"The constitution, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the cabinet and the Constitutional Court have all been terminated"

The quote is from General Sonthi Boonyaratglin one of Thailand's new military rulers.

Days like today I realize my fortune in being born an American. I very much dislike Bush. I feel he may be breaking the law. I think his policies are bad for the country. But I am fairly sure that if the military tried to take over the country or any other group tried to take control of this country through violence I would be on the front lines fighting against them.

Somehow, through luck or design we have inherted tremendously stable institutions. I can't imagine having our government overthrown in a military coup which is exactly what happened in Thailand today. Here is a helpful timeline from the Financial Times. Apparently he is being overthrown for corruption charges. I don't understand it at all.

We talk about the close election in 2000 and we hear Democrats say "Well, Gore won the 2000 election". This is usually a statement meant to bring a friendly reminder and a smile. We might have complained, we might have been bemused a little. Nobody boycotted the next election. It's like watching a very important football game and your team loses due to a poor call from a referee. You deal with it. You come back next year.

Here's to our country. Cheers.