On Tuesday's installment of the "Today" show's "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" viewers were treated to Lauer strolling by an Amsterdam canal as he talked Dutch politics with a Netherlands' TV host who looked down on America's health care system and the views of "hardcore Republicans" about Holland's legalized prostitution and drugs.
The following exchange occurred on the April 29, "Today" show:
TWAN HUYS, NETHERLANDS TV HOST: But overall if you look at this country it's, it's very rich. Social climate is very good and there's not like, in your country, 40, 50 million people who have no insurance. That's not happening here. It's still, I would say it's, it's a paradise compared to many countries in the world.
MATT LAUER: One of the things that people in the United States immediately think of when they think of Amsterdam, of course is the red light district. How do people here feel about that image abroad?
Story Continues Below Ad ↓HUYS: It, you know, here it has never been an issue, I would say. The red light district, the prostitution, the drugs. It, it has always been there. I've been in your country for seven years and actually the first things that come up is that people ask me, "So how can you live in this hellish country?"
LAUER: Right.
HUYS: "It must be terrible to be in Amsterdam." Especially hardcore Republicans who think that.
(Lauer chuckles.)
LAUER: I knew we'd get into some politics here off the bat. But really what it is people only tend to go to the extremes. They forget is pretty much lived, in the middle.
HUYS: It's a very isolated section here in Amsterdam, prostitution. And I must be fair to the mayor he's really battling the illegal prostitution and the trafficking of women who are underage. And they are really working on it for the first time that I know of it. And, and I think it helps. And it's part of Amsterdam. I mean this is a harbor city. Prostitution started here in the 12th or 14th century so it will always be there.
LAUER: It's not go away overnight.
HUYS: It's not going away.
LAUER: Twan, thanks so much.
—Geoffrey Dickens is the senior news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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Geez!
April 29, 2008 - 15:52 ET by heldmywMatt Lauer.
I'd take a couple of ergs of energy to hate him, but I'm sure it's mostly his tipped uterus that makes him behave this way.
In the swimming pool of American (ahem) journalism, he's the cramp.
"...I'm sure it's mostly
April 29, 2008 - 20:03 ET by stratmanThank you for the good chuckle. Matt probably wears a pessary to keep things snug.
RRAM Tough!
Prostitution
April 29, 2008 - 15:58 ET by scamoramaIf anyone knows about prostitution, it's Matt Lauer.
OMG - That's too good
April 29, 2008 - 16:06 ET by geoff.galeScam, that was priceless!
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)
www.conservativeboot...
Yep, free health care in
April 29, 2008 - 16:05 ET by Richard RomanoYep, free health care in Amsterdam -- you die while waiting for surgery though, but hey, it's free!!
Oh, btw, let's not mention the high divorce, abortion, and addiction rates there -- why bother anyone with facts when you feel so good?
Hay Matt , Hop on your bicycle, pedal down the Linnaeusstraat
April 29, 2008 - 16:11 ET by upcountrywaterLAUER: I knew we'd get into some politics here off the bat. But really
what it is people only tend to go to the extremes. They forget is
pretty much lived, in the middle.
Just maybe you will end up like Theo Van Gogh. With a knife in the MIDDLE of your back; ya infidel!
The POPE says, GOD BLESS AMERICA!!
IranianUranium<sleep>New/Infrastructure/repair?/ROFLMAO
"...it's a paradise compared to many countries in the world"
April 29, 2008 - 16:13 ET by Prester JohnI wonder if Huys will be saying the same thing in 20 years after the Muslims become the dominating demographic group in the Netherlands.
The prostitutes and drug dealers may find themselves without a job (or their heads).
Oh well, at least for the time being the Dutch are willing to fight in Afghanistan.
I heard somewhere the Dutch
April 29, 2008 - 16:32 ET by Dan The Man 2I heard somewhere the Dutch army is mostly made up of non native Dutch.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
Not true. I have served
April 29, 2008 - 17:32 ET by BDNot true.
I have served in many exercises with the Dutch Army. They have cleaned themselves up a great deal in the past twenty years from the first time I ran into them during a REFORGER in the 80's.
The first time I ran inot them they were mostly unionized draftees (Yeah, how screwed up is that???) They were mostly the dregs of society who just did not care and were easy to defeat during the least stressful exercise as they were usually high , drunk or not caring.
They started to improve about the time of the fall of the wall when they reduced the size of their forces (tiny now) from a two corps to approximately divisional size now.
I do not think there is a draft in place anymore and the quality of the troops they deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan is quite high, though very few in number.
I have met soldiers in the Dutch Army who were Indonesian immigrants from the Molucca area, but not in unusual numbers and they made decent soldiers.
Compared to the Frogs? I will take a Dutchman anyday...
Thanks BD, I count on yours
April 29, 2008 - 23:51 ET by Dan The Man 2Thanks BD, I count on yours and other experiences for info like this. I could not get any good info on the composition. I did look up and they did stop conscription.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
BD, LOL, compared to the Frogs...
April 29, 2008 - 23:57 ET by R D Helm...I'd rather take along Deputy Fife and his single-rounded .38 any day!
What the American people are looking for is somebody who can solve their problems. - Barack Obama, April 27, 2008
RD: Years ago, I was in a
April 30, 2008 - 09:25 ET by BDRD:
Years ago, I was in a "Demonstration" that had the Brits, Frogs, and US troops that concentrated on urban warfare.
I watched my troops loading what appeared to be nickle plated 5.56mm blannk ammunition into their M-16 magazines prior to our demonstration attack on a strongpoint.
When I asked them where they got it, they told me that the soldiers of the French Company were giving away their blank ammunition prior to their attack because they did not want to have to clean their FAMAS rifles after the "Battle".
Essentially, they lay down and died at the start of the demonstration then drank their wine ration on the way home in the trucks.
Useless... Deputy Fife at least HAD a bullet.
BD, and to think, people wonder why the Hitlerite horde...
April 30, 2008 - 22:25 ET by R D Helm...overran the "most powerful army in Europe" without so much as breaking a sweat.
Of course, I guess it's hard to supply your army with live rounds after having shelled out all those francs for the obligatory, standard-issue white flags.
Of course, as the Frogs have long maintained, they are not fighters. They are lovers.
...And, thanks to us, damned fortunate not to be delivering their pick-up lines in German.
What the American people are looking for is somebody who can solve their problems. - Barack Obama, April 27, 2008
"Social climate is very
April 29, 2008 - 16:23 ET by Jerry"Social climate is very good "
And they have so many social issues to deal with... there's the whites, and the caucasians, and the crackers, and the pale skins, and the honkys, and the... well, you get the picture. Keeping them all happy is a remarkable achievement.
When asked if he went to war with Iraq to derail the impeachment vote: “I don’t think any serious person would believe that any President would do such a thing." - President Clinton (Dec 1998).
I'm sure they'll be
April 29, 2008 - 16:32 ET by ckc1227I'm sure they'll be electing a black Prime Minister any day now though, seeing as how they are much more enlightened and progressive than the racist old US of A. Remember, we engaged in slavery once.
"and there's not like, in
April 29, 2008 - 16:28 ET by ckc1227"and there's not like, in your country, 40, 50 million people who have no insurance. That's not happening here."
What a coincidence, that's not happening here either. By the way, does the Netherlands even have 40 million people? No. They have about 18 1/2 million. We have more illegals here(or very close) than they have in total population.
Wait-wait, HOLD UP!
April 29, 2008 - 16:28 ET by tracheostomyHUYS: It's a very isolated section here in Amsterdam, prostitution. And
I must be fair to the mayor he's really battling the illegal
prostitution and the trafficking of women who are underage.
That's not what I read.
http://www.boston.co...
I'm open to correction here, but I think Mr. Huys is deliberately blurring the line between what's legal and illegal for the American audience.
-PJ
"Trake: Your lofty convictions are another blemish on the rump of congregational sectarianism." -Tumbler 5/15/07
In addition to the above,
April 29, 2008 - 16:38 ET by tracheostomyIn addition to the above, here's a more recent article (h/t to Shawn228 for this). Very clear.
http://www.washingto...
-PJ
"Trake: Your lofty convictions are another blemish on the rump of congregational sectarianism." -Tumbler 5/15/07
Huys doesn't know anything
April 29, 2008 - 16:31 ET by ForeverOnTheRightHuys doesn't know anything but corrupt morals, who is this arrogant jerk to judge us? And why on Earth does Lauer even interview this Huys? Lauer you moron, you are just as corrupt I am affraid.
What Huys Fails to Mention
April 29, 2008 - 16:40 ET by geoff.galeWhile he comments about all these matters, he fails to mention that Nederland is 1/20th the size of the US. Granted that the most famous red light district is confined to Amsterdam, and granted that the coffee shops are confined to limited areas in major cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Maastricht, Utrecht, etc), but if one was to ramp up the size of both the prostitution and the drugs operations by a factor of 20, you'd have very large constituencies based in both drugs and prostitution. Remember that Nederland has only 16 and a half million total population. The percentage of people engaged in these "victimless" crimes is very high when calculated on the relatively small population there.
I was married to a Dutch woman for 15 years, and in all the time that I spent visiting with her relatives both stateside and in Nederland, I can't say that I met many conservatives. A few of the uncles leaned toward the Nationalist movement, but even within their nationalism, they still believed the State owed them services such as health care. Of course if I paid the amount of income tax that they do, I'd expect something in return.
One note, however, just within my wife's extended family, half a dozen had received health care here in the states, rather than to accept what the nationalised health programme offered them at home. It was worth it to them to come to the US and pay for operations here. That says something about their confidence in their system.
I've noticed with friends, family and acquaintance from Holland, England and Canada that they like their health care when they're basically healthy. When they get sick, you know seriously ill, such as needing a multiple bypass, or extensive cancer treatment, they all thought about coming here. I helped found a managed care organisation in the Detroit area, and we had a fair number of Canadians who crossed the border and bought individual policies for catastrophic care. That way, their health system took care of the small stuff, and they came stateside for the big ticket items.
Cost us a bundle, they did - they screwed up the actuarials all the time.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)
www.conservativeboot...
It's only going to get
April 29, 2008 - 16:43 ET by taterIt's only going to get worse tomorrow. I'm 99% sure the next country they are going to is Laos (based on the clues anyway). Guess what wonderful government that country has...I'll give you a hint, hammer and sickle. It looks like this where in the world act is nothing more than a ploy to bash America and pump greenhouse gases into the air but feeling good about it because they are buying carbon credits.
"They need to have a course in college called common sense and everyone should take it. Problem is there isn't too many people that could pass or teach it." -my grandfather
Idiocy is Universal
April 29, 2008 - 17:24 ET by nkviking75I can sum up Matt Lauer's world tour with a variation of one of his employer's slogans:
IDIOCY IS UNIVERSAL
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
World Leader
April 29, 2008 - 18:44 ET by GWThey're a world leader in euthanasia, too. Isn't that something you'd be proud of?
More of that pretentious
April 29, 2008 - 19:54 ET by Chris NormanMore of that pretentious European jaded "superiority" and "sophistication" on display. I suppose it makes them feel better about their little boutique countries. Come to think of it, this guy sounds pretty much like any American liberal elitist...
What Does He Mean?
April 29, 2008 - 19:56 ET by Gothampc"Huys: I've been in your country for seven years and actually the
first things that come up is that people ask me, "So how can you live
in this hellish country?"
Was he visiting or living? Obviously the US is looking very attractive to him if he's here for seven years.
So, are you saying that
April 30, 2008 - 02:36 ET by Not-Steve-DoocySo, are you saying that whenever a US-based news show interviews people in other countries, they should alter the video to make everything said about America positive? Dissent isn't even allowed to non-citizens? Is what he said so completely false of a statement that it can be labeled "America bashing"? And don't you mean "American government bashing", and not "America bashing"? Or is the identity and character of the United States based solely on its government?
"In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican." -H.L. Mencken
"The only thing older than a 'McCain is old' joke...is John McCain " - Stephen Colbert
American Hating Press
April 30, 2008 - 03:07 ET by AgnosticI believe that the particular angst here is the medias ability to always find the person that wants to speak out against America. No matter where they are or what is going on they will find someone to talk America down and it gets old.
Unlike the extreme wannabe socialist section of the American left most of us don't believe government should define our lives in any way. But we are still Americans and a like many relationships it is insulting for an outsider to say something even when we would say much worse about our government. Pride in one's nation is not a bad thing regardless of what so many in the media or the left fringe seem to think.