William Ayers on Good Morning America

Following his OP-ed from In These Times, William Ayers appeared on Good Morning America.



Point of fact: Obama did not start his campaign in Ayers house, he started his State Senate Campaign at a Holidy Inn. Ayers did not say "he wished he bombed more" in 2001 - he said "He wished he'd DONE more to end the Vietnam War". Over the last 20 years, Ayers and Obama have met about 6 times. The interviewer, this being on ABC which is pretty much as Right-Wing as FOX , threw a ton of B.S. at him - but he handled it very, very well once he was finally able to speak and address the heart of this "Guilt By Association" mess at about 7:15 into the video.

Ayers: "Everyone one of us should talk to lots and lots of people, especially our political leaders. Far from being a demerit on his record, the fact that he (Barack) is willing to talk to a lot of people, from a lot of different walks in life, with a lot of different opinions and still have a mind of his own is something we should admirer and honor.

"It's not all all true that he sought me out to listen to my radical ideas, or I sought him out, we came together in Chicago, in the civic community over issues of school improvement, and fighting for the rights of poor neighborhoods to have jobs and housing and that's the full extent of our relationship. So this idea that we need to know more, that's there's some dark hidden secret, is just a myth. It's a myth thrown up by people who wan to exploit the politics of fear, and I think it's a great credit to the American people that those politics were rejected."

He may come off a bit strong when he says "the Crimes of the Vietnam Era" were being commited by the U.S. Government, but let me just point out that Ayers was never successfully prosecuted largely because of >criminal acts committed by the FBI which tainted the case.

From the Weather Underground Wiki Page:

In April 1971, The "Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI" broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania.[31] The group stole files with several hundred pages. A majority of the files targeted radical left wing groups, and some individuals, for criminal or subversive activities. By the end of April, the FBI offices were to terminate all files dealing with leftist groups.[32] The files were a part of an FBI program called COINTELPRO.[33] However, after COINTELPRO was dissolved in 1971 by J. Edgar Hoover,[34] the FBI continued its counterintelligence on groups like the Weather Underground.

In 1973, the FBI established the 'Special Target Information Development' program, where agents were sent undercover to penetrate the Weather Underground. Due to the illegal tactics of FBI agents involved with the program, government attorneys requested all weapons- and bomb-related charges be dropped against the Weather Underground. The Weather Underground was no longer a fugitive organization and could turn themselves in with minimal charges against them.[35]

Ayer himself never hurt anyone. It was cases like his that led to the creation of the FISA court, to prevent law enforcement from repeating programs like COINTELPRO, which used illegal wiretaps, planted evidence and even blackmail against other 60's radical and well known "socialists" - people like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and John Lennon.

Vyan

Caribou Barbie Thinks we owe Bush our Thanks...

Today at the Republican Governors Association Sarahcuda Palin, the VP loser who just won't get the Hell off the TV, after stating repeatedly in her exclusive interview wtih Greta Van Susteren, and her exclusive interview with Matt Lauer, and her other exclusive interview with Larry King that's it's hard to win when people want CHANGE and you're in the same party as President Bush...

she now says that we owe Bush our THANKS FOR PROTECTING AMERICA. Oh Really?

PALIN: In politics, people sometimes go to great lengths to avoid stating the obvious, but I think it’s about time that we all remembered that the greatest measure of a president is whether he protected and defended this great country. America’s 43rd president took that foremost responsibility, that most important charge, seriously. He poured his life into it. He succeeded in keeping America safe from another attack.

I’m thankful he is my soldier son’s commander in chief and for that, I say God bless George W. Bush, and I thank you, Mr. President.

Ok, even if you ignore the obvious fact that Track Palin would not be in Iraq right now if it weren't for George Bush's HUNDREDS OF LIES to the American people about Saddam Hussein - the truth is that George Bush Failed to protect America.

After the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1992, President Clinton tracked down and captured the bomber, Ramzi Yousef. Bush didn't catch bin Laden. Besides catching Yousef, Clinton then thwarted multiple plans against the U.S., including the bombing of multiple planes over the pacific ocean, the bombing of the Holland Tunnel and the bombing of LAX during the Millenium Celebration. And they didn't illegally kidnap or torture *anyone* in order to do it. America was NOT attacked for 9 years after the first WTC bomb, so the person we should thank is Bill Clinton - but that doesn't mean they weren't *planning* another attack - they were. Bush knew it, he was repeatedly warned by both Richard Clark and George Tenet - but he DIDN"T DO JACK SHIT about it.

August 6, PDB: Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.

Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the U.S. Bin Laden implied in U.S. television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America." :

After U.S. missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, Bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a [deleted text] service.

An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told [deleted text] service at the same time that Bin Laden was planning to exploit the operative's access to the U.S. to mount a terrorist strike.

The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of Bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S. Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that Bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning hisown U.S. attack.

Ressam says Bin Laden was aware of the Los Angeles operation.

Although Bin Laden has not succeeded, his attacks against the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Laden associates surveilled our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997.

AI Qaeda members -- including same who are U.S. citizens -- have resided in and traveled to the U.S. for years, and the group apparently maintains asupport structure that could aid attacks.

Two Al Qaeda members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our embassies in East Africa were U.S. citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.

A clandestine source said in 1998 that a Bin Laden cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks.

We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a [deleted text] service in 1998 saying that Bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh" 'Umar' Abd aI-Rahman and other U.S.-held extremists.

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

The FBI is conducting approximately 70 investigations throughout the U.S. that it considers Bin Laden-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group or Bin Laden supporters was in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives.

(This is quoted in it's entirety because a) people really do need to see the entire thing considering how long we've been lied to about it and b) it's been declassified, publically released and is a now a public domain document)

This is the document that Condoleeza Rice claimed was "Historical" and didn't indicate any future attacks - but LOOK AT IT. It specifically says that Bin Laden wants to Repeat Yousef's Attack on the World Trade Center, that they had operatives inside the U.S., that they planned to hijack U.S. planes -- that they planned to attack Washington -- they had everything but the date of the attack right in front of them.

If "protecting the nation" (instead of the Constitution which is what the Presidential oath states) is a President's foremost responsibility - then George W. Bush competely and utterly failed on both counts. He didn't protect the nation, and he didn't protect the Constitution.

Vyan

Prop 8; Gender Terrorism Redux

We fell down on this one people, preoccupied with our own lives, the cost of gas the stock market meltdown, and the Presidential Race - we let this one get away from us.


Some months ago the California Supreme Court Ruled the right to love and marry the person of your choice, and have that love returned regardless of their gender was a FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT under the California Constitution.


The California Constitution contains an Equal Protection Clause modelled directly on the U.S. Constitutions 14th Amendment. This is the amendment that promises "all persons within the jurisidiction of the states - the Equal Protection of the Law" It was implemented in 1865 following the end of the Civil War and also erased other Constitutional mistakes such as the "3/5th of a person" clause which led to the Dred Scott decision, where the Taney Court Ruled that the (Original) Constitution did not apply to Black people.


In 1896 the Supreme Court decided the re-define the 14th Amendment to allow for "Seperate But Equal" accomodations between the races (starting from a situation involved segregated portions of a train, and a black man who protested being taken out his seat and moved to the "Black section")

The court said this...

..If he be a white man and assigned to a colored coach, he may have his action for damages against the company for being deprived of his so called property.
Upon the other hand, if he be a colored man and be so assigned, he has been deprived of no property, since he is not lawfully entitled to the reputation of being a white man.....

A black man wasn't entitled to something a whtie man had - simply because he's not a whtie man.


Last Tuesday California Repeated Plessy and said that Gay people aren't entitled to what Straight People have - the right to love and marry.
We've turned the clock back over 100 years. Good job people, way to move "forward.
"

The 14th doesn't say the only straight people will have equal protection - it say s ALL People.. Gay people are still people right?

Plessy wasn't fixed until Brown V Board of Education - over 50 YEARS LATER.


On the basic issue of what is Right and what is Wrong - Prop 8 was a tragic mistake, and like Plessy it will not stand.


But we have other issues to address in the meanwhile, such as why did this happen? It is hate? Is it Fear? Is it Righteousness?

Many devout people feel that homosexual is nothing more than a "sinful lifestyle choice".
They point to Leviticus 18:22

..You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
..

Under Levitcus and "Abomination" is punishable by death. But it doesn't stop there as the West Wing Character President Jed Bartlett pointed out in the very first episode of that series.

..Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7.
["When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.
](small chuckles from the guests) She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, and
always clears the table when it was her turn.
What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff, Leo McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath, Exodus 35:2, clearly says he should be put to death [Six days shall work be done,but on the seventh day you shall have a holy sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death] Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important, 'cause we've got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes us unclean, Leviticus 11:7.
[And the swine, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.
] If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother, John, for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads?..

Leviticus says the a child who talks back to his parents has commited - you guessed it - an ABOMINATION.
Should that child be put to death?

But here's the rub - the Bible in John Chapter 8 also says this:

.. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.
10 Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again." 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." 13 The Pharisees then said to him, "You are bearing witness to yourself; your testimony is not true." 14 Jesus answered, "Even if I do bear witness to myself, my testimony is true, for I know whence I have come and whither I am going, but you do not know whence I come or whither I am going.
15 You judge according to the flesh, I judge no one.

..

Jesus ministered to the sick and to the criminal. If being a homosexual *Is* a sin and crime, Jesus would have been the first to offer out his hand in friendship.


Where doesn't that leave those who claim to be following along Jesus' path?

Do you condemn or do you forgive? Do we tear people down, or do we build them up?

Here's another point, people who argue that being gay is a "choice" feel that the 14th Amendment shouldn't apply simply because it isn't a racial or gender issue. You can't choose or change your race (unless you're Michael Jackson) so the protections in place for these people under equal protection shouldn't apply to gay people.
Besides the fact that the California Supreme Court ruled in exactly the opposite way, the larger point is this -- isn't being a catholic vs being a protestant, or a episcopalian or jewish or muslim or buddhist a choice? Isn't that choice clearly and obviously protected by both the 1st *and* the 14th Amendment? (All Persons Right?)

And how about this, what if it isn't entirely a choice at all?

Last year 60 Minutes did a special investigating the causes of homosexuality and found that science has found that it appears not to be "taught" (so we don't need to worry about what people are telling our children in school - little Johnnie isn't gonna come home in a dress and LIKE IT just because someone "double dog dared him"!!) but it isn't neccesarily genetic either. As of the time of this report, hormonal differences, stemming from varying levels in the womb of the mother seem to be the best source and have been replicated in laboratory settings - even two genetically identical twin brothers were interviewed. One was straight, one was Gay - and it wasn't something he "learned", it was just who he was and had been since birth.


http://60minutes. yahoo. com/segment/68/gay_or_straight

So with that in mind, what the heck did California - and several other states - actually *DO* this past Tuesday?

I think it was a Hate Crime. I think it was a not so subtle form of intimidation and yes - emotional terrorism.
But then that's just me- or is it?

Vyan

The Gender Terrorism of Prop 8

Transcript

If you voted for this Proposition or support those who did or the sentiment they expressed, I have some questions, because, truly, I do not... understand. Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships, these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option. They don't want to deny you yours. They don't want to take anything away from you. They want what you want -- a chance to be a little less alone in the world.

Only now you are saying to them -- no. You can't have it on these terms. Maybe something similar. If they behave. If they don't cause too much trouble. You'll even give them all the same legal rights -- even as you're taking away the legal right, which they already had. A world around them, still anchored in love and marriage, and you are saying, no, you can't marry. What if somebody passed a law that said you couldn't marry?

I keep hearing this term "re-defining" marriage.

If this country hadn't re-defined marriage, black people still couldn't marry white people. Sixteen states had laws on the books which made that illegal... in 1967. 1967.

The parents of the President-Elect of the United States couldn't have married in nearly one third of the states of the country their son grew up to lead. But it's worse than that. If this country had not "re-defined" marriage, some black people still couldn't marry...black people. It is one of the most overlooked and cruelest parts of our sad story of slavery. Marriages were not legally recognized, if the people were slaves. Since slaves were property, they could not legally be husband and wife, or mother and child. Their marriage vows were different: not "Until Death, Do You Part," but "Until Death or Distance, Do You Part." Marriages among slaves were not legally recognized.

You know, just like marriages today in California are not legally recognized, if the people are... gay.

Secret Service Blames Palin for Death Threats Against Obama

Yes, I know the election is over and we're supposed to be lovey-dovey now. But the fact is - we're not, and we shouldn't be. Particularly when this report has come from the Daily Telegraph indicating that the Secret Service found a direct link between Sarah Palin little Nuremberg-KKK Rallies and death threats against President-Elect Obama.

Sarah Palin's attacks on Barack Obama's patriotism provoked a spike in death threats against the future president, Secret Service agents revealed during the final weeks of the campaign.

The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.

The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.

Michelle Obama, the future First Lady, was so upset that she turned to her friend and campaign adviser Valerie Jarrett and said: "Why would they try to make people hate us?"

Why? Some people would do and say anything to win an election. Particularly Sarah Palin, who tirades about William Ayers - were not approved or authorized by the McCain campaign. There were her just "going Rogue!". Gettin' all Mavericky.

And it's not like more than a few people took this crap seriously.

Details of the spike in threats to Mr Obama come as a report last week by security and intelligence analysts Stratfor, warned that he is a high risk target for racist gunmen. It concluded: "Two plots to assassinate Obama were broken up during the campaign season, and several more remain under investigation. We would expect federal authorities to uncover many more plots to attack the president that have been hatched by white supremacist ideologues."

Irate John McCain aides, who blame Mrs Palin for losing the election, claim Mrs Palin took it upon herself to question Mr Obama's patriotism, before the line of attack had been cleared by Mr McCain.

Let me just repeat that there was not just one , but TWO PLOTS to kill Obama prior to the election, that were both foiled - and those were the only ones. out there. Not only was Obama and his family put directly at risk by Palin's comments - so was William Ayers, who is now a 60-years-old professor at the University of Chicago.

My voicemail filled up with hate messages. They were mostly from men, all venting and sweating and breathing heavily. A few threats: "Watch out!" and "You deserve to be shot." And some e-mails, like this one I got from satan@hell.com: "I’m coming to get you and when I do, I’ll water-board you."

The police lieutenant who came to copy down those threats deadpanned that he hoped the guy who was going to shoot me got there before the guy who was going to water-board me, since it would be most foul to be tortured and then shot. (We have been pals ever since he was first assigned to investigate threats made against me in 1987, after I was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.)

Just remember that Sarah Palin remains the favored person to lead the GOP in the future by 64% That she is still Governor of Alaska, and might very likely find herself in the U.S. Senate, meanwhile Michele Bachmann who wanted an investigation of congress for "anti-Americanism" was re-elected.

The Palin-MCcain campaign was filled with vicious lies, lies which have spread throu-out the nation and just like Sarah herself who didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, or that South Africa is a Country - not a "state" like South Carolina, many of these people still don't know that Barack Obama is NOT a Muslim. (But you can't tell that to 25% of Texas) Those lies were then repeated and amplified by Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Reilly to their millions listeners. They think the country is now in the hands of some kind of Black Radical Terrorist. After the Clinton Chronicles, put out by Jerry Falwell, made people believe the Bill Clinton was a drug dealer and murderer, a belief that contributed to Waco, Oklahoma City and the Bombing at the to Atlanta Olympics we can't afford to take this stuff lightly - despite what Palin says now, that is was "Just a rough and tumble campaign" - the fact remains and that's this was not "just politics."

It was HATE SPEECH!

And none of us can afford to pretend otherwise. Chances are that Obama and his family will be just fine and none of these Palinized Wack-Jobs out there will get off a realistic shot at him, but he's not the one I'm worried about - it's many of the rest of us who may wind being of collateral damage to this misguided rage and terror.

May God have mercy on us all.

Vyan