Lefty observations – 10/25/11

“Citizen journalist” John Paul published an article entitled “Central Labor Council Endorses All Incumbents.”  Other than for Mr. Spanik, the article didn’t mention the political affiliation of the endorsed candidates.  While it’s fair to assume labor union management almost exclusively endorses Democrat candidates [93% of labor union management PAC contributions to federal candidates (over $62 million) went to Democrat candidates in 2010], it would have been nice for Mr. Paul to at least go through the motions and note all those endorsed are Democrat candidates.

Leaders of Beaver County Reds (BCR) are wound up by the table below.  The data source for the table is not cited.

On his Facebook wall, Randy Shannon (BCR treasurer) commented, “Here’s the problem. Its [sic] not welfare or the unemployed.”  Mr. Shannon didn’t describe “the problem” the table allegedly shows.  Earlier this year, Mr. Shannon told us “THERE IS NO DEFICIT!!!”

On her Facebook wall, Tina Shannon (BCR chairwoman and Mr. Shannon’s wife) commented, “re: my last post. Would these be the people who don’t want us to think too critically?”  As her husband, Mrs. Shannon didn’t describe “the problem.”  The “last post” to which Mrs. Shannon referred to was, “I guess there are some people out there who don’t want us to get better. Those would be the same people who consider the poor excess population.”  The comment was about an image saying “Cutting Libraries in a Recession is like Cutting Hospitals in a Plague – Eleanor Crumblehulme.”  Ms. Crumblehulme is a library assistant at the law library of The University of British Columbia.

Since the Shannons didn’t explain their comments, I guess they were to appeal to those of us who fall prey to envy.

The comment about “the same people who consider the poor excess population” is interesting.  Given Mrs. Shannon’s leftist roots, I’ll go out on a limb and guess she’s writing about those of us on the right.  Here’s the problem for Mrs. Shannon.  According to the Guttmacher Institute, “Forty-two percent of women obtaining abortions have incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level ($10,830 for a single woman with no children),” but the majority (58%) of self-described conservatives are anti-abortion.  If anyone “consider[s] the poor excess population,” it’s the predominantly-leftist pro-abortion crowd (69% of self-described liberals) whose supported policies slow “poor excess population” growth by killing unborn children for convenience.

My comment about the table (even if the info were correct) is, who cares?  The only people who should care are the owners of a given business.  My guess is the Shannons would like people to believe if the CEO weren’t paid so much, the other employees would be paid more.  This is the “fixed pie lie.”  The implication of the “fixed pie” or zero-sum game is one person’s (the “oppressor” in leftyspeak) success comes only at the expense of someone else (the “oppressed”).  That is, Bob has a mansion and you have a hut because Bob unfairly took your slice of the pie.  What’s interesting is lefties don’t appear to have a problem with top athletes, entertainers, and trial lawyers who make huge amounts of money.  Why is that?

The Shannons may also want us to believe pay is a measure of a person’s worth because it enables the bogus “a CEO is not worth 475 times as much as a janitor” argument.  How often have you heard a minimum-wage supporter say something like “People are worth more than $x per hour?”  A job’s pay is not a measure of a person’s worth.  A job’s pay is indicative of the economic value of the specific job to a specific business, nothing more.  Keep in mind a given job has different economic value to different businesses.  A job’s economic value determines the wage, not the potential economic and/or non-economic value of the employee.  For example, if a job’s economic value is $5/hour, a business can’t pay someone more even if the person is a rocket scientist.

I got my first chuckle from these pieces when I read Mrs. Shannon’s comment about “people who don’t want us to think too critically.”  If you read what these folks write, attend any of their rallies, et cetera, you know the last thing BCR-type activists want is for anyone to think critically.

Lefties are still promoting the myth of “One Marine Takes on 30 Cops to Protect Occupy Wall Street Protesters.”  Mrs. Shannon commented on her Facebook wall, “Please spread this far & wide. This is an attitude we need to support. Thank you, Hero Sgt Thomas.”  Have you noticed how lefties treat our servicemen and servicewomen with disdain until they find or make up one who supports this or that lefty position?  You may recall Mrs. Shannon in 2007 wrote a letter-to-the-editor about a serviceman who allegedly shared her position.

I also got a chuckle out of another post on Mr. Shannon’s Facebook wall.  Mr. Shannon posted a link to an Occupy Wall Street fund-raising site accepting donations via – wait for it – credit cards issued by evil Wall Street.

A link on Mr. Shannon’s wall is entitled “Occupy Wall St: Naomi Wolf condemns ‘Stalinist’ erosion of protest rights.”  When did anything “Stalinist” (not necessarily “Uncle Joe” himself) become a bad thing for the left?

A post on BCR’s VP Bob Schmetzer’s Facebook wall includes a link to an article written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., entitled “The Fracking Industry’s War on the Truth.”  Mr. Schmetzer commented, “This is the most exposing story on fracking, government, and oil/gas industry.  A must read.”  Doesn’t everyone look to leftist environmental activists and lefty publications for “the Truth?”  I’m sure Mr. Schmetzer also believes Al Gore is a climatology expert.  (Note: Though it was only posted last week, this post disappeared from Mr. Schmetzer’s Facebook wall sometime between 9/21 and early 9/24/2011 with no explanation.)

Another post on Mr. Schmetzer’s Facebook wall includes a link to an anti-drilling petition sponsored by the Pennsylvania Democrat party entitled “Stop Tom Corbett’s Assault on Clean Water.”  Mr. Schmetzer commented, “Governor Corporate believes that corporations are people. Boy, did he miss the boat on that one. Not one company has a bellybutton, ever had a baby, can not vote, and our revolution was about a king that held the companies over the people. Profit before people is their motto.Now they want to loose our drinking water and air to polluters. The big money has corrupted the political process and the people involved. The general public will take a beating with poor health, loss of property, peace, and be violated by drilling companies and their friends in government. When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.”  There are a lot of drive-by claims in this comment so I’ll address each one individually.  According to his Facebook info, Mr. Schmetzer works/worked for IBEW Local 712 and is active with the AFL-CIO central Labor Council.  Should this industry become 100% unionized or close, I suspect Mr. Schmetzer’s complaints would magically disappear.

·       As for “Governor Corporate believes that corporations are people. Boy, did he miss the boat on that one,” seriously?  Under U.S. law, treating corporations as artificial persons, legal persons, et cetera for certain activities goes back to at least the late-1800s and the concept goes back to ancient Rome.  Heck, I learned this in grade or high school.  If he didn’t learn this in grade or high school, it’s hard to believe the topic wasn’t addressed when Mr. Schmetzer allegedly “Studied Business, Labor, & Government at Penn State.”

·       “[O]ur revolution was about a king that held the companies over the people?”  That’s news to me.  The Declaration of Independence lists about 30 “Facts … submitted to a candid world” about King George III and none mentions anything remotely like “a king that held the companies over the people.”

·       “Profit before people is their motto?”  Other than a smear attempt, what does this mean?  Consider the following quote: “The worst crime against working people is a company that fails to operate at a profit.”  Which evil robber baron said/wrote this?  Samuel Gompers, father of the American labor movement, founder of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and AFL president for 38 years until his death.  I wonder if Mr. Schmetzer would agree with this comment: dues forcibly collected by labor union management “before people is their motto.”

·       “Now they want to loose [sic] our drinking water and air to polluters?”  Yep, that’s right.  Those who disagree with Mr. Schmetzer and his fellow travelers want to drink polluted water and breathe polluted air.

·       “The big money has corrupted the political process and the people involved.”  Mr. Schmetzer is probably referring to the millions of dollars labor union management dispenses to mostly Democrat candidates as described above.  For the years 2005 through 2010, the USW alone spent $46.6 million on political activities and lobbying.

·       “The general public will take a beating with poor health, loss of property, peace, and be violated by drilling companies and their friends in government.”  Blah, blah, blah.

Both BCR and one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries (Beaver County Peace Links) cut-and-pasted an article written by Tom Hayden for The Nation entitled “After Nearly Nine Years of War and Occupation, America to Withdraw All Troops From Iraq.”  The article leads off with, “In a stunning and largely unexpected victory for the American peace movement and Iraqi opponents of the US occupation, virtually all US troops will withdraw from Iraq as scheduled by this December 31.  First reported by the Associated Press on October 16, the US pullout will allow President Obama to keep an important promise, and the Iraqi government to defend its sovereign power.”  What’s missing?  The withdrawal had nothing to do with “a stunning and largely unexpected victory for the American peace movement and Iraqi opponents” or Mr. Obama’s “important promise.”  If you take the time to read the 1,163-word article, you’ll find nowhere did Mr. Hayden find the space to note the withdrawal was part of the “U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement” negotiated and signed by the Bush administration and Iraq in 2008.  Since Mr. Obama took office in 2009, U.S. policy toward Iraq has been simply to adhere to the terms of that agreement.  Whether right or wrong, the agreement was a product of the Bush administration, not the Obama administration.

BCR posted a piece by USW CEO Leo Gerard entitled “USW’s Leo Gerard Takes Apart GOP Diversionary Tactics on Jobs.”  It’s of similar “quality” to a previous Gerard rant I critiqued in April 2011 so I chose not to waste my time doing another critique.  Contact me if you have a question about something specific in the piece, however.  Finally, since Mr. Gerard is not a U.S. citizen, why should any of us care about his position on U.S. issues?  Here’s why.  Mr. Gerard is a foreign national running a political-advocacy business with over 600,000 members, 2010 revenue of $277 million, and that spent over $6 million in 2010 on “Political Activities and Lobbying.”  The citizenship issue is not important because of what Mr. Gerard preaches; it’s important because of his position and the power of that position to affect local, state, and federal policies.  You can find more about this at the bottom of the aforementioned critique. 

In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity. <g>