Home Sweet Home

The Saginaw River is one of the most polluted rivers in the great lakes region’s history. The Tittabawassee River was also issued three different “hot spots” for emergency cleanup in June this year.
I grew up in Saginaw, I spent summers swimming, boating and fishing in both of these rivers. Growing up many people joked about Dow Chemical polluting the rivers and whether or not the fish you caught had three eyes, but there was always a moment of quiet where you seriously thought about swimming or eating the fish and whether it would actually harm you. Years later that split second of hesitation that happened before jumping in to the river or cooking up lunch was justified.

Of course, the friendly people over at Dow chemical naturally think the findings are overstated. You should notice that the original finding was nearly 20 times higher than ANY other dioxin level found in American history! The Dow stooge also makes a sad attempt at understating the problem:

But further tests on the original sample of surface soil from a 3-inch wide tube
of PVC pipe registered at levels ranging from 7,000 parts per trillion to a
little more than 18,000 parts per trillion, Dow spokesman John C. Musser said.

What Musser does not say is that Michigan requires sites with more than 1,000 parts per trillion be cleaned up. So that makes this site ONLY 7 to 18 times worse than acceptable levels of contamination. WOW!! Thank goodness those good people at Dow are clearing up the facts for us! Please notice the language intended to be dismissive of the horrific findings such as: “little more than 18,000” and “The high concentration of dioxin contamination may amount to a "nugget" of the chemical” and my favorite “Dioxin concentrations in the river's sediment can vary wildly” (italics added for emphasis). With only a “nugget” of Dioxin found in the river it is surprising to see those tree hugging hippies at the Michigan Department of Community Health have issued a Fish Consumption Advisory for the Saginaw River that extends the advisory currently in effect for the Tittabawassee River to the entire length of the Saginaw River.

GOOD RIDDANCE!!

So long to Trent Lott (R-Dixie), Senator Lott will resign by the years end to avoid those pesky things called ethics laws. Lott is said to be trying to avoid new lobbying laws that require lawmakers to have a 2 year waiting period before going to work for lobbying firms.

Lott leaves behind a tainted legacy of hypocrisy that spans his entire career. No doubt he will be most remembered for his 2002 speech in which he praised fellow Republican Strom Thurmond’s 1948 presidential run as a segregationist by saying:

“When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years either.”

Lott lost his post as majority leader after the absurd comments but hung around long enough to ironically become the “minority whip” this year. Lott is the sixth Republican senator announcing that they will not run in 2008, but the only one who so unapologetically will quit so he can go get paid in full for his years of service to big business.

Happy Holiday's From the Democrats!

Thank you majority leader Harry Reid!
The Senate has left for Thanksgiving break but Harry Reid has kept the Senate in “pro forma” sessions, which will technically keep the Senate in session. The sessions will only last for about 30 seconds but will prevent the president from making more of his disastrous recess appointments during the holiday break.
From January 20, 2001-January 4, 2007 Bush has made 167 recess appointments. Yes that is a lot however, more important is the reason that Bush needs to make these appointments during a recess. Bush has appointed the most partisan loyalists he can find and has completely avoided senate oversight by appointing them during a recess. In case you forgot here are some of the Bush administrations lowlights:

Aug. 1st 2005 - John Bolton; U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
All around asshole and partisan hack.

April 2007 – Sam Fox; U.S. ambassador to Belgium.
Famous for his Big cash donations to GOP candidates and involvement with Swift Boat Ads.

Several occasions – Tracy Henke; most recently to the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Most famous for “fixing” racial profiling report during another appointment.

January 4, 2006 - Hans von Spakovsky; Fed. Elections Commision.
Longtime GOP loyalist and former Republican party chair in GA.

The list really does go on and on, I didn’t mention the niece of Gen. Meyers or Susan Dudley. Scary stuff! I am very happy that Reid and the Dem's finally put a stop to this foolishness, at least for now!

Local Union in Holiday Spirit

Toys for tots is an organization that helps needy children throughout the United States experience the joy of Christmas. During 2006 Toys for Tots total revenue was nearly $225 million that was the second highest total ever for them.

UAW local 602 in Lansing has a long history of volunteering for and donating to the organization. Rudy Reyes was the Community Service Committee chair for 25 years before he retired, after talking with him recently he spoke proudly of the years of dedication that he and his committee members gave to Toys for Tots.

Trent Bogle the current Community Service Chair does not intend to let this longstanding tradition fade away. “I cannot envision our partnership with this great charity ever dissolving!” The 2007 campaign at the Lansing Delta Township plant was a huge success again for Toys for Tots and UAW local 602. Nearly $10,000 was raised in only one day's worth of gate of collections. Bogle and the Community Service Committee will continue to help other local charities throughout the year as they always do.

The UAW has a long history of helping the communities to which they belong; locally UAW local 602 has been a big part of helping Lansing area charities.

Plan on seeing some of the highlights of these activities here from now on, if the corporate media refuses to acknowledge the great contributions our unions are making to local communities and charities then I will be more than happy to give them credit.

The Coin is One Sided

First, sorry for the confusion regarding my previous post "Peru Passes BUT Progressives Win" The post wasn't meant to be supportive of the Peru Free Trade Agreement and I thought I wrote it clearly. But, given FarLefts comments (which I completely agree with) I thought I would clarify some of the previous post.



Progressive Centrists is a term I completely made up on my own. I did this in an effort to show that Progressive policies represent the true political center. I used the term to describe those who OPPOSED the Peru agreement.



The Peru unfortunately passed. Good strides but not enough for many reasons including those outlined in FarLefts post. The win part is purely political in nature and will have a lasting effect on trade policy for the rest of the 110the Congress. I say this because a majority of Democrats voting OPPOSED the Peru agreement, led by Mike Michaud of Maine and Linda Sanchez of California. By the way, Michigans own Dale Kildee plays an instrumental role and gave what I thought was one of the best speeches during the debate challenging all Member of Congress to come to Flint, MI and see what bad trade policy does to communities.



Purely political. The Peru vote represented a battle within the Democratic party. Progressives won this battle because of this majority and because Democratic leadership had to fight tooth and nail to make sure that Progressives couldn't claim that a majority of the entire Democratic Caucus opposed the Peru. This is why I harped on the 116 number. 117 would have meant that Progressives could stake the previous claim. The other part of the good news is that even though most unions didn't actively oppose this agreement, the good guys still got more votes. Most of the ones who voted for the agreement aren't bad people, they just played a politically foolish hand and this vote has surely taught them not to play those cards again. Another victory.



So again, apologies for any confusion the previous post may have caused, thanks to FarLeft for bringing this up and know that this victory by Progressive Centrists will shape trade policy from now on. They need our help in making sure that their voices are heard by making sure that we are standing with them.

The Other Side of the Coin

More than a few people have stopped me to ask why many Democrats and progressives are considering the passing of the Peru Free Trade Agreement a victory; my response has been to point them in the direction of someone who considers this a victory because I do not.

While I both understand and appreciate the addition of strong language regarding workers rights and the addition of higher environmental standards to trade agreements, I would argue that one of the issues with the flawed system of trade is an enforcement mechanism that is not used as it was intended. The Bush administration has clearly shown its animosity towards working people by not enforcing the existing provisions in current trade agreements and threatening to veto the expansion of Trade Adjustment Assistance, which helps workers displaced by trade agreements.

The chorus of dissention is well represented!

John Sweeney (President of the AFL-CIO):
“We are justifiably skeptical about whether the Bush Administration will faithfully enforce the newly negotiated labor and environment protections, since this administration has done such a poor job enforcing these provisions in existing trade agreements. Congressional oversight of the executive branch must be strengthened to ensure consistent and effective enforcement of all the provisions in these agreements.”
Full text of his statement is here.

John Edwards (Presidential candidate):
“For decades, our leaders in Washington have pursued trade policies that have devastated communities like the ones I grew up in. Take NAFTA – it was supported by insiders from both political parties, but it has cost us more than 1 million jobs. Now, at a time when American families are terribly concerned about job losses and a weak economy, our Congress is about to vote on expanding the NAFTA-free trade model to Peru.”

Senator Chris Dodd (Presidential candidate):
“Americans are looking for change - but there's nothing new in supporting the failed trade policy of the last six years, which is partially responsible for the loss of 3 million manufacturing jobs. It's disappointing that Senators Clinton and Obama, in supporting this [Peru] agreement, would support more of the same, which will only add to our deficit, taking jobs away from hardworking Americans and shipping them elsewhere.”

Lori M. Wallach (Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch Division):
No U.S. labor, environmental, consumer, faith, family farm or development group supported this agreement, which also is opposed by both of Peru's labor federations, its major indigenous people's organization and its archbishop.
The passage of the Peru NAFTA-expansion, which was overwhelmingly opposed in the United States and Peru, is bad foreign policy, bad domestic policy and egregiously bad politics.

A poll done earlier this year featured the following question:
"In general, do you think that free trade agreements between the United States and foreign countries have helped the United States, have hurt the United States, or have not made much of a difference either way?" the results had 28% saying it helped; 46% saying it hurt; 16% picked not much difference and 10% were unsure.

But the UAW took an “unopposed” position didn’t they? I am ashamed to say yes they did and I once again wholeheartedly disagree! In my opinion, it is hypocritical for the UAW to scream that working people of all sectors should support us by buying our products or supporting our workers and then turn our back on workers in other industries that would be harmed by this agreement simply because the auto industry will not be immediately affected. Solidarity, in my opinion, has no boundaries. Working people should support the best interests of other working people; if they don’t the results will inevitably be felt through economic repercussions and community deterioration. Earlier in the year, I heard Mark Gaffney speak about the two sides of labor unions; the “movement” and the “organization”. He spoke eloquently about how each side is absolutely necessary to sustain the other. The organization portion is the structure that we rely on to reach a massive group of members and the movement portion is idea of unionism and the causes we fight for. The union movement has a long history of taking up causes that don’t have an obvious or immediate affect on its members but in the long run create a better community or workplace for all people. These types of efforts have helped create a better country. In my opinion the recent decision for the UAW to sit this one out flies in the face of its great history and the history of the union movement as a whole. I hope that this is not the start of a trend of unions only fighting for self preservation and ignoring the movement.

Again, I understand that many good people will have differing opinions regarding this issue and I hope “mother” does not take this as an attack against this post. The intention of this post is to show the other side of the coin.

Here is a huge archive of articles relating to the Peru Free Trade Agreement.

Peru Passes BUT Progressives Win

When is a loss not really a loss? When it happens in the swamp known as Washington D.C. Congress began debating the Peru Free Trade Agreement last night and held the final vote this morning. The terrible news for workers is that the agreement passed by what looks like an incredible margin; 285-132. One of the main problems with the Peru agreement is that the enforcement mechanism is still left up to George Bush; a president who thinks it's just fine if workers lose their jobs to unfair competition as long as big oil and big drug makers are protected and privatization is promoted. But a closer look indicates a huge victory for Progressive Centrists.

It's crazy to think that 109 Democrats voted for this agreement. They've moved the debate on trade in a positive way but much more work needs to be done. Progressive Centrists voted against this agreement in droves. 116 to be exact. This vote wasn't only a vote about the Peru Free Trade Agreement; it was a battle for the heart of the Democratic party and Progressive Centrists kicked ass. The absolute best thing about this vote is the number of Democrats who didn't vote. Eight of them stayed on the sidelines. This is the politics of trade.

There are 232 Democrats in the House of Representatives. This means that a "majority of the majority would be 117 Democrats. Look again, there were 116 Democrats who voted against the agreement. Democratic leaders were able to persuade eight members of their own party to not vote in order to avoid the embarrassing comment that this agreement was approved without a majority of the majority. Many of these eight members are fair traders who have indicated their opposition to the Peru Agreement over the past year. That's why this is a huge victory for Progressive Centrist Fair Traders.

The Progressive Centrists did an outstanding job in showing that the heart of Democratic party overwhelmingly believes in Progressive trade policy. they were led by Congressman Mike Michaud (D-Maine) and Congresswoman Linda Sanchez (D-Cali) both of whom are card carrying union members.

Everyone knew that this bill would pass as it had the blessing of Charlie Rangel (D- NY) who helped broker this deal. The question was always "would this vote represent a step back on the progress that fair traders have made over the past couple years in promoting what's best for working families? The answer, as you can see is a resounding no. In fact, this vote helps out tremendously as Democratic leadership now knows that they must now answer to the Progressive Centrists who speak for the overwhelming majority of Americans who are tired of trade as usual as they watch businesses close or move away, communities crumble and families flail as a result of these tired trade policies of the past. Cheers to the future and don't forget to loo kat how your member of Congress voted and either call them and thank them or express your disappointment. You can look up who your member is here.

The Invisible Finger

Earlier in the year I wrote about the recall of several hundred thousand toys made in China, I then sat back watching what seemed to be another recall every week and wondered when will this stop. I intentionally did not write about this issue again to avoid covering the same topic over and over again. A recent recall disturbed me enough to dust off the topic again.

A toy named “Aqua Dots” has been found to contain a chemical relative of the “Date Rape Drug” GHB. The NY Times wrote an article covering the time frame it took to figure out what was causing children to go into a “shallow coma and suffering from seizure like spasms”. More frightening is the time frame that occurred after the poisoning was found out; read about it here.

So as usual after it’s found out that Australia’s toy of the year includes a free dose of date rape drug with every purchase all the companies that sell the product are looking to finger point and avoid blame. The manufacturer even refused to publicly ask for a world wide recall! The company said that the product is distributed in 40 countries but that it was up to the individual countries and distributors to determine whether the product would be pulled.

Way back when I wrote about tainted food and toothpaste from China I noticed a pattern from the Bush administration regarding deregulation of corporations. Since he took office the president has pushed an anti-regulation agenda into every part of his administration. The Neo-con theory that the marketplace will regulate itself has started to cost our children their lives. The administrations abhorrent behavior regarding the S-CHIP bill recently outlines his commitment to protecting corporations (insurance companies) profits over citizens’ well-being.

To further demonstrate the Bush administrations flawed agenda we need only look as far as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Nancy Nord the “acting” chair of the CPSC said recently that she opposes legislation that would give the CPSC more funding and more staff. Currently the department that oversees the testing of toys for the entire country has one person. That is not a typo! One guy is in charge of ALL toy testing for the United States and Nord doesn’t believe that she needs more help. Surprised? You shouldn’t be! Nord has a long history of siding with business; she used to be a corporate lawyer for Kodak and was the executive director of the “American Corporate Counsel Association, a group of lawyers who work on behalf of corporations. How does this make her a good fit to head the agency in charge of policing companies from putting dangerous products into the hands of our children? It doesn’t! But, compared to the last guy Bush wanted to put in charge I guess I shouldn’t complain.

Bush and his conservative brethren would argue that the “Invisible Hand” will make adjustments to the marketplace, unregulated by government, forcing companies that make bad or faulty products out of business. Our children are the guinea pigs in this experiment by the Bush administration and the “Invisible Hand” that is supposed to regulate the marketplace has been giving consumers the invisible finger!

Please sign this petition urging Nancy Nord to resign as Chairperson of the CPSC.

FREE Showing of Sicko

Wanna’ see the new Michael Moore film “Sicko”?

On Tuesday Nov. 13th the UAW local 602 citizenship and legislative committee will host FREE showings of the movie “Sicko”.
I repeat FREE SHOWINGS!!!
The film will be shown at 7:30 AM, again at 11:30 AM and again at 3:15 PM.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME!!
The viewing is open to the public and we can hold an awful lot of people in the union hall located at 2510 W. Michigan Ave. Lansing, MI. 48917. So round up friends, family and neighbors and stop by to see a great film about the American health care crisis.
If you need more information you can call the union hall at (517) 372-4626.

Why the weird hours? The movie times are strange to accommodate the 3 shifts of our members at the Delta Township plant.

We at the UAW local 602 citizenship and legislation committee are honored to invite everyone from our community.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

Today is Guy Fawkes Day. November 5th marks the anniversary of the day Guy Fawkes plot to blow up the British Parliament was stopped. In what I believe to be one of the more bizarre holidays, the British celebrate by burning effigies of Fawkes and lighting fireworks. The holiday also spawned the following nursery rhyme:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,Gunpowder, treason and plot.We see no
reasonWhy Gunpowder treasonShould ever be forgot.

Many Americans know the name Guy Fawkes from the movie “V for Vendetta”. Although the movie portrays the “V” character as a sort of rebel against a totalitarian regime, the real Fawkes was for the most part a pawn in the fight between Catholics and Protestants in Great Britain.