[kcm.org]

The shutdown is simply the uber-rich saying to shut it down, and continue on with the illusion of free elections for we “little people.”

[UltraKonservativen]

Just e-mailed the President of UIC the following :

Dear President White,

Our nation is facing a momentous decision in selecting our next President. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge files are in the possession of your University library and contain background information on Senator Obama’s activities as the chairman of this organization.
Surprisingly, a University Library is denying access to these files to the press for various suspicious reasons. This information should be made public and this denial is casting a shadow of suspicion on the Senator.
We urge you to take immediate steps to release the Chicago Annenberg Challenge records, ensure that they are not tampered with, release the name of the donor(s) that are allegedly blocking access to the collection.
This collections must be made available to the American public.
Thank you for your prompt consideration.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Another annoying point of this story is that this foundation is obviously a product of the philanthropy of the late Walter Annenberg, who was the conservative publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer, and TV Guide. There are a number of the most left wing foundations established by wealthy conservatives who did not make sure that they would be run by conservatives.

[elizabetty]

Can’t the Special Collections Librarian just eat her waffles?

[SE Mom]

This is an excellent piece by Kurtz.

The DNC has put America in the danger zone. These people are no longer political opponents- they are truly the enemy.

[Enchante]

Wow, this is a huge issue and we can only be highly suspicious about why the library is behaving in this way. Ayers, Obambi, and/or pals of their obviously don’t want anyone to look at those files before the election......

At a minimum, we can expect that there are documents, probably many documents, that would prove the lie of Obambi’s statement that Ayers was “just a guy who lives in my neighborhood” — Ayers and Obambi worked together extensively on this educational “reform” project and Ayers almost certainly selected Obambi or at least was involved in the selection of Obambi as Chairman of the initiative.

I suspect there are plenty of docs there that would show collegial correspondence between Ayers and Obambi, striving together for their “common goals” etc.

[mojito]

This is huge. Are there any Chicago FReepers who could also request access to these documents?

The more people who ask, the louder the sound of the refusal.

This has the potential to be extremely embarrassing and damaging for Obama. If Ayers is blocking access, then there must certainly be something there that neither Obama nor Ayers want anyone to see.

[CedarDave]

Rush just picked this up! Discussing now...

[SE Mom]

UPDATE from Kurtz here:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmJmMmY5ZTZjMDM2M2ViMTI2ZjU1OTc4NjE4OTgxMjM=

Chicago Cover-up? [Stanley Kurtz]

In the process of tracing down the Obama-Ayers connection, I located a large cache of documents housed in the Richard J. Daley Library of the University of Illinois at Chicago. These documents are the internal files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a small foundation, founded and inspired by Bill Ayers, for which Obama served as board chairman (almost surely at Ayers’s behest). Although the library initially promised me access to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge records, top library officials mysteriously intervened at the last minute to bar access. There followed a struggle between myself and library officials over my right to examine the documents. Although I cannot know for certain, there is reason to believe that Bill Ayers himself may have been consulted, behind the scenes, as the conflict grew.

The explanations offered by library officials for the last-minute decision to block access to the documents were contradictory and shifting. I cannot say for certain that we are dealing with a politically motivated cover-up, but it seems like a very real possibility. Before my access was cut off, an assistant at the library sent me a “finding aid” for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge records — a document of over 60 pages indicating the contents of the 947 file folders in the Collection. The evidence in the finding aid suggest that the Chicago Annenberg Challenge records could provide very important information about Barack Obama’s background and the history of his working relationship with Ayers.

I need public help to gain access to this critically important repository of information. Frankly, since the dispute over access, which played out late last week, I have grown concerned about the security of the documents. Public awareness is probably the best way to reduce the likelihood of documents being damaged or spirited away before I have a chance to break the embargo and gain access to the Collection.

You can read more about the battle over the Chicago Annenberg Collection records in my new NRO piece, “Chicago Annenberg Challenge Shutdown?” Please consider contacting the president of the University of Illinois system, B. Joseph White, to ask him to take immediate public steps to insure the safety of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge records, to release the identity of the collection’s donor, and above all to swiftly make the collection available to me, and to the public at large. You can find an e-mail link for White here. Telephone, fax, and mailing addresses for White’s offices can be found here .

08/18 10:22 AM

[neverdem]

bump & a ping

[SE Mom]

BTTT

This is so important- and the AP is now finally covering it too. Kurtz isn’t quitting, either.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks neverdem and Renfield.

[dervish]

Thanks SC and Renfield.

Are these the same people who got hysterical about the Patriot Act’s implications for libraries?

Yet they have no problem shuting down access.