(Enjoy!!)

(This is the sort of letter I get from my Dad. He’s awesome. Here’s Proof.)

Liz and I went out for the day and when we returned home, the Obama thing was on t.v. It was just at the point where Pete Seeger was singing Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land”. Right away I remembered Pete Seeger had been blacklisted as a Communist, while the song, “This Land is Your Land”, had been written by a known Communist Sympathizer. I leapt to the internet, full hi speed ahead, to find out how Red these people were. Pete Seeger not only joined the Young Communist League at a young age, he joined the Communist Party as a young adult. Woody Guthrie actually wrote a column for “The Daily Worker” called “Woody Sez”, even though he never joined the Communist party. The Daily Worker was a Communist newspaper with a circulation of about 35,000 at it’s peak.
Usually, when an individual was called to testify before Joseph McCarthy’s House UnAmerican Activities Committee, he could plead the 5th amendment without consequence. A group who came to be known as “The Hollywood Ten” chose instead to invoke the 1st Amendment. The difference was that while the 5th invokes the right not to incriminate oneself, the 1st invokes the right of freedom of speech and assembly. They were all convicted of Contmpt of Congress and sentenced to one year prison sentences. For an interesting article, go HERE.
When Mr. Seeger was called before the The Committee, he, too invoked the 1st, instead of the 5th, resulting in a trial and conviction resulting in a 10 year prison sentence for Seeger, overturned on appeal.
Pete Seeger wrote, or co-wrote these songs: “Turn, Turn, Turn”, recorded by the Byrds., and Where have all the Flowers gone? Woody Guthrie wrote Hoe Hill, a lament to the framing and execution of an Immigrant labor organizer and songwriter.
When I found out that Woody had written Grand Coulee Dam, it reminded me of that line in Bob Dylan’s :The Idiot Wind” : “The Idiot Wind, Blowing like a circle around my skull, from The Grand Coulee dam to the Capital.”
Please let me explain all that…No…It would take too long…Let me sum up…Bob Dylan wrote a song containing The Grand Coulee Dam, which was a song by Woody Guthrie, who also wrote “This Land is Your Land” which was sung by Pete Seeger, accompanied by Bruce Springsteen, who wrote the song Tom Joad, who was also a hero to Communists. I think Obama put those folks up there for a reason, but it’s going to scare some people since he has already been accused of communist leanings. Let me know what you think so I can let you know what you should think.
You’re always free to speak your mind, as long as you agree with me,
Love,
Your Dad