Pete Seeger for the Nobel

This past Sunday, Pete Seeger became the oldest person to perform publicly as part of Barack Obama's inauguration festivities.

Singing the "greatest song about America ever written" (Bruce Springsteen's words) before 500,000 people and tens of millions more on television, the 89-year old legend crooned two little-known verses of his friend Woody Guthrie's 1940 patriotic standard, "This Land is Your Land" -- one about Depression-era poverty, the other about trespassing on private property -- restoring the song to its former glory over the sanitized version that ruled for so many years.

Watch the performance:

Seeger has been an inimitable ambassador for peace, social justice and the best kind of patriotism over the course of a remarkable lifetime. As a prominent musician his songs have engaged people, particularly the youth, to question the value of war, to ban nuclear weapons, to work for international solidarity and against racism wherever it is practiced, and to assume ecological responsibility.

A particular hero to the civil rights movement on whose behalf he worked so tirelessly, Seeger made his first trip south at the invitation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1956, and returned in '65, again at King's personal invitation, to join the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Amid the tension and heat, Seeger went from campfire to campfire when the march stopped for the night, raising people's morale with rollicking sing-alongs of new freedom songs.

One of the seminal political events in his life, and the one which solidified his intent to make actively combating racism a lifelong pursuit, was the 1949 Peekskill race riots. In this short video, Seeger recounts his experiences:

Without doubt the most influential folk artist of the past century, Seeger deserves at least one more moment on the world stage -- at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Norway. The prize is only bestowed on the living. Although still spry, Seeger turns 90 on May 3. And, as writer and activist Peter Drier writes on the Huffington Post, a Nobel Peace Prize would be "a fitting and much-deserved final tribute for the world's preeminent troubadour for peace and justice" and would serve as important recognition for the many progressive causes to which Seeger has lent his name.

To advance the idea, a new campaign has begun in earnest to persuade the American Friends Service Committee -- which is entitled to put forward submissions -- to enter Seeger as its nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize 2009. Join the cause by signing the petition asking the AFSC to nominate Seeger by the February 1 deadline and check out nobelprize4pete.org for more info on how you can help.

Comments (56)

1. The dow seems concerned about Obama...

   Posted by bleedingheart at 01/20/2009 @ 6:30pm

2. Here's one for Frosty....and Pete:

   Where the F*** is the Change? Inauguration Ad Nauseum By CHRISTOPHER KETCHAM

   The American presidency in its outward show and innermost tendency has since World War II increasingly shown all the markings of monarchy. The president is hovered over and catered to by hundreds of aids and sycophants, his every whim answered at notice. He enjoys a private army in the guise of the paramilitaries in the intelligence agencies. He lives in a "White House" that is itself a court contained in a bubble where the troubles of the average man cannot penetrate. He certainly does not walk often among the people, but when he does, he allows the people to touch him as they would a king, the black-suited guard walling him off, his contempt expressed in direct proportion to the ceremony, noise, trumpets, curtains, light, music, and entertainments meant to ensure that we understand this is no mere man but an ur-expression of power itself.

   Hence, the pomp of the presidential inauguration, which now, under Barack Obama, is expected to become the most expensive in US history. One estimate is that the total cost for the festivities of January 20, and in the days running up to it and after, will rise above $150 million. (By contrast, the 2005 swearing-in of George W. Bush, as profligate an executive as ever imagined, cost $42 million.) Of the $150 million budgeted to handle the millions of people who will descend on Washington, and to finance the lavish parties, the assignations in backrooms, the dying lobsters and the champagne uncorked, just $45 million -- an obscene sum alone -- has been offered up by private donors. The rest, which includes an emergency $75 million requested from the federal government by the city of DC for transportation costs

   Posted by b_kool_66 at 01/20/2009 @ 7:02pm

3. and for the ever-effective bugaboo of "security," will be drawn from the pockets of taxpayers. We the people will also fund a mass prayer service as the cherry on top.

   Oh happy day! Thus doth Change descend among us in the same old purple raiment and with the smiling largesse that the peons pay for. January 20 is a historic wasted opportunity. Obama might have signaled real change from the outset by canceling the whole rotten affair as the waste and silliness and ostentation that it is. Instead, a simple address, televised or better yet on radio, would have sufficed. Something like the following: "My fellow Americans, this is no time for frivolity. The country is falling down around our ears! The reason is mostly because we have blown our money in bad investments, whether it be in war or on Wall Street or on Main Street. Let's not flush millions of dollars more down the toilet in self-congratulation and the flatus of long speeches. Nuff said. See you tomorrow when the work begins." Click.

   Christopher Ketcham writes for Vanity Fair, GQ, Harper's and many other magazines, and is currently working on a book, "The United States Must End," which advocates the dissolution of the US.

   Posted by b_kool_66 at 01/20/2009 @ 7:02pm

4. The dow seems concerned about Obama... Posted by bleedingheart at 01/20/2009 @ 6:30pm | ignore this person | warn this person

   whattaloadofcrap. it's a worldwide recession, about to get worse.

   this is like those fools at Fox saying that the economic crisis was fomented by the dems to help Obama get elected.

   the Dow was below 8000 not long ago.

   Posted by emile duBois at 01/20/2009 @ 7:20pm

5. Ketcham is an ass. the cost of the festivities is what, four minutes of the occupation of Iraq?

   Posted by emile duBois at 01/20/2009 @ 7:23pm

6. Now can we talk about Pete Seeger?

   he has lived the good life and fought the good fight. any accolades are well deserved.

   Posted by emile duBois at 01/20/2009 @ 7:25pm

7. I don't know if I can agree with Mr. Rothberg today about Pete Seeger warranting a Nobel for Peace - if anything, taking at face value the idea that compositions alone warrant such a prize, which I disagree with - I can't help but wonder if a Nobel Peace prize should be awarded to an English-language-only musician who motivated a specific generation of Americans, primarily. The Nobel Peace prize is not an American prize and should not probably be awarded to an American on the grounds that his American, English-works in America motivated and inspired a whole lot of Americans.

   Posted by syfriendly at 01/20/2009 @ 7:26pm

8. i think emile's just about right--in iraq halliburton clears the cost of this inauguration in about 240 seconds.

   public money well spent.

   Posted by urmygyro at 01/20/2009 @ 7:32pm

9. syfriendly--this isn't the only country where english is spoken.

   how many languages besides english did dr. king speak?

   no - i'm not equating pete seeger with dr. king.

   but your standards don't make sense.

   Posted by urmygyro at 01/20/2009 @ 7:34pm

10. <i>Posted by urmygyro at 01/20/2009 @ 7:34pm </i>

    Agreed. Why should concentrated work in one country not be eligible for a Nobel? If Desmond Tutu had stayed in South Africa, should he be automatically ineligible?

    Posted by Thrawn at 01/20/2009 @ 8:08pm

11. Posted by Thrawn at 01/20/2009 @ 8:08pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    Desmond Tutu was a little bit more than a folk/rock musician.

    Posted by syfriendly at 01/20/2009 @ 8:24pm

12. Posted by Thrawn at 01/20/2009 @ 8:08pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    Paul Hewson ("Bono") is nominated for the prize, as well. Should Paul Hewson be given a Nobel Prize?

    How about Brangelina? After a lifetime of wretched excesses of drugs, sex, money, and fame, Brangelina has adopted Third World infants and gotten political, with one half occupying a ceremonial sinecure at the UN. They are now the ultimate human rights tourists. Should Brangelina be awarded a Nobel?

    I don't think celebrity entertainers should in general be considered. Seeger, Bono, and Brangelina are not and will not be up there with President Carter in terms of involvement (or Tutu, etc.)

    Posted by syfriendly at 01/20/2009 @ 8:28pm

13. syfriendly - Neither thrawn nor I was defending Peter Rothberg's idea that Pete Seeger should get a Nobel (not that I'm against Seeger or any entertainer getting such an award).

    I (and I think this is the part where thrawn agreed with me) just thought it made no sense to say someone who speaks only one language shouldn't be eligible for the award (I was responding to another poster).

    Posted by urmygyro at 01/20/2009 @ 8:39pm

14. Wonder what Pete would say about this new generation of pissy, cynical, "nothing is good enough" "progressives" (see above for a few samples).

    Posted by Mask at 01/20/2009 @ 8:49pm

15. Mask - who are you referring to?

    Posted by urmygyro at 01/20/2009 @ 8:53pm

16. Posted by urmygyro at 01/20/2009 @ 8:53pm

    Well, here, KOOL and the Israel-obsessed Mr Friendly....but others today as well, including, increasingly, my ol' Canadian bud FROSTY.

    Again, it comes off "Unless Noam Chomsky becomes President with Cindy Sheehan as Veep, I'm going to be pissy and act like a 6 year old who got the 'wrong kind' of Multi-Megatron Robot from Santa and are having a snit!"

    We just went through 8 years of abject idiocy, incompetence, and insane ideology (I love alliteration)....and it could have easily been Grandpa McSame with the Arctic Prom Queen from Bob Jones, Alaska a heartbeat away...

    And I much prefer the bitchy whining of the losers like HAPP, Darin, Comanche/RIO, etc.....than the bitchy whining of those who won and don't seem to be somewhat grateful.

    LVLIB has shown more class today.

    Posted by Mask at 01/20/2009 @ 9:12pm

17. naysayers needlessly negating new, noble, number-one!

    Posted by urmygyro at 01/20/2009 @ 9:22pm

18. Pete Seeger? Never heard of him.

    Posted by ACook at 01/20/2009 @ 9:28pm

19. <i>Posted by Mask at 01/20/2009 @ 9:12pm </i>

    Hate to be the tool...but I think it's assonance (alliteration is consonants).

    <i>Posted by urmygyro at 01/20/2009 @ 8:39pm </i>

    Exactly. I don't think "one language" or even "one country" should be an automatic precluder. Could it end up making you less qualified than someone who's also done a huge volume of work, but whose work has spanned many countries? Sure. That doesn't mean a concentrator shouldn't be eligible.

    Also...yeah, there's a reason why a couple verses of Seeger's song are usually not sung. They seem to suggest that private property is an intrinsically bad thing. Now, how they propose to have a system without it is another question entirely.

    Posted by Thrawn at 01/20/2009 @ 9:36pm

20. "Seeger, Bono, and Brangelina are not and will not be up there with President Carter in terms of involvement (or Tutu, etc.)"

    Please do not even put Pete Seeger in the same paragraph as President Carter ever again. Pete Seeger wrote and sang songs, helped organize workers, worked for equal rights, worked to clean up the Hudson River, did what he could for the people of Chile under Pinochet.

    Jimmy Carter, who nicely now builds houses, supported the Suharto regime in Indonesia as it invaded East Timor and supported Somoza in Nicaragua and the Shah of Iran.

    But you are right: Seeger was not as involved as Carter.

    Posted by onthehelm at 01/20/2009 @ 9:40pm

21. thrawn - alliteration can start with vowel sounds (and assonance can exist with words that start with consonants).

    Posted by urmygyro at 01/20/2009 @ 9:40pm

22. Give it to Seeger. Give him ALGOREs and restore honor to it.

    Sy is just upset that the Islamic world has contributed maybe 6 Nobel Prize winners compared to Israels many hundreds.

    But then again, the world must benefit from the winners efforts and selling oil doesn't qualify, neither do beheadings in the name of God.

    Posted by YourJomamma at 01/20/2009 @ 9:59pm

23. I'll certainly sign that petition for what it's worth. Pete Seeger is the real deal. He introduced the song "We Shall Overcome" into the civil rights movement. He wrote and sang some of the catchiest, most subversive, earnest, funny, sweet and glorious songs in our country's songbook. For his trouble, he was blacklisted as a communist for much of the 1950s and 60s. He's a national treasure, and he won't live forever.

    Posted by kkuchenb at 01/21/2009 @ 01:09am

24. I'm not sure Pete Seeger deserves the Nobel Peace prize. But I do know he deserved and received the Lenin Peace Prize.

    Pete Seeger is not just one of the oldest Progressives around, he is one of the oldest still living Stalinists.

    In the period before the US entered WWII, while Britain faced Nazi Germany alone, Roosevelt wanted to rearm and enlarge our peacetime army and to send Britain the materiel it did need to fight on.

    Pete Seeger was vocally opposed to that. His songs opposed the draft and Lend Lease, and the idea of the US joining the fight against Hitler. He called FDR a tool of Wall Street, and charged that the White House wanted American boys to die for Dupont and JP Morgan. That was the general Progressive position of that time, though there were some exception, usually Jewish.

    When Germany attacked Russia in June '41 Seeger and his friends changed their mind about not wanting Americans to die in a European war, and Lend Lease, and FDR stopped being a war monger.

    Seeger was able to switch his tune about that, but when the Soviet purge trials became known, and that millions of Kulaks had been starved to death in the Ukraine, and the horrors of the gulags in Siberia into which ever more innocents disappeared, including poets, film makers, musicians, many of whom Seeger knew, he never found time for a song about that.

    The system Seeger celebrated, and the man he admired, murdered tens of millions, more than the Nazis and Hitler. Yes, after Khrushchev denounced Stalin's crimes, Seeger's devotion to Soviet totalitarianism cooled, but so did the ardor of former celebrators of Hitler.

    Would Rothenberg and The Nation urge the Nobel Peace Prize for a kindly ex Nazi propagandist?

    Posted by Hugo_Pirovano at 01/21/2009 @ 02:36am

25. The next time you hear talk about the asinity of so-called "progressives," think on this suggestion: that Pete Seeger be given the Nobel Prize. The notion is so brainless that even to discuss itn would be to lower the IQ. This is the same honor given to Martin Luther King, Jr., for God's sake!

    Posted by miande at 01/21/2009 @ 02:39am

26. If Rothenberg is really interested in a noble cause, one that desperately needs promoting let him look to this Washington Post editorial: http://tinyurl.com/9zqtgm

    The Russian govt has been committing a steady stream of murders of journalists and personalities it finds urksome.

    The most recent murder was that of "Stanislav Markelov, a lawyer who defended Chechens mistreated by the Russian military. On Monday a masked man shot him dead with a silencer, in the street in broad daylight, half a mile from the Kremlin, and Anastasia Baburova, a journalist who tried to protect him was gunned down as well. This was a professional killing.

    Two years ago, Anna Politkovskaya, another courageous journalist and embarrassment for Yeltsin, was cut down in the street. The dissident, Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned to death in London. The Ukraine's president was almost done away with poison, and the lawyer, Karina Moskalenko did die of poisoning.

    Lawless people are running the Kremlin. It is not clear who exactly has been ordering these contracts, but it is clear, the govt is not pursuing the perpetrators.

    Here is a crying need for a world wide protest, in defense of of journalist and in defense of elementary justice. Even in the time of the Czar world wide protests could move the authorities, as in the case of Mendel Beilis, the subject of Malamud's The Fixer.

    Here indignation and protest is warranted. But the professional bleeding hearts, the experts in righteous indignation, the moral paragons of THE NATION, are silent. In such a matter it is, All Quiet on the Progressive front.

    Posted by Hugo_Pirovano at 01/21/2009 @ 03:53am

27. Posted by Thrawn at 01/20/2009 @ 9:36pm

    No, no. You're right. I stand corrected.

    Posted by Mask at 01/21/2009 @ 08:59am

28. 2008 The prize goes to:

    MARTTI AHTISAARI for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts.

    2007 The prize goes to:

    INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC) and ALBERT ARNOLD ( AL) GORE JR. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.

    2006 The prize goes to:

    MUHAMMAD YUNUS and GRAMEEN BANK for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.

    2005 The prize was awarded jointly to:

    INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY and MOHAMED ELBARADEI for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.

    2004 The prize was awarded to:

    WANGARI MAATHAI

    for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace

    2003 The prize was awarded to:

    SHIRIN EBADI

    for her efforts for democracy and human rights

    2002 The prize was awarded to:

    JIMMY CARTER JR., former President of the United States of America,

    for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development

    2001 The prize was awarded to:

    UNITED NATIONS, New York, NY, USA

    KOFI ANNAN, United Nations Secretary General

    2000 The prize was awarded to:

    KIM DAE JUNG for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular.

    1999 The prize was awarded to:

    DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES), Brussels, Belgium.

    1998 The prize was awarded jo

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 09:33am

29. I tried to post the entire list of Nobel peace prize laureates. to no avail. y'all have to look it up yourselves.

    Seeger stacks up quite well in that company.

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 09:39am

30. I'm all for Pete. However,people are overlooking the impact during this inagural ceremony of Big Bill Broonzy. His controversial song - "GET BACK (Black,Brown,and White)" recorded in Chicago Nov.8,1951 on the Mercury label- was the basis for the close of the Inaguration Benediction. The song was not released in the U.S. until a Mercury Box Set in 1996. It was released in France and has long been an important part of Black culture. I hope Big Bill gets a huge new following as a result of becoming a hot topic on day-after morning talk. It should have long been as well known as Pete's great song.(The box is THE MERCURY BLUES 'N' RHYTHM STORY,1945-1955)

    Posted by jimfields at 01/21/2009 @ 10:41am

31. blackcoptermedia.com for the nobel, If they gave it to AL GORE they would give it to anyone! so we at blackcoptermedia.com what one for upstart of the year for we are just a band of 2 people trying to make a difference!

    Posted by thesid at 01/21/2009 @ 10:48am

32. (The box is THE MERCURY BLUES 'N' RHYTHM STORY,1945-1955) Posted by jimfields at 01/21/2009 @ 10:41am | ignore this person | warn this person

    sounds like a great collection, Jim.

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 11:02am

33. The box set is wonderful, but I just discovered BBB on youtube and the song there has a great extra verse-Might be the French version. Enjoy!!

    Posted by jimfields at 01/21/2009 @ 11:25am

34. would it kill you to post the link?

    just kidding.

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 12:23pm

35. 69 year old retard here-sorry. I actually don't know how to keyboard or do links. However, the is some interesting history at www.broonzy.com/ and I found the Youtube recording at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLw5ahxm.Q

    Posted by jimfields at 01/21/2009 @ 1:19pm

36. Posted by jimfields at 01/21/2009 @ 1:19pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    you're doing fine.

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 1:24pm

37. "Ketcham is an ass. the cost of the festivities is what, four minutes of the occupation of Iraq?"

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/20/2009 @ 7:23pm

    "Wonder what Pete would say about this new generation of pissy, cynical, "nothing is good enough" "progressives" (see above for a few samples)."

    Posted by Mask at 01/20/2009 @ 8:49pm

    A. Uh, that post by Ketcham was pretty heavily tongue-in-cheek on my part --although there are some valid points raised. From a politically expedient point of view it makes tremendous sense for Team Obama to pump up the hype, so a big part of me says, "Go for it".

    More to the point here, as much as I may tend to get pretty fired up here on occasion --anything wrong with that on a political bomb throwing blog space?-- sense of humor is typically something that I favor as well. You two guys appear to miss that a bit too frequently in my opinion --especially "emile" who rarely cracks anything worth a even a smile.

    "Pete Seeger? Never heard of him."

    Posted by ACook at 01/20/2009 @ 9:28pm

    A. What else is new? A Cook, for whetever reason I kinda like you --hard to explain, as in LV's case as well-- but you occasionally rip off the most crude comments that blow my mind with their callousness.

    Furthurmore, your ignorance on these blogs should get you permanently banned if justice were served. You have no credibility to post on intelligent matters.

    Posted by b_kool_66 at 01/21/2009 @ 2:03pm

38. Posted by jimfields @ 10:41am

    A plug for Broonzy! Well done, Jim.

    And by all means, post here more often if you like. It helps to sooth the tone here at The Nation's sometimes super-heated (and often unenlightened) spaces to read (and hear) something more intellectually stimulating.

    Kudos, dude!

    Posted by b_kool_66 at 01/21/2009 @ 2:24pm

39. -especially "emile" who rarely cracks anything worth a even a smile.

    calumny.

    I made, I believe, a funny today and it sank like a stone.

    here it is again:

    Mr. Obama let me be the first to say:

    four more years.

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 7:28pm

40. B, I have been under a lot of stress lately.

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 7:32pm

41. B, I have been under a lot of stress lately.

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 7:32pm

    What's going on? If I may ask.

    Posted by Benchrest at 01/21/2009 @ 8:33pm

42. you may ask, bench. there's the thing with the apartment. I mentioned it before, my apartment was condemned because the building is sinking, a condition the landlord ignored for over a year, and one that still has not been addressed, and while I am in a nice place now, with a fantastic view, it is a sublet. it is also $200 more a month and I have had to put some things storage, which costs another $200 a month. so my rent went up by a third.

    I am also separated from my books, my artwork etc. it is a soft vacate order, which means I can come and go, but I can't live there.

    then there are some issues with my son. he stays out all night, and is a prolific graffiti artist, like on the wall in the subway tunnels. and who knows where else. scary stuff. the bright side is that he's real good at it.

    he also gets stopped frequently by the cops, and sometimes is holding. this has lead to thousands in lawyer's fees. he could lose his scholarship money with a cannabis conviction. and we have no money to send him to college.

    underlying these issues is the economic crash. there is less work for us, as our clients, arts organizations, are getting squeezed financially. I am taking out IRAs to pay my expenses.

    howzat?

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 9:08pm

43. howzat?

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 9:08pm

    Your plate is full.

    If I could talk to your son, he would appreciate his father.

    Posted by Benchrest at 01/21/2009 @ 9:22pm

44. emile - sorry to hear about your troubles.

    i'm also sorry that this country is still so puritanical with a drug like marijuana. alcohol is much more dangerous.

    new york should do as massachusetts - decriminalize possession of marijuana. if cops find one with an ounce or less, all they can do is confiscate it and give a ticket (basically an infraction) for $100.

    perhaps someday it will be legalized--but decriminalization is a step in the right direction.

    p.s. - if you're completely against your son partaking in marijuana use, my apologies for the above.

    Posted by urmygyro at 01/21/2009 @ 9:37pm

45. Posted by urmygyro at 01/21/2009 @ 9:37pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    I'm not at all against his cannabis use. I have been smoking since I was his age. I've never had to hide my smoking from him, or his mom.

    my son is a remarkable young man and we have a close , affectionate relationship.

    we used to smoke openly in movie theaters, the midnight show of El Topo or "the harder they come" you could have cut the air with a knife.

    we smoked everywhere, in the street, the park. the cops were laissez faire. we were all convinced the prohibition would be gone by the time we grew up. pfft.

    my totally free college education was never in jeopardy. we smoked in the college cafeteria.

    I appreciate the sympathetic posts. perhaps I provided some pleasure of Schadenfreude for some.

    we shall not only endure, we shall prevail.

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 10:09pm

46. Benchrest, that is a very nice thing you said.

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 10:10pm

47. I,m an old folk singer I am desperate to vote for Pete as suggested. Cant find anywhere on this site to do so or even any instructions for getting to a poling place.

    DO WE HAVE A VOTE OR NOT???

    Posted by Suirin at 01/22/2009 @ 10:55am

48. no, we don't.

    How are Laureates selected?

    At the first meeting of the Nobel Committee after the February 1 deadline for nominations, the Committee's Permanent Secretary presents the list of the year's candidates. The Committee may on that occasion add further names to the list, after which the nomination process is closed, and discussion of the particular candidates begins.

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/22/2009 @ 11:01am

49. Well what do you want in this world? There are lovers and then there are haters. Thank god I grew up listening to Pete Seeger and that made me one hell of a lover. There are great people in this world who have taught pacifism and were often misunderstood - Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi, etc. Pete Seeger has also fought for goodness in the world and deserves to be recognized for it rather than crucified.

    Posted by jrh1974 at 01/22/2009 @ 6:35pm

50. Assonance. Yup. I support Pete for the Nobel. As demonstrated through his lifelong commitment to pacifism, humanitarianism, ecological health, and social sanity in general, his is a life's work worthy of a Nobel prize. And his philosophy is still as reactive as dynamite. I live not far from Peekskill. A cross was burned on a family's lawn last year.

    Posted by A_Pax_On_Your_Houses at 01/23/2009 @ 05:53am

51. Not many people still living can claim to have stood up in front of, and to, the House Un-American Activities Committee. Pete, a World War II veteran, boldly refused to answer the line of questioning designed to get him to implicate himself and others.

    "I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin, or situation in life. I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody."

    Peace has been at the core of Pete's message for 80 years. His banjo says "This Machine Kills Fascism" but its real message is "This Machine Kills Killers". Having penned the song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" alone should qualify him for any peace award.

    Posted by banjoist123 at 01/24/2009 @ 10:36am

52. howzat?

    Posted by emile duBois at 01/21/2009 @ 9:08pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    as REM sang...hold on...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 01/24/2009 @ 2:05pm

53. Having penned the song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" alone should qualify him for any peace award. Posted by banjoist123 at 01/24/2009 @ 10:36am | ignore this person | warn this person

    well spoken, brother. Along with his smashing good looks, winning smile, and seemingly ever cheerful demeanor

    Posted by A_Pax_On_Your_Houses at 01/24/2009 @ 2:30pm

54. We have a classic apples and oranges comparison going on about the relative costs of Bush's and Obama's inauguration. Unfortunately, the second comment on this article is based on completely wrong information, however widely disseminated by our incompetent at best, lying at worst, media.

    From the conclusion of a Mediamatters.org analysis by Eric Boehlert:

    "However, buried in a recent New York Times article published one week before the controversy erupted over the cost of Obama's inauguration, the newspaper reported that in 2005, "the federal government and the District of Columbia spent a combined $115.5 million, most of it for security, the swearing-in ceremony, cleanup and for a holiday for federal workers" [emphasis added].

    "You read that correctly. The federal government spent $115 million dollars for the 2005 inauguration. Keep in mind, that $115 million price tag was separate from the money Bush backers bundled to put on the inauguration festivities. For that, they raised $42 million. So the bottom line for Bush's 2005 inauguration, including the cost of security? That's right, $157 million.

    "Unless the Obama inauguration tab (including security) ends up costing $630 million, we can safely say it certainly won't cost four times what the Bush bash did in 2005. And unless the Obama inauguration tab (including security) runs to $257 million, we can safely say the event won't cost $100 million more than Bush's, as Fox & Friends claimed.

    "So, for now, can the press and partisans please stop peddling this malignant myth?"

    --Eric Boehlert, Media Matters.org

    Posted by dwebercleve at 01/24/2009 @ 4:51pm

55. 'One type of song that has come into increasing prominence in recent months is the folk-song of protest. You have to admire people who sing these songs. it takes a certain amount of courage to get up in a coffee-house or a college auditorium and come out in favor of the things that everybody else in the audience is against like peace and justice and brotherhood and so on.

    ...

    We are the folk song army. Everyone of us cares. We all hate poverty, war, and injustice, Unlike the rest of you squares.

    There are innocuous folk songs. Yeah, but we regard em with scorn. The folks who sing em have no social conscience. Why they dont even care if jimmy crack corn.

    If you feel dissatisfaction, Strum your frustrations away. Some people may prefer action, But give me a folk song any old day....' -- Tom Lehrer

    Posted by HonestLiberal at 01/26/2009 @ 09:09am

56. Tom Lehrer Posted by HonestLiberal at 01/26/2009 @ 09:09am

    His liner notes sucked. I have his 10 inch with the horned pianist on the endless keyboard and the liner notes are some jive about being considered a god in africa by thousands of "gibbering natives." The songs are pretty funny and not especially racist, but not Nobel material imho

    Posted by A_Pax_On_Your_Houses at 01/26/2009 @ 9:23pm