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- USA VS. THAILAND
Sitting on the beach after arriving in Thailand, my mind would wander. I liked to make comparisons of George Bush and Taksin Shinawatra and Vladimir Putin.
Stupid stuff that is. But it was interesting to see the similarities between these leaders. And the similarities were not good ones. All three seemed to be men with sweeping, thumping egos on a mission to posses power and make the world into there own murky image for there own murky reasons.
I have left the beach. My mind, though, still wonders and compares. I look at Thailand's Prime Minister Surayud and President Bush and I see men with little intelligence, lacking imagination, altogether devoid of a vision. These are men caught in an undertow with a lifeguard yelling that they are doing fine. They are destroying some very fine countries.
Both the United States and Thailand have serious problems. But an obvious difference is that long term, Thailand's problems and the outcome matters less then a hill of beans on the world stage. Rectifying the current challenges in the United States will affect the economic and political and social stabilityof the world for years to come.
Politics in Thailand is corrupt. The entire bureaucracy functions on a degree of corruption. Prime Minister Surayud receives praise for being an almost honest man with a “good” heart. But he is incompetent. The country sinks further into economic crisis and political turmoil as he fiddles.
The economy has been downgrade to a growth of 3.5 per cent by Macquarie Research. The Press is considered “unfree”. The United States has placed Thailand on its intellectual property Priority Watch List. The Bank of Thailand has made investors loose confidence in Thailand. Real Estate, construction, tourism, automotive, etc are all down. Domestic consumption is on life support.
We will not discuss the new constitution except to admire the chutpah of a document that is called democratic when it provides amnesty for military coup leaders.
Thailand has developed economic strength in the past 50 years. Since the 1997 economic crisis, Thailand exports have been strong with an 17.4% increase in 2006. Unemployment is under 2%,; poverty is under 10%; GDP has been about 5% in recent years
At best, since the September 19 coup, Thailand has stalled. Corruption, lack of media freedom and a government that is held accountable to or watched over by a higher power point to an atrophying country..
For Thailand to address its social, environmental and infrastructure problems the economy must be strong. To develop a good economy the ADB (Asian development Bank) states, “the most essential precondition for sustainable development is good governance”..
The government will return to functioning in a forward mode in time. The sooner the better. The problems that need to be addressed can not wait years. And the sinking economy is a problem that, left to fester, will cause the countries non-elites to be reduced to frustration, despair and revolt.
The current headline problems will fade. The abysmal educational problems will not. For a country to grow and expand economically, the country can not rely on exports at 60 -70 of GDP. In a flat world, the work force must be educated in math, science and fluent in the English language.
“The Nation”a Bangkok English language newspaper, recently reported that “the Bureau of Education Testing provided annual tests for grade 6 and grade 9 students across the country. It revealed students in grade 6 had received their lowest average mark in English, followed by maths, Thai and sciences. Grade 9 students lowest scholastic achievement was in English followed by maths, sciences,social studies and Thai. Records of the past three years show the results in English, Thai and maths had dropped every year.”
Thais not only lack language abilities and knowledge of science and math. . Many can not do simple syllogistic reasoning. The educational system does not encourage curiosity, questioning and the creative intellectual thinking needed to remove a population from the farm to the science lab, technology lab or problem solving environment.
Populations with few natural resources must work harder to survive, Singapore and Hong Kong developed the mind to create wealth and economic well being. The United States moved from an agrarian country to an industrial country to a technology oriented country.
If Thailand (and any developing country) is to advance, a solidly educated populace must be created.
The future belongs to the educated individual. The educated individual will live in a country of highly skilled and educated people. And these talent rich countries will be the future super powers.
I am always the optimist. Democracy takes time. Building a strong economic country takes time. It can be painful. History shows starts, stops and reversals as a country develops. Perhaps, I said to a Thai friend, in fifteen or twenty years you will see change. He corrected me. Perhaps in one hundred years he said.
The United States does not have a hundred years. With a year and a half left of George Bush, we hope we have enough time to hang in till the next president. He or she may not be riding a white horse, but certainly will be saddled with trouble a plenty.
Iraq will be a mess. The Mid East will be in shambles. The countries education system faltering and incapable of producing the scientists and mathematicians we need in a digital flat world. Immigration will remain a problem as race relations degenerate to a potentially violent showdown. Traditional energy sources will be under strong price competition from China, India and other developing countries.
Global warming, considered a joke by the Bush/ Cheney dance team, will begin to take its toll. Violent storms eating further into receding coast lines, hotter weather fueling increased consumption of energy to power air cooling systems, droughts reducing harvests and lowering food supplies and increasing the costs of alternative fuels.
These are serious problems. They can be solved. The solutions reside within the global community. We must grapple the international community into a locked room and force the talent within to secure a cure and administer the resulting medicine to an ailing world.
But this can only be done with the full force of a determined visionary leader of a super power pushing an agenda. Now, the world has only one super power. And that super power has few dynamic, tenacious leaders to do the job.
The countries tenacious leader must have the support and good will of the majority of the world community as well as the support of his/her countrymen.
Thailand and the United States squandered international good will. After the 1997 economic crisis, the international community did all it could to help Thailand. Today Thailand's policies seem to push help away. Thailand wants to be self sufficient.
After the September 11 attack on the United States, the international community cried and reached out a hand to help. The United States slapped the hand and, like a spoiled brat said lay off, we will take care of ourselves.
The United States must first rally its own diverse population. Bridges must be built to all countries. To Europe, to North Asia, to South East Asia, to the Mid East, to Africa, to Latin America, to the Muslim population throughout the world bridges of steel must be constructed.
A leader is a motivator, enabler, influencer, who directs a team, country, etc. to achieve success in a chosen goal. President Ronald Regan, for all his faults and lack of intelligence, was a strong leader. President John Kennedy brought hope and inspiration to his countrymen when they needed uplifting.
The next president of The United States must be a leader. Leaders develop in a garden of crisis. Now, the garden is as fertile as it gets. A leader to blossom need only be one of curiosity, hope and courage.
And Thailand's crisis needs a leader. It is imperative for the leaders of The United States and Thailand to rekindle a hunger to achieve universal goals and rally the citizens to believe in the goodness and fairness of there governments.
A leader cannot facilitate change by following the daily poles. His vision must be clearly articulated and lucidly presented. A benevolent and altruistic leader will lead countries to stability and foster beneficence for mankind.
The alternative for Thailand is political instability, economic stagnation, increased poverty and social turmoil. The alternative for the United States is reduced influence in bettering the world agenda. .This corrosion of influence will cause economic stagnation, reduced standard of living, political instability and, ultimately, a negation of the great democratic experiment.
Sun, 24 Jun 2007 03:29:56 +0000 - I AM LUCKY
I am lucky. Some people call me lucky. But luck does not exist, I am told by many people.
We make our own good luck or bad luck. Many believe that. Others believe that God or the gods or the spirits or the alignment of the stars or some such things determine how our lives play out. I don’t know.
I have had a life. It has been good. I have made mistakes. I have made many mistakes. I have made some really bad mistakes too. And yet life goes on and it gets better it seems. Maybe it seems better because it wasn’t so good in the past. I don’t believe that though.
I am living most of the time with Noo in this pint-sized place in Bangkok. I travel to Pattaya once a month.. I may sell the Pattaya condo. In August I will move to Tong’s home and will not need it. I do not care much for Pattaya..
Are Virgo’s worriers? My mother worried a lot. She was not a Virgo. Uncle Selwyn, not a Virgo, was a hypochondriac. When he lost his money he could not go to doctors and he got over his hypochondria. He developed agoraphobia. Always something spoils the fun.
So, I worry and sickness seems to be my sickness. All of this just to say I got an HIV test yesterday and it was negative. Sure, I spent 6 months worrying. That is me.
I went to Bumrungrad Hospital, one of the best Hospitals in Asia. The doctor was great. Returning for the results and with one foot in the door he yelled out “good”, and a big smile was on his face and I felt like fainting and I said thank-you and shook his hand and walked out of the office and into the waiting room and started to cry.
I told Noo of the test and the negative results. He looked at me. “Good”, he said. “But I would take care of you anyway”. Is that love? Is that foolish? Am I lucky?
Noo and I are reading Joam Didion’s “The Year of Magical Thinking”. His copy is a Thai translation. What a wonderful surprise this book is. Didion gives insight into our own mind as she honestly describes feelings, emotions, and the common place thoughts that enter and rustle around in her own head.
Recently, Noo and I had dinner with another couple. Garry and his Thai partner, Chamy. Chamy is running a small café that Garry helped him establish.
After dinner we sat in the café. Neighborhood dwellers came in. Some had a drink or bought time on the internet. All were offered a sample of Garry’s home-made ice cream with fresh strawberries. Some sat. We chatted about life and politics and Thai society. Some conversation was in English. Some conversation was in Thai. Others friends entered. Some stayed a few minutes. Some left quickly.
The little café is a living room placed on a sidewalk in a busy Bangkok neighborhood with a plethora of appealing people coming and going. What fun this is.
I do not believe I have changed; evolved a little perhaps. I find my mind and creativity working well. I walk and I see much. Everything I come into contact with I absorb.
My head is not filled with the worry of business and personalities of nefarious useless people.
Yesterday, walking through Siam Paragon, our elegant mall of Gucci, Balenciga, Cartier, and car dealers with little things called Lamborghini, Ferrari and Aston Martin, I window shopped in the plural and saw a shirt that would look cute on Noo.
I watched the school children eat ice cream and look at English literature by Hemingway and sit on the floor reading the comics. I watched grandmothers holding the children and fathers playing with the boys and mothers looking worried and babies falling down and questioning if they should cry or run some more.
I wake the fat sleeping dog to feed it a treat from my always stocked pocket of dog goodies.
I go to Lumpini Park, our tiny ragged version of New York’s Central Park, and walk in solitude amongst old trees and swaying palms. Water dances to the rhythm of music in a big pond with small swan boats (thank you Boston Garden). A few people stretch there muscles on the exercise equipment and some play badminton or swim in the pools.
I come out on Rajarmacdari Road and walk to the Four Seasons Hotel. The cream colored lobby of columns and vibrant murals, palms and hushed relaxation sooths my skin and itchy eyes. A trio plays Mozart. I settle in for a cold drink. A large glass made of delicate crystal is filled with ice cubes of frozen tea. Cheese cloth wrapped lemon and sugared water and a pitcher of chilled tea is set down on a silver tray. The world is good.
Noo spent last night at his house outside Bangkok. He had some shopping and laundry to do. He had my laundry to wash and iron. He called at lunch time. He missed me. He called in the evening. He was shopping at Tesco-Lotus. He was alone. Something seemed wrong. Something was wrong. I was not by his side.
I went for dinner. Alone. I watched a movie. I read in bed as usual. But I was alone. I had no one to kiss good night. I had no one to ruin my sleep. I shut the light. I said, “good-night dear” to a pillow with a pooh bear resting on its cover.
Some mornings I have clarity. I realize I do not know what I am doing. I do not need clarity. My life has been a work of fiction and so it should remain.
Sun, 24 Jun 2007 03:28:53 +0000 - An Island Trip
Dawn squeezed the remaining drops from the black clouds that smothered Phukett.
As we sped to the docks, the driver pointed to the left. Beyond the hills was Phi Phi Island. It will be sunny this day on the island he said.
Gliding out of the harbor, the boat swayed with the gentleness of a babies rocker. The captain accelerated the speed. Swells raised and lowered the boat with arbitrary force. The sun pushed away the clouds. Rainbows formed and fell off the spray. I looked to the boats fore. Two lumps showed in the far distance.
I pushed the bill of my hat down on my face. I closed my eyes. A few minutes later the boat shook. We slowed to 15 knots. I stretched my legs. I stiffened my back. I pushed the hat back on my head. My eyes blinked. I looked ahead.
Rising from the bowels of the ocean were two massive screams of anguish. It seemed that God's angry fist pushed from the earths core to explode on the calm ocean surface. And Mother Nature calmed the anger with soothing greenery covering the roughness and sharpness of malice.
Around the islands a cornucopia of fish swam. Crumbs of bread brought them to the surface. Purple Parrot fish and green fish and red fish and fish the color of roses, and fish that looked like a rainbow on a sunny day. And my heart beat fast at the sight of such beauty that no imagination could conjure.
We swam. We snorkeled. We lied on stripped chairs under a red and blue umbrella on the white beach and drank the cold juice of a freshly opened coconut.
Back on board boat, we headed home. We went fast. The strong wind blew our hair, reddened our faces and silenced our world. Spray flew over the boat. Our tongues tasted salt. I was calm. My mind drifted. I seemed to float. The sky and ocean and spray became one. My thoughts blurred. I dreamed. But I saw nothing. I heard nothing. I felt nothing. I heard a voice. I returned to consciousness. Noo was by my side. I was alive.
But black clouds formed. We sped toward the storm as the storm pushed to meet us. Rain drops fell. Propelled by the speed, the rain felt like sleet from a Boston winter. We curled up on the floor. The storm passed over our head. We stayed dry. The storm passed and we passed the storm. We entered the harbor. Gliding on glass like water we docked the boat.
It was a day that nature and her parents showed its radiance.
Sun, 24 Jun 2007 03:27:02 +0000 - BIGOTS VS. IMUS
The bigots are winning.
The Don Imus firing will start a dialogue about race relations in the United States some have suggested. And what exactly does that portend. Did we have a dialogue after the O.J. Simpson verdict? Did we have a dialogue about Furman during the O.J. trial? Did we have a dialogue during the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearing? Did we have a dialogue after the Los Angeles Police arrested Rodney King? Did these dialogues change opinion, perception, attitudes, understanding?
Is Don Imus a bigot? I do not know. I listened to Imus in the 1970’s. I listened to him on WNBC when he bookend the morning drive time slot with Howard Stern’s evening drive time.
Howard Stern is a fabricated cardboard cut out. His aim is to shock. But, his gratuitous slick gutter humor irritates and bores.
Imus offends. He annoys. But the sense is of a genuine person. He has knowledge of and appreciates the segments of society that we do not want to visit. He knows the words, the slang, yes, and the bigotry that is on the streets. And he brings this unvarnished world into our homes
What Imus said about the intelligent woman of the Rutgers woman’s basketball team was crude, offensive, and hurtful; hurtful not just to the woman, not just to the black community but to all people of all races. And, as James Baldwin has illuminated, it was degrading to Imus.
And so people panic. Advertisers will not venture into controversial territory. They may offend a customer. And Leslie Moonves, CBS President and Chief Executive Officer had a “discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young woman of color trying to make their way in this society.” He determined, after a few days of advertiser desertion, that it was best to fire Imus.
And the religious folks like all Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson? I was taught about forgiveness when I was a child (during the Punic wars). But these men would not forgive. They would not accept the emotional apology of Imus.
Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson men have my respect for the work they have done over the years. But both men have had slips with racial bigotry: Jackson, during the 1984 presidential campaign referring to New York City as “Hymietown”. Sharpton handled the 1987 Tawana Brawley rape allegations a racially charged behavior and was sued for slander. (He and two attorneys paid $345,000 in damages).
Are these men bigots? I do not know. They made mistakes. Life goes on.
But why do I say the bigots are winning? Because Imus made a mistake and was silenced.
Had his show continued a true dialogue would have been cultivated. Imus would have accounted for his words. Does he understand where that verbal bigotry came from? Perhaps he does not. With reflection and conversation, insight would have a prospect of attainment.
The listeners would be a force. Some will agree he is a bigot. Some will say not. Listeners would stay or they would go but they would decide the fate of Imus. They would have their say.
Bigotry is a reality. It is a major negative force in our “flat world”. We must open discussions and show the origins of bigotry.
It is through fear and ignorance that we are taught to hate. We must eliminate the fear and teach understanding and tolerance. We must not block the bigot. Let him talk and expose his bogus blathering.
Never will we eradicate bigotry. But we must allow people to talk. We must allow people to listen. No matter how hateful the language, words will not kill. And perhaps one person will recognize the sham of the bigot.
Sun, 24 Jun 2007 03:25:16 +0000 - LOVE
I don’t know. I flunked romance 101 in school. So I don’t know. I really don’t know. What am I suppose to know? What am I suppose to say? How am I supposed to act? What is it that I should feel? What is it that I should look for? What is this sign that you are suppose to see when you are in love? When will I know if I am in love or if he loves me?
How do I know what the difference in feeling is between love and hate? I smile. Is that love? I get annoyed. Is that love? I kiss. Is that love. I fuck. Is that love? I miss him. Is that love? I regret meeting him. Is that love? We hold hands. Is that love? We talk. Is that love? We sit in silence. Is that love?
I walked out of the hotel. The sun burnt my nose. Fumes filled my lungs. Hot frying chilies scratched my eyes. Cars and trucks and tuk-tuks, drilling and banging and yelling pulsated in my ears. The odor of cooking garlic and ginger and basil and garbage and raw sewage whiffed passed my nostrils.
I crossed the street and zigged and zagged between the traffic. I entered a Seven/Eleven and was bitten by the cold air. I bought a Coke Lite, smiled and returned to the street’s stupor.
But questions. Questions. Just questions. These questions seep into my head. Answers. Just answers. Where are the answers? Who has the answers? How do I find the answers?
I talk to friends. False friends they are. They say they are experts. They are experts at self deception. That’s what they are expert at being. They lie to themselves. But they know fancy words and fancy slogans and such. And they will go into my head and explain it all to me. Why I do not want love or can not accept love or give love and stuff like that. They get to ones dignity in time, these friends do. And you start to feel real lousy about yourself too. They are pompous horse’s asses. Yes, that’s what they are.
And so I walk and the sweat rolls down my forehead and drips from my nose and soaks my polo shirt and my feet hurt and I am tired. But I am not tired. It is morning and he has gone to work and the day is just beginning and I have showered and shaved and eaten a good breakfast and I have much to do and I am looking forward to it all.
And the questions remain. And I just do not know what the answers are. Or maybe I really do not know what the questions are. Maybe there are no questions. Maybe, if there are no questions, I do not need answers.
It is hot and the sun burns my nose and I feel pain and I know I am living.
Sun, 24 Jun 2007 03:24:51 +0000 - JUST A JOB
Day and night the prettiest woman ply there trade. They shine the shoes that walk the streets of gloom with the soulless eyes of the dead. They trudge through the gutter oblivious of the obnoxious stinking of urine and onion and rat carcasses. They search for the home of the stars of a thousands nights of hope and prey for redemption from the devil in us all.
Oh, it is a story of loves and loses and we know that story well. We know that story well for we live it daily; weekly for those Viagra challenged punters incapable of passionate thoughts to push the penis past the elastic band of the super low cut Jockey’s. We know that story as a bed time story and each night it is told again and each night it is lived with the wonder of a child.
But I apologize. I wish not to digress into a moral stupor of complicated metaphors and similes’ that can only conjure up the image of an emaciated mash of grey cells congealing into the image of the Virgin Mary as Caravaggio, after a night of ragging hormones directed at many intents, would paint in his sunny studio.
Let me be clear and concise in the use and molding of my words. Let me avoid the shock schlock of the clever pun in a feeble attempt to punctuate a final bit of pontification on a subject of little worth, and, with certainty, one that has been exploited by others with greater intellectual capacity, whittled into wit by Wilde or Waugh, given the brevity of Pinter the eloquence of Shakespeare or Keats and the meaning of an oracle.
Yes, these fresh ladies, glowing with painted faces of rouge and mascara and lipstick of shocking pink, available, adorable, above suspicion, and so defenseless against Adam Smiths capitalism - exploited by Karl Marx to encourage the overthrow of organized religion in a world of disorganized thought - that has been brought to its knees by the Dior clad devil as exemplified by the cookoo left wing pinko Hollywood mogul sitting on a thrown of thorns in a celluloid temple designed by the most imperial wizard, his majesty Satan, are the subject of our essay.
Yes, these innocents abroad or, perhaps, of this nation, exploited and cast aside like cum filled tissues or used condoms, reeking of cut-rate perfume and passionless sex sticking to the unwashed body, need protection and the advocacy of an army of purified servants. Servants ordained in the philosophy of a well lived life provided by our Father and with the blessing of beauty bequeathed by our Mother to enable us to understand, embrace and, consequently, exult in the joy that is bestowed upon us all.
This is the right of these children. These children of a lesser god that the society has deemed unworthy and yet you, my dear reader, you place upon the altar to worship and embrace. Yes, grapple them unto your soul with hoops of steel and hold tight the virgin of your youth. Once the virgin lost, society’s intolerance will damn. But with honesty and humility you will be as grateful as the Virgin and give freely to those that wait for your indulgence.
Sun, 24 Jun 2007 03:22:35 +0000 - NEW YEARS EVE
| modify entry | move entry | remove entry | post follow up 
A new couple in naïve love, we approached the hotel with giddy anticipation of a festive evening together. This was our first New Years celebrationSecurity guards, metal detectors and somber faced men with small plugs in there ears greeted us. We removed our cell phones and pocket change and were scanned into the lobby.
At 2300, full of food and affection, we opted to return to our hotel rather then the crowds and fireworks at Central Plaza. The sidewalk was empty. The Rajadamri BTS entrance was eerily silent. Metal gates were pulled over much of the platform. A small opening was patrolled by security guards. We were told that bombs recently exploded, celebrations were canceled and the BTS would stop running at midnight.
Under a spigot pelting us with hot water and warm mist, we embraced at the stroke of midnight and welcomed the New Year.
A few minutes later, two more bombs exploded.
And so began 2007.
Sun, 24 Jun 2007 03:20:36 +0000 - THE THAI ELEPHANT
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Sun, 24 Jun 2007 02:42:34 +0000
