Posted on 01/19/2009 3:11:35 PM PST by fiodora
An American education professor, one of the founders of a radical 1960s group known as the Weather Underground, which was responsible for a number of bombings in the United States in the early 1970s, was turned back at the Canadian border last night.
Dr. William Ayers, a professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago and a leader in educational reform, was scheduled to speak at the Centre for Urban Schooling at University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. But that appearance has now been temporarily cancelled.
"I don't know why I was turned back," Ayers said in an interview this morning from Chicago. "I got off the plane like everyone else and I was asked to come over to the other side. The border guards reviewed some stuff and said I wasn't going to be allowed into Canada. To me it seems quite bureaucratic and not at all interesting ... If it were me I would have let me in. I couldn't possibly be a threat to Canada."
Ayers made headlines this summer after Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin suggested that then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama hung around with domestic terrorists like Ayers. The professor had hosted a meet-the-candidate event at his home for Obama in 1995, during his run for the state Senate. They also worked together on Chicago school reform and served on a charity board together.
Ayers first rose to notoriety in the early 1970s with the Weather Underground. The group claimed responsibility for bombings at the U.S. Capitol, a Pentagon restroom and New York City police headquarters. In 1970, a townhouse in New York the group was using to build a bomb blew up.
Nowadays, Ayers is known more for his work in educational reform. He has written or edited more than a dozen books — including his 2001 memoir Fugitive Days — and travels around the world giving lectures on education.
Jeffrey Kugler, executive director of the Centre for Urban Schooling, is deeply disappointed in the turn of events. For him it's a question of academic freedom. "It's kind of ironic the day before Barack Obama is going to become president this is what the Canadian border security has done," said Kugler. "It seems ridiculous that one university can't have a professor from another university to come and give a lecture on an important educational topic."
Kugler waited for five hours at the Toronto Island airport for Ayers. He was with a lawyer, but the border guard refused to allow Ayers to see the lawyer.
"The entire four or five hours he was not allowed to have representation at all. To me this is an issue of academic freedom. He could not be a threat to anyone ever. Anyone who knows anything about this man – he's a distinguished scholar at the University of Illinois and he has been involved in education reform over the past 15 years. To imagine in any way he was a threat to Canada is really absurd."
“Jeffrey Kugler, executive director of the Centre for Urban Schooling, is deeply disappointed in the turn of events. For him it’s a question of academic freedom. “
What a pantload of crap.
Apparently, Canada delivered a message for the United States, and to the Obozo crowd ... “Keep your trash south of the border”.
Really?????
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;q=quick;s=Ayers
(Yeah, search works)
Must be the cold air up there...leads to clearer thinking.
They can recognize a terrorist when they see one!
Even money says he’ll be re-scheduled with an apology.
Just my guess.
Canada draws the line via common sense and we welcome this sleazebag as an icon of education with a title of respect.
Ayers has no clue why he was turned back? He would have ‘let myself in’ ? this guy’s a real sociopath with some serious delusions of grandeur - Freud would have had a field day with him.
best regards, blu
They should have given him a fair trial, found him guilty and hung him.
Canada was absolutely correct to do this. He has a terrorist background, and is inadmissible, period. Way to go, Canada!What I am wondering is why the dude even got a visa in the first place.
Canada is a visa waiver country. They don’t need a visa to come here, and we don’t need one to go there.
Ayers...one of the founders of a radical 1960s group known as the Weather Underground, which was responsible for a number of bombings in the United States in the early 1970s, was turned back at the Canadian border last night.I wouldn't care if Canada had allowed him in, provided we didn't let him return.
It's that academic savvy talk augmented by a terroristic attitude inspired by a politically liberal attitude. ; )
Good for Canada! Too bad he was allowed re-entry to the USA. bummer.
I only wish the refusal to enter had been issued on his return trip to the US. We can only dream of what might have been.
BTW, love your tagline....
“I don’t know why I was turned back,” Ayers said in an interview this morning from Chicago.
—
Ummmm..., perhaps because he’s a terrorist...
Thanks! Baseball season’s coming, so I guess I’ll need to change “Seahawks” back to “Mariners”.
He can take consolation in being welcome at the White House.
Bravo Bravissimo!
Really? Even for radically liberal moonbats like Ayers? Who new? God really does exist.
Beauty, squidly!
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