To the casual observer, now-infamous University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill?who labeled 9/11 victims ?little Eichmanns??would seem little more than an unfortunate speck on the fringe of the far left. 

An investigestion by this journalist, however, uncovered substantial evidence suggesting otherwise.

The media was quick to describe Ward Churchill's 2002 essay?where he also wrote of the ?gallant sacrifices? of the ?combat teams? that killed almost 3,000 Americans?as ?little noticed.? (USA Today, February 9)  It was, however, noticed?and honored?by a liberal organization last year. 

Churchill adapted his essay into a book, ?On the Justice of Roosting Chickens,? which earned honorable mention for a human rights award from the Gustavus Myers Center in Boston?the third time the group had so honored the embattled professor.

At first blush, the Gustavus Myers Center could seem like a wacky, far-left ivory tower creation.   Receiving honorable mention for its 2003 award, for example, was a picture book of ?classic? gay erotica.  Witness the group?s own description of the book: ?Pencil, ink and chalk drawings claiming an erotic past as extremely important for notions of identity and community.?

Careful examination, however, reveals that the Myers Center is anything but fringe.  Listed on its website as ?sponsors? (a term  that is not defined) are mainstream liberal organizations such as the NAACP, the Urban League, the Center for Democratic Renewal, and the United Church of Christ.

And the foundations that fund the Myers Center?s sponsors are key financial backers of the American left, such as George Soros? Open Society Institute, the Ford Foundation, and the Public Welfare Foundation (which contributed to the anti-Bush America?s Coming Together).

The top funders of the Myers Center?s sponsors, and the amounts they gave in total since 2000, are:

· $650,000 from the Public Welfare Foundation, which has given over $5 million to ?reproductive? causes and nearly $1.7 million to various gun control groups.  It even gave $100,000 directly to the Blue Mountain abortion clinic in Montana, which has also received $50,000 from the (Ted) Turner Foundation.

· $1.3 million from the Open Society Institute

· almost $5 million from Lilly Endowments, which was founded by heirs of the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical fortune.  Though not typically known as a left-wing foundation, it has given, for example, more than $700,000 to Planned Parenthood.

· over $12.1 million from the Ford Foundation, most of which came in the form of $10.4 million in grants to the NAACP

Despite being sponsored by prominent, mainstream liberal organizations, the Myers Center?s honoring of Ward Churchill?s screed does not appear to be out the group?s character.  Continued...