Today President Barack Obama will address the 2009 graduating class of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. Can you imagine, many years later, being able to say that a sitting president of the United States of America gave the commencement address at your graduation? Wow! What an honor. The leader of the most powerful nation in the world!

All week long demonstrators at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana have been protesting over President Obama’s pro-choice stance and his view on stem cell research. So far, 19 have been arrested. While there have been some student protests during the past few weeks, those arrested have been non-students. The moment they come on to school property, they are arrested. Who are these protestors? From all appearances, they are a hodgepodge of followers of Randall Terry who used to lead Operation Rescue. Some readers will remember the group that blockaded women’s clinics, chained themselves to medical equipment and cars, harassed patients and kept patients from entering and exiting the clinics.

In 2005, many members from this same group descended on Pinellas County, Florida, to protest removing Terry Schiavo’s feeding tube. Schiavo had been in a persistent vegetative state for seven years.

In addition to the remaining stragglers of Operation Rescue, former presidential candidate Alan Keyes is there making his statement as well as priests, bishops and other clergy. Norma McCorvey, the original Jane Roe in the Roe vs. Wade decision, is also there speaking badly of the president. Some are protesting that President Obama was even invited to speak. Others are protesting that he will be given an honorary degree from Notre Dame because he does not represent the Church’s values. It appears to be a real three ring circus.

Seven other distinguished Americans will receive honorary degrees along with Obama. They represent many different walks of life and philosophies. Notre Dame is to be commended for its endeavor to broaden minds rather than stifle knowledge; it is, after all, a university of distinction with a strong academic reputation. Schools like Notre Dame encourage thinking and do not turn out cookie cutter graduates who simply regurgitate facts. Academicians of national and international stature proudly claim Notre Dame as their alma mater.

 

According to Time Magazine:

Three-quarters of Catholics either approve of or offer no opinion on Notre Dame’s decision to invite Obama, and the same percentage of U.S. bishops have opted to stay out of the fight. However, for a small but vocal group of conservative Catholics, the episode has become an opportunity to draw lines between those who are genuinely Catholic and those whom they accuse of being Catholic in name only — even the head of the country’s premier Catholic university.

Those attempting to influence the university should be ashamed of themselves. Surely the Catholic Church does not want to be seen publicly as the ‘thought police.’ The world will be watching tomorrow to see the kind of respect given to all the dignitaries. Some of the protestors are asking where the prominent Republicans are. They have stayed away. They have more class than to show up with this bunch of rowdies.

The protestors seem to have no respect for the Office of the President. The circus has indeed come to town. Hopefully, the focus will remain on those who are graduating rather than the uninvited clowns.

63 Thoughts to “Notre Dame Graduation Marred by Protests”

  1. Punchak

    “Great” publicity for Keyes! Jerk!

    Randall Terry? Abomination!

    Neither one would ever be able to have an abortion!!!!!!!!!!!

  2. I have voted pro-life in the past, but this whole “controversy” is falling flat to me. It is becoming difficult to distinguish one special interest group trying to sell outrage through the boob tube from another. Once again, the aim is spreading outrage, rather than achieving anything constructive on the issue.

  3. Moon-howler

    I would like to see them take another mortal sin like taking birth control and have the same discussion. Isn’t Obama in favor of birth control (like most normal people are)?

    Are there degrees of mortal sin?

    When does this start becoming ‘the thought police?’ I believe it already has.

    I want to see how disruptive Randall Terry gets with the secret service there. When did he convert to Catholicism btw?

  4. ShellyB

    Where is Corey Stewart when you need a demagouge to say to he clergy to stay out of politics?

  5. Moon-howler

    Would that be the same Corey Stewart who, when asked if he would agree to fulfill any of the three goals of the V.O.I.C.E. mission, deflected the issue by calling on V.O.I.C.E. to ‘end the scourge of abortion?’

    He is entitled to his opinions but he sure didn’t stick to topic. In fact, he was flat out embarrassing. Awkward dodge. He should have had the integrity to just reject their request.

  6. Witness Too

    I interpreted Chairman Stewart’s political stunt at the VOICE event as a deliberate show of disrespect. He was trying to dismiss our congregations, and divide the thousand or so people that were there, with an ideological purity test at us. It seemed to me he was implying we are less Godly and less deserving of respect because we are a secular organization focusing on issues other than abortion. Christians who are pro-choice apparently are not welcome in the Chairman’s “church.” But I would submit that Christian values transcend politics, and yet they are being subjugated to politics all too often.

  7. Moon-howler

    WT, I don’t know what his intent was. You might be right but it was disrespectful, for sure.

    I was very proud of President Obama today. The student body of ND seemed delighted to have the President there and welcomed him. The outside aggitators really made a lot of noise to make up for their numbers. Sounds sort of familiar, doesn’t it? Funny, when you look at the big picture, those multitudes you heard about really weren’t so many in number.

  8. Poor Richard

    Kudos to Notre Dame for inviting President Obama and to him for his
    great address to the graduates. Suggest you watch it unedited
    on C-Span and not the cut and paste BS on FOX.

  9. Moon-howler

    Totally agree on this one, Poor Richard. I had it on Faux News for the bs (I had to see the performers) and on the Notre Dame live web cast on the computer to see the ceremony. I thought President Obama really was…presidential. He was gracious and thoughtful in his words.

    The valedictorian was a most impressive young woman also. If nothing else, the circus performers forced a nation to watch splendid ceremony where our president showed himself to be an honorable man, even in the face of adversity. The villains are those who tried to seize the day from the graduates for their own political gain. Opinion is one thing. Demonstrating along the route to the university is one thing. Bringing the circus on campus is another.

    Most of all, the Notre Dame graduates owned the day and I was most impressed with their demeanor and their delight at having the President of the United States speaking at their graduation. Truthfully, I don’t remember who even spoke at mine.

  10. Starryflights

    President Obama shined on this day, as well as the Notre Dame graduates. The protesters, however, only succeeded in making asses of themselves by engaging in such juvenile and immature tactics.

  11. hello

    It’s so funny how people bash Fox News here and nobody ever bashes NBC or MSNBC. Think about it for just a second… GE owns NBC, GE has gotten over 140 BILLION in bailout money and is positioning itself to get hundreds of billions more in green technology as well as health care technology. There is zero journalistic integrity there. They have such a vested interest in this administration that it’s a joke that they can call themselves a ‘news’ channel. They are nothing more than an Obama administration infomercial.

    When a ‘News’ organization is owned by a company that has gotten hundreds of billions in bailout money and is poised to get hundreds of billions more if the administration passes other policies they no longer report ‘News’. They have a vested interest in putting a ‘spin’ which would better their bottom line. But nobody ever talks about that…

  12. Starryflights

    hello :It’s so funny how people bash Fox News here and nobody ever bashes NBC or MSNBC. Think about it for just a second… GE owns NBC, GE has gotten over 140 BILLION in bailout money and is positioning itself to get hundreds of billions more in green technology as well as health care technology. There is zero journalistic integrity there. They have such a vested interest in this administration that it’s a joke that they can call themselves a ‘news’ channel. They are nothing more than an Obama administration infomercial.
    When a ‘News’ organization is owned by a company that has gotten hundreds of billions in bailout money and is poised to get hundreds of billions more if the administration passes other policies they no longer report ‘News’. They have a vested interest in putting a ’spin’ which would better their bottom line. But nobody ever talks about that…

    Bush gave GE bailout out too.

  13. hello

    A good example of this is Keith Olbermann, salary before GE got billions in bailout money – 4 million a year, after GE got billions in bailout money – 7.5 million a year. Hmmm…. interesting that this ‘news anchor’ almost doubled his salary after the company he directly works for got billions of our tax dollars. Especially since 1/2 his show is dedicated to Fox News and his ratings suck. Makes you wonder what exactly are our tax dollars paying for. He has a vested interest in bashing anyone who opposes any Obama administration policy. Just take a look at his ‘worst person’ segment, they are always anyone at Fox sprinkled every now and then with Rush or anyone in the Republican party. If your going to bash Fox take a second to look at other ‘faux news’ stations as well.

  14. Gainesville Resident

    hello – MSNBC and CNN have their fare share of innacurate and misleading reporting too. MSNBC of course is partly owned by Microsoft. CNN puts its own spin on things, also sometimes are called the “Confused News Network” due to embarrassing gaffes they’ve made, silly typos on news crawl at bottom, and usually inaccurate stuff on technical topics. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox – to me all 3 of them have their own “slants” on the news, and their own inaccuracies, mistatements, etc. I lump all 3 of them in the same basket.

  15. hello

    When it comes to people protesting Obama at Notre Dame because of his very pro-abortion views how can you fault them? Take a second and look at his views not just on abortion but even on ‘born-alive legislation’. This is a procedure where doctors force a premature delivery so that the baby will die. In most cases the baby is born alive but Obama’s view on this is that no medical assistance should be applied to ensure that the baby dies. This is worse than late term abortion, this is having a live baby and just letting it die, which Obama supports. I don’t blame or look down on anyone who protests that and I’m pro-choice (to a point).

    By the way, did anyone here complain about protests when Bush talked at any college?

  16. hello

    Hi GR, I agree with you to a point about CNN, MSNBC and Fox. They do all have their own slant on the news but MSNBC is being directly funded by GE and bailout money (aka our tax dollars) but nobody bashes them. Why not? Can you imagine if Fox news was owned by Halliburton? People would never stop talking about how corrupt they and the administration is. I just don’t see how a company who’s future relies on government money and contracts can own and operate ‘news’ channels and nobody ever raises the issue or complains about it.

  17. hello

    for you viewing pleasure… it’s official, the Obama administration “loves MSNBC”. Still, nobody ever complains about this relationship. http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=332873

  18. Starryflights

    Mr Moderator, would you please tell “hello” that George Bush also gave bailout money to GE? Why am I on moderated status when he is free to spread such disinformation unchallenged?

  19. Poor Richard

    Finding “fair and balanced” news is often not possible unless
    you do it yourself by looking at a variety of sources. To
    simply watch only FOX or only MSNBC will provide a distorted
    understanding of actual events. They both have little
    regard for the line between news and editoral comment and
    often just provide a feed-back loop for people who already share
    their bias. (I think Fox is the worst offender, but not the
    only one. Also have often observed that the better the hair on
    the reporter, the poorer the “reporting”). If you really want
    to know what was said – watch C-SPAN. Plus, on line,
    read the New York Times AND the Wall Street Journal.

  20. hello

    I agree 100% Poor Richard about looking at a variety of news sources. My only issue is that some people here only bash Fox, apparently other news organizations being directly funded by the government is a-okay. No conflict of interest or anything to complain about there…

    Funny, your probably right, ugly people probably do better reporting. 🙂 However, that dude that looks like Eli Manning that comes on after Olbermann isn’t that good at ‘reporting’. 😉

  21. Gainesville Resident

    Agreed hello, you inded make a good point about MSNBC being owned by GE, funded by bailout money – I don’t expect they report negatively about GE. Also your point about no one bashing them even though they are directly funded by GE is well taken. I don’t watch MSNBC very much, not sure really why actually. I don’t watch CNN or Fox that much either, but MSNBC, even less so than either of them.

  22. Elena

    Obama did great yesterday, talking about finding common ground, he always impresses me when dealing with contentious issues.

  23. Moon-howler

    Poor Richard, again, we agree.

    Hello, I didn’t bash Fox. (although I am getting ready to) I said I watched Faux News because it had the bs going on outside and they were showing it. I don’t think that is bashing them.

    Now here comes some bashing. As Poor Richard has said,

    They both have little regard for the line between news and editoral comment and often just provide a feed-back loop for people who already share their bias.

    They are not fair and balanced. Their reporters are actually commentators most of the time. I am watching now….Meagan is on there reporting and flouncing her head in outrage. Her voice tone has changed. True reporting should not contain personal opinion. I only watch CNN and Faux News on cable news however and both are bad. Therefore I cannot fairly comment on the others. I think I did take a jab at Keith Olbermann a couple weeks ago.

    As for the anti abortion bill you referred to–often politicians do vote against those bills because they do not contain the right legal wording. You are aware that both pro-choice and anti-choice pull out these various bills, regardless of how poorly crafted the legislation is, and use it against political opponents. I can think of several that do not allow life of the mother and other conditions to trump whatever is going on.

    As for protesting- as repugnant as I find the group that was there, I have no problem with them demonstating along a drive-by route. I do have a problem with them tresspassing and disrupting graduation ceremonies. I have a huge problem with it.

  24. IVAN

    Today’s “slanted” news is what has brought about the new political player that seems to dominate campaigns across the nation. Of course, I’m talking about the “low information voter”. The person who rather than watching the news to get information; watches to be told what to believe and who to vote for. These people are why “attack ads” and “politics of fear” are so successful.

  25. michael

    The slant of the news media to report the “politically” correct news according to the organization that funds them and what politcal party they fund is exactly why people should only watch C-SPAN directly from the politicians mouths.

    This is also why political campaigns should not ever be funded by the private sector, as the voice of the individual person is never heard, except on C-SPAN, and blogs. All other institutions simply report on “faction” politics.

  26. michael

    Time and again I have warned the nation needs to pay attention to “factions” as they can and will destroy Democracy, which is the right of the people to run their own government. This was a very heated debate in the founding discussions of the creation of the US constitution, why church and state were seperated, because “church” is an institution that will not let “individuals” make their own choices. Church, specifically the “catholic” church throughout history used “levitican LAW” as a way to control individual freedom and individual choice”.

    I find it interesting that the “Torah” whose origins were in central Turkey and northern IRAQ (summerian, and babylonian regions, inhabited by “abraham”), is the first five books of the Bible AND the Kuran, which contains levitican law, which is ALSO the source of the abortion debate, and is ALSO the same law that the Taliban uses to suppress individual rights to choose, in “shariah” law. Leviticus forms the basis for “human behavior” law that almost ALL religions use, except Buddists to oppress individual choice and personal freedom to choose what is best for the “individual”.

    That is why Jesus, fought the scribes and Pharasee’s not to use levitican Law to opppress the meek and the innocent. If Jesus were alive today, he would not likely support the Republican perspective of oppressing individual choice. He would “likely” have said what he said in som many similar situations (like when the woman was stoned, let him who is without sin cast the next stone). Jesus was a liberal in this case, protecting individual rights, and explaining that God (Not man) will judge each by his own individual choices and personal communication with God. What is goood for one, is not good for another, personal choice and personal rights matter, greater than some Levitican laws.

    It is the viewpoint that Republicans miss, in their hatred to impress levitican law onto all others by mis-using the US constitution, and legal process, as well as the Taliban.

  27. michael

    It is also profound to me that Jesus, in the second covenant, told everyone that there is only one sin that will prevent you from getting into heaven, and that is the sin of “non-belief”. ALL other sins will be forgiven, including abortion. Whether God approves or disapproves of an individual woman’s choice, (or a man’s choice to demand he be allowed to have custody of a child a woman wish’s to abort) depends on the personal relationship each of those individuals has with God. For some God can and will give permission to have an abortion, because of the individuals personal suffering and misery.

  28. Moon-howler

    So Michael, what is your opinion of the events that went on last week leading up to the ND graduation?

    I did not intend for this thread to be necessarily about abortion. Somewhere, the there is a blur between policy and religion.

    Hello, you asked earlier if this blog would object if Bush were treated the same way as Obama was. Well, yes. I don’t think it is about the man, I believe it is about the Office of the Presidency. You are also forgetting that the owner of this blog has stated on many occassions that she is a Republican. I also don’t recall seeing a lot of Bush bashing on this blog.

    In the long run, the protesters actually handed President Obama the day. They provided him with an opportunity to display his strengths in the face of adversity.

    The real winners were the Notre Dame grads who celebrated their years of hard work and who conducted themselves with incredible dignity while the politics of the nation whirled around them and threatened to take away their special day. They simply did not allow it to happen.

  29. Gainesville Resident

    I don’t want to step into this, as I’m no expert, but in the Torah, Abraham was told to “go forth and multiply” and spread his seed, and if my memory serves me right, his wife was made fertile. I don’t remember much about Levitican law, or how it might relate to abortion debate. All I can remember is that bit from the Torah, which I can’t even remember if that is part of book of Leviticus (probably not). Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say, and we’ve just exhausted my knowledge of the Torah as it pertains to that subject.

  30. Gainesville Resident

    Elena – I agree, I did not vote for Obama, but he does seem to command respect in the way he tries to find common ground on both sides of the issue. It is good he takes the high road on those sorts of things.

  31. hello

    “They provided him with an opportunity to display his strengths in the face of adversity.”

    You may be right about that Moon, his strengths are speaking of coming together with the help of his top two and most valuable assistants (the teleprompter on his left and right). I think the jury is still out on if he can actually do it though. Talking about it and doing it are two different things. So far I don’t see any evidence of that happening. He has failed to get any support on the Republican side and he failed in his efforts to get European assistance in Afghanistan and Iraq.

  32. michael

    Moonhowler, I believe the fundamental problem with all of these “political” events is that the “church” and “religion” and religious GROUPS, just like gender, racial and ethnic groups or factions, need to stay out of politics by faction and making of LAW by faction. Law is made by majority vote of individuals, electing representatives who should be looking at individual rights issues within the boundaries of the constitution, and new laws that suit both individual needs and majority needs represented by their “constituency”, not by “factions” or lobbiest groups outside of their state.

    What they “the church”, and by extension “Notre Dame” need to do instead of getting involved in politics, is concentrate on their individual congregations, role of the catholic universty, each according to their “students” individual beliefs and to guide the beliefs of individuals and individual’s choices in the church congregation for how they would act if they or their families were confronted with a potential abortion situation. They should focus more on birth control, and church assistance to the innocents and meek who need God’s protection and guiding faith to made decisions best for themselves (and no one else), guided by prayer and personal conversation with God.

    The church needs to stay focused on community leadership, by interacting with individuals who come to their church, not by entering the political fray, putting politicians into congress and supporting political “religious group” factions ALL trying to force levitican law on individuals other than themselves. This is a God centric approach, rather than a “religious faction” centric approach, which can cause much misery for “individuals” by other individuals who know nothing of the specific circumstances surrounding each abortion situation.

    I feel the same way about “illegal” immigration. Each individual must decide for themselves what is best for them, while remaining within the current law, as all churches must do, until those laws are changed, and changed only by majority vote, and not by “faction” political influence, which ALWAYS hurts a Democracy, which specifically separates church and state for this very reason.

    Religion is a battle for the hearts and minds of individuals to know God, not a battle for political factions to enforce laws on all others according to a “factions” beliefs.

  33. Moon-howler

    Michael, the only thing I feel Notre Dame did is have a graduation ceremony and invite the President of the United States to give the commencement address. Well, then there is that rascally honorary degree that they have conferred on all speakers since 1930.

    Not to cut the church any slack, but I am not so sure that as a body, they did much wrong either. They have their beliefs, which they are entitled to, whether I like them or not. The Pope remained silent on the issue, and pretty much stayed out of the political fray. It seemed that most of the uproar was caused by a small conservative bunch of people. And even among that subset, many protested quietly. Only a few rabble-rousers actually acted up and broke the law or disrupted. They made a lot of noise before hand, and were sort of like a sparkler, to quote a friend of mine’s husband. Some pizzaz and then it all petered out.

    Hello, you really don’t like Obama do you? Could you see nothing he did yesterday as positive?

  34. hello

    Moon, it’s not that I don’t like Obama, I just wish he would do as he says some times. What ever happen to campaign Obama who wanted to change how Washington worked, wanted to have the most ethical cabinet, wanted to rid it of lobbyist, etc.? As soon as he got in he filled his cabinet with tax cheats and lobbyist and has bent over backwards to pay back those who contributed to his campaign (example ACORN and unions). He has even gone as far to tell CA that they would withhold 6 billion in bailout money if they lowered union wages at a time when CA is broke and everyone is taking cuts. So it’s okay for everyone else to take a cut in pay but you better not touch union wages? It’s not change, it’s just more of the same if you ask me. Talk is cheap.

  35. hello

    He seems put people in a ‘deer in the headlights’ type of false hope with his speeches but until I see walk the walk it’s just hot air.

  36. Moon-howler

    Hello, I never have high expectations for politicians. I think once they get into office they see the hurdles. My brother is mad at him because of the tribunals. I was never a Bush fan. However, I found that if I listen to or read all the vitriol over Bush, I just made myself miserable. Someone is going to bash the president regardless of who she or he is. It is probably easier not to listen. Unfortunately, it is all about 50-50. I have been fairly pleased with him, all things considered.

    I have not seen any payback for acorn. Unions? People to have a right to form or join them. I don’t know anything about the California unions. Are those unions for state workers? Were the wages already set? That is the difference as I see it. Depends on whether those wages are linked to binding arbitration or not.

  37. michael

    acorn, not getting payback? you’ve got to be kidding, what rock have you been under moon?

    In 2008,

    “What we have here essentially are a pair of government slush funds created in July as part of the Economic Recovery Act that pump tax dollars into the coffers of low-income housing advocacy groups, such as Acorn.”

    “Acorn, one of America’s most militant left-wing ‘community activist groups,’ is spending $16 million this year to register Democrats to vote in November. In the past several years, Acorn’s voter registration programs have come under investigation in Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri and Washington, while several of their employees have been convicted of voter fraud…”

    We may have just learned why the Democrat Party tried to run this $700 Billion financial crisis bill down our throats. More like $2 Trillion adding in what has already been paid out and what always happens, it costs more!

    20%, $140 Billion, of the $700 Billion bail out was to go to ACORN. Until the Conservatives stepped in a threw some light on the deal.

    John fund of The Wall Street Journal, reports:

    “Indeed, Mr. Obama has extensive connections with the granddaddy of activist groups, Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which has gotten millions in government grants for its low-income housing programs. In 1992, Acorn hired Mr. Obama to run a voter registration effort. He later became a trainer for the group, as well as its lawyer in election law cases.

    Acorn’s political arm has endorsed Mr. Obama while its “voter education” arm has pledged to spend $35 million to register people this fall — despite a history of vote fraud scandals that have led to guilty pleas by many Acorn employees.

    The housing bill now before Congress would set up a slush fund for community organizations such as Acorn. But Acorn has gone quiet in its lobbying for the bill this week with the news that one of its employees — the brother of Acorn founder Wade Rathke — had stolen nearly $1 million from the group. Mr. Rathke decided not to alert law enforcement or the organization’s board, and kept his brother employed at Acorn until last month. “Is this the kind of group we want getting taxpayer money?” asks Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.)”

    This smacks of political favors that would have been paid for by the Taxpayers. Obama is always surrounded by those that would do us harm.

  38. michael

    In 2009…

    When President Barack Obama announced his nomination of David Hamilton to a seat on the United States 7th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, Wendy Long of the Judicial Confirmation Network was first out of the gate to blast the nomination because Hamilton reportedly had ties to the ACLU as well as the Right’s favorite bogeyman, ACORN:

    Hamilton has a history as a hard-left political activist, and his choice signals that Obama does intend to push extreme liberals onto the bench and politicize the courts as we’ve never seen before.

    Hamilton was a fundraiser for ACORN (nice ACORN payback, Mr. President) and served as vice president for litigation and a board member of the Indiana ACLU.

    Hamilton’s purported ties to ACORN immediately worked its way into right-wing commentary on the nomination, being highlighted by Newbusters, Powerline, Curt Levey of the Committee for Justice, and the Family Research Council … twice, which complained that ACORN was getting it very own judge.

    The idea that President Obama’s nomination of Hamilton was “payback” to ACORN quickly became the right-wing talking point of the day, with people claiming that he was “a big shot at ACORN” and leading to posts like this one written by Matthew Vadum at “The American Spectator” entitled “ACORN’s Federal Judge”:

    Giving the term judicial activism new meaning, President Obama has nominated an ACORN loyalist to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the Chicago Tribune reports … The Judicial Confirmation Network notes that Hamilton previously worked as a fundraiser for ACORN, the radical direct-action group that not only resurrects the dead and gets them to the polls every election but also shakes down banks and pressures them to make home loans to people who can’t afford to pay them back.

    In nearly every instance, Hamilton’s ties to ACORN can be tracked back to Long and the Judicial Confirmation Network yet, oddly, when the group issued its own release on his nomination, it made no mention of his work with ACORN.

    Now we know why:

    Wendy Long, counsel for the Judicial Confirmation Network, labeled Judge Hamilton a “hard-left political activist,” noting his work with the Indiana ACLU and suggesting he had an affiliation with the community organizing group ACORN.

    “After college as a young man, he served one month as a canvasser for ACORN, helping them raise money door to door.

  39. michael

    more from 2008,

    BOSTON, Sep 26 (IPS) – U.S. lawmakers and the George W. Bush administration are continuing their closed-door meetings through the weekend to try and fashion a softer 700-billion-dollar deal for Wall Street that will appeal to citizens angry at the prospect of the mega-corporate bailout.

    Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson brought the plan to Congress on Sep. 19 in a three-page outline, and said it was necessary to prevent the collapse of the finance market due to complex trades involving subprime mortgages.

    The plan would have allowed Paulson, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, complete control of the massive payout with no oversight, no auditing and no plan of a payback to the taxpayer.

    ACORN president Maude Hurd captured the nation’s sentiment when she hinted at the potential electoral fallout in a speech this week: “There is a palpable populist revolt rolling through towns and cities across the country, and if Main Street doesn’t get any real help with the mortgage out of this deal, the American people only have to wait a few weeks for a constructive outlet for their anger.”

    ACORN is the nation’s largest grassroots community organisation of low- and moderate-income people, with over 400,000 member families in 110 cities across the country.

    At the Capitol, members of Congress attempted to convince taxpayers – and voters – that they had their best interests in mind, and that meant a big bailout for Wall Street.

    “Hundreds of billions of dollars that Americans invested in retirement accounts and mutual funds have evaporated,” and more surely would, warned Democrat Chris Dodd, Senate Banking Committee chairman, while giving the impression that the income security of average people is at stake.

    This couldn’t be further from the truth, say those who study stock ownership. The average U.S. citizen owns very little or no stock, and wouldn’t be helped directly by an up-market.

    “I think the middle class are not going to be very affected at all by a bailout. It’s something that is going to affect the very wealthy. Changes in the stock market won’t make much difference to the middle class,” Edward Wolff, a New York University economist, told IPS.

    “It’s just a political gambit to help the rich recover from the stock market collapse. If you claim that everyone is suffering, it’s easier to get a bailout from Washington,” Wolff said.

    In 2001, the richest 10 percent of families owned 85 percent of all outstanding stocks, about 85 percent of all financial securities and 90 percent of all business assets, according to Wolff.

    As for the rest of the country, only 32 percent of households owned more than 10,000 dollars of stock, and only 25 percent of households owned more than 25,000 dollars worth of stock, Wolff said.

    A 2007 report by the Government Accountability Office found that in 2004, just 36 percent of workers had any savings at all in a retirement account. Most U.S. citizens will depend on Social Security in retirement, the government programme that provides 30-40 percent of what was earned in their lifetimes.

    The bad practices of the mortgage lending industry targeted people of colour and the elderly, in particular, according to a report by United for a Fair Economy.

    Only 11 percent of subprime loans went to first-time buyers last year. The vast majorities were refinancing that caused borrowers to owe more on their homes under the guise that they were saving money. Many borrowers were talked into refinancing their homes to gain additional cash for things like medical bills, the report says.

    African American borrowers will lose between 71 billion and 92 billion dollars, and Latino borrowers will lose between 75 billion and 98 billion dollars as a result of bad subprime loans, according to the report.

    “A couple decades of deregulation have allowed people at the top of the financial food chain to benefit from millions of people, through unscrupulous mortgage lending practices,” Michael Lapham of United for a Fair Economy told IPS.

    “Who are we most concerned about helping? Homeowners facing foreclosure or people who’ve made millions and billions on subprime lending?” Lapham asked.

    The U.S. public seems especially peeved at the idea of helping companies that pay exorbitant salaries to their bosses, at a time when many people have seen a decline in their standard of living.

    According to the Institute for Policy Studies, CEOs of large U.S. companies last year made an average of 10.5 million dollars, while the top 50 private equity and hedge fund managers pocketed an average of 588 million dollars each.

    The institute notes that draft proposals floated by the chairs of both the House and Senate banking committees would allow Paulson to determine what qualifies as “inappropriate or excessive” executive compensation under the bailout plan.

    “Secretary Paulson amassed a personal stock stash worth over three-quarters of a billion dollars as the CEO at Goldman Sachs,” said analyst Sarah Anderson. “He hardly strikes us as the appropriate arbiter of what’s excessive and what’s not.”

    In a statement, Anderson said the nation needs clear and strict limits on CEO pay “so that taxpayers won’t have to worry about their money flooding into the pockets of top executives and encouraging another round of reckless behaviour.”

    On Thursday, unions, and anti-poverty and peace groups took to the streets, staging large demonstrations on Wall Street and in many cities chanting, “No bailouts for billionaires.”

    At the end of the day Thursday, it was hard-line Republicans, including Sen. Richard Shelby and Rep. Spencer Bachus, who stood firm against the bailout. Bachus told reporters that the Republicans do not want the U.S. to buy the bad debts of the companies, but instead to loan the companies money.

    Their argument that the market could do more to fix itself was bolstered later Thursday evening, when troubled Washington Mutual bank, riddled with bad mortgages, was bought by J.P. Morgan Chase.

    The Democrats want the bailout, one that would meter out the billions in installments and somewhat restrict the pay of CEOs, Dodd said.

    “I don’t understand why the Democrats in particular didn’t feel they have the leverage to get more out of this deal. Congress has squandered an opportunity to actually help homeowners facing foreclosure,” Brenda Muniz, legislative director for ACORN, told IPS.

    According to an analysis of U.S. Census data by the Centre for Budget and Policy Priorities, 18 percent of U.S. children lived in poverty in 2007.

    The willingness of Congress to consider a 700-billion-dollar payout makes clear that Congress could budget other large sums to help end homelessness and hunger, and improve public education.

    “When people go to Congress to ask for more affordable housing funds and are told there isn’t money, then along comes Wall Street and they say, ‘Oh sure we have 700 billion dollars for your bailout.’ It definitely makes you question our nation’s priorities,” Lapham said.

  40. michael

    Obama is blackmailing the state of California, threatening the state to withdraw 7 billion in stimulus if in their bankrupted state they do not pay off the union SEIU. (More here)

    This is corruption on an immense national scale.

    Much needed cuts were made in February to the SEIU, the unionized home health care workers, as part of the budget approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers.

    The Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers, said in a statement that it had asked the Obama administration to intervene.

    SEIU and Obama on Obama’s own website:

    “SEIU’s members are temperamentally suited to Obama; he is a longtime friend of Chicago’s SEIU Local 880 and worked closely with the union as an organizer and later as a state legislator.”

    SEIU paid for door-to-door canvassing for Obama, voter identification and registration, phonebanks…an expenditures document.

    Atlas reader Laura S. provided updated figures for the obscene sums that SEIU spent on getting Obama elected. I under reported the $13,355,389.00 in dirty money paid to Obama during the election.

    All the figures are right off the FEC site.

    SEIU spent $18,818,358.97 through December of 2008 on behalf of Obama. Source here.

    The $13 million dollar figure was only through August/2008–actually SEIU spent $18,818,358.97 through December of 2008 on behalf of Obama. Total on FEC site. I did not add it myself.

    This does not include the $$$ SEIU spent against McCain.

    Here are some entries of notice as pertains to SEIU healthcare workers-first is 100 grand to the Healthcare Workers in Oakland, CA to phone bank for Obama. There are tons more but I don’t have time right now.

    Here is entry for $100,000.00 for phone banking paid to SEIU United Healthcare Workers West out of Oakland, CA, 560 Thomas L. Berkley Way, Oakland, CA 94612.

    Phone banking calls on behalf of Obama listed on FEC wedsite as Against McCain. So under the McCain category on FEC website. Dated October 15th, 2008. Schedule E (FEC form 3x) Itemized Independent Expenditures. (documentation here)

    $322,372.35 spent on October 17,2008 for SEIU HEALTHCARE IL_IN to canvas for Obama (more here)

    $50,000.00 on April 30,2008 to SEIU General fund for th ecost of Healthcare Bus Tour AGAINST McCain (more here)

    This amount does not tally as $$$ spent for Obama BUT as Money spent AGAINST MCCAIN.

    $50,000 to SEIU General Fund for the healthcare bus “Road to Heal” Healthcare Bus Tour and $50,000 to “costs of anti-greed events” Both against McCain Total $100,000 for July 17, 2008. Wow, that bus must have gotten around. (here)

    Over $918,719.81 for canvas staff on July 31, 2008 payable to SEIU General Fund-TONS of entries are for SEIU General fund for canvassing-they had an army knocking door to door all working for the SEIU and paid from SEIU General Fund this is only one of many of like receipts on FEC site.
    (here)

    September 10, 2008 to SEIU Local 199 $365,364.54 for canvass staff salary and expenses in Iowa
    (here)

    October 15, 2008 $172,008.00 for mailings in Caifornia payable to TBWB Strategies-on behalf of Obama with love from SEIU (here and here)

    $465,000 to pay for canvass workers-$165,000 to “GOTV” canvass workers in Feb, 2008 (here)

    Also lots and lots to Compass Media Group-for mailers and distribution on behalf of Obama. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Compass Media group is out of Chicago with address of 1415 N Dayton Ste 1S; Chicago IL 60622–no maybe over a million at least or two as I am running across lots of these.

    Here’s a fun one “PHONE BANK PERSUASION AND GOTV” WTF is GOTV? “Get out the Vote”
    $50,000 to SEIU Communications center in DC February 21, 2008
    here

    UPDATE: SEIU prez: Union spent $60.7 million to elect Obama

    Tyson organization-another grass roots phone bank call center that is non-profit but charges for their services. here

    $250,000 to Tyson.org for “phone bank persuasion and GOTV” on 2-21-2008 here and again for $162,139.24 to non-profit phone bank Tyson Organization lol-this one paid on Feb 28,2008-seven days after SEIU paid Tyson $250,000 here

  41. michael

    and more….

    ACORN, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, is essentially a Marxist shakedown outfit. One of its main rackets is election fraud — but it can also be very helpful if you happen to be a Leftist activist who finds himself needing, say, to foment a riot, vandalize public property, shut down legislative hearings or opposition conferences, harass the families of elected officials, extort leave-us-alone pay-offs from banks, promote illegal immigration, or the like.

    Like ACORN, Obama is a community organizer in the Saul Alinsky radical mode, and he goes way back — two decades back — with the organization. He represented ACORN as a lawyer, taught “organizing” to ACORN’s up and coming rabble-rousers, colluded with ACORN in Chicago “get out the vote” projects, funded ACORN when he sat on the boards of left-wing charities, and exploited ACORN’s enthusiastic support when he won his senate seat in 2004 — a victory the “non-partisan” ACORN can’t help itself but claim credit for.

    It should not come as any surprise that ACORN supports the Congressional “spending bill”, aka economic stimulus package.

    The Obama/Pelosi/Reid plan is brilliant in its simplicity. They are buying our country. Beneath all the rhetoric, is there plan to divide and conquer, as Rush pointed out yesterday.

    Their groundswell of “boots on the ground”, aka Obama’s Army, will use voter intimidation, illegal fundraising schemes and general fear-mongering of the American people to not only ensure passage of Obama’s socialist agenda but to make it as difficult as possible for anyone to oppose the Totalitarian rule of the 21st Century Democrats.

    Yes, The “T-Word”, read this definition closely. Notice anything that sounds familiar? This is happening right in front of us!

    Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a concept used to describe political systems whereby a state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private life. Totalitarian regimes or movements maintain themselves in political power by means of an official all-embracing ideology and propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, a single party that controls the state, personality cults, control over the economy, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, the use of mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror tactics.

    From John Boehner’s statement: “ACORN Could Get Billions from Democrats’ Trillion Dollar Spending Plan “Job Creation” Bill Offers Taxpayer-Funded Bonanza for Organization Reportedly Under Federal Investigation”

    Washington, Jan 23 – The House Democrats’ trillion dollar spending bill, approved on January 21 by the Appropriations Committee and headed to the House floor next week for a vote, could open billions of taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). ACORN has been accused of perpetrating voter registration fraud numerous times in the last several elections; is reportedly under federal investigation; and played a key role in the irresponsible schemes that caused a financial meltdown that has cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars since last fall.

    House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and other Republicans are asking a simple question: what does this have to do with job creation? Are Congressional Democrats really going to borrow money from our children and grandchildren to give handouts to ACORN in the name of economic “stimulus?”

    Incredibly, the Democrats’ bill makes groups like ACORN eligible for a $4.19 billion pot of money for “neighborhood stabilization activities.” Funds for this purpose were authorized in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, signed into law in 2008. However, these funds were limited to state and local governments. Now House Democrats are taking the unprecedented step of making ACORN and other groups eligible for these funds:

    The House Democrats’ trillion dollar spending bill also includes $1 billion for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. CDBG funds are given by the federal government to state and local governments which often contract with nonprofits for services related to the purpose of the grant.

    ACORN knows how to secure CDBG funds. Audit reports filed by ACORN’s headquarters with the Office of Management and Budget show that ACORN spent $1,588,599 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program funds from FY 2003 through FY 2007. It is not clear from these records when or from what source the funds were awarded to ACORN. It is also not clear whether ACORN chapters or affiliates have received CDBG grants on their own.

    Let Freedom Ring adds this perspective.

    What stimulative purpose will giving $4,190,000,000 to ACORN and like-minded organizations serve? I’d argue that it doesn’t and that it wasn’t intended to have a stimulative effect. I’d argue that the most likely reason this money is in the Pork-O-Rama bill is to pay off longtime political allies. (Corrupt allies at that.)

    Is this really the change you thought you were getting?

    Look, we understand the Obama Infatuation. We don’t agree with it, but we get it.

    We understand Bush Derangement Syndrome. We don’t agree with it, but we get it.

    We understand many Americans are bleeding-heart anti-war types. We don’t agree with it, but we get it.

    We understand the economy is pretty bad.

    We understand the desire to “change” but you had other choices. Yet, you chose to place the most Liberal Senator in Washington in charge of the country.

    We hope for the best because we are Americans. We are Patriotic.

    But if President Obama gets everything he wants, we all deserve what we asked for. Not just the Red States, or just the Blue States, but all of us in The United States.

  42. Moon-howler

    MIchael, I can’t figure out your position on Obama. How about making much shorter posts.

  43. michael

    Remember it was the 8A low-income housing programs that set us up in the first place for this economic disaster that happend in SEP 15 2008!!!!!

    ALL enabled by Cris Dodd, Barney Frank, Paulson, and now bernanke, geithner if they are not able to stop the political corruption of it all, especially regarding low-income handouts of taxpayer money to fund even more homes for people that will never be able to maintain monthly payments, because the ARRA stimulus money will end in 2 years.

  44. michael

    Moon, I’d make shorter posts if you would do some research first before you took a position thsat is uninformed with any personal research.

  45. michael

    The botton line it this, political corruption and lack of ethics exists at ALL levels of our government. If we don’t clean it up and STOP IT, and get back to the basics of ethical government, ethical community advocacy and not advocacy by political FACTIONs that are continuing to UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY… we will fail as a nation to be economically and political stable..and we will deteriorate into the worst looking third-world nation of bought off politicans and corrupted police forces paid off by ethnic-centric political groups this nation has ever seen.

    In the meantime China will destroy our industries, our research and development capability and our middle income financial life-styles, by becoming the next great world economic power, leveraged by the inability of our new President to HELP ALL AMERICANS rather than just “protected class” AMERICANS.

  46. michael

    Acorn is just one of those pro-ethnicity, pro-minority group “protected class” organized “factions” that is undermining democracy by buying off politicians and obtaining political favors and financial funding typical of “socialist parties” and “ethnic-controlled mafias” you usually see in third world countries.

  47. hello

    Hi Moon, you asked “I have not seen any payback for acorn. Unions? People to have a right to form or join them. I don’t know anything about the California unions. Are those unions for state workers?”

    Yes, union state workers… In some parts of CA over 25% of their budget goes to pay for union state worker pensions. No offense but take a few minutes and research the links between the the GM bankruptcy and how the unions are making out compared to investors, how the admin is strong arming CA to not touch union pay (even though 4.2% of CA workers have lost their jobs in the private sector), the relationship between ACORN and their unions… even ACORN board members are asking members to not pay their dues until an investigation is done.

  48. hello

    just do a search on the ACORN8, former ACORN employees kicked out because they dared to questions where all of the money was going. They have even started their own site: http://www.acorn8.org/. Not much there but read some of their stories on other sites…

  49. hello

    Also, to prove that I’m not totally against Obama I give him kudos for the following:

    – The pirate situation
    – Not releasing the additional abuse photos
    – For saying he would look forward, not backward on the torture debate (although he opened the door on that which has led to the circus we are now experiencing)

  50. Moon-howler

    Pretty fair, Hello. And I know yhou didn’t support him from the git-go.

    I saw the california union situation this afternoon on tv. I need to check it out from another source. I am trying to figure out how anyone gets a pension that pays 100% of their salary for life. I don’t understand money in California. It makes no sense to me.

    My comment was, I do not know how Obama has helped Acorn. I think they do need investigating.
    —————————————————————————-

    Now, Mr. Michael, do you not see an arrogance in your comments to me? I didn’t take a position on anything with you. I said I didn’t understand your position on Obama. One minute you sing his praises and the next minute you talk about him like he is a dog, or so it seems. You want me to research what? How you feel about Obama? Get serious.

    I clearly said I didn’t know about the California unions. I do not need to research YOUR topic before commenting on this blog. I have taken no position on it one way or the other. I repeat, I do not know what paybacks or rewards Obama has given to Acorn.

    Michael, less rudeness por favor.

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