The Congress has recently voted to name a Littoral Combat Ship after congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot by a madman and had to retire from Congress. Now we all wish Congresswoman Giffords well, but does getting shot by a nut qualify her for having a warship named after her? I don’t think so. The Navy and the Congress, which mandates these things, should return to the way it was, when ships were named for battles or for insects. Like the Hornet and the Wasp.

Those were the days, the days of fighting sail

The Hornet and the Wasp, both sloops of war

Descendants sailed the oceans of the world

Each name a mem’ry of those gone before

When did it change, this hon’ring of the past

How did the politicians gain control

Deciding their names went before the mast

Besmirching time ‘twixt sail and oil and coal

Tradition now means nothing to this class

Of lefties who command our days and nights

Who’d never in a wardroom raise a glass

To toast a hero or a ship that fights

Who yet will give a fighting ship a name

With no connection to our country’s past

Of Lexington and battles filled with flame

And billowed sails and yards slung on the mast