There’s nothing like watching an American company in the middle of a deep recession be so committed to killing jobs and economic growth that it resigns from massive business interest groups.

Apple, known for its friendship with Al Gore and financial support of social liberalism, is leaving the Chamber of Commerce because the organization opposes cap-and-trade legislation in its current form.

Apple is pulling out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of the organization’s strident criticism of plans to reduce U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions, the computer giant said Monday.

In a letter to the Chamber’s president, Apple Vice President Catherine Novelli wrote, “Apple supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the Chamber at odds with us in this effort.” As a result, Novelli said, “we have decided to resign our membership effective immediately.”

The Chamber of Commerce, which says it represents more than 3 million businesses, has been one of the strongest critics of legislation aimed at reducing U.S. emissions.

Last week, the group’s president, Thomas J. Donohue, said in a statement that his group supports “strong federal legislation” to protect the climate. But he said legislation passed by the House of Representatives — which would use a “cap and trade” system to lower the cost of reducing emissions — was flawed because it does not require other polluting countries to act and does too little to spur U.S. investment in green technologies.

A spokesman for the Chamber, Eric Wohlschlegel, wrote in an e-mail statement Monday: “While we’ll continue to represent the broad majority of our membership on this goal, we recognize that there are some companies who stand to gain more than others with the current options on the table.”

So the disagreement between Apple and the chamber is that the former simply insists that Americans jobs be killed and industry regulated while places like China and India can keep growing without controls? Oh, and that green technologies shouldn’t be invested in?

I oppose cap-and-trade as well. If we’re going to stop doing business with organizations that oppose us on one version of one issue, perhaps I shouldn’t purchase Macs any more. Or pay to upgrade my iPhone. Or buy that iPod Shuffle for the gym. Maybe we can get Michelle Malkin to do the same. With even many Democrats and most libertarians opposing the job-killing proposal, I think Apple underestimates just how much of its customer base is ripe for pissing off.