UIndy inaugurates first woman president - University of Indianapolis

oPI”
PAGE
2 THE REFLECTOR APRILS 2006
Failed ports deal reflects culture of fear
Sandra Arao Ameny
Staff Writer
The failure of the Dubai ports deal
reflects intolerance and prejudice
towards Arabs. The controversial
deal would have allowed Dubai Ports
World, a company owned by the United
Arab Emirates, to operate six major
American ports.
According to CNN, DP World
bought London-based Peninsula &
Oriental Steam Navigational Company
for $6.8 million, giving DP World the
right to operate six major American
ports, including ports in areas such as
New Orleans, New York, New Jersey
and Philadelphia.
Three-quarters of cargo containers
pass through terminals that are leased
to international companies. Some of
these companies are based in Denmark,
Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and
China. So, what is all the fuss over
another international company leasing
another American port?
Politicians who opposed the Dubai
port deal have repeatedly pointed out
that the deal would have jeopardized
national security. They are quick to
point out that two of the 911 1 hijack-
ers came from the UAE and that the
hijackers attained the funding from
Dubai banks prior to the attack. They
also are eager to point out that the
UAE was one of three nations to give
recognition to the Taliban’s regime in
Afghanistan. These are not hard points
to sell at face value, but one must ana-
lyze and be educated about all the facts
before writing off DP World and the
UAE altogether.
The reality is that the UAE has been
a necessary ally in the Middle East in
the war against terrorism. According to
The New York Times, after the Sept. 11
I EDITORIAL
Attacks, the UAE cut all diplomatic
ties with the Taliban, especially when
the Bush administration was calling
for Afghanistan to give up Osama Bin
Laden. Secondly, the US. Navy uses
the port of Dubai, and the U.S. Air
Force uses the UAE airfield to launch
weapons into Iraq and Afghanistan. If
the U.S. labels all Arab countries as
threats, even an ally, it will only create
more enemies. After the invasion of
Iraq and the prison abuse cases, the
U.S. image in the Arab world plummeted.
Refusing business from a
legitimate Arab company and connecting
all Arab countries with terrorists
and enemies will only tarnish the U.S.
image in the international community.
After bipartisan opposition in
Congress and public opinion ~olls, DP
World agreed to a 45-day review and
even offered to divert its holdings to
an American company. DP World was
poised to subject itself to scrutiny and
cooperated to show politicians and the
American people that it was legitimate
and willing to comply with Congress’s
demands. Unfortunately, the deal fell
apart.
What the public tends to forget,
behind all the political rhetoric, sound
bites and patriotism, is that Dubai was
the first place to join the U.S. Container
Security Initiative, a program
that allowed U.S. Customs to go to
overseas ports and check cargo that
was bound for America.
According to Time Magazine, Stephen
Flynn of the Council on Foreign
Relations said that DP World is not “a
shadow organization of AI Qaeda.”
Even Jimmy Carter, who is known
to criticize the Bush administration,
defended the deal and told CNN that
the deal was not a particular threat to
U.S. security. Why is it permissible to
allow some international companies
inside U.S. borders, yet chase other
companies away? Are we not undermining
national security by allowing
any international company, regardless
of origin, to lease ports in the U.S.?
The reality is that the DP World deal
fell apart simply because we were deal-
ing with an Arab country. Ironically, the
war on terror, highlighted with words
like “democracy,” ‘‘liberation’’ and
“freedom,” has exposed an uglier side
of ourselves that some of us refuse to
see: intolerance. We rant and rave about
the freedoms we are going to bring to
people in Iraq, yet we do not display
tolerance and non-prejudicial attitudes.
It’s time to wake up. We do not only
fear national security breeches. We fear
a culture and a people that we do not
understand, a people we have equated
with nothing but terrorists.
In my opinion, the Dubai Ports
World deal was blocked by politicians
who made decisions on too little, and
biased information. Even worse, the
public was not adequately educated
about both sides of the issue and auto-
matically jumped on the bandwagon
to support protectionist laws without
really understanding that the UAE and
DP World are actually legitimate and
necessary players in the war on terror.
It is unfortunate when politicians can
exhibit Anti-Arab sentiment and no one
checks them for intolerance or preju-
dice. What if this were one of us facing
scrutiny in a foreign country? Wouldn’t
we want to be measured with fairness
and respect?
Even though it crumbled, the Dubai
Ports World deal gives us an opportuni-
ty to examine our political conscience.
Before we raise our banners of democ-
racy and wave our American flags, we
should ask ourselves if we are tolerant
enough to refrain from stereotyping a
group of people as terrorists. We should
challenge ourselves to recognize that
not all Arab countries or companies are
a threat and consider the possibility that
the entities may be legitimate business
partners and necessary allies in the war
on terror.
Protests at U.S. soldiers’ funerals spark legislation, enrage editor
Valerie Miller
Editor-in-Chief
Members of the small congregation
of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka,
Kan., have made headlines recently for
their anti-homosexual protests across
the country at soldiers’ funerals. Their
actions have been so offensive that a
number of states, including Indiana,
have passed, or are in the process of
passing, legislation restricting where
and when people can demonstrate at a
funeral.
Before 1 go into an all-out tirade
about why these people are lunatics, I
should tell you a little more about the
congregation, the protests and their
logic (or lack thereof). According to
both the church’s Web site
(www.godhatesfags.com - yes, this is
really the name of their Web site and
with that, I could probably end this
editorial right now, but I will continue)
and various news sources (ABC News,
CNN, USA Today, etc.), the church
was founded and is still led by 76-
year-old pastor Fred Phelps. Most of
the congregation is comprised of his
family members, which includes (to
date) 13 children, 54 grandchildren and
five great-grandchildren. Although the
church has the word “Baptist” in its
name, according to MSNBC, it is not
affiliated with a larger denomination.
The group first gained notoriety
by protesting at the funerals of AIDS
victims in the 1990s. Since then, they
have made it their mission to spread
their hate-filled doctrine by protesting at
the funerals of slain American soldiers,
as well as other places like the funer-
als of the West Virginia coal miners.
Their protests at soldiers’ funerals have
sparked the most controversy and led
to most of the legislation. They believe
that soldiers are evil because they die
defending a country that tolerates ho-
mosexuality. This is faulty logic at best,
and really it is just plain stupid.
Members of the group have (to date)
interrupted more than 100 soldiers’
funerals (including some in Lafayette,
Evansville and Elkhart) by standing
near the funeral or memorial service
of a fallen soldier with signs that say
despicable things like “God Hates You,”
“Thank God for 9/11 ,” “God is Your
Enemy,” “God Hates Fags” and “You’re
Going to Hell” and chanting equally
offensive phrases. Not only are the
adult church members doing this, but
they take their kids, too! One picture of
the protests shows a woman with her
nine-year-old son, both of whom are
holding similar signs and smiling. NINE
YEARS OLD!
Phelps and his followers show no
remorse for their actions and plan to
continue them. When asked by ABC
News how he would respond to a
widow who asked him to leave, he
replied, “No. Some maudlin widow.
Look, you’re partly to blame for him
being dead, woman.” Yes, this heartless,
uncaring man said these exact words.
Not only do they believe this crap, they
choose to share their message at a time
when people are grieving the loss of a
loved one. LEAVE THEM ALONE!
Fortunately, some motorcycle-riding
veterans have formed a group called the
Patriot Guard to try to protect the griev-
ing families. This group comes to funer-
als where the congregation is protesting
and blocks them from the view of the
family members with their bikes and
American flags. As the family members
and other mourners come by, the group
revs their engines to drown out the
cacophony of protestors. These patriots,
heroes in my opinion, do this out of the
kindness of their hearts in order to spare
these families further anguish. God
bless them.
When I first learned about this socalled
church, I was appalled. First of
all, they should not be called a church.
They are more like a cult. The definition
of a cult, according to
dictionary.com, is this: “a religion or
religious sect generally considered to be
extremist or false ... under the guidance
of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.”
Also, they are NOT, I repeat, NOT
Christians. They give Christians a bad
name by doing this stuff and causing
people to generalize that all Christians
are like this. Remember how they seem
to fit the definition of cult? Well, here
are a couple definitions of “Christian”
that they don’t fit into: “professing
belief in Jesus as Christ or following the
religion based on the life and teachings
of Jesus” and “showing a loving
concern for others.” This group comes
nowhere near following the life and
teachings of Jesus. If they bothered to
read more of the Bible than just what
they want to read, they would notice
that Jesus spent a lot of his time with
people who were rejected by society,
including lepers, Samaritans and tax
collectors.
They pick a few choice words from
the Bible, mostly from the Old Testa-
ment, paste them together and call it
doctrine. They do not teach the Word of
God, but rather a polluted, false form of
it and they use ridiculous logic to justify
it. They say that the only hope that
people (specifically homosexuals) have
is “to listen to the preaching of West-
boro Baptist Church.” This direct quote
from their Web site is not a message
of hope. If they were trying to witness
to people about being a Christian, they
would tell them to turn to the teachings
of the Bible for hope, not the teachings
of Westboro Baptist Church.
You don’t need to take a critical
thinking course to figure out that the
idea that God kills soldiers because
there are homosexuals in America is ab-
surd. That’s like saying I + 1 equals 594.
They use the story of Sodom and Go-
morrah to justify this. Anyone who has
even casually read the Bible will know
that God destroyed Sodom and Gomor-
rah because of the things the people of
these cities did - things like trying to
attack visitors to the city. Thw. Not
other people - the people who actually
committed the sins. God does not pun-
ish people for things they didn’t do.
Another of their teachings is that
God is a God of hate. They basically
teach that if you do not believe every-
thing they say, God hates you and you
are going to hell. Well, 1 have read the
Bible too, and I have a number of verses
to directly refute these false claims.
Here are just a few verses to keep in
mind:
“Dear friends, let us love one
another, for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves has been born of
God and knows God. Whoever does not
love does not know God because God is
love.” 1 John 4:7-5 (NIV).
Another verse says, “For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, and are justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that came
by Jesus Christ.” Romans 3:23-24.
All have sinned. ALL - including you, 8
Freddie.
Here are a few more verses that not
only show the love of God, but the sin
these people commit by hating others.
“Anyone who claims to be in the
light but hates his brother is still in the
darkness.” 1 John 2:9; “If anyone says
‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he
is a liar. For anyone who does not love
his brother, whom he bas seen, cannot
love God, whom he has not seen.” 1
John 4:20; and finally, “Anyone who
hates his brother is a murderer, and you
know that no murderer has eternal life
in Him.” 1 John 3: 15. Read that, you
crazies. I’m sure they don’t like to be
told they are lying murderers stuck in
darkness. But, hey, I’m just quoting the
Bible.
While I’m sure that I am now going
to hell for calling them out, I realize that
hating them is not the answer either;
in fact, it only makes things worse and
directly contradicts the verses I just
quoted. The Bible also says (a quote
from Jesus) “Love your enemies and ;
pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew
5:44. SO although the members of,
this congregation may be hateful and i&
norant, we should not hate them, for that
makes us no better than they are. We 1
should pray for them and feel sorry that,
their lives are so consumed with hate.
And while I hope they change their ;
beliefs and leave the grieving soldiers’
families alone, I also realize that under
the U.S. Constitution, they have the
right to free speech, just like every :
other American. However, I won’t be
’
surprised to see a new Web site called
“godhatesvaleriemiller.com.” That’s ;
OK, I’m changing my name soon ;
anyway.