FW: [Peace-discuss] N-G Editorial on Ayers

Wed Oct 29 17:21:40 CDT 2008

Wayne,

Thanks.  We all need not to assume that things are self-explanatory and add our comments, analysis, and interpretations to those links and articles that we post.  I am often as guilty as everyone else in this regard.

From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of E. Wayne Johnson
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 2:20 PM
To: LAURIE SOLOMON
Cc: peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] N-G Editorial on Ayers

I thought that it would be clear without further explanation.

Ayers et al were not terrorists but freedom fighters, agents of change trying to stop the tyranny of
a dirty foreign war.  Interesting that Obama has associated himself with two different men who
got it right (Rev Wright and Ayers) and has since tried to publicly dissociate
himself from them because of political ambition.  

A study of the history of Vietnam (the name of which derives from a Chinese word meaning
the extreme overland south) is a history of a people constantly being overrun and resiliently fighting back.
A study of the history of Vietnam indicates that they would persist in fighting back and a 
victory against such people is never possible since they being of an indomitable spirit, could
never be subdued.

I remember clearly when they burned Old Main at SIU.   Walter Foster remarked, "Good.   If the
students burn down enough buildings, maybe they'll listen".

The anti war movement of the 60's and 70's turned violent.  Why?  
Because in the despairing minds of the revolutionaries it was ultimately the only way
to get the attention of the enemies of the Constitution who were running the country and running the war.
It is as much the fault of those running the country as the fault of the perpetrators that the antiwar movement turned violent.
We ought to be heralding as true war heroes those like Ayers 
and a multitude of unmentioned others who dared to do what ever was
required to save their country.  They are not scoundrels as the NG suggests.  Nay, they were real patriots.

This is not to recommend, condone or permit violence.  Our methods must be those of peaceful resistance,
the giving message of Love and doing no harm to our fellow man.  The peaceful method may take longer but
in the end the effects will surely be longer lasting and we who use such methods can remain beyond reproach 
for our methods.  

The prairie fires of revolution is burning the minds of America's patriots.
It  is a peaceful R[ƎVO˩]UTION.  
We need to resist, non-violently, while we still can.

LAURIE SOLOMON wrote: 

Wayne,

I have a similar reaction to what I had with respect to the original post by Marti.  I fail to see the relevance of the links to the Ayers editorial other than furnishing a brief history of the period’s happenings.  This is not to say that there may not be connections; but I think that you need to furnish some commentary on the connections if the links are to be relevant and useful. While the comments do not need to be elaborate and detailed; there should in my opinion be some sort of introduction.

From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net [mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of E. Wayne Johnson
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 9:46 AM
To: Marti Wilkinson
Cc: peace discuss; C-U Citzens for Peace and Justice
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] N-G Editorial on Ayers

Eisenhower->j.F.k->LBJ->niXon->Ford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_war

Sometimes its the only thing they can understand.
http://news.siu.edu/news/April02/040502k2087.html
 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Vietnam> 
History Repeats Itself
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Vietnam

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein.

The Unbroken Thread of American Imperialism/Interventionism...how much is Enough?
FDR->Truman->Eisenhower->JFK-> LBJ->Nixon->Ford->Carter->Reagan->Bush I->Clinton-> Bush II -> Obama ->???

Marti Wilkinson wrote: 

Ayers ought to be UI embarrassment

Wednesday October 29, 2008

 A University of Illinois professor's history of criminality cannot be minimized.

The Associated Press reports that more than 3,200 people, identified as "mostly academics," have signed an online petition objecting to the "demonization" of University of Illinois-Chicago faculty member William Ayers.

Ayers is an admitted and unrepentant terrorist who, by his own admission, participated in more than 20 bombings in the early 1970s as part of a group of militant leftists known as the Weather Underground.

Ayers has come to national attention during the current presidential campaign because of a multiyear association with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Both live in the Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago. Until Obama's recent denunciations of Ayers for his "detestable" criminal conduct, the pair were longtime associates. Ayers was among Obama's active supporters for public office and Obama served as chairman of an education-related committee organized by Ayers.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has challenged the wisdom of Obama's association with Ayers, but the public does not appear to be offended. Memories fade with time, so more people seem to accept Ayers' current persona as a professor than his former role as a political radical who engaged in serial criminal activities, urged the overthrow of the U.S. government, encouraged the poor and middle-class to "kill all the rich" and children to "kill your parents." 

Ayers' supporters are complaining bitterly about his "demonization," as the petition states. But any fair reading of Ayers' long history of criminality demonstrates that he has demonized himself.

In defense of his bombing spree, which he describes in detail in his memoir "Fugitive Days," Ayers downplays his conduct on the grounds that no one was injured. He's much too modest. There were numerous casualties left by Ayers and his Weather Underground associates, and he can't escape responsibility.

There was the 1970 bombing in Greenwich Village in New York, where Ayers' comrades, including his then-girlfriend Diana Oughton, were killed or injured. They were making bombs to use for an attack on Fort Dix, N.J., when an explosion occurred.

Let's not forget the Days of Rage in Chicago in 1969, when Ayers and his associates engaged in a vandalism spree in downtown Chicago and assaulted pedestrians. Richard J. Elrod, a former Cook County sheriff and current judge, was paralyzed in the melee.

In 1980, members of the Weather Underground, including Ayers' friend Kathy Boudin, robbed a Brink's truck. Two police officers and a security guard were murdered. Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, a law school graduate denied a law license in Illinois on character grounds, raised Boudin's son after she was arrested and imprisoned.

So don't get too carried away about what a swell fellow Ayers is. The son of a wealthy utility company executive, he's a moral reprobate who brags that not only does he not regret his criminal behavior but that he wishes he and his fellow revolutionaries had been more destructive.

His presence on the University of Illinois faculty should be a source of shame, not grounds to leap to the defense of an indefensible man. 

  _____  

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