Developing…

Looks like Thai people hate democracy almost as much as they hate it when I ask them to deliver green curry chicken to my apartment at around 10:54 three times a week…

Do not be fooled by the fact that the group occupying the airport call themselves the "People's Alliance for Democracy." Their intent is clearly anti-democratic. They have just brought down an elected government. Their broader demands are for Thailand's directly-elected parliament to be replaced by a legislative body that is 70% appointed. Sondhi Limthongkul, a Thai tycoon (Thaicoon?), who is the group's de facto leader says bluntly that — "Representative democracy is not suitable for Thailand."

The middle-class backers of the PAD hate the fact that under universal suffrage, the votes of the rural poor in the north of Thailand are usually decisive. They see this as a formula for corruption and pork-barrel politics. Hence, their desire to roll back democracy.

You know, it may seem wrong to you, but you really do need to look at the bigger picture.

That's what time I get hungry. And they don't specify on their take out menu what time they stop delivering.

(via Andrew Sullivan)

So Newt Gingrich & Co. couldn't get Bill Clinton out of office for lying about sex with an intern. Dennis Kucinich couldn't get George W. Bush out of office for lying to take the country into war. Heck, the Radical Republicans couldn't even get Andrew Johnson out of office for illegally removing Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of War!

But over in Thailand, they can remove their leaders from office for appearing on cooking shows!

You read that right. Yesterday, the Thai Supreme Court ordered Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to resign his seat for receiving $2,350 in illegal payments for appearing on the popular cooking show "Tasting and Complaining." Samak had in fact been the host of the show for seven years prior to becoming Prime Minister, and food was always his trademark…

Few could have predicted that it would be his love of cooking that ousted Mr Samak — it has been one of his few saving graces for much of his premiership.

His attempt to win back the support of the Army included serving chicken curry to soldiers serving along the Cambodian border, and his response to rising food inflation was to offer poorer Thais a cheap but nourishing recipe for sikrong kai tomfuk — chicken bone soup.

What a country! I guess the equivalent in the United States would be if we elected Paula Deen to the presidency, and then impeached her for excessive use of lard.