Thai government poll apparently shows 99 per cent of citizens are happy with the leadership

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Thailand's military-ruled government has claimed that 99 per cent of the country's people are happy with its performance since it took power in a coup last year.

The survey by the government-run National Statistics Office comes as Prayuth Chan-Ocha, the Thai prime minister, and his ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) are struggling to kick start Thailand’s slumping economy.

Of the 2,700 people questioned for the poll, 99.3 per cent said they were satisfied with the government’s overall performance, while 98.9 per cent said they were confident the NCPO could solve Thailand’s problems.

But the fact that the survey was conducted by a government ministry has raised doubts as to whether it was a truly independent poll.

Speaking on Wednesday, the prime minister defended his crackdown on dissent and brushed aside criticism of his government’s human rights record.

The former general also mounted a vigorous defence of the May 2014 coup that saw the junta topple the electedgovernment of Yingluck Shinawatra.

“Some people say I came to power illegitimately. I’d say we came in to fix things and push needed reforms,” said Mr Prayuth.

Since seizing power, the junta has been accused of gagging the media and of detaining an ever-increasing number of critics of the regime for so-called "attitude adjustment".

There has also been a steep rise in the number of people prosecuted under Thailand’s lese-majeste laws, which are designed to protect the country’s revered monarchy and are some of the strictest in the world. Human rights groups have claimed that the laws are being used to silence the junta's political opponents.

Mr Prayuth dismissed those criticisms during a speech at Government House in Bangkok on Wednesday morning, in which he outlined the NCPO’s achievements over the last year and said that Thailand remained on course to hold elections again in 2017.

“To those who say we have lost our democracy, I’d say I am sorry, but we cannot afford to waste the time we have now to change our country,” said Mr Prayuth. “Those accusing me of breaching human rights need to understand that we are operating in unusual circumstances.”

Mr Prayuth has also sought to boost morale in Thailand by penning his own songs. His latest tune, Because You Are Thailand, was released at the beginning of the week and includes lyrics such as, "If we join hands and breathe together, the day we hope for is not far away". It follows the release of Returning Happiness to the People, which Mr Prayuth composed soon after the 2014 coup.

But the country remains mired in an economic slump. A combination of declining exports and record levels of household debt has resulted in the International Monetary Fund slashing its 2016 growth forecast for the Thai economy from four per cent to 3.2 per cent.

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North Korean Prison Camp Survivor: Starving Women Cooked & Ate Their Own Children

North Korean Prison Camp Survivor:

Kim Hye Sook suffered unbearable pain and emotional suffering when she was detained for 28 years in a secretive North Korean concentration camp. Brutal executions, starvation — even mothers killing and eating their children to ensure their own survival — were regular occurrences.
Kim — who miraculously escaped from the Bukchang prison camp back in 2003 – granted CBN News with the first American television news interview to discuss these horrendous conditions. She now lives in South Korea, with the details of her escape remaining classified for security reasons. This summer, she released a memoir entitled, “A Concentration Camp Retold in Tears.”
When she was 13-year-old, her tragic tale began. The year was 1975 and in the blink of an eye the young girl was captured alongside her entire family. After years of suffering, she didn’t taste freedom until she was 41-years-old. Kim explains:

“My entire family went to prison. Some were taken to the mountains; others were put in different labor camps all because of my grandfather’s one mistake: he escaped to South Korea during the Korean War.”

Two women are watched by a North Korean guard (Photo Credit: AP)

Today, Kim wears dark glasses to ensure that her identity remains concealed. While she lost seven family members in the re-education camp, she currently has two sisters and a brother who are still imprisoned. She described a typical day at the camp:

“I attended indoctrination classes in the morning. In the afternoon the children were sent to push trolleys in the coal mines, often without any safety gear.

People were dying in the mines. There were numerous mine collapses, so many injuries, people who lost their legs, many who were buried alive. It was horrible.

I was treated like a slave and worse. I hardly slept. It was inhuman. But I never complained. I just followed all the rules. I had to find a way to survive.”

Kim claims that the conditions were so terrible that she thought about committing suicide “hundreds of thousands of times” during her 28-year detention. But because there was always someone watching her, this simply wasn’t an option:

“Each prisoner is assigned to watch four or five other prisoners. So if anything happens, the other prisoners would alert the guards because they didn’t want to get into trouble themselves.”

While her descriptions of executions are absolutely horrendous, nothing is more disturbing than her memories about those individuals who she saw kill their children in an effort to stave off hunger. In one instance, she recalls a mother boiling her 9-year-old daughter. In another fit of desperation, a woman killed her 16-year-old son, chopped him up and took him to a butcher to obtain some corn in exchange.
Kim admits that these details are difficult to share, but she bravely proclaims, “I want the world to see these images and to hear my testimony.” In describing the conditions in the isolated and volatile nation, she says, “I am living proof that there are no human rights in North Korea.” In September, she was invited to Washington, D.C., where she testified before a congressional panel about the conditions she faced.
Watch her story, below:

Progressive Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee Pushes for Obama Dictatorship

February 5, 2014 By Jennifer Burke Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Reminiscent of FDR’s Second Bill of Rights, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, along with a few more progressive Democrats, have formed the Congressional Full Employment Caucus. Their goals, as stated on their website is to serve as a platform and working group for Members dedicated to identifying solutions to our current unemployment crisis and advocating for legislative action. Ultimately, the goal of the Caucus is to realize the dream of a society in which every American who wants to work has the right to some form of employment.

American Black Racist.

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Members of the caucus include Democrats Rep. John Conyers Jr., Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Charles Rangel, Rep. Frederica Wilson, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Jose Serrano, Rep. Mike Quigley, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
Jackson Lee, known for her staunch and constant defense of Barack Obama, plans on using this newly formed caucus to help Obama with pledge to make 2014 be ‘a year of action’ with or without Congress. In support of his pledge to rule America as a dictator, Jackson Lee has stated that the Congressional Full Employment Caucus will help Obama by sending him numerous executive orders. This will be their top priority.
As reported at CNSNews.com, Jackson-Lee made the following statement to reporters during the launch of the caucus on January 29^th.

 “We will be answering the call of all of America because people need work and we’re not doing right by them by creating work,” Jackson Lee said.
“I believe this caucus will put us on the right path and we’ll give President Obama a number of executive orders that he can sign with pride and strength.”

- See more at: http://www.tpnn.com/2014/02/05/progressive-democrat-sheila-jackson-lee-pushes-for-obama-dictatorship/#sthash.MKe3ORx4.dpuf