10 July 03

On weapons maintenance from a friend on active duty:

"On the release of the Army's 'official' report of the ambush of the 507th Maintenance CO in Iraq, I am motivated to comment on the sorry state of individual weapons maintenance training within the Army. I've heard many co mments about design improvements that are necessary within the M-16 system, but the y are out there in the future. In the interim, we need to make this system work.

Joe GI goes to the range and fires his 40-round qualifier, has a couple of stoppages (usually due to a broken part, poor lubrication, or a bad magazine ), applies an immediate action drill (or takes an 'alibi') and logicall y concludes that this is all 'normal.' Well, it is not! Properly maintained, M -16s will fire hundreds of rounds consecutively without a hint of a stoppage. Broken parts and bad magazines need to be replaced on the spot, but they typically aren't, and substandard performance thus continues to be tolerated.

The other problem is: as a range expedient, we routinely over-lubricate weapons. The first thing that happens when soldiers get to the range is that a drill sergeant takes a big bottle of CLP and drowns each bolt and chamber in it. Young, impressionable soldiers thus learn that the weapon must have more oil that a car engine to work effectively. This 'solution' may work gre at on a range, but go to a desert and then try it (as many soldiers did!). Mix all that oil together with airborne grit and dust, and weapon will stop working in a New York minute.

Soldiers need to be trained to maintain and lubricate weapons correctly, kee p dust covers closed and magazines in the magazine well, and then not to accep t individual weapons functioning poorly as 'normal.' "

Comment: Well said, my friend. I hope the right people are listening.

/John

10 July 03

Letter to Justice O'Connor from an attorney:

"Dear Justice O''Connor:

In your University of Michigan Law School affirmative action decision, you have decreed that the government can pursue a fashionable, though ephemeral and nebulous, social policy by discriminating against me and my progeny on the basis of race.

The outcome of this case naturally was welcomed by the nation's elites. It is comforting and guilt assuaging, and its burdens are borne by others. Even the most doltish offspring of judges, academics, editors, government officials, business executives, etc, will always be admitted to the most prestigious institutions. The bright and hard working offspring of poor Asians and lower class Caucasians are the ones disadvantaged. Largely invisible and voiceless, they are ignored in decisions and the processes leading to them. Nothing has changed since the days that the same institutions had quotas limiting the number of Jews they would admit. The goal then also was to maintain the time's voguish concept of diversity. The reciprocal of your ruling that the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment (and I cannot help but wonder what other constitutional protections) are no longer available to me is the forfeiture by the government of any legitimate claim to loyalty, citizenship, or other obligations from me. I do not consent to a government with the power to deny the equal protection of its laws to any of its citizens for any purpose, irrespective of how laudable and praiseworthy its goal may appear to be. Many conscientious citizens will, I believe, resist and subvert such a government when, as, and how they can."

Comment: The high court has decreed that racism is okay, so long as the trendy group benefits, and the "out of favor" group is punished. It is now just fine, according to the Supreme Court, to deny a person an opportunity solely because of the color of his skin. Now, watch each and every ethnic and religious group scramble to separate itself from the main body of Americans, as they all compete for "victim" status. It is a lawless decision. I, for one, am really worried about what these social activists will do with the Second Amendment and the rest of the Constitution!

/John