Always wear a helmet

Editor;
Re: Not a place I will invest my money (Vincent) - I would love to know the detail behind the fines, hopefully it was not for a lack of helmet. I myself was pulled over and asked to show my licence riding around Jomtien last August. I had left it at the hotel with all my other documents for safe keeping and was fined 500 baht. The thing is you learn. If I was in Australia the same would happen but a bigger fine. So now I carry my licence with me. I have always worn a helmet, (you’re) mad if you don’t.
Thanks,
Rob Klang 16

The impossible trip

Dear Editor,
A few weeks ago I planned with my Thai wife to spend a short vacation in Russia. We arranged all flights with a local travel agency and found by internet suitable hotels for our stay both in Moscow and St Petersburg.
On the Web I read the requirements to get a tourist Visa are: Order visa invitation, 2 pictures, passport, and Visa application form. They do not mention the insurance requirement which is a must, as well flight tickets.
At this point I called the Russia Consulate in Bangkok asking how and where I could get the Visa invitation. The laconic answer: We are taking care on business and tourist Visa. We cannot help you for the invitation. You have to arrange that requirement by yourself. Where? Sorry we don’t know. The document can be issued by a licensed company authorised by the Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs and/or by Russia Interior Ministry.
Simply amazing!
I visited at least 60 countries including more recently China and Vietnam, and I never had problems with the Visa issued via Internet, at the arriving airport or by the pertinent consulate. In short, I gave up our trip to Russia and will spend the vacation in some other more flexible country/
Kind regards,
Concerned Farang

Improve schools - improve democracy

Editor;
What’s wrong with public schools in the U.S.? A big part of the problem must deal with separation of church and state. There is a wall of separation but politicians and religious leaders jump over the wall for a pastime. It is a symbiotic situation. The politician gets his religious vote after his Hail Marys and the religious people get to call the platform of the anointed party as their own.
Late in the 20th century, some atheists saw what was going on and they were instrumental in getting Bible reading & prayer removed from the classroom. I think it was a huge mistake on the part of atheists to do this. Students were never told what was going on between church and state. Separation issues were never explained. Schools became almost completely secular. Well educated teachers lost an important part of what they could be teaching and students evidentially thought religion was so sacrosanct that it was never to be mentioned.
School administrators made no attempt to go to court for curriculum change and a new teaching method to replace what was lost. Teachers wound up with secular schools and they found that this was not what teaching was all about. Religion cannot be divorced from most school subjects.
Religion, like politicians, can be good, bad or ugly. It should be up to the student (without proselytizing taking place) with research, debate, and discussion to find out what is best for them. Feeble attempts were made to introduce comparative religion classes. These superficial attempts proved useless. These classes did point the students to the same qualities possessed by the mono-theistic religions, but not their relations with the state.
Pastors, priests, imams, and rabbis should be satisfied with the school secular system but not the schools. Perhaps it is going to take a conclave of lawyers to give public education a needed change. We should not have an expurgated learning process. Improve schools - improve democracy.
Ray Standiford

Always wear a helmet

The impossible trip

Improve schools - improve democracy