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For the first Elevator Pitch of the new year, we're spotlighting a guy who's taking on a new challenge. Bobby Franklin was named head of the National Venture Capital Association in the fall, replacing 20-year NVCA veteran Mark Heesen.
Franklin, a longtime Capitol Hill tech lobbyist, was recently in Silicon Valley on a fact-finding tour. Over lunch, he was frank about the learning curve he's facing — while also sounding eager to dive in.
Q: How'd you get into this racket?
A: I come to the venture capital community after years working for the telecommunications industry. After having started my career on Capitol Hill in the offices of U.S. Sen. David Pryor, D-Ark., I represented (wireless carrier) Alltel in Washington, D.C. This was as the telecommunications industry was transitioning to a digital world and building out massive infrastructure to support the widespread use of Internet protocol for all communications.
The next decade saw the rapid expansion of mobile communications and networks, and I jumped at the chance in 2004 to represent the wireless industry as its lobbyist, and then the executive vice president at CTIA-The Wireless Association (headed by former NFL star and U.S. Rep. Steve Largent). The progression to now leading the NVCA was a natural fit, given my previous experience at the intersection of public policy and innovation.
Q: What do you like about VC?
A: Venture capital has been at the heart of the American innovation economy for more than 50 years, and it continues to be a key driver of the economic and job growth so desperately needed by our country. It's incredibly rewarding working on behalf of the startup ecosystem as growing companies create jobs and add value to our lives.
Moreover, the VCs and entrepreneurs I meet regularly are contagiously optimistic and passionate.
Q: What exactly does the NVCA do?
A: As the voice of the U.S. venture capital community, the association empowers its members and the entrepreneurs it funds by advocating for policies that encourage innovation and reward long-term investment.
Additionally, we serve as the definitive resource for venture capital data to lawmakers, journalists, academia and other stakeholders. And, at our annual VentureScape meeting, we bring together venture investors and entrepreneurs from across America to help them build their businesses.
Q: Why's it important for venture capitalists to have a voice in Washington?
A: Whether they're aware or not, all taxpayers have lobbyists protecting various interests. Having worked on Capitol Hill for nearly eight years, I can tell you that senators, congressmen, congresswomen and the staffers that support them cannot possibly be experts on all the industries upon which the laws they pass have a direct impact.
As the recognized voice for the industry, and with a 40-year history behind us, we work to ensure that policymakers are well versed in the issues that impact the innovation ecosystem.
Q: The association scored a big win last year by helping get the federal JOBS Act passed. Among other things, it makes it easier for private companies to raise money, and it lets them go through the early stages of going public without having to put their financial information on display. How is the act being felt here in Silicon Valley?
A: Certainly, the JOBS Act deserves a ton of credit for improving the "on-ramp" to the IPO markets and creating greater certainty for America's startups to have access to the capital they need for growth. We still have a way to go, but in the valley and elsewhere, we are seeing more companies take advantage of the act's provisions, which has resulted in increased IPO activity.
Q: Any broader predictions for the tech industry in 2014?
A: We just surveyed hundreds of VCs and venture-backed entrepreneurs and found a healthy majority were optimistic heading into 2014. Most are predicting increased dollars going into the sector; tech valuations perhaps being a bit frothy; and an increased number of tech IPOs.
It is a fascinating time for our industry, but we need a productive Congress to ensure a vibrant startup economy.
Contact Peter Delevett at 408-271-3638. Follow him at Twitter.com/mercwiretap.


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Win a $750 Jewelry Shopping Spree at the Outdoor Expo!
This weekend is our Outdoor Expo, along with some amazing vendors, shows by the High Flying Fetch n' Fish team, and celebrity guests (Some members from Swamp People and Sons of Guns are going to be there!) we also have your chance to sign up to win some pretty incredible prizes, like this one! A $750 shopping spree at Turley Mfg. Jewelers!
Be sure to get your tickets ahead of time for the Outdoor Expo, because you definitely don't want to miss all of the fun, and awesome prizes!
What would you buy with a $750 jewelry shopping spree?! I'd probably get a nice watch and some gorgeous new earrings!
Outdoor Expo
Prices are: $10-one day, $15-two-day pass

subset: commoncrawl


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1. nuzzle - verb
· move or arrange oneself in a comfortable and cozy position; "We cuddled against each other to keep warm"; "The children snuggled into their sleeping bags"
Synonym(s): cuddle, snuggle, nestle, nest, draw_close
Hypernym(s): cling_to, hold_close, hold_tight, clutch
2. nuzzle - verb
· rub noses
Synonym(s): nose
3. nuzzle - verb
· dig out with the snout; "the pig nuzzled the truffle"
Hypernym(s): excavate, dig_up, turn_up
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After St. Mike's, our graduates live lives of success, purpose and happiness.
Our students graduate: Our five-year graduation rate of 79% is well above the national average of 66%; the four-year public college rate is significantly lower, at 31%.
Our graduates are overwhelmingly satisfied: 98.7% of our graduates would recommend St. Mike's to high school students. Some of their comments: "An unbelievably positive environment. The perfect place to live, learn and grow for four years." "Without this education, I would be leading a less full life."
Our graduates have plans: 46% plan to earn a masters; 23% plan to earn Ph.D; 48% attend graduate or professional school within five years of graduation.
Our graduates are highly regarded: Select recent graduate school acceptances include: Boston College, Boston University, Brown University, Catholic University of America, Clarkson University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, McGill University, Middlebury College, New York University School of Dentistry, Northwestern University, Princeton University, Syracuse University College of Law, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Yale University. Our medical school acceptance rate is 74%.
Our graduates have rewarding careers: Recent graduates are employed at places like The American Journal of Human Genetics, the U.S. Government, the U.S. Senate, Massachusetts General Hospital, IBM, Dartmouth College, Davis & Hodgdon CPA, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Ernst & Young, Fidelity Investments, Harvard University, Hugo Boss, NFL Network, Burlington Police Department, High Trails Outdoor Science School
Class of 2015 reports: 95% are employed or in graduate school, 5% are participating in full-time post graduate service programs.
Saint Michael's internship program and career development office prepare students for the workplace starting in their first year. Our programs for Pre-med and Pre-law, graduate school preparation, graduate scholarships and fellowships, and special admission agreements with professional schools in the region will help shape your future.
The Office of Career Development provides lifelong help, not only for students to plan their career goals, develop interview skills, and search for jobs upon graduation, but for our alumni too. No matter what path they choose, our alumni take with them a solid foundation in the liberal arts, a strong sense of self and a desire to give back to their communities.


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Now showing items 1-1 of 1
Art as a narrative of alterity. Part 1: Prolegomenon, appendices, and bibliography. Part 2: Books.
(The Robert Gordon University, 2006-11)
There is a close relationship between art and philosophy. From time to time, philosophy attempts to make art its theme. Invariably it has to acknowledge the very qualities of art that it seeks to explain - art's elusiveness ...


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There are several forms of corporate communication. From immediate, rich communications like phones and IM messaging to historical transactions like e-mail, there are a lot of ways to get information to one or more people. From time to time, it's even useful to have a meeting.
(This is where a witty picture of a guy sleeping in a meeting goes. I won't bother actually putting one here; you're already envisioning it in your mind)
Most meetings are pointless, and a complete waste of time. This is the fault, completely and solely, of the organizer. It's because he or she hasn't thought things through enough to think about alternate forms of information passing. Here's the criteria for a good meeting - whether in-person or over the web:
100% of the content of a meeting should require the participation of 100% of the attendees for 100% of the time
It doesn't get any simpler than that. If it doesn't meet that criteria, then don't invite that person to that meeting. If you're just conveying information and no one has the need for immediate interaction with that information (like telling you something that modifies the message), then send an e-mail. If you're a manager, and you need to get status from lots of people, pick up the phone.If you need a quick answer, use IM.
I once had a high-level manager that called frequent meetings. His real need was status updates on various processes, so 50 of us would sit in a room while he asked each one of us questions. He believed this larger meeting helped us "cross pollinate ideas". In fact, it was a complete waste of time for most everyone, except in the one or two moments that they interacted with him. So I wrote some code for a Palm Pilot (which was a kind of SmartPhone but with no phone and no real graphics, but this was in the days when we had just discovered fire and the wheel, although the order of those things is still in debate) that took an average of the salaries of the people in the room (I guessed at it) and ran a timer which multiplied the number of people against the salaries.
I left that running in plain sight for him, and when he asked about it, I explained how much the meetings were really costing the company. We had far fewer meetings after.
Meetings are now web-enabled. I believe that's largely a good thing, since it saves on travel time and allows more people to participate, but I think the rule above still holds. And in fact, there are some other rules that you should follow to have a great meeting - and fewer of them.
Be Clear About the Goal
This is important in any meeting, but all of us have probably gotten an invite with a web link and an ambiguous title. Then you get to the meeting, and it's a 500-level deep-dive on something everyone expects you to know.
This is unfair to the "expert" and to the participants. I always tell people that invite me to a meeting that I will be as detailed as I can - but the more detail they can tell me about the questions, the more detailed I can be in my responses. Granted, there are times when you don't know what you don't know, but the more you can say about the topic the better.
There's another point here - and it's that you should have a clearly defined "win" for the meeting. When the meeting is over, and everyone goes back to work, what were you expecting them to do with the information? Have that clearly defined in your head, and in the meeting invite.
Understand the Technology
There are several web-meeting clients out there. I use them all, since I meet with clients all over the world. They all work differently - so I take a few moments and read up on the different clients and find out how I can use the tools properly. I do this with the technology I use for everything else, and it's important to understand it if the meeting is to be a success. If you're running the meeting, know the tools. I don't care if you like the tools or not, learn them anyway. Don't waste everyone else's time just because you're too bitter/snarky/lazy to spend a few minutes reading.
Check your phone or mic. Check your video size. Install (and learn to use) ZoomIT (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434.aspx). Format your slides or screen or output correctly. Learn to use the voting features of the meeting software, and especially it's whiteboard features. Figure out how multiple monitors work. Try a quick meeting with someone to test all this. Do this *before* you invite lots of other people to your meeting.
Use a WebCam
I'm not a pretty man. I have a face fit for radio. But after attending a meeting with clients where one Microsoft person used a webcam and another did not, I'm convinced that people pay more attention when a face is involved. There are tons of studies around this, or you can take my word for it, but toss a shirt on over those pajamas and turn the webcam on.
Set Up Early
Whether you're attending or leading the meeting, don't wait to sign on to the meeting at the time when it starts. I can almost plan that a 10:00 meeting will actually start at 10:10 because the participants/leader is just now installing the web client for the meeting at 10:00. Sign on early, go on mute, and then wait for everyone to arrive.
Mute When Not Talking
No one wants to hear your screaming offspring / yappy dog / other cubicle conversations / car wind noise (are you driving in a desert storm or something?) while the person leading the meeting is trying to talk. I use the Lync software from Microsoft for my meetings, and I mute everyone by default, and then tell them to un-mute to talk to the group.
Share Collateral
If you have a PowerPoint deck, mail it out in case you have a tech failure. If you have a document, share it as an attachment to the meeting. Don't make people ask you for the information - that's why you're there to begin with. Even better, send it out early. "But", you say, "then no one will come to the meeting if they have the deck first!" Uhm, then don't have a meeting. Send out the deck and a quick e-mail and let everyone get on with their productive day.
Set Actions At the Meeting
A meeting should have some sort of outcome (see point one). That means there are actions to take, a follow up, or some deliverable. Otherwise, it's an e-mail. At the meeting, decide who will do what, when things are needed, and so on. And avoid, if at all possible, setting up another meeting, unless absolutely necessary.
So there you have it. Whether it's on-premises or on the web, meetings are a necessary evil, and should be treated that way. Like politicians, you should have as few of them as are necessary to keep the roads paved and public libraries open.


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PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 30 Georgia College women's tennis squad's (8-8) match against the No. 1 BYU Hawaii Seasiders (19-0) was washed out by a monsoon Saturday morning in Pensacola, Fla.
The Bobcats finished the week 1-2 defeating Lindenwood University 9-0, but dropping their matches to No. 8 University of West Florida and No. 46 University of North Alabama, 6-3 and 5-4, respectively.
The women's team faces off against the NAIA's Brenau University Wednesday, April 4 at 2 p.m. at the Centennial Center Tennis Facility.
The Georgia College Department of Athletics, two-time winners of the PBC Commissioner's Cup, sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, Bobcat Athletics prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the teams' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at www.twitter.com/BobcatSports and www.facebook.com/gcbobcats for up-to-the-minute reports, and visit www.GCBobcats.com for more information, and to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GC Athletics Hall of Fame.


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Earlier this week, the Washington Post editorial board blasted the Obama administration's foreign policy as "fantasy"-based for the past five years. This week, we finally saw the long-overdue budget proposal from the White House, and discovered that the fantasy extends much farther than just the State Department. Even the New York Times described it as a populist "wish list," which means the fantasy world has become even more noticeable for outsiders.
In my column at The Fiscal Times, I point to at least a few reality checks:
The budget claims to cut publicly held national debt over a projected ten-year period to 69 percent of GDP, and annual budget deficits to 1.6 percent of GDP. The CBO, on the other hand, sees publicly held debt rising from its current 72 percent to 79 percent of GDP and budget deficits going back up to 4 percent of GDP in the same period. What creates this difference?
For starters – literally — the Obama administration assumes a growth rate of 3.1 percent in 2014, when CBO expects 2.7 percent and the private sector consensus comes in at 2.5 percent, according to Investors Business Daily. The actual GDP growth rate for 2013 was 1.9 percent, according to the Commerce Department , down from 2012's 2.8 percent, and leading indicators for 2014 offer little hope for any kind of sharp rebound from stagnation.
Most of the disconnect from reality comes in revenue assumptions based on "tax reform." The budget assumes that Congress will pass what the proposal euphemistically calls "transition revenue from pro-growth business tax reform." What that actually means istax increases, as Orrin Hatch explained on the Senate floor Wednesday. "The budget envisions well over $1 trillion of additional taxes," Hatch said, "in the face of a persistently sluggish economy."
How likely is the GOP-controlled House to give Obama one trillion dollars in tax hikes? As likely as they are to cut defense spending while Vladimir Putin is on the roll in Ukraine. But that's exactly what Obama proposes:
Also, the budget projects massive spending cuts as part of the claimed cost savings – more than one trillion dollars, representing half of the supposed savings in the Obama proposal. Put aside the likelihood of a Republican House cutting Pentagon spending by another trillion dollars, after two rounds of significant defense cuts over the Obama presidency. With Russia invading Ukraine and China threatening its neighbors with exaggerated air-defense claims, the idea that either party will get on board with massive cuts to defense spending now is sheer fantasy.
Why publish such a laughable proposal when Senate Democrats are refusing — again, as they have for four of the past five years — to actually produce a budget? David Graham at the Atlantic agrees that this is a stunt budget, but suggests that Republicans are to blame for it:
"Our budget is about choices," Obama said at a D.C. school Tuesday, in remarks about the budget. "As a country, we've got to make a decision if we're going to protect tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, or if we're going to make smart investments necessary to create jobs and grow our economy, and expand opportunity for every American."
Meet Election-Year Obama. If 2013 was the year of Eternal-Optimist Obama, who felt residual buzz from his reelection and held out hope Republicans might go for a compromise, Election-Year Obama's attitude is blunter and bleaker:Fine, if you don't won't meet me halfway, I'm not going to put my neck out. I'll just ask for what I want. After all, this budget is dead on arrival. Republicans showed no interest in compromising last year, and they're even less inclined to partner with the president in an election year.
That might be a good argument, except that this budget isn't an exception. It's part of a pattern from Obama. When was the last time an Obama budget won a floor vote, even in the Senate controlled by his own party? In fact, when was the last time an Obama budget won a single vote in either chamber? It's not exactly a coincidence that the Democrat-controlled Senate has produced exactly two budgets — one for FY2010 and the other last year — in the last six years. Even Harry Reid can't sell an Obama budget to Democrats, let alone expect Republicans to climb aboard.
Obama budgets are always fantasies, in which no one but the White House indulges. That's true this year, too, and it's painfully obvious to everyone except the President and his staff.


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(209) 572-3224
Stanislaus Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic is dedicated to providing the highest quality healthcare to the California Central Valley and beyond. Our first priority is caring for our patients through our highly experienced physicians and staff, who are committed to continuing our tradition of exceptional health care and cost effective medical care to all of our patients.
Appointments scheduled through our online portal will greatly decrease the amount of time in which you are on the phone with our office, allowing our scheduling team to accelerate the appointment scheduling process. This process is purely for your convenience.
©2019 Stanislaus Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Clinic.
Another great website that is Never Boring.


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- Introduction
- Land
- People
- Economy
- Government and society
- Cultural life
- History
- Early Tai culture
- Mon-Khmer civilizations
- Sukhothai and Lan Na
- The Ayutthayan period, 1351–1767
- The Thon Buri and Early Bangkok periods
- The last absolute monarchs of Siam
- The 1932 coup and the creation of a constitutional order
- The Phibunsongkhram dictatorship and World War II
- The postwar crisis and the return of Phibunsongkhram
- Military dictatorship, economic growth, and the reemergence of the monarchy
- The 1973 revolution and its aftermath
- Partial democracy and the search for a new political order
- Attempts to institute populist democracy
- Economic and foreign-policy developments
The Thai are descended from a much larger group of Tai-speaking peoples. The latter are found from extreme northeastern India in the west to northern Vietnam in the east and from southern China in the north to as far south as the central Malay Peninsula. In the past, scholars held that a parent group called the Proto-Tai originated in southern China and pushed south and west from the China landmass into northern mainland Southeast Asia. Most scholars now believe that the Tai came from northern Vietnam around the Dien Bien Phu area and that about 1,000 years ago they spread from there northward into southern China; westward into southwestern China, northern Myanmar (Burma), and northeastern India; and southward into what are now Laos and Thailand. For a discussion of Thai history in its regional context, see Southeast Asia, history of.
Early Tai culture
Tai-speaking peoples historically settled along river valleys, where they formed small settlements and engaged in subsistence rice agriculture, fishing, and gathering of forest products. Early in their history the Tai domesticated animals; they used water buffalo for plowing and ritual purposes, and they raised pigs and fowl for food. Women were accorded relatively high social status and could inherit property. The Tai followed local religions that involved propitiation of both malevolent and benevolent spirits through offerings and special ceremonies.
The basic unit of Tai political organization was the müang, or group of villages, ruled by a chao, or hereditary chief or lord. During the 1st millennium ce the political strengths of the müang system enabled the Tai to move out of their original homeland until, by the 8th century, they had expanded across much of southeastern China and northern mainland Southeast Asia. By the 11th century they had begun to filter down into the area of what is now Thailand, and by the middle of the following century they had formed petty principalities there.
Mon-Khmer civilizations
As the Tai moved into mainland Southeast Asia, they came in contact with peoples speaking Mon-Khmer languages who had long inhabited the region. Indian traders traveling to China during the early centuries of the 1st millennium ce had carried Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and practices to some of those peoples, including the Mon, who lived in what is now Myanmar. The Mon were the first people in mainland Southeast Asia to adopt Buddhism. Between the 6th and 9th centuries the Mon established several small Buddhist kingdoms within the area encompassed by present-day southern Myanmar and central Thailand. From what are now the towns of Nakhon Pathom and Lop Buri in central Thailand, they extended their power eastward across the Khorat Plateau, northward as far as Chiang Mai, and northeastward into what is now Laos. Those Mon kingdoms are collectively called Dvaravati. The Dvaravati period is noted for its artwork, particularly its Buddhist sculptures and votive images made of terra-cotta or stucco.
As the Tai moved south into mainland Southeast Asia, they also encountered the Khmer of Cambodia. Between the 9th and the 13th century, Khmer rulers expanded their domains from their capital at Angkor, establishing an empire that, at its height under Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181–c. 1220), extended over approximately half of modern Thailand. Whereas Mon kingdoms were predominantly Buddhist in character, Khmer civilization—which found its supreme expression in the great temple complex at Angkor—was heavily influenced by Hindu ideas and practices. The Tai borrowed from the Khmer many elements of Indianized culture, including royal ceremonies, customs followed at the court, and especially the Indian epic Ramayana, which influenced not only literature but also classical dance. Even in modern Thai culture the legacy of the Indianized culture of Angkor is still evident.
By the beginning of the 13th century, the Tai were starting to place pressure on both the Mon and Khmer empires. The Tai had settled throughout the Chao Phraya basin, and a Tai ruler was established as far south as the principality of Nakhon Si Thammarat, on the Malay Peninsula. Through Nakhon Si Thammarat a dynamic new form of Buddhism, Theravada, had entered mainland Southeast Asia from Sri Lanka. Theravada Buddhism was carried by monks not only to areas under Mon or Khmer rule but also to the new Tai principalities that were beginning to emerge. Sukhothai and Lan Na (Lanna), the first major Tai kingdoms in Thai history, were Theravada Buddhist.
Sukhothai and Lan Na
The kingdom of Sukhothai, situated in the upper Chao Phraya basin, was founded in the mid-13th century when a local Tai ruler led a revolt against Khmer rule at an outpost of the Khmer empire. Under its first two rulers, Sukhothai remained only a small local power. However, its third ruler, Ramkhamhaeng (reigned c. 1279–98), extended Sukhothai power to the south as far as Nakhon Si Thammarat, to the west into present-day Myanmar, and to the northeast as far as Luang Prabang in modern Laos. Not all these territories were conquered by force; many became vassal or tributary states to Sukhothai based on kinship ties or personal loyalty, and they were linked to it in a loose confederation.
Ramkhamhaeng is renowned not only for extending the territory under Sukhothai control but also for leaving a remarkable stone inscription, considered by most scholars to contain the earliest example of writing in any Tai language. Written in 1292 and utilizing Khmer script adapted to the sounds and tones of Tai speech, it pictures the Sukhothai kingdom as prosperous, active in trade, and benevolently governed by a paternal monarch. According to the inscription, the state taxed its citizens modestly, treated all subjects (including non-Tai) equally, and provided justice for all.
The Sukhothai period, from the mid-13th to the mid-15th century, is noted for its sculpture and pottery. Graceful bronze sculptures of the Buddha, especially those showing him in the walking position, are typical of the period. The celadon ware made at Sukhothai and nearby Sawankhalok was exported throughout Southeast Asia.
Sukhothai was not the only Tai state in Southeast Asia during this period. In the mid-13th century in what is today northern Thailand, a Tai ruler, Mangrai (reigned c. 1259–1317; from 1292 to 1317 in Chiang Mai), conquered the ancient Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya and built a new capital at Chiang Mai. Under Mangrai and his successors, Lan Na—with Chiang Mai as its capital—became not only powerful but also a centre for the spread of Theravada Buddhism to Tai peoples in what are now northeastern Myanmar, southern China, and northern Laos. Under Tilokaracha (reigned 1441–87), Lan Na became famous for its Buddhist scholarship and literature. During the 16th century Lan Na was conquered by the Burmese and incorporated into the Burman empire, where it would remain until the late 18th century.
The Ayutthayan period, 1351–1767
Whereas Sukhothai was an independent kingdom for only about 200 years, its successor, Ayutthaya—situated in the rich rice plains of the Chao Phraya River basin, about 55 miles (90 km) north of present-day Bangkok—lasted more than 400 years. During the Ayutthayan period the Tai consolidated their position as the leading power in what is now central and north-central Thailand, as well as throughout much of its southern peninsular region. Since many of Ayutthaya's neighbours called the country "Siam" or a name similar to it, the Tai of Ayutthaya came to be known as the Siamese.
Ayutthaya at first was only a small city-kingdom on the northwestern edge of the powerful Khmer empire. Within less than a century, however, Tai kings succeeded in pushing back the Khmer, and in 1431 they sacked their great capital of Angkor. Wars against neighbouring powers continued throughout the Ayutthayan period. In 1438 a greatly weakened Sukhothai was made a province of Ayutthaya. Lan Na, however, remained free of Ayutthayan control, although it was later brought under Burman influence.
When the Siamese conquered Angkor, they brought many Khmer captives back to Ayutthaya with them, some of whom had been officials or craftsmen at the Khmer royal court. From them Ayutthaya's rulers adopted many of the Hindu ideas and practices that had been followed by the Khmer, including the concept of the ruler as god-king (devaraja). The king acquired power to determine the life and death of all his people. None but members of the royal family might gaze upon his face. He could be addressed only in a special language used exclusively for royalty, while those speaking to the king referred to themselves as "the dust beneath your majesty's feet."
The power of the ruler was enhanced not only through symbolic and ideological concepts drawn from Khmer-Hindu beliefs about the god-king but also through the centralization of political power. Trailok (reigned 1448–88) created a state in which the ruler stood at the centre of a series of concentric circles. As in the müang system, the outer circles were governed by hereditary lords, or chao. The inner circles, however, were administered by officeholders appointed by the king; to a limited degree these operated on bureaucratic rather than hereditary lines.
The kings of Ayutthaya also issued formal codes of civil and criminal law based on the ancient Indian body of jurisprudence called the Dharma-shastra. At the same time, a formal and highly complex hierarchical system assigned to each social status a specified number of units (called sakdi na) that determined the rank within society of the person occupying the status. At the bottom of the scale, a slave was worth 5 units, freemen were ranked at 25 and above, and the heir apparent to the throne was assigned no fewer than 100,000 units.
In Ayutthayan times the mass of the people, whether freemen or slaves, worked in the fields. Slaves included war captives and those held in bondage to pay off debts. Freemen were obliged to work for six months each year for the local representatives of the king, to pay taxes, and to provide military service as required. An intricate patronage system extended throughout society whereby clients provided their patrons with services in return for their protection. Ayutthaya was an underpopulated society, and the constant need for manpower and its scarcity helped protect clients from excessive demands by patrons; if the demands of a patron became too burdensome, a freeman could, as a last resort, move and take up new land.
Theravada Buddhism took deep root throughout Siam during Ayutthayan times, alongside the Brahmanism that already characterized court ritual and the earlier religious practices that pervaded all levels of society. The Buddhist monastic establishment (sangha) played an important role in society, forming a focal point for village life, providing young males with an education, and offering those who elected to remain in the sangha a channel for upward social mobility.
Ayutthaya in the 17th century, according to European visitors, was one of the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan cities in the world. Although it lay inland, it was easily accessible to oceangoing vessels traveling up the Chao Phraya River, and it became a thriving international trade emporium. It was during this period that European traders and travelers started coming to Siam. The Portuguese reached Siam as early as 1511, following their conquest of the sultanate of Malacca (Melaka) on the Malay Peninsula; they were followed in the 17th century by Dutch, English, Spanish, and French traders and missionaries. Ayutthayan kings permitted Chinese, Indian, Persian, and European traders to establish settlements, employed Japanese warriors, and allowed Western missionaries to preach within Ayutthayan domains. In addition to engaging in extensive trade with China, Southeast Asia, and India, the rulers of Ayutthaya also sent triennial tribute missions to the Chinese imperial court, established Buddhist missions in Sri Lanka, and sent emissaries abroad as far afield as Europe. King Narai (reigned 1656–88) initiated a series of diplomatic exchanges between Ayutthaya and the French court at Versailles and even appointed a Greek adventurer, Constantine Phaulkon, as his chief minister. Eventually, however, the Europeans became overly zealous in their efforts to convert Buddhist Siamese to Christianity. In 1688 the Siamese expelled the French from Ayutthaya and all but closed their doors to the West for the next 150 years.
The primary threat to Ayutthayan sovereignty came not from Europe, however, but from Burmese kingdoms. In 1569 a force from the Burman state of Toungoo overran Ayutthaya and devastated the countryside for miles around. Ayutthaya under Naresuan (reigned 1590–1605) recovered its independence. Conflict with the Burmese kingdom persisted, however, and in the mid-18th century Burman armies once again captured Ayutthaya. This time the city did not recover. Following the sacking of the city in 1767, the king and members of the royal family, along with thousands of captives, were deported to the Burmese kingdom. All Ayutthayan records were burned and its works of art destroyed.AD!!!!
The Thon Buri and Early Bangkok periods
Thon Buri
A new era in Thai history began with the rise to power of Taksin, a military commander of great skill and charismatic personality who succeeded within a decade after the fall of Ayutthaya in expelling the Burmans and making himself king of Siam. In 1767 Taksin established his new capital at Thon Buri, on the opposite side of the Chao Phraya River from present-day Bangkok. The new location was less accessible to the armies of Myanmar than Ayutthaya had been and was ideally situated for the conduct of seaborne trade and commerce. Capitalizing on the trade relations that Siam had already developed with China, Taksin encouraged Chinese merchants and craftsmen to take advantage of the economic opportunities offered by the site of his new capital. Large numbers of Chinese settled permanently in Siam, where their involvement in business and trade—coupled with the tax revenues that these activities provided—helped restore the kingdom's devastated economy.
Taksin not only recovered the territories that had formerly been part of the Ayutthayan empire but also set out to extend Siamese control over new areas. His armies annexed part of what is now northeastern Cambodia and advanced up the Mekong River as far as present-day Vientiane in Laos. In the south they subdued the northern part of the Malay Peninsula, and to the north they pushed the Burmans out of the old northern Tai kingdom of Lan Na.
Within a few years of seizing power, however, Taksin showed signs of serious mental instability, and in 1782 he was overthrown and put to death. He was succeeded by his former military commander, known by his official name of Chao Phraya ("Great Lord") Chakri. The new king founded the Chakri (or Chakkri) dynasty, which has continued to the present day.
The early Chakri kings and a resurgent Siam
One of the first acts of the new king—who would come to be known as Rama I (reigned 1782–1809)—was to move his capital across the Chao Phraya River to Bangkok, which at the time was still a small village. By the mid-19th century, Bangkok had become a city of some 400,000 people, swelled by the huge numbers of Chinese who had poured into Siam during those years. In addition to settling in Bangkok, the Chinese established trading settlements inland, some of which grew into small towns. As time went on, the Chinese thus gained even greater control over both the internal and foreign trade of the country.
The Burmese kingdom continued to harass Siam throughout the early Chakri reigns. In 1785 it launched a massive invasion of the country, which was repelled only with great difficulty. Other lesser attacks followed. Not until the 1820s, when British encroachment on Burmese territory forced Burman attention inward, was Siam able to relax its vigilance along its western borders. In the east Rama I and later Rama III (reigned 1824–51) reduced Khmer territories to vassal status, and in the south Rama III strengthened Siamese control over tributary states of the Malay Peninsula. Rama III also put down a major uprising in the north led by Chao Anou, the young Lao ruler of the kingdom of Vien Chan (Vientiane). In 1827 Siamese armies razed and plundered Vientiane; thousands of Lao were taken prisoner and deported to central Siam.
The early Chakri kings sought to restore the cultural heritage of Ayutthaya. New temples and palaces were built in Bangkok following the same styles and even using some of the same bricks that had embellished Ayutthaya. Rama I reestablished court rituals, issued comprehensive law codes and authoritative Buddhist texts, and helped revive the sangha by placing learned and pious monks in leading positions within the Buddhist hierarchy. The early Bangkok period also produced a great literary flowering. The Ramakian, the Thai version of the Indian epic Ramayana, was set to verse during the reign of Rama I. Rama II (reigned 1809–24), an accomplished poet, was a patron of the arts, and Sunthon Phu, Thailand's greatest poet, wrote some of his best-known works during Rama II's reign.
Western influence also grew in mainland Southeast Asia during the early years of the 19th century, and with it came increasing Western pressures on Siam. When Britain declared war on the Burmese kingdom in 1824, Rama III feared that the British might also attack Siam. He subsequently agreed to sign the Burney Treaty (1826), which set conditions for the conduct of trade between the two countries.
Mongkut and the opening of Siam to the West
Demands for free trade and diplomatic representation in Siam accelerated with the British advances into Myanmar and Malaya and the opening of several Chinese ports following the first Opium War with China (1839–42). In 1855 Queen Victoria sent Sir John Bowring as her personal emissary to Siam to demand an end to all trade restrictions. He was also instructed to secure the right to establish a British consulate in Bangkok and, in addition, the right to set up separate law courts to try cases involving British subjects (an element of extraterritoriality). The resulting Bowring Treaty (1855), in which Siam acceded to those demands, was followed shortly by similar treaties with other major European powers and the United States. Although those treaties left Siam intact politically, they severely reduced the country's sovereignty and independence.
The opening of Siam to world trade and the development of a cash economy brought major changes to the country. The Bowring Treaty deprived the Siamese government of large sums in customs duties, one of its major traditional sources of revenue, forcing it to increase taxes in their stead. Large areas of the Chao Phraya basin were planted with rice and other cash crops for the world market, while the need to transport goods from the interior to the port of Bangkok led to the growth of canal systems and marketing networks.
The years following the Bowring Treaty were also marked by an increase in foreign influence in Siam. King Mongkut (Rama IV; ruled 1851–68) appointed several Western advisers and assistants to his court, including the Englishwoman Anna Harriette Leonowens, who tutored his children. She later published a romanticized and inaccurate depiction of Mongkut's court that became the basis for the musical The King and I (1951), which was even more inaccurate though still highly popular with Western audiences. Foreign nationals began to take up long-term residence in Bangkok. Missionaries, although largely unsuccessful in converting the Siamese to Christianity, set up the first Western medical facilities, secular schools, and printing presses in the country. Mongkut took great interest in the new Western ideas that were beginning to come into the country. He studied Latin, mathematics, and astronomy with the scholarly French Roman Catholic missionary Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix and English with American Protestant missionaries, one of whom, Dan Beach Bradley, later founded the country's first newspaper.
Mongkut was already 46 years old when he came to the throne. He had spent 26 years as a monk, during which time he became a keen scholar of Pali (the language of the Theravada texts) and an expert in Buddhist doctrine. Mongkut also had become concerned that many superstitious practices had grown up around the core Theravada teachings, and he established a new sect, which was dedicated to purifying Buddhist practice. This new sect became the Thammayut order that later would dominate the Thai monkhood. Although Mongkut was an absolute monarch, he began to break down the age-old tradition of treating the king as a god. He traveled widely throughout his kingdom, inquiring about the conditions of his subjects. He also was the first Siamese monarch to allow his subjects to gaze directly upon his face. Mongkut's willingness to adapt traditional Siamese patterns to more-modern ideas helped pave the way for the more-profound social and political changes that were to take place in Siam under his successor.
Chulalongkorn and the foundations of modern Thailand
Mongkut was succeeded by his 15-year-old son Chulalongkorn (Rama V; reigned 1868–1910). Because of Chulalongkorn's youth, the country was ruled by a regent until the prince came of age in 1873. Chulalongkorn was faced with continuing Western pressure, and he maintained his father's policy of making territorial concessions to the West in the hope that Siam could retain its overall independence. In 1893, after French gunboats forced their way up the Chao Phraya River to Bangkok, he was forced to cede to France all Lao territories east of the Mekong River, and in 1907 the French took over three territories in northwestern Cambodia and Lao territory west of the Mekong that had been under Siamese suzerainty. Two years later the Siamese government lost rights over four Malay states to the British. The creation of a modern military was in fact a direct response to the threat of domination Siam faced, particularly from France, in the late 19th century.
At the same time that he sought to fend off the Western powers from without, Chulalongkorn undertook major reforms within the country. These were often difficult to achieve, since they undercut the power bases of influential men at court. The young king proceeded gradually, assisted by several of his brothers and half brothers; many of these—in particular the brilliant and energetic Prince Damrong Rajanubhab—were men of outstanding ability. The internal reforms carried through during Chulalongkorn's reign included reorganizing the government into ministries with functional responsibilities and creating a centralized bureaucracy, instituting a uniform and centralized system of administration over the outlying provinces, systematizing government revenue collection, abolishing slavery and labour-service requirements, establishing law courts and reforming the judiciary, introducing a modern school system, and constructing railways and telegraph systems. In addition, he backed a major reorganization of the Buddhist monkhood, bringing all monks throughout the country into the sangha as a nationwide religious hierarchy that was linked at its apex to the king. By any standards, the sheer scale of Chulalongkorn's reforms are remarkable, and his reign is commonly regarded as one of the greatest in Thai history. The modern state of Thailand is his legacy.AD!!!!
The last absolute monarchs of Siam
Chulalongkorn's policies were continued by his sons Vajiravudh (Rama VI; reigned 1910–25) and Prajadhipok (Rama VII; 1925–35). In 1917 Vajiravudh, the first Thai monarch to be educated abroad, opened Thailand's first university, which he named for his father. In 1921 he made universal primary education compulsory throughout the country. To assimilate the growing number of Chinese entering the country, he passed an act that required all students be taught to read, write, and speak Standard Thai (Siamese) and be instructed in their duties as good Siamese citizens. Vajiravudh is noted principally, however, for promoting Thai nationalism. In his voluminous writings he stressed the need for his subjects to be loyal to nation, religion, and king. He not only strengthened the army and navy but also created a paramilitary organization, the Wild Tiger Corps, that was independent of the regular army. In 1917 he took Siam into World War I on the side of the Allies, and after the war he succeeded in persuading the Western powers to give up their extraterritorial rights in Siam. Vajiravudh also passed a law in 1913 that required all Siamese to adopt surnames, and he encouraged his people to adopt clothing styles based on European models, which were considered to be more modern, and to abandon such habits as chewing betel.
Vajiravudh was notorious for extravagance, and his successor, Prajadhipok, inherited serious fiscal problems from his brother. The new king ordered layoffs throughout most government departments, both at the start of his reign and again during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The cuts caused severe economic hardships for many government officials and their families and added to popular discontent with the monarchy during his reign. A rising middle class was also growing increasingly unhappy with the domination of the government by members of the royal family and with the absence of wider participation in political decision making. An emerging popular press was able to give voice to these discontents.
The 1932 coup and the creation of a constitutional order
One focus of civilian discontent centred on a group of students who had been educated overseas and were deeply dissatisfied with the tight political control that Siam's ruling families held over the country. Some of these students became politically radicalized during the course of their education in Europe in the 1920s and early '30s. They were led by Pridi Phanomyong, a brilliant young lawyer studying in Paris, who became the leader of an organization of overseas Siamese students. He was closely associated with a career artillery officer, Luang Phibunsongkhram (Pibul Songgram), who was then studying military science in France. In 1927 Pridi and Phibunsongkhram formed the People's Party, which became the nucleus of a revolutionary group plotting to overthrow Siam's absolute monarchy. On their return to Siam the two men and their associates, who became known as the Promoters, built up a revolutionary following among students, nonroyal government officials, and military officers.
On June 24, 1932, while Prajadhipok was away from Bangkok, the Promoters staged a bloodless coup, seizing control of the army, imprisoning the royal officials who had constituted the ruling group, and persuading the king to agree to rule under a constitution. A State Council and National Assembly were established under the new government. Many members of the new government had not played a direct part in the coup, and some were quite conservative in their political thinking. In early 1933, when Pridi drew up an economic plan for the country that was far more radical than many members of the new government could accept, feelings ran so high that the king was forced to suspend the National Assembly. The military leaders, fearing that the royalists would regain control of the government, forced the reconstitution of the National Assembly, which was followed by an attempted royalist countercoup in October 1933 under Prince Boworadet (Bavoradej), a cousin of the king. Although there was no evidence of royal collusion, Prajadhipok found his position untenable. In early 1934 he left for England, and in March 1935 he abdicated. A regency council was appointed to act for his successor, Prince Ananda Mahidol, then a schoolboy studying in Switzerland, until he came of age.
Although it never actually confronted an external threat until 1941, the new military, led by well-trained, disciplined officers and equipped with modern weaponry, contributed to a fundamental restructuring of power within the country. The 1932 revolution succeeded only because it was supported by military units led by nonroyal officers. Between 1933 and the end of 1938 the military grew ever stronger. The years just before World War II were marked by a tripling of the military budget, the establishment (1934) and subsequent spread of a paramilitary youth movement with fascist overtones, and a growing alliance with Japan.
The Phibunsongkhram dictatorship and World War II
In December 1938 Phibunsongkhram took over as military dictator, and the following year he changed the name of the country from Siam to Thailand. He embarked on a strongly nationalistic policy that was chauvinistic and anti-Chinese at home and irredentist and pro-Japanese abroad, and he set out to elevate the position of the military—especially the army, in which he held the rank of field marshal—and to portray it as the defender of the country. Luang Wichit Watthakan, Phibunsongkhram's influential ideologist, drew on a Japanese prototype for his ideal of wiratham, the "code of the warrior," as the foundation for Thai nationalism. In November 1940, taking advantage of the defeat of France by Germany the previous June, Phibunsongkhram ordered the invasion of French territories in western Laos and northwestern Cambodia that formerly had been under Thai control. Japan supported Thai claims to the disputed lands.
Thailand's leaders nonetheless sought help from Britain and France against an increasingly aggressive Japan, but the British were too deeply involved in Europe to provide them with meaningful support. On December 8, 1941—following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii—Japanese troops entered Thailand and requested the right of passage through the country to facilitate their planned surprise rear attack on British-held Singapore. After a brief fight against the advancing Japanese, all Thai troops were ordered by Phibunsongkhram to lay down their arms, and Thailand subsequently signed a full Treaty of Alliance with Japan; in January 1942 the Thai government declared war on Britain and the United States.
Thailand gained minor territorial concessions in Burma (Myanmar) and Malaya, as well as in Laos and Cambodia, from its wartime alliance with Japan, but the Thai economy suffered greatly, ultimately undermining public confidence in Phibunsongkhram. From 1942 onward, overseas resistance groups based in the United States and Britain made contact with similar groups within Thailand led by Pridi Phanomyong, then serving as regent in the absence of the young king Ananda. The Free Thai, as these groups were collectively known, conducted raids against the Japanese and succeeded in infiltrating the government. In July 1944 Phibunsongkhram was forced to resign, and in August 1945 Japan surrendered.
The postwar crisis and the return of Phibunsongkhram
Following the end of the war, Thailand's primary aim was to restore its international reputation, given Phibunsongkhram's wartime alliance with Japan. Thailand was generally supported in its aim, because most members of the international community—with the exception of Britain, which took a punitive stance toward the country—had never accepted Thailand's declaration of war, maintaining that it had been signed under duress. As soon as Thailand returned the territories seized from France in 1940–41, it was admitted to the United Nations (1946), and its standing in the international community was restored.
The immediate postwar years, however, were not easy ones for Thailand. Phibunsongkhram narrowly escaped trial as a war criminal and temporarily retired from public life. Then, in June 1946, the recently enthroned Ananda Mahidol was found dead of a gunshot wound, an event that shocked the nation. The government, led by Pridi Phanomyong, the former head of the Free Thai Movement, was unable to make a convincing investigation into the death, hampered by powerful elements in the police and military who had been associated with the Phibunsongkhram regime. Pridi resigned, and his protégé, who succeeded him, was unable to quell the discontent fueled by rumours regarding the king's death. In November 1947 the military staged a coup, and Pridi fled into exile. After Phibunsongkhram returned as prime minister in 1948, Pridi was accused of regicide and found guilty in absentia. The cause of Ananda's death has never been conclusively determined, but evidence later emerged indicating that if King Ananda had been murdered, Phibunsongkhram's allies were more likely than Pridi to have been responsible. However, Pridi did not live long enough for a regime to come to power that would allow him to return to Thailand; he died in exile in France in 1983. Only in the late 1990s would Pridi finally be recognized for the profound role he played in shaping contemporary Thailand.
With the coming of the Cold War, the West began to look to Thailand as a potential bastion against the rise of communism in Southeast Asia. Thailand sent troops to join the United Nations forces during the Korean War, and in 1954 it became a charter member of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), a regional anticommunist defense organization to which the United States pledged its support. The establishment of a communist regime in China in 1949 caused Phibunsongkhram to fear the spread of communism within Thailand, and he carried out a series of measures directed against members of the Chinese community. He also imprisoned leaders from other groups whom he feared might try to secede from Thailand, in particular the Lao in the northeast and the Malays in the south.
Between 1951 and 1957 the United States poured huge amounts of economic and military aid into Thailand to fortify the country's infrastructure and boost its military and police forces. This massive financial support laid the foundation for an economic boom in Thailand that continued almost steadily until the late 1990s. Access to these funds also rendered the military largely independent of the political process; an alliance of convenience developed between the military rulers—headed by Phibunsongkhram and the newly emerging army chief, Sarit Thanarat—and the police, in which the latter suppressed the government's political opponents in return for a share of the political spoils.
Sarit was entrusted by Phibunsongkhram with building up and modernizing the Thai army, and by 1954 he had risen to the rank of field marshal. Sarit became heavily involved in business activities and served on numerous corporate boards, as did a number of other upper-echelon military officials during that period. Under the Phibunsongkhram government, most of the country's small number of manufacturing firms were government-owned, while imports and exports were tightly controlled. Sarit and many members of the middle class, particularly businessmen of Chinese descent, quickly became disappointed by the poor economic results of Phibunsongkhram's policy of economic nationalism. Public confidence in the Phibunsongkhram regime waned during the next three years, and in September 1957 Sarit staged a coup and took over the government.AD!!!!
Military dictatorship, economic growth, and the reemergence of the monarchy
Sarit remained in power from 1958 until his death in 1963. Throughout those years he concentrated on instituting new economic policies that favoured both domestic and foreign private investment. His commitment to economic development, coupled with a massive rise in foreign economic and military aid to Thailand (especially from the United States), led to a strong growth in Thailand's gross national product. Not only were large amounts of money funneled into the military, but there was also a major increase in the number of infrastructure investments, and many new highways, irrigation projects, electrification schemes, and schools were built. Sarit, seeking the legitimacy of the throne, also encouraged Bhumibol Adulyadej, who had succeeded his brother as king in 1946, to make the public more aware of the monarchy. The king and queen made frequent trips around the country and sponsored numerous public service activities throughout the period of Sarit's rule, and by 1960 they had become widely known and popular throughout the land. The monarchy, which had been in eclipse since 1932, once again became a significant institution in Thailand.
Sarit was admired by many as a strong and decisive ruler, but his popularity diminished significantly after his death, when the extent of his personal corruption became widely known. The aura of corruption haunted his successors, Thanom Kittikachorn and Praphas Charusathian, who jointly held power throughout the decade following Sarit's death. Their rule was, nonetheless, also characterized by the continuing growth of the Thai economy. During the 1960s Thailand became increasingly involved with the United States in the Vietnam War. By 1969 Thailand had more than 11,000 troops serving in Vietnam, and throughout the conflict it was a staging base for the U.S. Air Force. Huge sums of American money continued to pour into Thailand throughout the Thanom-Praphas years, stimulating economic development but also contributing substantially to the growth of corruption and a rising gap in the standard of living between rich and poor. Popular disaffection grew, particularly in the impoverished northeast and among alienated groups such as the Muslim Malays in the south and the Hmong in the far north, gradually crystallizing into outright insurgency.
The 1973 revolution and its aftermath
Faced with growing internal dissent, Thanom made halfhearted attempts to introduce minor democratic reforms before reimposing direct military rule in 1971. For many Thai, especially the growing number of middle-class citizens educated abroad and exposed to Western democratic ideas, this undermined their vision of the country's future. Students in particular felt betrayed and held huge public demonstrations calling for the promulgation of a constitution. Violence between police and students escalated, culminating on October 14, 1973, when government forces killed more than a hundred protestors. The army's commander, Gen. Kris Sivara, subsequently refused to use additional force, and Thanom and Praphas acceded to the urging of the king to go into exile. Most Thai today consider October 14, 1973, to be an even more important date than June 24, 1932, the date of the coup that ended the absolute authority of Thailand's monarchy.
For the first time since 1932, the monarchy assumed a direct role in Thai politics. The king chose Judge Sanya Dharmasakti, a former rector of Thammasat University, to be interim prime minister and to oversee the drafting of a new constitution. The constitution, promulgated in 1974, ushered in a brief period of parliamentary democracy in Thailand. Ranking members of the military, however, interpreted the open policy debates in parliament as an indication of political instability, and the triumph of communist governments in Vietnam, Cambodia (renamed Kampuchea in 1979–89), and Laos in 1975 was perceived as a threat requiring a stronger Thai government. In October 1976 the military, this time with the backing of the king, again took control of the government and abolished both parliament and the constitution.
The new coup polarized the country politically. Many students who had led or supported the movement of the early 1970s went into the jungle to join what had previously been a small rural-based communist insurgency. By mid-1977 the Communist Party of Thailand was beginning to mount an increasingly effective challenge to the military-backed government. Fearing increasing unrest, the military leaders—in yet another October coup—ousted the extreme right-wing government they had installed a year earlier and handed power over to Gen. Kriangsak Chomanand, who was open to a more democratic style of government.
Partial democracy and the search for a new political order
By 1980, when Kriangsak was replaced by Gen. Prem Tinsulanonda, Thailand had established a new system of government in which the military shared power with parliament through the mediation of the monarchy. Prem, who served as prime minister from 1980 to 1988, succeeded in eliminating the challenge of the Communist Party of Thailand and quelled dissent within the country by declaring a general amnesty for all previous insurgents. However, Thailand faced a new external threat along its eastern border following the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia in 1979; as one consequence of that occupation, Thailand found itself forced to shelter a growing number of Southeast Asian refugees, arriving primarily from Cambodia. In 1988 Prem was replaced as prime minister by Chatichai Choonhavan, leader of the Chat Thai political group, which had won the greatest number of seats in parliamentary elections held in July. Thus, for the first time since 1976, Thailand had a government headed by an elected, rather than a military, leader. The supremacy of parliament over the military, however, had not been firmly established.
In February 1991 Chatichai's government, already criticized for rampant corruption, went too far in challenging the military and was toppled by a junta calling itself the National Peacekeeping Council. Although nominally led by Gen. Sunthorn Kongsompong, another powerful leader of the junta was army chief Suchinda Kraprayoon. The junta promised elections and, as an indication of this commitment, appointed the politically liberal Anand Punyarachun, a former diplomat and business leader, as prime minister. Anand sought to remain independent of the military. After elections were held in March 1992, General Suchinda, who had not himself stood for election, reneged on his promise not to seek the premiership. A coalition of groups, drawn predominantly from the urban middle class, began to stage large-scale protests after he became prime minister in April. Chamlong Srimuang—who also was a former army general, as well as a former mayor of Bangkok and the leading lay supporter of a Buddhist fundamentalist movement—assumed the leadership of these protests. In May the army met the escalating antigovernment demonstrations with bloody repression. The king intervened and called Suchinda and Chamlong to an audience, after which Suchinda resigned. Anand was recalled by the king to head a caretaker government until new elections could be held in September 1992.
These elections ushered in what became the most democratic period in Thai history. Between September 1992 and April 2006 all governments were formed by parties commanding a majority in parliament. Although no single party gained an absolute majority in the elections held in 1992, 1995, and 1996, the Democrat Party, the oldest political party in Thailand, has been the most successful of any in putting together coalitions to form governments. Chuan Leekpai, the leader of the Democrats, headed governments between 1992 and 1995 and again between 1997 and 2001. However, his governments were not fully stable, and in the period between 1995 and 1997 there were two elections and two other prime ministers. One of them, Gen. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, faced one of the most serious economic crises in Thailand's postwar history, set off by the devaluation of the baht in July 1997.
The economic crisis provided a strong impetus for the completion of a new constitution, the drafting of which had been initiated in the aftermath of the crisis of 1992. In October 1997 King Bhumibol signed the new constitution, which recognized broader rights for the citizenry than any of the country's 15 previous constitutions. Conservative elements in the military and bureaucracy and their allies in parliament had sought to ensure that the new constitution protected some of their privileges, but the severe economic crisis that took place that year undermined their efforts.
The 1997 constitution showed the degree to which a new "civil society" was emerging in Thailand. It also reflected the influence of the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that had proliferated in Thailand since the 1980s. Promoting the interests of such groups as farmers, environmentalists, urban labourers, ethnic and religious minorities, and people afflicted with AIDS, these NGOs drew their membership primarily from the same educated middle-class people who had joined the student movements of the 1970s and had succeeded in challenging military rule in May 1992. NGOs also attracted significant backing from many newspapers and magazines and from academics. Although the organizations were initially viewed with suspicion by Thai governments—and especially by ranking members of the civil service and the military—the country's parliamentary-based governments since 1992 have been forced to recognize the influence of NGOs on Thai politics.AD!!!!
Attempts to institute populist democracy
Thaksin Shinawatra
In parliamentary elections held in January 2001 the Thai Rak Thai (TRT; "Thais Love Thais") party, created in 1995, became dominant, and its founding leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, moved to the centre of Thai politics. Thaksin exemplified the new politician of the post-1992 period. A Sino-Thai from Chiang Mai in the north, he cultivated a constituency among up-country people in northern and northeastern Thailand that became the foundation of his party. As a highly successful entrepreneur and founder of the country's largest telecommunications company, Thaksin and his political network also drew much support from Thailand's wealthy business community.
Thaksin, with his immense financial resources, was able to fund political campaigns that employed sophisticated advertising methods. Because the TRT often used funds from its own bank accounts to ensure strong voter turnouts, it came to be accused of buying votes. Thaksin's popularity in rural areas, however, was based less on monetary incentives than on the TRT commitment to providing reasonably priced health care for the poor, devolving more-centralized authority to local governing organizations, providing substantial loan funds for villagers, and making larger investments in education.
In elections held in early 2005 the TRT won an absolute majority of seats in parliament, the first time this had ever happened in Thailand in an open election. Although Thaksin seemed positioned to shape Thai politics for the foreseeable future, he made some decisions that ultimately undermined his authority and led the country toward a political crisis. Notable among these was his order to use military force to suppress the insurgency in the Malay-Muslim populated areas of southern Thailand without also attempting to pursue political solutions to the problem. The move exacerbated the conflict, and, as the violence intensified, key military figures, as well as the king and queen, became openly dissatisfied with the strategy.
Thaksin himself was publicly respectful of the monarchy, but he clearly began to position himself to play a decisive role for when King Bhumibol would pass from the scene. As the king's 60th year on the throne approached in 2006, the public was acutely reminded that he would not be monarch for too much longer. The looming royal transition appeared to give Thaksin the opportunity to increase the power of an elected government with strong popular support at the expense of the old military and royalist elite.
However, it was Thaksin's willingness to use his power to manipulate both the parliament and the regulatory bodies created by the 1997 constitution to protect his and his family's wealth that led to his ouster. Many members of the urban middle class were deeply angered at the end of 2005 when it became public knowledge that the telecommunications corporation owned by members of Thaksin's family—but viewed as a national asset—had been sold to a Singaporean holding company without the family incurring any tax liability. Protest rallies were staged in Bangkok, led by the urban-based opposition People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD)—who came to be known as the "yellow shirts" for the colour they wore during demonstrations—and grew steadily in size. Because Thaksin had lost the loyalty of many ranking military officers, he was unable to order that force be used to suppress the demonstrations. Instead, he called a snap election to show that he had wide popular support throughout the countryside. The vote of April 2006, however, proved meaningless, as all opposition parties boycotted the election; the results were subsequently invalidated by the Supreme Court.
Thaksin remained in charge of a caretaker government for the next several months, while the public prepared for the celebration of the king's six decades as chief of state. However, in September 2006 military forces led by Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin staged a coup while Thaksin was abroad. The junta, with the king's backing, appointed retired general Surayud Chulanont to head an interim government. The 1997 constitution was abrogated, and a carefully selected group was appointed to draft a new constitution; this document was ratified by a popular referendum in August 2007, and parliamentary elections were held in December. Although Thaksin's TRT party had been outlawed earlier that year, a new party backing the ousted prime minister—the People Power Party (PPP)—clearly won the most seats in parliament, which effectively amounted to a popular rejection of the coup. The head of the PPP, Samak Sundaravej, became prime minister.
Yellow shirts and red shirts
Political tensions remained high, however, and, beginning in mid-2008, the yellow shirts began staging mass protests against the Samak government, charging that he was merely a stand-in for the ousted Thaksin. In September the prime minister and his entire cabinet were removed from office by order of a special Constitutional Court, and the parliament elected Somchai Wongsawat, brother-in-law of Thaksin, as prime minister. In October Thaksin, who by then was living in exile, was convicted in absentia on charges of corruption.
Meanwhile, the PAD mobilized thousands of yellow-shirt demonstrators against the selection of Somchai in large-scale protests that became increasingly violent. The country's two major airports in Bangkok were swamped, forcing temporary closure of both facilities. In response to the unrest, the army called for new elections and the dissolution of the parliament. The prime minister rejected the request, and on December 2 he, like his predecessor, was removed from office by the Constitutional Court, and his party was dissolved. Within two weeks, Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the opposition Democrat Party, was chosen by a special parliamentary vote to become the new prime minister—the fifth in a period of just over two years.
In early 2009 the supporters of Thaksin—popularly called the "red shirts" for the colour of their uniforms and mainly rural-based and from northern and northeastern Thailand but also including urban-dwelling democracy activists—formed a populist movement called the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD). The UDD organized protests against this latest change of government, which in April forced the cancellation of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit meeting outside Bangkok. Security forces were able to disperse the protesters, but antigovernment mass demonstrations by the red shirts erupted again later in the year and in early 2010.
The 2010 action, which began in mid-March, drew tens of thousands of red-shirted protesters to Bangkok. There the demonstrators barricaded themselves in the heart of the city's commercial district, demanding that the Abhisit government resign and new parliamentary elections be held. The situation remained calm until mid-April, when government forces unsuccessfully attempted to oust the red shirts from their encampment. More than 20 died and hundreds were injured during the encounter. An attempt at a negotiated settlement with the red shirts failed in early May, and the Thai military soon began an operation to force out the protesters. This action culminated on May 19, when troops took the protesters' camp by force and arrested the red-shirt leaders. In all, several dozen people were killed and hundreds more were wounded during that action.
About a year later, however, the red shirts scored a major victory. In July 2011 the Phak Puea Thai (PPT; "For Thais Party"), a pro-Thaksin party headed by Thaksin's younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, won the majority of parliamentary seats in the country's general elections. Until then, Yingluck, a newcomer to politics, had been involved in the family's business ventures. The PPT quickly formed a coalition with several smaller parties to create an even larger majority in parliament, and in early August Yingluck became the country's first female prime minister.
The political tensions continued after she took office, but her immediate concern was massive flooding caused by exceptionally heavy monsoon rains, which had inundated large portions of Thailand and left hundreds of people dead and shut down a large portion of the country's economically vital foreign-owned manufacturing operations. Most of those companies were back in business by mid-2012, reviving Thailand's economy, which had been severely hurt by the flooding. Politically, Yingluck was plagued by the spectre of Thaksin throughout her term in office. Although she continued to be popular among her large rural constituency, she was constantly portrayed by the opposition as her exiled older brother's proxy.
Matters came to a head in 2013, when her government attempted to pass a bill that would have granted amnesty to those involved in the political turmoil between 2006 and 2010—which, it was believed, would include her brother. The bill not only failed in the legislature, but it led to massive antigovernment protests late in the year. Yingluck responded by dissolving the legislature and scheduling early elections for February 2014, which, it was widely believed, the ruling party would win; she remained in office as caretaker prime minister. Opposition protesters managed to disrupt the polling process, however, and the courts ruled that the election was invalid.
The government announced in late April 2014 that legislative elections would be rescheduled for July. In early May the country's Constitutional Court ruled that Yingluck had illegally removed a government official early in her administration, and she was ordered to leave office. Several members of her cabinet were also dismissed by the court, and Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan, one of the remaining members, was named acting prime minister. On May 20, however, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the head of Thailand's army, declared martial law, citing concerns about the continuing antagonism between the pro-government and antigovernment factions. Two days later the Thai military staged a bloodless coup. The constitution was suspended (except for provisions pertaining to the monarchy), the government was dismissed, and Prayuth was named to head a committee of military leaders—the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)—that was to rule the country. Other measures taken by the military included imposing an overnight curfew, detaining red-shirt and yellow-shirt leaders, and limiting public gatherings to five or fewer people.
In July the NCPO instituted, with the king's endorsement, an interim constitution. By the beginning of August a new legislature was in office, its members appointed by the council, and on August 25 that body selected Prayuth to be the country's interim prime minister. Meanwhile, in early May, shortly after she had been dismissed from office, Yingluck was indicted on corruption charges stemming from a rice-subsidy program instituted by her government.
In January 2015 the interim legislature voted to impeach Yingluck for her involvement in the subsidy scheme—which meant that she was barred from seeking public office for the next five years—and in March she was ordered to stand trial in May. On April 1 Prayuth, responding to domestic and external pressure, announced that martial law was to be lifted. In its place, a provision in the interim constitution was to be invoked that would give considerable authority to the executive.AD!!!!
Economic and foreign-policy developments
Thailand had one of the world's fastest growing economies from the 1960s to the late '90s. By the 1990s Thailand was considered to be part of a second wave of newly industrializing countries, or NICs, that included such countries in the region as Malaysia and Indonesia and that were following fast on the heels of such first-wave NICs as South Korea and Singapore. Unlike Japan and some of the first-wave NICs, where governments aggressively channeled capital into industrial sectors with high growth potential, Thailand relied on an independent central bank and other government financial agencies to create the proper conditions for economic growth and left it to the private sector to make specific business decisions. This growth substantially improved the standard of living in Thailand, especially among urban dwellers. In July 1997, however, a crisis in Thailand's financial markets forced the government to institute a drastic devaluation of the Thai currency, the baht, which triggered a wider crisis that soon swept across most of East and Southeast Asia. The crisis was especially severe in Thailand, where many financial institutions collapsed or were taken over; without new sources of capital, construction and new economic ventures slowed to a near halt. These events compelled the Thai government, with the backing of the International Monetary Fund, to institute a series of economic reforms, especially in the financial sector, after which the economy slowly began to recover.
Several factors led to Thailand's financial collapse. Among these were the wholesale financial liberalization of the early 1990s; the declining competitiveness of Thailand relative to China, Vietnam, and other Asian countries; the aggressiveness of Thai businesses in obtaining short-term loans from foreign sources to fund long-term obligations; the eagerness of international lenders to make these loans; the growing influence from the mid-1990s of political leaders over the previously independent Bank of Thailand and other governmental economic agencies; the lax regulation of financial markets and the Securities Exchange of Thailand by the Bank of Thailand and other government bodies; and the slowness of the authorities to act once the problems were recognized. Foremost among those responsible for the crisis were the many finance companies that made short-term loans to fund long-term property investments. These finance companies were the first financial institutions to collapse. In the aftermath of the crisis, major banks and financial institutions went bankrupt, were combined with other firms, or were purchased by foreign buyers.
Even before the onset of the economic crisis, there was already ample evidence that the country's rapid economic growth—while having brought a definite rise in the standard of living of most Thai—was also creating many social problems. Notable among the undesirable consequences were increased environmental pollution and degradation, a widening gap between rich and poor, the growth of slums and overcrowding in the cities, and urban traffic congestion. Added to these problems was the emergence of an HIV/AIDS epidemic in Thailand, which became the most serious in Asia. Increasingly, many of the NGOs and business leaders, even the king himself, have questioned the single-minded pursuit of new investments in industry and services, proposing instead that the country seek sustainable development that respects traditional ideas of community.
In contrast to the ideal of sustainable development, the government of Thaksin Shinawatra strongly emphasized free-market economics, and its policies succeeded in stimulating significant new growth in the economy. The Thaksin government used increasing revenues to undertake a number of large-scale infrastructure projects, the most visible of which was the Suvarnabhumi international airport. However, these projects also brought accusations of corruption and shoddy workmanship—notably the discovery of structural flaws at the new airport shortly after it opened—and questions were raised about how beneficial such projects were to the country's economy.
From the 1950s through the '70s, Thailand's foreign policy was based on anticommunism and a special relationship with the United States. The withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam and the establishment of communist regimes in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos spurred Thailand to reassess its foreign policy, and since the 1980s the emphasis has been more on promoting economic relations than on security. The relationship with the United States has been downgraded, and closer ties have been forged with Japan and China. Following the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Thailand began to encourage regional trade relationships, even with its former enemies—Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
Thailand was a charter member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and with its support Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar were all admitted to the organization between 1995 and 1998. Although ASEAN had not evolved into a free-trade bloc, by the early 21st century Thailand had become increasingly oriented toward other Asian countries with which its economic relations had been strengthening, most notably China.
Although economic concerns have been the underlying basis for Thailand's foreign policy since the 1980s, security concerns have not disappeared. The country has continued to grapple with refugees on its western border with Myanmar. At the same time, conflicts in southern Thailand have contributed to the government's willingness to work with the United States and others in efforts to control terrorists who have been identified as Islamic radicals.
In 2008 Thailand became embroiled in a military confrontation with Cambodia over the status of the Temple of Preah Vihear, situated on their mutual border. Both sides claimed jurisdiction over the temple, which had been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site that year, and dispatched troops to the area. The impasse continued for several years, and tensions mounted over border incursions and other incidents. Attempts to mediate the disagreement failed, but, after skirmishes broke out there in 2011, Cambodia appealed to the International Court of Justice at The Hague to confirm a 1962 ruling made by that body in favour of Cambodia. The court initially called for all troops to be withdrawn from the area (which was done in 2012), and in 2013 it ruled that Cambodia should control the temple site.
1Appointed July 31, 2014, by the ruling council of military leaders.
|Official name
|Ratcha Anachak Thai (Kingdom of Thailand)
|Form of government
|constitutional monarchy with a 200-member interim legislature1])
|Head of state
|King: Bhumibol Adulyadej
|Head of government
|Prime Minister: Prayuth Chan-ocha (interim)
|Official language
|Official religion
|Monetary unit
|baht (THB)
|(2014 est.) 67,956,000
|Total area (sq mi)
|Total area (sq km)
|Urban-rural population
|Urban: (2011) 36.1%
Rural: (2011) 63.9%
|Life expectancy at birth
|Male: (2012) 70.9 years
Female: (2012) 77.6 years
|Literacy: percentage of population age 15 and over literate
|Male: (2007) 95.9%
Female: (2007) 92.6%
|GNI per capita (U.S.$)
|(2013) 5,370


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Find us on:
Find information on drugs, foods, medical devices and radiological health, biological products, veterinary medicine, and health and medical conditions for consumers in Spanish.
Review Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2014
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
This web resource provides links to an assortment of documents, web sites,and databases on health issues affecting Asian Americans.
Review Date: Monday, December 31, 2012
NIH National Library of Medicine - NLM
La Leche League is pleased to be able to offer breastfeeding information in a variety of languages through a language selector at the top of every page. They currently offer information in English, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.
Review Date: Sunday, January 04, 2015
La Leche League International
Find health information that is precise, updated, and linguistically and culturally sensitive to the Chinese community. Bilingual health education materials, newsletters and articles are reviewed by physicians of the Chinese Community Health Care Association (CCHCA).
Review Date: Monday, January 05, 2015
Chinese Community Health Resource Center
The FDA Office of Women's Health offers free health publications in multiple foreign languages.
Review Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2011
National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) offers links to a variety of consumer health information in different languages.
Review Date: Monday, March 25, 2013
This page offers links to a variety of consumer health information in 10 different Asian languages.
This helpline offers Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) seniors bilingual assistance with questions about their Medicare Prescription Drug plans and other health matters. Languages include English, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Korean, and Vietnamese.
National Asian Pacific Center on Aging
Social Security offers public information materials in 15 languages other than English.
Review Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Social Security Administration
SPIRAL is a free web resource that connects people to authoritative health information in Asian languages. Resources are available in Cambodian/Khmer, Chinese, Hmong, Korean, Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese.
Review Date: Friday, December 12, 2014
Educational Institution — Click the resource link above to learn more
These booklets in Vietnamese provide information on cervical cancer, hepatitis B, breast cancer, smoking, and nutrition.
Review Date: Sunday, March 24, 2013
Vietnamese Community Health Promotion Project
This is a list of websites providing foreign language health information. This list, prepared by the College Resource Center Librarians from other sources, is provided for information only.
American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
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Down and dirty.. on a mountain bike in Taupo!
Biking in beautiful Lake Taupo is an adventure to suit all ages and fitness levels.
Ok, so I have a new toy and it doesn't work in the snow, so this weekend I will be ignoring the beautifully white-chocolate dipped mountain tops, and getting down and dirty.
I don't know what you are thinking about, but I'm talking mountain biking and it's going to be awesome. My shiny new all-terrain beast has been delivered, I've polished the seat and unpacked my padded pants, I'm ready for a weekend of gleeful whooping and slick speed along Lake Taupo's many, custom-made mountain biking tracks.Amongst many other well-deserved titles, Taupo is home to the comely Huka Falls and the Craters of the Moon thermal area-what better place to whip and weave through the trees than on the over 39km of track made for such a purpose?
The beauty of the local mountain biking tracks are the ease of access and plethora of choices, the Crater's area is less than 5 minutes out of town heading north and the Huka Falls tracks run conveniently from Spa Park, where you can also indulge in a natural and free (yes, FREE!!!) hot pool after your sojourn into the wilderness.
So if you are looking to wile away some winter days and prefer the mud and the trees to the snow and volcanic rocks, here are some handy tips:
For the fainter of heart, energetic families or the easy rider…
Huka Falls Tracks
Starting in Spa Park, it is approximately 4kms to the Falls themselves, where you can cross the bridge and take the redwood Track back into Taupo township- around 2.5kms.
For those with an insatiable appetite for the sights and the bike, you can alternatively continue on from the falls via the Rotary ride to Aratiatia Dam another 7kms away. Despite the grim start with a short but mean climb, the rest of the track is beginner suitable and it's worth it to watch the waters of the Aratiatia Dam cascade down through the gorge on release.
Check the times for the daily water releases, they change dependant upon the season. Be sure to ring your bell or holler good and clear on the corners, at all times these tracks can be heavily used and it pays not to crash into your fellow riders cough splutter (It wasn't me…)
For the brave adventurer, the cocky-upstart or the Pro….
Wairakei Forest - Craters of the Moon
Only 6kms out of town is this biking playground. Accessible via the Redwood or Huka Falls Rotary track, you only need to ride up to the Helistar Hub Café and take the tunnel underneath the highway to safely enter the park area- this is a much safer option than negotiating State Highway One, especially if you have tweens/teens with you and it also means you are only a short jaunt away from re-caffination or other means of hydration at the Café. Perfect.
The tracks are graded from One through Four, one being the beginners, and four being long steep rides for those of strong fitness that negotiate "gnarly obstacles" (you've been told!). This park is where the fun is at and where I will be! It's less crowded and commercial than the Rotorua tracks and their flow works well; I'd highly recommend the Grade 3 Outback Trail. Sha-wing!
For the scenery-buffs, the off-roaders, the Intermediary…
W2K - Whakaipo to Kinloch
This can be ridden either way from Kinloch or from Whakaipo and is a 14km track. Great in the rain due to it's pumice ridden (ha- no pun intended…) surface, which drains really well, this track is a beauty and takes you out of a picturesque bay to a sleepy village.
Apart from a few 'steepys' it's relatively easy ride out around the peninsula and suitable for intermediate riders. Until you get to Kinloch you are out in the 'wops' as we love to call it, so pack a snack and plenty of water, when it gets hot it gets really hot although Whakaipo Bay is the perfect spot for a swim in summer. (obviously not now- it's F.R.E.E.Z.I.N.G)
So if you spot a beaming, bow-legged-walking tall chick holding a coffee in one hand and a bike in the other be sure to say hello. I'll see you there.


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Folks, with the rich kids and cats of Instagram posting their abundantly spoiled lifestyles on the photo-sharing site, we thought we'd seen the worst of it.
Oh, were we ever so wrong. We've stumbled upon the gold mine of social-media extravagance that would induce even those aristo cats to cough up a fur ball in disgust.
Enter Instagram avatar Lavish, who goes by the username @ItsLavishBitch, and his bevy of are-you-kidding-me posts. (Um, his tagline: "My life is like Louis Vuitton, everyone wants it.—You made ur bed so sleep in it peasants.")
The S.F.-based 17-year-old posts himself with stacks of Benjamins — sometimes, in his mouth! — holding up half a dozen iPhone 5s like a deck of cards, and apparently only washes away a hard days' "work" with bottled Pellegrino. Nauseated, yet? There's more. It's a bird, it's a plane — nope, it's Lavish sending off thousands of dollars tied to helium balloons into the sky! We. Are. Dead. Serious.
It may not be clear where exactly Lavish collects his coins (or if it's all even legit), but he's on a mission to make sure we know exactly how much he's supposedly worth, and where he goes on shopping sprees. Lavish, a word of advice: With the amazing selection of original coffee joints in the city, we can't help but scratch our heads at your almost $10,000 Starbucks balance. We mean, the least you can do is throw some of that money into local spots.
The upside? Lavish has opened his pocket book to his over 85,000 followers by doing giveaways ranging from $20-$60K (if the transaction ever occurs is to-be-confirmed). So, tell us: Is that worth following this obnoxious user or would you rather not bare witness to this gross display of indulgence? ( Buzzfeed)


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I've gone to your site from a few computers and often I get stretched out or duplicated text which makes the page hard to read. Do you have any suggestions? These computers are using Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP Pro.
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