambodians with their </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Vietnam vintage weaponry and ho chi min sandals. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;">“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of</span> </span></strong><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”</strong></span> ~Martin Luther King, Jr. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;">Figures derived from:- World Armed Forces and Defence Budgets.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span></span></strong><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: xx-small;"><strong>https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tTyizSfPzkl8SDeFoAQt6EQ&hl=en</strong></span>Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-11426628718892740632010-05-28T00:26:00.000+07:002010-05-28T00:26:17.701+07:00Enemy of the State #12 - Media Censorship<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>"Though I disagree with everything you say, I will defend to the death your right to say it."</strong></span> ~Voltaire<br />
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This was an interview from April 2006 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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.archive.org/download/041206_thai_com_radio/041206_thai_com_radio_wsiu_bigmuddy_24k_22.mp3">http://www.archive.org/download/041206_thai_com_radio/041206_thai_com_radio_wsiu_bigmuddy_24k_22.mp3</a><br />
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It’s quite long but very informative and interesting and will set the stage for what we are about to talk about here. Government censorship of the media in Thailand.<br />
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In March 2009, all existing Community radio stations had to register before the end of that month. The stations of the North had to do so at a big meeting in Chiang Mai. Already registered stations received a temporary licence for the next 300 days. The government announced it hoped to be able to prepare a new law regarding radio stations in Thailand and issue proper licences to the ones which meet the (to be defined) criteria. Since the meeting the government has announced that only stations that broadcast “government approved” content would be licensed. This law will restrict the power of the sender, advertisements, the height of the antenna, the range, etc... However, all existing stations can still operate until the new law appears. So far this new law is not in effect in the 300 day time frame of the temporary licences. <br />
What was made very clear at the meeting is that radio stations operating without the temporary licence are considered as illegal. In other words, from April 2009, any new station is illegal as it is not possible to register a new radio station. Many operators not care about this and operate illegally.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>"You have not converted a man because you have silenced him."</strong></span> ~John Morley <br />
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Directly after the Coup, 2000 community radio stations in the North and Northeast were closed by the Military. Most of those stations have again taken to the airwaves mostly illegally. A fair portion of those stations were anti coup and since anti Democrat. Some of those stations have defiantly pushed the envelope, if not outright broken the law. There is a rule in the broadcast industry, if you do not appeal to your audience you will not survive for long. These stations, although radical, command a huge audience. Unlike the Police, Government and Military which have huge budgets to broadcast, listeners or not, community stations are dependent almost entirely on donations from their listeners. At this point the Government of Abhisit is pressuring stations to self censor and if they do not conform to the government model they have been closed.<br />
The Government or Military also controls almost all of the TV channels available in Thailand. Of the 2 big non government channels ASTV, which supports the government, has never been censured while PTV and the subsequent channels for the UDD have all been closed. The UDD was very successful during their protest at getting around the government’s attempts to get it off the air. They managed to keep broadcasting live until the final minutes of their protest when troops overran their encampment.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>"Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime"</strong></span>. ~Potter Stewart<br />
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It’s not just community radio it’s also the print media. Any organization that comes out against the government or its policies instantly finds the government on the offensive to close it down. The government has asked the print media to self censor. Some newspapers like the Post and the Nation have taken the request to heart and now never print anything opposing the Government. This attitude is no longer news reporting, they have now become just an outlet for government propaganda.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>“The first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.”</strong></span> ~George Bernard Shaw <br />
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The internet in Thailand is so heavily censored that it resembles North Korea or China in it’s gusto to stifle any dissenting voice. <br />
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The government just yesterday extended censorship to stifle communications through four publications related to the UDD. Reuters reports, the outlawed publications include the twice-weekly Truth Today newspaper, the weekly Thai Red News and Vivatha, and bi-monthly Voice of Taksin, which mimics the U.S. news magazine, Time. <br />
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"These media outlets are not real newspapers. They are tools for groups to create chaos in the country," Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban.<br />
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This is the line we continually hear from the government. It’s always the same line by the government it’s for “national unity” or “national security” or “causing chaos”. I’ll bring you back to an earlier point, “if you do not appeal to your audience you will not survive”. For the government to be so concerned to ban these publications these publications must have mass grassroots support.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>"The test of democracy is freedom of criticism".</strong></span> ~David Ben-Gurion<br />
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These actions by the government go directly contrary to one of the five key elements of the Prime minister’s roadmap to reconciliation. It says that is to form an independent body to monitor all media, including state-controlled outlets, to ensure unbiased and balanced reporting. If you censor all dissenting media how can you have “Fair and balanced reporting”. It’s not only impossible but it’s hypocritical.<br />
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For Thailand to reconcile all sides from ASTV to the People’s channel have to be allowed to voice their opinions otherwise Thailand is just Myanmar in the mask of Democracy.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>“The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.” </strong></span>~Henry Steele Commager <br />
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<br />
AND just maybe, that is exactly what the Abhisit government and the Military are trying to achieve as they guide Thailand from 65 in the world in 2002 for press freedom to 130 in 2009, according to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-29231441889747336882010-05-25T22:05:00.000+07:002010-05-25T22:05:17.054+07:00Enemy of the state #11 - The Terrorists<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong><em>“There is only one thing which gathers people into seditious commotion, and that is oppression”</em></strong></span> ~ John Locke <br />
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The Thai government was quick to brand the UDD and their leaders Terrorists. Are they or are they not? Or is it someone else?<br />
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First lets look at who is a terrorist which is not always easy to define. Sometimes it is easy like with the PAD occupation of the airports and control tower. It’s covered in documents like the Montréal protocols and the UN’s Supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation even if the Thai government does nothing. <br />
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The position taken by the Thai government against the UDD and it’s leaders is much more murky. Until the night of April 10th when the Government sent the Police and Army, with war weapons, to disperse the protesters there had been no instance of the UDD with weapons. Unless you class water bottles and flagpoles as weapons. From many videos I have viewed the Military opened fire with live ammunition on unarmed protesters. From videos it is also apparent that there were snipers stationed on tall buildings overlooking the protesters and that at least one sniper was firing. No one can say with any certainty who the sniper was firing at. That night there also appeared the black clad men who appeared to be well trained and they inflicted casualties on the Army. To date, no one has been able to say who these black clad fighters were. <br />
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The Government was quick to brand them as terrorists and to brand then as part of the UDD which they also branded as terrorists. There are many theories about who they are/were. The government and CRES says UDD terrorists, some say they were disgruntled regular military, some say they are mercenaries and some say they were trained by General Khattiya Sawatdiphol (Seh Daeng).<br />
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So what is a terrorist? Definitions are few and far between but here goes.<br />
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~ a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells<br />
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~ An individual who uses violence, terror, and intimidation to achieve a result.<br />
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None of these seem to fit the UDD prior to the final dispersal by the military when factions rioted in Bangkok. Between April 10 and the final crackdown the protesters at best could be called disruptive, unruly and unorganized at least outside the stockade.<br />
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In order to respond to terrorism, a clear definition is necessary. Terrorism is defined by Title 22 of the U.S. Code as politically motivated violence perpetrated in a clandestine manner against non-combatants. Experts on terrorism also include another aspect in the definition: the act is committed in order to create a fearful state of mind in an audience different from the victims.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong><em>“Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever.”</em></strong></span> ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. <br />
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<strong>Wait, just wait a gall darn minute. </strong><br />
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That more describes the actions of the Government, CRES and the Military than the actions of the UDD. The UDD prior to the final crackdown by the Army did not work in a clandestine manner with violence against non-combatants. Although there were small incidents it was not widespread. The government on the other hand, either through their orders or the actions of those they control DID USE politically motivated violence in a clandestine manner against non-combatants. Things like the use of live fire, live fire zones, Snipers and the Assassination of Seh Daeng can only be seen as acts to cause terror and panic inside the Reds encampment. The arbitrary shooting and killing of unarmed citizens, who may or may not have been aligned with the Reds is also a terrorist act. Furthermore the turning off of water and the stoppage of food supplies, although unsuccessful, is also a crime against humanity. <br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong><em>“A suffocating siege and ongoing oppression.”</em></strong></span> ~ Yasser Arafat <br />
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The terms "terrorism" and "terrorist" (someone who engages in terrorism) carry strong negative connotations. These terms are often used as political labels, to condemn violence or the threat of violence by certain actors as immoral, indiscriminate, unjustified or to condemn an entire segment of a population. <br />
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This is exactly what the Government and CRES have done, labeled the UDD and it’s leaders Terrorists without any provocation other than political motive. The numbers tell another story, 88 dead, 1,885 injured, 17 still in ICU almost exclusively from the so called "Terrorist UDD Side" a body count that would even make Dick Cheney shake his head. It was a planned massacre, not a dispersal.<br />
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Those labeled "terrorists" by their opponents rarely identify themselves as such, and typically use other terms or terms specific to their situation, such as separatist, freedom fighter, liberator, revolutionary, vigilante, militant, paramilitary, guerrilla, rebel, patriot, or any similar-meaning word.<br />
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The UDD labels itself a peaceful Pro-democracy group but there are defiantly units that are aligned with the UDD who would not hesitate to break away and form armed militias or subversive cells as seen on the evening of the overrunning of the UDD site by an armed military.<br />
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It very well might be worth noting at the end of this blog that some groups involved in a struggle, have been labeled "terrorists" by governments or media. Two examples of this are the Nobel Peace Prize laureates Menachem Begin and Nelson Mandela.<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong><em>"The risk of a terrorist victory is greater when in fighting terror, democracy betrays its own essence".</em></strong></span> ~ Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero<br />
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<strong><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Thaksin and Terrorist charges</span></strong> , a blog add on.<br />
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<strong><em><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">“He who lives by fighting with an enemy has an interest in the preservation of the enemy's life.”</span></em></strong> ~ Friedrich Nietzsche <br />
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Thaksin may be many things but a terrorist he is not. If he ever had the intention of causing havoc in that way he has the capital to raise a small army. After seeing some of the actions of the Thai Military over the last month, only a small army would be needed. Thailand does not have, at this point, an armed insurgency in the North and Northeast so he’s not supporting that sort of action.<br />
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The Thai Government’s latest action just raises a huge Red Flag to all foreign governments. Thailand’s current government has to ask themselves why they can’t get anyone to extradite Thaksin now. Just in case they don’t already know it’s because they found him guilty of a crime the Junta had to write a law for and then use retroactively. Almost every legal rights group on earth came out against the use of this retroactive law. Foreign governments also see the way the Abhisit Government threw away the extradition agreement with Canada in the Sexana case.<br />
<strong><em><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">"To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness".</span></em></strong> ~Edgar Allan Poe <br />
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So what will this latest arrest warrant do? Absolutely nothing. It’s an attempt by a failing government to criminalize and vilify an opponent they know they cannot defeat at the ballot box and the governments of the western world know that . They should know this from recent statements from agencies outside Thailand<br />
What we are witnessing is the final panic of the death roll of the Democrat led coalition. Their way is not the way to reconciliation but to further and likely much bloodier confrontation. If the only way to stay in power is to kill or imprison your opponents is there actually any victory at all? And they have a name for that too.<br />
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<strong><em><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">“He who seeks vengeance must dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself”</span></em></strong>Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-8839954134896813082010-05-25T01:03:00.002+07:002010-05-25T01:10:00.097+07:00Enemy of the State #10 - The Witch Hunt and Denial<strong><em><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within.</span></em></strong> ~ Stephen Jay Gould <br />
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I was reading Tony Hedges's Blog <a href="http://tonyhedges.wordpress.com/">http://tonyhedges.wordpress.com/</a> and this idea came to me from something he had said about reconciliation. <br />
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The Abhisit government keeps trying to reassure the people that they are all for reconciliation but in reality they are conducting a Which Hunt on the UDD, the Reds, banned politicians, the PTP and still on Thaksin. <br />
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Someone on Twitter, I think <em><span style="color: blue;">@tri26</span></em>, mentioned the Wiki page “Denial”. I opened it and read “Types of Denial”. Lo and behold there it was in black and white, jumping off the page -<strong> Denial of fact & Denial of responsibility</strong> - and I quote:-<br />
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<em>In <strong>Denial of fact</strong>, someone avoids a fact by lying. This lying can take the form of an outright falsehood (commission), leaving out certain details to tailor a story (omission), or by falsely agreeing to something (assent, also referred to as "yessing" behaviour). Someone who is in denial of fact is typically using lies to avoid facts they think may be painful to themselves or others.</em><br />
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The reasemblance to what the Government, CRES, the Government PR people have been doing and saying is remarkable. They have all been using Denial of Fact and the UDD is not off the hook with this one either but to a much lesser degree IMHO.<br />
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<em><strong>Denial of responsibility</strong> involves avoiding personal responsibility by:</em><br />
<em><br />
</em><br />
<em><span style="color: blue;">blaming</span> - a direct statement shifting culpability and may overlap with denial of fact </em><br />
<em><br />
</em><br />
<em><span style="color: blue;">minimizing</span> - an attempt to make the effects or results of an action appear to be less harmful than they may actually be, or </em><br />
<em><br />
</em><br />
<em><span style="color: blue;">justifying </span>- when someone takes a choice and attempts to make that choice look okay due to their perception of what is "right" in a situation.</em><br />
<em><br />
</em><br />
<em>Someone using denial of responsibility is usually attempting to avoid potential harm or pain by shifting attention away from themselves.</em><br />
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There it was wrapped up with a big Red bow. That is what the government and CRES has been doing all along. We all knew it but this made it too simple, too easy to see and explain the Witch Hunt that’s going on.<br />
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<strong><em><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">"This is a vicious witch-hunt aimed at crushing the voice of dissent".</span></em></strong> ~ Aidan White <br />
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Carl Forti had an interesting quote some years ago, <em><strong>“I'm going to call Roswell (N.M.) and warn them that Ronnie Earle is on the witch hunt for the Martians they have there“</strong></em>. The quote can be rearranged to reflect the current situation. <em><strong>“I'm going to call (<span style="font-size: x-small;">Add any North or Northeatern town</span>) and warn them that (<span style="font-size: x-small;">CRES, Abhisit, Suthep, etc</span>) is on the witch hunt for the Reds they have there".</strong></em> <br />
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What Thailand needs is some outside independent inquiry into what happened in April and May in Bangkok. <br />
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Abhisit has resisted any attempt by outside governments, Amnesty International or the UN to intervene. It's time he swallowed his pride and allowed an independent outside review. If the blame is all on the Reds, as he and Suthep keep stating, what has he to fear. Thailand deserves this let someone independent, who will not sway with the pressure exerted on them, from all the influences inside Thailand come up with a finding. Lay blame at the feet of the UDD if that is their finding; lay it at the feet of the army or CRES or government or media or all of them. We need to know the facts, not the facts as seen through a prism reflecting highly divided and transfixed views of the occurrences in Bangkok.<br />
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<em><strong><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">"You don't want a witch hunt and you don't want a whitewash".</span></strong></em> ~ William Doherty <br />
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<strong>BUT: - You do want the truth to come out, whatever it is. and you want those truly responsible for the bloodshed punished.</strong> Something that is not happening in Thailand at the moment.<br />
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<strong><em><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">"Better a thousand fold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech".</span></em></strong> ~ Charles BradlaughRicefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-6143913016429634972010-05-24T12:14:00.001+07:002010-05-24T12:15:26.874+07:00Enemy of the state 9 - Guerrillas, Abhisit and CRES<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>“The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.”</strong></span> Henry Kissinger<br />
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Some time ago an international correspondent friend and I were warning of a major problem in the North and Northeast. It was shortly after the coup we both thought may be a prelude to a civil war or popular uprising. Both of us received a lot of flack for our stand and comments. In retrospect it probably sounded absurd but may well be close to inevitable at this point. After all these years I’ve adjusted my thinking a bit. Now I do not feel there will be a full blown civil war, in the strict sense of the word, but rather a protracted Guerrilla war fought more like the southern insurgency which has proved almost impossible for the Thai Military to control. <br />
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After April 10th, 2010 Abhisit Vejjajiva should have done the right thing, manned up and taken his own advice. <br />
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On 8 October 2008 he was pressing for an inquiry into the violence in the actions taken by the police to clear PAD protesters leaving many injuries and a couple of deaths, none from bullet wounds. He loudly called on the government to admit responsibility for its handling of the People's Alliance Democracy (PAD) demonstration. In a statement, party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said he would no longer help the four-party discussion to find political solutions for the country unless the government investigated the order for police to suppress the rally earlier in the day. <br />
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Fast Forward to April. All calls by the PTP for Abhisit to hold an inquiry into the brutal April 10th crackdown or for him and Deputy PM Suthep to take responsibility for the actions taken against the UDD protesters have so far fallen on deaf ears.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">“Whoever stands by a just cause cannot possibly be called a terrorist”</span> </span></strong>Yasser Arafat <br />
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With the Prime Minister’s reluctance to take responsibility, he again ordered yet another evens more brutal and oppressive crackdown on the protesters. This time resorting to using snipers who, from many reports, fired on unarmed civilians. This was rationalized by the Abhisit administration and CRES by labelling the Reds as Terrorists. Along with this campaign to vilify the protesters the government embarked on a campaign to spread the word that the Reds were not loyal to the Palace and to censor all media that was opposed to the government. This amounted to closing more radio stations, the Reds TV station and blocking countless websites. The government and the CRES almost stole the script from previous times when bloody crackdowns were preceded by attacks against the protesters as not loyal to the Palace and they were all communists. This is despicable and shows a total disregard for the rights and freedoms of the people of Thailand.<br />
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Once the latest crackdown was in operation you didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what would happen next. We had a preview a year ago, but this time the radicals in the UDD were more organized. These elements in the UDD not having any leadership, as they were all arrested, ran amuck, burning and pillaging. If this is a shock to anyone then you must have your head in the sand. Losses were exacerbated by the CRES having turned off the water in the area, to make the protesters suffer, rendering the building’s fire protection systems inoperable. <br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">OOPS!</span> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>I’ve always said and had this reinforced in March when I personally surveyed five provinces in the North asking people what they thought about the Reds. The government has underestimated badly the support and conviction of the Reds in the North and Northeast. So badly in fact, that some of the radical elements in the Reds, who were reigned in by the leadership of the UDD, have now begun to move underground. I’ve also warned about this happening but no one listened, sometimes it‘s not all that rewarding to be right.<br />
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So where does that bring us. If things stay as they are now you can expect a Southern insurgency type operation from the radical elements. You will likely see roving bombings and shootings possibly aimed at Bangkok, PAD elements or non aligned politicians. <br />
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Abhisit can no longer reconcile with the North and Northeast. It’s no longer safe for him and some of his government to travel in over half the country, without a huge security operation. If the Reds do happen to get their hands on him, as almost happened last year, he would likely not escape unscathed.<br />
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It looks very much like a protracted armed Guerrilla war will be in Thailand’s future. Arms are cheap and easy to acquire. With most of the diehard Guerrilla’s already having received 2 years Military training from the Army, as conscripts, you can also expect things to be a lot bloodier than in the South with targeting of individuals deemed to be enemies of the Guerrillas. They will probably act as individual cells, like is used by Al-Qaeda. <br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">“I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man.”</span> 'Che' Guevara<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlAYnCc-KubZCXGV42I3sFlfGYu8l9erUdMFuHEdWte7Agfjsz8sChEOdT33NZKyTO3ryXbcnn-y2d8TEOY1SL-vwFoym9cks91X2k27DKgXDbLu3RIB19bpPzND4MMI8zFeUF614AB2I/s1600/sniper1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlAYnCc-KubZCXGV42I3sFlfGYu8l9erUdMFuHEdWte7Agfjsz8sChEOdT33NZKyTO3ryXbcnn-y2d8TEOY1SL-vwFoym9cks91X2k27DKgXDbLu3RIB19bpPzND4MMI8zFeUF614AB2I/s320/sniper1.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br />
The Abhisit government, or their proxy, set this ball rolling down the steep slippery slope when they assassinated Seh Daeng, the Reds Military strategist, setting the ground rules for future confrontations. If the underground Reds feel that double standards are being used to single out or persecute Reds you could see swift movement by them.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR3ST4rnFfdJcDAvTtWHO0ArS-nkvLvaUVLZO8usUhJo7DawzNprg30cXJvWVLh0OyBIsrQseCOh5AqLPjOpSflIwZ9MLGaU1A5z_PcZhfDD_x2_TvG274Jxe9lbcEP_WZQZ7dqz7HvtM/s1600/sniper2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gu="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR3ST4rnFfdJcDAvTtWHO0ArS-nkvLvaUVLZO8usUhJo7DawzNprg30cXJvWVLh0OyBIsrQseCOh5AqLPjOpSflIwZ9MLGaU1A5z_PcZhfDD_x2_TvG274Jxe9lbcEP_WZQZ7dqz7HvtM/s320/sniper2.jpg" width="267" /></a></div><br />
I don’t think that it’s too late to defuse the situation but for any real reconciliation to happen Abhisit would have to step down and Suthep would probably have to retire from politics. It will be interesting to see what happens with the non confidence debate put forward by the PTP. The smaller coalition members may well side with the PTP otherwise they may have little chance of winning re-election as they will be lumped with the Democrats who cracked down so brutally on the UDD and have won no friends for it in the North and Northeast. <br />
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<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">“One Man's Terrorist Is Another Man's Freedom Fighter”</span></strong>Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-62636236835299831782010-05-15T01:17:00.000+07:002010-05-15T01:17:39.081+07:00Who are firing the shots that are injuring journalists?<strong>Who are firing the shots that are injuring journalists?</strong><br />
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<strong>Reporters without Borders - 14 May 2010</strong><br />
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Responding to the gunshot injuries sustained by a France 24 reporter and a photographer with the Thai newspaper Matichon in clashes today in Bangkok, Reporters Without Borders calls on both the Thai army and the Red Shirt protesters to guarantee the safety of the journalists who are covering the ongoing developments in the Thai capital.<br />
“The confusion reigning in various parts of Bangkok do not suffice to explain the shooting injuries sustained by several Thai and foreign journalists since April,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Both camps must comply fully with the requirements of international law, according to which journalists cannot be military targets. We also call for an investigation to establish who gave the orders to shoot a rebel general as he was being interviewed by journalists.”<br />
The press freedom organisation added: “We note that Thailand has just got itself elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council, and we urge the government to guarantee the safety of civilians and put an end to news censorship, in particular, the blocking of the Prachatai website.”<br />
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Nelson Rand, a Canadian reporter employed by the French TV news station France 24, was badly injured today by automatic gunfire near the Suan Lum night bazaar. Cyriel Payen, France 24’s Bangkok bureau chief, said he was hit in an exchange of shots between soldiers and Red Shirts. A photographer with the Thai newspaper Matichon also sustained a gunshot injury in the same place.<br />
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“He underwent a very long operation and came out of the operating room at about 6 pm,” Payen said about Rand. “He is slowly recovering consciousness. He was hit three times by shots from an assault rifle. Once in the leg, causing the loss of a lot of blood. Once in the abdomen and once in the hand, causing multiple fractures. The doctors say his condition is now stable.”<br />
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A journalist working for Voice TV, a Thai cable station that supports the Red Shirts, was also reportedly injured in Bangkok. Red Shirt protesters harassed a TV crew working for Thailand’s Channel 3, accusing them of supporting the government. After an argument, the journalists were able to leave the scene.<br />
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Hiroyuki Muramoto, a Japanese cameraman working for the Reuters news agency, was fatally shot and a France 24 cameraman was injured in clashes in Bangkok on 10 April. The results of the official investigation into Muramoto’s death have still not been released.<br />
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Reporters Without Borders is also shocked by the methods used by the army to eliminate the pro-Red Shirt general Khattiya Sawasdipol, who was shot in the head yesterday while being interviewed by International Herald Tribune reporter Thomas Fuller. Another journalist who was there said the shot appeared to have been fired by a sniper.<br />
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Fuller told CNN: “I was facing him, he was answering my questions, looking at me and the bullet hit him in the forehead, from what I could tell. It looks like the bullet came over my head and struck him.”<br />
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At least three people have been killed and more than 60 have been injured in the past 24 hours in Bangkok.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-26363262020245739452010-05-13T11:56:00.001+07:002010-05-13T14:39:17.675+07:00Enemy of the State - The State #8<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><strong>"Hypocrisy, arrogance, pride, anger, harshness, and ignorance; these are the marks of those who are born with demonic qualities."</strong></span><br />
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When I was just a couple of years out of high school the book the Peter Principle came out. It was insanely popular. I have thought numerous times that Laurence and Raymond must have had a crystal ball dialed into Thailand 2010. For the government, police and military have indeed reached that pinnacle of success. Their "top level of incompetence". It wouldn’t be so bad if one or two reached this great zenith in their career but the entire Government, Military and Police managed to do it in unison. It they were a World Cup Team they would be unbeatable . BUT…. They are politicians, career Generals and an appointed acting Police Chief all brought together under the Center for the Resolution of Emergency Situations, AKA CRES.<br />
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The CRES appears to have the combined computing power of an old 8088, that’s less than an old digital watch for you young folk, and in this day and age it’s the Multi Core that gets things done. One has to ask, what is going on with the government. Daily they reinforce the belief that they are inept and incompetent. Every day they threaten, set demands and issue ultimatums. Every day they back down, rescind the orders and appear in total disarray while pointing the finger at anyone that happens by. Like they could never make a bad decision, never.<br />
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The latest boner was the PM, now there’s a grown man with an arrogant schoolboy mentality, who said the Reds had to disperse yesterday. No ifs, ands or buts they had to go. He summoned the help of the more than incompetent CRES to help with the Task. With great fanfare the CRES PR mouthpiece told all and sundry they would cut power and water and transportation links in the protest area at midnight. No one had bothered to tell this PR Colonel he was a waste of a chair at the table or the well known fact that the UDD had generators, fuel and water tanks. That intelligence also forgot to mention that they would be turning off power to two of the biggest hospitals in Bangkok, not to mention a bunch of foreign Embassies that were pissed. Then a bolt out of the blue, turning off the water could also be construed as a crime against humanity under the UN Charter. Hmmmm... Guess what? Another misconceived brain fart and another loss of credibility. Yesterday came and went in a whimper, the Reds are still there, talking it up, singing and dancing, bathing in the water of life and breathing the sweet air of another minor victory or more factually another government blunder and loss of face because of another hasty misconceived plan that went awry.<br />
Now our egotistical and overconfident PM has decided to call off the November 14 elections. Does anyone but hard core Democrats and a few old PAD supporters really think he was sincere in that claim in the first place. His road map had more hole and escape routes than a drug trail from Burma. If this doesn’t happen no election, if that doesn’t happen no election, if this happens no election. Come on, no wonder the Reds don’t trust him. The PM has the credibility of a used car salesman who tells you it has a 100% warranty and in the fine print it stated 100% warranted, until it leaves the car lot.<br />
It’s time for Abhisit to swallow the poison pill. He’s caused no end of problems in the country. He’s fixed none. His government is oppressive and censorship is the worst in Thai history. <br />
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We have this to say to him. Step down, let someone else steer the car, because you have it careening down a steep mountain road, have burned out the brakes and you are totally out of your league. You have long past your "level of incompetence" according to the Peter Principle. Finally do something right, something ethical and let all of us in the country step back from the brink of the abyss. None of us, whatever color, are lemmings, we don’t want to follow you over the cliff into the unthinkable because of your pompous prejudice against those not born with a silver spoon up their butt.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833097911121481710.post-32282358796460680402010-05-11T05:58:00.000+07:002010-05-11T05:58:20.708+07:00We have had some computer problems.Here at <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background: yellow;">Ricefield</span> Radio we have had some major computer problems. We lost a file in our operating system and had to reinstall Win <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background: yellow;">XP</span>. That in itself isn't that much of a problem even though it's our main computer. Thankfully it wasn't the one that runs the broadcast portion of the station, but it is the one that has all of our audio recording software, gain control, our mail server and even our accounting software. Reloading all the individual programs took almost 24 hours.<br />
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Finally everything was up and running and we were testing and we got a very nasty virus. When it rains it pours. We have no idea where it came from but may have arrived before we loaded our virus software.<br />
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Most everything we can do on our broadcast unit but some production could not be done and may be delayed for a while. Things like an updated weather report comes directly to mind.<br />
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Please stick with us through all these problems. We are still on the air and just a bit bruised. We are looking into buying a new main computer as our main one is very overloaded but we will have to wait and see how it goes.Ricefield radiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15739455707318752311noreply@blogger.com0