Banned bets
Re: "Anutin bans poker, sports gambling nationwide", (BP, Oct 23). So, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has banned gambling again. The prohibition specifically aims at poker and other similar sports-themed card games. The Ministry of Tourism and Sport earlier classified poker only as a sport? Well, it's not, is it -- it's a card game that is invariably played for money, unlike many others, such as bridge, which are not.
Nevertheless, the ban is not extended to horse racing in the capital. I'm sure, and of course, the elephant in the room, the "vice" that is deemed acceptable and a great funding source for government coffers -- the lottery.
Maybe now, fans at cock fighting will desist from a wager and be content with just the aesthetic experience of two animals clawing themselves to death, or "high low" with the excitement of throwing three dice to see what the total is, without having a punt.
Ian Dann
Carbon confusion
Re: "Vegan future", (PostBag, Oct 23).
I didn't want to write any more here on PostBag, but when Jason Baker writes such unscientific information about the greenhouse effect of methane emissions from livestock that he must have Googled, I have to emphasise the scientific facts.
Methane emissions are often blamed for climate change, leading to harsh agricultural regulations that hurt farmers worldwide. Cattle and sheep, which naturally produce methane while digesting grass, have become targets of such policies.
Some countries now impose climate taxes and require feed additives like Bovaer to reduce methane. However, physicists William Happer and WA van Wijngaarden show in their paper "Methane and Climate" that methane's warming effect is minimal -- about one-tenth that of CO₂. The study urges policymakers to stop exaggerating methane's impact and to end unfair regulations that threaten farmers, who are essential to global food production.
Of course, everyone is free to eat vegan or not, but stop the war against farmers based on the climate ideology.
Anna Aarts
Oversight absent
Re: "Cabinet mulls easing zoning rules", (Business, Oct 23).
The government wants to remove zoning for entertainment venues in order to benefit whom? Such establishments are meccas for human trafficking, drug distribution, illicit drug use, noise pollution, and criminal activity in general.
The police reap huge financial rewards in bribes, kickbacks, and even ownership of these establishments, and now the government wants a piece of the action from an increase in tax revenue.
Thai politicians should enshrine in the next charter a bulletproof means to exercise oversight and control of the police and the military. The zoning fiasco now in the hopper is merely an admission that no oversight exists and government officials prefer destroying quiet, peaceful residential communities rather than establishing the rule of law.
Michael Setter
Correction
A word in the head of the Oct 23 editorial lead should have read "cannon", not "canon". We apologise for such a glaring mistake.
