Reply #16: A little bit of history...

[noel711]

During the Viet Nam war, there was an activist anti-war
student group on many college campuses... S.D.S.
the Students for a Democratic Society.

They were behind many demonstrations and protests
to end the war.

In the annual convention of June 1969, a more radical
splinter group of the SDS broke away from the larger circle
claiming that peaceful means were no longer working,
and that the war must end 'by any means necessary.'

The "Weather Underground' comes from a line of a Bob Dylan
song: "You don't have to be a weatherman to know which
way the wind blows."

Many of the leaders in the Weather Underground were driven
'underground' by government efforts to quash their organizing.
("Underground" meaning they changed their identity and tried
to blend into the culture around them)

Some of them went to jail for what today would be considered
homeland terrorism (there were events of throwing animal blood
on military records, the bombing of laboratories that researched
new weapon development, etc etc.)- these events symbolic of the
system of death.

Sadly, the standards for 'authenticity' for Senator Obama seem to
be much more stringent than for other candidates. Bill Clinton had
a youthful past also, but that didn't taint him.

Simply being civil and polite to others, no matter what their background,
should be a symbol of his wisdom and kindness to others, and ultimately
his suitability for leadership.

If Senator Obama is made unacceptable because he met Bill Ayers,
then meeting me, shaking my hand, would harm him also. His story
is my story.