The shipping news

Several governors and many members of Congress are outraged about the deal that would turn over management of six U.S. ports to a state-owned corporation from the United Arab Emirates. “Why weren’t we told?” they want to know.

We doubt they were comforted by the news that President Bush didn’t know either. The administration is definitely on the defensive as politicians of all stripes hammer away, but it only has itself to blame.

First, it has played up the war on terrorism and made homeland security an everyday concern. So if people are overreacting, it might be because they have taken their cues from the White House. Second, the ridiculous levels of secrecy shrouding the deal only make people more suspicious. Third, the administration has not followed through on many of the Sept. 11 commission’s recommendations for shoring up port security. Plus, U.S. intelligence has a poor record when it comes to discerning threats from other countries. So, the “trust us” line isn’t credible.

No doubt, many complaining politicians are practicing demagoguery. And the racial and religious stereotypes that inform some of those complaints make us uneasy.

Perhaps some good can come from this controversy if it sheds light on the current gaps in port security.

What’s in a name?

You know your college mascot is out of step with the 21st century when members of your choir are asked to go by a different name during a trip to Europe.

The Crusaders of the Northwest Nazarene University of Nampa, Idaho, might conjure images of Christian soldiers winning souls for the kingdom. But the mascot name means something quite different to the world’s large Muslim population whose ancestors fought for their homeland against invaders from Europe. As a result, Northwest Nazarene is having second thoughts about the mascot, after a task force recommended on a 7-1 vote that the school dump Crusaders.

Some, according to the Idaho Statesman, have sided with tradition and view the attempt to switch mascots as political correctness run amok. Others associate the name with killing, raping and pillaging. The case for the latter is strengthened by the fact that two other evangelical colleges have dropped their Crusader mascot in recent years: Point Loma Nazarene University in California and Wheaton College in Illinois.

Northwest Nazarene should do so, too.

Political recruit

The loss of both legs hasn’t kept Tammy Duckworth from running – for office, that is.

Duckworth, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Illinois, was gravely injured in November 2004 when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq. By the time she woke up at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, both legs had been amputated.

Now fitted with prosthetic feet and legs – which are designed to allow two-inch heels – the former Army captain is waging a frank and disarmingly irreverent campaign for the House of Representatives.

“It’s really hard to use a laptop when you only have half a lap,” she told a Washington Post reporter.

And she makes no pretense about the fact that being a wounded female combat veteran sets her apart from the average office-seeker: “Understand that I’m going to use this as a platform.” Indeed, she is one of about a dozen Iraq vets whom Democratic Party leaders have recruited to run for Congress this year.

Still, Duckworth says she’s drawn bipartisan inspiration from a range of public servants, from Bob Dole to Daniel Inouye, whose service to country didn’t end because they were wounded in combat.

As with them, no matter what Duckworth’s politics are, they are secondary to her courage.