John McCain has given up on fighting to keep jobs here

Under the guise of "straight talk," John McCain has given up on fighting to keep jobs in the US. During the primary campaign, McCain told Midwestern workers that jobs will be lost and they would continue to be lost under his presidency.

So it is ironic that McCain chose to attack Barack Obama on the issue of jobs and energy policy at a biker rally earlier this month.

According to new post at AFL-CIO Now, McCain opposed provisions in 2005 that would have required the US government to purchase Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

McCain has called such provisions "disgraceful."

To quote the AFL-CIO post:

"As we’ve noted, McCain has supported the outsourcing of jobs. His campaign is staffed and funded by corporate lobbyists, including Rick Davis, the lobbyist whose DHL deal could result in thousands of lost jobs in Ohio, and Randy Altschuler, an outsourcing guru who advises companies on how to ship jobs overseas."

McCain favors "free trade" agreements that have cost Michigan tens of thousands of jobs, and opposes provisions that protect workers and the environment. He prefers to hand authority over the US economy to international financial institutions that make judgments about how our policies impact "free trade."

Michigan workers simply can't another four years of George W. Bush under John McCain.

Michigan Senator Calls for Great Lakes Water Compact

Calling the Great Lakes Water Compact the next step in fully protecting Michigan's great lakes ecosystems and clean water for the future, Sen. Carl Levin (D) introduced a resolution to pass the Great Lakes Water Resources Compact. The compact says, “the protection of the integrity of the Great Lakes Ecosystem shall be the overarching principle for reviewing proposals.”

The measure would use scientific principles to determine whether water can be diverted from the lakes, a shift from the Republican mind-set of doing anything to environment in order to let corporations make profits. The compact imposes "a scientific method for determining whether to allow a proposal to divert water from the Great Lakes, it makes our efforts to protect the lakes more clearly compliant with international trade agreements."

The measure also protects environmental standards from manipulation or challenge by countries or other international entities that might seek to weaken environmental protections here as part of a hindrance to "free trade."

I think the measure hints a serious and meaningful alternatives to the do-anything, free trade mentality that ruled while Republicans controlled our government. Now we are seeing the beginning of responsible protections that have a better shot at preserving water, animal and plant species, and other environmental ecosystems that we as humans need in order to survive.

Free trade, profits, and the market should not be prioritized over human needs or its survival.

Read Levin's full statement here...