No Regrets; William Ayers

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2001/No-Regrets/
From our August 2001 issue: "Kill your parents!" urged sixties leftist Bill Ayers, whose father was the chairman of Commonwealth Edison here. In Ayers's new memoir, Fugitive Days, he reconciles his militant past with his present identity: father of three, esteemed professor at UIC—and unabashed patron of the great bourgeois coffee chain, Starbucks

By Marcia Froelke Coburn
(page 1 of 3)

At 55, Bill Ayers, the notorious sixties radical, still carries a whiff of that rock 'n' roll decade: the oversize wire-rim glasses that, in a certain light, reveal themselves as bifocals; a backpack over his shoulder—not some streamlined, chic job, but a funky backpack-of-the-people, complete with a photo button of abolitionist John Brown pinned to one strap.
Yet he is also a man of the moment. For example: There is his cell phone, laid casually on the tabletop of this neighborhood Taylor Street coffee shop, and his passion for double skim lattes. In conversation, he has an immediate, engaging presence; he may not have known you long but, his manner suggests, he's already fascinated. Then there is his quick laugh and his tendency to punctuate his comments by a tap on your arm.
Overall, it is not easy to imagine him as part of the Weatherman, a group that during the late sixties and early seventies openly called for revolution in America, led a violent rampaging protest in Chicago, and took credit for numerous bombings around the United States.
One of the Weatherman leaders was Bernardine Dohrn, a smart, magnetic figure who, in part because of her penchant for miniskirts and knee-high boots, was dubbed "La Pasionaria of the Lunatic Left" by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. After a bomb exploded accidentally and killed three of their colleagues, Ayers and Dohrn "hooked up," in the parlance of the day, and, since 1982, they have been married. This—violence, death, and white-hot rhetoric—is his past and Ayers insists he has no regrets. "I acted appropriately in the context of those times," he says. But it's hard to reconcile this quick-witted man with that revolutionary. Today Bill Ayers seems too happy to have ever been so angry.
Ayers, now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, claims to abhor nostalgia ("Nothing is more boring than some old person going on and on about the way things used to be"). But he has been thinking lately about the past—both his and the country's—and soon he will likely be engaged in what he calls "a dialogue" about the sixties, the antiwar movement, and the radical life he led. The spur for this dialogue will be the publication of Fugitive Days (Beacon Press, $24), a memoir Ayers has written about the trajectory of his life, from a pampered son of the Chicago suburbs to a young pacifist to a founder of one of the most radical political organizations in U.S. history.
In the pantheon of radicals of the sixties and seventies, Ayers's place is unique. "He was not as notorious as Bernardine Dohrn," says Don Rose, a political consultant who has written about those times. "But what made Ayers of particular interest then was that he was the son of a captain of industry. Now he's interesting because, of all the farther-out radicals, he has achieved the most scholarly reputation."
Writing the book has been "a daunting task," Ayers says, "because I want to be true to those times. I don't feel nostalgic for the sixties, but there is no doubt in my mind that the events I write about were shaping events, and they provided for me a way of seeing the world that seemed so alive and so resonant that I can't escape it, no matter what I do."
Certainly there are moments when Ayers has the sound of the sixties down pat, like when he tells me, "Imperialism or globalization—I don't have to care what it's called to hate it." And then there are moments when he sounds light-years away from his radical sensibilities, more like an old grump lamenting today's uninformed youth: He tells me a story about going into Starbucks and having the young woman behind the counter mistake his photo pin of John Brown for Walt Whitman. "And when I told her, no, it's John Brown, she said, 'Who is John Brown?'"
But I am struck by another part of that story. What are you doing in a Starbucks? I ask the man who professes to hate globalization.
"Oh," he says. "I have an addiction to caffeine."
There you have the complexity of Ayers: a man who once tried to overthrow his country's government and now works for a state university; an opponent of the bourgeoisie who has been married for 20 years; a left-wing radical who loves a good cup of imperialist coffee. Maybe he's always known how to choose his battles. Once one of his sons wanted to hear about how Ayers had been a draft card burner. "Tell me again how you burned your credit card, Pop," his son confusedly asked.
"I'm not that radical," Ayers retorted......


http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2001/No-Regrets/


Ayers was a founder of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school-reform group. Obama chaired its board from 1995-99. National Review reported last week that UIC said records detailing meetings and other business were public, then reversed itself. UIC said Friday there was a misunderstanding....

.....
When Obama was asked about Ayers in an April debate, he said, "the notion that … me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense."
After that debate, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley released a statement saying he doesn't condone what Ayers did in the 1960s. "It was a difficult time, but those days are long over," he said.
Ayers and Obama have moved in some of the same circles:
•In 1995, Ayers hosted a brunch for Obama, who was running for the Illinois Senate.
The ad says this meeting launched Obama's political career. Quentin Young, a physician who was there, says it was a typical Hyde Park event and to imply otherwise is "guilt by simultaneously being in the same place."
•In 1997, they were on a juvenile justice panel sponsored by the University of Chicago. They were on a 2002 panel on intellectualism that was co-sponsored by the Chicago Public Library.
•In 1997, the Chicago Tribune published a blurb from Obama about books he was reading. Obama said he was reading Ayers' A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court.
•From 1999-2002, both men were on the board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago foundation that makes grants to arts and civic groups. Obama left the board in 2002; Ayers remains on it.
Laura Washington, chairwoman of the Woods Fund board, says suggestions of close ties are "an attempt to demonize Bill as a way of damaging Barack Obama."
•Ayers gave $200 to Obama's 2001 state Senate campaign.






http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-08-25-ayers_N.htm

 

Obama served on a board with former Weather Underground member William Ayers and "that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11."

Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 in Democratic debate in Philadephia


Stephanopoulos quoted a New York Times story, published Sept. 11, 2001, in which Ayers was quoted as saying: “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.”
Asked Stephanopoulos: “Can you explain that relationship for the voters and explain to Democrats why it won’t be a problem?”
Obama downplayed the relationship.
“This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who’s a professor of English in Chicago who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from,” Obama said. “He’s not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.
“And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn’t make much sense, George.”
Sen. Hillary Clinton then piled on.
“I also believe that Senator Obama served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid directorship position. And, if I’m not mistaken, that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11 and after his reported comments, which were deeply hurtful to people in New York and, I would hope, to every American, because they were published on 9/11, and he said that he was just sorry they hadn’t done more.”
We need to point out that it was merely a coincidence the remarks were published in the New York Times on Sept. 11 and they had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks that day. They were referring to activities by the Weather Underground in the 1970s.
Deborah Harrington, president of the Woods Fund, a philanthropic organization in Chicago, said Obama was a director from 1994 through 2001. That overlaps Ayers’ time as a director by three years. It also means Obama served with Ayers for the final months of 2001, after Ayers made his comments to the New York Times......




http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/440/

 

Barack Obama is still not getting enough grief from McCain and Palin for his association with unrepentant Sixties terrorist Bill Ayers. Ayers was a member of the Weathermen, who were associated with other Communist terrorists abroad, and who were bombing American targets in the hope of aiding the Viet Cong to win the Vietnam War. (They succeeded .)
Funny thing: no one seems to object to the fact that Ayers, like many other criminals since the Sixties Supreme Court revolution in criminal procedure, seems to have gotten away with murder. Obama's website uses as a defense the fact that Ayers got away with it on a technicality:
CHARGES AGAINST AYERS WERE DROPPED AND HE SERVED NO TIME
“1979: Charges Against Ayers Were Dropped Because ‘The Government's Case Was Based On Illegal Wiretaps.’ The New York Times reported, ‘William Ayers was a fugitive, too, for nine of those years, but the Federal charges against him, Miss Dohrn and other members of the revolutionary organization were dropped in 1979, when it was ruled that the Government's case was based on illegal wiretaps.’ [New York Times, 12/5/80]
“Ayers ‘Served No Time’ ‘William Ayers: Surrendered and pleaded guilty in 1980 to possession of explosives and served no time. Teaches early childhood development at the University of Illinois.’ [Boston Globe, 9/19/93]....

.....It no more exonerates Ayers than saying that the Judge was bribed, the jury was intimidated, or the witnesses suddenly vanished. In 1989, Peter Brimelow reviewed Tom Hayden's autobiography, Reunionhttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=vdare&l=ur2&o=1, and referred to Ayers's famous remark about his legal position:
“It is easily forgotten that people died because of the New Left and not just in Indo-China. Hayden was much closer to the edge than he admits. Years later, back above ground and living legally, [Bernardine] Dohrn's common-law husband gave [Peter] Collier and [David ] Horowitz a summary of their lives which may be equally appropriate for Hayden: 'Guilty as hell, free as a bird. America is a great country.'”
It is a great country. But not because of the Supreme Court. And not because of Obama and his radical friends, either.



http://www.vdare.com/fulford/080914_fulford_file.htm

I know you like to gloss over facts, BB, but remember, just like I've told you before, I post this up for the honest people.

 

Actually, being a veteran, and seeing someone step on the flag, no matter their beliefs, makes me believe they are hypocrites. They denounce the very systems that have made them rich. They are nothing more than spoiled children, 'cept they throw bombs instead of tantrums.

You still throw tantrums, I guess we can be glad of that.

 

And you guys can deny yer voting for a guy who loves sedition all you want, it won't make the zero a hero. His cult status is only magnified when you don't address this personality flaw.

 

And if you were running for president, I'd want to know if you took money from them. I'd want you to answer for having them at yer BBQs.....

I'm sorry you don't hold leaders to higher standards.

 

And don't forget where I told you, you will never get me to believe he didn't know who this guy was.

You wanna compare some guy who once flipped out to William Ayers, it's your credibility at stake.

How does the guy who killed his wife & lover feel about America ? Has he written a book ? Does he teach in a school ?

I expect better from you.

 

What part of "I don't feel we did enough" do you not understand ?

That's ridiculous. I'm not running to lead the country. I don't get the comparison, and frankly, I think you are being silly.

Doesn't appear to take much.....

 

1) The key question is whether Bill Ayers had a role in the selection of Barack Obama to become Chairman and President of the $160 million Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a multi year school reform effort started in 1995.

2) This is the key question because if it is true that Ayers played a role in Obama's selection it indicates that Ayers and Obama had a pre-existing relationship.

3) If Ayers and Obama did have a pre-existing relationship it undermines claims by the Obama Campaign that the relationship between Ayers, an authoritarian political figure who once engaged in bombings to implement his politics, was "tenuous" or "casual" and that Ayers was just a neighbor of Obama's in Hyde Park.

4) I believe that Obama and Ayers shared a similar world view with respect to education issues, at least. For example, during their time together running the Chicago Annenberg Challenge they supported funding for groups like the Small Schools Workshop and Local School Councils. These groups were criticized as engaging in "teacher bashing" by union activists and as a "political threat" to school principals by Arnold Weber, a fellow Annenberg board member.

5) I have presented evidence here at Global Labor that Ayers did in fact play a direct and personal role in Obama's elevation to the CAC board. This evidence consists of letters exchanged at the time of these events between the national Annenberg Challenge led by Vartan Gregorian, the President of Brown University, and Bill Ayers, on the one hand, and between Gregorian and Adele Simmons, President of the MacArthur Foundation, an advisor to Ayers, on the other.


http://globallabor.blogspot.com/2008/10/where-are-we-now-update-on-ayersobama.html

 

This isn't about justice. It's about exposing this guys friends & associates as America-hating criminal leftists. Nice try, though.