The first related to Ursula M. Burns who is taking over as CEO of Xerox upon Anne Mulcahy’s retirement. Unique is that this is the first time a female chief executive has replaced another female chief executive at a Fortune 500 company. It is also the first time that an African American woman is running a Fortune 500 company with revenue in excess of $17 billion a year. Truly remarkable at both levels!

The second hearken from Philadelphia, Mississippi, which in 1964 witnessed the murder of three civil rights workers by members of the Klu Klux Klan. I’m sure most of us remember the haunting storyline immortalized in Mississippi Burning. Of unique note is that this mostly whiteout central Mississippi town has recently elected its first black American Mayor. Again - extraordinary.

Read both of these attached articles to get some flavor for their significance. I continue to remain mindful, in suggesting that, how truly momentous have the shifts in the United States become.

Original writing date: May 27, 2009
Article writing dates: May 26, 2009

President Obama gave his presentation with the President’s iconic aplomb to the graduating class at the University of Notre Dame this past Sunday.

I do have to say, as a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, that I was somewhat surprised at the amount of propaganda I received over the past several weeks requesting my support from the anti-Obama Catholic contingent. A man I respect very much, but who was clearly way too engaged in this particular subject, sent the email I’ve attached below for example.

St. Anthony’s in Atwater, California. St. Rose of Lima in Ephrata, Washington. St. Lawrence in Lindenwold, New Jersey. Camden Catholic High School in Cherry Hill, New Jersey…and then Notre Dame. 16 years of Catholic education under my belt.

But at the end of day, having studied religion, the Baltimore catechism until I can recite it verbatim, and Honors Theology at Notre Dame, I find it remarkable that groups, Catholic or not, who maintain strong positions on issues, are not prepared to listen to individuals and groups with opposing positions.

President Obama commented on the campaign trail that it is far more important for individuals and groups who have different opinions to maintain an open dialog than it is for individuals and groups who maintain the same position. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of discourse.

As indicated in a number of these articles reported in the Wall Street Journal and Orlando Sentinel, President Obama made a similar point on Sunday. The objective is not to ascertain where we differ but to establish how much the two groups hold as common ground and to work together on that common ground. Common ground binds; differences separate.

That doesn’t occur in a vacuum and that clearly doesn’t occur when individuals are not afforded a venue for that dialogue.

Being Roman Catholic is not being self-righteous, exclusionary or intolerant. At the end of day, it’s about decency, dignity and fair play. That holy trinity of human behavior does not check itself at the door when passionate opinions are involved. They live their own lives and manifest in a very specific and noticeable way, regardless of how you got there. Whether I be a passionate Roman Catholic, or a fervent Muslim, or a committed Jew, when it’s all said and done, respect, appreciation and recognition trump any doctrine…at any time.

My congratulations to the President for choosing a very appropriate venue to advance the spirit of dialogue in a place and at a time where he was not necessarily preaching to the choir.

Original writing date: May 20, 2009

I had literature sent to me from this website www.StopObamaNotreDame.com

email dated 4/27/09

As a long time ND supporter; although I was Jesuit educated; I have always believed that Notre Dame represented the highest level of image around the World for the quality of the Catholic Faith. ND was the Vatican in a sense here in the US. Values, pride, a remin der of devotion to Mary, Jesus, and our Lord.

ND is not just another University with a football team. ND is the Catholic University and our Prestige Value Proposition.

Inviting President Obama to be honored at any level, even an invitation to visit, has forever damaged the Prestige of Notre Dame. His extreme pro-choice (a disguise for the word ‘abortion’), his lack of understanding regarding stem cell embryo dignity, and his overall lack of respect for Catholic and Christian faith.

What happened at Georgetown University was outright disgusting. I fear that those who allowed our Sacred Icons and Symbols to be covered will not be known by God on Judgment Day.

So too, you risk that same fate: He will not know you when you try to come into his House.

Jesus once said that the only sin he could not forgive was “Blasphemy”! What you have created, the honor of someone who has proven his disgust for Catholic principles and values, easily meets the definition of the sin that you commit and will not be forgiven.

When I spoke to a close Catholic friend who was a graduate of Notre Dame, he said he would not even risk saying “May God have mercy on your Soul”, because he feared being associated with someone who we firmly believe has done something that is unforgiveable and should know better.

“Jesus will not remember you when you try to come into his House”. Mary the Mother of God that the name Notre Da me honors will have no reason to help someone who dishonored her Name.

P.S. Sadly, like many other I no longer wish to be associated with ND, so I have thrown out hats and shirts that I purchased at ND football games in South Bend. And, I’ll never attend another ND game, at campus or anywhere else.

The venue was once a giant Maytag appliance factory which now houses a wind energy company. It represented, for me, not so much the ecological theme President Obama was touting but the ebb and flow of classic American free enterprise where companies are allowed to succeed and to fail; where industries flourish and sometimes die; where there is no concept of “too big to fail.”

After World War II, we had the greatest economic expansion in our entire history as the mighty industrial power we had forged creating munitions to win the war turned to the manufacturer of appliances and other consumer products after we won the war. The 1950s and 1960s reflected a further expansion of that enormous industrial capability bringing prosperity to Maytag, other manufacturers and the entire economy as a whole.

Those days are gone, for Maytag, and for many of those manufacturers, as we shift our priorities from consumer products to alternate energy sources. But is that not what free enterprise is supposed to do—provide a shifting of resources in line with a shift in priorities?

When AIG, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, General Motors, and various other companies become “too big to fail” that our government must step in time and time again to both thwart the natural ebb and flow of the economic order as well as to subsidize policy directives not otherwise supported by economic validity, my stomach gets queasy.

That we have found ourselves in a position in 2008 and 2009 to forgo the natural economic order is less of a concern to me than what it portends for the future where these activities become not extraordinary, but palpably institutionalized. I don’t fear and I’m not concerned about what we’ve done (nor do I second guess or Monday morning quarterback); I am concerned about what it might mean for what we will continue to do in the future.

Original writing date: April 23, 2009
Article writing date: April 23, 2009

Original writing date: June 18, 2008

Out of curiosity, what is the difference, at the end of the day, between the trading of a derivative and a Ponzi Scheme?

Original writing date: March 6, 2009

Original writing date: March 27, 2009
Article writing date: March 26, 2009

Original writing date: March 10, 2009
Article writing date: March 8, 2009

Take a look at the over-the-top level of accountability reflected by the Third Marine Aircraft Wing as to an accident which occurred in the University City neighborhood of San Diego on December 8, 2008.

The story is particularly vivid when contrasted with the meltdown in the financial markets. Despite a stream of testimony before various congressional investigative committees, nobody stepped forward and claimed any accountability whatsoever – not the big banks, not the large investment banks, not the federal government, not the mortgage companies – nobody. Take a look at the article and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Original writing date: March 11, 2009
Article writing date: March 6, 2009

Original writing date: November 17, 2008

Let’s hope they’re wrong.

That notwithstanding, I had the most bizarre experience this Christmas when I went to buy some Publix gift certificates for a couple college kids we know. We could have given them any number of things, but one thing that they would appreciate is groceries. Publix is a great grocery store in the southeast and Janet and I thought that there wasn’t going to be a whole lot better, from their standpoint…certainly at this stage in the economy. It was about 6:45 p.m.

As busy as Publix usually is, I walked into Bing Crosby singing White Christmas. There were twice as many Publix employees as there were customers. The Publix employees were garbed in red and green with Santa hats traipsed back. And, stating this as delicately as I possibly can, the few customers who were there were hardly in the mood for Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” or the nostalgia it represented.

I looked over, as I picked up my gift certificates in laurel and mistletoe, and felt the overwhelming compassion this Christmas has delivered for Americans on our continent, and for suffering servants across the globe.

Original writing date: December 23, 2008

Fundamentally, there’s been a breach of trust between American capitalism and the American consumer. The consumers, who create 70 percent of the economic activity in this country, have been given the runaround and have been left high and dry with respect to their families and their values. As a result, they’re rebelling, both out of fear and a desperation as to where America is at this point.

Wall Street carries the greater burden of the blame with such a substantial amount of greed as to make all of us pause for comment. And businesses, reeling in the face of it, are now required to lay off the heart and soul of their businesses to be able to simply survive, as organizations and as organisms.

The breach of faith…is severe!

Original writing date: December 3, 2008