A bunch of kook-left academics is circulating a petition in support of the victimized Bill Ayers, Barack Obama’s terrorist friend. So far, only a few North Carolina public university profs have signed the petition in support of the terrorist, but, hey, it’s early yet.

Here’s how the petition describes Ayers’ activities during the 1960s and ’70s:

It’s true that Professor Ayers participated passionately in the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, as did hundreds of thousands of Americans.

This naive assessment of Ayers’ activity during that turbulent time contrasts with the known facts. Here’s part of his entry on Wikipedia:

In 1969 he cofounded the radical left organization the Weather Underground, which conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings during the 1960s and 1970s.

By the way, people were killed during those bombings. I wonder if this group of fuzzy-headed lefty academics would classify Eric Rudolph’s activities as “participating passionately”? And if not, why not? What’s the difference between the two? Both used terrorist tactics in support of a cause they believed in, n’est-ce pas?

OK, dumb question. These academics don’t see both of these men as terrorists, as they should. Instead, they give the lefty radical Ayers a pass, just as they give Josef Stalin a pass for killing 50 million people in the cause of world socialism.

Here are the North Carolina distinguished signatories so far:

UNC Greensboro: Betty C. Epanchin ([email protected]), Ulrich Reitzug, Educational Leadership & Cultural Foundations ([email protected]), Colleen Fairbanks, Curriculum and Instruction ([email protected]).

UNC Chapel Hill: Emily Burrill, Assist. Prof. Women’s Studies ([email protected]), Lynda Stone, Prof. School of Education ([email protected]), Latish Reed, Assist. Prof. School of Education ([email protected]), Kathleen Brown, Assoc. Prof. School of Education ([email protected]), Ashley Lucas, Assist. Prof. Dramatic Arts ([email protected]), Marian DeGuzman, Assoc. Prof. English ([email protected]), Adam Versenyi, Dist. Prof. Dramatic Arts ([email protected]), Patricia Sawin, Assoc. Prof. Anthropology ([email protected]).

UNC Pembroke: Annika Culver, Assist. Prof. ([email protected]).

Western Carolina University: Marsha Lee Baker, Assist. Prof. English ([email protected]).

UNC Asheville: Duane Davis, Assoc. Prof. Philosophy ([email protected]), John Wood, Assoc. Prof. Sociology ([email protected]), Rebecca Doyle, Lab Manager Chemistry ([email protected]).

Appalachian State University: Peter Giampietro, Leadership & Education Studies ([email protected]).

North Carolina State University: Brett Clark, Assist. Prof. Sociology&Anthropology ([email protected]).