Norway has really high taxes and is a heavy welfare state. Their tax revenue was something like 40% of their GDP if I remember correctly. The only reason their economy has seemed good in the past is because they have oil. But a nation can't support a government that needs that much money without severe consequences in the long run. Butter is the least of their worries.
Moderation note, and this applies to everyone: If you can't debate without being a condescending ass about it, then take your comments elsewhere. It's disrespectful, childish and typically means you're trying to cover up for a lack of knowledge (i.e. the Bill O'Reilly approach). Attack the facts, not the poster. I'll be keeping a close eye on this thread, so tread carefully. Infractions will be held out if this behaviour persists, and that goes for any thread in Serious Chat.
This is why I can't support the troops. They're going to be locking up thousands or even hundreds of thousands of innocent people just to try and maybe catch a few real terrorists. The soldiers are used by the government to take away our rights. No matter how righteous or pure the soldier's motives are, even if they are oblivious to the horrible things they are doing, do not deserve respect.
You have to remember that Obama wasn't the one that started the war. He inherited it from the past president (Bush), like Derek said. Obama wasn't the one who couldn't think of a better response than "Errrmh, nuke 'em" when he had been asked what he was going to do to prevent another 9/11 from happening. At least Obama could get the job done of killing Osama in his presidency, whilst Bush barely did anything.
I know this is going to open my comments to Republicans openly bashing the president, but at this point I really don't care. I will NOT be voting for Obama if he signs this indefinite detention bill into law. His relaxation of the "veto threat" is going against every single thing that "Candidate Obama" stood for. I fully supported some things Obama did as president, but this is one move I will not support. An Obama presidency was supposed to be a break away from Bush-era terrorism policies (warrant-less wiretapping, Guantanamo, civil liberties violations) and yet here we are getting our freedoms possibly jeopardized, and potentially our internet censored. Our congress is absolutely stupid (both Republicans AND democrats), but that doesn't mean our president should be too. Being a constitutional law teacher, he should know both laws (SOPA and this law) are in direct violation of the constitution. If he cares about the constitution he helped teach, he wont pass this, otherwise he's just another Bush.
"You know, by the time you become the leader of a country, someone else makes all the decisions. ... You may find you can get away with virtual presidents, virtual prime ministers, virtual everything." -Bill Clinton The President just can't start a war. Nor does the president have the power to say "Nuke em!" and just blow shit up. The only reason why Bush could go to war is 9/11, and still, the Bush family has ties everywhere, which is why a president with no power can get the go ahead to invade countries because of a terrorist attack. Bush's grandpa Prescott sold weapons to Hitler, tried to overthrow FDR, and played a big part in Union Banking. Bush senior was head the CIA, which admits to doing really shitty things for "research" purposes...and remember that they are an oil family? Anything that has to do with oil, war, and banking, the Bush family has something in it, and they have more power (and money) than Obama. Obama can't do anything good without losing. And that's our government and economy! Supposedly, the last president to give a shit about America was JFK. http://www.rense.com/general63/ccur.htm
So you'll vote for (insert Republican nominee here) who would have signed bill too? I share your distaste with Obama right now but quite honestly he's going to have to do a lot more crazy shit for him to lose my vote.
Here's some true humor for you: Senator McCain created this bill. So in a weird way, McCain is still running our country. Even without winning the election.
93 senators voted for the bill. They're far beyond a veto-proof majority. Obama could rip it up and wipe his ass with it on live TV and it would still pass.
So in essence, the very system put in place to protect us, is now going to hurt us. It doesn't matter at this point if Obama supports the bill or not, we're fucked.
Yeah, pretty much. One of the rare instances where checks and balances comes back to bite us in the ass rather than help us.
Not sure what else he has to do. Maybe you should read about all the horrible shit he's done. It's not hard to find. Here's a recent example of stuff he does all the time. Jet Fuel-Gate Is Obama's New Solyndra Obama's just helping out his buddies, who in turn also pay him for his help, all at the expense of the taxpayer.