POST BAG
After reading the news report about how our public toilets are ''still a disgrace'', I decided to stroll past the abandoned toilets on Rajdamri road to see for myself. To my amazement, one porto-door opened, and a man with a cape, dressed in blue Jockey shorts and a T-shirt emerged. I was amazed.
Was it a bird? Was it a plane? No! It was Super... no, wait a moment! It was our own Mr Happy Toilet himself, Chalerm Yubamrung, with a pail and mop in hand, finally dedicating himself to that which destiny planned for his future.
Just in the nick of time, too. I hope to read a soon-to-be-printed follow-up news story about how our public toilets and other toilet facilities in Thailand are now sparkling showpieces for tourists and residents alike.
YANKELEH
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How much time does charter rewrite need?
Reading all the discussion about how long to spend re-drafting the charter, I was immediately struck by the adherence to a 60-base number system, apparently the only common ground among the protagonists: 240 days was the government's first idea, but just over a week ago they suddenly reduced it to 120.
Not long enough, a Senate deputy speaker states, and asks for 180 instead. Too long, opines the secretary-general of the Matchima party and argues for just 60 days.
So we have claims for the full time first suggested, three-quarters of the time, half the time, and just a quarter or the time.
Perhaps there is some comfort to be gained from the fact that it was the ancient Babylonians who worked on a 60-base numbering system and that it was also they who devised the first recorded system of laws and regulations, the Code of Hammurabi.
And don't forget that there are 480 members of Parliament and that the Constitution Drafting Assembly is to comprise exactly 120 members.
However, isn't there something odd about asking for such different lengths of time to do the same supposedly important job? If the rewrite is so important, why not give it as long as it takes, within reason?
Do any of these claimants really know how long it should take, and why are these numbers so ''chunky''? Have they just been plucked out of the air?
If two project managers came to me asking for funding, and one asked for 10 million and the other asked for 11,730,000 I would tend to favour the latter, even though it was more expensive, as it would appear to be the only one that had been costed.
The Constitution Drafting Assembly should be serving the people _ if a rewrite is needed at all _ but it looks as if many politicians are more interested in how quickly it can be done than in what the end result will be.
GERALD MOORE
London
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Strange laws in the USA
American politics is indeed very strange. A very senior member of the US Senate, Republican Senator Ted Stevens from Alaska who is now running for re-election, was convicted of seven individual counts of corruption and is now a convicted felon. In the United States, if you are a convicted felon you are not allowed to vote in elections. However, a convicted felon in the US can still hold public office in the Senate and can even be elected.
There is absolutely no law that prohibits a convicted felon from running for the US Senate and thus Senator Stevens is still hoping to be elected!
It will be interesting to see how the voters in Alaska will do in this election. And keep in mind that Sarah Palin, John McCain's running mate, is also the governor of Alaska. Strange happenings!
BANGKOK CRAWDOG
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American and eligible
I was amused by Theodore Carl Soderberg's letter (Postbag, Oct 27) with reference to whether Barack Obama is a natural born American as required by the US Constitution.
Barack Obama's birth certificate has been made available on the internet for some time and has been verified as a genuine document by several investigative reporters. It shows that he was born on Aug 4, 1961 at 7.24pm and is registered at Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
Curiously enough, the doubt about being a natural born American citizen is more applicable to his opponent John McCain.
Senator McCain was actually born in the Panama Canal Zone and is therefore not a natural born American citizen.
However, earlier this year a resolution was passed by the Senate stating that Senator McCain is a natural born American citizen. One of the sponsors of that resolution was that all-American boy, Senator Barack Obama.
ALAN
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