This page was last updated on April 6, 2011.
‘We Are One—And Ready to Fight Back!’; Carl Davidson and Tina Shannon; Progressive Democrats of America – PA 4th CD Chapter; April 6, 2011.
The internal title is “Beaver County Union and Community Activists Hold April 4th Solidarity Rally at Courthouse.”
The leadership of Progressive Democrats of America – PA 4th CD Chapter consists of Tina Shannon (chairperson), Randy Shannon (treasurer), Robert Schmetzer (vice president), Peter Deutsch (secretary), and Carl Davidson (webmaster and perhaps unofficial leader), a self-described Marxist who once “tr[ied] to create a new communist party.” They also appear to be the leaders of Beaver County Peace Links. Of this group, one was a leader of the now-defunct Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) and, according to KeyWiki, two are (or at least were in 1993) members of the Communist Party USA. The Shannons were also leaders of the apparently-defunct Beaver County Coalition for Social Justice. In the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS) [originally a splinter group of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA)], Mr. Davidson is a co-chair and the Shannons are members of the CCDS national coordinating committee. Robert Schmetzer is Democrat party local town chair for South Heights.
Wow, articles on this topic are showing up like stink bugs on the BCR website. I take care of one and another appears. This is the second today and the third in two days. Therefore, please forgive me for repeating where I could what I wrote in those critiques and not touching every point I’d like. As I wrote in a previous one of these critiques, I’m tired of refuting lefty propaganda.
“Throughout PA, events scheduled around the anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination were organized by CLEAR (Coalition for Labor Engagement and Accountable Revenues).”
[RWC] The idea is to convince us Mr. King was assassinated because of his support of collective bargaining for public sector unions, something FDR and George Meany (first president of the AFL-CIO, 1955-1979) opposed. A racist assassinated Mr. King because he opposed Mr. King’s position on constitutional rights for black Americans. Had Mr. King been in Memphis only to attend a wedding that day, he would still be dead. Mr. Davidson, Mrs. Shannon, and the rest of the left are simply trying to wrap themselves in MLK in an attempt to convince us the collective bargaining privilege is really a constitutional right.
There are two photos embedded in the article as I’m writing. Between the two I think I can make out one MLK sign. That might have been it since later the piece says, “One [a regular Beaver County Peace Links demonstrator] held a ‘Jobs Not War’ placard with Dr. King’s photo on it.” The real clincher? The internal title of another article authored by Mr. Davidson today is “April 4 ‘We Are One’ Events: Uniting Labor and Community For an Upsurge in Class War.”
Another example of lefties trying to hijack the MLK “brand” is in the BCR piece four articles before this one. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Andrew Rush shot the video. The video’s title on the PG website was “Protesters target budget cuts, natural gas drilling.” By the time “CCDSNational” (probably Mr. Davidson or one of the Shannons) copied the PG video and uploaded it to YouTube (with no apparent attribution), the title changed to “Pittsburgh April 4 - 500 march to honor King, back natural gas.mp4.” Granted the video is only two minutes long, but not once did anyone mention MLK, let alone “honor” him. Further, amid the hundreds of signs in the video, there’s only a flash of a single MLK sign appearing to say something about jobs for all being a right.
“‘We are standing beside you in solidarity,’ said Willie Sallis, president of the Beaver County NAACP, from the podium. ‘Not behind you, but beside you. We are partners in this struggle.’”
[RWC] I’d sure like to know what black Americans think leftist policies/programs have done for them in the past and will do in the future. Do they still believe the myth of Democrats and civil rights while ignoring the record of Republicans? During the 2008 primary season, when did all the race talk take place? You’ll remember it was during the Democrat primary races.
“A group of teachers from Beaver Falls showed up wearing red for their union.”
[RWC] This means their clothing was color-coordinated with the ideology they promote, knowingly or not.
“Democratic Beaver County Commissioners Tony Amadio and Joe Spanik also spoke. ‘‘I’m a public worker,’ declared Amadio, chairman of the Board of Commissioners. ‘Not only in public office, but as a schoolteacher most of my life. I have just gotten back from Harrisburg, and believe me; we have NO friends there at the moment. We are going to have to fight hard for everything and everyone.’’ Commissioner Joe Spanik criticized the many politicians who are attacking the working class and the poor.”
[RWC] In the interest of full disclosure, I knew Mr. Amadio when we attended Center High School, though I haven’t seen him since. Mr. Spanik and I live in the same apartment complex, though I never met him.
I don’t know if “working class” is Mr. Spanik’s terminology or the authors’. Mr. Davidson once described his definition of “working-class” thusly: “If someone else [signs your paycheck], you’re in the working class.” Most business owners - large or small - (who pay SS and Medicare taxes just as the rest of us) would be surprised to learn they aren’t “working class.” Other lefties define “workers” even more restrictively, including only those who pay dues/fees/taxes levied by labor union management. I don’t know if that’s also the view of Messrs. Amadio and Spanik.
I’m disappointed Messrs. Amadio and Spanik attended the event and at their comments, though not surprised. They’re Democrats and politicians after all. What I don’t know is if they really know with whom they are in bed when they stand with today’s labor union management and PDA – 4th CD leadership. Most of my friends’ parents were Democrats when we were growing up, and I know I’m pretty safe saying they wouldn’t be caught dead with these folks. Here’s what I wrote on my Democrats page back in 2004: “A childhood friend’s father called me a while ago to tell me he agreed with a letter to the editor I wrote countering a local liberal’s op-ed piece. To emphasize how much of a Democrat he had been, the man told me he cried when FDR died. Nevertheless, this man told me he has tended to vote Republican for awhile because the Democrat Party no longer represents his values. His values haven’t changed since 1945; Democrat Party values changed.”
“Bob Schmetzer, IBEW retiree and vice-president of the 4th CD Progressive Democrats of America, wrapped the evening up. He denounced Wall Street for hoarding the funds needed to solve problems and put people to work. He urging people sign up on PDA worksheets and attend a showing of the movie ‘Inside Job’ in May.”
[RWC] Does Mr. Schmetzer believe “Wall Street” is hiding “the funds” under its mattress? To what end? Dollars in a bank vault don’t make more money. If “Wall Street” is as “greedy” as Mr. Schmetzer and his comrades tell us, wouldn’t it seek to invest, lend, et cetera as much as it could?
FYI, based on its trailer, “Inside Job” doesn’t appear to address the underlying cause of the recession, though it just may not have made its way into the trailer.
In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity. <g>
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