• Home
  • Blogs
  • Political Hotsheet
Political Hotsheet
July 14, 2009 2:07 PM

Updated: Confusion Over Burial Site of Michelle Obama's Father

Posted by Stephanie Condon
(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
This story was updated at 3:30 p.m. ET to correct information provided by the White House.

The White House clarified Tuesday afternoon that First Lady Michelle Obama's father is buried at Lincoln cemetery, not Burr Oak cemetery.

The White House had earlier told CBS News Mrs. Obama's father is buried at Burr Oak, the site where gravediggers removed hundreds of bodies to resell burial plots.

Four workers at the cemetery outside Chicago allegedly dug up and dumped as many as 300 bodies to make a profit on the land. They made as much as $300,000 reselling the burial plots, but guilt-ridden workers eventually alerted the owners of the cemetery.

The four employees face up to eight years behind bars.

Mrs. Obama's father, Fraser Robinson III, died in 1991.
Tags:
Michelle Obama ,
Burr Oak
Topics:
Michelle Obama

More from Political Hotsheet and Politics on CBSNews.com

Add a Comment See all 14 Comments
by SamSewell July 14, 2009 7:27 PM EDT
Carbon footprint?

How long will it take for people to realize that there is a far greater danger of an ice age than there is a danger from global warming? Geez!

The big danger from fossil fuels is that they fund terrorists, not that they cause global warming. We need all the global warming we can get and we need to use fossil fuels from non-Islamic countries. Can we finally use American coal to fuel our cars and solve both the ice age and funding terrorist problems?
Reply to this comment
by All_pols_need_2_go July 14, 2009 4:31 PM EDT
Any chance of having that real birth certificate dug up while we are digging things up? Also could someone dig up Obama's grades from college as his employer I would really like to see how well the POTUS did in school. Certainly a great orator such as himself will have high marks, but then again if he did something tells me he would have been waving them around all over the place to begin with. Just be glad it appears to be blacks digging up other blacks or this might actually be an issue.
Reply to this comment
by SamSewell July 14, 2009 7:29 PM EDT
Somehow, you know its coming. That OMG moment is just around the corner. You can feel the inescapable reality creeping up on you. Something will leak. Someone will spill the beans.

?For nothing is hid that shall not be made manifest, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light.? Luke 8:17

http://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2009/04/aka-obama-fans-all-together-now-say-omg.html
by sddemocrat July 14, 2009 4:23 PM EDT
Mrs. Obama's secretary should get HER facts straight before she talks to the press. Camille made it sound like Mrs. Obama and her mother, Mrs. Robinson doesn't know where her father is buried.
Reply to this comment
by cs4466 July 14, 2009 4:21 PM EDT
The body after death is 100% meaningless except in the minds of the superstitious.

That we waste the resources of vast tracts of land putting corpses into the ground to rot is a disgusting and vile social habit.

Cremation is far more sanitary, and I suppose the superstitious can carry around their relatives in jars if they want to.

I'm not even against a nice tombstone or vault containing urns of ashes but this putting whole bodies into the ground to rot business has really got to stop. It's simply disgusting.
Reply to this comment
by cs4466 July 14, 2009 6:04 PM EDT
It's a good point, I don't know. But I do know that the carbon footprint of maintaining all those cemeteries is a lot larger than if they were parks or otherwise usable land to the public.
by xlib July 14, 2009 3:59 PM EDT
It is tragic about the families affected by this act but for GOD's sake, I could give a rat's behind about proud michelle's daddy.
Good grief, every day we are treated to another messiah family story.
Reply to this comment
by beaumuff July 14, 2009 4:15 PM EDT
Now be nice, we don't want the first lady not to be proud again do we? She could make Obunglers day worse than it is already with his celebrity staus dropping like a rock.
by GovernmentControl July 14, 2009 2:58 PM EDT
Is he going to be re-buried with rev wright performing the service and shouting God D*mn America!
Reply to this comment
by sddemocrat July 14, 2009 2:50 PM EDT
It is sad that this cemetery was so violated. However, history has shown us that graves are violated time and time again. Egypt has had tombs and basically robbed in the name of science and Native American graves have been violated in the name of science and so on and so on. It is sad for all the people who have relatives buried there.
Reply to this comment
by drsuz July 14, 2009 3:10 PM EDT
The thing is, alot donot hear how old family cemeteries are also desecrated by people who buy land the cemeteries are on, dig up all the tombstomes and bury them in a pile in some pit and then plant orchards or build over the graves of someones ancestors and the County and State Governemnts DO NOT CARE even when protests were made. It happens all the time. Maybe now that the Cemetery Mrs. Obama's father is in was desecrated, she will do something constructive about the preservation of others. I know of one an Airport runway was built over graves, two large corporations and several private people who have done this. Heck, even the dead cannot be in peace because of 'progress'. I finally found where some of my ancestors and their family were buried and found a huge orchard was planted over their burial ground and the tomstones destoryed into a pile of rubble.
by summarex July 14, 2009 2:34 PM EDT
They shouldn't take it so bad. Even Pharoes get dug up every now and again.
Reply to this comment
by Kuei1248 July 14, 2009 3:18 PM EDT
I hope I get dug up. If I do the world will get to see if viagra helps you maintain a boner for hundreds of years.
by credibility2 July 14, 2009 2:32 PM EDT
This is a real tragedy with all those who buried their loved ones in this cemetery. Maybe the feds will pump more money and resources into the investigation now that it involves Michelle's father. The entire cemetery has been cordoned off as a mass crime scene. It will take time for local authorities and the FBI to properly assess the enormity of the crime. Already, however, there are some family members demanding immediate information and resolution, which is unreasonable given the scope of the work that needs to be done. Emotions aside, these things take a while. The White House is correct in reserving any comments at this point. The Burr Oak Cemetery is a horrible tragedy for the family, but yet another example of black on black crime.
Reply to this comment
See all 14 Comments

About Political Hotsheet

Stay up to the minute on the latest news and developments from Washington, from the White House to Congress and everything in-between with the best political reporters from CBS News and CBSNews.com.

E-Mail Political Hotsheet
Follow On Twitter

Add to your favorite news reader
google
yahoo
msn
HOTSHEET ON TWITTER