The supporters of the fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra continue to work against the best interests of Thailand. As expected, they have no problem at all in getting physical.

As ants act on impulse and not logic, so do the red shirt wearing supporters of Thaksin. The consideration that the queen ants are more educated than the worker ants, there is significant reason to believe that Thaksin is funding key people to continue striving for unrest. If that is the case, then no amount of logic will make them stop. As per always all the same bad boy names are associated with this. Many if not all of them are facing charges on other things covering the full spectrum of laws.

Throwing verbal abuses is not against the law, however throwing projectiles is. This sends a signal to the watching world, that at least the people wearing red are a bit backwards. In general to the world, the Democrats are more easily accepted than the Thaksin supporting government. The fact Thaksin is on the run further tarnishes his supporters in the worlds eyes.

The approach of the new government to ‘Set a Good example‘ and to also set a benchmark is bold and Nobel to say the least. Unfortunately because of the coalition being tainted, it is about as challenging as passing off sewer water for spring water.

On the brighter side, the semi deposed government that was once the Thai Rak Thai, then the People Power Party, and now the Puea Thai Party are now for very possibly the first time having a close look at the law. Their reputation was to mostly ignore the law and buy off the courts. Seeing as that does not look like an option at the moment, they are now trying to use the law to their own advantage. However because essentially they are novices at obeying and following the law, their attempts thus far have only generated a few smiles and little or no worries.

All their attacks have been personal as they truly do not have a counter plan to propose in debate. They are trying to discredit everyone who does not side with them. Eventually they will come up with some absurd plan to keep from losing votes in Isaan. The lesser educated supporters will love the idea, however it would be to costly or impossible to implement. Then they will turn around and blame the Democrats for killing it. From there you know how they will spin that come next elections. The only counter for that is the Democrats must be showing some serious support for Isaan before that ploy comes about.

The attack on the new government saying the ideas they had were taken from past governments does make you want to roll your eyes. There is no rule or law that says good ideas from the past must be never used. And there is no patent on the plans. Taking them an tweaking them is perfectly acceptable. The claim that the budget for the project is much less than the previous governments budget is another eye roller. The first thought that comes to mind is the previous Thaksin governments were notorious for padding the bill and pocketing the difference. At least the thought comes to mind that the Democrats are much closer to the actual cost and not the graft padded cost.

The average commercial aircraft has a ground speed of about 575 MPH and can get you from New York to Los Angeles in about 5 hours give or take. As life in America goes everything is rush and multi task. At 35000 feet, you have limited multi task options.

Enter the high speed train that can today eat up 300 miles in a hour, and speed records around 360 MPH. The same trip counting a few stops along the way will take about 10 hours. That for some may be too long but consider you will have full Internet access as well as use of your phone the entire time. So in fact you will have no down time.

Not everyone will make that run, and most will opt for trips of half that distance. However that is with today’s technology. Fast forward about 25 years to around 2035 and give some thought to that technology.

Imagine if you would a train propelled by magnets. They have them today and even some roller coasters have trashed the hook and chain for magnets to launch the ride. With this technology there is no speed limit. Trains achieving speeds at or faster than commercial aircraft are entirely possible. The speed limiting factor would be wind resistance. The train would never touch the rail as it would always be suspended by magnetic fields. That will result in a smooth fast ride. The power source could come from windmills along the way as well as a wind driven turbine on the train to generate power for the train.

So imagine the same New York to Los Angeles trip in 5 hours on the ground, and you can see that this becomes viable. Aircraft would then shift to be more international over seas use. No matter how you look at it, this will be a fun way to get around.

The cost of train fare would be less than flying possibly only 40% of the cost as there will be no fuel to pay for. Look at what percentage of airfare goes to fuel, and you begin to see the numbers.

The jobs for this will be long term in building the magnetic levitation track as well as the fleet of trains. This train network could easily employ the same number of employees as the airlines and make driving seem too slow and obsolete.

There is no doubt a lot of work needs to be done to bring all of this to be. However the hardest job in getting away from oil is not done with a hammer and wrench. That difficult job is getting Americans to change the way they think. They will not give up the independence of the car for very long. Once the new technology is in place, Americans can climb back in their car and do what they always have done.

If Connecting the Dots ever needed to point out a few dots, this would be the one. We could have talked about this earlier, and we have hinted at it in a few posts. However the time has come to lay it out as it is. No doubt this will ruffle a few feathers for people that are standing too close.

When two or more countries go to war, that is exactly what it is, two countries and not two religions. The conflict with Gaza and Israel in truth has nothing to do with religion. However the Hamas government is hell bent on linking it to religion.

Consider this fact, there have been hundreds of rockets launched from Gaza by people into Israel. These people are not officials from a religion. They do not wrap themself in religious garments when they launch the rockets. The fact is they are just people who just happen to belong to a certain religion.

It is unfortunate that many of the people who are in these conflicts are of the Muslim faith, and their continuous cry tying their actions to religion has had a negative fallout right down to the subconscious. That message now deeply rooted in peoples subconscious is this as a war against Muslims. This has also set a certain feeling of being uncomfortable around Muslims as most if not all terrorist attacks are also somehow linked to Muslims.

The fact is the only place and group of people that could be seen as genuinely religious, and a conflict with them would be a genuine war against a religion would be a war with the Vatican and the Pope. With that said, chances are you would not see a Jewish Rabbi driving a tank into Gaza.

What we have here is some people who possibly went into an opium den a few too many times and fried a few too many brain cells, then deciding to go on a rampage. Unfortunately there are some Muslim Clerics that look to tie any conflict to religion that prompts these people on. The fact is these people only think they are fighting for a religion. But unless there is a parcel of land like the Vatican that they are defending, it is all in their head. To defend a religion is to defend a belief and nothing more. That belief is in the mind. It is no different and carries no more weight than believing in Santa or not.

So what we have is Israel defending it’s people from rocket attacks from some people with malfunctioning grey matter. If the Hamas government can’t or wont do it themselves, then the Israeli army can do the job for them. After all disrespect comes with a price, and it does not matter who, what, or where that is.

If you can imagine standing on the side of the road for 30 minutes in the dead of winter dodging slush and sleet waiting for a bus, you can get a feel for what public transportation is like in Connecticut. Connecticut being one of the richest states in the nation, leaves much to be desired when it comes to public transportation. Assuming that this is a typical model in cities that have a population of 1 million or less, no wonder people want to drive a car.

Comparing to an Asian city like Bangkok where you can cross town like spiderman and never touch the pavement jumping from the top of one public vehicle to another, the United States is in bad shape. To make it worth while for Americans to take public transportation it must be fast, plentiful and significantly less expensive than a car. Most Americans can tolerate a 30 to 45 minute commute. Any longer and it will not fly. If a 40 minute car commute can be cut to 25 minutes with public transportation, then it will catch on. It would be even more attractive once the price of oil goes back up.

Each city and the surrounding rural area must consider what is best. Loading the streets with mini busses may work for some and not for others. Other cities may make use of a rail system that does not need to deal with traffic lights or road rage. In all cases the transportation must reach well into the suburbs and have many access points.

Public transportation would also need to evolve away from oil. Some of the technology part 3 talked about could be used with busses as well. Realistically electric trains powered with solar or wind would be the goal for many areas. That could avoid the traffic and save time in many mid size cities. The jobs that could be created at first would be the development of the system. Then the supporting jobs would follow later. This would be a fairly long term infrastructure plan.

In the far rural parts of the country, similar plans could still be used, however it would be a hard sell for small town America as the recovery of costs may never be seen. Certainly the wisdom of the community will help decide what to do. Sooner or later the price of oil will drive this to necessity, and it is best to at least get some sort of blue print on the table. It does not even need to be a bus. Some super golf cart sized enclosed vehicles similar to a Hollywood back lot tour vehicle that can sit 10 or 12 people may be all that is needed. Power that with a motorcycle engine and you have cheap transportation that can be a bit of an adventure at the same time.

In October 2006 Thailand implemented a new rule about how long people could stay in Thailand on a tourist visa on arrival. People were only allowed to stay 90 days every 180 days. Tourist visas that were obtained at Thai consulates and embassies were not effected.

When this policy was enacted, non-Thais who were living in Thailand for extended periods of time were shocked at the prospect of having to leave their new home. Some chose to figure out a way around this new hoop the Thais had put up, while others simply threw in the towel and joined the exodus from Thailand.

Apparently the attempt was designed to weed out undesirable people who were living in Thailand. Many tied the change in policy to a person who was mentally ill and confessed to a high profile murder in the US. The fact of the matter was he did not kill the girl, but it did leave a mark on the face of Thailand as to who was potentially living in the country.

The down side of the new tourist visa policy was many of the people who joined the exodus were part of the regular economy and not the tourist economy. They had apartments and small Thai businesses opened up to support the high spending non-Thais. Laundry services, western style restaurants and so on were all about to take a hit or go out of business. People in the tourist economy would spend money in hotels and restaurants in the tourist areas along with excessive shopping by the female tourists.

The results were wide ranging from apartment buildings going from 95% occupancy to about 60% in early 2007 at the end of the first 90 day period. Considering that the apartments ranged in price from about 5000 Baht to 70,000 Baht per month, the change in the economy was significant. Most Thais spend little more than 3000 Baht per month on rent. A quick translation is one non-Thai can easily spend 20 times as much as a Thai just on rent. That does not count the other supporting services.

As time went on the Thai government kept changing the rules making it more difficult to stay in Thailand. The most recent change was now reducing the 30 day tourist visa on arrival to just 15 days. This change would certainly hurt Thailand when they need tourist the most. This will effect certain groups of tourist more than others. Backpackers will be annoyed as they often spend a month in various spots around Thailand.

Also changes to the rules at nearby consulates like Penang Malaysia make it a bit of Russian roulette on getting visas. That does not only apply to tourist visas. Non-immigrant visas are also being affected and finding a consulate that will provide the needed visa to continue to run a business in Thailand is now difficult.

This is one path Thailand needs to stop walking down, and stop quickly. Chasing away people who contribute to the economy is equal to self amputation, and especially now with the economy in tatters, every person with money to spend in Thailand counts.

There are some rumors that much of this is part of Thaksin’s doing. It was well known that Thaksin was only interested in the money from the west and not the people who had it. With the new government in place there may be some changes made, but only time will tell.

In 2003 in the United States a tragic fire took many lives as a pyrotechnics display on stage ignited sound insulating foam on stage.

WEST WARWICK, R.I. _ In this tightknit old mill town in a postage stamp-sized state, residents are staying close to their telephones, nursing beers in bars and flipping through their high school yearbooks.

Now that a soaking rain has snuffed out the last plume of smoke from the nightclub fire that killed 96 people Thursday and injured another 187, there is little to do but wait.

Teams of forensic scientists are busy matching dental records to bodies pulled from the rubble, almost all of them burned beyond recognition.

Only then will the toll for this town of 29,000 southwest of Providence be known, for the names of the dead concertgoers will be friends, in-laws, church members, kindergarten classmates and local auto mechanics. Nearly everyone here will have known someone who didn’t escape from the inferno that broke out just moments into the 1980s band Great White’s concert at The Station, a West Warwick institution and the town’s only nightclub.

The blaze was ignited by a pyrotechnics display.

Then moments into 2009, Bangkok experienced a similar tragedy.

Fire at an Ekkamai pub kills at least 59 and injures scores in New Year countdown disaster

Fire broke out at popular Santika Pub in Ekkamai Soi 9 (Sukhumvit 63) Wednesday night, killing nearly 60 people celebrating the New Year countdown and injuring more than 200 others, police said.

Deputy Police Commissioner-General Pol Lt-Gen Jongrak Juthanon said many of those killed and injured were foreigners. He said they were tourists from Nepal, Austria and Japan.

However, there were about 30 bodies that were “very difficult to idenfity”. All bodies were initially sent to the Chulalongkorn Hospital but forensic officials were overwhelmed with the task and help was being sought from the Police Hospital.

TV Channel 7 reported that at least 59 people were killed and more than 200 injured.

TV footages showed the entire three-storey structure, which covered hundreds of squaremetres, on fire. Tearful revellers were being comforted by friends.

Firemen were alerted shortly after midnight but when they arrived at the three-story building, pandemonium was already breaking out with hundreds of people scrambling for their lives. Charity foundations’ workers were trying to bring New Year celebrators out the narrow front door one by one.

A lot of people remained trapped inside the most popular pub in the area when the firemen arrived, screaming for help.

It took two hours to bring the blaze under control. Police said at least 54 people were killed and scores were injured.

It was believed hundreds were inside the popular pub. Some pub workers told police that the fire was likely caused by firework explosions which set alight the publ’s interior which housed many inflammable materials.

One pub worker told reporters that the explosions were heard shortly after the New Year countdown ended. “After the explosions, someone shouted ‘Fire!”,” the pub worker said.

Fire started on the top floor and spread quckly, the pub worker said. The quick smoke caused immediate panic, sending people scrambling to the front door where they had come in. Most of them were unaware there were three other exits, the pub worker said.

The exact number of people injured remained unknown. Many have been sent to 14 hospitals including Ramkhamhaeng, Bangkok, Kluaynam Thai 2, Vipa-Ram hospitals.

The pub worker said up to 1,000 people could have been inside when the fire broke out.

One man, Somchai Frendi, who was inside the pub when the fire broke out, said the blaze was caused by a “special-effect” firework to usher in the New Year. It made the ceiling, which was made largely of inflammable sound-proof materials, catch fire which spread very quickly.

The fire and smoke sent people on the second floor scrambling downstairs while those on the ground floor also rushed for the door. But with most people knowing only one exit _ through which they had come in _ they crammed the space and the results were deadly.

The pub’s promotion poster called the New Year Party “Goodbye Santika”, apparently because the pub owner was planning to move to a new venue as the lease on the property could not be extended.

Those who died either suffered severe burns or were suffocated by smoke, police said.

Police Commissioner-General Pol Gen Phatcharawat Wongsuwan Thursday ruled out arson, saying nobody would have intended to cause so huge casualties. Deputy police chief Jongrak said one of the owners of the pub was also injured in the incident.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said there did not seem to be legal questions regarding the construction of the pub.

Those who used to go to the pub were engaged in heated discussions in various web boards and some of the debates were focused on the narrow entrances and exits or Santika and other similar pubs.

From time to time a story finds it’s way to the news that stirs raw emotion. Sometimes it is a story about terrorism. Other times it is a story that tugs at your heart strings. But when someone dies because a businessman decided that a persons life was disposable, it sets a understanding as to why some people go on a shooting rampage later.

That is not the case with this story (yet) but it does qualify as one button that should not have been pushed.

LOS ANGELES – The family of a 17-year-old leukemia patient has sued health insurance giant Cigna Corp. for her death in 2007 after the company initially refused to pay for a liver transplant.

The lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court by the family’s attorney, Mark Geragos, alleges breach of contract, unfair business practices and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suit accuses Cigna of delaying and rejecting valid claims, which resulted in the wrongful death of Nataline Sarkisyan.

The Philadelphia-based insurer eventually approved the transplant after Sarkisyan’s family held a rally outside Cigna’s suburban Los Angeles office. Nataline, however, died hours after the approval was secured.

Chris Curran, a spokesman for Cigna, said the company empathizes with the family but feels the lawsuit is without merit. Curran said Cigna volunteered to pay for the procedure out of its own pocket and not the employer’s.

“This decision was made despite the fact that Cigna had no obligation to do so and despite concluding, based on the information available, that the treatment would be unproven and ineffective and therefore experimental and not covered by the employer’s benefit plan,” Curran said, reading from a statement.

But Charles Idelson, a spokesman for the California Nurses Association, said insurance companies are “in business to provide profits for shareholders, not to provide care.”

“Nataline Sarkisyan’s case serves as a tragic poster child for everything that’s wrong with our insurance based health care system,” he said. “Why did it take public humiliation for Cigna Corporation to approve a transplant?”

Nataline was diagnosed with leukemia at 14 and received a bone marrow transplant from her brother the day before Thanksgiving 2007. A complication, however, caused the teen’s liver to fail.

The family had asked Cigna to pay for a liver transplant but the insurer refused, calling the procedure experimental.

In a subsequent letter to Cigna, four doctors from Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA Medical Center appealed to the insurer to reconsider. They said patients in similar situations who undergo transplants have a six-month survival rate of about 65 percent.

The insurer eventually reversed the decision while about 150 nurses and community members rallied outside its office in Glendale.

By this time, however, the teen had fallen into a vegetative state and was taken off life support. She died within the hour.

The hybrid cars that sip and not guzzle are the between step from gas burning muscle cars to the alternate energy cars of the future. We still don’t hear about the alternate energy cars much because development very simply is in it’s infancy. The battery powered electric cars of today are like the bag phones of early mobile phones from the 1980’s. for those that are too young to remember, picture a double size fanny pack that could only be used in limited areas because there simply were few cell towers.

Americans can hardly get excited about racing electric cars. The roar of a top fuel dragster that can eat up a quarter mile in about 4.4 seconds topping out near 335 MPH can hardly compare with the whine of accelerating servo motors. So admittedly there will be a lull during the between step of hybrids.

So what will the next generation of cars be like after hybrids? Well to be honest the technology concept probably only exists on the back of a barroom napkin. However putting the imagination to use, it would probably be a combination of solar, and a new energy source that does not use fossil fuel.  The other thought was a car that would use energy at a slower rate than the during usage recharge. That would allow for unlimited distance. In other words a perpetual motion car.

The other thought would be more along the lines of the San Francisco cable cars. The roads would be embedded with nodes that could charge the cars from underneath. Powering those nodes could be windmills along the road. The technology to transfer energy from the road to the car could be as simple as light beyond what we can see, a form of radio waves or whatever. That energy would be harmless to living things unless you decided to sit on a node to warm your ass. Then you would risk getting run over by a car and that would most certainly leave a bruise.

This technology would be the so called oil company of the future. It would provide jobs as each car would need to pay to use the nodes. A proximity sensor could activate the node when the car was over it debiting the account as it charged the car. When the cars were off road the backup energy system would kick in and the car could run on battery solar power, or the good old fashion plug it in at home for a recharge.

The unused energy from the windmills could be uploaded to the power grid adding to the profit of this new company. All it takes is a little imagination to make this work. Much of this technology is around today but not all of it. So this concept would be not as far down the road as one would think. The oil companies of today most certainly have the money and now the incentive to develop this technology or risk becoming extinct.

The people that drink regularly simply call New Years Eve amateurs night, and they often elect to stay home where it is safe. The only commute is to the refrigerator for another cold beer. So staying home is not out of the question.

When it comes to the resolution for the new year, many decide to give up smoking. There is no doubt anymore in anyone’s mind that smoking is for losers. They get banished to smoke out in whatever weather nature can dish up. That is not to mention that they stink terribly when they come back inside.. Unfortunately many will be unsuccessful because of the mental addiction to nicotine, and in a few days they are climbing the walls looking to be a loser once again. To break the mental addiction takes a set of balls the size of melons, or a hypnotherapist.

Then there is the resolution to lose some unsightly fat. For some that means going to the gym, for others it means finding a good divorce lawyer.

The list is endless as what people want to do. Some want to set a goal of achievement and that is a good start. Making self improvements is always a good thing.

No matter what people decide to do, they must first make it more than just words. There needs to be a heart felt commitment to change. Once that desire for change is genuinely there, then they need to map out how to make it happen. For some people it could be a non selfish gesture to help others in need. For some it could be a desire to be the first to do something.

Many people around the world are placing their hopes for the new year on soon to be President Obama. Many of those people are not American or have even set foot on American soil. So for them their resolution may be to help President Obama change the world to be a better place and that certainly is a noble unselfish gesture to say the least.

Many people are hoping and praying 2009 will be better than 2008. Unfortunately there will be a mixed bag. The effects of global warming will continue and mother nature will be sure to give us more and harder kicks in the ass for messing with her. The global economic situation will hopefully change for the better, unless the price of oil comes back for the knockout punch.

No matter what happens, Connecting the Dots wants to wish you and yours a happy new year.

Please leave a message below what your resolution is and why, or just a word or two on your hopes and aspirations for 2009.

Going into 2008 the people on the planet were already feeling the sting of high oil prices that would continue to rise for another seven months. Those oil prices were eating away at the global economy sucking up every last Dollar to every last Yen, Peso or whatever. The world was not even aware yet of how bad this would be.

The world was also exposed to the fallout of China’s product quality. From tainted foods looking to place profit before quality, to a seemingly endless supply of quality issues with other exports. This was direct fallout of rising oil prices while trying to keep prices low and not lose market share. Profit was placed first, and the world suffered with deaths and injuries.

The H5N1 bird flu was coming back and the outbreaks were more wide spread than the previous years. There was a fine balancing act of what the public was being told so as not to disclose what was being said behind closed doors. Subtle hints from the WHO telling us one thing, while stories of magic cures were being told by others to stem panic.

It would seem the eyes of the world were focused on who would be the next President of the United States. The connection the world ultimately had with American politics was interesting to observe when not standing on American soil. Many American ex-patriots who left America for whatever reason were keen to see how the world was reacting. In the end the fate of the world now seems to rest on the shoulders of President elect Obama, and that is a tall order no matter how you cut it.

The world was also focused on a bright spot trying to at least for a moment forget the woes of the world. The 2008 Olympic games in China provided a wonderful distraction allowing us to cheer for our own country in world class sporting competition.

2008 was also marred by 2 significant natural disasters in Asia that ended the lives of hundreds of thousands and effected the lives of millions. Burma and China felt the hand of nature as lives were swept away in a tropical cyclone and an earthquake. Extreme weather events around the globe were also racking their collective share of damage to lives and infrastructure.

Also in 2008 several groups of scientists came to the dreadful conclusion that their estimates as to the effect of global warming were 30 or more years off. What they were predicting would happen in 2050 will be going on in 2020 or sooner. The feeling that the tipping point has come is being more substantiated with each passing week. Weather records were not just being broken, they were being shattered.

Dictators and want to be dictators also sprinkled the news. Zimbabwe and their worthless money, Burma and their ruthless killings, and Thailand with a deposed ego driven convicted fugitive Prime Minister who has set about dividing and destroying the country. Tibet also was a major news event that China did it’s best to suppress.

There were also several new species discovered and at least one thought to be extinct surviving in the most remote parts of the world. Several species also became endangered including Polar Bears as the arctic ice retreats as a direct result of global warming.

2008 also saw terrorism in India that captured the eyes of the world. That reminded the world that the war against terrorism is ongoing and that the nuisance of security checkpoints is an unfortunate necessity.

In America the word homeless was being spoken everyday. As unemployment grew The US government dug deep into it’s pockets to start to bailout the failing economy. Other countries around the world did the same. Iceland saw a complete banking collapse as well as other countries just holding on. Stock markets around the world melted and finger pointing was everywhere.

Iran became a global concern with a drive to go nuclear. Their perceived lack of continuity with reality suggested that this is one place that should not be allowed to have the big mushroom sword. The display of distorted views and open aggression to other countries suggested that Iran would strike first, and that could not be allowed to happen.

North Korea seemed to have had a change for the better about mid year, however that now seems to be tied to the health of that countries leader. At the end of the year the trend seemed to be moving backwards back to isolation as North Korea’s leader recovered.

There were also countless acts of bravery, sacrifice and courage that shows as a species there is still hope for the human race despite all our flaws. People going out of their way to help an unknown neighbor dealing with a natural disaster. People with disabilities overcoming their own challenges and inspiring all of us with the truth that no challenge is to big if we focus our positive energy. As a species we still face our greatest challenge and that is to survive ourselves. Perhaps 2009 will be the first time this century we will start to work towards that goal.

To take action to stop the Prime Minister from making his policy speech, is like mucking up the key hole for the ignition. If the engine will not start, it is back to the shop for a rebuild. By not letting the engine start, there can be no economic recovery. It really does not matter what action the Thaksin supporters take, whether it be block parliament, or make a general nuisance of themselves as they plan to do, it is all working against Thailand’s recovery.

There is a significant difference between this red shirt activity and the yellow shirt activity. The yellow shirts were patriots working to protect the country. When they blocked Parliament in October, it was to prevent tampering with the Constitution that ultimately would have hurt the people of Thailand.

Considering that many of the red shirt protesters were bused in from the north, and seeing that it is no secret that they are also being paid to come, one has to consider who’s pocket the pay is coming from.

There is a furry of rumors about how much money the fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra has left. Some have placed him as down to $500,000,000.00 US dollars being 1/10 of his peek worth. Connecting the Dots chooses not to listen to the rumors as they were probably started by Thaksin himself. What Connecting the Dots see is if Thaksin is still funding his attacks, then he still has money.

Also the fact that the red shirts are being funded by Thaksin, that would explain what would appear to be the large accumulation of stupid people wearing red shirts. After all, people can be paid to be stupid. Just look at the tobacco companies spokesman if you need examples from history of people being paid to be stupid. To stop any economic recovery can only be classified as stupid or other antonym of smart.

So now this leaves the new government in a dilemma, and with the constant ‘Good guys finish last’, something may have to happen that is not in the white book. The red shirt people have repeatedly demonstrated that they can and will use violence. And because of that they can’t be trusted. Any taunts and dares coming from the red shirts for the Prime Minister to come and chat, most certainly could be setting him up for an assassination attempt. So a chapter should be taken from the book of JFK. Keep in mind violence benefits Thaksin when it comes to this.

This post was written before noon Bangkok time on December 29, 2008. Events after noon are not considered.

It is interesting how Americans sometimes disrespect people in how they use their names. Although at heart it is not intentional, it is a case of sheep mentality in many cases.

Lets start off the list with America’s favorite terrorist Osama Bin laden, his name is said in full practically every time. But when it comes to President elect Barack Obama, Americans call him Obama. Some how this does not seem right. The bad guy gets the respect while the good guy does not.

When it comes to talking about President Bush, they call him President Bush and not Bush. That is a proper way to address a sitting President. Then again some past presidents are only called by their last name many times like Lincoln and not Abraham Lincoln.

When it comes to well known celebrities some are only called by their first name like Oprah and not her full name Oprah Winfrey. This does leave things confusing where some are called by their first name and others by their last name. How to decide.

When you go to your doctor, you may know their first name but you still call them by their degree as doctor. All of this is very confusing.

If you think about the uniqueness of the name as being the reason, then explaining Tiger Woods completely blows that theory. Perhaps it may be the ease of saying a name. Obama flows off the tongue a lot easier than Barack. After all Americans tend to invent things to promote being lazy and getting fat like the remote control, drive thru windows and the Segway.

Perhaps it is a sense of familiarity with a person. After all anyone who watches Oprah can easily see her as a friend even that they have never met. The same type of comfort can be felt with Obama as he seems more like one of us and not one of them when it comes to being down to earth, all while tip toeing through the minefield of political correctness. For some reason this seems to make the most sense, but then again there is no home boy rule book on names. The days of “Leave it to Beaver” are long gone when Mr. or Mrs. Was used in nearly every reference to a person. That went out with black and white tv.

So now the dilemma of insulting or degrading a person because of being to lazy to push out a few more vowels. One does have to stop and think how they would like to be addressed. Sometimes a nickname is fine while others prefer all the credentials. If someone says his name is John and the person replies calling him Jack, it leaves you wondering if one person needs to be checked for earwax buildup. No matter how you look at it, it becomes and interesting observation.

If you consider every country now has to deal with getting past the Horn of Africa with one thing or another being oil or goods, seeing a global armada working for a single cause does send a feeling of global unity down your spine. It is not often that you see so many countries pulling together to deal with a single issue. NATO has even gotten involved.

If you take a look at each countries global personality, you can get some idea on how they will deal with the pirates. The US is very by the book and actually may trip over themselves while reading the book. This is all done while taking care not to violate any rules of the road in international waters.

China on the other hand is not so concerned about human rights and other such annoyances. So how each navy deals with the pirates will be uniquely different. A warning shot from a Chinese destroyer may just leave assorted toothpicks and kindling wood of what was once a pirate intercept boat. Not to say that would be a bad thing, that is one impressive warning shot.

One or two stories like that getting back to the pirate base and the pirate Que at the dock will get short in short order. With the thought of it being a one way trip to become shark food, the psychological discouragement factor is on the high side. That will be doing battle with greed inside their head along with the gamble that they won’t get caught.

What has happened is this game has now moved up to the big league and the stakes are much higher. The global economy has put a strain on everything including the shipping companies. So to deal with that and the desire to go after more Muslims with guns who shoot at other people and look to harm them, there was plenty of incentive to go and play sink the pirate.

How this will all pan out in the end is hard to say. It is likely to turn into a cat and mouse game for the next few months. The German navy has scored a few points along with other countries, so this does look to be a every man for themselves game at the moment. If they all pooled together and worked as a team, the problem would be more quickly minimized. Japan is also giving some thought to go and play too.

With the changes in Somalia’s government including resignations of top officials, it leaves the door open for some land operations if need be. But be it said, setting foot in Somalia opens another can of worms that the world does not need at the moment. This move is not likely and just dealing with things off shore in Somalia’s waters will be about as far as they go.

The coalition of the new government is a blend of good and bad. Some old faces with bad habits have found their way to Minister posts. That had to be done so as not to start off with a swarm of political enemies. However the requirement to perform or step aside is a very western approach. This is also the complete opposite of the Thaksin supporting government. Who you know does not count anymore, and that is very un-Thai, but also very necessary if any recovery is to be made. The engine will not perform well with fouled spark plugs. In better times it may have slid by, but this is not better times.

Because of economic times being rough everyplace you look on the planet, pushing the un-Thai approach will be grudgingly accepted by all except the most self serving Ministers. There will be a clear showing of who sat in the back of the class reading comic books and who paid attention to the teacher. It also will encourage the hiring of consultants with the know how, and that can’t be a bad move no matter how you cut it.

The western approach will be a great help to Thailand, and will act as a filter eventually leaving only top performers in the seat of power. There will be more than a few changes before things settle in.

There is also a concern that some corruption will find it’s way into the government as old habits are hard to break. But the same performance filtering should also start to reduce this too. So essentially the bad economy becomes a good excuse for significant house cleaning. Only the best of the best need apply.

On the negative side the pro Thaksin supporters are already plotting to throw several wrenches into the works to serve themselves. The anticipated blocking of parliament to hinder the policy delivery can only be seen as hurting Thailand to serve one fugitive on the run.

On the things to fix list, there is still remnants of Thaksin anti foreigner lingering around. Each and every time small companies owned by non-Thais go to renew visas and other documents, there are more and more hoops to jump thru. New startup companies face the same layers of discouragement. Some of the things being asked for a quite ridiculous (Standing on one leg tapping your head and rubbing your stomach while reciting the lyrics of a Thai song) and only look to discourage investment in Thailand. The general feeling amongst non-Thai business owners is someone is just doing this for fun. The same bullshit requirements do not apply for Thai owned companies. This is unnecessary and absolutely must go as foreign owned small business makes up a significant part of the Thai economy. There are plenty of other countries in the area who will gladly welcome these small companies.

All and all Thailand at least has the appearance of a government working for the people. Time will tell if it will endure.