Free Republic

Being the biggest, strongest and thinking that one is the best is all well and good but not if you’re alone.
We, your allies, also pay the price of terror and back in the day we also payed the price to liberate ourselves from the Germans...
It just seems to me that you guys want our friendship when we offer our elite soldiers (specialists in barren and mountain terrain....like what you find in Afghanistan) but not when you have to give something in return.

Now feel free to believe that money will save you all, that you can win everything alone and that you don’t need anyone.
Just remember me when you find out you that it wasn’t really that easy....

Our friendships have given us relative peace for fifty years and we have all grown stronger thanks to it... ignore it if you wish but it’s still the truth and personally I have no problem with you guys but I have a hard time figuring out why you have such a big problem with us.

(@Archon of the East)
That many find it hard to see how the last three awards can have anything to do with peace is understandable but what they are trying to do is to show people that peace is achieved trough a wide range of actions.
I personally do not see this as an award for the science but the awareness that is a consequence of their work.
It is not why the changes are happening but that they are happening that is the key point, when we are aware of that we can also predict what changes that will occur and avoid conflicts that will happen.
Water and farmland are two examples as they are directly linked to survival and people are often willing to die while fighting for them if it means that their family will get access to it and survive.

On the flip side I myself see the changes as a good reason to concentrate scientific research towards new energy sources.

Creating more energy at a lower cost is something that will encourage economic growth and reduce pollution and even IF pollution is not the cause of Global Warming it's still a great cause of concern.
The United States is vital in all of these things and thats the only message that might be hidden with the award.

---

Bill1952: “We are in no way “dependent” on you, and you are barely friends at all”

Hahaha, thanks for the great laugh.
You obviously have no idea about who we are and I think that is just as well.
(one word: NATO)

"the Peace prize recipient is selected by Norwegian politicians usually with an axe to grind." MJOES, Ole Danbolt, b. 1939. Professor Dr.med, University of Tromsoe. President of University of Tromsoe, 1989-95. Various political offices, Christian People's Party (conservative Christian party with 100% of the party members in the "Friends of U.S.A" and "Friends of Israel" groups) FURRE, Berge Ragnar, b. 1937. Historian, Professor of Theology, University of Oslo. Politician back in the 70's (Center left oriented SV) YTTERHORN, Inger-Marie, b. 1941. Senior political adviser to the Progress Party's parliamentary group. (FRP is the most conservative party in Norway) RÅNBECK, Sissel Marie, b. 1950. Deputy Director, Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvaren). Chairman Social Democratic Youth (AUF) 1975-1977. Member of the Storting 1977-1993. Cabinet Minister 1979- FIVE, Kaci Kullmann, b. 1951. Self employed Advisor Public Affairs. Chairman of the Young Conservatives, 1977-79. Member of the Storting, 1981-97. Cabinet Minister for Trade, Shipping and European Affairs, 1989-90. Chairman of the Conservative Party, 1991-94. Member of the Committee since 2003. That means that three out of five are Conservatives with STRONG ties to the US. A clear indicator that the statement is FALSE. Ole Danbolt Mjoes, chairman of the peace committee, was asked whether the award could be seen as criticism of the Bush administration, which did not subscribe to the Kyoto treaty to cap greenhouse gases. He replied that the Nobel was not meant to be a œkick in the leg to anyoneâ the Norwegian expression for kick in the teeth. We would encourage all countries, including the big countries, and challenge them to think again and to say what they can do to conquer global warming,Dr. Mjoes said in Oslo. Now the funny thing here is that there seems to be a clear lack of research done in some parts. The Swedish panels are made up of scholars because Nobel stated in his will that they had to be. Not only that but they must also be employed by the universities (this rule has been slightly altered) themselves. The Norwegian Nobel Committee however got a different set of rules, Jacoby conveniently missed that part perhaps? The humor reaches a pinnacle when you realize that the Swedes have it easy, Medicine, Chemistry, Literature... How can they NOT pick a Doctor, Chemist and Author for the respective awards? While the Norwegian committee has the term "peace" and Peace can be accomplished in many ways. Of course in the end it does not matter if some minority groups call the price a travesty for the global community does not. They see and understand the reasons that the IPCC and Gore won and in the future they will take even more notice of what they have to say. No, if Norwegian politicians wanted to show that they have an axe to grind they would simply withdraw from Kabul and leave the capitol of Afghanistan in someone else's care. Petty complaints like these only serve to damage the friendship between two allies and friends in a time when they are equally dependent on each other.

Go! Donate! Accomplish nothing...

I must admit that if I need to explain how the lack of clean drinking water and the desperation that will lead to can cause violent (self preservation) reactions... then indeed there is no hope.
The costs are nothing more then what we are all required to do sooner or later anyways.
Oil is not an ideal source of energy and we need research advancement to make effective changes.

The costs are only closer, they are nothing new.
It really doesn’t matter why you think the changes are happening because they ARE happening.
What matters (and what they are given the award for) is awareness.
If you want to mock and ask something as childish as “should we go up with buckets” then you are in a mindset that will doom us all no matter WHY the changes are happening.
But perhaps you will at some point sit down and actually understand that by being aware of what is the reality of things we can actually take actions that will prevent the deaths of countless people.
This is about perspective, a broader perspective. (good luck with that)

But then again, denial does wonders, we see proof of that every day thanks to some people.
And in the end, it’s OK. it’s not like you matter in that same broader perspective so keep your happy blissful ignorance.

Then I suggest you join me here in Norway and see the effects with your own eyes, while the glaciers are still here.
Speaking of shrinking glaciers, the rivers from the melting ice is another source of clean drinking water that will vanish from many places

Peru’s glaciers in retreat
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4720621.stm
“This area is mainly desert and the people who live here receive their water from the mountains. Melting glaciers also provide water for hydroelectricity, industry and farming.”

The evidence of change is there, the cause is important to understand how to prevent it but awareness that it is happening will help prevent future conflicts.
Being aware of the changes that are a reality will help us to react and that alone serves the cause of peace.

“It is a question of war and peace,” Mr. Egeland, now director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in Oslo, told the Associated Press. “We’re already seeing the first climate wars, in the Sahel belt of Africa.” He said nomads and herders are in conflict with farmers because the changing climate has brought drought and a shortage of fertile lands.
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Apr05/0,4670,UNClimateChange,00.html
Parts of the developing world are “particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and least equipped to cope with them” because of instability, current or recent conflicts. It cited the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, parts of the Middle East and parts of Asia and the Pacific.

See for yourself with images from Google Earth - http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=487&ArticleID=5350&l=en

Lake Chad, a great shallow lake in West Africa which was once the sixth largest in the world, shrunk to a wetland one tenth its original size between 1963 and 2001. The user can follow the rivers that feed it to their sources, which no longer provide enough water to maintain the lake. Google Earth shows the countries and cities affected by the lake’s decline and offers the ability to search the internet for additional information about Lake Chad

More water doesn’t mean more drinking water, nor will the changes in humidity be the same across the globe.
Deserts are growing and lakes are drying up these changes can create violent reactions and we are seeing more of them.

Facts:
The climate is changing.
There will be less drinking water
There will be more human migration and enviromental refugees.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been established by WMO and UNEP to assess scientific, technical and socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.

By raising awarenes and making us all more prepared they have prevented and decreased future conflict.
This is all a part of a message that peace, the one thing we all want, requires work in every field.
One might not like that it was also awarded to Al Gore but no *sane* individual can deny the facts presented by the IPCC.

I hope and expect that the global community at the very least are able to see that peace is achived in many different ways and that awareness over possible future conflict is certainly one way to achive peace.

The weird thing about this is that she is NEVER funny.
She was even funnier when she was the host of a quiz show and managed to mess that up as well...
She’s there to bait him, get him angry and get out.

“Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) is the greatest composer Norway has fostered. In retrospect one may wonder how a country with neither national freedom nor a long tradition of art music could have produced a man of such genius.”

Actually, Norway has had it’s fair share of excellent composers, no one close to Grieg (before or after) but still excellent.
Norway has a tiny population seen on the global scale and yet you find people like Grieg, Munch and Ibsen.

Since I grew up just a stone throw away from Gamle Haugen (Grieg’s home) I’m thrilled to see that his wonderful music is not forgotten.

One or two of these show up on a regular basis and this episode is a bit blown out of porportion since they never really entered NATO’s airspace but never the less they got an escort from us and the British were in the air just in case.
Now if they where to really try something then I doubt they would use any kind of airplane since they have more then enough missilies and they would probably have a bit more then two planes up in the air as well.

When der Fuehrer says, “We ist der master race,”
We HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in der Fuehrer’s face!
Not to love der Fuehrer is a great disgrace,
So we HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in der Fuehrer’s face!
When Herr Goebbels says, “We own der world und space,”
We HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in Herr Goebbels’ face!
When Herr Goering says, “They’ll never bomb dis place,”
We HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in Herr Goering’s face!

When der Fuehrer says “We never will be slaves!”
We HEIL! HEIL!, but still we work like slaves.
While der Fuehrer brags and lies and rants and raves
We HEIL! HEIL! and work into our graves.
When der Fuehrer yells “I got to have more shells!”
We HEIL! HEIL!, for him we make more shells.
If one little shell should blow him right to [hell]
We HEIL! HEIL!, and wouldn’t that be swell?

The 360 is a very heavy piece of machinery but they seem to have been a bit cheap when it comes to cooling.
With 3x3.2 GhZ CPU and a 500mhz ATI Video card (with it’s own cooling, naturaly) there is quite a few Watts going trough this thing so why didn’t they just make the cooling system better in the first place?
It’s the overheating that seems to be the most common problem for people, of course if you place the thing in the space below your tv along the with the DVD player and close the doors then you are asking for it but not everyone are that weak minded.

The investment in memory isn’t that big either, to be fair it’s a 700mhz RAM so it works fast but why 3x3.2 GhZ CPU and only 512 MB RAM??

And your certainly not allowed to open the thing up!
Why would anyone want to you ask? well, the thing is nothing more then a PC and since I have a MCSE Certification (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) I’m allowed to take huge tower servers apart but this tiny lil’ box is beyond me according to them....

Oh well, great games, looks great with HDTV and Live is fun (except when 13 year old kids lose over and over and start to go insane...) so I’ll survive... at least until the next Grand Theft Auto game that they payed a couple of fifty million bucks for (Bill had some spare cash).

communists?
Congrats on labeling, what?, 2/3 of the European population as “Commies”
Now if only Reagan had said “Tear down this wall of ignorance” he would be speaking directly at you!
But then again, things like public education, universal health care are just horrible aren’t they?

I mean, who wants to pay 25.000$ over two years to take a low life and make them a tax payer?
Well those communists as you call them, did send soldiers to Kabul, since the largest of the communist parties in power there still feel committed to this piece of paper that the very same party’s leader (at the time) signed, ooohh what’s the name of that thing we’re all members off, NATO perhaps?

Soooo... A communist party (labor, social democrats) helped spy on Soviet, sends soldiers to Afghanistan and has 2/6 of the members in that “Friends of USA” group in parliament.

Not only is there a MAJOR difference between a communist and a socialist, there is a HUGE difference between those two and a social democrat.
But hey, we’re just a tiny nation and at least there are REAL friends like the UK who don’t have a Social Democratic (or communist as you say) PM..... oh wait... huh... I guess we’re all Communists then and so are a lot of the other NATO members...

gosh...

What Socialists?
Oh, you mean Social-Democrats!?
There is a difference you know.

Seeing that I'm from Bergen I don't see the problem...

Well it really isn't a very fair way of calculating since Norway has a huge national income (mainly oil of course) and a very small population.

The US is still the largest consumer in the world and is without a doubt the most important factor on the world marketplace.

Your low housing prices these days worry me though, when that credit build up is maxed and the house euphoria ends....ouch!

"Thank God my ancestors left this stupid, socialist, manless joke of a country and emigrated here!"

Yes thank GOD and they took the stupidity with them too!

YES!
The more you drink the more likely you are to survive too!