The Professional Left---Let's name names.

[roody]

These are people committed to social justice. I'll start. I name Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas. Please add your favorites.

www.soaw.org

[Hello_Kitty]

1. Gay soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines wanting DODT to be overturned. eom

[roody]

2. Dolores Huerta

[dflprincess]

3. Physicans for a National Health Plan

all nurses unions, but especially the one in California (I bet the administration really hates those professionals)

and Code Pink

[roody]

17. Honorable Mention to Colonel Ann Wright

[Tempest]

4. Would Nobel Peace prize winner Paul Krugman qualify? n/t

[Tansy_Gold]

23. Krugman never won the Nobel Peace Prize

And he's hardly a progressive.



TG, NTY

[madmax]

31. I think he did.

http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/13/krugman-nobel-economic...

[Dr.Phool]

51. Nobel Prize in Economics.

The Peace Prize is different.

[madmax]

68. Damn details

Thank you for enlightening me. Glad I embarrased myself here, amonst friends.

[Tempest]

71. Not the Peace prize, but still a Nobel

And he's as progressive as any others I know.

[RKP5637]

34. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2008 to Paul Krugman

Princeton University, NJ, USA

[Jim Lane]

92. I'm sure Krugman would support the inclusion of his fellow Nobelist, Joseph Stiglitz

From Joseph Stiglitz's bio on Wikipedia:

Stiglitz said that whoever designed the Obama administration's bank rescue plan is "either in the pocket of the banks or they’re incompetent."

[roody]

5. The hardworking volunteers at CaliforniaOneCare

http://californiaonecare.org

[roguevalley]

61. are those the nurses? they rule. Also Greenpeace and Code Pink

[WorseBeforeBetter]

6. Anyone who works for The Nation. (n/t)

[rateyes]

7. The teachers who are now under Obama's school bus!

[kenny blankenship]

8. That awful Glenn Greenwald! Will he never stop?

[roody]

9. Amy Goodman

www.democracynow.org

[mattvermont]

11. yes! nt.

[kenny blankenship]

10. Anthony Romero and the ACLU

[roody]

12. Morris Dees and The Southern Poverty Law Center

http://www.splcenter.org

[laughingliberal]

13. California Nurse's Association. nt

[fogonthelake]

15. plus plus....

[fogonthelake]

14. HealthJustice

[depakid]

16. Paul Krugman

[Booster]

18. Rachel, of course.

[roody]

19. Drafting Congressman Dennis Kucinich

[Blue_In_AK]

20. Shannyn Moore, Jeanne Devon, Linda Kellen-Biegel (The Mudflats)

I don't know if they're making much money, but they're definitely left.

[Whisp]

21. ok, here are a couple. You have missed the message and point.

[Sebastian Doyle]

24. Bad example

Since neither of the people in that picture are "left" by any reasonable definition.

One right wing DLC'er and one right wing neocon Bush Crime Family sycophant.

[Whisp]

26. carville calls himself a democrat, and many others do as well.

maybe you and I know better but he keeps that tag because it serves him and his republiarse wife.

[janx]

50. Yep.

$$$$$$$$$$
media

[Sebastian Doyle]

55. You really think Gibbs was talking about Carville?

They're on the same team. Both are DLC'ers with absolute contempt and hatred for REAL Democrats.

[fogonthelake]

25. Most of us get the point but you missed it.

[Whisp]

27. you want us to believe Gibbs meant people that work hard and honestly for left ideas.

that isn't who he meant and you damn well know it, but it serves your purpose of misinformation.

[fogonthelake]

29. YOU are the one posting pics of Carville and his wife who are certainly

nothing close to the Left. So, you are propagating misinformation.

[Whisp]

30. carville calls himself a democrat. he's a pundit that gets paid

for his so called whatever he gets paid for, just sputtering and spitting mostly, can't figure out what the asshole is talking about most of the time.

but you don't hear his professionally right shit mouthed wife dissing the Chimperor or the RW. But the two of them have a good time tearing Obama apart together and chewing on him with glee. He takes his wifes rightwing talking points and runs with it if it gets him some cheap ass camera on tv.

[Dragonfli]

48. He is a professional CENTRIST that helped Clinton push "New Dem" fertilizer last go around

He is not a left Democrat and never has claimed to be.

[janx]

56. Yes, it's an act and always has been.

It's infotainment. It sells advertisements.

[roody]

28. I'm going with Phoebe's definition of professional left---

people who have made social justice their life's work.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[knitter4democracy]

32. Those darn community activists and organizers, right?

I can't stand this crap. We're the base, for crying out loud!

[Whisp]

39. and Gibbs was not talking about them.

he was talking about the blow anything out of their ass pundits

[eridani]

89. He most certainly was. Who do you think is the audience of those pundits? n/t

[Sebastian Doyle]

22. Thom Hartmann proudly embraced the label this morning.

as he was commenting on the absurdity of Gibbs' statement.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

72. Yep definitely Thom Hartmann

I say he was talking about Rachel Maddow, who has been silent on this so far.
Also Cenk Uygur.

[Sebastian Doyle]

74. And Mike Malloy

I'm sure he would proudly call himself part of the "Professional Left"

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. Zhinn, (RIP)

[janx]

58. Zinn, not Zhinn. He was a Marxist. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

60. And... he worked for the people

or are you using the term marxist as a slurr.

There is more, what TYPE of marxist? I am sure you are well informed enough to tell us.

[EFerrari]

81. Not really. He said he liked the anarchists but didn't take the label.

Marxist was the label the FBI gave him.

[Scurrilous]

35. Let's list all the good and decent people in the world...

...and then pretend Gibbs was referring to them.

What fun!!

[roody]

38. Let's place bets on how many of them want a health care

system like Canada's.

[Scurrilous]

47. Let's misrepresent what Gibbs said...

...and play victim for days on end.

[roody]

53. No victim here. I nominate myself---

school teacher, community volunteer, chair of my party's County Council. Love socialized health care and want war to stop.

[janx]

59. Me too! I nominate myself too! n/t

[UpInArms]

36. Kathy Kelly

http://vcnv.org/speaker-bio/kathy-kelly

[roody]

37. and all the others that went to Baghdad to suffer the

attack with the Iraqi people

[flamingdem]

40. THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE BRILLIANT AND DON'T PISS ON OBAMA nt

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[roody]

43. It's time for bed.

[janx]

44. Obviously. n/t

[Whisp]

46. me too

[roody]

42. The wonderful staff of CREW---Citizens

for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington---They have an opening posted.

http://www.citizensforethics.org/

[rucky]

45. This list is getting long. I better hide my drugs.

[roody]

49. Our own Fly by night---a marijuana hero.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[janx]

52. Committed to social justice, or committed to making money? n/t

[roody]

54. social justice---

May I include those who work or volunteer at homeless shelters?

[phasma ex machina]

57. Thank you for the propz. nt

[Whisp]

83. I don't think Gibbs was talking about volunteers at homeless shelters...

but some will insist he did.

what the hell, fill in the blank with whatever you like and it will fly like a glorious falcon here.

[Snazzy]

62. Whistleblowers.

Ellsberg. Now Manning.

Hell throw in a Wilson and Plame while ya at it, but there are more many more.

[Laelth]

63. Michael Moore (according to Kieth Olbermann). n/t

-Laelth

[Hubert Flottz]

64. Kenneth William Hechler

About Mr. Hechler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Hechler

Ken Hechler arrested for being a good citizen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsruitvQ6j8

Ken cares about West Virginia and so do I.

[roody]

73. Wow! Love his age!

[Hubert Flottz]

77. His mind is still razor sharp too.

I've talked with him face to face and he's a great down to Earth person. Walked through West Virginia with Granny D when she came here. He hates what the "Friends Of Coal" are doing to our mountains and streams. The man is a patriot.

[TBF]

65. I think they're mad at folks like Krugman -

who are actually widely-read and not always positive about the administration. But I dunno - it may have been a more broad sweep to try to appeal to moderates.

[John Agar]

66. Martin Luther King (RIP) Dorothy Day (RIP)

Robert F Kennedy (RIP)

Malcolm X (RIP)

David Dellinger (RIP)

Benjamin Spock (RIP)

Need I go on?

All of our heroes.

[roody]

67. Peter Phillips, Andrew Roth, and Project Censored

www.projectcensored.org

[rusty fender]

69. Jimmy and Roslyn Carter

[TheKentuckian]

70. Harry Truman is bringing the dope to the morning meeting

Crazy universal health care commie

[Sebastian Doyle]

76. Don't forget that whole "desegregating the military" thing

Fucking hippie.

[TheKentuckian]

80. That wasn't "pragmatic" at all, the rank and file did not approve

and the public support was simply was not there. Not "sensible" at all.

He must have wanted Hoover to return!

[LWolf]

75. Granny D. (RIP) nt

[bigtree]

78. yeah, and Gibbs insulted Mother Teresa and Jesus

. . . what bullshit. This is the sort of thing we used to do against republicans, so I guess it's at least consistent to smear our Democratic administration when folks oppose them.

[EFerrari]

82. Actually, this is a response to a smear, not the other way around.

I guess we're just not used to being smeared by Democrats.

[bigtree]

85. I'm talking about how blame for the errant remarks is being spread around

. . . to include instances and statements which are actually unassociated with the press secretary's comments. And I'm also interested to see how many folks are volunteering themselves as the target of the statement.

[EFerrari]

86. Gibbs never corrected the reporters asking about criticism from the left

to narrow the field. Not once.

And since he still has his job and has not apologized and since this forms a pattern of public behavior that includes Obama, Rahm and Gibbs, I don't know what to tell you about the "spreading around". It's reasonable, given the statements all three have made, to assume the White House at least is in agreement with them. Not pleasant but reasonable.

[bigtree]

87. maybe not 'reasonable', but predictable

The actual subject of his comments was the notion that the administration was no different than Bush's. That's been a bit exaggerated to include issues and initiatives that Gibbs may well view and address more favorably than the Obama=Bush meme.

[EFerrari]

88. Very reasonable and especially in the context of Gibbs standing by

his comments, which he has repeatedly. And in the larger context of the president telling Fox he beat back all kinds of proposals from the left and of course, Emmanuel's repeated hit on the left. Unless you think all three of these people just accidentally made these public statements, it is reasonable to take them together as representing the White House position. The Obama=Bush meme itself is a reduction that Gibbs made as a way to dismiss legitimate criticism.

[bigtree]

91. I see his remark more as a reflection of WH frustration

. . . they've put themselves to the right of center on so many prominent issues that they've got no one but themselves to blame if they've lost some support from the 'left'. But this WH has also taken the 'right' to task when they've threatened the 'compromise' legislation this administration has pursued.

It's understandable that this slap at the left is getting the spotlight right now, however, this same week, the WH launched election-season attacks focusing on the republicans who supported the last administrations failures and the ones who are intent on stalling the progress this President has made in reversing their party's damage. We need to get back to talking about those things.

[asdjrocky]

79. Professor Howard Zinn

Truth Teller.

[earth mom]

84. Michael Moore, Al Gore, Robert F Kennedy Jr., Kucinich, Jane Hamsher, Cindy Sheehan

Thom Hartman, Mike Malloy-all come to mind first, but there are more, so many more.

[Odin2005]

90. Noam Chomsky. MLK Jr. Paul Wellstone. Albert Einstein

[JohnyCanuck]

93. Pete Seeger for sure

Pete Seeger is one of the world's quintessential activists, having played such an important role in singing the songs and engaging in the struggles of the civil rights, free speech, human rights, anti-Vietnam War, environmental, peace, anti-nuclear, and social justice movements. He spans musical eras, from those who inspired him, Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, to those he inspired, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Bruce Springsteen, Dave Mathews, and Ani DiFranco.

Seeger has had an epic life, full of amazing contributions to our culture and politics. In person, he conveys a comfortable, homespun way about himself that puts you at ease. He is a modest soul, and in conversation is slow to credit himself on his lifework's impact, but it can be safely said that in the 20th century there is no other individual who has so successfully combined folk music and progressive politics.

In the late 1960s, Seeger shifted away from typical American folk music, embracing African music, Latin-American folk songs and other forms of world music. At this time Pete became active in the nascent environmental movement, drawing attention to pollution of the Hudson River with the activist group Clearwater, which teaches schoolchildren about water pollution. He and friends built the Clearwater Sloop, a reproduction of a 19th Century cargo sloop, and sailed it up and down the river, spreading the word about pollution and raising public support to clean up the river. Because of these and other's efforts, the Hudson is now open for swimming in many places.

One thing that's endeared him to audiences all over the world is that he always gets people to join in. It's almost a religion with him. "The world will be saved when people realize we all have to pitch in. You can't just pay your money and hope that someone else will do the job right." He continued performing into the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, most often at charity shows and benefits.

http://www.realitysandwich.com/conversation_pete_seeger