Notre Dame’s Class of 2009 is one of very few to have President Barack Obama speaking at their commencement. What an incredible honor. What an unforgettable event for the graduates.
And yet there are a few imbeciles who insist on spoiling the event for everyone, a few who think their freedom of speech and assembly is more important than graduation day and the personal appearance of the President of the United States.
They are activists and “good Catholics” demonstrating against the president’s “pro-abortion” position. No matter that he is not pro-abortion; he’s pro-choice. No matter that his personal belief on the subject happens to be in line with the majority of the people in the U.S. No matter that the day calls for dignity, that the president deserves respect, that the majority of people involved in the day’s events want to celebrate the achievement of the graduates, or that this is their special day, not the demonstrators’.
What a shame these people weren’t taught some manners along with their minority viewpoint. And how nice that local laws allowed for their arrest as trespassers — since rudeness and bad manners aren’t illegal.
What is “not pro abortion” functionally?
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I meant “pro abortion” is the wrong term to use. The correct term is “pro choice.” Functionally it means he doesn’t go around promoting and encouraging abortion.
“I’ve got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby. ” – Barack Obama
In 1997, Obama voted in the Illinois Senate against SB 230, a bill designed to prevent partial-birth abortions. In the US Senate, Obama has consistently voted to expand embryonic stem cell research. He has voted against requiring minors who get out-of-state abortions to notify their parents. The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) gives Obama a 100% score on his pro-choice voting record in the Senate for 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Source: Obama Nation, by Jerome Corsi, p.238-239 Aug 1, 2008
On March 30, 2001, Obama was the only Illinois senator who rose to speak against a bill that would have protected babies who survived late term labor-induced abortion. Obama rose to object that if the bill passed, and a nine-month-old fetus survived a late-term labor-induced abortion was deemed to be a person who had a right to live, then the law would “forbid abortions to take place.” Obama further explained the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not allow somebody to kill a child, so if the law deemed a child who survived a late-term labor-induced abortion had a right to live, “then this would be an anti-abortion statute.”
Source: Obama Nation, by Jerome Corsi, p.238 Aug 1, 2008
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And your point is? Just because he votes to keep abortion legal doesn’t mean your wife, daughter, or girlfriend has to go out and get one. It’s their choice, not Obama’s.
You are entitled to your beliefs, as is the Catholic Church. But you do not have the right to impose your beliefs on others or to deny them their rights to privacy, choice, and safe, legal medical care.
Having the likes of Barack Obama speak at Notre Dame University is like having Barney Frank speak to the Financial Accounting Standards Board, Nancy Pelosi speaking about honesty or Pope Benedict speaking before a Planned Parenthood audience.
It’s not just the issue of his position on abortion, or as you put it, being pro-choice. It is about principle. To have Mr. Obama speak at the largest Catholic university in the United States with its numerous chapels is not an honor in their eyes. It is an affront to their core beliefs.
It is refreshing to see an institution such as the University of Notre Dame stand up for what they believe in as opposed to seeing their beliefs polluted by a politician who believes in live-birth abortion.
And no, I am neither a graduate of Notre Dame or a Catholic nor do I live in Indiana.
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Don’t forget it was the University of Notre Dame that invited him to speak. People who disagree should take/send their complaints to the responsible university officials. Disrupting the students’ once-in-a-lifetime graduation is just cheap grandstanding at someone else’s expense.
Uh, I doubt every graduate feels Obama’s appearance is some incredible honor. Although, I’m sure Obama definitely thinks it’s an incredible honor for them to meet him.
Who cares if his viewpoint is in line with the majority of Americans? I could care less. What I care about is God’s viewpoint. He trumps Obama.
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Yeah, but apparently God couldn’t make it for the commencement address.
Trust me. He’ll be there. Why can’t people just make blog posts that are rooted in a grain of truth. You love Obama and it pisses you off that a bunch of moronic believers in Jesus Christ are ruining the moment for your “messiah.”
So, I’ll ask one simple question. Is abortion the killing of a human life? Yes or no? And if you need any help coming to a conclusion, please view the following:
WARNING – HIGHLY GRAPHIC
[Link deleted]
I wish I could somehow be all wildflowers and bluebirds about this topic, but while congress and MSNBC talk about all of the “torture we inflicted on terrorists” day after day, night after night we just keep right on killing babies. Because it’s “above our pay grade.”
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I don’t “love” him and never called him “messiah” (rather sacrilegious, that). In any case, it’s not Obama’s moment; it’s the graduates’ moment.
People far wiser than I are still debating when human life begins. I don’t believe an embryo or undeveloped fetus is a viable human life with legal rights, although it has the potential to become that. I do strongly believe that graphic depictions of late-term abortions are scare tactics, medically unethical, and either invasions of someone’s privacy or, as has been proven in some cases, outright fakes. If you want to post them, or links to them, do it on someone else’s blog or start your own.
There are no wildflowers and bluebirds when a woman has to have an abortion, but that’s not the issue here. There should be wildflowers and bluebirds and trumpets and celebration when those Notre Dame students graduate, and disrupting the event for a selfish, unrelated reason is contemptible.
I love to play bluegrass music, and have every right to play it. But if you choose classical for your commencement, I don’t have the right to crash the gig and insist you play my music instead.
Dr. B
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Just for the record, I think the bluegrass would be a lot more fun.
You are correct to point out that fact, which I did not accurately convey, however it illustrates how the university leadership have lost their vision, compromised on their core beliefs to afford themselves an opportunity to be “honored” with the presence of a politician who is an advocate of live birth abortions.
The values, one of which is the sanctity of life which the university attempts to espouse are compromised by the bestowal of an honorary degree upon the man. In so doing the university appears to embrace the policies espoused by Obama. For those who are protesting Obama’s appearance and the bestowal of the degree, it is an unacceptable contradiction.
Now, would your position be the same if instead of Obama it was Bush who appeared and spoke of the Iraq War?
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I’d say your gripe is with the university, not with those who happen to be graduating this year. What purpose does it serve to crash their party?
The invitation itself is evidence that some at the university did not find it to be an “unacceptable contradiction.” Surely those who issued it are just as learned and steeped in Catholic tradition as those who rail against them. Seems to me a thoughtful, reasoned discussion (not disruptive public demonstrations) of the differing viewpoints would be perfectly in order at a university.
I agree with you about the honorary degree. I’ve written elsewhere about the disservice honorary degrees do to those who actually earn their degrees at and from the university conferring them.
I would hate it if Bush were the chosen speaker at my commencement. But I wouldn’t disrupt the event for everyone. I doubt, however, that Bush would discuss the Iraq war, any more than Obama will discuss abortion. Commencement addresses are about the graduates and their aspirations, not the speaker and his political activities.
Ben, what you don’t know about medicine is a lot. There is no such thing as “live birth” abortions, or “partial-birth abortions.” The procedure you *appear* to be referring to is a D & E, and it is done ONLY to save the life of the mother. It is not as though someone decides, 7 months into a pregancy, “Nope, don’t want to, changed my mind, now take the squirming fetus from my body and bounce it against a wall for fun.”
Please, stop talking about things you know nothing about. YOU are not the judge of any woman anywhere, and YOU don’t get to decide for US whether WE should live or die because of YOUR religion. Keep it to yourself, because the rest of us DON’T CARE.
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Dammit, Pandi, if you insist on medical accuracy, you’re going to take away the best scare tactic these folks have!
But the United States is a country founded on free speech. Notre Dame is a Catholic university, founded and mostly funded by Catholics. Catholics are effectively the shareholders of this university. If Catholics are prohibited from protesting in a Catholic institution, I just don’t know what else to say. If the protesters are non-Catholics, that would be a different story.
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I never said they didn’t have a right to free speech. I just think disrupting the graduation ceremonies is a rude, inconsiderate way to exercise that right, and an inappropriate forum for anti-abortion demonstrations. Graduation is about graduation, not abortion.
Although I’ve no way of knowing, I’ll bet a lot of the protesters are non-Catholics and have no connection whatever to Notre Dame. They are opportunists looking for a spotlight, and this week it happens to be on the Notre Dame campus.
Can “crash their party” equate to civil disobedience of the civil rights era?
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No.
I see the anti-choicers have crashed YOUR party.
Look, people, if you think abortion is wrong, don’t have one.
Abortion is perfectly fine to me, and you are more than welcome to butt out of my life. Thank you, move along, see you later, ciao now.
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They do seem to keep missing or ignoring the point of my post, don’t they? But I guess if they didn’t seize on inappropriate forums, they wouldn’t have any at all.
Would we even be talking about Obama and Notre Dame if the abortion issue wasn’t in play here? This post wouldn’t have been written if it wasn’t. Nobody crashed anybody’s party. If you write a blog posting and only want comments that support your position, then just state that and you won’t have to deal with “party crashers.” Or simply delete their comments.
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I can’t speak for Pandi, but my post had nothing to do with abortion and everything to do with demonstrators trying to disrupt (“party crashing”) the Notre Dame graduation. I haven’t deleted any comments yet, but if I do, you’ll be the first to know.
Did Rosa Parks not disrupt the bus schedule?
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No, the bus boycott did. The Notre Dame students were free to boycott their graduation if they wanted to, but only a few did.
Possibly the boycotters are the ones missing out. Did President Obama imply that there is something about abortion that should be avoided?
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You didn’t listen to or read the speech for yourself?
The President did not use the abortion reduction idea?
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You still haven’t read the speech?