There is a very obscure--obscure to most people, I think--event going on this week in Geneva that won't get the attention it deserves. And it should get attention because it is an amazing example of what people power can do to stop the worst kind of abuses to working people everywhere.

Remember when Obama and Clinton were talking about renegotiating NAFTA during their campaigns in Ohio and Texas? Let's push Obama to keep his word! The best thing (IMO) about Obama's candidacy is the popular movement behind him, which largely replaces corporate lobbyists. That means that we have a voice and can influence policy through him, in principle. Have a look at this website to learn more about why NAFTA needs to be renegotiated, and sign the petition to push our candidate to commit to doing so.

Briefly, NAFTA lacked enforceable and effective labor and environmental protections. Its shortcomings are evidenced by the migration of manufacturing jobs across the border and the stagnation of wages and occupational safety legislation in Mexico. Read more about it here. If you feel inclined, sign the petition to pressure our future president to work on renegotiating NAFTA.

Children pointed, tourists snapped photos, and Washington D.C. office workers on lunch break stopped to stare as the gargantuan “Toxic Trader” puppet lurched down Pennsylvania Avenue today past the White House on its way to the Bush administration-backed Import Safety Summit.

This is an ongoing series from the national tour for THE UPRISING. You can order The Uprising at Amazon.com or through your local independent bookstore.

Rejecting the fake centrism of Washington and the true centrism outside the Beltway, Barack Obama yesterday tacked back to the progressive middle on trade, slamming John McCain for pushing a corporate-written trade deal with the murderous Colombian regime.

As another diarist pointed out, GeeOPee Presidential Candidate John "My Friends" McCain proposes that the US solve its energy problems by Step 1. drilling in the US and Step 2. blaming Iran if step 1. doesn't work out so well.
BREAKING: McCain Threatens War With Iran in New Energy Plan

Here's another idea:  What if, what in the name of all that is holy and rational and sane and christian and in accord with American values and consistent with the American Constitution, WTF IF the US STOPPED the propaganda campaign against Iran, recognized Iran as a trading party and even became an ally with the nation of 70 million with whom it shares common interests, and TRADES with Iran for the oil that Iran has, and the US and the rest of the world needs?

There are some items up on News Unfiltered that may interest the community.

DNC Vice Chair and Economist for UNITE HERE discuss McCain's recent trip to Mexico and Columbia:

On a conference call today, DNC Vice Chair Linda Chavez-Thompson, the first woman appointed as an executive vice president of the AFL-CIO, and Mark Levinson, Chief Economist for UNITE HERE, discussed John McCain's trip to Colombia and Mexico, his insistence on continuing George Bush's failed economic policies and his reliance on shady lobbyist advisers like Charlie Black. As they made clear, McCain's trip shows he won't stand up for America's workers, but he will stand up for lobbyists like Charlie Black and the special interest friends funding his campaign.

Read more.

  For the life of me, I can't figure out why political leaders like John McCain are continuing to embrace a dying, discredited theology called "free trade". As a new national poll shows, by hinging his economic message in large part on support for so-called "free trade", McCain has punched another hole in his campaign appeal to large numbers of working-class voters.

http://www.aflcio.org/...

Excerpts from the AFL-CIO website, with much more at the link:

"McCain ‘Would Negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with Almost Any Country.’ "If I were president, I would negotiate a free trade agreement with almost any country." (Speech to National Press Club, 5/20/99)

Rising Chinese Trade Deficits Resulted in 2.1 Million Displaced Jobs. "The rise in the U.S. trade deficit with China between 1997 and 2006 has displaced production that could have supported 2,166,000 U.S. jobs....Between 1997 and 2001, trade deficits displaced an average of 101,000 jobs per year.... Since China entered the WTO in 2001, job loss has increased to an average of 353,000 per year." ("Costly Trade With China," Economy Policy Institute, 10/9/07)

McCain Believes Human Rights Should Have No Bearing on MFN Trading Status. According to Project Vote Smart, McCain does not think a country’s record on human rights should have any bearing on awarding Most Favored Nation trading status. (Project VoteSmart, 1998)"

This is an ongoing series from the national tour for THE UPRISING. You can order The Uprising at Amazon.com or through your local independent bookstore.

CHICAGO - Earlier this week, I wrote a short dispatch about Barack Obama dancing around the issue of trade - an issue at the heart of the populist uprising on both the right and left. Now today, my syndicated newspaper column explores the issue more thoroughly, showing precisely the opportunity the GOP's inevitable racism and nationalism with a populist line on trade.

I read the article, Obama's Chicago Boys  by Naomi Kline.

Since trade is such a huge deal to me and to 99.99% of Michigan, it caused me some concern.  So, I sent an e-mail off to the Barack Obama website assuming it would fall off into a big black hole just like other campaigns and websites I have contacted.  

To my utter amazement, I got the following response from my friend, Barack Obama.  

  I almost broke my pledge of sanity not to blog on the weekends when I read Roger Lowenstein's monumentally stupid article on trade in the Sunday Times Magazine. The piece was so moronic as to...well, let's go to the text.

This is an ongoing blog series from the national book tour of The Uprising. You can order The Uprising at Amazon.com or through your local independent bookstore.

DENVER - One of the things I've been finding when talking to groups is a palpable anger at our current trade and globalization policies - an anger from both progressives and conservatives that I meet. And yet, we continue to get this kind of nonsense from Serious Thinkers in major newspapers.

We've all seen the results of the "free" trade system that has run our economy for the last few decades: communities shattered, families broken apart, dreams run aground. And in exchange? A tidal wave of cheap plastic junk, and a new generation of workers overseas to be exploited in sweatshops.

To put the American Dream back within reach for workers everywhere, we need a trade system that embodies progressive values rather than focusing solely on the corporate bottom line.

Well, for the first time in decades, we now have the opportunity to pass such a trade system into law. But it won't happen without your help.

(After the jump - learn more, including how you can take action to make a progressive trade system a reality.)

Updated Job Data Analysis - January 2001 to April 2008

From January 2001 to April 2008, only 3.8 million private-sector jobs -- all accounted for by private health care bureaucracies, bars and restaurants.

Manufacturing lost - 3.5 million jobs; more than 1- in -5 Manufacturing jobs were lost in the last 7 ¼ yrs.

Over the period:

* Textile Mills lost -57.2% of their jobs;

* Apparel manufacturers lost -56.8% of their jobs;

* Communications Equipment manufacturers lost -46.9% of their jobs;

* Semiconductor and Electronics Components manufacturers lost -40.4% of their jobs;

* Computer and Peripheral Equipment manufacturers lost - 38.9% of their jobs;

* Telecommunications service providers lost -30.0% of their jobs;

Manufacturing employs more than blue collar.  

   Yesterday, I highlighted the rolling out of a very important piece of legislation: the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development, and Employment Act of 2008 (cleverly, the TRADE Act). So far, the only Senate co-sponsors, who have joined the bill's sponsor Sherrod Brown, are Byron Dorgan, Russ Feingold, Bob Casey and Sheldon Whitehouse. So, today, it's worth asking Sen. Obama: will you add your name as a co-sponsor immediately?

    Ehud Olmert, is correct that a failure in the peace process will result in Israel becoming a "South African-style" apartheid like state, but wrong that a two-state solution is needed. A two-state solution would be like an Ireland vs Northern Ireland creation.

This very important story has not been adequately pushed to the headlines.  The leasing of our national infrastructure (remember the port scandal?) continues onward and being supported by state and national leadership. A few days ago, Governor Rendell proudly stood in support of a $12.8 billion, 75 year lease deal of the PA Turnpike, the oldest transportation artery in the country to Abertis Infraestructuras, of Barcelona.

I will continue to do a little more additional research on other deals that have been passed over and try to undercover more of our infrastructure being  sold to the highest bidder.  When Americans are struggling to find adequate employment and our roads, bridges, and tunnels are crumbling, it is incredibly disturbing that we are choosing to hand over the power to entities that do not have a vested interest.

Read what the Republicans Wish You Wouldn’t

Today's Daily Flipper - McCain Corruption Edition you will read:
McCain Pushed Key Land Deal For Fundraiser
McCain Misses The Mark In Michigan
McCain Doesn’t Know Much About The Judiciary Either
McCain Gets Support From EU Trade Minister
Cindy On Release Of Tax Returns
As The Money Woes Continue
McCain Wants His FEC
Ron Paul Supporters Plan Takeover of GOP Convention

Read all the detail and take action on the flip. Flip it good.