Is It Possible to Love the Artist, but Hate His Politics? The culture clash over Pete Seeger's legacy.

This is a good reprimand to those of us who only know of Seeger as a communist sympathizer and look no deeper into the man than that. These thoughts could have also applied to Springsteen had he practiced his art in the early to mid-twentieth century instead of today. I disagreed with Seeger, but knew he was for real; I cannot help but see Springsteen's music - excellent as it is - as shtick  .  TD

denverpost.com

By Rick Moran at PJ Media  "Communist activist and troubadour Pete Seeger is dead. The outpouring of vitriol on the right and hagiography on the left is entirely predictable and, with few exceptions, entirely banal. Turning Seeger’s death into another clash in the culture wars somehow seems tiresome, like two old boxers coming out of their corners for the 12th round. Battered, beaten, bloody, all they have left is the instinct to try to destroy each other. Whatever art and artifice they possessed disappeared long before the bell clanged for the last round.

"Must we reduce everything in America to a right vs. left Armageddon? One longs for a more complicated, less knee-jerk combative analysis of people like Pete Seeger. Actually, there has been no one like Pete Seeger, and future historians will brush aside most of the shallow, venomous assaults on his memory — as well as the one-dimensional paeans that whitewash his execrable politics — and look at the totality of his life and judge his monumental contributions to American society."

Clinton supporter to CSPAN: Ben Carson 'trying out for Uncle Tom’s Cabin'

Examiner.com  "On Monday, a supporter of Hillary Clinton went on a racially-charged rant during a call to CSPAN's "Washington Journal," attacking Dr. Ben Carson, Allen West and men in general, the Washington Free Beacon reported:

 
" 'Good morning. I am a black woman from Fort Washington, Maryland. And yes, Hillary Clinton will run for office and she will win," the caller began, before launching into a racist tirade against conservative blacks who dare to not stay on the Democratic Party plantation.

" 'Mr. Carson, the only thing he’s going to be doing is trying out for Uncle Tom’s Cabin, because it’s kind of full right now with Allen West and the crew," she said.

"The caller then went on a rant against men in general." ...

This is all the natural result of Today's Democrat Party and the leftist demagoguery that is woven into their character, smothering all traces of tolerance and compassion. TD

These were NOT Pete Seeger's finest moments

Famed Folk Singer, Songwriter And Political Activist Dies At 94
"His musical career was always braided tightly with his political activism, in which he advocated for causes ranging from civil rights to the cleanup of his beloved Hudson River. Seeger said he left the Communist Party around 1950 and later renounced it. But the association dogged him for years."

Seeger was apparently a sucker for liberal causes and apparently not wise enough to judge the worth of them. He supported the Occupy movement -including, in my mind- their deplorable excesses (I've never heard of Seeger condemning them) and, most amazingly, Al Sharpton and Tawana Brawley.

He got himself jailed for five days for blocking traffic in Albany in 1988 in support of Tawana Brawley, a black teenager whose claim of having been raped by white men was later discredited. He continued to take part in peace protests during the war in Iraq, and he continued to lend his name to causes.

America’s Most Successful Communist ... ... "Given his decisive influence on the political direction of popular music, Seeger may have been the most effective American communist ever."
...
"Though Seeger didn’t formally join the Communist Party until 1942, the Almanacs’ lyrics marched in lockstep with the party’s views well before then. In keeping with the line adopted after the 1939 Hitler-Stalin pact (which caused many U.S. party members to quit in disgust), for example, the Almanacs warbled against American entry into World War II, foreshadowing the preference for peace at any price that later characterized the McGovernite Left. “Franklin D., listen to me,/You ain’t a-gonna send me ’cross the sea.” The group continued in this vein into the late 1940s. Campaigning for Progressive Party anti–cold war candidate Henry Wallace in 1948, they regularly performed a send-up of Harry Truman, to the tune of “Oh, Susannah”:" ...

Governing by Pen and Phone; Obama used to sigh that he was not a dictator who could act unilaterally. No more.

Victor Davis Hanson  "There are lots of creepy things about such dictatorial statements of moving morally backward in order to go politically “forward.” Concerning issues dear to the president’s heart — climate change, more gun control, de facto amnesty, more massive borrowing supposedly to jump-start the anemic, jobless recovery — Obama not long ago had a Democratic supermajority in the Senate and a strong majority in the House. With such rare political clout, he supposedly was going to pass his new American agenda.

"Instead, all he got from his Democratic colleagues was more borrowing and Obamacare. In the case of the latter, the bill passed only through the sort of pork-barrel kickbacks and exemptions to woo fence-sitting Democratic legislators that we hadn’t seen in the U.S. since the 1930s. And for what? Obamacare (be careful what you wish for) is proving to be the greatest boondoggle in American political history since Prohibition. If Obama sincerely
wished to work in bipartisan fashion with Congress, he probably could easily get a majority vote to build the Keystone XL Pipeline, or a backup sanction plan against Iran in case his own initiatives fail." ...

Bridenstine Bringing Ty Woods' Dad to SOTU

Charles Woods

Big Government  "Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) is determined to counter the Obama Administration’s efforts to sweep the massacre at the U.S. consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya under the rug. Bridenstine announced Monday that his personal guest at Tuesday’s State of the Union address will be Charles Woods, the father of Navy SEAL Ty Woods, who was murdered in the 2012 terrorist attack that the Obama Administration initially insisted was the result of an anti-Islam video."
Mr. Woods testified,

When I was approached by Hillary Clinton at the coming-home ceremony of the bodies at Andrews Air Force Base, and she said, “We’re going to go out and we’re going to prosecute that person that made the video,” I knew that she wasn’t telling the truth, and I think the whole world knows that now.

 More on this here.

A GOP Congressman Is Bringing Father of SEAL Killed in Benghazi to Obama’s State of the Union Address
“ 'Republican leaders were urging their members to bring people who have been hurt by Obamacare. Some Democrats plan to bring illegal immigrant children who were granted a temporary stay of deportation by Mr. Obama, hoping their presence will spur a push for a broader immigration bill to pass Congress this year,” the report notes."

The nauseating spectacle the State of the Union has become

http://terrellaftermath.com/

 

Republicans, beware The SOTU Curse  "Why responding to the president can be hazardous to your political career."

Jonah Goldberg; The Pull of the SOTU    ... "But I really do resent the demand on my time and attention to listen to a fairly pathetic wish list of focus-grouped programs and the rhetorical placating of various constituencies. As a fan of civic rituals myself, I understand why some people have a soft spot for the pageantry of this thing. But I find it all canned, tacky and vaguely monarchical. If you find that too mealy-mouthed, I strongly recommend you read Kevin Williamson’s piece today. He’s less equivocal. "...

OK, we will. Here:

On the nauseating spectacle that is the State of the Union address
"The State of the Union is only one example of the deepening, terrifying cult of the state that has taken root here. Many heads of state — and some royals, for that matter — fly on commercial aircraft. ... but are known to use mass transit — just like the people they are elected to represent. An American president stages a Roman triumph every time he heads out for a round of golf. ...Washington has become ...a Renaissance court with armored sedans and hundred-million-dollar paydays.

Thinking ahead to the State of the Union speech.

You Said A Mouthful  "His major thrust is going to be "income inequality" and all that goes with it - jobs, the economy, education, and a half-century of progressive, overfunded social programs which haven't made a dent in poverty. Actually, he'll skip that last bit because it now seems like the biggest factor in creating upward economic mobility is having a stable family structure - something to which the Left is adamantly opposed."

Forbes; Obama's State Of The Union Address: If You Like Your Income Inequality, You Can Keep It  "President Barack Obama was right when he said, “The long-term unemployed are not lazy. They’re not lacking in motivation. They’re coping with the aftermath of the worst economic crisis in generations.”
"He should know, his policies prolong the situation.
"From a promised minimum wage increase, to destabilization of the health care system,  to an energy policy encapsulated by “Under my plan … electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket,” no part of the Obama vision is about making America freer and richer."

Obama enlists corporations in State of the Union plan to address long-term unemployment   "The wall street journal reported the pledge Monday morning. It commits corporations to boosting the long-term unemployed by ensuring that they are not unfairly treated in companies' advertising or hiring decisions and improving their efforts to hire those out of work for long periods. The pledge does not appear to include any legally binding provisions."

Feeding the RGI ( “Racial Grievance Industry” )

Neal Boortz  "This is an industry operated by and for the benefit of people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.  The simple fact is without racial grievances to promote and to wail over, these people generally cease to exist.
            "The Atlanta Journal Constitution certainly did its part to provide fodder for the RGI over the weekend.  How’s this for a story?  “New Cities Reignite Debate Over Race.” 
            "Really?  As you went about your daily routine in Atlanta and the ‘burbs were you aware that the debate over race had been reignited?  All this time I thought that people were concerned about finding or keeping their jobs, navigating the crevasse-filled landscape of 0bamacare, or how to put aside enough money to retire in the face of today’s confiscatory tax rates."
....
All this fits the leftist template:

To recognize people as individuals is to deny their all-important group identity.  Group identities are so important to the left – so easy to exploit for political power.  Liberals love groups .. mobs.  Groups don’t think, they just react in mass like lemmings.  Individuals – white or black – think independently and are thus difficult to control or manipulate.

The in-your-face Grammys

Same-sex Wedding Ceremonies Performed at the Grammys
 

Gay Marriages Interrupt Grammys' Universal Reach  " For one night, an awards show understood what it meant to appeal to the masses. And then the 2014 Grammy Awards fired off a culture war missile aimed at those who believe in a traditional definition of marriage."

Same Love: Queen Latifah Officiates Gay Weddings at Grammys  "The stage was set to give the appearance of a church with stained glass windows; however, in the song, Macklemore calls out "right wing conservatives," as "playing God" because they "think its a decision," along with churches who "preach hate" saying "their words aren't anointed."

"Apparently your words are only anointed if you agree with the lefty-gay agenda."

Stars Align for a Gay Marriage Anthem 

  “ 'The fact that a song solely dedicated to the message of marriage equality is climbing the charts and quickly becoming a popular song across the country is a big deal,” said Charlie Joughin, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay rights organization. “It’s indicative of a changing attitude.' ”
The song and it's lyrics here.

Green Drought; For the sake of the smelt, California farmland lies fallow.

NRO

 

... "As a direct result of the overwrought concern that a few well-connected interest groups and their political allies have displayed for a fish — and of a federal Endangered Species Act that is in need of serious revision — hundreds of billions of gallons of water that would in other areas have been sent to parched farmland have been diverted away from the Central Valley and deliberately pushed out under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific Ocean, wasted forever, to the raucous applause of Luddites, misanthropes, and their powerful enablers. The later chapters of “The Decline and Fall of the United States” will make interesting reading." ...

Projections on the State of the Union address Tuesday

 

If you like Obama's executive orders, you are going to love 2014  "Case in point: Our president plans to rule us - not govern us - by using the vast powers of his office and absolute control of the federal bureaucracy to ram his vision of hope and change down our throats. Done without the approval of Congress and with little challenge from the judiciary.

"Can he get away with it? Watch him:"

The Phone and Pen President    "Here’s a hint: Pens and phones can’t achieve much when you’ve got nothing to say." 

Government intimidation and Hollywood blacklists

https://theweek.com/cartoons/index/244154/an-intimidating-team

D'Souza Producer: 'I Never Feared My Govt Until Now'!   " 'I'm a little bit taken aback by the whole thing because he's such a great American," Molen said of D'Souza on Newmax TV's "Steve Malzberg Show." The conservative writer and commentator understands the process in America and how it works, Molen said.

"Molen, who also produced the Academy-award winning "Schindler's List," said he has not spoken to D'Souza since he learned of the indictment, and wouldn't make comments about the specific case until he's learned all the facts."

Did Mockery of Obama Get Dinesh D'Souza Arrested?   "Here we thought Obama's Department of Justice fingered D'Souza for an allegedly illegal campaign contribution. Turns out the catalyst for the arrest and excessive $500,000 bond may actually stem from a tweet.

"Klonsky suggests the arrest is payback for D'Souza's "racist" mockery of President Obama's post-verdict comment in the Trayvon Martin case."  

What if Dinesh D’Souza had waved around a 30-round magazine?
... "It’s hard to see how the criminal prosecution is not political, a result of D’Souza’s 2016: Obama’s America film. That prosecutors have the power to indict doesn’t remove the smell of politics from the case, because in simlar situations the matter is treated civilly.
"This is an issue we have addressed before. What Prof. Glenn Reynolds calls Ham Sandwich Nation, where everyone has broken some law, and prosecutors get to choose who to indict."

Media Not Very Curious about D’Souza Indictment   "There’s nothing new about politically motivated prosecutions. But this particular prosecution seems so petty, so petulant, that only someone schooled in Chicago Way politics would approve it.
"Does that bring anyone to mind? Bueller? Bueller?"

This Is Starting to Look Like a Pattern of Political Moves and Prosecutions   "A pattern indeed, that stretches back to 2010 and the IRS abuse, or 2009 if you include Obama’s joke that he would use the IRS against his opponents.
"Here is one more fact. In 2012, Obama’s campaign deliberately disabled safeguards on its website, allowing it to collect illegal foreign donations. It did accept illegal foreign donations; to what extent is unknown. Those donations, and the campaign staff who disabled the safeguards, were never investigated or prosecuted. The media never showed much interest in investigating, either."