Obama and Osawatomie, the Weather Underground Newspaper

Zomblog managed to obtain a copy of the very first issue of Osawatomie newspaper that was published by the Weather Underground Organization of Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dohrn in 1975. This is the cover of the paper:



There's a lot of striking catchwords and rhetoric that the WUO used then and what Barack Obama uses now.

From Zomblog:

Zomblog has obtained an extremely rare copy of the first issue of Osawatomie, a newspaper published by the Weather Underground in 1975. Noteworthy passages are reproduced below, along with exact transcriptions. The full pages, with each passage in context in high resolution, are found at the bottom of this post.

Much of Osawatomie, which was written at a time when the Dohrn-Ayers wing of the Weather Underground was transitioning from terrorism to “working from the inside” for revolution, concerns itself with the need to encourage “organizers” who will work in “communities” and use “audacity” to bring about “socialism” in America.

Sound familiar?

It is thought that the Obama logo is similar to the logo of the Weather Underground logo. Here's a side-by-side comparison:



Several pages of Osawatomie have been posted at the Zomblog page.

To read the full article, go here.

McCain Rescued By Joe The Plumber

Last weekend, Joe the plumber told Barack Obama that if he raises taxes, he would be badly hurt.

Senator Obama replied, "It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody that is behind you, that they have a chance for success too." Obama added, "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Again and again, John McCain hit Obama over the head with Joe the plumber's wrench during last night's debate. Obama was flustered, angry and could not handle the onslaught directed at him.

When Obama told Joe the plumber that his intention was to "spread the wealth," it was one of the rare occasions in this campaign that Obama told the truth. I am sure he regrets it now. It exposed him for the Marxist radical that he is.

McCain was at his best last night and clearly punched Obama good and hard. Why didn't he punch like this during the previous two debates? He dove in on Obama's ties to Bill Ayres and ACORN. Obama was reduced to sputtering his talking points.

When Obama tried to compare McCain to President Bush, McCain said, "If you want to run against George Bush, you should've ran four years ago!" Obama couldn't recover from that and stuck to his talking points for the remainder of the debate.

Maybe now people will finally see what a fraud Obama is and vote for McCain.

The Drudge Report has McCain winning the debate 74-25 percent.

Obama Funded Afrocentrists Sharing Rev. Wright’s Anti-Americanism

Stanley Kurtz has a new article on the relationship between Obama and other radical elements in Chicago and is a must read!

Wright 101
Obama funded extremist Afrocentrists who shared Rev. Wright’s anti-Americanism

By Stanley Kurtz

It looks like Jeremiah Wright was just the tip of the iceberg. Not only did Barack Obama savor Wright’s sermons, Obama gave legitimacy — and a whole lot of money — to education programs built around the same extremist anti-American ideology preached by Reverend Wright. And guess what? Bill Ayers is still palling around with the same bitterly anti-American Afrocentric ideologues that he and Obama were promoting a decade ago. All this is revealed by a bit of digging, combined with a careful study of documents from the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, the education foundation Obama and Ayers jointly led in the late 1990s.

John McCain, take note. Obama’s tie to Wright is no longer a purely personal question (if it ever was one) about one man’s choice of his pastor. The fact that Obama funded extremist Afrocentrists who shared Wright’s anti-Americanism means that this is now a matter of public policy, and therefore an entirely legitimate issue in this campaign.

To read more, go here.

Obama: Questions of Character

Charles Krauthammer nails Barack Obama again. These are the opening paragraphs of his latest article on Obama:

Questions of Character
Obama's radical pals shed light on his cynicism, his ruthlessness, and his tolerance for the obscene.

By Charles Krauthammer

Convicted felon Tony Rezko. Unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. And the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It is hard to think of any presidential candidate before Barack Obama sporting associations with three more execrable characters. Yet let the McCain campaign raise the issue, and the mainstream media begin fulminating about dirty campaigning tinged with racism and McCarthyite guilt by association.



But associations are important. They provide a significant insight into character. They are particularly relevant in relation to a potential president as new, unknown, opaque, and self-contained as Obama. With the economy overshadowing everything, it may be too late politically to be raising this issue. But that does not make it, as conventional wisdom holds, in any way illegitimate.

To read the full article, go here.

"Ayres" Mc Cain Ad

The McCain campaign has released a new political ad:

"Ayres"

RNC Unloads File On Obama-Ayres

The Republican National Committee has unloaded their file on the Barack Obama-William Ayres relationship:

Source: Republican National Committee

The Relationship Between Barack Obama And Bill Ayers Is Much More Extensive Than Obama's Campaign Is Willing To Admit

Obama's Top Campaign Staff Have Attempted To Downplay The Relationship Between Obama And Bill Ayers:

Obama Spokesman Robert Gibbs Said That Obama And Ayers Weren't Close And That Obama Was Only 8 Years Old When Ayers Was Bombing Buildings. Robert Gibbs: "If you read the article ... it says these two men weren't close, this man isn't involved in our campaign. Bill Ayers is somebody that Barack Obama said his actions were despicable and these happened when Barack Obama was 8 years old." (FOX News' "FOX & Friends," 10/6/08)

Gibbs Has Also Limited The Relationship Between Obama And Ayers To Serving On Two Boards Together. John Roberts: "Barack Obama knew Bill Ayers and had contact with him between 1995 and 2005. Exactly what was the nature of the relationship?" Robert Gibbs: "Well, John, as The New York Times reported this weekend, they served on two boards together during that time period." (CNN's "American Morning," 10/6/08)

Even Obama Has Previously Referred To Ayers As "A Guy Who Lives In My Neighborhood" And Not Someone He Exchanges Ideas With "On A Regular Basis." Obama: "George, but this is an example of what I'm talking about. This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis. And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense, George." (Sen. Barack Obama, ABC Democrat Candidates Presidential Debate, Philadelphia, PA, 4/16/08)

But Obama's Connections With Bill Ayers Are Much More Extensive Than He Or His Campaign Staff Is Willing To Admit:

In 1995, During Obama's First State Senate Campaign, William Ayers And Wife Bernadine Dohrn Hosted A Meeting Of Chicago Liberals At Their Home For Obama, Which One Attendee Said Was Aimed At "Launching Him." "In 1995, State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to a few of the district's influential liberals at the home of two well known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. While Ayers and Dohrn may be thought of in Hyde Park as local activists, they're better known nationally as two of the most notorious -- and unrepentant -- figures from the violent fringe of the 1960s anti-war movement. ... 'I can remember being one of a small group of people who came to Bill Ayers' house to learn that Alice Palmer was stepping down from the senate and running for Congress,' said Dr. Quentin Young, a prominent Chicago physician and advocate for single-payer health care, of the info rmal gathering at the home of Ayers and his wife, Dohrn. '[Palmer] identified [Obama] as her successor.' ... Dr. Young and another guest, Maria Warren, described it similarly: as an introduction to Hyde Park liberals of the handpicked successor to Palmer, a well-regarded figure on the left. 'When I first met Barack Obama, he was giving a standard, innocuous little talk in the living room of those two legends-in-their-own-minds, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn,' Warren wrote on her blog in 2005. 'They were launching him -- introducing him to the Hyde Park community as the best thing since sliced bread.'" (Ben Smith, "Obama Once Visited '60s Radicals," The Politico, 1/22/08)

From March Of 1995 Until September Of 1997, Obama And Ayers Attended At Least Seven Meetings Together Relating To The Chicago Annenberg Challenge. (Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Board Of Directors Meeting, Minutes Of The Board, 3/15/95, 3/31/95, 4/13/95, 6/5/95, 9/30/97; National Annenberg Challenge Evaluation Meeting, List Of Participants, 5/24/95; Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Chicago School Reform Collaborative Meeting, Minutes, 10/23/96)

NOTE: Bill Ayers Was Asked To Help Obama Formulate The Chicago Annenberg Challenge By-Laws. (Chicago Annenberg Challenge Board Of Directors Minutes, 3/15/95)

In 1997, Obama Praised Ayers' Book On The Juvenile Justice System. "The two men were involved in efforts to reform the city's education system. They appeared together on academic panels, including one organized by Michelle Obama to discuss the juvenile justice system, an area of mutual concern. Mr. Ayers's book on the subject won a rave review in The Chicago Tribune by Mr. Obama, who called it 'a searing and timely account.'" (Jo Becker and Christopher Drew, "Pragmatic Politics, Forged On The South Side," The New York Times, 5/11/08)

Obama On William Ayers' "A Kind And Just Parent: The Children Of Juvenile Court": "A searing and timely account of the juvenile court system, and the courageous individuals who rescue hope from despair." (Chicago Tribune, 12/21/97)
"[Obama And Ayers] Have Also Appeared Jointly On Two Academic Panels, One In 1997 And Another In 2001." (Russell Berman, "Obama's Ties To Left Come Under Scrutiny," The New York Sun, 2/19/08)

From 1999 To 2002, Obama Served With Ayers On The Board Of Directors For Woods Fund Of Chicago. "[Ayers] served with [Obama] from 1999 to 2002 on the board of the Woods Fund, an anti-poverty group." (Timothy J. Burger, "Obama's Chicago Ties Might Fuel 'Republican Attack Machine'," Bloomberg, 2/15/08)

During The Time Obama And Ayers Served Together On The Woods Fund, Ayers Was Quoted Saying "I Don't Regret Setting Bombs ... I Feel We Didn't Do Enough." "'I don't regret setting bombs,' Bill Ayers said. 'I feel we didn't do enough.' Mr. Ayers, who spent the 1970's as a fugitive in the Weather Underground, was sitting in the kitchen of his big turn-of-the-19th-century stone house in the Hyde Park district of Chicago." (Dinitia Smith, "No Regrets For A Love Of Explosives," The New York Times, 9/11/01)

NOTE: Obama, Born August 14th, 1961, Was 40 Years Old When Ayers Was Quoted. (Obama For America Website, www.barackobama.com, Accessed 10/6/08; Dinitia Smith, "No Regrets For A Love Of Explosives," The New York Times, 9/11/01)

While Obama And Ayers Were Serving On The Woods Fund Together, Ayers Posed Standing On An American Flag For An Article In Chicago Magazine Entitled "No Regrets." (Marcia Froelke Coburn, "No Regrets," Chicago Magazine, 8/01)

Obama And Ayers Are Neighbors In Chicago's Hyde Park Neighborhood. "Twenty-six years later, at a lunchtime meeting about school reform in a Chicago skyscraper, Barack Obama met Mr. Ayers, by then an education professor. Their paths have crossed sporadically since then, at a coffee Mr. Ayers hosted for Mr. Obama's first run for office, on the schools project and a charitable board, and in casual encounters as Hyde Park neighbors." (Scott Shane, "Obama And '60s Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths," The New York Times, 10/4/08)

Obama Spokesman Ben LaBolt Told The New York Times That Last Year Obama And Ayers "Bumped Into Each Other On The Street In Hyde Park." "[Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt] said they have not spoken by phone or exchanged e-mail messages since Mr. Obama began serving in the United States Senate in January 2005 and last met more than a year ago when they bumped into each other on the street in Hyde Park." (Scott Shane, "Obama And '60s Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths," The New York Times, 10/4/08)

Neighbors Have Said "It's Only Natural" That Obama Would Know Ayers, Who Often Opens His Home For Gatherings, As Obama And His Wife "Are A Part Of Our Neighborhood And Part Of Our Social Circle." "Since coming out of hiding in 1980, the couple have raised three boys in Chicago and become part of the fabric of their liberal South Side neighborhood. Neighbors said it's only natural that Obama would know Ayers and Dohrn, who often open their homes for gatherings filled with lively discussions about politics, arts and social issues. Obama and his wife 'are part of our neighborhood and part of our social circle,' said Elizabeth Chandler, a neighbor of Ayers'." (Trevor Jensen, Robert Mitchum and Mary Owen, "Bill Ayers' Turbulent Past Contrasts With Quiet Academ ic Life," Chicago Tribune, 4/17/08)

Ayers' Organization, The Weather Underground, Was A "Violent Left-Wing Activist Group":

"William Ayers ... [Was] A Founding Member Of The Group That Bombed The U.S. Capitol And The Pentagon During The 1970s." (Russell Berman, "Obama's Ties To Left Come Under Scrutiny," The New York Sun, 2/19/08)

Ayers' Group, The Weather Underground, Is A "Violent Left-Wing Activist Group." "Senator Obama's ties to a former leader of the violent left-wing activist group the Weather Underground are drawing new scrutiny as he battles Senator Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination." (Russell Berman, "Obama's Ties To Left Come Under Scrutiny," The New York Sun, 2/19/08)

The Weather Underground Produced A Manual Which Begins, "We Are A Guerrilla Organization. We Are Communist Women And Men, Underground In The United States For More Than Four Years." "The coalition was said to be a violence-prone faction inspired by the Weather Underground's ''Prairie Fire,'' a guerrilla warfare manual published in 1974. The manual begins, 'We are a guerrilla organization. We are Communist women and men, underground in the United States for more than four years.'" (Paul L. Montgomery, "2 Women In Brink's Case Identified With Weathermen From Start In '69," The New York Times, 10/ 22/81)

Latest Obama Whopper On Ayres

The latest spin from the Obama campaign on the Obama-Ayres ties is a doozy. In an interview with CNN's Jim Acosta, Obama campaign manager David Axelrod came up with the latest whopper:

JIM ACOSTA: Now a college professor in Chicago, Ayers and Obama served together several years on a nonprofit board. And in 1995 Ayers hosted a coffee for Obama when the young community organizer was making his first run for the State Senate. At this point looking back, should he not have done that?

DAVID AXELROD: Well I mean, when he went, he certainly — he didn’t know the history.

ACOSTA: The Democratic nominee’s chief strategist David Axelrod maintains Obama at that time had no idea about Ayers’ violent past.

What?! Obama didn't know about the history of William Ayres's Weather Underground? That is a crock of manure.

As Ed Morrisey wrote:

Ayers was hardly quiet about his life and his aspirations. He wrote a book about it in 2001. Chicago Magazine did a lengthy profile of him at the time, complete with pictures of Ayers standing on an American flag thrown on the ground in an alley. Nevertheless, Obama continued to work with Ayers at the Woods Fund and work together on public events. Either Obama liked what Ayers did, or he’s the most clueless politician to have ever reached the US Senate, and neither commends itself as a recommendation for a presidential candidate.

The aforementioned 2001 photo of Ayres standing on the flag is at top.

For the sake of argument, let's assume Obama didn't know about Ayres's past in the 1990s, it still doesn't excuse him for associating with him after 2001. Obama couldn't have missed the Chicago Magazine article or Ayres's book (Ayres may have even proudly sent Obama a copy of his book along with the article).

Ayres is well-known to be a huge braggart, and no doubt he would have bragged to Obama back in the 1990s of his youthful "exploits" as a domestic terrorist. At the time the charges against Ayres were dropped, Ayres boasted, "Guilty as hell, but free as a bird!" Such modesty!

Sorry, but it is unbelievable that Obama would not have known of Ayres's past prior to 2001. It doesn't hold water.

From HotAir.com:

Erick Erickson says that Obama would have had to avoid local media altogether in 1996 to miss the mentions of his friend and neighbor.

In 1996, the Democrats held their national convention in Chicago, and Ayers got a lot of attention beginning with the decision in 1994:

At the height of this exposure, major media outlets were quoting Bill Ayers and pointing out his radical past.

What else happened in 1996 when the media was reminiscing about the Democratic Convention of 1968, and interviewing key players like Bill Ayers?

Bill Ayers held a fundraiser for Barack Obama.

And we’re really supposed to believe Obama did not know, by 1996, given all the major media coverage of the 1996 Democratic Convention going back to Chicago despite the 1968 riots — including local and national media interviews with Bill Ayers on the subject — that Obama did not know?

You’ve got to be kidding me.

UPDATE: Stanley Kurtz' Latest Research Into Barack Obama's Connections To Terrorist Bill Ayers And Radical Palestinian Advocate Rashid Khalidi

UPDATE 2: "Mr. Magoo Goes To Washington"

By David Freddoso

Barack Obama would have you believe that, after 20 years of friendship, he had no idea the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a bomb-throwing racial demagogue. And that after 15 years of what he described as a close friendship, he had no idea Tony Rezko was a crook.

Similarly, this week, his campaign claimed that when Obama entered William Ayers’s home in 1995 to raise money for a state-senate run, the future presidential hopeful didn’t know Ayers was a former terrorist.

So by his own account, Obama wanders through life completely unaware of his surroundings.

For more: "Mr. Magoo Goes To Washington"

McCain's "Patton" Strategy

The gloves are off and the McCain campaign is finally getting tough on Barack Obama.

It started over the weekend in Englewood, Colorado and in Carson, California when Gov. Sarah Palin unloaded on Obama's ties to domestic Weather Underground terrorist William Ayres.



Frankly, it should have been done sooner, but it's better late than never. At this time, it is questionable if this strategy will lead to a McCain victory, but people have a right to know who and what Obama is. If the campaign is to go down, it is better to go down fighting.



Why do I call this the "Patton Strategy"? Well, during World War II, General George S. Patton practiced the strategy of "holding on to 'em by the nose and kick 'em in the ass. We're going to go through 'em like crap through a goose!" He showed the enemy no mercy and drove through Europe and into Germany.

Apparently, the strategy is working as the Obamatrons are now screaming like cut pigs. In return, they plan to bring up the Keating Five matter. That's no problem as McCain had very little to do with the matter and was deemed an innocent party as he only attended one meeting. If anything, he was rebuked for a lack of judgement for attending. That's it!

Obama is screaming that bringing up Bill Ayres is a "swift boat tactic." Now as then, it is all about telling the truth about the Democrat nominee (Sen. John Kerry then, Obama now).

If Obama can't stand the heat, as Harry Truman used to say, then he should get out of the kitchen.

NY Times Obama-Ayres Story A Whitewash

Finally, after all these months, the New York Times publishes an article on the Barack Obama-Bill Ayres connection.

The sad part about it is that it's a whitewash. It is getting more attention now that Gov. Sarah Palin said today that Obama is guilty of "palling around with terrorists."

Scott Shane in the Times wrote:

A review of records of the schools project and interviews with a dozen people who know both men, suggest that Mr. Obama, 47, has played down his contacts with Mr. Ayers, 63. But the two men do not appear to have been close.

Bullplop!

About a month ago, I did my own digging and found that Obama's ties to Bill Ayres was more extensive than what Obama admitted during an interview on ABC's This Week.

Go to: Obama and the Weather Underground

Stanley Kurtz responded to the Times story in National Review Online:

There is nothing "sporadic" about Barack Obama delivering hundreds of thousands of dollars over a period of many years to fund Bill Ayers’ radical education projects, not to mention many millions more to benefit Ayers’ radical education allies. We are talking about a substantial and lengthy working relationship here, one that does not depend on the quality of personal friendship or number of hours spent in the same room together (although the article greatly underestimates that as well).

Tomorrow night, Sean Hannity's America on Fox will have an in-depth report on the relationship between Obama and Ayres. That is one program you should not miss!

Palin Attacks Obama Over Terrorist Ties

Governor Sarah Palin took her gloves off this week. The Associated Press is reporting that Palin told Englewood, Colorado GOP donors that Obama is "palling around with terrorists" for his association with former Weather Underground founder Bill Ayres.

The Weather Underground took credit for bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol four decades ago. They also targeted police stations. Several members of the group were killed in a townhouse when a bomb they were assembling accidentally exploded.

Palin said that Obama seems to see the U.S. as being so imperfect that, as she said, "he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

This has been a big issue that the MSM has largely ignored or minimalized.

UPDATE: Since this story broke today, the MSM has jumped on the story bigtime (what took them so long?). I did a Google search and the story is all over. For the heck of it, I checked the New York Times and Chicago Tribune's websites and both have pages of reader comments, mostly attacking Palin (they appear to be orchestrated by the Obama campaign as they are similar). The Times even crows that Palin based her comments on their story, in which they downplayed (how predictable) the ties between Ayres and Obama. Natually, I couldn't resist chiming in and referenced my earlier blog on Obama's ties to Ayres.

Obama: Thuggery You Can Believe In!

Barack Obama's legal team must've graduated from the University of Moscow in the 1940s (during Josef Stalin's time) as they have again tried to trample opponents' First Amendment rights:

According to Newsmax.com:

The Obama camp has been threatening television and radio stations to keep them from airing anti-Obama ads.

The latest target is the NRA and stations in Pennsylvania.

The Obama camp is particularly angry with an NRA ad entitled "Hunter" which lays out Obama's record on gun control.

Obama's campaign also earlier threatened stations airing the Bill Ayres ad by the American Issues Project along with stations who broadcast interviews with Obama critics Stanley Kurtz and David Freddoso.

The National Rifle Association issued this statement:

Earlier this week, the National Rifle Association-PVF released a series of radio and television spots to educate gun owners and sportsmen about Barack Obama's longstanding anti-gun record. In response to the NRA-PVF ads, a clearly panicked Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) are doing everything they can to hide Obama's real record by mounting a coordinated assault on the First Amendment.

They have gone to desperate and outrageous lengths to try to silence your NRA by bullying media outlets with threats of lawsuits if they run NRA-PVF's ads. They have sent intimidating cease and desist letters to cable operators and television stations, threatening their FCC licenses if they run the ads.

Obama and the DNC have been using strong-arm tactics reminiscent of Chicago machine politics to try and cover up the truth and silence NRA by forcing the stations to assist them in hiding Obama's radical anti-gun record.

And now, Obama and the DNC have opened a new front in their assault on your First Amendment rights by calling on their followers to contact these station managers to demand that the stations not run NRA-PVF's ads.

NRA stands behind the accuracy of these ads, and NRA attorneys have responded to the Obama campaign's despicable and abusive attempt to trample on the First Amendment by sending a thorough rebuttal to station managers. This rebuttal clearly and conclusively refutes the Obama campaign's fallacious claims that the ads are inaccurate. For more information, and to see the letter, please click here.

To learn the truth about Barack Obama's anti-gun record, please visit http://www.GunBanObama.com This website is loaded with features and information that you, as a gun owner, need to know. This is a must-see website that you will want to pass along to anyone you know who loves freedom and supports the Second Amendment. While you're there, don't forget to take the "OMatch," compatibility quiz to see if you and Barack are a match.

Copyright 2008, National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action.

Definitely thuggery you can believe in!

More thuggery (Source: PowerLineBlog.com):

In Missouri, Obama has enlisted his allies in public office, including St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, to threaten criminal prosecution of any Missouri television station that runs ads about Obama that are untrue. Since every politician sincerely believes that all ads run by his opponents are untrue, the field of potential criminal exposure is broad indeed.

Missouri's Governor Matt Blunt responded strongly to Obama's attempted flaunting of the Constitution:

St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign.

What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.

This abuse of the law for intimidation insults the most sacred principles and ideals of Jefferson. I can think of nothing more offensive to Jefferson’s thinking than using the power of the state to deprive Americans of their civil rights. The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election.

Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family. Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility. When necessary, we refute them. Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts - not a free society.

What would Obama do if he became President and in control of the Justice Department?

UPDATE:

Mark Steyn at National Review Online weighs in:

Yes, we ban [Mark Steyn]

As Stanley Kurtz, Milt Rosenberg and David Freddoso can tell you, this pattern is well established: The Obama campaign's response to uncongenial allegations is not to rebut them but to use its muscle to squash the authors. This is especially true when it comes to attempts to lift the curtain however briefly on the Senator's mysterious past. The New York Times' general line on the Obama candidacy may approximate that of Bagehot on the British monarchy ("we must not let daylight in upon magic"), but the last time I checked that was not yet constitutionally enshrined.

Throughout my travails this last year with Canada's capricious, totalitarian "human rights" commissions, I have expressed my appreciation for America's First Amendment. Free societies do not criminalize opinion. What Obama is doing via pliable Missouri public officials is disgusting - and a revealng portent of what his Administration would do to its enemies*.

(*By "enemies", I mean Stan and David, of course. Ahmadinejad & Co will be sleeping soundly in their beds.)

UPDATE:

The Springfield, Missouri News-Leader is now reporting:

A St. Louis television reporter says a story he reported last week about Barack Obama's campaign forming a “truth squad” of prosecutors has been twisted out of context.

Republicans, including Gov. Matt Blunt, and conservative talk shows hosts have sought to portray Obama's use of prosecutors as campaign surrogates as a form of intimidation to squelch free speech.

But the KMOV reporter who first reported about two St. Louis County prosecutors joining the truth squad says "in the retelling of the story, it got out of control."

“If they think a group has put out a misleading ad, they’re basically going to call a press conference and say the ad is misleading," reporter John Mills told the News-Leader on Sunday. "I’m sure the Republicans would do the same thing."

In Mills’ Sept. 23 report, there is no mention by St. Louis County Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis City Attorney Jennifer Joyce that they would invoke their prosecutorial powers to stop any perceived mistruths from being spread about the Democratic presidential candidate.

Even though McCullough and Joyce never said they would invoke their powers, Republicans say just attaching their law enforcement titles to their names for political reasons gives off a perception of a police state.

“Prosecutors, because they can take away from somebody’s liberty, are held to a higher standard … because people are intimidated by them,” said Ed Martin, a St. Louis attorney and president of the American Issues Project.

In August, Martin’s organization aired a television ad in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia describing Obama’s longstanding relationship with William Ayers, an unrepentant 1960s domestic terrorist. While not disputing its facts, the Obama campaign has called for Martin's group to be prosecuted.

Frank Donatelli, deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee, held a conference call with reporters Saturday morning while touring the state’s offices for GOP presidential candidate John McCain.

In an interview with the News-Leader, Donatelli admitted the Democratic prosecutors “haven’t specifically said” they would use their prosecutorial powers on Obama’s behalf.

“I don’t think you have to use the power. I think if you just call out somebody and you have the power, you’ve made your point,” Donatelli said. “It’s not that you have to prosecute a guy, but people think you might.”

Donatelli said prosecutors don’t normally join campaign truth squads because their mere presence as a campaign attack dog “has a chilling affect on people’s rights of free speech.”

Exactly! Why announce that prosecutors and sheriffs are a part of this "truth squad" then? Obviously, it is to intimidate Obama's opposition. Since the Obama campaign has already used thug tactics against Kurtz, Rosenberg, Freddoso and the NRA, a reasonable person is going to assume that the DAs, sheriffs and city attorneys on Obama's behalf would prosecute anyone who telecasts an "untrue" ad against Obama.

Plus, the station's original report said this:

Prosecutors and sheriffs from across Missouri have teamed up with something called the Barack Obama Truth Squad, announced KMOV’s News 4, at 6 p.m.

“The Barack Obama campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading TV ad during the presidential campaign,” News 4 reported.

Hello! They said, "asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone." If that doesn't mean prosecution, I don't know what else does!

I'm not buying their excuse. I wasn't born yesterday.

Obama and the Weather Underground Terrorists

In April, Sen. Barack Obama said this when questioned about his associations with Weather Underground terrorist William Ayres:

"This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis. And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense, George."

New information has surfaced that exposed the lie that Obama told above. His associations and connections to William Ayres and Ayres's wife Bernardine Dohrn were more extensive than what Obama admitted to.



While it is true that Obama was a mere child when the Weather Underground set off bombs at police stations, banks, The Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol, Obama was in his thirties when the association began. (I was in my teens at the time of the bombings and I remember them well.) But why did Obama associate himself with radical terrorists? Any decent person with a bit of common sense wouldn't. That is like associating with Timothy McVeigh (of Oklahoma City Bombing fame). Obama can't claim ignorance about knowledge of Ayres's past history.

Rick Moran at The American Thinker writes:

As we wait for the press and others to go through the thousands of documents related to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge where Barack Obama served as President of the Board and terrorist William Ayers headed up the operations arm, we can say for certain that Obama is a liar of the first magnitude.

Reviews of the Annenberg Challenge records show this so far:

The UIC records show that Obama and Ayers attended board meetings, retreats and at least one news conference together as the education program got under way. The two continued to attend meetings together during the 1995-2001 operation of the program, records show.

In 1970, a nail bomb intending to kill U.S. soldiers, and designed by Ayres, accidentally exploded in a townhouse. The explosion killed three WU operatives, including Ayres's then-girlfriend Diana Oughton.

The bomb was intended for detonation at a dance that was to be attended by army soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Hundreds of lives could have been lost had the plan been successfully executed. Ayers attested that the bomb would have done serious damage, "tearing through windows and walls and, yes, people too."

Michael Barone wrote on August 22 in U.S. News & World Report:

In my U.S. News column this week, I make a brief reference to the unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist bomber William Ayers and his connections to Barack Obama. They were closer than Obama implied when George Stephanopoulos asked him about Ayers in the April 16 debate—the last debate Obama allowed during the primary season. To get an idea of how close they were, check out Tom Maguire's Just One Minute blog and Steve Diamond's Global Labor and Politics. The Obama-Ayers relationship is also mentioned in David Freddoso's The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate.

Ayers was one of the original grantees of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school reform organization in the 1990s, and was cochairman of the Chicago School Reform Collaborative, one the two operational arms of the CAC. Obama, then not yet a state senator, became chairman of the CAC in 1995. Later in that year, the first organizing meeting for Obama's state Senate campaign was held in Ayers's apartment. Ayers later wrote a memoir, and an article about him appeared in the New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001. "I don't regret setting bombs," Ayers is quoted as saying. "I feel we didn't do enough."

Ayers was a terrorist in the late 1960s and 1970s whose radical group set bombs at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.

You might wonder what Obama was doing working with a character like this. And you might wonder how an unrepentant terrorist got a huge grant and cooperation from the Chicago public school system. You might wonder—if you don't know Chicago. For this is a city with a civic culture in which politicians, in the words of a story often told by former congressman, federal judge, and Clinton White House counsel Abner Mikva, "don't want nobody nobody sent." That's what Mikva remembers being told when he went to a Democratic ward headquarters to volunteer for Adlai Stevenson in the 1950s, and it rings true. And it's a civic culture in which there's nobody better to send you than your parents.

That's how William Ayers got where he was. When he came out of hiding because the federal government was unable to prosecute him (because of government misconduct), he got a degree in education from Columbia and then moved to Chicago and got a job on the education faculty of the University of Illinois-Chicago Circle. How did he get that job? Well, it can't have hurt that his father, Thomas Ayers, was chairman of Commonwealth Edison (now Exelon) and a charter member of the Chicago establishment. As Mayor Richard M. Daley said recently, in arguing that the Ayers association should not be held against Obama, "His father was a great friend of my father."

For Obama, the outsider who gained the trust of the insiders, the position is different. He was willing to use Ayers and ally with him despite his terrorist past and lack of repentance. An unrepentant terrorist, who bragged of bombing the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon, was a fit associate. Ayers evidently helped Obama gain insider status in Chicago civic life and politics—how much, we can't be sure unless the Richard J. Daley Library opens the CAC archive. But most American politicians would not have chosen to associate with a man with Ayers's past or of Ayers's beliefs. It's something voters might reasonably want to take into account.

One of the few of the MSM, Jake Tapper, Senior Washington Correspondent of ABC News wrote:

They served on a board together when Obama was a state senator. Ayres donated $200 to Obama's campaign in 2001. They sat on a panel together in 2002 called "Intellectuals in Times of Crisis." Obama went to Ayres and Dohrn's home in 1995 to be introduced to some of the more influential liberals in the area by the state senator he was preparing to succeed, Alice Palmer.

Last month, when the ad by The American Issues Project targeted Obama's association with Ayres was run in 150 cities in battleground states, the Obama campaign tried to prevent the ad from being shown and tried to sic the Justice Department on the organization. Obviously, Obama does not want his association with Ayres to be known by the electorate. Fortunately, the move by the Obama campaign only drew more attention to the ad.

At the time, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said, "The fact that Barack Obama chose to launch his political career at the home of an unrepentant terrorist raises more questions about Senator Obama's judgment than any TV ad ever could."

When Ayres had the charges against him dismissed (due to FBI misconduct), he boasted, "Guilty as hell, but free as a bird!"

The association of Barack Obama and William Ayres and Bernardine Dohrn should be enough to disqualify Obama for the presidency or even a State Department or Defense Department security clearance.

The MSM has pretty much ignored this story, with few exceptions. They only picked up on it when the American Issues Project ad ran and the Obama campaign screamed bloody murder.

It is now obvious that Chicago is the hotbed for radicalism, and Obama was right in the thick of it. His associations call to question the fitness and judgment of Barack Obama to be elected president.

Obama Campaign's Stalinist Tactics

The New York Times wrote today:

DENVER — As Senator Obama’s campaign makes its argument for his candidacy before a national audience here this week, it is waging a separate, forceful campaign against a new conservative group running millions of dollars of ads linking him to the 1960s radical William Ayers Jr.

Lawyers for the campaign have asked the Justice Department to investigate the group — which is operating under rules governing non-profit corporations — calling on television stations to cease airing the spot, and, campaign officials said, planning to pressure advertisers on stations that refuse to do so. The ad is running in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.

The Obama campaign wants the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the American Issues Project, who sponsored the ad. I don't believe that a political campaign tried to sic the DOJ on political opponents before. This has the smell of Stalinism in the old Soviet Union.

The campaign is also contacting television stations and is intimidating them to not run the ad. Threats?

These call to question on what actions a "President Obama" would do against political opponents if he is elected and has the reigns of power. Would he try to also jail his opponents? Food for thought.

Obama's Terrorst Friend Bill Ayres Targeted In Ad

A new ad is now being broadcast 150 times in battleground states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Michigan attacking Sen. Barack Obama's ties to Weather Underground terrorist William Ayres.

The ad was produced by The American Issues Project, which is a 501(c)4 nonprofit corporation. The organizaton is permitted by law to air a political ad provided that the majority of its spending is nonpolitical. It cannot accept money from corporations and it must identify the donors that finance its ads in reports to the Federal Election Commission. A spokesman said the group has set aside money to carry out non-election related work to meet the legal requirements.

The ad states:

"Barack Obama is friends with Ayers, defending him as, quote, 'Respectable' and 'Mainstream,'" the group's ad states. "Obama's political career was launched in Ayers' home. And the two served together on a left-wing board. Why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it? Do you know enough to elect Barack Obama?"

As a member of the Weather Underground, Bill Ayers bombed the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol and a New York City police headquarters. After 9/11, he was quoted in the New York Times as saying "I don't regret setting bombs ... I feel we didn't do enough."

Ayers is currently a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He and Obama live in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood and served together on the board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based charity that develops community groups to help the poor. Obama left the board in December 2002.

Obama served first chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school reform group which was founded by Ayres. Ayers also hosted a meet-the-candidate event at his home for Obama when Obama first ran for office in the mid-1990s.

The lone financier of the anti-Obama ad, Texas billionaire Harold Simmons, was also one of the main funders of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who targeted Kerry. Simmons, a McCain fundraiser, contributed nearly $2.9 million to the American Issues Project, according to documents filed by the group with the Federal Election Commission.

The Obama campaign responded with an ad of its own and Obama operatives have contacted television statements to try to get them to not run the ad. Bob Bauer, Obama general counsel wrote a letter to the Justice Department and called on it to open “an investigation of the American Issues Project; its officers and directors; and its anonymous donors, whoever they may be.” Incredibly, the Obama ad does not dispute the facts in the American Issue Project's ad.

"It seems they protest a bit too much," American Issues Project spokesman Christian Pinkston said. "They're going all of these routes: through threats, intimation to try to thwart the First Amendment here because they don't have an argument on merit. This is a sad ploy to circumvent the First Amendment by a campaign who has no arguments with the merits of our ad. It’s the classic maneuver: If you can’t win on the merits, file a lawsuit."

This will also have the effect of drawing more attention to the Ayres issue, something that Obama doesn't want.

The American Issues Project is separate from the McCain campaign, but that didn't stop them from taking advantage of the controversy:

"The fact that Barack Obama chose to launch his political career at the home of an unrepentant terrorist raises more questions about Senator Obama's judgment than any TV ad ever could," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers.

Bill Ayres and Barack Obama

There's a new book out, "The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate" by George Marlin which should be an interesting read. For a review of the book, here's a link: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26432.

Why is this here? Marlin was interviewed today by Hugh Hewitt and he mentioned that he interviewed Bill Ayres (the unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist connected to Obama). He was also unrepentant when Marlin interviewed him (about 2-3 years ago) for about two hours for the book.

He also has the tapes of his Ayres interviews. Those may be released before November. This should be very interesting!