And I’m especially cracking up after checking Saitou’s ISP. 
Actually, I think pitting Dutch Rail might not be a bad idea, in the same way that burning them at the stake is not a bad idea. Every day during my morning commute (by company car, thank god) you hear reports of various “seinstoringen” (problems with signals), “wisselstoringen” (problems with switches), and “aanrijdingen” (the rail version of fender benders) causing delays to rail travelers. You’d think that the Netherlands would be an ideal country to run an efficient rail system (high population density, short distances), but in Germany I never heard about that many problems, or ran into that many delays. I think only the British have a worse rail infrastructure at the moment.
Then again maybe we should just pit the entire Ministry of Transportation, because the traffic jams in this country are also a real hoot. Especially the ones caused by rubberneckers, that usually end up longer than the ones caused by the actual accident.
Well, in defense of Dutch Rail (where the hell is this thread going?), they were one of the best railway companies in the world up until 10 years ago. Among the factors that have caused the decline in service, many are outside their span of control:[ul][]The “OV-jaarkaart” (free public transport pass for students) means full trains with lower revenue, since the government pays NS a pitiful amount per student per year, whilst other passengers who’d pay the normal fair opt to take the car 'cause the trains are full of students.[]The Dutch state owns the infrastructure: there’s nothing NS can do about the poor condition of the tracks and electricity conduits, as they don’t own them and have to wait for the state’s orders to carry out repairs.The half-assed privatisation of the company. When NS issued shares, who got the majority of them? That’s right, the Dutch state. So they’re now telling the NS: “You have to make a profit. And we’re not subsidising you anymore, because you’re no longer a state firm [sub][sup]just a mostly state-owned one, muahahahhaa[/sup][/sub], so quitcherbitchin’ and make us some money, dammit!”. Meanwhile, the same state lets the infrastructure rot, runs a completely inefficient road policy, leaving NS with an impossible task. If you ask me, they should just revert it all, and make it a state company again. Susidize the living shit out of it. It’ll clear up the roads for us rich people. ;)[/ul]
Wasn’t it Tom Lehrer’s acquaintance who was involved in animal husbandry - until they caught him at it one day?
We here in the U.S. of A. are blessed with wonderful free and independent media, at least the part that Clear Channel hasn’t bought out yet. :mad:
Viasat in Norway( and probarbly other countries too) offers a new channel that sends 12 hours of Fox News and 12 hours of Al-Jazeera (dubbed to english).
Also enough to know that the first word in the OP is an unfavored spelling choice that drives grammarians nuts? 
Coldfire, say it isn’t so! They turned that wonderful Dutch Rail into AMTRAK??? (Actually, it sounds like Amtrak’s evil twin).
In case it’s not clear, Cervaise is complaining here about Coldfire’s use of “Alright,” which should of course be spelled “Awright.”
Oh, all right, Cervaise, I’ll clean up my act. You could have complimented me on my wonderful use of American slang (“alright, y’all!”), but noooo! It had to be a cheap shot at the furrener. Feh.
Nametag, I wouldn’t go as far as to claim it’s at Amtrak level already, but it’s certainly approaching British Rail. Or whichever one of the 20,000 rail companies they have over there now.
BBC America is horrible. All they show is Britcoms and BBC World News every couple of hours. Now, I like the news, but I could do without all of the Britcoms. I don’t really like sitcoms here in America either. When I’ve seen the BBC in Europe, it is full of great documentaries and news, etc. I think if the BBC broadcast the regular BBC in America that it would be more popular. As far as bias is concerned, I am not sure.
To respond to the OP. I would be glad that someone is trying to avoid the bias that is here in America. You can probably sort out the facts, and maybe the Dutch can, but the Americans certainly can’t. Whether the dutch can actually manage to be objective in their viewing (easier since it isn’t the local perspective), is a different story. So, who knows.
But get this: CNN is the most liberal cable news channel in the US. CNN International is less biased than CNN America. So it is even more biased. Fox and CNN are horrible because they appeal to emotions. Why? Emotions are interesting, and that sells. If you just give a logical perspective, then there will be no advertising.
Coldfire, you gonna be okay without your dose of Wolf Blitzer?
So futureman, seeing as how you’re posting from the US, how do you sort out the facts?
Did you, by any chance, happen to be on crack when you were in Europe? I once spent a very lazy week in London, watching much more TV than I should have, and my main impression of the BBC schedule was: stupid American sitcoms, stupid Australian soap operas, Jerry Springer, stupid Britsh sitcoms, more Jerry Springer, and then some “wacky” music shows. Not only did it suck, but I remember them showing some hideous Graham Hancock documentary about how aliens built the Pyramids that infuriated me so much that I mentally composed a letter to the BBC for presenting such tripe. (I never got around to sending it, alas.)
Fox News and Al-Jazeera back to back?? Isn’t that like putting matter and anti-matter togther?
Ha! That is truely Awful! Hmm, I guess I don’t know as much about it as I thought. But when I was in Spain and France, the BBC that I got there was pretty good. Except that I didn’t watch all that much of it. I suppose my idea of the BBC having cool programing was just a mistake : (. Oh well. Maybe I was watching BBC International? which is different from BBC America which is different from BBC in the UK?
Can someone explain?
Well, for one thing, BBC America doesn’t just show BBC shows. “So Graham Norton,” a staple of BBC America late-night, is on Channel Four in the UK.
Heh. Have you listened to the radio lately? In my region the last independent radio station just got bought out. You cannot get any radio (short of college or pirate radio) that is not Clear Channel. It’s this way in most of the nation. I mean, I guess it’s okay because they paid for it and all (Assumeing we are just throwing the concept of public ownership of the airwaves out the window like the FCC has) but you still cannot argue that Capitalism garentees any sort of variety.
But we can count on communism guaranteeing no variety right?
No, Amsterdam will be fine, and as can be read higher up, so will the provinces mentioned in the OP. We can still all get our daily ration of Shock and Awe.
Of course, the Program Commission of the city of Amsterdam cut CNN off the cable package a few years ago because they felt the annual fee CNN charged for the feed was too high. IIRC, it was 750,000 Guilders, which is $350,000 or so. For a region with over a million people in it. Less than a buck per person per year, and they threw it out. Did the same thing to MTV.
That lasted about, oh, 2 months or so. I guess these Program Commissions really like abusing their power, or something.
Ah, even sven, that’s what you get for living in the provinces. Over here in NYC (or its 'burbs, which is the same thing) we even have a privately owned station that plays classical. The NPR station (out of Newark) plays jazz, which is allright with me too.
There’s only two Clear Channel stations, AFAIK, the one that carries Imus on AM, and the one that carries Stern on FM.
insert Bronx cheer here.