Randy Shannon – 10/24/06

This page was last updated on October 24, 2006.

‘Vote to protect your families’; Randy Shannon; Beaver County Times; October 24, 2006.

Earlier this year Mr. Shannon penned a letter to the editor entitled “The Times is a tool of the GOP,” and he was serious.

For background info about Mr. Shannon, see my notes on his speech of October 16, 2004, in front of the Beaver County Courthouse.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“To Wall Street banks, Social Security is an untouched treasure. President Bush just appointed Hank Paulson, CEO of Goldman Sachs investment bank, as Treasury Secretary. This signals the rise of banking interests to dominance in the Bush gang. They plan to take control of Social Security before the end of Bush’s term.”

[RWC] Was this also the case when Bill Clinton appointed Robert Rubin to the same position in 1995? Before Mr. Rubin worked for the Clinton administration, he was co-chairman and co-senior partner of – you guessed it – Goldman Sachs.

“PNC Bank, the most powerful financial entity in western Pennsylvania, bought Riggs Bank last year. Riggs had bought J. Bush and Co. and launders money for the CIA. The Riggs acquisition was PNC’s ticket into the ruling financial elite.

“PNC owns U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart. The Bush gang rewarded PNC by appointing Hart to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. There Hart labors for her bank masters, even voting for debt slavery and dispossession of the elderly. She votes 98 percent with Bush because she is a member of the gang.”

[RWC] According to the latest FEC data, Ms. Hart’s “bank masters” have contributed $43,150 to her campaign. That’s good for only #7 on the list and is only about 3.5% of her total contributions. I don’t know anything about being bought, but I suspect you need to do a lot better than #7 and 3.5%.

“[V]oting for debt slavery and dispossession of the elderly?” Note Mr. Shannon provided no details about what this means.

As I’ve written before, I get a kick out of the “so and so votes with President Bush 98% of the time” comment. What should we expect? President Bush and Rep. Hart tend to share the same positions on issues, whether those positions are conservative or liberal. Why don’t folks like Mr. Shannon complain when Democrats vote against President Bush 98% of the time? If voting with a like-minded person a high percentage of the time is bad, isn’t voting against an opponent a high percentage of the time also bad?

Let’s not hold our breath waiting for a letter from Mr. Shannon complaining that Democrats vote with Gov. Rendell 98% of the time.

“Hart campaigns on the crumbs she has scattered among her wealthier constituents. But all her big money votes hurt the majority of people in her district. Hart will vote to sell Social Security to the investment banks. It will be like a sharp knife stabbed in our backs.”

[RWC] Note Mr. Shannon didn’t provide details about “the crumbs she has scattered among her wealthier constituents.” He also didn’t describe Rep. Hart’s “big money votes.”

“Vote to protect your families on Nov. 7.”

[RWC] If you’ve read Mr. Shannon’s letters and/or heard his rants in front of the Beaver County Courthouse on weekends, you know he is a far left conspiracy theorist. This letter is just one more example.

Mr. Shannon continues the trend I identified weeks ago. To date, not a single Hart- and/or Santorum-bashing letter has told us why we should vote for their opponents.