He spoke at a townhall meeting in the Rio Rancho High School gymnasium on Thursday, May 14th. He acknowledged that Americans have been irresponsible consumers, spending beyond their means. So we all got lectured, you could say. I wonder if the President saw the large sign of a tax protester outside. The sign read, “Practice what you preach”. He also took the time to bolster the big unions who have steadily been losing members over the years. Big unions want the “Employee Free Choice Act”, a bill whose title means the opposite of what it intends like many congressional bills nowadays. The bill, once put into law, will make it easier to form unions in corporate America. In light of the severe economic crisis our Fortune 500 companies are facing, only the delusional could see how this bill could contribute to the stability of American corporations.
Sidewalk Witness
What was more interesting was happening on the sidewalks outside the entrance of Rio Rancho High School. By the time the Obama motorcade arrived, over 300 protesters were lined up to greet the President. Considering Rio Rancho is a town of around 70,000 and Thursday is a workday, the 300 was a fairly large number who arrived as early as two hours before the President.
Obama, We Hope and Pray You Change
The majority of the those who lined the sidewalks were pro-life advocates. Large families, young and old, teens from Rio Rancho High came out to witness to their President, his entourage, and the large townhall crowd that abortion is deadly wrong. Large graphic images of aborted babies, Life Chain and home-made signs were widely distributed throughout the crowd. The anti-tax tea party people had a good number and a sprinkling of educators and union activists were present. A few TV and print media reporters and cameramen were there and a very large retinue of law enforcement officers. After the President’s motorcade disappeared into the high school grounds, most of the other sidewalk activists left the area. The majority left standing, praying, and holding signs were the pro-lifers who stayed until the President left the area. We handed out to everyone on the sidewalk our brochure, President Obama, We HOPE and PRAY You CHANGE.
Media Elite Snooze
Photos were taken at the event by Project Defending Life. As far as I can report as a first-hand witness, there were very few interviews of the pro-life advocates by the media elite. The news director of KOAT-TV responded to a query from one of the pro-lifers about the lack of coverage on her channel: “There was a large group of protesters all with different issues. We tried to get to as many as we could.” Actually the reporters and cameramen were standing around by their vans most of the time doing nothing. I stood and watched them for some time.
I talked with the reporter and cameraman from KRQE-TV 13 in passing and asked if they were going to interview and broadcast footage on the pro-life presence. After all we represented the majority. They shrugged and the cameraman said they could not show the graphic images. One pro-lifer overheard this comment and said, “But it’s the truth!”. He retorted, “I know but we can’t show it.” The KRQE-TV coverage last night focused on a brief interview with one of the loony anti-tax protesters holding a flag upside down. The New Mexican Independent, a local web newspaper presented a transparently jaundiced and inaccurate view reporting “at its peak, (the crowd) numbered around one hundred”. It appears as of the morning after the event, no other members of the media elite thought the opinions and presence of the citizens outside the town hall meeting were worthy of reporting.
I sent this note to KRQE-TV last night after watching their inadequate coverage:“I was at the Rio Rancho High site with the pro-life contingent. Alex Tomlin(sp?) got it right. There were about 300 people who came out this morning. The majority there were pro-lifers who were present through the whole time Obama was at RRHS. Our signs were indicative of our dismay over Pres. Obama’s extreme policies on abortion. I asked Alex and her cameraman about interviewing our people and they ignored the request. Your “news” reporters on the ground missed part of the big story – that there is an uproar in the pro-life community around the country critical of Obama and your reporters totally ignored our presence. Is this not blatant media bias or incompetence? Which is it? Why did your reporters ignore the largest constituency of citizens who were out there this morning to protest Obama’s presence?”
House Testimony
Theresa House who came to witness with her five daughters was interviewed along with 12-year old, Maggie House, by the ABQ Journal. Their testimony as a Catholic family was straightforward and eloquent. Asked by the reporter to respond to two questions: “Why are you here? What would you tell President Obama?” Theresa responded, “We’re here to let President Obama know that there are many citizens against abortion. He represents all citizens. Unborn babies are citizens with as many rights (that protect) me and my daughters and if you (Pres. Obama) recognize those unborn babies as citizens, it would bring a great blessing to this country and to the whole world.”
12-year old Maggie was equally clear and righteous when she answered the reporter: “Abortion is a bad thing. I’m here with my mom and my sisters to protest against abortion. I think he’s (Pres. Obama)going against his family and all of America by helping doctors kill babies.” As an aside Maggie and her sisters reflected that Pres. Obama’s daughters must feel bad hearing from their Dad that a baby is a punishment. From the mouths of babes, truth and wisdom. In this morning’s lead article in the ABQ journal, “Attendees say Obama’s talk on credit cards resonated with them”, the interview with Theresa and Maggie was not published. The Journal however published photos of the event.
It’s About Killing Babies, America!
A final reflection on the event. Secular people (whom spiritual writers often call “modernists” and “humanists”) have a distorted and deficient view of human persons and human sexuality. Abortion has become so politicized that it is looked upon less as a moral evil and more in terms of personal liberty and individual “privacy” rights. Issues which endanger our financial and economic stability are considered of paramount importance for government and private industry to resolve. There is a spiritual blindness today that casts a veil over reason and common sense in the minds of such modern thinking persons who would prefer that those of us who see the evil of abortion, same sex unions, pornography, and other serious moral depravities go away.This has happened before during the era of legalized slavery and the abolition movement in the 1850s and the civil rights movement in the ’60s.
We, as committed pro-life and pro-family believers, must find new ways to get the attention and interest of our fellow American citizens who have succumbed to a humanist and secularist view of life. Through prayer and action, especially participating in public when appropriate to call attention to the grave moral crisis facing our society, we must step up and do our part. Our future survival depends on it.
