Pollywog Poli-blog

A hero in any other war...

...but somehow, stories like this just don't bubble up to the surface of the legacy media.

Hoo-aah!, Capt. Piro.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 10:39 AM 1 comments

Must-reads

I've added a couple of new links over on the right; former Army colonel and Iraq War veteran Austin Bay is a must-read for anyone interested in "the continuation of policy by other means", and The Torch is a group blog dedicated to the most elusive of quarry; rational, informed discussion on the Canadian military.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 12:45 PM 0 comments

How do you say,

"...Thrown off the back of the sleigh.", in Hebrew?

"The West cannot negotiate with Radical Islam, either for 'respect' or for peaceful co-existence. They do not want our respect -- they want our submission. And the price for our survival, on their terms, is the Jews."

Read Mark Steyn's article, too. Over here, this type of behaviour would rightly be called a hate crime. In Europe, it's business as usual, it seems.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 9:42 AM 0 comments

The devil you know...

It's not hard these days to find stories or movies on how Wal-Mart is evil, bad for small businesses, and horrible to it's workers. Why? Well, the health-care issue is a legitimate gripe, but I remember during my time as a prole at Sears, I worked part-time, as did all my co-workers, just so Sears could avoid paying us benefits. Hardly something unique to Wal-Mart.

If I'm reading this right, though, it seems one of the main complaints that the anti-Wal-Mart people have is the negative effect that a Wal-Mart store has on small businesses. When a Wal-mart store comes to town, it tends to dominate the local economy and send the locally-owned stores running.

So when a large chain store moves into an area, it's a bad thing, as it sends all the local stores packing, and the neighborhood/town loses the local flavour that a small business brings to the community.

Funny, but the people who oppose Wal-Mart seem to ignore that Starbucks does the exact same thing when they move into area. I've lost track of the number of local coffee shops that have gone out of business since Starbucks have arrived here. Fortunately, a few stay on, like The Coffee Rush and The Coffee Plantation, and given the choice, I go there.

Why is it that Wal-Mart, known and loved by the working class, is a threat to the working class, but Starbucks, known and loved by, well, let's say "Not The Working Class", isn't? Why is having a big blue box store on every corner a threat, but never being 20 paces away from a caramel macchiato isn't, despite what it does to local coffee shops?

We fear what we don't know. And to the elites of the world, whose idea of low-price shopping is the 3 day sale at Nordstrom's, Wal-Mart is as foreign to them as the Kamchatka penisula. But for the heartland of America, Wal-Mart's become a trusted partner, and not something to be feared.

Personally, given a choice, I prefer Target, myself.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 10:03 AM 1 comments

Know thy enemy, know thyself, and you will be invincible. (pt 2)

And when we get our hands on Al-Qaeda correspondence regarding operations in Africa, we have a great opportunity to learn more about our enemy.

This part really lept out at me:

"The Somali experience confirmed the spurious nature of American power and that it has not recovered from the Vietnam complex. It fears getting bogged down in a real war that would reveal its psychological collapse at the level of personnel and leadership."

Never. Again.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 11:58 AM 0 comments

Doonesbury?

I've read Doonesbury for years, and when we was good (Say, before 1979), he was very good. Ever since Reagan was elected, though, he's turned pretty nasty and one-sided. But he still can write great characters and throw out a good joke when he wants to.

So to see him make a subtle reference like this fills me with glee.

(If you don't get it, click here).

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 10:48 AM 0 comments

NIMBY

Not In My Backyard.

The kerfluffle over the buyout of P&O by Dubai Ports leaves me a little... non-plussed (If I were upset, would I be "plussed"? Just thinking....).

So one outsourcer got bought out by another. Barring any evidence of malfesance by Dubai Ports, does it matter what nationality of the country who runs the offloading of ships really is? The enforcement of security in those ports will still be done by the local Port Authorities, Customs and Coast Guard. Why wasn't this a problem when a British company did it, but it is when a country run by (Gasp!) *Arabs* is?

Am I the only one that gets a tad queasy at that?

Less than a day's drive away from me is a border that's guarded by good intentions and three strands of barbed wire. To me, that's the real problem.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 4:07 PM 0 comments

Forever new

This Defense Industry Daily post about the Army's Future Combat Sytem makes a really good point about the Army's move to a lighter, more mobile force.

Being light on your feet and increasing your response times is great, but not at the expense of troop protection or firepower. It makes little sense to rush troops into battle without giving them the firepower we need, something we learned the hard way in Somalia, and apparently need to learn again. Mixing in the best from other lands, like the hybrid power system and rubber tracks from Sweden's SEP or the modular fighting compartment from Europe's Boxer AFV are definitely something to look at, but not if it means the FCS can't bounce an RPG with impunity.

We're on the right track, though. With the addition of anti-RPG slat armor, the Stryker's turning into an excellent vehicle for urban combat. It's fast (50+ mph road speed), quiet (it makes no more noise than a diesel truck), and all it's lacking is a support weapon capable of blowing open an entry hole in a fortified location.

So how about adding an Mk19 Automatic Grenade Launcher alongside the .50 cal in the Stryker's Protected Weapon Station (PWS)?

Loaded with a few thermobaric rounds, it'd clear out a bunker, fast.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 7:34 PM 0 comments

Better late than never, I guess...

On the whole, I don't like Diane Feinstein's politics.

But even a blind squirrel finds a few nuts.

I find it stunning that trying to tunnel under the border has NOT been a federal offence up until now.

It's not like this hasn't happened before. Why so long to up the ante for punishment?

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 11:58 AM 0 comments

We have met the enemy, and they is us

TigerHawk has some really good points on tolerating Islam, and Islam's rejection of tolerance towards other faiths. (Link via Instapundit.)

This line in particular jumped out at me:

"Fifteen thousand people (Muslims who responded to a poll in Britain. -Ed.) felt that the attacks were 'right,' which presumably means that they themselves would have conducted them if they had both the courage and the means."

These are people like Richard Reed, with a British passport and English names, who can move in and out of the U.S. and other Western countries a lot easier than someone from Pakistan or Yemen.

Chew on that for a while.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 9:55 AM 0 comments

I don't know which is worse,

The fact that parents of Iraqi veterans and the veterans themselves who have a positive message about the war have to buy airtime to get their message out, while Cindy Sheehan gets all the PR she needs for free, or the fact that the Democrats are opposed to that message of hope getting out.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 8:43 AM 0 comments

Wow.

The Bull Moose and I agree.

Neato.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 5:32 PM 0 comments

Begin Bobby McFerrin song in 3...2...1...

Off-topic, but it's a shame that he's known primarily for that one song, as he's so talented. Go check out some of his other songs (iTunes link) then come here.

Ok, thanks for coming back.

Pew Research has found that as a whole, Republicans are happier than Democrats. And regular church-goers are happier than non-church goers. And it's not because the GOP's in power right now, it's been that way since they first started this study, back in 1972.

Then ask yourself, when was the last time this country elected a grumpy President?

Gonna be a long 6 years for the Dems, at this rate.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 5:24 PM 0 comments

My money's on the flying rat

Frank Miller is doing a limited-edition "Batman vs. Al Qaeda" comic.

Cool. His Dark Knight series was THE defining version of Batman for years. And I'm pleased as punch to see someone in the entertainment industry take the battle against Islamo-fascism seriously.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 8:39 PM 0 comments

Mnnn, granola

"What hooked me then, and continues to hold me, and what is the underlying theme of the contemporary liberal side of this aesthetic, is authenticity."

Ok, so it looks like I'm a Crunchy Con, too. So be it. I distrust GM as much as I distrust the Federal Government, I think we're put on this earth as stewards, not as pillagers, and I think how something is done matters as much as what get done.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 1:11 PM 0 comments

Sometimes,

a picture really is worth a thousand words.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 7:04 PM 0 comments