Contrasts always make good food for thought, don’t you think? I’m rather fond of them, myself. They just seem to make things clearer for my knuckle-dragging conservative mind.

Take Afghanistan, for instance. Yes, I know there’s a cornucopia of contrasts just waiting to be observed there but for now, I’m going to stick to just a couple of things.

Let’s start off with the Phederal Fiberal Party of Canada®. You know the Fiberals, right? They’re the ones that got us into Bush/Harper’s Warâ„¢ in the first place (don’t mention that to the loopy leftosphere, though; they just hate it when somebody pops their balloon). They got us in, but didn’t really mean it, and now… Well, now they’re even eating each other over it:

Former defence minister John McCallum, in particular, is disarmingly frank, speaking openly about how Canada ended up being stuck with the unenviable job of trying to bring security to the increasingly dangerous province of Kandahar. “We dithered, and so all the safe places were taken and we were left with Kandahar.”

Is it just me, or did McCallum just take a potshot at his old boss? Ah, well, Lieberals turning on each other; what are the odds?

Then we’ve got the people that are actually putting their lives on the line in that foreign land. Soldiers like Sergeant Patrick Tower, Sergeant Michael Denine, Master Corporal Collin Fitzgerald and Private Jason Lamont from the CAF, and more recently, this lad who’s serving with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Welsh:

Fusilier Damien Hields used his grenade machinegun to destroy seven Taliban positions before his ambushers realised he was their main threat. After peppering his vehicle with bullets, they hit the 24-year-old soldier. He had to be dragged off for treatment by his driver after he tried to continue fighting.

“Fusilier Hields showed extraordinary courage under intense fire,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Huw James, his commanding officer. “I was astonished at the state of his vehicle. There were so many holes in it, it was like a teabag. The Taliban did everything in their power to neutralise [him] and Fusilier Hields was having none of it. His actions allowed his patrol to come out of the ambush in which they were outnumbered by three or four to one and probably saved a lot of lives.” […]

Hields was one of 28 Military Crosses announced last week. There were also five Conspicuous Gallantry Crosses, the second highest award after the Victoria Cross. […]

They were on their way back to Kandahar on June 3, driving south in a valley, when the Taliban attacked. One of the Land Rovers hit a landmine and was flipped upside down by the blast. “There were Taliban dug in all around and they started hitting us with AK47s and mortars. We could not see where they were at first.”

Hields followed the trail of RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades coming towards him and started firing grenades one at a time, trying to home in. “Then I switched to automatic fire,” he said. A grenade machine gun has a box with 32 grenade rounds. “I emptied a box onto that position and you could see all the dust and smoke flying about where they hit.

“After that no fire came back from that position and I moved on to the next one. One or two rounds until I got onto the target, and switch to automatic and empty the box.”

Realising that Hields was the main threat to them, the remaining Taliban fighters homed in on him with their RPG7s, Dushka heavy machineguns and Kalash-nikov rifles. Hields was undaunted and continued firing.

“I got through six boxes in about 15 minutes and we were winning the fight,” he said. “They started it. We were going to finish it.”

One of the Taliban rounds finally hit home as he was bending down to reload. “I felt a sharp punch in the kidneys on my right side,” he said. “It knocked me into the bottom of the [Land-Rover]. I looked down and saw a hole in my body armour and a bit of blood.”

Hields was dragged out of the Taliban fire and back about 20 yards where Lance-Corporal Carley Williams, the female medic attached to the troops, had dashed through enemy fire to set up a first aid position.

“The lads were screaming at me to get into cover,” said Williams, 23, from Llanelli. They saw one round actually pass between my legs.” She was awarded the Joint Commanders’ Commendation for her bravery.

Hields said: “It turned out the bullet had smashed a rib and gone out of me again without touching any internal organs which was very lucky. It was just a flesh wound really.”

He and the other wounded were evacuated by helicopter. After treatment and recuperation, Hields was back taking part in operations in Afghanistan in July. “Obviously I’m extremely proud but I’ve got friends still recovering from injuries and it’s them I’m more worried about.”

Funny, the way some things can look when you put them next to each other, isn’t it?

Not sure if this vid will embed properly or not. Either way, it’s worth a look.

If the vid won’t play for you, you can always click here to see it anyway.

And some people wonder how I can be a monarchist…

Well, this ought to shut up the naysayers (a few of ’em, anyway). HRH Prince Henry of Wales (aka Prince Harry) may not have made it to Iraq like he was hoping to, but he sure as hell managed to get his ass in the grass in Afghanistan! And damned good for him, too. An Aussie mag, a German paper and Drudge sprung the story a while ago, and Britain’s Defence Ministry confirmed it today.

From Drudge:

They’re calling him “Harry the Hero!”

British Royal Prince Harry has been fighting in Afghanistan since late December — and has been directly involved in gun battle, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The prince, a junior officer in the Blues and Royals, and third in line to the throne, has been a “magnificent soldier” and an “inspiration to all of Briton.”

Prince Harry is taking part in a new offensive against the Taliban.

The Ministry Of What You Should Think has more:

“His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary,” said the head of the British army, Gen. Richard Dannatt. “He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his battle group.”

In an interview from Afghanistan that was made public Thursday, Harry told the BBC the deployment is “massively important” and a “turning point” in his life.

“It’s very nice to be sort of a normal person for once. I think it’s about as normal as I’m going to get,” he said, adding that he doesn’t miss anything from home, even alcohol. The prince often made headlines for his partying.

[…]

Harry has often complained he would quit the armed forces unless he is allowed to fight alongside his colleagues. When he graduated from military college in 2006, Harry told an interviewer he wasn’t going to put himself through military school “and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country.”

After his deployment to Iraq was canned, about a dozen defence officials quietly hatched a plan to send the prince to Afghanistan, CBC correspondent Adrienne Arsenault said.

A handful of journalists were invited to observe Harry on the battlefield under the agreement they would not report the information until the deployment had ended. The news blackout was intended to reduce the risk to the prince and his regiment.

CNN gets in on the act, too:

He was deployed 10 weeks ago and his fellow soldiers were sworn to secrecy.

The prince’s status is currently being reviewed, the Ministry of Defense said.

Harry is third in line to the British throne and serves with the Blues and Royals

His main role has been as a member of a group called Joint Tactical Air Control, or JTAC.

“As far as I’m concerned I’m out here as a normal JTAC on the ground and not as Prince Harry” he said.

In a recent interview with CNN correspondent Paula Newton, Prince Harry said, “At the end of the day I like to sort of be a normal person, and for once I think this is about as normal as I’m ever going to get.”

And in a pre-deployment interview with the British Press Association, he said: “If I’m wanted, if I’m needed, then I will serve my country as I signed up to do.”

The head of the British Army, Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt, said Harry’s deployment had been kept secret after striking an agreement with the media.

British and international media — including CNN — had agreed not to report Harry’s deployment because of security concerns for him and his unit. The military confirmed the operation after a U.S. Web site broke the news blackout.

Dannatt said: “What the last two months have shown is that it is perfectly possible for Prince Harry to be employed just the same as other Army officers of his rank and experience.

All I can say is: Damned fine job, lad! God bless you, and come home in one piece.

Seeing as how I seem to have a bad case of bloggers’ block up the wazoo lately, I’m getting a little hard up for stuff to write about.

So, for lack of anything better, I guess I’ll just smack up whatever it is that I trip over that either tickles my funnybone, leaves me going “what the hell…?” or both.  Today’s entry is under the “both” heading.

And, I promise, just as soon as I can jar something loose from this rickety damned skull of mine, I’ll be right back to howling my lungs out about things that actually matter.  Until then, I’m afraid you’ll just have to sit through stuff like this… Sorry. 🙁

British man puts out kitchen fire with aunt’s oversized underwear

LONDON – They went from baggy knickers to the ultimate hotpants.

A fire department official in Britain says Jenny Marsey’s miraculous underwear saved the day by doubling as an emergency fire blanket during a kitchen blaze.

Marsey’s nephew, John, was frying bread in her kitchen in Hartlepool, northeast England, on Sunday when the fire broke out.

He grabbed the nearest thing from a pile of washing to smother the fire – a wet pair of his aunt’s size 18 underwear.

The nephew’s quick thinking saved the kitchen but left Marsey’s underpants slightly scorched.

“It could have been a lot worse,” said Marsey. “My family could have been in hospital but the knickers saved the day.”

A fire brigade spokesman said that the general principle – using a large, wet cloth to cover a grease fire – was a sound one.

As for using underwear: “Clearly it depends on what size you are,” he said, “but I don’t want to go there.”

Dear gawd… I really do need something to set a fire under me…

A little behind the herd here, I know but what can I say? I’ve been away for a bit. The recent act of war by Iran against Britain has, understandably, created more than a little bit of navel-gazing in its wake. Not a big surprise, when you take a minute to think about it. There was once a time when Britain would have never stood for that kind of crap (anybody out there remember the Falkland Islands?). Not now, it seems.

I was going to go on at some length about this but, as happens from time to time, somebody else not only beat me to it, they did it a lot better than I would have. So, just what do I do when someone has the audacity to outdo me like that? Simple: I steal their stuff and put it here for you to look at.

The following is from last Saturday’s TO Sun and is by UWO prof Salim Mansur; a man who quite probably has the firmest — and arguably, the bluntest — grasp of the Islamofascist mind of anyone in the country. Here’s his take on the issue, with no further needless commentary from yours truly:

Iran finds weak West

By SALIM MANSUR

The insolence of the thuggish regime in Iran is rising in inverse proportion to the self-abasement of the West and, in particular, the European Union.

The hostage taking of British sailors by Tehran was a move to test the resolve of Britain and its allies in responding to provocation bordering on an act of war.

Tony Blair’s failure to respond in a manner that could not be misread by Tehran for the immediate unconditional release of British sailors only confirmed the clerical regime’s estimate of the West as unwilling to contend with Iran’s expansionist ambitions in the Persian Gulf region.

Tehran learned from its experience of taking American diplomats hostage for 444 days that the West could be shown for being a paper tiger as China’s Mao had once described it.

The latest Iranian hostage taking should be seen in a wider context of Tehran’s strategic objective of being recognized as the leading Islamic power in a multipolar world wherein Europe and the United States are no longer dominant, and in the United Nations the countries of Asia and Africa provide for the majority bloc of voting members.

Iran’s ascent to the position Tehran’s clerical regime aspires might only be realized by dividing the Arab opposition to its ambition, defying the Security Council’s various resolutions to stop its bid to acquire nuclear capability, and securing Russian-Chinese support to nullify any threat of EU singly or in combination with the U.S.

From the outset of Iran’s 1979 revolution the regime’s supreme clerical guide, Ayatollah Khomeini, maintained the road to Jerusalem and the “liberation” of Palestine was through Karbala, the Iraqi site of martyrdom for the Shiite Imam Hussein and his family. In other words, the Persian Khomeini offered the Arab-Palestinian nationalists the example of Shiite martyrdom as the means for waging war against Israel.

Iran has succeeded in dividing the Arab states by positioning Hezbollah as its fifth column in the heart of the Arab east, and by financing the Hamas among Palestinians. A fragmented Arab world nursing innumerable grievances is unable to counter Iran’s age-old Persian ambition reincarnated in Islamist ideology and financed by bulging oil revenue.

The EU negotiations with Tehran to cease its no longer secret nuclear program in return for assistance to construct nuclear reactor for civilian use has proven to be a charade.

European trade with Iran has grown over time, and commercial interests of France, Germany and Italy trump any EU concerns over Iran’s race to become a nuclear power.

Nuclear capability is the guarantee the clerics seek to make Iran’s position in the Middle East invulnerable to external challenge. Domestically it would make the clerical regime more formidable even as Iranians increasingly loathe the totalitarian rule of Khomeini and his political progeny.

Tehran’s probing of Britain’s resolve by kidnapping its sailors could be indicative of the British mood being the same as in the rest of Europe, of appeasing and accommodating Iran. If this is so and clerical rulers of Iran are proven right, then only President George Bush stands between Tehran’s ambition and its consummation.

But the Bush administration is beset with problems exacerbated by a swing in American mood in the direction of European appeasers.

The clerics in Tehran will wait out the remaining months of Bush in the White House for they know too well the Democratic party of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and taking British sailors hostage is their endgame move to run the West out of the Middle East.

Here’s a little something that’s sure to piss the Kult of Kyoto right off. As most of you have likely heard already, Britain’s Channel 4 has recently produced a short (75 minutes without commercials) documentary titled “The Great Global Warming Swindle” which knocks the wheels of the Kyotology bandwagon with all the ruthlessness of a Kyoto Kultist screaming for the head of a global-warming-denying heretic. No doubt the money-grubbing Marxist granola grinders from the errorless echelons of the Exalted EnviroEnlightenment Eggheadocracy® will bromidically bitch and bawl endlessly about what harsh language their critics have begun using. To them I say, “if you can’t take it, quit dishing it out and shut the hell up!”

In the opening seconds, the accusations “The ice is melting, the sea is rising, hurricanes are blowing AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” flash across the screen, only to be immediately followed by “Scared? Don’t be; it’s not true.” One by one, the errors, delusions and outright lies of the Enviroloony elite are laid bare calmly and in plain English that is conspicuously devoid of the kind of bafflegab that saturates the rhetoric from the other side of the issue.

I’ll have plenty of time to shoot my mouth off on the topic later so, in the meantime, just sit back and enjoy the show.

[If, for some reason, you are unable to play the video in this window, just click this direct link to go directly to the video page and try there.]

A hearty thanks to Channel 4 for this excellent, non-powerpoint-presentation production. Keep up the good work, lads.