October 5, 2008
A couple of things
Wolf here.
The article at the link below is one I found to be of interest, as in years gone by I had occasion to use the venerable weapon discussed about half a dozen times and believe it an asset to any grunt force that is graced with its issuance.
Shooters, enjoy.
http://www.military.com/news/article/the-ultimate-battle-rifle.html
Moving on, a column by Chuck Norris that’s worth the read:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28787
In a so-called age of tolerance, it amazes me just how intolerant some people are of those who stand for traditional values. For example, if I stand against California’s memorializing of Harvey Milk Day or stand for California’s Proposition 8, which would create an amendment to the California Constitution to safeguard heterosexual purity in marriage (which I do support and encourage Gov. Schwarzenegger and all Californians to do the same), I’m considered by many to be intolerant and a bigot. But if another actor takes just the opposite positions on those measures, he is considered to be compassionate and a liberator. Or when a liberal candidate, such as Hillary Clinton, runs for president, her candidacy is considered a fulfillment of civil rights and women’s suffrage. But when a conservative candidate, such as Sarah Palin, runs for vice president, she’s considered a radical right-wing extremist who could usurp the Capitol by toting rifles at her side.
This is America, and we should respect the fact that we will have strong, diverse opinions, and we must allow one another the freedom of speech to air such opines, not suppress them through peer pressure of any type like children. I have many acting friends and many friends in politics. I vehemently disagree with some of them, and that is my American right, as it is theirs. We must agree to disagree agreeably, without blogging about or denigrating someone’s life and character before the nation and rest of the world. We must do better at keeping the focus on the fact that we are Americans first; we are not just conservatives and liberals.
Much as I hate to sound intolerant myself, I have to say that like Chuck, I am intolerant of intolerance by those who endorse tolerance only when it is directed toward their own beliefs, no matter how farfetched or downright off the charts they may be, yet see nothing wrong with denying the rest of us the right to express our own, dissenting, points of view.
This is one of the biggest anti-American traits demonstrated by so called “progressives” in our society, a trait more in line with communist dictum than with the First Amendment rights granted all Americans, not just those embracing liberal beliefs.
Liberal/leftist seepage into the Democratic party in my lifetime has waterlogged the folks on the far side of the aisle with some kind of phobia of the contents to be found among the articles of the U.S. Constitution, and this has reached the point of becoming a free-for-all over there.
What else would explain the Democrats’ wanting to make federal issues of agendas like gay “rights” or of their offering up a creature like Barack Obama as a presidential candidate?
– Wolf
http://hardastarboard.mu.nu/wp-trackback.php?p=915
October 6th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Joe Scarborough claims that it is the GOP that has drifted far to the right. POV, I guess. Regarding the FN-FAL, while I was remotely involved with Fabrique Nationale in ammo research, I did not have the pleasure of using one. When I was in, they gave us grunts the venerable M-14. It was a bit heavy, but easy to field strip in the dark! As far as progressives, been one since the 50s..and we weren’t called commies then. POV again, I guess.
October 7th, 2008 at 8:05 am
BB-Idaho,
I can’t say as I agree with Scarborough’s POV, at least not as a complete-picture based conclusion.
Over the last few decades, the left has been constantly moving further left in the sense that more and more American ideals (Judeo-Christian values, limited government, adherence to the Constitution as it was written and as it has served us well for over 200 years, et al) have been eroded and/or discarded altogether from that quarter. I see the perception by many that the right has been moving further right as a not altogether fully grasped response to this list to port, so to speak, that is an instinctive defensive move.
Look at it this way: You live in a sturdy brick house that has provided your family with a dependable home for generations. For the last thirty years, the sibling who lives in the basement, who is one of the legal owners of the property, has been gradually tapping away at the foundation with hammer and chisel, and you suddenly realize that the house is on the verge of collapsing in on itself as a result. You try to get the crazy sibling to desist before he completely destroys the house, but his only response is to chisel harder. What do you do, continue a course of pleading with a pair of deaf ears, or become more extreme in your efforts to save the house?
Would you say that these increased efforts, which are purely defensive, make you an extremist?
The M-14 is an excellent weapon, both for standard grunt use and as a sniper’s rifle as well (as in the M-21 config ala ‘Nam), and I have had far more experience with it than I have with the FN FAL, but weighing one against the other there have been a few situations in which I would have preferred the Belgian assault rifle, one being the last theater in which I served before retiring earlier in this decade.
In summation: The FN FAL kicks butt.
October 7th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
The crazy chiseling sibling in the house is a good analogy. Explains the conservative POV. I guess the obverse POV would be that the sibling is an expert carpenter who notices the house is is shabby shape?
Any idea of why the M-14 was chosen over the Belgian weapon…and why the short service time of the M-14 as standard issue?
October 9th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
BB-Idaho,
The house was doing just fine until the chiseling sibling decided to “fix” what ain’t broke.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the M-14 is among the finest weapons ever issued by the U.S., surely a hell of a lot better than the sad 5.56mm offering they replaced it with. The ’14’s short run was probably due to one or more bean counters who had either forgotten what it’s like to have ones’ ass on the line in combat or had never been there to begin with.
FN has had and I believe still does have some small arms contracts with the Pentagon for other products, but the only times I’ve run into the FN FAL in any kind of U.S. inventory have been for use as a “sterile” weapon.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:49 am
[...] Hard Astarboard ” Blog Archive ” A couple of things [...]