coup, coup kachoo

[nehemiah]

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Tanks have been seen rolling through the streets of Bangkok, Thailand, on Tuesday amid rumors of an attempted coup, witnesses tell CNN.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra -- currently at the U.N. headquarters in New York -- went on a government-owned TV station and declared a state of emergency, The Associated Press reported.

According to officials at the Thai mission at the United Nations, Thaksin has moved up his speech to the General Assembly to Tuesday night and will return to Bangkok after his address.

He had been scheduled to address the assembly on Wednesday.

Thaksin has been under considerable pressure to step down. Elections in Thailand are scheduled for November after the country's constitutional court ruled April's vote was unconstitutional.

Thaksin had called for the elections in April, three years early, after opponents accused the billionaire leader of abusing the country's system of checks and balances and bending government policy to benefit his family's business.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/19/thailand.coup.rumor/index.html

i guess rush limbaugh will have to find a new outlet for his child prostitute needs, eh?

[Green Lantern]

I just saw on CNBC that one source was saying that the troops were just coming back from training in the north, another said that the president called a state of emergency.

What's new?

[Green Lantern]

Bush JUST said that 50 million in Asia have been raised from poverty due to democracy too. What timing.

[Green Lantern]

Military says that they are acting under the authority of the king, who is beloved by the people. They have control of military leaders in Bangkok and the police.

[rob on the job]

This coup would be stopped in a minute if all the Western pedophiles in Bangkok would come out of the kiddie brothels and blocked the main avenue.

[Green Lantern]

This coup would be stopped in a minute if all the Western pedophiles in Bangkok would come out of the kiddie brothels and blocked the main avenue.

Well, put it back in your pants and get going...

[Meathead]

we're on the train to bangkok
abord the thailand express

[rob on the job]

Well, put it back in your pants and get going...

Shot with my own gun.

Good job, Aqua ... for a guy who likes a team of pansies.

[Green Lantern]

Shot with my own gun.

Good job, Aqua ... for a guy who likes a team of pansies.


It is not pansies I like, but Teal...

[nehemiah]

apparently, the last election was mighty crooked.

if anyone could post some background - i'll hook you up with some chips or a beer, or something.

[rob on the job]

It is not pansies I like, but Teal...

Yeah -- I can see from the picture on your nightstand ...

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0006UKYLO.01-A3GIICPKM1TL3R._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[Green Lantern]

Yeah -- I can see from the picture on your nightstand ...

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0006UKYLO.01-A3GIICPKM1TL3R._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg


go to the official fin site and take a gander at the dol-fans. That's some hot cheerleaders in teal.

[rob on the job]

go to the official fin site and take a gander at the dol-fans. That's some hot cheerleaders in teal.

Oh. Yeah.

Cheerleaders. "Hot cheerleaders in teal."

Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.

[rob on the job]

Those Dolphin cheerleaders are disloyal sluts.

http://whodigsben.com/images/cheerleaders.jpg

[Green Lantern]

* On February 27, Thailand’s main opposition parties – the Democrat Party (Phak Prachatipat - PP), the Thai Nation Party (Phak Chart Thai - PCT) and the People’s Party (Mahachon Party - MP) - announced that they would not field any candidate in the April 2 election. They had demanded political reforms, demands that Prime Minister THAKSIN did not accept.

Thaksin, expected to win the Oct 15 re-run poll with a reduced majority due to his firm support in the countryside, called the April snap general election in an attempt to defuse street protests against him. The vote was later declared illegal....http://www.electionguide.org/election.php?ID=998

Embattled Thai PM kicks off election campaign
Mon Aug 7, 2006 6:14am ET


BANGKOK (Reuters) - Embattled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra kicked off his campaign on Monday for a general election re-run, handing out cows and land deeds and promising free computers for every child in Thailand's poorest region.

The three-day tour of the northeast, which has the most lawmakers in the 500-member lower house of parliament and where Thaksin remains very popular, drew accusations he was using taxpayer money to win re-election....

...Opposition parties, whose boycott of an April general election left Thailand without a functioning parliament and a caretaker government unable to make major policy decisions, complained loudly he was breaching election rules....

TRIAL LOOMS

But it is far from certain whether he will remain prime minister if his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party wins.

He has made no comment on the issue as the party faces charges of election misconduct in April which could see it dissolved by the Constitutional Court in a trial widely expected after the October election....

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-08-07T101358Z_01_BKK203782_RTRUKOC_0_US-THAILAND.xml&src=rss

[Green Lantern]

Thaksin claims victory in Thailand
By Thomas Fuller International Herald Tribune

TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2006


BANGKOK Thaksin Shinawatra claimed victory Monday in national elections, which were boycotted by opposition groups, and said he had a mandate to return as prime minister.

"I am satisfied with the result," Thaksin said on national television, his first substantive comments since the voting Sunday. "Sixty percent of people trust me."

But in a concession to opposition groups that have called for his resignation, Thaksin offered to set up an independent committee to judge his fitness to rule that would be made up of former prime ministers, former supreme court justices, former members of Parliament and deans from Thai universities.

"I will stay or I will go," he said. "If this committee thinks that it's better if I quit, I will go." Thaksin said his party received 16 million votes, or 57 percent of the 28 million votes cast. Official results were expected Tuesday.

About 10 million voters showed their disapproval of Thaksin by ticking the "abstain" box on their ballots, a record number that opposition groups said showed the depth of disaffection in the country....


http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/03/news/thai.php

[Green Lantern]

Cool fact: Senators cannot belong to a political party.

[Green Lantern]

Parties Votes % Seats
Thais Love Thais Party (Phak Thai Rak Thai) 15,866,031 61.1 460
Others 267,196 1.1 -
No Vote 9,842,197 37.9 -
Vacant 40
Democrat Party (Phak Prachatipat) boycott
Thai Nation Party (Phak Chart Thai) boycott
Great People's Party (Phak Machacon) boycott
Total valid votes (87.2 % of votes cast) 25,975,424 100.0 500
Invalid votes 3,815,870
Valid votes (turnout 65.2 %) 29,791,294
Registered voters 45,663,089


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Thailand

[rob on the job]

handing out cows [/B]and land deeds and promising free computers for every child in Thailand's poorest region. ...

http://www.freewebs.com/********11111/cow.jpg

Aww hell, the picture won't come out.

Still, the idea of handing out free cows is pretty weird.

[nehemiah]

thanks for the info, aqua.

have some chips!

:rockon:

[Green Lantern]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060920/ap_on_re_as/thailand

...Army commander Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, appearing relaxed and confident in his military uniform at his first news conference since seizing power Tuesday night, said he would serve as de facto prime minister for two weeks until the junta — which calls itself the Council of Administrative Reform — chooses a civilian to replace him and drafts an interim constitution.

Sondhi sealed the success of his coup by receiving royal endorsement as leader of the new junta, while ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who watched events unfold from abroad, pondered his future and the threat of possible prosecution at home.

Receiving the imprimatur of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej legitimizes the takeover, and should effectively quash any efforts at resistance by Thaksin's partisans. Thaksin's ouster followed a series of missteps that prompted many to accuse the prime minister of challenging the king's authority — an unpardonable act in this traditional Southeast Asian nation...

[Gibby]

Those Dolphin cheerleaders are disloyal sluts.

http://whodigsben.com/images/cheerleaders.jpg

oddly enough I dig them. :D

[deconstruction]

Yeah -- I can see from the picture on your nightstand ...

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0006UKYLO.01-A3GIICPKM1TL3R._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Dude, how long did it take you to find that picture? What does all that extra effort say?