Walloping Mr. Wallop

This letter was submitted to the Bangkok Post’s Post Bag in regards to recent allegations that Thai Airways executive chairman Wallop Bhukkanasut and his wife travelled from Tokyo's Narita airport to Suvarnabhumi airport on Nov 14 with more than 40 suitcases weighing 390kg without paying excess weight charges! It should have cost them hundreds of thousands of baht.


In a country where everyone from public school teachers to government officials all have a hand in corruption this is just another one of those scandals. Thai Airways has long been marred in scandals involving nepotism, cronyism and favoritism. However, I resent having to unpack my luggage at the check-in counter when I am 1kg over the 20kg limit for international flights and then hear about assholes like this skirting the law. Someone needs to wallop Mr. Wallop into the unemployment line!


“I have resided in Thailand for the last four years and fly home to the US for visits once or twice a year. I have spent lots of time searching ticket prices for international flights and have never once flown Thai Airways whose ticket prices are almost double the cost of China or EVA airlines. Costs aside, I have heard nothing but complaints about the service of Thai airlines as well.


Now we have the excess baggage scandal regarding the Thai Airways executive chairman Wallop Bhukkanasut beginning to surface. For all the good it may do, if this little man is not fired from his position for this massive abuse of his authority, which is likely just the tip of the iceberg, I will never fly Thai Airlines and dissuade everyone I know from ever flying with this corrupt airline.”

Health Care Rant

It looks like the Senate has proposed a health care bill under the heading, 'The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act'. The bill will include regulations on insurers, cover 31 million uninsured Americans and will include new Medicare benefits. This will add some relief for tax payers who, if the GOP have their way, would continue footing the bill for the millions of uninsured individuals making emergency room visits or millions spent covering lost economic output for each premature death due to lack of health insurance.

Those who are opposed to this bill don't seem clear as to what exactly it is they are opposing. All this right wing nut hype about a government takeover, socialized medicine and jail time for not ‘buying in’ are unsubstantiated opinions causing confusion in the midst of an important debate. The practice of insurance companies refusing coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and charging the sick higher premiums are issues that affect us all and need to be confronted head-on. Let's not forget the underlying premise behind the need for health care reform is to lower costs and provide coverage to more individuals.

Despite all of the fear mongering and right-wing scare tactics I think the Republican's biggest fear is that this might just succeed. There is also the fact that opponents of the bill are the recipients of millions in campaign contributions. Their main priority is not to satisfy the needs of the majority of Americans, but to do the bidding of the health and drug industries.

The debate over whether we can afford a health care bill in the $850 billion range completely misses the point. The misguided right wingers wrongly assume that doing nothing will cost nothing. In fact, Senate Republicans seem poised to fight against the bill tooth and nail yet do not offer any alternatives. I don’t recall the GOP, including many Democrats, putting up any resistance to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which are projected to cost up to $1 trillion. To all of the fiscal conservatives out there, what have the American people gained in less than 10 years of unprecedented military spending?

The big question for opponents of the bill with annual incomes of less than $200,000 a year. What is it that you are opposed to?