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[quote user="Steam Is King"][quote user="Bucyrus"] The public sector always strives to enlarge itself by taking over activities of the private sector.  It creates special interest advocacy groups who publish studies highlighting safety threats, and feed them to the news media.  Without even realizing that they are being used like a tool, the news media broadcasts the safety threat to the public.  The public is predictably alarmed, so they turn around and besiege their representatives to do something about the safety threat.  So even though most of us are skeptical of this issue because we understand railroad bridges and the reasonably reliable motives of the railroads to properly inspect them, 99% of the viewers will just lap this up.  So the larger objective to put the government in charge of railroad bridge inspection by getting the public to demand it will have been furthered.  Meanwhile KSTP news will merely believe they are enhancing their ratings by protecting us like children on an inside tip they got from a special interest (with no agenda) suggesting they look into railroad bridge safety.       [/quote]Bucyrus, you do a great selling job with your complex and persuasive rhetoric, I'll give you that.However, regarding your extremely strong, broad,sweeping statements and terms i've highlighted, what are your sources for these staetments and statistics, to support your contentions? Convince me. Chico[/quote]Chico, I understand your point.  My statements are only my opinion, based upon my own observation.  My hope is that by making them broad and sweeping, others will be able to see the larger picture, evaluate the detailed evidence themselves, and make their own determination as to the accuracy of what I am saying.Because the scope of these issues is so vast, the details are endlessly refutable from both sides of the arguments.  All the details can obscure the big picture, so it can become a case of not seeing the forest for the trees.  Within the limits of the forum, I can only hope to paint a picture of the forest.  I have my opinions about the TV news media, and I test them for accuracy by predicting what their take will be on a story that I expect them to cover.  Tonight's railroad bridge story will be a perfect opportunity to see if my expectations about it will come true.  I have seen a television presentation in the past that focused on railroad safety and hazardous cargo.  They partially made their case for alarm by pointing out "defects" such as ties with end checking, and tie plates that did not have a spike in all eight holes.
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