This'n'That; October 17th

William "Bill" Ayers: Bill Ayers was born in 1944 to a childhood of wealth and prvilege. His father, Thomas, was the Chairman and CEO of Commonwealth Edison. The family lived in Glen Ellyn, Il., an upscale suburb of Chicago. Ayers attended Lake Forest Academy, a private boarding and day school for grades 9-12. The school is located on the North Shore in Lake Forest, Il. After his stint at the University of Michigan, Ayers became involved in the New Left and the SDS. This became his indoctrination to radical political activity. Ayers was forced "underground" when a bomb accidently detonated, destroying a Greenwich Village and killing three other members of the Weather Underground. While "underground" he traveled extensively. During these travels, he along with other members of the Weather Underground, bombed the United States Capitol building, The Pentagon and the Harry S. Truman Building [at the time, home of the State Department]. He and longtime lover, Bernardine Dohrn surrendered in 1981, when most charges were dropped due to prosectorial misconduct during the long search for the fugitives. Arguably his most famous [or infamous, depending on your point of view]: "I don't regret setting bombs; I feel we didn't do enough." I can't believe this man teaches!!! With his radical past, it must be an ultra-liberal institution that employs him!! Yup, I was right...... He currently teaches at the University of Illinois, Chicago. His educational accomplishments: 1968-B.A., University of Michigan [American Studies] 1984-M.Ed., Bank Street College [Early Childhood Education] 1987-M.Ed., Teachers College, Columbia University [Early Childhood Education] 1987-Ed.D., Columbia University [Curriculum & Instruction] How did he go so far....?? Particularly in education and employment??? Throughout his adult life, William Ayers has continually poked "a finger in the eye" of the very country that provided the opportunities he so freely took advantage of!!! National Welfare Rights Organization [NWRO]: ACORN's roots are in the National Welfare Rights Organization [NWRO]. NWRO's early leader, George Wiley, believed he could use poor, unwed mothers to foment a revolution. NWRO agitated for unlimited welfare benefits for those mothers and persuaded many urban politicians to loosen welfare eligibility requirements. Mr Wiley's aim was to flood the welfare system with so many clients that it would burst. The bursting he hoped, would create a crisis which would force a radical restructuring of America's unjust capitalist economy. This loosening more than doubled the welfare roles and strapped already tight local budgets. Between 1965 and 1974 the number of single-parent households on welfare soared from 4.3 to 10.8 MILLION people. [In the early 1070s in NYC alone, one person was on welfare for each two workers in the city's private economy.] The primary affects of this explosion of the welfare rolls only served to create a culture of family disintegration and dependency in inner-city neighborhoods with rampant illegitimacy, crime, school failure, drug abuse, non-employment and poverty among a fast growing underclass. When the federal government didn't come to the rescue with massive aid, the NWRO's strategy caused a backlash against "welfare mothers" and politicians in free-spending cities like New York. This welfare strategy eventually collapsed and Mr Wiley moved on. He formed an equally radical new community organization in Little Rock, Arkansas. The "a" in ACORN originally stood for "Arkansas." It was later changed to Association to give the organization a national scope. This was about the same time that congressional Republicans made the regressive decision to fund local community groups with billions in federal funds and state aid. The federal incorrectly reasoned that it was better to fund nonprofits than create giant federal bureaucracies to run burgeoning antipoverty programs. Little did the Republicans realize that these funds would finance a nationwide network of organizations that have mobilized urban residents against the party's candidates and their agenda. Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now [ACORN] ACORN's bedrock assumption remains the ultra-Left's familiar anti-capitalist redistributionism. A portion of ACORN's "People's Platform" **"We are the majority, forged from all the minorites." **"We will continue our fight....until we have shared the wealth, until we have won our freedom....We have nothing to show for the work of our hand, then tax of our labor." [What a load of CRAP: These statements not only falsify the relative comfort of the poor in Ameria but are a classic example of chutzpah....what with ACORN's roots in a movement that undermined the very work ethic of the poor. They also make the self-aggrandizing claim that ACORN "stands virtually alone it it's dedication to organizing the poor and powerless."] ACORN organizes it's subjects to push for more and more government control over the economy, having not learned the oft-repeated lessons of the free-market reality that made American cities unequaled eingines of job creation, opportunity which moved millions out of poverty and misery. Til nex'time.......