John Galt Presents: Extortion StickmanBangkok Style

Paul Owen never ceases to bring levity to the creative art of Bangkok Internet publishing. Paul has a kind of shameless "passive aggressive" style to his spin on the news and events.

In this week's rendition of the StickmanBangkok weekly, Paul writes his whole opening article about extortion and how it's a ugly business, and how extortion seems to be popular among one's own kind, but he doesn't bother to point out to you how he is extorting a Pattaya Gogo bar in calling on Windmill for an apology. What is the old saying about the pot calling the kettle black? Sorry Paul, you'll not get any sympathy from me.

Paul brings this to everyone's attention with the link that he published back to a reader's submission which was written by the one who purportedly was "savagely beaten" at a gogo called the Windmill Club - BangkokBarry. Please take a few minutes to read that article and Stickman's weekly before you continue here for an understanding of what I'm about the write.....

Ok, let's first talk about Mr BangkokBarry (part of the Thailand Internet Writer Guild). Something's is not exactly jiving here..... Stick describes Barry's attack as brutal, yet Barry didn't immediately leave the bar? Why not? Barry swears he wasn't drunk. But he testifies that he didn't even know he as bleeding until he touched his forehead. So, I would say that they guy was as least partially inebriated. Any sober person who had just been roughed up would have left the bar and then assessed his damage right away. Clearly he was not completely aware of just how roughly he was handled.

He was there for 4 hours -- that is kind of atypical. From what I have seen and experienced, the girls don't like this. They are there to get bar-fined. And if their are lucky -- come back and do it again later that night. Simply put, if BangkokBarry was focused on one particular girl that night -- and was pissed off that she had moved to another table, I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that he wasn't bar fining and taking her.

Barry keeps saying that "he is professional" in his article.... he writes this twice -- well yea -- What of it? So, you're a professional. You're a professional of some sort laying out bills for drinks and dancing in gogo bar in Pattaya. I don't see the point about harping about your professional status and being "in journalism where I'm arguably one of the top 10 specialists in the world". Man - don't make me laugh. You're in bar for christ sakes in Pattaya having one hell of a time with the ladies. In a bar, you're not measured by your ability to write - unless you're making out checks.

I'm a professional too. Ok - from now on the Great Galt declares himself one of the top 10 engineers who is a "specialist" in naughty night life here in Thailand. (people, can I get a certificate to hang on my wall for this?)

Look, I think case is simple. Barry wasn't taking the girl, and when he made a pit stop at the toilet, she took up with another customer. Barry got pissed and raised his displeasure with the mamasan. The mamasan was frightened with Barry and his approach -- she called over the door guys and they were spooked into a small physical confrontation. Barry, wasn't aware of just exactly how much damaged occurred and next day when he sees his black eye -- felt completely embarrassed and foolish and rather upset and calls on "Don Coreleone" Stickman to extort some payback.

Now, I know what you're thinking..... You're thinking --- but Keith, Stickman was just being a reporter and exercising free speech in an effort to counter this bad treatment and protect the health and safety of the farangs in Pattaya.

Normally, I would agree with you except (this is where Stickman style is very subtle).... he takes liberty with his publishing that over-steps his bounds.

At the bottom of that reader's submission, Stickman makes a response that includes the following:

With all of this said, that this incident happened should not come as a huge surprise to anyone. It takes precious little to set some Thais off, and frankly many employed in the nightlife industry are extremely volatile. We're talking an industry full of messed up people, many of them time bombs. And let us not forget that this fun industry with the bars that we enjoy is in fact prostitution. Lest we forget that.

Windmill now has a wonderful chance to put the situation right. Whether / how they do that is up to them, but I truly hope that they actually come to the party with not just an apology, but some sort of assurance that this will never happen again. A bit of contrition, a genuine apology and a willingness to put things right could win you many new customers. Windmill, it's over to you.

I can hear the other gogo bars owners saying now "Why that two-faced son of a bitch Stickman". Flat out here - Stickman calls the nightlife industry dangerous with volatile workers -- and tries to reinforce the fact that these places are just covers for prostitution. I comment like this is a direct attack on the Windmill.

Perhaps the Windmill will want to sue Stickman for this flagrant accusations that they are somehow involved with illegal activities? (this is just a joke because I'm being sued right now for my publishing)

And what about all the other bars and gogos that Stickman "pimps out" to his readership? Angelwitch, Catz a Gogo, Electric Blue, Shark Bar, and others; are they all part of the "industry of messed up people"? Is Stickman also calling all them part of the fun industry and insinuating they too are just prostitution? That's right Stickman, if these establishment are just a cover for prostitution, then you must be a pimp.

Stickman has laid out his demands pretty clearly. He want the Thailand Internet readership to call down the Windmill. He want Windmill to bow to pressure and lay out an apology. Barry also posted this bad press on ThaiVisa.com but they shut that thread down pretty quick.

Looks like this older 60 year old guy, is just having a hard time accepting the fact they he was a party to miss-understanding. BangkokBarry is a friend of Stickman and as part of the extended StickmanBangkok team Barry has published a few articles on Stickman's web site. In this Quid Pro Quo world of Thailand, Barry is calling in a marker and Stickman is responding.

However, that said, I also believe that bar should to do everything possible to not rough up drunk patrons. That should be a last resort when it comes to misunderstandings. I hope the Windmill will allow me to post their response to this unfortunate situation.

As for myself, I have never seen these purported "volatile Thai bouncers" at any club. If anything, they tend to under-respond in the typical Thai laid back fashion. I know about bouncers. I have seen many in my time in the US. Western bouncers can be high strung. I've never seen a volatile Thai bouncer.

If a girl walks off - then I just go talk to someone else. I don't recommend taking things to seriously in any bar and your need to complain will be small. If you have invested a lot in any one particular girl, be prepared to walk away from it without complaint and chalk it up to another learning experience.

At this point, The Windmill Club may not even respond at all just to show Stickman and the rest of us that he doesn't run the show.

I rather enjoys Sticks little tough-guy episode. Yea, o'Sticky is looking like wise-guy now. I can picture it, the Stickman and the boys meeting up just before his appointment with the blackmailer.....

Stick, I'm gonna stay right heer. I got jor back -- Okay? Ok, Vinny - you and Gweedo hang out over dare.... (finger waving in the air with a big fat gold ring on it) Stick, if you need me, you just give me da sign and me and boys will be dare and bust some heads. Capiche? (little double slap on Stick's face).

You got to love Stick for the theatrics. Stickman the New Zealander who grew up working behind a movie ticket counter is now a tough guy pulling off an operation on the streets of Bangkok. English teacher by day and bad dude by night. That has to rank high on the Stick-0-Excitment-Meter. But, come to think of it -- Stickman has been running PI investigations on Bar Girls for a while -- so perhaps that was ample preparation for him showing down a con man.

So, this has left me wondering -- just what is Stickman hiding? If he says that most foreigners are dirty in one way or another and then Stickman did take the meeting..... this begs the question, what was the genuine risk to himself? Is there really something that Stickman is hiding? I mean, -- he did organize a few thugs to go out and meet this guy in public. Why not just meet the guy in public as a single person?

You know about 15 months ago, I referred to Stickman as heading up a syndicate. Does arranging a meeting with a con-man accompanied by body guards give an appearance that Stickman is head of a syndicate now?

Hum.... well, these little things just catch my attention....Comical story though.

Most of you reading the internet article over the past year or so are aware of my antics. I claimed that Stickman was abusing his position as a trusted on-line Bangkok commentator and taking liberties with the news to hurt other people (and line his own pockets with opportunities). And when I say "hurt" other people I mean hurt their business by publishing highly questionable and perhaps exaggerated stories.

I began in earnest over a year ago to apply a little pressure against him to "cut the shit" and fly right. What happened is that Stickman and some of his friends waged a little war with me on other web sites.

Stickman had previously written quite a bit about him being an English teacher. But, when he found out that I had his name a place of work - he went berserk and immediately pulled down his web site.

Then, sometime in the following weeks, he contacted me. One of those first contacts we had went much like a meeting to discuss a pay off.

But, it wasn't Stickman who was making the call. He had someone else make the call.... Oh yea.... Stickman called one of his friends to call me up one Saturday morning. Some might consider that Stickman was too much of a chicken shit to call me himself.... but that is not exactly the case. I had emailed Stickman plenty with the answers to his questions.

Stickman chose Andy of Electric Blue to call me. Andy has been a friend of Stickman for many years and Stickman publishes news for Electric Blue on a regular basis. So, the Stickman web site helps to pull in money for Electric Blue.

And my guess is that he choose Andy because Andy is serious character. Andy is someone who has some clout and to see him and and know who it is, you would not want to mess with him. He is a guy with a military background in he is probably pretty well suited to the night club business. He is not a guy to be messed with. I think Stickman choose Andy for the fear factor. So, yet again Stickman using "muscle men" to handle his affairs on this occasion.

Andy got on the phone with me and introduced himself. He was cordial - civil and sounded a in a minor way frustrated and put out a bit because he was asked to be in the middle between Stick and I discussing the issue of my web site. Andy asked me straight, "What do you want?". And basically Andy was cutting through the chase and getting right to the heart of the issue. He wanted to know if I was on the take.

I said I want Stickman to start publishing more responsibly and get the StickmanBangkok.com web site business legal.

He responded something to the affect, "You know the gogo business isn't legal". And I responded "Yes, but you follow all the rules set out to you by the authorities who govern you. You are paying taxes. You are applying for licenses. You are are not hiding what you are doing. You are not taking shots at other businesses by reporting questionable stories..... our conversation didn't last very much longer. Nothing was decided on that call. Throughout Andy was a gentlemen towards me and I assume that he reported directly back to Stickman what I had said.

I wasn't scared off by the call.... I'm sure this came as a disappointment to Sticman.

So, technically, I'm a blackmailer. I have put some efforts into calling attention to what I consider Stickman's efforts to hurt very particular people for very specific reasons.

I have levied a fair number of accusations at him and in each case, Stickman has chosen to not respond to them. Fine, that is his choice.

Stickman's happy to call out the Windmill gogo on the Internet. Stickman is not afraid of Windmill? I guess he thinks that the owner Dave can be "handled".

How about me Stick? Do you have nerve and the wherewithal to face me and answer the accusations that I charged you with? Do I pose a worthy adversary?

It's time for me to tell you something about my past. This may be considered by some as one of those dirty things in my past where I didn't cross all my t's and dot my i's.

I can tell you where this came from. I've been reading and watching the publishing on the Internet for about 7 years now. This thought about how foreigners can be deport due to a past conviction surfaced about 15 months ago when Stickman fled the internet for a few months and my identity was on parade at MangoSauce.com.

The StickmanBangkok team came up with this factoid for me. Oh yes. I'm pretty close to 100% sure. Let me explain further....

Once Stickman figured it out who I was - and I can assure you I didn't make this overly difficult. A number of Stickman's people looked to vilify me. They wanted to scare me. So they loaded up the Internet with my personal information.

In the process they purchased a copy of my personal records from the US and posted my work history, the places that I lived, etc. Most of these items were true - some where not (records were wrong), and in that long list of items there was a very interesting find. They found a serious black mark against my past. They came across a public record that said that I was arrested for possession of a controlled substance -- cocaine.

And of course with this news they proudly proclaimed they could easily have me expelled from Thailand and that I should just shut up an do a "web runner". (think this was well before the Stickman machine cranked up the Pedophile rhetoric).

They have drummed this beat about expulsion a couple of times in months past months from the internet. Here is one called "Dirty Keith" This slander blog looks like the work of Marc Holt, but somehow I doubt he'll own up to it.

On that site you'll see them threaten me with my past and suggest that this will have me thrown out of Thailand.

And now we see this same theme in the Stickman Bangkok weekly -- Coincidence? Just by chance that Stickman came up with this independent thought on his own out of the clear blue sky? Ha ha haha... Got to love this guy.... He is slicker than slick Willy; X-President Bill Clinton with a bent index finger in the air -- "you know, I did not have sexual relations with that woman... Monica Lewinski"

Anyhow, I think its time that I brought this accusation out into the open. I'm perfectly happy to face this off and make a response. It's time to put the mystery to bed and tell you exactly what was behind this public record. And I'm doing this for several reasons.

I have made myself a public figure with my postings on the web. I have been bold and brash and I have put my word out there. I've claimed that I publish honesty in my articles -- and I have no HIDDEN agenda. I do have an agenda it's just not hidden and disguised.

And because I am in the public eye, you have a right to question me and criticize me. You have a basic right to challenge me in the forum in which I am public.

Approximately 20 years ago, I was working in the night club industry. How I got in that business is another story that I don't have time to write about here, but as I said, I was in the night club promotions business.

I was an operator of a night club computerized singles ice-breaker called "Selectrocution". This was a clever concept where the patrons of a club were able to send message to each other over an electronic message board.... Anyhow, in the time frame of about 1987, cocaine was a fairly popular drug - that and pot. My work put me in very direct contact with people in-the-know around the night club business and some of the friends I made back then were sufficiently connected and supplied with the drugs of their choice. One of those people turned out be a very good friend and I moved into his place as a room-mate. During the week, I would travel to 2 or 3 clubs around the state of Florida and then I would be off 4 days of the week with not much else to do but chase pussy with my room-mate when we was off work. So, at some point in time my room-mate introduced to cocaine. We would party nearly every day when I was in town. It got to the point where he was leaving a line for me on the counter on my return date so when I got home I could jump right back into a fun filled 4 day weekend. Well, one thing lead to another and I started taking some of this on the road with me. Then one fateful day about 7 months into the party, I was pulled over on the highway by a Florida State Patrol officer and I consented a search on my car and he found what he was looking for (I was under the influence at the time and they are trained to pick up on that). That was rough day for me. I had never seen a jail before that time. I was 25 that year I believe.

My room-mate felt very guilty about his role in my troubles, but I told him that this was not his fault - it was my choice but he felt bad never the less. He was the one to pick me up when I was bonded out (I was about 2 hour's drive from at the time of my arrest and incarceration).

Anyhow -- Let's move on to the important part. On my court date, I plead no content to the charges. And I stood before the honorable Judge Anderson. He was an average sized middle aged refined white gentleman with straight dark brown hair parted to the left, and wire frame glasses.

I'll never forget that day. He read over the material in front him, flipping the pages one by one. I few moments seemed like an eternity. He spoke softly. He announced that given this was my first time offense and that it looked like my job was taking me into management and out of the night club environment that he declared that the State Florida was going to withhold adjudication of the charges against me pending my successful completion of probation (and a few other things related to rehab, drug testing, etc).

That man in just a moment of time made a judgment that effected a big part of my life. He cut me a break and I made good on it.

About 5 years later in college that I was finally released from probation and my civil rights were restored.

So, there you have it. I have a past. But, unfortunately (for my detractors), I am not a convicted felon. I even have the freedom to petition the courts to have my record expunged and then it would be as if it had never happened. But, I have never felt there was a compelling reason to go back to do this. I consider that incident a swift kick in the ass to get my life back on the correct path and it came at a good time. I'm better off for it today.

Michael (Marc) Holt has really out done himself this time. He already runs a software company, a real estate company, a website design company, a questionable Gem sales business and he is also a featured writer on both StickmanBangkok.com and his personal blog. But now, Marc is developing his grandest scheme yet... He is moving into brokering commodities. His new company name is Aardvark International Trading Ltd. This is clever. He is trying to become a middle man for exchanges that involve millions of dollars. This new venture was kind of on the QT because if you look around you'll notice that he hasn't posted links to this site yet from all his other web sites. His name is not declared on that site yet either -- this is out of character for Marc. I guess he was trying to keep this venture somewhat secret.

The joke around town now is that Marc's Thailand work permit book reads "Type of Activity: Any and all Gypsy Trades that can fly under the Thailand Radar" --- Whopps -- Sorry, that is not entirely correct (I don't want to be sued here). Sometime in his past he claims that his software company was BOI (Board of Investors) certified.

On this commodities site you'll see: We specialize in commodities like urea, rice, sugar, gold, copper, and scrap metal. However, we are always open for inquiries for any other products.

Urea? Well, that is one of the primary compounds in ordinary piss. Hey Marc, we have some buffalo shit up here in Issan that you might be able to sell too...

I didn't know that outsiders were allow to broker Thailand rice deals? I thought work activity like that was solidly outside the work permits and restricted to Thai nationals? What is it that you guys say about messing with another man's rice bowl?

Why is it that Holt and Stickman and others in their group seem to know all the rules and write about them as if they are authorities on that information and then turn around and just disregard them and break them at will? I think the are trying to present an imagine to you that would lead you to believe they are upstanding and beyond reproach.... (sounds like face doesn't it?)

This Marc Holt guy is making an appeal on his web blog for votes for Ron Paul for president... He is very much behind Paul's efforts to revolutionize the US and make it a better place -- WTF? Marc Holt is an Australian. What is it to him who is voted into office? It's none of his damn business who WE vote into office. Evidently this campaigning effort for Paul somehow makes the world economics better for Holt? Perhaps Holt gets paid for those clicks? Yet another internet scam of some sort? Or is it a cheap ploy to gain web traffic? And this guy expects us to take his word seriously?

I broke my normal routine and dressed up a bit. I wore a button down long sleeve shirt (it is a bit cold up on the northeast right now). And I did a lunch run over to the local Lotus Tesco... and I must say that the results were just awful. I had way too many girls flirting with me. Seemed like I had smiles coming at me left and right from various directions. Some were Tesco workers, a few were black skirts -- I felt like a piece of meat being look at by Tigers. This was way too distracting....

I swung by one of the cell phone sales counters where I sometimes flirt with one of the girls. She looked at my change with approval, a node of the head and a smile .... then I said, "You know I dressed up just for you" and she looked sideways at me and give me the short "Woha" sound. (that is the "you're lying to me / don't BS me sound"). Well, I was busted.

Another Email is an opinion about New Zealanders.. I think this is particularly interesting... Would this partially explain Stickman's disappointment in his prospects for the future?

You might not know it ,,but kiwis the world over have a very poor reputation for both scrooginess (this I can live with) and miss-trustworthiness and dishonesty (this I can't stand)(when OUTSIDE their own country - inside it's too small a place). When you see how the average kiwi lives in NZ you will come to realize what a very frugal life many are forced to live...Shopping for everyday items is very expensive...competition is low and service is poor. Sort of like most of them don't want you in their shop at all. It was like that here (oz) once but that was LONG ago. By my rough guestimate I would need about 25% more income to have even a very remote chance of living as well as I do in Sydney than in Auckland....even with the higher money it still would not be as good as there are MANY opportunities here to have fun and save money. This just dosn't exist in NZ,,,,,maybe 50% more income would get you the same lifestyle though - but not the same lifestyle I enjoy here. EVERYTHING is expensive ie shopping , dining out, accommodation, books, dvds, electronics - the lot. Just price a can of house paint in NZ you'll be shocked.

So when your thinking about Stick.....think of where he came from......he could NEVER go back to NZ again - even Auckland doesn't measure up to Sydney let alone Bangkok. He would need to earn WELL OVER $NZ100K (probably more like $120K in the Auckland) and then still not be saving anything to replicate his Thai life there. NZ teachers are very poorly paid, as is nearly everyone else in NZ. Having said that though. if you like natural beauty, fishing, farming, hunting, rambling through the bush and scenic drives and a very safe place to raise a family (esp South Island) there is no better I can imagine as long as you don't expect to buy much.

As usual, I'm the only one on-line who divulges web traffic.... Here are the numbers for the week. Very slow this past week. But -- never know when that can change.

Even though the visitor numbers this month are "ho hum".... The numbers on what they are reading are "huh?"

For about the 3rd or 4th straight month I'm continuing to seeing an unusual pattern. This article that I have circled is being accessed for reasons that can only be explained in one way. I believe the a groups of Thais are reading this page. If they are struggling with the English and coming back over many days - then this could be a smaller group of say -- 20 to 30 people?

You're seeing numbers that total pages hits for 14 days. There are no indicators of where this traffic comes from in my search results or inbound link lists. The only logical explanation is that someone is passing around a link and directly accessing this page. That article is from Oct 26, 2006 and I hardly think it's all the interesting myself. Who do you think would be reading the message on this page?

He sounds awful serous about wanting to write happy stories. This whole year is has been off. He looks defeated. He looks downtrodden. Right now Thailand is not the land of smiles for Stickman.

Stickman has been down and unhappy ever since he did a web runner and pulled his site down from the Internet last year.

And truthfully - I think until he is man enough to take on words like the ones found here on this page -- he is never going to feel that happiness that is he searching for. Stickman is looking for a little victory in his life.

Stickman made a good observation in his column this week. I think it deserves more treatment. Stickman writes about his friendship with a few police friends and he speculates about their response if he would ask them to deport a farang. He writes that they would be difficult to get a person thrown out of Thailand.

I agree with him. I think there are some solid reasons behind that observation that are worth noting:

I've written this before; Thailand is pretty much a Quid Pro Quo culture. "Something for Something". If an official picks up the phone and calls over to another office and asks to have someone thrown out, there is a price to be paid. Either the caller is due a favor, or that person will owe a favor. I think having someone thrown out is a big deal and there is some risk involved. What if the accusations are false? What if a mistake is made? The people involved might very well be embarrassed and look inept. That is a not favorable place for a Thai to be. So, you can be sure, that deportation is a process that is not look on with excitement. I don't think any Thai really wants to be involved with it. If a person of some influence puts themselves out to do this -- there is a price and this person is going to think long and hard before paying it. And if they make a mistake and bring some shame down on a department -- oh, well, that might possibly mean a reduction in career advancement.

Another thing that is a factor is that people in this culture tend to gossip quite a bit behind the scenes and very frequently, information like that is discounted. So, if you're trying to have someone thrown out-- there really has to be over-whelming evidence that warrants it. And it's true, when just words are involved, Thais don't like to take things too seriously.

Just as an aside, I choose not to get too chummy with police officers. I have no police officer friends. I choose to have it this way. Oh, on occasion they give me their cards and ask me to call them if I need them. I just make it a point not to do so. I feel that this increases your risk for being involved with trouble. I think if you have police officers who are close to you and if for any reason they are involved with any questionable activities - then on their way out the door -- you may be come suspect in their activities indirectly.

If I have a genuine issue that arises in the community and I go into the police headquarters to work it out, I want the issue to be dealt with by a group of impartial officers who have no direct ties to me. I want my issues to be judged on the evidence and not skewed by a liaison with an officer in the department. I feel strongly that you get better results when you're an outsider. This has just been my experience. Lots of politics can be at work in a police force and I don't want to be associated with any party that for some reason is currently the wrong side of the current police chief. Also, if you're schmoozing with officers (or governmental employees), I think you may be perceived as someone who needs to build bridges with those in power - and that can cast you into a bad light as being a person who intrinsically needs these kinds of friends (and you have to ask yourself, who are the people who most need these kinds of friends?).

Next week, I have a treat for you. I'm going to tell you about Nakhon Phanom's International Aviation College.

This is a place where you can learn to fly -- I mean learn to FLY. Some of these instructors are some of most experienced pilots in the world. They are all qualified to fly commercial jet aircraft. And their primary goal here are to train new pilots for careers in commercial aviation.

I have been told that the crown prince (who owns and flies a Boeing 737 himself) has been keen with interest in the development of this facility.

In closing... people, you know what I say -- don't just believe me because I say its so. Do your own detective work. Ask lots of questions and demand good answers. Thailand can be a wonderful place to visit or even live but you need to be on guard for shaky businesses and deals that look too good to be true. Don't' let greed guide your decisions and keep your head about you. Offer up the right measure of skepticism and respect to those those nearby and you'll do quite well here.