Shocking truth - one in three lawmakers indifferent to corruption: NACC

This is hardly all that surprising: a country that has had 37 coups since it monarch lost his power in the 30s. No real surprise to find that most Thais and now lawmakers too don't care all that much about corruption and just consider quite plaintively that it's simply a fact of life. Shocking though these views are, the fact is that Thailand is one monumental behemoth when it comes to getting the money collected in taxes into capital projects that will help everyone.

"In a recent survey commissioned by the Public Sector Anti Corruption Commission, almost one in three [Thai] lawmakers said they viewed corruption as normal and an intrinsic factor in life."

And just as disturbing,

"Almost nine in ten people rated corruption as serious to most serious problem in society. And about six in ten businessmen said they had had first-hand experience about bribery."



So why isn't anything ever done about it? This is on the back of an ABAC poll about a year ago which resulted in most Thais stating they didn't mind corruption (considering it a fact of life) so long as the corrupt politicians did something for the country as well!

There's something to be said for that old line, "The people get the leaders they deserve!"

US moves to ban 'excessively noisy' TV advertisements

Don't you just hate it when the advertisements come on and the volume goes up to the point where you stare at the TV in disgust? I have always hated this tactic by advertising companies and first noticed it a s small boy growing up in the UK which has one of the most sophisticated advertising platforms in the known world.

The article above (click on the title) goes a long way in explaining why this happens and is going for the jugular in trying to stop particularly offensive or strident ads.

"The US House of Representatives has approved a bill which aims to limit the volume of television advertisements." Sweet Jesus! Alleluia!! Now I know there is a God!! Thank you!

Just when you are relaxing in front of the TV watching your favourite programme, the ads come up and you nearly jump out of your seat at times. Still is especially noticeable when you are starting to doze off after a long day at work. But don't fret pet! Help is at hand.

"Under the rules, "excessively noisy or strident" advertisements would be banned, as would adverts which are noticeably louder - or have a "maximum loudness substantially higher" - than the programme they accompany."

It's bad enough having to be maniplulated in your job by your boss cos he or she wants you to work late; it's too bad too when you are asked by someone to work late and then when you et home ready to relax along comes meely-mouthed MacDonalds burgers, strident Sony Playstations, or Whacky Walmart wonder-goods, a company that has a total expenditure greater than the GDP of Sweden! When will they ever learn...we don't want to be manipulated any more. Thanks anyway!

""It's an annoying experience, and something really should be done about it," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying."

Amen brother!

Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor

This one really shocked me...but...the again. Imagine when the credit crunch hit? And the Wall Street crisis with Lehman Bros? It now turns out that trillions of dollars was removed from drug money and other nefarious dealings and p-loughed into these struggling banks to provide much needed liquidity! Who said you can't profit from crime? Isn't this just anoither way to see these bankers? They are in this scenario just one step away from gangsters themselves when they willingly take money that has been created through crime, murders, hijackings?

"Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations' drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result."



$352bn went into these kinds of institutions which is shocking to say the least. What is going on in the world nowadays when this kind of thing can happen and nobody knows about it or really cares? That phrase "money is the root of all evil" as it says in the bible is really starting to have a meaning these days!

"That was the moment [last year] when the system was basically paralysed because of the unwillingness of banks to lend money to one another."

I can see it now - all those drug barons seeing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only launder their money, but for free and at the normal, criminal rates of exchange (as opposed to say, 0.40 cents on the US$) This money went straight back into organising more shipments to places were drugs were in demand.

The drug baron who offered this information said, "the money is now a part of the official system and had been effectively laundered."

Doctors query ability of Tamiflu to stop severe illness

Those who read this blog on a regular basis will already know my views on Swine Flu and Tamiflu, for it is to me just one vast conspiracy by the American and UK governments to use these retro viral drugs to control the populace and make a considerable amount of money in the process. Here's the latest news.

"Roche, the manufacturer of Tamiflu, has made it impossible for scientists to assess how well the anti-flu drug stockpiled around the globe works by withholding the evidence the company has gained from trials, doctors alleged today ."

It was always my feeeling that Tamiflu for all its apparent merits could no more than possibly shorten the disease for maybe a day or so but that the side effects were often disastrous sometimes even ending up in fatalities. However, the news out now is that company that makes the drugs, Roche (which has a lot of prominent US politicians as its directors including Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld) is not cooperating with other scientists

"The investigators say it...is impossible to know whether it prevents severe disease because the published data is insufficient. Roche has failed to make some of the studies carried out on the drug publicly available, the scientists say."

This for me is simply the company not wanting to give too much information away about what's actually in the drugs - a form of political and pharmaceutical protectionism!