For Those Who Say Obama And Bill Ayers Weren't Friends ...

[Sword_Of_Truth]

An unnamed source giving anecdotal evidence?

Well, I'm convinced. What's not to believe?

That's what everyone did when it was about Bush.

 

[Brainster]

I'll wait and see how this plays out in terms of whether there is confirmation somewhere or at some point; for now this is still conspiracy theory territory. I will be the first to say that the Obama-Ayers connection has always troubled me greatly. Citizen of the year award notwithstanding, Ayers is a bad apple.

That said, politically this is going nowhere. In 2008, the GOP could raise the issue of Obama's past because he was such a relative unknown on the national stage. In 2012, that won't be the case, and the election will be a referendum on his first term.

It was the same with the Bush National Guard story in 2004, and Whitewater in 1996.

 

[Praktik]

That's nothing. I've not only read the Manifesto, but I've also read Mein Kampf, the Quran, and the Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies!

Well looks like you're well on your way to being an Obama-esque amalgam of communism and fascism.

 

[BeAChooser]

Who cares if Obama knew Ayers? Was Ayers involved in any bombings in the last 30 years or had he settled down to a respectable lifestyle?

Well apparently Obama must have thought people would care ... which is why he claimed "I didn't really know him" when the association between the two came to light.

Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, (now Chief of Staff) and Obama's communications chief, Robert Gibbs, (now Press Secretary) claimed that Obama didn't even know about Ayers' radical past ... a transparent lie if there ever was one ... so apparently they cared.

As for this picture you want to paint of Ayers as being *reformed* ...

- he posed standing on an American flag for an article in Chicago Magazine titled "No Regrets" in August 2001 (http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2001/No-Regrets/index.php?cp=1&si=0#artanc ). He said he had "no regrets" about the bombings and would do it again if necessary.

- he still calls himself a "little c" communist who to this day decries the inequities of "capitalism", American oppression and who promotes the notion of "social justice". In his manifesto, "Prairie Fire", he wrote "We need a revolutionary communist party in order to lead the struggle, give coherence and direction to the fight, seize power and build the new society." That document was republished as a book (with Ayer's permission, of course) in 2006, coinciding with the start of Obama's run for President.

- in 2006, at an education forum in Venezuela, Ayers stood on the stage with ("small c"? "big C"?) dictator Hugo Chavez and said he supported “the profound educational reforms under way here in Venezuela under the leadership of President Chávez. We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution. . . . I look forward to seeing how you continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane.” Ayers concluded his speech by raising his fist and shouting “Viva Presidente Chávez! Viva la Revolucion Bolivariana! Hasta la Victoria Siempre!”

We care because Obama is a protege of Ayers (where education is concerned) because of all those years they spent co-chairing education projects. And the last thing this country needs is our education system indoctrinating our youth in Ayer's philosophy.

We care because Obama spouts the same "social justice" (a code word for socialism) mantra that Ayers and all the radicals around him spout. Note that the National Association of Scholars states the term "social justice" is understood to mean "the advocacy of more egalitarian access to income through state-sponsored redistribution." In other words, socialism or communism.

And we care because this is not the only link between Obama and hard core socialists/communists. No, there are literally dozens of others ... from his own father and mother, to his pastor for 20 years, and to the MANY people who got him into politics and helped elect him. Everywhere you look around him, you find radicals like Ayers (albeit most of them never showed their hatred of the US via bombs).

That's why we care. And why you should care.

Ayers won "citizen of the year" for his work on public schools.

That's only an indictment of our public education system and a demonstration of how far to the left it has veered under democrat control.

 

[Cleon]

You're a "Flopsonista"?

You caught me. All power to the cuniculine revolution! Alfalfa and yogurt drops for all!

 

[leftysergeant]

That said, politically this is going nowhere. In 2008, the GOP could raise the issue of Obama's past because he was such a relative unknown on the national stage. In 2012, that won't be the case, and the election will be a referendum on his first term.

It was the same with the Bush National Guard story in 2004, and Whitewater in 1996.

The inability of a supposed veteran to post confirmation that he had actually done his military duty makes a documnet that states that he did not look that much better. I have at least one copy of damned near every document that pretains to me from 1966 onward. There is no official documentation that the Shrub did event the minimum expected of him.

As for the book that BAC trusts so much, only an idiot would trust an idiot who still claims that Ayres wrote Obama's book.

I am sure a lot of American Stinker Thinker readers buy that BS, though.

 

[headscratcher4]

Please let me know how is Obama indocrinating our school children in the philospophy of Bill Ayers....can you cite some specific examples? What major changes in Federal education policy are you alleging reflect Obama's adherence to Ayers?


"[N]o matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to work for it and train for it and learn for it. . . .

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home – that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying. . . .
I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you're not going to be any of those things. But the truth is, being successful is hard."

Obama speech at the start of the school year.

Clearly, dangerous, radical stuff this call for self suficiency and aspiration. Now I see why you are so worried.

 

[Lurker]

I'll wait and see how this plays out in terms of whether there is confirmation somewhere or at some point; for now this is still conspiracy theory territory. I will be the first to say that the Obama-Ayers connection has always troubled me greatly. Citizen of the year award notwithstanding, Ayers is a bad apple.

Why is he a bad apple?

 

[Upchurch]

That's what everyone did when it was about Bush.

What who said when what was about Bush?

 

[quixotecoyote]

What who said when what was about Bush?

You apparently aren't up on the nuances of current political debate theory.

Any criticism can be met with a variant of:

• Hypothetically, if your guy did what my guy actually did, you wouldn't care, so you can't criticize my guy.

• You didn't like my guy, therefore you believed everything bad about him, therefore you're morally obligated to believe everything bad about your guy.

• At some point in the past, someone on your side did something similar to what my guy did just now, so you can't criticize him.

 

[Upchurch]

You apparently aren't up on the nuances of current political debate theory.

No, probably not. However, I think this one:

• At some point in the past, someone on your side did something similar to what my guy did just now, so you can't criticize him.

is the relevant one in this case.

What I'm asking is what was that point in the past was and what was said about Bush. I'm doubting anyone claimed that Bush and Bill Ayers were friends.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone referenced an unnamed source spouting anecdotal evidence about Bush, but that's bad evidence no matter who uses it or who it is against.

I'd just like to know if Sword_Of_Truth's line was completely vacuous or whether it referenced something real.

 

[BeAChooser]

Please let me know how is Obama indocrinating our school children in the philospophy of Bill Ayers....can you cite some specific examples?

That's not difficult at all. I'm surprised you don't already know the facts I'm about to cite. Just goes to show how derelict the Obama-loving mainstream media has been in informing the public of the facts (or should I say how proficient the Obama-loving mainstream media has been in hiding the facts).

Social Justice (the notion that reform must focus on exclusion and disadvantage, race and class, black and white) is Ayers' overriding education theme ... his philosophy. Much of the funding during the Chicago Annenburg Challenge, which Ayers and Obama co-chaired, went to schools that promoted the social justice theme. In fact, Mike Klonsky, who ran a "social justice" education blog on Obama's campaign website until Klonsky's communist background was exposed, was the largest recipient of CAC funding. In other words, Ayers and Obama were pushing this "social justice" theme more than a decade ago.

During the US Presidential campaign, Obama made then President of the American Education Research Association (AERA), Linda Darling-Hammond (LDH), his top education advisor. AERA is the country's largest research organization on teaching methods and thus has great influence on our nation's public education program. It also strongly influences the programs in universities that teach teachers to be teachers. Ayers was/is Vice President in charge of curriculum at AERA. LDH coauthored several books with Ayers on education ... in a social justice context. During the campaign, LDH fully endorsed the reparations-for-slavery notion called the "education debt" that Ayer's has promoted for a decade. This, http://www.infibeam.com/Books/info/...g-to-Teach-for-Social-Justice/0807742082.html , is pure Ayers.

LDH is not the only one at AERA to advocate this philosophy. Gloria Ladson-Billings (GLB) is a former President of AERA, who, like Ayers, has claimed the problem we face in education is due to centuries of children of color and poverty being denied access to education due to slavery and discrimination. A chapter by GLB appeared in a book co-edited by Ayers called "Teaching for Social Justice: A Democracy and Education Reader". GLB also wrote the foreword to Ayers’ book, "To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher". Ayers and GLB are co-editors of "City Kids, City Schools: More Reports from the Front Row". And here's an article by GLB that espouses Ayers' social justice/reparations philosophy (calling it "education debt"): http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache...bt&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us&client=firefox-a > . Although she doesn't mention Ayers or even the phrase "social justice", there can be no mistaking the philosophy and theme that's promoted. It's pure Ayers. And in a case of circular logic, Ayers then turned around and started citing GLB's article to support the *validity* of his social justice theme (http://billayers.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/narrative-pushnarrative-pull/ ). As thanks, GLB then signed a petition supporting Bill Ayers' "character" once the controversy about him surfaced (http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/support-bill-ayers/ ). In fact, it appears that GLB started that petition. Funny how that quid pro quo stuff works.

Note that despite her being named by the Obama campaign as a possibility, Linda Darling-Hammond didn't become Obama's Secretary of Education. Probably, a little too controversial. Instead, Obama chose a man, Arne Duncan, who ran the same school district that Obama/Ayers' Annenberg Challenge sought to reform (by giving millions of dollars to Mike Klonsky, aka communist). Duncan helped promote CAC then and still holds to that philosophy. Duncan recently said "I really view education as the civil rights fight of our generation. ... snip ... This is a fight to me that's about a lot more than education. It's really a fight for social justice." Yeah. Sure. And you think Ayers and his philosophy have had no impact on Obama's education program?



You want another example of that "social justice" indoctrination?

Sure thing.

Just released today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zrsl8o4ZPo&feature=player_embedded

Here are the lyrics:

Song 1:
Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama

 

[fuelair]

I have a great idea, count up the ( just American) deaths maximally attributable to Ayers and those maximally attributable to Dick Cheney...............

 

[joobz]

Wow, BAC. I'm impressed by your ability to uncover information that CNN released back in October of last year!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/obama.ayers/

Obama and Ayers had a connection not just through the education and charity boards, but in the area of juvenile justice. Obama praised Ayers' book on the subject in a 1997 Chicago Tribune review, calling it "a searing and timely account of the juvenile court system, and the courageous individuals who rescue hope from despair."

When you're done frothing at the mouth, can you address why this matters? Or do you actually believe that this bit of campaign "guilty by association" games is actually meaningful?

 

[BeAChooser]

Wow, BAC. I'm impressed by your ability to uncover information that CNN released back in October of last year!

... snip ...

When you're done frothing at the mouth, can you address why this matters?

Wow, joobz. I'm impressed by your inability to read post #32.

 

[Dr Adequate]

This thread is lame, dumb, blind, mentally handicapped and subject to hallucinations, psychotic episodes, and paranoia.

As such, it seems almost cruel to laugh at it.

 

[joobz]

Wow, joobz. I'm impressed by your inability to read post #32.

Oh. So you harbor bizarre fears of socialism. Ok.
do you believe that socialism is all or nothing?

 

[Juniversal]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/andersen_book_blows_ayers_cove.html



Told you so.

I thought Obama hated whites??

 

[Dancing David]

That's what everyone did when it was about Bush.

Except for all the stories that were sourced...

 

[Dancing David]

That's not difficult at all. I'm surprised you don't already know the facts I'm about to cite. Just goes to show how derelict the Obama-loving mainstream media has been in informing the public of the facts (or should I say how proficient the Obama-loving mainstream media has been in hiding the facts).

Social Justice (the notion that reform must focus on exclusion and disadvantage, race and class, black and white) is Ayers' overriding education theme ... his philosophy. Much of the funding during the Chicago Annenburg Challenge, which Ayers and Obama co-chaired, went to schools that promoted the social justice theme. In fact, Mike Klonsky, who ran a "social justice" education blog on Obama's campaign website until Klonsky's communist background was exposed, was the largest recipient of CAC funding. In other words, Ayers and Obama were pushing this "social justice" theme more than a decade ago.

So how is this different than policy under Regan, Bush , Clinton and Bush.

My daughter knew more about AA history and ancient egypt than she did US history in general. And that was under Pegan.

How is Ayers influencing Obama's policy, any data?

During the US Presidential campaign, Obama made then President of the American Education Research Association (AERA), Linda Darling-Hammond (LDH), his top education advisor.

During the campaign, where is she now?

AERA is the country's largest research organization on teaching methods and thus has great influence on our nation's public education program. It also strongly influences the programs in universities that teach teachers to be teachers. Ayers was/is Vice President in charge of curriculum at AERA. LDH coauthored several books with Ayers on education ... in a social justice context. During the campaign, LDH fully endorsed the reparations-for-slavery notion called the "education debt" that Ayer's has promoted for a decade. This, http://www.infibeam.com/Books/info/...g-to-Teach-for-Social-Justice/0807742082.html , is pure Ayers.

LDH is not the only one at AERA to advocate this philosophy.

And what is she doing now?

Gloria Ladson-Billings (GLB) is a former President of AERA, who, like Ayers, has claimed the problem we face in education is due to centuries of children of color and poverty being denied access to education due to slavery and discrimination.

And lack of funding in education, including rural school districts.
Where is GLB now? is she making policy for Obama?

A chapter by GLB appeared in a book co-edited by Ayers called "Teaching for Social Justice: A Democracy and Education Reader". GLB also wrote the foreword to Ayers’ book, "To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher". Ayers and GLB are co-editors of "City Kids, City Schools: More Reports from the Front Row". And here's an article by GLB that espouses Ayers' social justice/reparations philosophy (calling it "education debt"): http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache...bt&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=10&gl=us&client=firefox-a > . Although she doesn't mention Ayers or even the phrase "social justice", there can be no mistaking the philosophy and theme that's promoted. It's pure Ayers. And in a case of circular logic, Ayers then turned around and started citing GLB's article to support the *validity* of his social justice theme (http://billayers.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/narrative-pushnarrative-pull/ ). As thanks, GLB then signed a petition supporting Bill Ayers' "character" once the controversy about him surfaced (http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/support-bill-ayers/ ). In fact, it appears that GLB started that petition. Funny how that quid pro quo stuff works.

So what is her influence and why should we care?

Note that despite her being named by the Obama campaign as a possibility, Linda Darling-Hammond didn't become Obama's Secretary of Education. Probably, a little too controversial.

So why was any of that relevant?

Instead, Obama chose a man, Arne Duncan, who ran the same school district that Obama/Ayers' Annenberg Challenge sought to reform (by giving millions of dollars to Mike Klonsky, aka communist).

Nice citations and evidence.

Duncan helped promote CAC then and still holds to that philosophy. Duncan recently said "I really view education as the civil rights fight of our generation. ... snip ... This is a fight to me that's about a lot more than education. It's really a fight for social justice." Yeah. Sure. And you think Ayers and his philosophy have had no impact on Obama's education program?

Considering you haven't really made a case, at this time; NO.

You want another example of that "social justice" indoctrination?

Sure thing.

Who wrote the song, was it promoted by teh school district of teachers?

Just released today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zrsl8o4ZPo&feature=player_embedded

Here are the lyrics:

Makes a total lack of evidence even more compelling.