The University of Wyoming has canceled an event featuring unrepentant bomber and terrorist Bill Ayers … because of safety concerns. Irony alert:
CASPER, Wyo. — The University of Wyoming says it received threats after 1960s radical William Ayers was invited to speak on campus and it should be able to bar him for safety reasons.
The university filed court papers over the weekend after it was sued over its refusal to rent its sports complex for a speech Wednesday by the University of Illinois-Chicago education professor. University lawyers submitted affidavits about threats made against Ayers, university staff and alumni after the university initially invited him to speak on campus.
None of the affidavits mentioned specific times when the threats would be carried out, and only one was forwarded to police for investigation. In that case, an e-mailer said the people who invited Ayers to speak should “eat a mouthful of buckshot.”
One caller said he and his friends would take care of Ayers “the Cowboy way,” according to the documents. In another case, education college dean Kay Persichitte said a man approached her at a supermarket and told her, “You should all be strung up and he (Ayers) should bomb you.”
The university’s Social Justice Research Center invited Ayers to speak earlier this month but canceled the event after getting hundreds of e-mail and telephone calls opposing his visit. UW student Meg Lanker then invited Ayers to speak, but the university barred him from appearing on campus.
Lest this latest flare-up remind readers of President Obama’s ties to Ayers, the Associated Press dutifully repeats lefty talking points to quell any concerns:
Ayers was a co-founder of Weather Underground, a radical anti-war group that claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, including explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol that didn’t kill anyone.
Before Barack Obama was elected president, he served with Ayers on the board of a Chicago charity, and Republican Sen. John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, made it an issue in the 2008 campaign, accusing Obama of “palling around with terrorists.”
Obama has condemned Ayers’ radical activities, and there’s no evidence they ever were close friends or that Ayers advised Obama on policy.
What the AP fails to mention (natch) is that Weather Underground’s criminal activity did, in fact, result in the death of three of its own members who accidentally blew themselves up while plotting to bomb a crowded military dance at Fort Dix, N.J. Other WU members were later implicated in the murder of law enforcement officers. But other than that, what’s a few non-fatal bombings of federal buildings among friends?
Furthermore, Obama’s connections to Ayers are much more extensive and substantive than the article’s final line suggests. Unwilling to trust a slimy smear merchant/hatchet man/right-wing character assassin like me? Fine. Consult CNN:
Money quote: “The relationship between Obama and Ayers went much deeper, ran much longer, and was much more political than Obama said.”
Then there’s this. And this. And this.
For old time’s sake, I’m almost hoping for an indignant response from Robert Gibbs and/or Bill Burton denouncing this post as a “distraction from the real issues.”