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Shredded Wheat
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Election Time - Please Help
Yes that's no typo - I said election. Our village elections are coming up and Mrs Shreddie is having trouble deciding who to vote for. She keeps asking me & I don't know either. They all seem like similar candidates to me. So I thought maybe we could canvass some opinions on here. I'm happy to let you know who the lucky winner is once the election is over. Mrs S tells me the job carries a salary with it of almost THB 8,000 per month so it means a lot to the winner. Naturally this means the candidates are all very determined and willing to flash the cash to buy Mrs Shreddies' vote, and those of all the other villagers. This is what the 3 candidates have to offer:
Mr A. This man is the current Pooyai Bahn. He's won the last 2 elections and says he is getting tired of the job and thinks it's time to step down. Nevertheless he is putting himself up for re-election again. He is about 65 years old and with his wife he runs one of the village shops where we sometimes buy eggs. He's a little chubby man but I don't hold that against him as I'm not fattist. He smells of garlic a lot and is starting to go bald. People say he has not done much to help the village during his last two terms in office. But he helped me out when I was getting my Thai driving licence - he came with me to the Amphur office and confirmed I lived in the village. He only charged THB200 for that service. For his vote he is offering, and indeed Mrs Shreddie has already foolishly accepted, a plastic carrier bag stocked with cuts of meat. It was difficult to tell if the meat was condemned but the dogs loved it.
Mr B. This man is the brother of a girl-friend of Mrs S. I don't know much about him except that he is a "young man". I've never met him. People say he is a good man until he has been drinking. When he is drunk - which seems to be a lot of the time by all accounts - he is loud and a bore and wants to fight. No one likes him when he is drunk, but on the days he is sober he is a likeable chap apparently. I'm not sure what he intends to do for the village except invest his THB 8,000 salary in beer bought from the local shops. His sister (the friend of Mrs S) works at the local council/government office and once or twice she has come to visit us in her smart naval type uniform - she has one bar on her shoulder so I suppose that makes her a Lieutenant or something. She has started wearing braces on her teeth - she is probably about 30 years old so I'm not sure what she is trying to achieve by that. This man is apparently offering to buy votes at THB500 a pop. Maybe his sister is financing his campaign in the hope of getting an extra stripe, so there may be a scandal hidden under the surface here, who knows?
Mr C. He is the dark horse of the campaign. Another candidate I have not met. What I know about him is that he is another young-ish candidate. His family are connected to a farang - one of his sisters is married to a frenchman (Jeanne-Pierre) and lives in France. Once a year I see JP and his wife when they come on holiday to the village. This candidate has also said nothing about what he intends to do for the village if he should win. However, he is offering the princely sum of THB 1,000 to those who promise to vote for him. I fear that JP might, unwittingly or unknowingly, be financing this man's election campaign.
Having accepted the bag of cold meat thrust upon us late one evening by Mr A, the dilemma for Mrs S is that she would very much like to accept the THB 1,500 on offer to her by the other two candidates. That, apparently, is what everyone in the village intends to do too. But having then entered into an arrangement with 3 candidates telling each that they will get her vote, she knows two of them will be disappointed. The thing with these village elections, it seems, is that the candidates watch the poll booths and can see who you vote for. Mrs S doesn't want to lose too much face when two of the candidates see she did not vote for them, despite accepting their bribe.
So she wants to be able to say that I told her how to vote. To the Thai way of thinking that means she was just following the boss's instructions and its not her fault, and instead the stupid farang gets the blame!
Incidentally, last year there was a candidate who offered THB 1,000 - the top bribe last year too - and he came second. So the cash doesn't always seal the deal. He was really pissed off at losing apparently and went around giving a hard time "yakk - yakking" to all those people who took his money.
So this is where you guys come in. A quick straw poll please - let me know for whom Mrs Shreddie should vote and I'll advise her accordingly. I'll also let you know who wins the real election. Cheers guys.
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 3:24 am on Nov. 3, 2010
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Shredded Wheat
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Mrs S' dilemma was solved a few days ago when she was told by a friend that it was a secret ballot. So she did not need to worry about people seeing who she voted for. That also meant that she was happy to take cash from all the candidates and promise them her vote.
Well today was polling day. The poll booths closed at 3 pm and it's 4 pm as I write this.
We were woken early by a ring of our door bell. It was candidate C. He wanted to make sure Mrs S was going to cast her vote today, and he left her THB1,000 to ensure she cast it for him.
We had a similar visit yesterday morning from candidate B except he only left THB500. (I told Mrs S that she should have asked him if he was giving meat as well, but she didn't, that's not the way they do things apparently.)
Before we went to the poll booth Mrs S said she had to go to the village shop, to see candidate A, the current pooyaibahn. He paid us a visit a few days ago asking for Mrs S' vote, but all he left was a smart little glossy card with his colour photo and a drawing of an X next to the number 1, showing you how to cast your vote. Mrs S said she had heard recently that he was paying THB2,000 and she wanted to know where hers was. Anyway all was put right with a visit to the shop and she returned with her THB2,000.
So all 3 candidates ended up paying Mrs S their cash then off to the poll booth we went. I waited while she voted. It was a similar set up to a poll booth in the UK. She showed her ID at a table staffed by some election officials - young girls from the town hall from the look of them. Her name was crossed off or ticked off on a list of voters and she was given a voting form. She went into a private booth to vote and then folded her ballot paper and put it in the box.
There were a number of people in military uniforms sat in the sidelines overseeing the whole process. Probably about 7 or 8 of them, they must have been generals or colonels judging by their splendid uniforms. They all returned Mrs S' greeting when she entered the poll booth, but ignored me.
Sat separate from them were 2 of the candidates (B & C) - no doubt looking to see if people they gave their cash to had come to vote. The current pooyaibahn, candidate A, was not at the poll booth. (He was the big spender who flashed THB2,000 but also said he did not want another term of office).
The results are now out and the winner was Candidate A. The current boss wins another term. Congratulations to him and well done to his THB2,000!
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 3:29 am on Nov. 24, 2010
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expatchuck
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Mr. Wheat:
I asked my wife some weeks ago about your plight and meant to post her answer earlier. Alas, I forgot.
Anyway, she had told me she and her father, mother, brother all take whatever anybody is offering and then vote for whoever they want. She said nobody would know how they voted so what difference does it make.
Sounds just like Chicago politics. 
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 7:50 am on Nov. 24, 2010
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CalEden
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Wow! Shreddy your wife can now afford to bf you a Baccara girl long time. 555! Meg spent a ton here, if she gave me that kind of money I would have voted for her!
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 8:33 am on Nov. 24, 2010
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harold444
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so you voted for jerry brown?
god help us all!
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 1:56 pm on Nov. 24, 2010
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