Here is a photo montage that shows true courage in the face of danger.

Just how many Americans would be going to the polls in the face of a very real possiblity of being shot or blown up? Even after the fact; remember that the insurgents Islamofacists threatened that the act of voting itself could invite retribution against the participant, not necessarily just at the polls, but at any time after. And dying a finger blue made them obvious targets, but millions of Iraqis, in effect, told the Islamofacists to "go to hell" and publicly showed their joy in their new found franchise. Literally dancing in the streets, waving their blue stained digits in the air.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 01:43 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Patrick Moore was one of the founding members of Greenpeace, and he is still a dedicated environmentalist, but he has become disgusted with the mainstream environmental movement, saying "By the mid-1980s, the environmental movement had abandoned science and logic in favor of emotion and sensationalism." "The environmental movement has lost its way, favoring political correctness over factual accuracy, stooping to scare tactics to garner support."

If even a founding member of Greenpeace can be brought around to a "sustainable development" frame of mind, there may yet be hope that there can be a concensus developed that will bring about sane development with the minimum of environmental damage possible.

Read the article, and note the areas where he shows how damaging the main stream environmental movement truly is to the welfare to everyone, through their rejection of nuclear power,wind turbin power, and genetically engineered crops, among others.

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Well, the first free election in Iraq in over 30 years is over. It's too soon yet to have any reliable numbers, but one thing is certain. Unlike the doom and gloom naysayers such as Senator Splash and the Senator Boxedhead, the Iraqi general populace excercised their new access to the ballot box in record numbers, despite the high threat of violence against them from Islamofacist groups. Some initial estimates indicate that the turnout was as high as 75%.

Too bad that our OWN populace doesn't have the same fortitude. In the last election, WE only managed to have a turnout of approximately 65-67% of all eligible voters casting their ballots, and THAT was a record that hasn't been seen in over 20 years! In most of our elections, we are fortunate to surpass the 50% level.

And despite what the Left may try to put out, the voters here certainly didn't face a threat to their lives in exercising their right to vote. Just how many voters here would brave bombs, sniper fire and terror threats to exercise their responsibility as a member of a free electorate?

This puts the lie to the meme that the new government would be a mere rubber stamp of US selected officials. There were over 11 parties vying in the contest, and the choices were diverse enough to ensure that it would be the PEOPLE'S choice that would determine who would attain office, and wide enough to assure that no one party or individual would overwhelmingly overcome any of the others. This means that the victors will be forced to form coallitions to be able to determine the Prime Minister and top council leaders ensuring (that) the widest possible popular voice WILL be heard in formulating the new Iraqi Constitution.

This was only the first step in the process of bringing Iraq into the circle of democratic nations, but it was a damned good first step.

Here are what some of the Iraqi bloggers have to say: Iraq,the model, Hammorabi, The Messopotamian, and finally, Sun of Iraq

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Well.....I wish someone could tell me just WHY an otherwise sensible woman should have a sudden fascination with rats? And I don't mean the invading Norway's sneaking into the basement, I mean held in a cage,being fed specially formulated mixtures of nuts,seeds,and alfalfa pellets, and requireing just the right kind of bedding for the bottom of said cage?

Two weeks ago, we went to the local Petsmart to get some dog food; the Pricess has been going on for about the last 6 months wanting to get a ferret as a pet, despite all our explainations on just why that wasn't a good idea with two cats already sharing our domicile. So what does Mama do? She buys two Hooded rats, of course! Notwithstanding my protestations that I preferred not to willingly invite vermin into my home.

I was almost resigned to the fact that we would have these critters for the next couple of years, when suddenly Mama developed a sudden creative urge to make a larger cage for our erstwhile pets, saying she thought she could make a larger one for not a great deal of money, and Dumpling and Cecily would like more room to move around in.

Now Mama definately has great talent in fabricating whatever she desires, and indeed, she built a three story domicile for about $10 worth of hardware cloth,plastic zip strips and a storage bin. I was proud of her for her ability....I SHOULD have realized that something was up when she didn't immediately transfer the aformentioned vermin with the cutesy names into their new enclosure.

Well, as it happened, we had to go to Petsmart tonight to get some dog food (damn those dogs can pack it away!) I went directly to the dog food aisle, not noticing that Mama WASN'T right behind me....Yeah, you guessed it. We now have FOUR vermin esconced in our home, living the life of Riley. The two new ones are male, though, so never shall the two pairs meet!

I don't know WHEN I lost control of the Citidel...now I wonder if I ever HAD control, but it's become obvious that I am just another fixture of the household, feeding the new aquisitions and cleaning up the resulting excrement laden litter.

I do have to admit that it's kind of intriguing to see my wife's long hair seem to be moving independently in a strange manner and then seeing a rodent face peering out from under it, but I still can't change my feeling that rats are vermin, only to be used as food for snakes. They may be tame and do seem to enjoy being petted and fussed over, but still,....I wonder when I can get my nephew to bring over his pet Boa for a huge feed.

UPDATE: Mama just asked me just how large I wanted MY cage to be... It's nice to know that she does read my blog on occasion!

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 03:48 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Fred Barnes hits it out of the ballpark with this commentary piece called "The Ruthless Party".

After watching Barbara Boxer trying to paint Condi Rice as a liar and then whine complain that SHE was attacked by Ms. Rice in a later interview, one just has to wonder how people could ever keep voting such an obvious moron mentally challenged person crybaby into the high office of Senator.

And then to listen to Senator Splash reiterating his inane comparison of Iraq to Viet Nam and calling for as hasty a retreat from Iraq as possible just makes one shake one's head in pity for his headlong dive into Altzheimers.

One has to wonder just why the Democratic side of the aisle just can't seem to realize that broadcasting timetables and rigid responses to situational hypotheticals can be invaluable information to terrorists in formulating their activities.

I just wish that, as Laura Ingraham suggested, Ms. Rice had responded to him with the quip: "well Senator, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it" if asked a hypothetical question that just couldn't be reasonably responded to by anyone who doesn't want to give suggestions to our enemies as to how they can prepare for her style of diplomacy.

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'Nuff Said

(Hat tip to Jack)

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 04:16 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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AT LAST! DSL has been restored to the Citadel. I hope that regular (and BETTER) posting can now resume.

ER...anyone have a good cure for writers block?!?

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Naseer Flayih Hasan Is one Iraqi who spares no bones when he iterates his opinion of Leftist "peace activists".

The title tells the story in a nutshell:"How the Left Betrayed My Country - Iraq"

Here's a couple of teasers:

After those, and many other, experiences, we finally comprehended how little we had in common with these “peace activists” who constantly decried American crimes, and hated to listen to us talk about the terrible long nightmare that ended with the collapse of the regime. We came to understand how these “humanitarians” experienced a sort of pleasure when terrorists or former remnants of the regime created destruction in Iraq—just so they could feel that they were right, and the Americans wrong!

ItÂ’s worth noting, as well, that the general attitude of peace activists I met was tension and anger. They were impossible to reason with. This was because, on one hand, the sometimes considerable risks they took to oppose the war made them unable to accept the fact that their cause was not as noble as they believed. Then, too, their dogmatic anti-American attitudes naturally drew them to guides, translators, drivers and Iraqi acquaintances who were themselves supporters of the regime. These Iraqis, in turn, affected the peace activists until they came to share almost the same judgments and opinions as the terrorists and defenders of Saddam.

And Mr. Hasan is not a Pollyanna shill for the American shill:

We believed—and still believe--that America’s removal of the regime opened a new way for democracy. At the same time, we have no illusions that the U.S. came to Iraq on a white horse to save our people. We understand this war is all about national interests, and that America’s interests are mainly about defeating terrorism. At this moment, though, U.S. interests are doing more to bring about democracy and freedom in Iraq than, say, the policies of France and Russia—countries which also care little for the Iraqi people and, worse, did their best to save Saddam from destruction until the last moment.

Now go read the rest.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 01:19 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I borrowed this list from a favorite blog of mine that, sadly, has fallen defunct.
It's just as valid as when it was first posted however.

You might be a liberal if Â…

You think that protestors outside nuclear power plants are dedicated activists, but protestors outside abortion clinics are dangerous zealots interfering with a legal activity.

You believe that more federal regulations will make your life better.

You believe that even though the top 20 percent of taxpayers pay 80 percent of income taxes, that the rich are not paying their “fair share.”

You think that Rush Limbaugh’s listeners are mindless “dittoheads,” but you have never doubted anything that you heard from Michael Moore.

You believe that the network news is a better indicator of what “real” news is than talk radio, Internet news sites, and blogs.

You believe that there was never, ever a problem with biased news coverage until Fox News went on the air.

You believe that Mikhail Gorbachev deserves more credit for losing the Cold War than Ronald Reagan deserves for winning it.

You mentally subtract 100 points from someoneÂ’s IQ if the person speaks with a Southern accent.

You think that Dan Rather got a raw deal.

You think that the phrase “separation of church and state” is in the Constitution.

You pride yourself on your global awareness, global sensitivity and global outlook, but canÂ’t name your state legislator or school board representative.

You are dedicated to helping the poor, the downtrodden and the less fortunate, but you have never given blood.

You believe that a woman should make it on her own, without depending on her husband (except for Hillary Clinton).

You believe that professional, working women should never be judged on their appearance (except for Katherine Harris).

You believe that rich people should not be allowed to contribute so much money to candidates for office (except for George Soros).

You believe that government should make a special effort to hire members of traditionally oppressed groups, such as African-Americans (except for Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice).

You feel a deep sense of common cause with oppressed groups, such as Hispanic immigrants (except for Cuban Americans fleeing Castro).

You believe that a motherÂ’s wishes for her child, especially a motherÂ’s last, dying wish for her child, should outweigh the wishes of a father who had long before deserted his family (unless the child is named Elian Gonzalez).

You have no problem with Hollywood movie stars flying around in private jets to give speeches on the evils of SUVs.

You think that raising taxes will reduce the budget deficit.

You are more concerned, more often, with the rights of convicted felons than you are with the rights of small business owners.

You uphold a womanÂ’s right to choose, unless a woman chooses adoption, chooses to be a stay-at-home mom, chooses to homeschool, or chooses to start a business.

You are more concerned with Vice President CheneyÂ’s links to Halliburton than with Saddam HusseinÂ’s links to international terrorism.

You have used the phrase, “in Europe, the government pays for health care and vacation,” without irony.

You are worried about how the French view Americans.

You believe that nativity scenes should be banned from public view, but that anyone objecting to pornography “only has to look the other way.

And finally, you are almost certainly a liberal if you refuse to admit that youÂ’re a liberal, and accuse anyone of calling you a liberal of McCarthyism.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 01:03 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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A great many people are doing the chicken little dance in reference to the economy, citing a debt approaching the trillion dollar mark.

The deficit IS a cause for concern, but if you look over the economies of past years and adjust the present deficit as a percentage of GDP, you come to realize that the situation isn't as dire as the Tax and Spend, would be controllers of the economy, would have you believe.

The most important thing we could do to help the economy right now is to drastically cut federal spending; something that President Bush has shown himself to be woefully inept at. The President should lead the charge in cutting spending in real terms, instead he seems content to allow rises in almost every area, or at the most, a halt in raises without actually doing any cutting.

I think one step would be to get the federal government out of those areas that that the Constitution does not give over to the Federal level of government.

Education controlled by the NEA would be my choice for the first to go, not that I believe that will happen any time soon.

We need to return to a more self-reliant mode. The "progressives" would have you believe that more government intervention is the answer to every problem. "Let the government pay for it" is their central meme, forgetting that government in itself has no money, it is the money of the citizens, and the higher ratio of that money taken from those citizens, the greater the problems become; and the more dependant the citizens become on the public teat, the greater the control the government has over those citizens.

Freedom entails a certain amount of risk and personal responsiblity. As Benjamin Franklin once said: "Those that would give up a little freedom for a little security deserve neither."

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 01:48 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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The Left is constantly citing MSM sources as the basis for their opposition to the war in Iraq, but they never consider the biases of that media. Whenever someone speaks against the flow that that the MSM, it's obviously because that person is a "tool of the administration". Never mind that because of the nature of the internet we can get information directly from those that are involved in day to day operations in Iraq; If The Old Grey Lady says it, it must be true regardless of what the "boots on the ground" have to say.

Here is another "boot on the ground" telling it like he sees it. LTC. Ryan points out that what you read in the MSM ain't necessarily the way it really is. Why is it that the Left decries the media as a "tool of the Fascists" when it doesn't match their preconceived ideas, but jump anyone on the other side that points out the obvious biases against the US actions/policies as being anti-truth?

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 09:26 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Here's yet another story demonstrating that the GFW's are wrong in touting their gun control Jihad on our Second Amendment rights.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:44 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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seems that some in the scientific community are revamping their attitudes towards possible visitations by extraterrestials. Some good food for thought....

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 10:29 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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It's a constant Democratic meme that the economy is "the worst in 20 years", but the newest information from the Treasury Dept. belies this. Even before President Bush has been sworn in for his second term, the latest budget figures reveal that there has already been a $11Billion drop in the deficit from this same time last year.

It seems that the Democrats don't mind the gradual increase in fiscal warmth of increasing deficits under a Democratic Administration, but expecting a total and instant turnaround of an economy when the opposition party has the reins. A lot of good news is coming out of the government agencies, but you won't hear about it from the MSM.

Read the agency stats and you get a different picture of the economy than you get from the Old Grey Lady and her co-horts in propaganda.

Posted by: Delftsman3 at 11:31 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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