Well my old job to be more accurate. I had to draw you in right! Here's my Op/Ed from this weekend's Examiner to explain it all.

An unrepentant terrorist heads a key division of a leading U.S. education research association that has immense influence over what our children's teachers study in education school.

William Ayers, the unrepentant former SDS Weather Underground bomber of the 1960s, was recently elected by the American Education Research Association (AERA) as vice president and head of its division of curriculum studies.

Apparently, AERA members have no qualms about selecting Ayers, a man who to this day remains dedicated to destroying America, to lead one of their organization's most important divisions.

Perhaps they think Ayers is merely a "professor of English," as Democratic presidential contender and Ayers friend Sen. Barack Obama would have us believe. Or maybe AERA members don't know Ayers simply transferred his revolutionary fervor from the streets to the classroom where he indoctrinates our nation's teachers.

Possibly Ayers' influence is an aberration in an organization that bills itself as "the most prominent international professional organization, with the primary goal of advancing educational research and its practical application."

Wrong. Sadly, Ayers' radical worldview permeates AERA. I know, because I am a former AERA employee. I worked in AERA's national office in Washington, D.C. from 2002-2004.

Among my duties were managing production of AERA publications, including its flagship journal Educational Researcher. Educational Researcher published deep scholarly work like UCLA education professor Peter McLaren's love song to totalitarianism, Reconsidering Marx in post-Marxist Times: A Requiem for Post Modernism. McLaren's webpage is a sick testimonial to murderous thug Ché Guevera, and a totalitarian communist ideology responsible for the murder of more than 90 million people.

I had the arduous task of editing manuscripts with titles like "So When It Comes Out, They Aren't That Surprised That It Is There": Using Critical Race Theory as a Tool of Analysis of Race and Racism in Education, and Critical Social Theory and Transformative Knowledge: The Functions of Criticism in Quality Education.

Forget for a moment the unwieldy titles, copyediting their manuscripts revealed that the authors showed a disturbingly low grasp of the English language, and its rules of grammar and punctuation. Furthermore, the manuscripts contained so much pseudo-academic jargon that after every sentence I had stop and ask myself, "What the hell did that mean?"

This leftwing radicalism is not strictly limited to AERA publications. Its annual meetings, which draw tens of thousands, offer participants such fare as: "Resisting Resistance: Using Eco-Justice and Eco-Racism to Awaken Mindfulness, Compassion, and Wisdom in Preservice Teachers."

Then, of course, there is Ayers' own 2005 presentation "Shut Up and March: Patriotism and the Threat to Democracy in America's Schools."

The "scholars" who generate such mediocrity may seem like a joke to the general public however, their ersatz scholarship perniciously affects our culture. Their kitschy Marxism, which paints America as the main source of the world's racism and oppression, is rampant in our schools of education.

Our teachers' colleges are becoming indoctrination camps for fringe left wing radicalism, which is in turn passed on to our elementary, middle and high school students.

One would think that election of a terrorist who said of his violent past "I don't regret setting bombs, I feel we didn't do enough," plus the rank ideological bent of its publications and conference offerings, would spark some concern or at least a response from AERA leadership.

It hasn't. Where are AERA's president and executive director? Are they silent because they sub rosa approve Ayers' agenda for his new position, and the indoctrination of American teachers and students in radical left wing ideology?

The truth is that Ayers has been a leading light in AERA for years. In fact, radical AERA members specifically requested that Ayers present their objections to AERA's governing council's refusal to oppose the National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Certification's elimination of "social justice" from its list of standards in 2007.

Now in his new perch as a divisional vice president, Ayers can continue his long march through academia further radicalizing our teachers and our students.

Mark Newgent is the Baltimore History Examiner and blogs for Red Maryland. He can be reached at marknewgent@comcast.net

Ayers participated in attacks against the New York City Police Department, the Pentagon and the Capitol Building.  Jeremiah Wright may be a kook, despite what Baltimore County Delegate Emmett Burns says, at least he only threw rhetorical bombs.  Ayers dealt with real bombs.  Indeed, on  September 11, 2001 no less Ayers was quoted saying, "I don't regret setting bombs... I feel we didn't do enough."  Ayers and Dohrn are now respected academics in the field of education,  naturally!  As Jonah Golberg noted, "being a radical means never having to say you’re sorry.

Say what you will about Obama's connection with Ayers, I don't think it will amount to much politically. We don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of left wing Chicago politicians who probably made the ceremonial trip to the Ayers home to receive his blessing.

However, what is interesting here is the connection between Ayers and W. Mark Felt, otherwise known as Deep Throat, the formerly anonymous source who helped Woodward and Bernstein write the stories that led to the fall of Richard Nixon.  Deep Throat is a hero to the left for his courageous feeding of information to the Washington Post reporters.  However, before he revealed his identity W. Mark Felt was a reviled figure by the left.  Felt was an FBI agent who authorized illegal break-ins "black bag operations," against the friends and families of Weather Underground members like Ayers and Dohrn.  Felt was tried and convicted of violating their civil rights, but was later pardoned by Ronald Reagan.