The ACORN Strikes Back!

5 Comments

1. 

   Frank Schnittger on October 21, 2008 at 5:39 pm

   Anyone know why Bill Ayres hasn’t given any interviews to challenge his demonisation?  Does the Obama campaign not want him to surface to avoid further focus on the issue?  Or is he just a private citizen who wants to remain private?

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     Steven D on October 21, 2008 at 5:44 pm

     I suspect he’s afraid of death threats.  His scheduled appearance at a the University of Nebraska was canceled over security concerns.

     Late last week, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln canceled a November speech that would have featured William Ayers, the Journal Star reports. According to Chancellor Harvey Perlman, the decision was made after a “threat assessment team” decided Ayers’s speech would present a “substantial security threat.”

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       Frank Schnittger on October 21, 2008 at 5:56 pm

       His speech would be a threat, or those listening to it?  Please do not explode our mindsets?  Why haven’t the networks sought to interview him?

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         Steven D on October 21, 2008 at 6:11 pm

         His the original article about why the speech was canceled:

         Still, almost immediately after Ayers’ planned visit was announced, angry phone calls and e-mails began flooding the offices of Perlman, Milliken, the regents, the NU Foundation and Marjorie Kostelnik, dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences.

         Heineman called the Ayers invitation an embarrassment to NU and the state, and other political leaders echoed that criticism. Milliken and regents said the invitation reflected poor judgment.

         Given Ayers’ background — he was a founder of the Weather Underground, the group that claimed responsibility for bombings of government buildings in protest of the Vietnam War — Nebraskans’ anger was understandable, Perlman said.

         But, he said, some callers, e-mailers and bloggers went beyond civil disagreement. So UNL quickly assembled its threat assessment team, which includes university police, the University Health Center and an associate psychology professor who is an expert in the area.

         The team spent hours analyzing hundreds of contacts to the university, said that professor, Mario Scalora.

         Scalora wouldn’t discuss specifics of what the team found, citing fear of copycat threats. But he called the negative reaction to Ayers’ planned speech “intense and unprecedented.”

         “What was unique about this circumstance was the amount and intensity of the contacts in a brief period of time,” he said.

         He and UNL Police Chief Owen Yardley reported to Perlman, who was in China at the time, that they were deeply concerned about campus safety should the Ayers speech go on as planned.

         By late Thursday, Perlman said, it seemed clear cancellation was the best option.

         I’m sure the networks have contacted him.  I suspect he made the decision not to involve himself in the debate over his nebulous associations with Obama for fear of what might result regarding the safety of his family.

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           Frank Schnittger on October 21, 2008 at 7:02 pm

           Sad, but probably true.  I still remember the hero’s welcome the Berrigan Brothers got in Ireland from all and sundry.  The notion that someone’s safety might be at risk for something they believed or did 40 years ago is completely absurd here.  Presumably any Network which interviewed him would also be targeted.  Time for Al Jazeera to set up a broadcasting base in Canada!