"The Rounds" February 20, 2004

Mekhong Kurt in Hill
Tribe Headdress New Year's
Eve, 2003 at the Texas Lone Staar

No, I wasn't drunk nor on mind-altering medications. No, we weren't having a costume party. And no, no one had bribed me, pointed a gun at me, taken a hostage threatening to kill her if I didn't don the thing. And I hope I wasn't crazy.

My good friend Aiden bought the hat some time ago and occasionally wears it around the Square simply because people find it amusing. (By the way, Aiden is one really nice guy whom practically everyone likes.) This past New Year's Eve there were quite a few people in the Texas Lone Staar in the afternoon for George Pipas's annual -- not to mention free --New Year's feast. I was taking a bunch of photos, and was making jokes about Aiden's "hat." Some other Squaronian dared me to don it and let someone take my photograph -- then to put the result here on the web site.

Hey, the last time I had on any sort of costume was for Halloween of 1963, when I was 12 years old -- just over 40 years before, so I reckon to have gotten into the spirit of things 40 New Year's Eves later can't be all that bad!

You can be sure a good, guffawing laugh was had by all, laughs accompanied by well-deserved catcalls!

Once I got done with all the stuff attendant to going to my friend's cremation, it was time to remember that the day was not only Valentine's Day but also the birthday of Khun Meow, the lovely owner of Cat's Meow Bar in Washington Square.

On the Valentine's Day side of things, I enjoyed myself. For one thing, a young friend, Khun Tukka, returned to Bangkok from a short visit to her family upcountry. That may not sound so important, and on one level you're right. But I had fretted because no one knew where she was nor why she hadn't returned to work Friday, as scheduled. Calls to her hand phone got only her call-back service. As I had spoken to her on Wednesday and she had said she was looking forward to returning to Bangkok by Friday morning, although she was enjoying her trip home, her first in about a year.

When I tried to call her Thursday, her phone was out, as it was the 2 or 3 times I tried Friday. Me being me -- something of a Mother Hen -- I fussed and fretted, commenting darkly on various possibilities, primarily that her bus had crashed (something that happens with alarming regularity here in Thailand). Friends to whom I commented pooh-poohed the thought.

Then about mid-morning Saturday, I got an SMS Happy Valentine's Day message from her, which of course relieved my worries. When I sent her a message back, I included "WHERE ARE YOU???" My telephone rang almost immediately, and it was her; she was in her room in Washington Square.

Seems 2 factors had kicked in. The first and more serious was that on Thursday she had driven a motorcycle to run an errand and had an accident -- at low speed, thankfully, so she's merely bruised, sore, and otherwise stiff. But okay, overall. The second was that she had gone away without remembering to take her hand phone recharger with her, and there wasn't one at her family home, so her battery ran down.

Moving on from her vanishing act, later in the day I had several other nice SMS messages and phone calls wishing me a Happy Valentine's Day. One of the SMS messages was from a young lady whom I really don't know all that well, although I do know her sister and her boss -- my "daughter," Aom -- quite well. I mention it because the SMS from Khun Mon was as nice a Valentine's message as I can recall ever receiving. And it came, coincidentally, just shortly after my return from my friend's cremation, at a moment when my heart was somewhat heavy.

A bit later I went into the Silver Dollar, where a good friend was sitting about the ask the cashier to play a VCD of a Robbie Williams' concert in London in 2001. The cashier put it on, a tribute to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis, Jr. And was it ever excellent -- and moving. Williams is an outstanding singer and performer in his own right. At times his tribute was particularly moving, especially in the brilliantly performed "It Was a Very Good Year." That performance involved Williams opening the song the first verse or two, then a perfect blend into a video of Sinatra singing another verse or two -- the the camera trained on a pensive Williams with a floating video image of Sinatra over Williams' shoulder with both of them singing. At the end of the VCD, another friend who also had been at the cremation commented how very nice an interlude the performance had provided, and I agreed.

In a good mood at last, I enjoyed an evening of wandering around wishing various friends a Happy Valentine. I made it a special point to go see Khun Mon -- authoress of the especially sweet Valentine SMS -- to thank her face to face for the message.

One highlight of the evening was Khun Meow's combined Valentine's Day/Meow's Birthday celebration at her bar. Those of you who follow this column regularly and have been doing so since at least last summer may recall Meow from when I wrote about her as a friend lay dying. Other friends had organized a fund-raising drive for the dying man and his children, and had just started collecting money, at that point having raised about 10,000 baht. And when we mentioned the drive (but not the amount) to Meow, she put in 10,000 baht, thereby doubling the fund on the spot, something I praised highly in an article at the time. She is a wonderfully sweet woman. Her party was well-attended, and I enjoyed myself, though I couldn't stay very long as I still had port calls to make around the area "Valentine-ing."

I have to be honest. Normally, I find Valentine's Day way too commercialized, even more so than Christmas, but this year, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, due in large measure, no doubt, to the sharp contrast between the happy nature of the holiday and the darkness of having to attend a funeral rite. Naturally, the resurfacing of the briefly-vanished lady and the especially nice Valentine's greetings I was fortunate to receive played their own parts in highlighting that contrast.

I hope all of you who had occasion to celebrate the day in whatever form enjoyed yourselves as much I enjoyed myself!

That said, the ceremony went very nicely. The weather cooperated wonderfully well, bringing brilliant blue skies and not-too-hot temperatures. I did a head count, and at that moment there were 80 people present, a mix of Thais and foreigners, so the community Dick knew and loved was well-represented.

The V.F.W. (Veterans of Foreign Wars, the U.S. veterans' group for men and women who have served in war zones) was especially well-represented on the foreign side of the assemblage, with members from all 4 posts here in Thailand (Bangkok, Korat, Udorn Thani, and Pattaya). The veterans conducted a military ceremony to honor Dick, several standing abreast in front of his flag-draped casket, each performing some function and making a short speech. That part of their observance concluded with them folding the flag as prescribed by military regulation, then Dick's active-duty son (U.S. Air Force, stationed in Hawaii now), Richard, presenting the flag to his Mother, as is customary. The final scene was a moving one: a recording of "Taps" was played, with members of the crowd standing at attention, with some of us presenting military salutes. It was quite moving.

This coming Saturday (February 21, 2004) there will be an informal celebratory memorial in Dick's honor at the Texas Lone Staar Saloon in Washington Square starting promptly at 2:00 P.M. Anyone who knew Dick and is interested in coming to celebrate the long and happy life of this wonderful man is welcome. It will be a time of sweet memories, as various Old Thai hands sit around asking one another, "Do you remember when Dick . . . ?" [I recall the one we had in the same venue for "Sailor" John Cassiba early in 2003, and how nice -- even fun -- that was.]

So, a friend has gone. But as I reported in a story above, it went as well as such an event can go. Most importantly, his final illness was blessédly brief, just a few weeks.

Dick was of the social stature his family decided to keep him in the wat for 100 days before the actual cremation (last Saturday being a ceremonial event), in keeping with the Buddhist tradition here in Thailand.

Rather unusually, it had been several weeks since I last visited the soi when I decided to make a brief foray into it Sunday night, other than to go there quickly the night of Valentine's Day to 2 bars to give Valentine's greetings to a couple of people.

There are 2 new bars in the soi now, The Brick and Lookie Lookie, as well as a new massage parlor.

The Brick is aptly named, as it is built of traditional red brick -- lots and lots of bricks. As is true of some of the soi's other bars, the front part of The Brick has a 2-storey ceiling, then there are downstairs and upstairs areas beyond that. Although I normally find brick walls (and just about everything else, except the floor) in any commercial structure reminiscent of a late 19th-century or early 20th-century industrial building, such as a factory -- i.e., not so attractive. But for reasons I haven't pinned down, my reaction to the impression of The Brick's decor is quite positive.

The Brick has been open just since the 8th, as I understand it from Khun Som, the Mama-san. For at least the rest of this month Happy Hour runs from opening to closing (5:00 P.M. to 2:00 A.M.). Beers are 80 baht, while spirits run 90 baht, both prices typical of Soi 33.

The Brick is located in the sub-soi running east from Soi 33 right beside Wall Street Bar, and is located partway down the right side of the sub-soi. I stayed a little while, just watching and listening until just before I left, when I asked Khun Som for information.

Lookie Lookie Bar is located in the next sub-soi away from Sukhumvit Road, a sub-soi also running east from Soi 33. The premises used to house another bar, the name of which utterly escapes me, though it has been somewhat remodeled. The decor there is completely different from The Brick's, offering a more sophisticated, modern look. There are bar tables down the right side, and a largish square U-shaped bar to the left, with a pool table, cashier's booth, and restrooms beyond the tables and bar. The atmosphere of elegance was relaxing.

Though in each bar a girl came and sat beside be, when I didn't react to their presence they departed shortly after arriving -- a relief from the all-too-common "Buy me drink?" (Said interrogatory invariably followed by "Where you from?" then "You marry already?" and -- if you say you are or were married -- "How many baby you have?" Then it's time for the girl to cut to the chase: "I like you too MUCH, Handsome Man!" What all that tripe really means is something like this: "You could have 16 legs, 3 heads, be sexless, made Godzilla look like a beauty queen, be from the Andromeda Galaxy, and it wouldn't matter -- so long as you bought me at least one drink." As for your marital status, they couldn't care one iota less; so what if you're married and your wife will leave you if she ever discovers you so much as bought a bar girl a drink, never mind any pay-for-play festivities. And if you admit to having children, at least minor ones, the gal is thinking "Uh-oh; if I manage to get this guy to marry me and take me to his home country, yeah, I'll almost certainly be riding high -- but I'm not eager to take care of some other gal's kids." So, you drop in the girl's eyes on the "attractive prey" scale.) That little sociology-psychology lesson done, I will say the bar struck me as nice.

I expect I'll be paying occasional port calls to both The Brick and Lookie Lookie in future.

I haven't been in a massage parlor for quite a few years, and Kongsil Massage, located in the same sub-soi as Lookie Lookie, didn't break the streak. I assume it to specialize in foot massage, as the sign had a picture of the soles of feet with the different pressure areas colored in different colors, a sign typical of those found outside foot massage places. I've never had a foot massage anywhere, but people I know who have been -- and in many cases who go regularly -- to foot massage parlors swear they provide the most refreshing, relaxing massages anywhere.

I wasn't able to pick this computer up from the repair shop I wrote about last week until Tuesday. I used it just about exactly 2 hours to do e-mail, etc., then exactly the same problem re-surfaced. I took it back to the shop Wednesday, and picked it up late Friday afternoon. It seems to to working fine now, which speaks well for the shop.

There's another point: when I asked the owner how much I owed for the second go at repairing my computer, he said, "Nothing. I give a warranty on all my work." That's somewhat unusual here in a small shop like his.

Because I am satisfied with the repair and even more satisfied with his integrity, I heartily endorse him -- without reservation:

There are alarming reports in Saturday's papers that the bird flu has crossed over from birds to cats.

If these reports turn out to be accurate, it will indeed be a worrying situation. Many people, including me, have long wondered how in the world governments can stop the infection from being brought into countries when migratory birds have been considered the source. If avian flu has mutated so that it can infect cats, presumably other felines can get it, compounding the problem of spreading, since some felines are also migratory.

For the infection to be transmittable (after mutating? -- I simply don't know) from species to species has sobering, even frightening, implications for humans. We already know the infection can be caught by humans, as demonstrated by around 20 deaths from it in Thailand and Vietnam in recent weeks. One fear is that the germ is mutating so it may become more easily transmittable among humans, leading to a true public health crisis.

The W.H.O. (World Health Organization) has again . . . well, "blasted" is the word that comes to mind, has blasted east Asian countries for being what it sees as too eager to declare victory in the war on avian flu, an eagerness linked to business concerns. To be fair to the various concerned governments, one of their duties is indeed to consider and to try to minimize the impact of the epidemic among poultry. Thailand is especially concerned about this, which is quite logical, given that this country is the 4th-largest poultry exporter in the entire world.

I feel the W.H.O.criticims are a bit overly harsh, even while I agree with the fundamental point of those criticisms. If governments are to maintain in credibility in their public announcements regarding the avian flu situation, they have to be seen as being candid. It certainly was a mistake for the Thai government to announce victory so soon, as the situation has proven.

Which brings up a point I've noticed for decades, a point common among many governments around the world, but perhaps most visibly among governments in this part of the world. I can only assume there is a sincere belief in the idea that to say something is so is to make it so. This inclination to try to identify reality with words instead of the reality itself is especially common in government announcements from Beijing, where the "logic" of George Orwell's 1984 holds merry sway. But the inclination is hardly limited to the Old Men in Zhong Nan Hai [the top Chinese leadership's residential compoudnd adjacent to the Forbidden City in the heart of the capital]. But it is hardly unique that China's government. And no, this is not an indirect swipe at P.M. Thaksin, as he is hardly alone in sometimes making such meant-to-be- reality-defining pronouncements; many a national leader before him has shown exactly the same propensity. In recent years, it could be argued that General Chavalit was especially disposed towards such utterings during his time at the helm.

No matter how much all of us wish the problem weren't here, it demonstrably is, and therefore must be met head-on. Not only is this crisis having a devastating effect on the Kingdom's poultry industry -- especially on the export side, of course -- but it has looming implications for the already hard-hit tourist industry. But the public health cannot be ignored, either.

One factor hampering authorities in their battle is the perception in some quarters that relevant health officials flat-out covered up the existence of the flu for many weeks before being forced to admit it is here. I've seen no evidence to support such an allegation, to be fair, only the allegations themselves -- but given that they come from people with vested, though legitimate, interests in the situation (i.e., people in the poultry industry), one can hardly blame them for wanting officials to be staightforward and forthcoming about what public health authorities know and are doing to address the crisis.

At this point, I continue to take the position that tourists do NOT need to be concerned. I do recommend avoiding poultry products, though as far as I know, the W.H.O has not changed its advice that people can eat poultry products, including eggs, as long as they have been thoroughly cooked. (See the W.H.O. bulletin from January 26, 2004 for more information. For the organizations latest information regarding implications for humans of the detection of the virus is domestic cats, see its bulletin for February 20, 2004.) Maybe heat does destroy the virus, but with the widely varied, and delicious, cuisine available here, I suppose it's safest of all simply to avoid poultry and eggs -- though I dearly love both the meat and eggs.

Like the W.H.O., I do strongly urge avoiding live markets (they're extremely common across Asia, as they are in most countries) and poultry operations. Bird droppings, including those from chickens, are reportedly known to be a major source of the virus.

Beyond that, it's important we keep the crises in perspective. While the reported deaths are sad, their number is so low as to be statistically insignificant. Not socially insignificant deaths, of course, nor can health authorities ignore them, statistically insignificant or not.

Khun Veera Prateepchaikul Removed
and Re-assigned to New Position at the
Bangkok Post, Sparking Protest from Staff
Reporters and Drawing Sharp Criticism from Others

The Nation claims Khun Veera's removal is the direct result of onterfgerence from the Thaksin government, though it offers no evidence to support that contention other than to refer to some previous stories the Bangkok Post ran critical of Thai Rak Thai party members in government and of the government generally.

The story "Reporters decry removal editor's removal" concludes by quoting Thai Rak Thai spokeman Suranan Vejjajiva as saying "It's their internal affair, so how could the government or our party have had influence on such organisational things?"

The move has raised a huge outcry from various quarters, including the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT). Undoubtedly the foreign media won't be far behind in checking into the story.

There have been a number of occasions in recent years when it has been questioned by domestic and foreign observers just how much freedom the Thai media enjoy.

I frankly am surprised at Khun Veera's removal, as I have felt for quite some time that the Bangkok Post has taken a reasonably neutral attitude towards the Thaksin government overall, sometimes even favoring it -- though it has, once in awhile, questioned or criticized particular government and Thai Rak Thai party activities.

As with so many things here in Thailand, it will be quite interesting to see how this plays out. . . .

The Prince of Wales bar, popularly now as "the P.O.W.," will be 20 years old Friday, February 27, 2004. Knowing Pia, the owner, despite her telling me the party would begin in the early evening, I'm betting it'll kick off early.

The bar has not been very popular in recent years, as evidenced by Pia's giving up the adjoining shop house, which used to be her pool room and later her open-front Thai restaurant. For reasons I don't know, the bar has also suffered from a lack of staff, with what people do come to work often moving right on in short order.

Nonetheless, I occasionally go there because it's a relaxing bar, and the waitresses are friendly -- but not, importantly, pushy. There's little, if any, of this nonsense so irritating and pervasive in most Soi Cowboy, Nana Plaza, and Patpong bars of "Buy me drink?" the second your posterior hits the bar stool.

The bar is located on the south (back) side of the Square, towards the Soi 22 exit from Bourbon Street Restaurant and on the same side as it is. Plan to arrive around 6:00-7:00 P.M. (or later).

The hugely popular The Office Bar & Grill (just off Sukhumvit Soi 33 down the sub-soi running east besides the Degas Bar) now opens at 4:00 P.M., and closes at 2:00 A.M. On Saturdays there is freed draft beer 6:00-8:00 P.M., and a free live show featuring a singer and 4 dancers from 9:00 P.M. that lasts about half an hour.

I've not had the opportunity to see the show yet, but reports indicate it is excellent.

The Office has established itself as one of the top bars in the area -- and by "area" I mean not just Soi 33 itself, but also along the Green Route from the top of Soi 33 to Soi Asoke, Soi Cowboy-Soi 23-Asoke Corner-Asoke Plaza, Sukhumvit Soi 22, Washington Square, and Queen's Park Plaza. I've been so busy lately that it's been awhile since I've had time to visit The Office -- something I plan to rectify soon (as in "tonight"!). Do drop by. The Saturday free-beer slot is a great time to check it out if you're unfamiliar with the bar. I wager you'll like it. (If not, I know a good psychologist!)

March 1st is rushing towards us fast, and the controversy over the new hours remains -- just as the hours themselves remain murky, with some sources saying bars will be allowed to open for a ruinous 3 hours a day, i.e., 9:00 P.M.-Midnight, not the more widely reported 6:00 P.M.-Midnight. Even the latter will undoubtedly prove fatal for many bars, especially those whose prime business is during the daytime. A group of bar owners in Phuket have said that city-wide bars will lose about 40% of their daily revenue they get during the Midnight-2:00 A.M. window, an amount sure to be fatal to many bars from the closing end of things.

I continue to be clueless as far as the rationale behind the move. At least I've got a lot of good company; the ranks of "The Clueless Club" continue to swell daily.

Though the government has apparently backed off the proposal to impose a [ridiculous] 10 P.M. curfew on people under 18 years old, it still makes little sense to penalize bar operators for problems with the nation's youth, except in those instances when the owners know the patron is underage and when the owners know about, say, the sale of illegal drugs on their premises. (In those instances, they should be shown the door to prison in short order -- for a lengthy stay as a guest of the government.) And in any case, if underage people are managing to get into bars now, how will cutting opening hours help? Kids in school likely aren't getting around to sneaking into bars until late afternoon or early evening already -- and bars will be open, or opening soon. Ditto access to illegal drugs. Besides, in the context of underage kids, anyone thinking they'll go home promptly at midnight is himself clueless to how young people think: they'll just pack up and go to someone's apartment, if they're so inclined.

I've seen a letter to the editor in one of the local papers from a foreign tour operator who said he would be re-routing all his company's tours entirely away from Thailand if the new law actually goes into effect. No doubt many others will follow suit. The implied economic impact is enormous. This one operator claims only to have brought 2,000 tourists to Thailand for an average stay of 7 days -- a relatively piddling number. Even so, he says the loss to the Kingdom from his omitting Thailand from his destination list will be around 18,000,000 baht annually. That's not a huge sum, true -- but as the writer points out, "multiply this by a further 1,000 tour operators and this will undoubtedly lead to a total economic disaster for Thailand and its people." And I suspect his figures are way low. After all, his own numbers indicate he's sending only a few over 150 people per year here, and there almost certainly other operators who send -- for now -- far more than that. And if his 18,000,000 baht figure is correct, the tourists he has sent must be the relatively well-heeled ones the government has said it wants, since each of those 2,000 has spent, on average, nearly 117,000 baht -- in just 7 days. And 16,700 baht a day pouring into the local economy from just 1 tourist must be music to government economists' ears.

Still using that operators numbers, if 1,000 other operators follow suit, then that means the daily loss in tourist numbers would be about 150,000. But let's also say the average spending is half what that operator's clients spend. We're still talking about a loss to the nation of over 8,000,000 baht per day -- a huge number. On an yearly basis the number mushrooms to 3,047,750,000 baht, or US$78,000,000, hardly chump change.

And as I said, I suspect the loss will in fact be MUCH higher than that. While I'm no economist, I would have little difficulty believing a qualified person's contention the loss could amount to several-fold -- even many-fold -- more than that.

That there are tourists not interested in night life is beyond reasonable dispute. But even some of those like to have a drink with, say, their lunch or at tea time in late afternoon.

Heck, even the despised-by-the-Tourism-Authority-of-Thailand Khao San Road crowd spend at least some money.

Then there's the moral element regarding adult freedoms. I doubt there are too many adults who like someone telling them what they can and cannot do, nor when they can do it, at least not to such a degree as planned. Law is necessary for civil society, sure. But look at even the region's most famous Nanny State, Singapore; the Singaporean government took the decision not long ago to allow people to rock around the clock, if they so desire. And that Equatorial Paradise hardly seems to be suffering for it. It will be one of the regional beneficiaries if Thailand really does impose the new restrictive hours (along with just about every other east/southeast Asian destination).

Street intelligence has it that bar owners from Soi Thonglor (Sukhumvit Soi 63), Soi Thonglor (Sukhumvit Soi 55) Sukhumvit Soi 33, Washington Square-Soi 22, Soi Cowboy-et al, Nana Plaza, and Soi Zero have met together, or at least representatives from those areas have, and that in the instances of some of those venues, all the bar owners have met together. I heard there was to be a joint meeting last night of representatives from all those areas, with the organizers hoping all bar owners would attend, a meeting reportedly scheduled to be covered by the news media.

I have little faith even a nation-wide united front will be successful in stopping the new law from going into effect come March 1st. I guess for owners to make a polite request for cancellation of the law might give them the moral high ground if they take stronger legal measures later such as filing lawsuits, if the government is upset by any contemplated stronger moves (about which I've heard nothing regarding Bangkok).

I have heard -- but I stress from only one source, and that story was second-hand -- that taxi drivers in the capital have discussed blocking Don Muang Airport [Bangkok International Airport] at some unspecified date should the law be put into effect. Not being a lawyer, I can't be sure such a move is illegal, but my guess is that it is.

Sunday, February 15th marked the end of a 4-day fashion extravaganza in Bangkok, with the grand finalé being a parade from National Stadium to The Emporium. Prime Minister Thaksin said the people lining the parade route were exactly the kind of tourists the Kingdom needs and wants, what the Tourism Authority of Thailand has called "quality tourists." It is ironic that the parade passed, in part, through Sukhumvit Road -- the artery along which Soi Thonglor (Sukhumvit Soi 63). Soi Thonglor (Sukhumvit Soi 55), Soi 33, Washington Square-Soi 22, Soi Cowboy-et al, Nana Plaza, and Soi Zero all are situated, none of which is slated to be an entertainment zone.

It appears the intent is to contain foreign tourists in Patpong Road, given that the other 2 scheduled zones, Ratchadapisek Road and Royal City Avenue, are both almost entirely Thai-populated areas. I've been to both in times past, and have talked with people who have been to both recently, and my experience and theirs is that foreigners are a tiny, tiny component in the customer base in those 2 general entertainment venues.

A friend told me he both has seen media reports and heard street intelligence that the government is considering naming Sukhumvit Road a "V.I.P. Zone" from Soi Zero to Soi Ekamai (Sukhumvit Soi 63). While that would be a welcome concession, no doubt, the underlying principle remains the same.

Laws already exist that can be used to address the problems the government rightly wishes to solve. Zoning springs to mind, if in an entirely different way from that which has fired the enthusiasm of various members of government. There are the other obvious laws, such as to have the police make ID checks of patrons who appear underage, and to employ undercover police officers to search out illegal drugs. (In the latter instance, it would be nice to see the drug lords busted, not just their runners and other underlings.) Ditto prostitution, though I suspect this government will discover it cannot possibly eliminate The World's Oldest Profession; I was once told by a German who was a young adult in Nazi Germany that even the Gestapo never succeeded in ending the trade, draconian as its powers were. And no one is accusing anyone of Gestapo tactics.

In the longer term, my guess is the government will have to make some sort of compromise. Leaving the morality of what I'm about to say, what will happen to Thai Rak Thai's main political support -- upcountry folks -- when their "working daughters" return home penniless and unemployed and say to Ma and Pa, "Sorry I can't send you 10,000 baht a month anymore, but with the bars open so few hours, I lost my job." I imagine the support will evaporate. And Thai Rak Thai, like political parties around the world, would like to stay in power, understandably, as long as possible. Lose its base -- and lose the next general election.

American novelist Dean Barrett has written a wonderful parody of Edgar Allen Poe's famous poem "The Raven" as a letter to the editor about this issue. Dean has graciously allowed me to use his parody, which appears below:

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