Parliament Porn Picture Scandal Explained

A porn image aired three times on a plasma screen in the middle of a crucial constitutional amendment debate in the Thai Parliament on Wednesday.  

According to reports, a provocative photo of a young Asian girl wearing only a white shirt and sitting with her legs spread with her hand covering her genitals suddenly appeared on four 55-inch plasma screens about 3 pm local time.

The photograph lasted about five seconds each time it appeared, replacing pictures of the chamber at a time when the House of Representatives were debating on a charter amendment.  Democrat Party list MP Pirapan Saleerathavibhagha was speaking at the time.

The shocked and embarrassed parliament officials eventually turned off all the screens.

A photographer of a local medium could capture the girl's picture and soon it went viral among Thai internet users.

Khamphi Ditthakorn, Deputy Secretary-General of the house who supervises parliament's AV system, said that the four, 55-inch plasma displays in the debating chamber are Wi-Fi enabled, adding that any of the numerous visitors to parliament could have hacked into the system.

The speaker has ordered an investigation into the incident.

I, too, have started an investigation and have a theory.

It’s rather simple really – a case of miscommunication possibly due to a lack of proper education in the English language by those in control of the Parliament video screens. The real intention was to put up a sports picture of prominent Democrat and former Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij.  Korn enjoys soccer as does his longtime friend and fellow British citizen, Abhisit Vejjajiva.  

Somehow the order to “display KORN with a PUNT” became “display PORN with a CU..”! Well, you get the picture… and so did everybody else.

Korn With a Punt            Porn with a Cu..

Finger Lickin’ Not So Good

While people in coastal areas rushed to reach higher ground in the wake of a huge earthquake in Indonesia on Wednesday, the Kentucky Fried Chicken Thailand fan page told followers to order a takeaway.

"People should hurry home this evening to monitor the earthquake situation and don't forget to order the KFC menu, which will be delivered direct to your hands," it said.

The post, which was later removed, generated a storm of outrage on Thai web pages.

"The person behind this advertisement should be fired for their lack of common sense and responsibility," said one of the dozens of posters on the subject on the Pantip web board.

A new message on the KFC Facebook page on Thursday apologized for the "mistake".

Personally, I’m not so sure KFC Thailand needs to apologize for urging tsunami evacuees to "hurry home and follow the earthquake news. And don't forget to order your favorite KFC menu." After all, the fast food chain just saw a "disaster advertising opportunity," or "disadvertunity." At least KFC was trying to get important information to people which was more than can be said for Thai television stations who wouldn’t breakaway from a funeral ceremony. 

Besides, KFC is the perfect disaster food because after you finish the family size bucket you can row it to safety.

I’m much more critical of KFC Thailand’s decision to use Yellow Shirt PAD terrorist Somsak Kosiasuuk as their mascot to sell fried chicken.

Why Channel 7 Reporter Somjit Nawakruasunthorn Doesn’t Celebrate Songkran

Somjit Navakruasunthorn calls herself political “reporter” for the army's Channel 7 television station based at the parliament. 

Somjit Navakruasunthorn

Last August during a press conference with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Somjit posed some insulting questions. One question the PM rightly refused to answer was: "Do you ever think of doing something for the country or the people sometimes or not?" That question was preceded by this one: "Do you think the cabinet is uglier than the PM?"

Clearly, Ms. Somjit was not acting as a reporter trying to interview the Prime Minister.  She was trying to embarrass Yingluck while the cameras were rolling.  Her obvious hostility to the country's Prime Minister is not surprising, since she has written two books practically worshipping former PM Abhisit, the most recent one which Abhisit helped promote with personal appearances at book signings. She has even admitted that she participated in the PAD’s terrorist takeover of Suvarnabhumi International Airport in 2008.  

And this was not the only incident where Ms. Somjit has demonstrated her lack of journalistic ethics by asking intimidating questions. I’ve unearthed a rare interview by Ms. Somjit which started with her intimidating her subjects. Then all hell starts to break loose and things get out of hand.

See for yourself…

Evidently, Somjit Navakruasunthorn is both a bitch and a witch!  And that is why Ms. Somjit doesn't celebrate Songkran. 

"Oh, what a world! What a world!"

The Bard is Barred

Thailand's film censors have banned an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Macbeth," saying it could inflame political passions in the country.

The Thai-language film "Shakespeare Must Die" tells the story of a theater group in a fictional country resembling Thailand that is staging a production of Macbeth, in which an ambitious general murders his way to the Scottish throne.

Censors at the Culture Ministry issued a brief memo Tuesday saying that the film could not be distributed in Thailand because it "has content that causes divisiveness among the people of the nation." The memo did not specify which scenes were deemed offensive.

But, Ing Kanjanavanit, the film's director, said the censorship committee objected to anti-monarchy overtones in the film as well as politically charged content, including a scene based on an iconic photo from Bangkok's 1976 student uprising showing a demonstrator being lynched.

Director Ing Kanjanavanit

"The committee questioned why we wanted to bring back violent pain from the past to make people angry," Ms. Kanjanavanit said in an interview Wednesday. The censors also disliked the attire of a murderer in the film, who wore a bright red hooded cloak — the same color worn by the pro-democracy demonstrators known as the "Red Shirts."

The director called the ruling "absurd" and a reflection of the fear in Thai society.

"I feel like we are heading to a very dark, dark place right now — a place full of fears and everyone has to be extra careful about what they say," Ms Kanjanavanit said, saying the character resembling former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra could represent any leader accused of corruption and abuse of power.

"The character could represent anyone," she said. "When Cambodians watch this they'll think it's Hun Sen. When Libyans watch it they would think it's Gadhafi."

That’s right.  Art is subjective.  Actually, when I first read the title “Shakespeare Must Die” and learned that the movie was about Thailand, I thought the character may have represented Abhisit Vejjajiva. After all, he was corrupt and abused his power when the military installed him as Prime Minister in 2008.  Plus, like Shakespeare, Abhisit is also British.

Now, I’m totally against censorship but if the Thai government is going to ban this adaptation of “MacBeth” perhaps they’ll allow my idea for a movie which is an adaptation of the hit Rogers and Hammerstein musical play – “The King and I”.

Yes, based upon the bestselling book by Margaret Landon in 1944 about Anna Leonowens, a British governess in the Royal Court of Siam during the 1860s, the story mainly concerns the culture clash of the Imperialist Victorian values of the British Empire with the autocratic rule of Siam's King Mongkut. 

In my version of “The King and I”, the part of Anna Leonowens would go to Abhisit Vejjajiva because, as I mentioned before, he is British too.

Of course, this film may be somewhat controversial too but here's a small clip anyway.

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Rapists, Killers, and Pachyderms But Not Joe Gordon

Ambassador Kristie Kenny is a public servant.  But who does she serve?

When she was ambassador to the Philippines, Kristie Kenny was directly involved in the Subic Bay Marine Rape Case Fix. 

Nicole (not her real name), was a 22-year old management accounting graduate in the Philippines, when just before midnight of 1 November 2005, was plied with drink and God knows what else in a bar, shoved into a van, and raped inside by US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith while his four buddies egged him on with cries of 'F__k! F__k! F__k!'

Later, she was lifted out of the van by her hands and feet by two men like a pig and deposited on the pavement.  She had on only a shirt and a panty, with a condom still sticking to her panty.  Someone from the van threw a pair of pants in her direction, and the van drove off.

On December 4, 2006, Judge Benjamin Pozon of Branch 139 of the Makati Regional Trial Court convicted and sentenced Smith, committing him temporarily to the Makati City Jail.

Daniel Smith

However, Smith was spirited out of the Makati City jail and brought to the US Embassy by virtue of a “deal” made by Ambassador Kenney.  Smith stayed comfortably ensconced in the US Embassy and the case dropped out of the headlines.  But, in a bombshell development in February 2009, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled that Smith must be held in custody in a Philippine prison, and quashed Kenny’s deal allowing him to be “detained” at the Embassy.

Suddenly the whole issue was very much back in the headlines and causing all sorts of problems for both governments and their cozy military relationship.  It became imperative that yet another deal had to be done to allow business to proceed as normal.  Lo and behold, in March 2009 Nicole filed an affidavit recanting her testimony and withdrawing her accusation of rape against Smith, saying that the sex had been consensual.  Never mind that the affidavit didn’t sound like she’d written it or that it was first made public by one of Smith’s lawyers.  She then promptly left for the US with $2000 “compensation” using a hard to get US visa courtesy of the US Embassy.  

As ambassador, Kenny utilized all legal and political means available to protect and absolve Smith. That Kenny debauched justice by surreptitiously transferring Smith to the US Embassy after his conviction and then “arranging” an agreement by the victim to recant her testimony should be enough proof of the limits that the ambassador can go to in order to help an American in trouble. 

More recently, in Thailand is the criminal case of Ronald Fanelli aka the “Mad Yank”. 

Ronald Fanelli

He was convicted for the stabbing murder of bar hostess Wanphen Pienjai last year in Phuket. Wanphen was the mother of two children. Her daughter, named Farm, was 3 years old. Her son Iang is in the sixth grade. She was financially supporting her partially blind mother who is now charged with taking care of Wanphen’s two children without any form of financial support since Wanphen was an only child.

Wanphen Pienjai and her daughter

During his trial, Fanelli confessed to killing Wanphen by stabbing her, but said it was an “accident”.  Fanelli then stuffed Wanphen body into a large suitcase – posthumously breaking both of her legs so he could fold them into the luggage.  He kept the body in the room for two days before transporting it by motorbike to a remote part of Wichit several kilometers from his rented home and dumping it.

Prosecutor Permgiat Bumrung said that the US embassy had filed a letter to the court through the defense lawyer.  “The US Embassy explained in the letter that Fanelli is a former Marine who served in Afghanistan for several years. He killed many people during his tour of duty, and this could well have affected his behavior,” he said.

It is remarkable that the Embassy’s plea for leniency is based upon Fanelli’s US military training turning him into a “killing machine.” It would be even more remarkable if it were true. Fanelli was not a “former Marine who killed many people in Afghanistan” but rather a former US Navy lieutenant who served aboard the USS Nevada – a submarine.” Fighting the Taliban in land-locked Afghanistan using submarines is quite a stretch – even for a Thai court. Nevertheless, Fanelli’s murder sentence was reduced to 10 years and 3 months partly based upon a lie from the US embassy.

Then there is the case of Ambika.  Ambika is an Asian elephant residing at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoological Park in Washington.  Last month (March 12) Ambassador Kenny took time from her busy twittering schedule to come to the US for a photo op at the National Zoo’s elephant complex in honor of National Thai Elephant Day. 

Ambassador Kenny with Ambika and the National Zoo's Elephant Manager  

I’m sure the zoo does good work with Asian elephants and other endangered species and a visit by Ambassador Kenny is great publicity but wouldn’t the publicity generated by a high profile visit by Ambassador Kenny to imprisoned American citizen Joe Gordon be great too?  

Joe has been in a Thai prison for over 10 months for something he did in the US – translating part of the book “The King Never Smiles” and providing a link to that book on the internet.  

Joe’s prison cell is much closer to the US embassy in Bangkok than the elephant compound at the National Zoo in Washington yet Ambassador Kenny has yet to make the time or effort to visit him.  Joe is not a rapist, murderer, or an elephant.  He is a decent man and an American citizen deserving of more help than what the US embassy in Thailand has offered him so far.

If our ambassador finally gets around to visiting Joe, perhaps she could bring along Tharit Pengdit, head of the Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) which arrested him.  They can entertain him and the rest of the lese majeste prisoners with their imitation of the comedy team of “Laurel and Hardy.” 

Keeping people in prison for expressing their views is obviously a joke to both an American ambassador and a Thai thug.  It’s not funny to us.  

There is a saying that "elephants never forget".  Well, neither do we!

FREE JOE GORDON!