Today’s roundup includes this report from the UK:
Taliban use children as shields to fight British – TALEBAN fighters used women and children as human shields as they tried to escape into the mountains of Afghanistan, British troops claimed yesterday.
The tactics were revealed in the first account by those who fought in one of the main battles faced by the men of 3 Para and the Royal Gurkha Rifles in Helmand province, where 3,300 British troops are stationed.
More Canucks in Afghanistan news @ Celestial Junk
Read Canadian Forces commentary @ The Torch

Combat Jump Star has a synopsis of common myths about the US military. For those who don’t know CJS, he’s a duel citizen of Canada and the United States and has served 2 tours in Afghanistan and 1 in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne…. ( I dare you to tell him that the 82nd is the “little sister” of the 101st). Check out his debunking of some common myths; myths by the way, that are MSM or Leftist boilerplate:
1. All or most soldiers are rednecks from the South.
2. Minorities are being used as “cannon fodder” on the front lines.
3. Soldiers are uneducated, or less educated than their peers outside the Military
4. Recruiting is down
Cross-posted at Celestial Junk

Conservatives are often criticized by leftists for their mythical neo-con agenda. I have yet to read any clear articulation of what that might be, but according to most leftists it has something to do with bombing the crap out of every country that doesn’t have at least 3 Wal-Marts or that HAS at least 3 oil wells; the imposition of mandatory child labor on every continent; and the placing of a Southern Baptist church on every second street corner in Amman.
But, what of the Left? What would a world governed by Socialists be like? We get glimpses of socialist dreamland occasionally, but the sheer inertia of libertarianism and conservativism in North America keeps socialism at bay, so we rarely get a full unaltered dose of it.
Yet, millions of small time and big time socialists work tirelessly to bring their version of cloud nine to earth. They take the form of celebrity blowhards, academics, the MSM, politicians, unionists, UN bureaucrats, and of course New Media like KOS. And, they are dead serious about transforming the world into a Socialist Utopian paradise.
At Celestial Junk we looked at the Socialist Utopian heaven on earth, Belgium:
Just take a look at Europe, and especially the greatest United Nations call-girl of all time; Belgium. Belgium is a socialist Shangri La. Belgium is every good little socialist’s wet-dream. Belgium, is the next best thing to heaven on earth for all those who worship at the alter of the United Nations and a world unified under multilateral olympian rule. Walk past Pierre Trudeau’s grave on a dark night, whisper “Belgium”, and you’ll be in danger of waking the old commie.
FrontPage Magazine examines the Socialist obsession with George Bush and the Iraq conflict, and states the obvious. Socialists must see Iraq fail and Islamo-fascists win. Why? Because the Socialist Utopian world view depends on it:
Many leftists have an aversion to America’s exercise of military power without international approval, no matter how noble America’s purpose and how cynically manipulative the reasons for other countries’ obstructionism. If Annan said the Iraq war is illegal, then it must be so according to the far-Left MoveOn.org crowd. When United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown insulted the American “heartland” recently for not understanding the true value of the United Nations and asked rhetorically “Who will campaign in 2008 for a new multilateral national security?”, he was speaking to the choir – an elitist audience of progressive globalists, including the multi-billionaire George Soros and an assortment of Clinton loyalists.

Celestial Junk has started doing a daily roundup of Afghanistan news. You may be surprised at how different the perspectives are among the various coalition partners. The one thing they all do, is trumpet their own troops. Reading Canadian news, you’d think we were doing it all alone. Reading news from the UK, you’d think that the Brits were all alone. And of course, reading American news gives you the impression that nobody is helping out the US troops. But, if you go to all sources, you will get a good picture of things on the ground.
Canucks in Afghanistan @ Celestial Junk
More from: Counterterrorism Blog

With Canada’s roll in Afghanistan becoming more pronounced, and dangerous, a lot of bloggers have given attention to the Canadian military. Hundreds of millions of long overdue dollars are pouring into the Department of Defense, PM Harper visits Afghanistan, and weekly reports of violent confrontations reach us from Kabul. Fortunately, nothing resembling war-fever such as that experienced during WW1 and WW2, is sweeping the country, but a definate alignment behind those already serving seems to be materializing. Even those who do not agree with our part in the Afghan conflict, find it difficult not to support our troops. I came across a wonderful photo essay the other day; an essay which demonstrates just how much international militaries have changed since the Great War, and WW2. I’m also reminded of the old feminst call to women in politics, that if women were in charge there would be no wars. I don’t know if the following photo essay disproves this notion, other than the fact that likely every country on earth today, is relying ever more on its female warriors. Doff your caps to the LADIES. (And yes, our girls are in the essay, second country from the top of the essay)
I’d also like to thank Kate, and her many and energetic regulars for putting up with our guest blogging. Celestial Junk was pleased to bring you some daily reading, controversy, and information. Just to show you though, that we are not just a bunch of shifty-eyed gun-tote’n red-necks, we thought we’d share with you a little bit about our beginnings. After all, if you can’t laugh at yourself…. Anyway, we give you. Celestial Junk: Between the Posts.

From Celestial Junk: The Little Network that Cried Wolf. CLICK
Zombie takes us on a photo tour of: Global Day of Action SAN FRANCISCO. Richard Evans takes us to the �GATHERING� in Calgary, with op-ed commentary of course.
There are fiddlers and then there are FIDDLERS.
With PM Harper now restricting ministers in how and what they comment to the press, I�ve got to ask: What is the protocol in other countries? I know that in the United States, governmental heads do not go running about dispensing wisdom at new’s scrums. It�s all done in a organized way. But what about England? Australia? or Ukraine for that matter? Is Harper over the top in this one, or is he just bringing the Government/Press relationship in line with what most democracies are used to? CLICK
And finally THIS! Embarrassing, unnecessary, and actually quite common among many militaries from western democracies. Before we get our shirts in a knot, let�s remember that the Canadian forces are now receiving significant increases in funding, and that they already pay wages higher than most.

I thought I�d resurrect this guy; even with the wind howling outside, snow curling around the car, and no sign of spring, it�s hard to be down after THIS.
What happens when moose meets car? CLICK (you have to suffer through an ad to get to the moose mayhem)
From Pravda come two reads: �Brokeback Comes to Moscow� and �Why Women Rape Men!�
It was only a matter of time. I�ve been waiting for this moment since I was a wee lad, I�ve been consumed with anticipation. And now, finally, somebody has done it! I give you: Robo Carp
Finally, from Celestial Junk, something I take absolutely no responsibility for. My blog partner has way too much time on his hands. CLICK
If you have any good Sunday Brunch reads, add them to the comments.
UPDATE: Still grumpy??? TRY THIS. If you’re still cranky afterwards, there is nothing I or anybody else can do about it. (long download)

Why did I have to dig for this?
WOOHOO! Way to go, guys! And if you don’t know what the heck sledge hockey IS or looks like, check this out (h/t to whoever provided the link in the comments a few days ago – it’s late!)
Okay, we can now all pull out our politically incorrect “if you don’t want to play like the girls, play like the (enter inappropriate term here)” to put those overpaid hockey “stars” in their place.
crossposted

They�ve begun. With Canada�s role in Afghanistan more visible than ever, the hug-a-terrorist crowd are starting to rumble. I wonder, did any bloggers happen to get down to the �peace rally� in Toronto. I�m curious how many Communist, Unionist, North Vietnamese, Peoples Republic of China, and all around swell international organizations were represented. I know it�d be asking too much of CTV to give us an in-depth analysis of who exactly backs the various groups involved, so it�d be nice if some local area bloggers got their butts down to these things and did some good�ol investigative snooping; digital camera in-hand of course. Anyway, from the main organizer:
“We’re here in Toronto and Canada to put Stephen Harper on notice that it’s time for our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan.” CLICK
More: CLICK
For those with time on their hands, and an interest in anthropology, you�ll want to check this next one out. Celestial Junk has dug into its vast archives and provided to you indisputable proof that liberals/socialists/communists/� and even some �progressives�, are not quite human. If you can wade through this anthropological manual, written sometime in the 1800�s, you�ll begin to understand why debating the �other species� can be so frustrating. We give you, Genus Libratas Americana: CLICK
Remember the Vietnam-like quagmire that Iraq was supposed to become? Remember the smarmy quips about Iraqis relying for decades on American troops? Remember the snide comments about Iraq�s army needing at least a decade to rebuild? CLICK
For anyone with a blog, you may want to get onto the new blogroll we just started. Canadian Heroes is a blogroll for anyone wanting to show support for Canada�s Troops. Our homepage is pretty raw, but give us some time and it�ll be up to snuff. CLICK
And then there are those wacky French! If they aren�t barbecuing cars they�re protesting labor laws en masse. Imagine being one of the socialist bureaucrats in power there. You�ve pretty well had the run of the place for decades now, you�ve worked hard at creating a socialist utopian state; and the fool public still want more! What�s this world coming to? CLICK
When your comments are so arrogantly liberal that even Bill Maher turns his nose up, you know you�ve gone over the top. But then, who are we to argue with the celebrity elite? CLICK
Oh Bloody Hell, those British are finicky. To think the phrase �bloody hell� would be considered too offensive to air in the land that gave us Monty Python, pitty that! � but then I wonder what would happen were the ad to run in Canada? CLICK

Is this a new drug; a possible competitor to crystal-meth? Has anyone heard of this before. From the Prague Post comes a story about Pervitin. CLICK
Finally some commonsense� and just the kind of bitch-slap I like to see. CLICK
And then there was Africa, the dark continent, land of endless debt, suffering, and not enough female hygienic products. I�d like to quote Eric Cartman about now, but I�ll hold my tongue. CLICK
I don�t know if anyone remembers, but once upon a time there was a great evil empire called the Soviet Union. I know that only union hacks and college Che Guevara types remember those days with fondness; tears in their eyes, hearts to chest, visions of fur hats and rows of old men covered in medals reviewing troops still warm their hearts. Well, Pravda, the commi rag that refuses to die is still around. I thought you might be interested in the fact that the United States will cease to exist by 2008 or there about. Honest! Go and read it for yourselves; and tremble. CLICK
From Aljazeera comes this little tidbit, which tries to explain away the West�s unease with Islam. After a good start, writer Soumaya Ghannoushi lets slip the true thesis behind her editorial. After beating around the bush and trying to sound sophisticated, she finally comes out and says it, sort of:
Let us not be deceived about this rhetoric of liberalism and free speech. The Danish cartoons have nothing to do with freedom of expression and everything to do with hatred of the other in a Europe grappling with its growing Muslim minorities, still unable to accept them�
The battle must be fought, a battle against intolerance, hatred, myth of cultural superiority and will to hegemony over the other. CLICK

Sometimes I read something that really gets to me; and I become�. How can I say this delicately� rather worn-out with the inane and dreary criticism of the Iraq War by the Socialist Utopians who just won�t let go. I think that if I hear Abu Ghraib evoked in the name of Leftist arrogance one more time I�ll have to beat someone with a wifflebat. Why am feeling like this? Because of this:
The entrance to the genocide museum is in the back of the building. To get there from the front you have to walk past one of the rape rooms. Women�s underwear and contraceptives were found in that room when the prison was liberated by the Peshmerga.
When you enter the museum you will walk through a long and winding hallway. The walls are covered with mirror shards. Each represents one of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Kurds murdered in the genocidal Anfal campaign. A river of twinkling lights lines the ceiling. Each represents one of the five thousand villages destroyed by Saddam Hussein. CLICK
And, speaking of Iraq, it would seem that the bulwarks of �Bush Lied; People Died� are crumbling more every day. Somebody somewhere decided that in order to justify the Iraq War a �smoking gun� would have to be found. And, it would seem, the vast majority of people bought into this foolish notion. As the Bush haters Moveon smugly in their delusion that Bush did lie, they may not have noticed the growing evidence trickling from Iraqi archives that not only may prove beyond a doubt that Iraq had WMD, but that Osama and Saddam had a pretty cozy relationship after all. CLICK

Looks like the loony-left is creeping ever closer to its ultimate goal; the impeachment of GW. Like a pack of hounds at the track, eyes fixed on the electronic lure that surges just ahead, the left has never let it�s eyes off the target. Nothing has shaken the rabble from its hate, or from it�s determination to somehow and finally find satisfaction. �I can�t get no� Satis-faction� must be the constant refrain playing again and again in the craniums of a million unhinged minds, as the good�ol boy from Texas, and his evil borg controller, Karl Rove, dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge their way out of one trap after another.
Which “Bush done it� are we on now? One thousand two hundred and forty-three is it? I�ve lost count. From wild conspiracy theories to sober pronouncements, like Walter Cronkite claiming that Rove and Osama are in cahoots, the Bush hate syndrome has gone so far over the top that it won�t be long and the American Psychiatric Association will have to name a new syndrome after it.
The Opinion Journal looks at the latest and greatest of the left’s fantasy orgasms�. �Impeach Bush!�
In other words, everything that Mr. Bush has been accused of during the last five years, no matter how Orwellian or thoroughly refuted, will be trotted out again and used as impeachment fodder. And lest you think this could never happen, Judiciary is the House committee through which any formal impeachment resolution would be introduced and proceed. As the country heads toward 2008 and a Democratic nomination fight, John Kerry and Hillary Rodham Clinton would be hard-pressed to avoid going along with Mr. Feingold, Al Gore, and others feeding the bile of the censure/impeach brigades. CLICK
At Celestial Junk we let Michelle Malkin do the talking by reviewing her latest book, which examines the topic of Liberals Unhinged. As well, we ask you to consider just how much loony-left behavior those of the right have come to accept as �normal�. CLICK
Which brings us to an interesting question: What syndrome would one diagnose the loony-left political class with anyway?
Update: From the comments posted by Penny
Here’s a mind game. Match the groups or individuals to the party they are most likely to vote for:
*smut/porn peddlers
*ex-cons
*leftist academics
*Ward Churchill
*public service workers living off the taxpayers
*Hollywood
*mainstream journalists
*angry blacks that want slavery reparations/ resent welfare’s demise/respect the achievements of Al Sharpton and not Condi Rice
*O.J. Simpson
*teacher’s unions
*Al Qaeda

Modern technology has made it possible to fight global warfare without traditional front lines, static defenses, and clear cut territorial gains and losses. Modern war, in fact, may be difficult to define. If one is waiting for traditional forces locked in conflict within defined regions before declaring that war exists, one may miss the �other� war. Just like cancer, which invades the body by surrounding and coexisting with body organs, Islamists rarely compete openly on the battlefield. They surround and coexist with those they wish to consume, and they use terror and intimidation to devour those they wish to control.
The Islamist threat does not lurk behind some concrete definable �front line� as did the Japanese Militarists of World War 2 or the German Armies of World War 1. The Islamist threat is spread out and interwoven among billions of non-Muslims and peaceful Muslims alike. It is an ideology, a well funded and determined fanaticism rooted in 1400 year old dogma. Yet, it�s footprint is ever more obvious, its presence ever more palpable, and its goals ever more clear. Celestial Junk examines the bloody footprints of the Islamist Cancer. CLICK
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter.
Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace–but there is no
peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale
that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears
the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are
already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What
is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have?
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be
purchased at the price of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course
others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or
give me death! ~Patrick Henry
Update: More on the Numbers Game.

As Canada focuses on Afghanistan and what may be a new and more pronounced role in geopolitics, led by a reinvigorated military, Canadians are asking themselves some difficult questions. One question often forgotten is; what are you personally willing to do? Cjunk tackles the question with a historic twist.
Through training and technology, our soldiers may reign supreme on the battlefield, but our civilization on the whole may have grown vulnerable in its affluence, opulence, progressiveness, and humanistic enlightenment. Cruder, more blunt forces unhindered by these, may now hold the advantage.
At Celestial Junk we take a brief historic sojourn to look at one of the world’s most powerful civilizations, and we find that it collapsed when is was, in fact, at its greatest. Opulence, decadence, and an unwillingness to sacrifice was a significant factor in its demise: CLICK