This is my (not so little) attempt to explain what all this Ayers business is by e-mail to those who don't follow the news as closely as those of us in Blogger-land.
Its done with some humor, as you will read, but I also try to be as accurate as I can.
In this election year, we face major decisions and stark choices. Our economy is perhaps in its worst shape since the Great Depression. Our energy policy lies in shambles, our road, energy and electricity infrastructure needs a major revamping, we're fighting two wars, we still face the possibility of attack from those who perpetrated 9/11...millions are without adequate health care insurance, or are "insurance poor" as a result of rising premiums and co-pays.
These and other issues affect the current and future lives of all Americans. Yet, of late, one major political party has decided to push those issues to the side over a person who apparently represents such a threat to America's future that all of these pale in comparison.
That person's name? Bill Ayers.
Who is he? Well, for those of you, like me, who either weren't old enough to really remember that time (or perhaps not even born yet), late me take you back to the late 60s and early 70s and a group called the "Weather Underground" or the "Weathermen." Here's a stock photo of them:
Weathermen? No, they don't exactly look like meterologists! (The guy wearing the football helmet in front is especially impressive!) Their name comes from a Bob Dylan song. They wanted to ally themselves with the Black Liberation Movement and use violence, if necessary, to protest the Vietnam War and the "military/industrial complex" and all those wonderful things from the time period. Mr. Ayers was one of 11 people who wrote their initial declaration. The group would later go on to initiate a string of bombings of statues and police stations in a proclaimed "Days of Rage" protesting the war.
They weren't very good at it, frankly. Unfortunately, several people actually died during these "events," most of whom were "Weathermen" who blew themselves up by accident. The idiocy of unfocused radicalism aside, some people died in these bombings, and there's no denying this was radicalism carried too far for no good purpose. As the war ended, most of this rather small group (those who managed not to he blow themselves up or get themselves jailed), started growing up and moving on with their lives. Bill Ayers is one of those people. Here's a picture of him today:
Notice the "radical" garb he wears, typical of those who, like him, are professors of education at the University of Illinois in Chicago. The matching shirt and dress coat are dead giveaways, in my opinion.
So, what does this have to do with the election? Professor Ayers, as professors are wont to do, has in the past been a member of a committee funded by the Annenburg Foundation whose "radical" goal is to improve the education of inner-city school children in Chicago. Someone else who sat on and even chaired this committee back in the 90's is current Democratic Presidential nominee, Barack Obama. So, Ayers and Obama know each other, or as critics of Obama like to say, Obama "pals around" with a "domestic terrorist". In fact, here's a startling photo of Obama back in the day when Ayers and the Weathermen were trying hard not to blow themselves up:
You can see by the large, menacing wooden stick in his hand that young Barack was already well on his way to overthrowing America and American values.
So, some people see this "connection" between the former radical turned education professor and the baseball-bat welding young lad turned presidential candidate as a "threat" to their electoral succes...er...the nation at large! Who are some of these people? Well, one such person is the young, photogenic governor of Alaska who, along with her "first dude" husband, is pictured here:
Turns out, Sarah and Todd (shown above) have some rather interesting "associations" of their own. You see, Governor Sarah and First Dude Todd are close to the Alaska Independence Party (AIP). What is that, you ask? Well, AIP is a secessionist organization! In case you don't remember what "secessionist" means, a secessionist is someone who hates a country so bad that they're willing to break away from it and start their own country. Here's a picture of AIPs founder:
{Cute smile} His name's Joe, Joe Vogler. Joe and his organization just doesn't like America very much. Here's a quote or two:
The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government. And I won't be buried under their damn flag!
And
I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions.
Institutions like, oh, the vice-Presidency, the office that the governor of Alaska shown above is now running for. Her First Dude husband was an actual card-carrying member of this group from 1995-2002, and Sarah has kept a warm and loving relationship going with them even till today. In fact, here's a link to the video she made as governor THIS YEAR welcoming the group to their annual convention:
Not only does Governor Sarah have the distinction of being only the second female vice-Presidential candidate ever, she's the first person on a major party ticket in 148 years to have sympathies with secessionists! John C. Breckinridge, you've got company!
Of course, Governor Sarah isn't the only one criticizing Senator Obama for his ties to people who have hated America in their past. Here's another person who frequently does:
Say Hi to Sean everybody! {Hi Sean!} Sean works for a fair and balanced 24-hour news network. In fact, he's so fair and balanced that he gives all sorts of people air time on his shows. Here's one such person he had on recently:
This cheerful looking guy's name is Andy, Andy Martin. Who's Andy? Well, he's an author and occasional commentator that appears on show's like...well, Sean's! Apparently, Andy has a problem with Jews. Here's a quote concerning him in the right-wing Washington Times in 1999:
In 1986, when Mr. Martin ran as a Democrat for Connecticut's 3rd Congressional District seat under the name "Anthony R. Martin-Trigona," his campaign committee filed papers saying its purpose was to "exterminate Jew power in America and impeach U.S. District Court of Appeals judges in New York City.
You know, those district court judges...they're all Jews too, according to Mr. Martin.
By now, I'm sure you've caught on to the drift of all of this. With everything else in the world going on, who are the people that Governor Sarah and Sean gets so riled up over Professor Ayers? Well, they're people who are 1 or 2 generations removed from these guys:
And they're getting real worried that the next President of the United States' skin complexion will look like this:
And their party's ideology is in its death throes and they have nothing else to talk about. So, we can expect more stuff on Ayers...and Reverend Wright, and...Ludacris, I guess, but not much about the economy, or energy, or health care, or foreign policy, or education, because they have nothing to offer on those "unimportant" things.
Oh! Two more pictures:
Yeah, that's Kevin Bacon, the actor. He has absolutely nothing to do with any of this, but he has helped popularize the "Six Degrees" notion, that is, that we're all about 6 degrees or steps in relationships away from everyone else on Earth. In fact, a recent study estimated that the average number is 6.6.
So...what kind of radical associations do YOU have lurking around?
And finally, this picture:
His name was Joe. And he was SO good at this "guilt by association" stuff back in the 50s, they even named it after him.