Beaver County Reds – 8/28/12

This page was last updated on August 29, 2012.

I found what follows on the Facebook wall of Carl Davidson, webmaster and perhaps unofficial leader of Beaver County Reds.

Commenting on an article on a leftist website that alleged a business required its employees to attend a Romney campaign event and contribute, a friend of Mr. Davidson wrote, “Disgusting. Yet another reason why workers need to unionize. The bosses KNOW that elections matter. We need to take elections seriously too. Contribute TODAY to Progressive Democrats of America to help send real progressive Democrats to Congress.” You have to give Mr. Davidson’s friend credit for chutzpah when it comes to complaining about forcing people to do something.

If the business required employees to attend a political rally and make a contribution to a politician, that would be wrong. Let’s look at those folks making the complaint, however. When it comes to compulsion, today’s left has no problem:

· Forcing employees to become union members as a condition of employment.

· Forcing employees to contribute to political candidates as part of their forced union dues. To be fair, an employee can refuse to pay dues in excess of that required to support collective bargaining activities. That said, does anyone doubt labor union management makes it known it “frowns upon” employees who dare to exercise their Beck rights? According to FEC data, since 2006 between 96% and 99% of UMW campaign contributions went to Democrat candidates. Representing employees is simply a fund-raising chore labor union management must endure to provide funds for its lobbying and political activities. Heck, AFL-CIO CEO Richard Trumka conceded as much when he said, “I got into the labor movement not because I wanted to negotiate wages. I got into the labor movement because I saw it as a vehicle to do massive social change to improve the lots of people.” According to their Department of Labor LM-2 forms, AFL-CIO management spent over $29.6 million in 2010 on “Political Activities and Lobbying.”

· Forcing a business owner to recognize labor union management.

· Forcing a business owner to collect forced employee union dues for labor union management.

Frankly, I don’t know why anyone would have to force coal miners to oppose President Barack Obama and VP Joe Biden. Given their position on coal-fired power plants, I don’t how coal miners who want to keep their jobs could vote for Messrs. Obama and Biden. You may recall Messrs. Obama and Biden are believers in the religion of manmade global warming and would love to see the end of coal-fired power plants. Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board (January 2008), Mr. Obama said, “Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers … What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there … So if somebody wants to build a coal power plant they can, it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”

At a 2008 campaign stop, an opponent of any coal power plants asked Mr. Biden, “Wind and solar are flourishing here in Ohio, so why are you supporting clean coal?” Mr. Biden responded, “We’re not supporting ‘clean coal.’ Guess what. [Red] China’s building two every week. Two dirty coal plants. And it’s polluting the United States. It’s causing people to die. … No coal plants here in America. Build them, if they’re going to build them, over there [Red China]. Make them clean because they’re killing you.”

Don’t fall for the “Oh yeah, but I support ‘clean coal’” red herring. No amount of coal emissions-cleaning will ever be enough and the goal posts will be pushed back whenever “clean coal” gets close to meeting some regulations, like Lucy pulling the football away whenever Charlie Brown tries to kick it.

Earlier this year, electric utilities announced the closing of 10 coal-fired power plants because they could not meet new regulations and remain profitable. At least five of these power plants are in Pennsylvania, three of which are in Western PA.

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