What is University of Illinois hiding?
posted at 5:25 pm on August 19, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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National Review has tried to investigate the public relationship between Barack Obama and former Weather Underground radical William Ayers at the University of Illinois, but has run into a stonewalling University of Illinois. The university refuses to release the records of the project that would detail the extent of collaboration between Obama and Ayers, despite the public nature of the university. The Chicago campus blames the donor of the Annenberg Challenge for the delay:
The University of Illinois on Tuesday refused to release records relating to Barack Obama’s service to a nonprofit group linked to former 1960s radical activist William Ayers.
The university’s Chicago campus said the donor of the records that document the work of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge has not yet turned over ownership rights to the material.
The university is “aggressively pursuing” an agreement with the donor, and as soon as an agreement is finalized, the collection will be made accessible to the public, the university said in a one-paragraph statement.
How likely will it be that the university and the donor will reach an agreement between now and the election? I’d assume a very low percentage for success. The donor him/herself told the university that they didn’t have the rights to release the information, supposedly concerned about Social Security numbers getting released. That’s absurd; universities know how to redact private information before releasing records to the public.
Why is this important? Obama served as the board chair from 1995 to 1998 and remained on the Annenberg board until 2001. Previously, Obama has minimized his relationship with Ayers as just another academic in the neighborhood with whom he briefly served on the Woods Foundation board. However, Obama worked directly for Ayers at Annenberg for years, which Ayers started as an effort to remake American education.
Ayers started off in politics as a domestic terrorist. He plotted to explode a bomb at the Pentagon, and wound up on the run for years while the FBI botched its investigation. His wife, Bernardine Dohrn, also aided and abetted domestic terrorists and may have had material involvement in thefts and a robbery that resulted in the murder of a policeman. Neither Ayers nor Dohrn have ever expressed any remorse for their crimes; in fact, in 2001 Ayers told the New York Times that he regretted not doing more as part of the Weather Underground, and in 2007 both Ayers and Dohrn repeated their leftist revolutionary schtick:
This is what Barack Obama called mainstream on his website.
For a man with such a meager track record, Obama and his friends sure seem anxious about anyone checking into it for his experience — and his associations. A public university operating a public project should provide transparency on these issues, and not stall until after the election.
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The light of day seems appropriate!
sabbott on August 19, 2008 at 5:28 PM
The FBI investigation shows why law enforcement’s not the way to go when pursuing terrorists.
This man should still be in lock down at a supermax.
E9RET on August 19, 2008 at 5:30 PM
From the article:
Shouldn’t that read Terrorist. When did he become an activist. That article makes Ayers sound like Ralph Nader.
Mormon Doc on August 19, 2008 at 5:33 PM
The plot thickens.
Terrye on August 19, 2008 at 5:33 PM
New politics calls for a new public…
ninjapirate on August 19, 2008 at 5:34 PM
Ill. U. is clearly wanting some o’ dat quid pro quo cash that the other Chicago institutions got from BO.
jgapinoy on August 19, 2008 at 5:34 PM
Interesting read on Wiki:
upinak on August 19, 2008 at 5:38 PM
Anyone in Chicago.. who wants to go to the CAC and demand a FOIA on the material for Obama?
Since it is a “private and public” funded entity.. they have to give the information in 10 working days. Or they can have the “public” funds pulled.
Sorry ayers… you are screwed!
upinak on August 19, 2008 at 5:40 PM
The Obama-Ayers connection goes way, way back. Consider the source and everything, but crazy Larry Johnson’s site noquarter had a long, detailed post about Obama’s connections with Ayers (and with friends of Ayers’s rich dad) that went way, way back.
I’d be more suspicious of the contents of the post if it didn’t mesh pretty well with what I’ve read in more reputable places.
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/category/bill-ayers/
funky chicken on August 19, 2008 at 5:42 PM
Why are these people not in hiding?
BL@KBIRD on August 19, 2008 at 5:43 PM
Because they’re arrogant and stupid. It’s really not a way to go through life…
eanax on August 19, 2008 at 5:45 PM
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/08/12/the-obama-ayers-top-ten-highlights-of-the-20-year-obama-ayers-connection/
Like I said, consider the source, but the guy has backup links to other things.
funky chicken on August 19, 2008 at 5:45 PM
.
I think with just a little bit of pondering, most folks would figure out the reason.
Think_b4_speaking on August 19, 2008 at 5:46 PM
I think it was Saul Alinsky who taught them to seize the levers of power by controlling the institutions– the public schools, universities, media, Congress, courts, etc.
That’s why we’re in hiding.
JiangxiDad on August 19, 2008 at 5:47 PM
Even if it came out after an election won by Obama–hopefully it would be bad enough to damage his Presidency permanently. Are there no spies or moles ready to deal with this reluctance on the part of the University? Surely there must be at least one.
jeanie on August 19, 2008 at 5:47 PM
Think there are ALWAYS ways to get a FOIA on anything.
First UIC is a Federal/State/Public Facility. I.E. CAC was a Public and Private but is being help at the UIC library. All in All, the information that is concidered “confidential” has a shlef life of 2 years in a library if they are going to keep it and put in on flim or digital media or if they cull it.
If you go into the UIC and ask for a FOIA of ALL information concerning CAC, they will nto give it to you. But if you are specific, they have a time limit and Federal mandate 9and possibly State mandate) of 10 days to get all the information to you without being doceted either. If it is Doceted, you have 5 days to ask why and they have to give an explanation.
I love FOIA! :D makes people squirm.
upinak on August 19, 2008 at 5:51 PM
*yawn*
Evil Hippies!???!!?!?!
Pushing this just makes McCain look even more geriatric (if that’s possible).
Is the nose-holding right planning on coming up with a single reason to vote for John McCain before the election rolls around?
Or is it gutter politics all tghe way?
alphie on August 19, 2008 at 5:51 PM
Ok someone else bite off alphie’s engorged head of feces. I am tired of the mental midget.
upinak on August 19, 2008 at 5:53 PM
Look at the pic of the slime Ayers at the bottom of this page:
http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2008/05/03/william-ayers-the-weather-underground/
Maybe that’s where Obama learned his bizarre head tilt?
funky chicken on August 19, 2008 at 5:53 PM
upinak, I just ignore its desperate plea for attention. shrug
funky chicken on August 19, 2008 at 5:55 PM
Wonder if the feigned indifference of our live in troll reflects some real worry on the part of someone somewhere out there in Dem land?
jeanie on August 19, 2008 at 5:56 PM
Must. Not. Pay. Attention. To. Alphie.
Once upon a time, people who committed the kinds of crimes Dohrn and Ayers are believed to have committed went to jail, and for a very long time. People died as a result of the activities of their kind, and even those who did not physically pull the trigger or set the bomb were called “accessories.”
And those who were apologists for them — like Osama Obama — were called “dupes,” and were scorned.
In that respect, Obama is right. America is not what it once was, and it’s a damn shame. It’s also, to some extent, his fault.
MrScribbler on August 19, 2008 at 6:00 PM
While I hate plugging myself, I still see a connection between the SDS and Obama, of which Ayers is the main link.
It’s like with groups such as PETA and the really nutty ones like the Animal Liberation Front. The latter is a known terror organization, while PETA is merely a fringe group. However, when PETA writes checks to people like Rodney Coronado, heralded firebombers who lead groups like Earth First, the tumblers fall into place. I’m going to be verrrrry interested to see what capacity the revitalized SDS operates in this year.
MadisonConservative on August 19, 2008 at 6:01 PM
This article is an example of “bomb throwing” – No, wait. William Ayers is a bomb thrower. Never mind.
TooTall on August 19, 2008 at 6:07 PM
By all accounts, domestic terrorists William Ayers and his half-wit wife, should be behind bars, doing long, long time. All though he admitted to all crimes committed and more, they were released on an “improper surveillance” technicality. Ayers and Dohrn walk America free, and the idiot PC judge never lost his seat! So much for our foolish, PC, legal system!
byteshredder on August 19, 2008 at 6:07 PM
Hey, that pic of Ayers hiding in the alley so he can step on the flag reminds me of the tickets the dems are providing for Obama’s speech at Invesco Field.
funky chicken on August 19, 2008 at 6:10 PM
If I had associates like these I would be denied a security clearance for work. How can Obama get the highest clearance in the land?
Les in NC on August 19, 2008 at 6:12 PM
That’s quite some mental gymnastics there.
Revealing that the DNC’s presumptive candidate of choice has long standing ties to the frontman of a terrorist group shines badly on the…. RNC? Come on jackass, if McCain had ties to Bin laden or even the Red Brigades you’d be all over it. Please just STFU.
Bonus points if you can even identify the Red Brigades without Google.
flashoverride on August 19, 2008 at 6:22 PM
I’m surprised anyone believes that load of BS. How long has the stuff been there being archived and stored at public expense? If those folks who ‘haven’t given’ ownership rights, what have they signed so far. If nothing and, in addition, they haven’t paid for storage, then it sounds to me like abandoned property.
Dusty on August 19, 2008 at 6:24 PM
Ayers is mainstream? Mainstream Communist. How will future generations comprehend a POTUS that began his political career at the home of a domestic terrorist. That is what gets to me the most. Obama decides he wants a political career and this is where he ends up. Of all places to jumpstart a run for office he seeks out a couple of anti-American terrorist. How many Americans would choose the same path? I am thinking very few.
chief on August 19, 2008 at 6:26 PM
Don’t mess up alphie’s groove, as a self-confessed “true conservative” he is simply supporting the most liberal senator in America and sees nothing wrong with keeping information about Obama from the public.
Bishop on August 19, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Heh. I wonder if the owner of the records is Con Edison, Willy Ayers’s daddy’s utility company?
funky chicken on August 19, 2008 at 6:34 PM
Behind bars…my ass.
BigWyo on August 19, 2008 at 6:37 PM
flash,
The only people who might remember these old hippies are too afraid that John “just marry a rich little girl if you want to retire comfortably” McCain is gonna gut Social Security and Medicare to ever consider voting for him.
alphie on August 19, 2008 at 6:41 PM
Why didn’t he retire then moron???
BigWyo on August 19, 2008 at 6:47 PM
Kurtz was on Bill Bennett’s radio show this morning. Morning in America is an excellent show.
funky chicken on August 19, 2008 at 6:54 PM
Umm Alphie. Please tell me what is John Kerry’s excuse for marrying rich?
Kerry’s wife is 3 times richer then McCain’s wife is.
Loser
upinak on August 19, 2008 at 6:55 PM
WTF are you talking about? Did you answer any of the questions I asked you? Reference anything I said? Are we in the same thread?
The only people who might remember these old hippies – what hippies are you referring to? Ayers? Bin Laden? Red Brigades? Obama?! You are totally obfuscatory, probably because YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO THE RED BRIGADES WERE. I suppose people who run around in internet threads professing how knowledgeable they are would realize that there are multiple paths to obtaining information that will support or undermine their respective cases. How the Red Brigades has anything to do with Social Security is beyond me.
You made the assertion that revealing the presumptive DNC nominee’s link to members of a radical domestic terrorist group in some way reflected negatively on the RNC. That’s your assetion. I asserted that if Johnny Mac had the links, you would be throwing them up all over the interwebs. I also mentioned two groups (an indivdual and a group, actually) as possibilities, and challenged you to identify one of them. It’s pretty simple to hit up Google and type in Red Brigades, it’s just that some of us have a pretty good grasp on this whole terrorism thing and how it stretches back DECADES if not CENTURIES. Your refutation? blah blah blah Social Security.
flashoverride on August 19, 2008 at 6:58 PM
Don’t mind if I do, upinak.
Well, well alphie, I’m your huckleberry.
Say when…
Et tu Brute on August 19, 2008 at 7:01 PM
That photo of that loser always gets my blood up.
carbon_footprint on August 19, 2008 at 7:13 PM
Isn’t it great that an admitted terrorist and known criminal like Bernadine Dohrn is teaching law at Northwestern? Now that’s a quality legal education. She can’t get admitted to the Bar because of her criminal record, but she can teach impressionable young minds everything she knows about how to be a good and ethical lawyer.
Brilliant, Northwestern, just brilliant.
AZCoyote on August 19, 2008 at 7:14 PM
I guess it is pointless to point out that if this were a liberal magazine trying to get info on McCain, the University would have no problem with going out of their way to make sure people’s privacy was breached.
The Universities are way more left wing than people understand, from top to bottom.
benrand on August 19, 2008 at 7:31 PM
First heard about UIC’s denial of public access to CAC docs on Hugh Hewitt’s blog.
The dialog in this thread is all good and well but here is one case I think some grassroots action is required. My guess is those in the liberal sanctuary of academia will cower as soon as their ivy leaves quake just a wee bit.
Stanley Kurtz’s artice has an email link on page 3 that we all (I already have – yesterday afternoon) should make use of. The fact that this situation appeared in an AP feed to Yahoo! News is indication that our emails might result in a speedier and positive and correct outcome. It’s extremely frustrating when liberal fascists continually get away with subverting America due to the inaction of those in the right. Yes, we conservatives.
And double duh… doing nothing will not remedy the situation. Let’s give a multitiude of emails a try.
rocksandbroncs on August 19, 2008 at 7:38 PM
Yer new here aren’t you??
The Toilet Bug will never take you head on…
BigWyo on August 19, 2008 at 7:39 PM
http://globallabor.blogspot.com/
wow
funky chicken on August 19, 2008 at 7:44 PM
flash,
John McCain worked for Cindy McCain’s dad, a convicted felon and war profiteer.
In fact, McCain has bee living like a king(private jet, 13 mansions, $500 shoes) off his ill-gotten gains for years.
Much worse than hanging’ out with some Dirty f*ing hippies.
alphie on August 19, 2008 at 7:52 PM
So who is the “donor”? Who has control of those records? And how can that be if they were “donated”?
If I have some incriminating documents about myself could I “donate” them to a university library and thereby put them off limits?
Someone tell Karl Rove that instead of fighting all these subpoenas from the Democrat’s Fishing Expedition in Congress, they can just “donate” the White House records to the library and thereby put them off limits to any investigators. Heck, Freezer Willie in Lousiana could do the same thing eh?
DaMav on August 19, 2008 at 7:58 PM
The most amazing thing about this to me is that the AP picked it up so quickly. Maybe they’re trying to tell the super-delegates that they better take Hillary.
If they do will Obambi still go read his teleprompter to the crowd at the stadium?
RW_theoriginal on August 19, 2008 at 8:05 PM
An SDS Connection, you ask? First, there’s Jodie Evans who bundled at least $50,000 for Barry’s Presidential campaign. But more on topic, How about Mike Klonsky hired by Bill Ayers and a recipient of big bucks from the Chicago Annenberg Challenge for his “Small Schools Workshop”.
UIC sure does like having “mainstream” Communists on its staff. Must have something to do with diversity.
Note that his WIKI page is being considered for deletion.
Buy Danish on August 19, 2008 at 8:19 PM
Thanks for researching this, funky chicken. Who is doing a FOIA request to Ill. U?
Right_of_Attila on August 19, 2008 at 8:19 PM
If only someone characterized the documents as “secret government-controlled records concerning the surveillance of domestic terrorists and known associates,” then they’d be plastered all over the front page of the New York Times tomorrow.
Blackacre on August 19, 2008 at 8:25 PM
And in politics, timing is everything. This can wait until October.
Zorro on August 19, 2008 at 8:30 PM
http://globallabor.blogspot.com/2008/05/when-did-barack-obama-meet-bill-ayers.html
funky chicken on August 19, 2008 at 8:42 PM
What do barack obama and osama bin laden have in common?
Both are good friends with people who tried to destroy the Pentagon…
rbb on August 19, 2008 at 9:17 PM
Thirty years, ago, a friend told me that the History department at UIC was nothing but marxists all the way down. I’ll bet it’s spread.
ahem on August 19, 2008 at 9:20 PM
That’s a good, and very important question. Presently, Barack Hussein must disclose how many alias names he’s gone by? Also, how many dual citizenship’s and passports he holds? Then when it’s all officially sorted out, he may not Constitutionally qualify for his senate seat, let alone to run for the presidency.
byteshredder on August 19, 2008 at 9:52 PM
Non-profits in America had assets of over $900 BILLION as of 2002. They are tax exempt, their directors unelected by the population, and now apparently are above the FOI act.
Why don’t they do something useful, like provide the health care to the poor, instead of using their money to fund anti-Americanism and change this nation into a leftist workers’ paradise?
PattyJ on August 19, 2008 at 10:12 PM
Three questions:
1. What is being hidden?
2. Who ordered the obstruction?
3. Why is this not important?
drjohn on August 19, 2008 at 10:34 PM
Seems to me Obama has an awful lot to hide.
Connie on August 19, 2008 at 11:14 PM
Hey, we’ve heard this same tune before from Hillary!
…And Hillary Clinton recently said, “We’re moving as quickly as our circumstances and the processes of the National Archives permit.”…
electric-rascal on August 20, 2008 at 12:29 AM
Although I know everyone tries to ignore Alphie, have you noticed that he is developing a theme? He seems to have a problem with younger wives with money. Don’t worry Alphie, you will meet that special someone and you won’t have to be so jealous of Senator McCain.
Cindy Munford on August 20, 2008 at 12:59 AM
Correction: Marilyn Katz is the wealthy bundler and former SDS honchette who gave oodles to Barry. Jodie Evans is a wealthy bundler too, but is with Code Pink, not SDS.
Thanks for that update! That’s quite the eureka moment about the dates when Barry met Billy, and if the MSM were doing their job…
Steve Diamond should be getting a Pulitzer for all his fantabulous research, beginning with “Who sent Obama”.
Buy Danish on August 20, 2008 at 1:07 AM
Annenberg Interview Transcript [Stanley Kurtz]
Connie on August 20, 2008 at 2:10 AM
“Annenberg-Gate” – It’s not the crime, it’s the cover up
Connie on August 20, 2008 at 2:12 AM
Make up your mind Right or left.
Johan Klaus on August 20, 2008 at 2:34 AM
M
Don’t you mean dirty f*****g terrorist?
Johan Klaus on August 20, 2008 at 2:39 AM
Jeebus, why do I bother. alphie sez:
KK, from Wiki, not exactly a clearinghouse for right wingery, James Hensley
Apparently he ran afoul of the law after the war due to violating liquor rationing, which is hardly war profiteering. He recieved a suspended sentence, and his brother did a year in the pen. Not exactly Joe Kennedy.
flashoverride on August 20, 2008 at 5:22 AM
(Dude, why are you wasting time with that douchebag? She giggles every time someone responds to her idiotic comments.)
Jaibones on August 20, 2008 at 7:20 AM
67 comments to an “Obama hangs around with terrorist leftists” story is an amazing disappointment for AP, I’m sure, and amounts to a collective shrug by the HotAir commentariat. I wonder why?
This particular issue seems to me to expose Obama maybe more than anything else that’s out there. (OK, the infanticide story is a veryclose second.)
I wonder why no one cares about this?
Jaibones on August 20, 2008 at 7:23 AM
If those records were about McCain, they’d leak them in October when it was most damaging. With Obama, they’ll stall for years. I think it’s time for a 527 group to sue the university under Illinois’s open records law (assuming it has one). Maybe they’ll have luck convincing a judge to order them to release the documents. My guess is if the university has possession of the documents, they’re subject to open records.
Outlander on August 20, 2008 at 7:23 AM
Nice pick up, Connie.
Jaibones on August 20, 2008 at 7:32 AM
Ok, you got me interested. From a cursory look at the UIC Sp. Coll. site:
UIC Special Collections
Base URL: http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll/
Webalizer page: http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll/services/rjd/findingaids/webalizer/
Lots of finding aids traffic starting in June ‘08. Hmmm…
Dir listing of finding aids: http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll/services/rjd/findingaids/
(I love mis-configured webserver installations)
No “ChicagoAnnenbergf.html” to be found, or variants or backups. Parent dir leads to an old Special Collections page, now moved, with 10-sec re-direct.
If it existed, it’s gone now, and no sloppiness about it.
mojo on August 20, 2008 at 12:34 PM
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