Well I wasn't arguing that an equivalent to the BBC should be created in the US, but yeah other than that I agree. At the same time it's nice that other countries have different systems. No one is perfect and it's nice to observe what seems to work and what doesn't.

Right, so you would eliminate an institution that functions well purely on an ideological basis? What would the benefits be? That isn't very different from the forced nationalisation of private companies just for ideological reasons. Wouldn't it be better to take a practical approach to issues?

Even in Rome the government paid for both entertainment and the distribution of news, but tradition isn't a valid argument neither for or against.

You don't agree where the line has been drawn as to what the role of the governments role, I don't agree either to be honest. But I believe the BBC works well and does a good job and provides a good return for the money invested, so why get rid of it on ideological reasons?

For the same reasons you pay for a fire department, military equipment, soldiers, public education, roads, bridges, national parks, scientific research, and a thousand other things. At least with the BBC if you haven't got a TV you don't pay the license fee. It's nice to have tv programming that doesn't have to cater to the lowest common denominator.

Hard to say, there could be 20 in the flat array if there are an additional ten on the other side of the roof. And I'm pretty sure the tree has 20 not 18, but some are hard to see in the picture.

Interesting until you see the 9 countries ahead of it and it makes sense. Most of the money spent on military by the 9 countries ahead as a percentage of GDP, get the money from the US anyway, either through oil sales or military aid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

Prices in the EU include VAT, which is about 20% depending on the country. Prices in the US not include the tax, which is added.

Regarding the teenage girl, apparently she didn't throw a stone, but she was beaten. The following v http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPIq9tOoHLM&t=4m41s

isn't a photograph just the result of photons striking a surface (film)?