Two hours in, we've heard four speakers, all of whom are giving personal anecdotes to deliver similar lessons: be a leader, stay positive, don't give up.
A couple of speakers have veered briefly into politics.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell told a funny story about having trouble getting through airport security. He then praised President Bush's policies related to terrorism and foreign policy.
"We are safer than we were before 9/11 because of President Bush," Powell said to applause.
John Walsh, of America's Most Wanted, spent most of his speech describing his journey from his son being murdered to helping catch criminals on his long-running TV show.
Near the end, Walsh praised Bush for creating the National Sex Offender Registry and then sharply criticized President Obama for not funding the Adam Walsh Act, named after his son.
He also complained that federal leaders will let NASA spend millions to find "ice crystals on the moon" but won't put more into beefing up protections against sexual offenders.
Mentioning the different companies the Obama adminsitration bailed out, Walsh said, "They’ve bailed out out all these creeps but they haven’t funded the Adam Walsh Act.”
Walsh urged the crowd to lobby their members of Congress.
"Send them that letter, 'I'll never vote for you again. I'll never send you five bucks unless you get the Adam Walsh Act funded," Walsh said.
-Aman Batheja
The Adam Walsh Act is an abomination - it is so unconstitutional it's sickening. Mr. Walsh has an agenda - that's all. I feel sorry for him but he doesn't even know if his son was killed by a sex offender! All the sex offenders I know would NEVER hurt a child much less any human being, they just did dumb stuff like touching or kissing their "bit too young" girlfriend or chatted online a bit inappropriately or tinkled outside their own HOMES or on the side of the road. This kind of junk and reporting has to stop. Mr. Walsh needs to be on the registry for a week just to see what kind of harm comes to HIM and HIS FAMILY from being on it - it's already been proven to be punitive yet our Supreme Court continues to say it's "regulatory" - I bet if someone went up there and tried a case NOW - it CAN be proven to be punitive - so many are getting killed being on the registry now. That blood is on the hands of the legislators who made these ridiculous laws and those people who PUSH these laws into existence.
Remember Mark Foley who pushed the Adam Walsh Act? He was found with chatting with teenagers - but was never convicted - ha! He's just as guilty as anyone else yet because of WHO HE IS, he's not been found "guilty" yet he's MORE guilty than thousands on the registry.
Let's go back to the Wetterling Act - it makes the most sense and has the most control over VIOLENT offenders, not every kid on the block who had sex with his girlfriend, etc. What a waste of OUR taxpayer funds.
The registry is only for those helicopter parents who can't seem to get a life - and for the people who run the system - it's all about the money - because it has been proven not to work (and that's quite obvious).
Posted by: ConcernedCitizenandMom | October 28, 2009 at 11:09 AM
keith olbermann reported that the name for President Bush's speech was titled "Dog Poop" can you confirm it.
Posted by: John Massey | October 31, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Its so crazy how people say they want to protect our children when all they really want is a vote. Each case should be judged individually, I cant believe how these regisration laws have effected so many families and victims horribly all in the name of politics. Sad!
Posted by: Theresa | November 08, 2009 at 11:50 AM