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Free flowing traffic last weekend on Pattaya roads

Dr talking down to me again

Can you intelligently dispute my arguments?

Milk?

Lard, oh lard - tipping those bath scales to tilt

Excuse me; I have a catastrophic problem to deal with

Free flowing traffic last weekend on Pattaya roads

Editor;
What a pleasant few environmentally friendly days we have had in Pattaya during the sadly aborted Asean Summit.
Beach and 2nd Roads cleared of all rental bikes, cars and the like that restricted free flow of traffic and marred the scenery generally were a pleasure to walk around, the pedestrians were less at risk and pavements easier to access, no traffic jams on the two roads … it all provided the town hall experts with proof that the traffic problems of Pattaya could be very much reduced if they banned permanent use of two of the 4 lanes on 2nd Road by vendors hawking their wares, like the rental people.
Beach Road also had free flowing traffic, and it showed that there is indeed enough road space if only the parking ban was enforced. There is no need to spend millions on instigating yet another major renovation. After 4 years the promenade is still not safe to walk on with raised and sunken concrete slabs around.
I hope the city authorities have surely seen the positive results from barring all obstructions. After all, the roads were built for traffic flow not as static displays for vendors.
Signed,
Safe Walker

Dr talking down to me again

Dear Editor,
M. Nightingale who prefixes his name with Dr (short for dreadfully rude?) is talking down to me again! (Milk revisited 10/04/09)
He insists that the term “evangelist” should not be used against Eric Bahrt because Mr Bahrt is a Jew! He is so eager to defend his “kindred spirit” and talk down to anyone who has the temerity to challenge him that he is willing to resort to fair means or foul! Had he but typed the word in Wikipedia he would have found that an “evangelist” can be from any religion and that the Greek origins of the word are defined as “messenger of good news” or someone who “proclaims” something that other people should know about. The word can also be used metaphorically to mean anyone who is “preaching a message” and it was in this context that I used it to describe both Eric Bahrt and him.
This also makes M. Nightingale’s use of the word “oxymoron” as invalid as his definition of “evangelist” and calls into question his grasp of the language that he chooses to talk down to me in!
I think that his introduction of Eric Bahrt’s ethnicity was provocative and totally unacceptable and I do not wish to exchange correspondence with him. I would question anything ever researched and written by him as he has demonstrated a complete disregard for authenticity and accuracy.
I say again that I will not enter into any debate with such a person but I will happily engage Mr Bahrt regardless of his religion, race or creed!
Regards,
Dick Turpin

Can you intelligently dispute my arguments?

Dear Editor;
Because Dick Turpin can not intelligently dispute my arguments he makes up arguments I never made and disputes them instead.
For example I never said that hospital workers are “monsters” for demanding payment. I said they were “monsters” for refusing emergency treatment to me because I didn’t have enough money with me at the time.
I also didn’t saying we should discourage all tourists who drink from coming here. I said we should discourage tourists who engage in abusive behavior and endanger the lives of motorbike riders by throwing buckets of water at them from coming here.
I didn’t say that white Americans have a higher rate of cancer than black Americans. I said white South Africans have a tremendously higher rate of colon cancer than black South Africans because they eat more animal fat and animal protein. On the other hand, since black Americans generally eat far more meat than black Africans and possibly white Americans they obviously have much higher rates of cancer. In his ignorance Turpin has taken an argument which strengthens my view that eating meat causes cancer and uses it as an argument to try to contradict it.
While it’s true we can all quote different studies, anyone who has done the research (check out the book: “The China Study”) knows that statistics consistently show that the highest rates of colon cancer are in countries where people consume the most amount of meat, while the lowest rates are in countries where people eat the least amount of meat.
And the World Cancer Research Fund which has reviewed over 7000 studies on the relationship between diet and cancer has stated a low-fat, plant based diet is the best defense against all dietary related cancers, especially colon cancer.
Finally, I have every right to state my credentials since that’s what gives me credibility. What are your credentials Mr Turpin?
Eric Bahrt

Milk?

Dear Ed;
Being a man of my word, I continued eating my bran flakes without the milk and banana and substituted Singha instead. The results were the same, making me a regular guy but even more so. I would not suggest eating this mixture at your favorite watering hole as you will make the tissue lady at the bar rich.
Jerry Sabaii

Lard, oh lard - tipping those bath scales to tilt

Editor:
Erik Bahrt tends to take some heat from letters he writes, and for the most part, if he was a doctor, he would be considered as a doctor with very bad bedside manners. Erik basically is for animal rights and for healthier eating habits, hence his KFC crusade. Why does Erik, an American living in Thailand, attack KFC in the USA, uses Canada as a good example of chickens rights, but is silent about chickens’ rights in Thailand? The rights of all the chickens served at KFC could also be violated, yet ignored by Erik. Why Erik?
Now, it is very commendable to warn others about the problems of eating meat, and says being a veggie is far healthier when talking about dangerous cholesterol. Erik, you miss a very important item involved in food preparation, cooking oil. Saturated fats and trans fats are the main dietary factors in raising blood cholesterol. So Erik, you would be doing all a big service to point out the dangers of various cooking oils when talking about healthier eating.
Lard, oh lard, fat has a “weigh” of tipping those bath scales to TILT. Seriously speaking, lard is extremely high in saturated fat making it a dieter’s fat nightmare. But there are other fat nightmares lurking in the Diet Dark, including coconut oil and palm oil, which are worse than cooking with lard.
Here is a breakdown of the saturated fat contained in fat-frightening order: Coconut oil contains about 12 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon; sesame oil contains about 9 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon; palm oil contains about 7 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon; lard contains about 5 grams of fat per tablespoon. The American Heart Association says safe cooking oil levels should contain less than 2 grams of saturated oil per tablespoon and is on their list along with meat fat as the main source of raising cholesterol levels in the blood.
Erik, for the better health of your followers, have them ask what cooking oil is used in their veggie restaurant since palm oil seems to be the preferred cooking oil in all of Thailand.
Bob,
Pattaya

Excuse me; I have a catastrophic problem to deal with

Editor;
Re: Harry Flanagan’s missive of Apr. 10 in the mailbag. Gee Harry, I’m sorry that I have been boring you with my tales of chicken breasts and checks, but the truth is that you are right; Yasothon is not exactly action city. However, with the exception of a farang occasionally getting clobbered with a beer bottle, or a covey of katoeys mugging some drunken tourist, neither is Pattaya.
The truth is Harry, that I am retired as are most of the farangs in Pattaya so our spectrum of subjects to discuss or seek solutions for is somewhat mundane. All one need to do is to sit in on any of the conversations between expats occurring at any of a thousand bars in Pattaya each afternoon and what will one hear? Of course there are brief discussions of the red shirts or the yellow shirts or Thaksin or Obama, but inevitably it gets back to someone’s problem with their computer, girlfriend, immigration problems or chicken breasts and checks. You see Harry, the fact is that most of us over here are no longer designing rocket ships, building oil platforms, producing porno movies, manipulating the stock market, bailing out faulty corporations with money that doesn’t exist or cashing bonus checks for bankrupting said corporations. Basically, what we are doing is pruning our gardens, fixing our computers, searching for the proper ingredients for a new menudo recipe, chasing bar girls or sitting around discussing these things with acquaintances.
It would seem that the local newspaper, if it really wants to be honest, (which I have always found the Pattaya Mail to be the only one in existence), would donate at least a portion of its editorial and mailbag to such subjects in order to keep the bulk of its readers interested. And it would further seem that such reporting would keep those of us who don’t lead the exiting life that you do exactly that; interested.
If you don’t want to read up on trivial matters than I suggest that you move to New York, London or Washington D.C., buy a newspaper there and get your daily dose of excitement reading about atomic bombs, terrorists, thieving corporate executives, bailouts, riots, pandemics, and post office workers running amok and killing people. In other words, all of the things we are trying to forget about.
It’s true that we still want to know what is going on in the world, but we don’t want to dwell on it. Most of us would prefer trying to figure out why Thais insist on turning on air conditioners so high or like blowing whistles or blasting stereos. You see, thanks to the fact that most of us saved a little extra, those are the only things that really affect us any longer. Thank God.
I hope you will accept this somewhat tortured apology and explanation.
Now if you will excuse me, I have a catastrophic problem to deal with as my next door neighbor decided to butcher my palm tree that was hanging over his wall.
John Arnone
Yasothon

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