Steve Benson for January 29, 2014

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    Enoki  about 10 years ago

    Warning! Sarcasm follows!....One Communist paying homage to another Communist. How touching…....End Sarcasm warning.

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    Dtroutma  about 10 years ago

    Of course “Onward Christian Hypocrites” is popular in certain circles of our political folks, and that has a lot to do with the lack of love between people, and nations who don’t conform to their dogma.

    Pete just sang of how folks can and SHOULD get along, even if they have their differences, which is why he’s an icon in American music.

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    echoraven  about 10 years ago

    He’s done plenty; just none of it good.

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    cdward  about 10 years ago

    And yet you post. By the way, Pete Seeger liked Obama.

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    Jason Allen  about 10 years ago

    “To hear this bozo (even his caricature) pretend to pay tribute to Pete Seeger turns my stomach.”Perhaps, but likely caused by your blind hatred for the fact a non-Republican is in office.

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    lonecat  about 10 years ago

    From the Wiki article on Seeger:“In the 1950s and, indeed, consistently throughout his life, Seeger continued his support of civil and labor rights, racial equality, international understanding, and anti-militarism (all of which had characterized the Wallace campaign) and he continued to believe that songs could help people achieve these goals. With the ever-growing revelations of Joseph Stalin’s atrocities and the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, however, he became increasingly disillusioned with Soviet Communism. In his PBS biography, Seeger said he “drifted away” from the CPUSA beginning in 1949 but remained friends with some who did not leave it, though he argued with them about it.4748

    On August 18, 1955, Seeger was subpoenaed to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Alone among the many witnesses after the 1950 conviction and imprisonment of the Hollywood Ten for contempt of Congress, Seeger refused to plead the Fifth Amendment (which would have asserted that his testimony might be self incriminating) and instead, as the Hollywood Ten had done, refused to name personal and political associations on the grounds that this would violate his First Amendment rights: “I am not going to answer any questions as to my association, my philosophical or religious beliefs or my political beliefs, or how I voted in any election, or any of these private affairs. I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this.”4950 Seeger’s refusal to answer questions that violated his fundamental Constitutional rights led to a March 26, 1957, indictment for contempt of Congress; for some years, he had to keep the federal government apprised of where he was going any time he left the Southern District of New York. He was convicted in a jury trial of contempt of Congress in March 1961, and sentenced to ten 1-year terms in jail (to be served simultaneously), but in May 1962 an appeals court ruled the indictment to be flawed and overturned his conviction."+I’m a big fan of Pete Seeger, and I find it fascinating that he is being praised by people who would have been happy to put him in jail in the 1950s.

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