The Weather Underground??

[patrick t. cakes]

Did they kill people?
I've always read they did not kill anyone.

[gcomeau]

1. The only people who died...

....were three of their own members when one of their explosive devices detonated prematurely on them.

[patrick t. cakes]

2. thats what I thought.

do you feel they were terrorists?

I dont think I do.
Radical maybe. Why is that a bad thing?

[Warpy]

4. The problem with their crimes against property

was that the property could have been occupied at any time by one of the people they professed to be concerned about, a poorly paid janitor or security guard.

So yes, they were terrorists. The fact that the only people they killed were themselves was pure dumb luck.

However, violence is sometimes necessary. Even Gandhi understood that as his unarmed crowds marched directly into the truncheons and machine guns used by the British. It can be argued that civil rights change didn't happen because of MLK's peaceful marches; it happened because of the riots.

As for the Weather Underground, I think history has already judged them more as bumblers than as terrorists.

[patrick t. cakes]

8. i can appreciate that.

when is violence (offensive) justifiable?

how long do "the people" sit and wait/watch while our country
disappears?
do we wait for the so called intellectuals to lead us,
or a pissed off general?

[hootinholler]

17. In my mind

Violence is justifiable only when the state has no conscience. Ghandi knew and counted on the British people having a conscience and stopping the violent suppression of peaceful protest.

It's not clear to me what tactic will work here, today.

-Hoot

[John Kerry VonErich]

25. In this day in age

It's looking like it's becoming outdated.

[gateley]

5. I think they were patriots --

radical to an extreme, but patriots nonetheless.

They were feeling what we're feeling today -- anger and frustration at what our government is doing.

I didn't agree with their approach, otherwise I would have joined them at the time, but they cared enough about the injustices and the deaths in Viet Nam to revolt. And that's a very American thing to do.

[tom_paine]

6. You nailed it.

[patrick t. cakes]

11. i can appreciate that as well

i dont think i see them as terrorists.
i think they were angry and actually gave a shit.

[OneDemsConscience]

23. Yup

It's easy to forget that the bombing of civilians in Southeast Asia was mass murder. No two ways about it. The Iraq War drives many of us crazy--the Vietnam War was even worse. There's a portion in the recent documentary about WU where a participant describes how he literally couldn't stop thinking about Vietnam--whatever he was doing. It's called conscience.

I don't agree with their tactics but I would not say their actions were immoral--violence is justified in extreme cases(although WU never intentionally killed anyone, unlike New Left groups in other nations).

[AZ Criminal JD]

27. It's patriotic to bomb universities and government buildings?

[Hayduke Lives]

29. "Terrorism" is a word that I would almost never use...

...to describe anything.

Words are like knives, they work best when they're sharp. And "terrorism" has always been the dullest knife in the drawer. There is always a better word.

But the real problem with the word is that it give power to those who use it. Look at how the timber industry used it (they coined the term "eco-terrorist" in the early 90's). Now, a dozen non-violent saboteurs are serving "terror" enhanced sentences in federal prison.

Imagine if the word had been around (like it is today) back in 1968. EVERYONE who resisted the Viet Nam war would have been given the label. Kent State would have been justified based on "preventing terrorism".

The young people today are so submissive and beaten down, compared to earlier generations - like all the power of youth has been sucked out of them. I'm not saying that this one word is the reason. But there is a silence and passiveness that I am at a loss to explain. I'd love to hear other peoples' thoughts on this.

[AZ Criminal JD]

26. That is false.

They bombed the math building in Madison in 1970 and killed a grad student who was there at night. People always say they never killed anyone because that is what THEY say.

[AZ Criminal JD]

30. Do you know what the bombs they were working on were going to be used for?

A dance at Ft. Dix, New Jersey. Real tough guys. Too bad Ayers wasn't in the house at the time.

[papau]

3. Black Liberation Army (BLA) killed 2 cops in 81 and unarmed weatherman David Gilbert was there - got

75 years in prison

[John Kerry VonErich]

7. Heres the story about it

Kathy Boudin and her partner David Gilbert, another Columbia '68 veteran, had agreed to act as white getaway drivers for members of the Black Liberation Army (BLA), a formation composed of politicised street criminals and convicts radicalised in the aftermath of the 1970 Attica prison uprising. Although Gilbert and Boudin were unarmed, their cohorts killed three policemen, including the first black cop in the county. Another had his arm severed by machine-gun fire but survived, only to die in the World Trade Centre on September 11. Boudin pleaded guilty and received 25 years- to-life. Gilbert bought two life terms and will die in prison. In Attica, as it happens.

[kestrel91316]

9. What IS this about the WU the last day or so??? Did Rush or Rove

put out a memo about a new meme to obsess over?????

[maxsolomon]

10. Obama has a tenuous connection with a former WU member

it was brought up by ABC the other night.

the MSM is trying to scare white people. since they're already scared witless by 8 years of OBL & Dick Cheney, it won't be too hard.

[kestrel91316]

12. Oh, Jeebus H. Christ. BFD.

[LSK]

18. you asked why....

[kestrel91316]

21. Comment was directed at anybody who would actually try to

make a big deal about this. SO WHAT?? I betcha I know a few old hippies and former radicals, too. Doesn't make me a bad person or unelectable (those nude pics in college, OTOH.......).

[maxsolomon]

22. i was not offended.

nt

[KamaAina]

15. Do please remember that during the Weathermen's heyday,

Obama was all of eight years old. The only people he was terrorizing were second-graders in the schoolyard. :eyes:

[AZ Criminal JD]

28. Hardly tenuous.

They served on a board together, gave four speeches together, and Obama went to Ayers house to be introduced to activists when he wanted to run for office.

[stillcool]

14. It's pretty funny...

ABC News
Clinton Camp Pushes O-Bomber Links: Ignores Her Own Radical Ties
Clinton, Obama Spar on Ties to Radicals
By JUSTIN ROOD
Feb. 22, 2008—

The Hillary Clinton campaign pushed to reporters today stories about Barack Obama and his ties to former members of a radical domestic terrorist group -- but did not note that as president, Clinton's husband pardoned more than a dozen convicted violent radicals, including a member of the same group mentioned in the Obama stories.

"Wonder what the Republicans will do with this issue," mused Clinton spokesman Phil Singer in one e-mail to the media, containing a New York Sun article reporting a $200 contribution from William Ayers, a founding member of the Weather Underground, to Obama in 2001. (Obama's ties to the radical group first surfaced last week in a Bloomberg News article.)

In a separate e-mail, Singer forwarded an article from Politico.com reporting on a 1995 event at a private home that brought Obama together with Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, another former member of the radical group.

Opting to leave any attacks on the issue to the GOP may be wise, as attacks from Clinton could backfire. In his final day in office, President Clinton pardoned another one-time member of the Weather Underground, Susan L. Rosenberg, after she had served 16 years in prison on federal charges.

Rosenberg had been arrested in 1984 while unloading 740 pounds of dynamite, a submachine gun and other weapons from the back of a car.
-------------------------

And in 1999, President Clinton also pardoned 16 violent Puerto Rican nationalists responsible for more than 100 bombings of U.S. political and military installations, after they promised to renounce violence. The attacks reportedly killed six people and wounded dozens more. In justifying the pardons, President Clinton noted none of the men had been convicted of crimes that resulted in death or injuries.

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4330128

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. No. Nobody.

They're a different group than the Weathermen.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if DU's name was inspired by them.

[shireen]

16. rampaging meteorologists?

I had no idea what all this stuff was about.
Weather Underground, to me, is a forum where people discuss the weather and climate.
http://www.wunderground.com/

This is so weird ...

[madinmaryland]

20. Jim Cantore is a terrorist??

:rofl:

I thought the weather was terrorizing him!!!!

BTW, at WU do they have a lounge, like DU does???

[AlCzervik]

19. well i once shot a man just for snoring. Wait, sorry, that was John Wesely Hardin.

i always get us confused.

[Zynx]

24. They unlawfully destroyed property and in so doing damaged the anti-war movement.