As you may know, May 30 through June 3 is a Congressional Recess, …uh…, we mean a Congressional District Work Period. This means that members of congress are back home where you live, making the rounds at local schools, plants and civic groups. Now is the time for some good ol’ retail politics, to weigh in with your representatives on issues on the manufacturing agenda. What has made the NAM so effective is that we have the best members in America who are not shy about weighing in and — better still — about getting their employees to weigh in — on issues of importance to manufacturers. At least one NAM board member has already shared this info with his employees and they are already about the business of democracy.

There are a few hot items at the moment where your push can be very helpful. These are outlined in the NAM Recess Memo that most NAM members received from NAM President John Engler last week. We’ll start with two issues, with more to follow in this space during this week:

– Just last week, after a year or more of wrangling (can you imagine if you ran your business like this….?), the Senate passed the Energy bill out of committee. With gas prices at the pump soaring, this bill has a common sense mix of conservation and finding new energy sources — all of which will help us move toward true energy independence. Please tell your Senator to get the job done, “to take their foot off the brake and put it on the accelerator” as John Engler says, and pass the energy bill.

– Likewise, on asbestos, this is a bill that’s been well over a year in gestation. While folks fiddle, more companies go out of business, more workers see their 401(k)’s become worthless and more sick people die while healthy people collect huge sums along with their lawyers. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania finally succeeded in getting a bill out of committee last week before they adjourned. We need you to help get this one across the goal line, too, by contacting your Senators. It’s very easy. Just click here to send an e-mail or a fax to your Senators, to urge them to keep the process moving forward.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. Some blog readers may remember it being called, “Decoration Day”, a day when faithful citizens decorated the graves of the fallen. Today we offer a few snippets in honor of this great and somber day:

– Here’s a link to the history of Memorial Day, from General Logan’s designation to modern times. The Department of Veterans Affairs Memorial Day website is also quite good, offering much in the way of history, resources and events.

– In 2000, a “National Moment of Remembrance” was established, to occur at 3 p.m. local time (i.e., wherever you are) for one minute, to honor those who have given their lives in defense of this great country. The White House Commission on Remembrance “promotes the spirit of unity and remembrance” as captured by Memorial Day and the National Moment of Remembrance. We hope you’ll take a minute at 3 p.m. today to pause, and to remember.

– Those of you who have not yet experienced it should someday behold the Rolling Thunder tribute to POW’s and MIA’s. The best vantage point is any overpass on US 395 North in Virginia as the thunder of a thousand motorcycles rolls into Washington for their annual tribute. Here’s a link to a story on this year’s event. You should also make it a point to go to The Wall (the Vietnam Veterans Memorial) on Memorial Day. It is a holy place. For too long, too many angry and misguided folks took out their angst about that war on the soldiers who did their duty when called. The dedication of the wall some 20 years ago was an important and belated turning point in honoring the brave men and women who served there.

– Finally, here’s a link to “In Flanders Fields” a short, powerful and timeless poem written during World War I, and a link to “Taps” which will be played across this great nation many times today in memory of those who gave their lives because they understood that a threat to freedom anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere. They deserve our enduring gratitude and our prayers.

This Memorial Day, we remember them all. May they rest in peace.

OK, this one was sent in by one of our two regular blog readers. It’s a website called, “Google Fight” and it allows you to pit one person, place, or thing — or term — against another, to see which has more Google results. Of course, Google results may not translate into a good thing if you happen to be in the news a lot for less than good reasons. Michael Jackson comes to mind….

You can click on the “fight of the Month” — one of which pits the esteemed Mr. Jackson against “Justice” (we’ll not tell you who wins), “Venus vs. Serena Williams” and “MGM vs. Grokster”, to name a few. “The Classics” include everything from “clothed vs. naked” to “God vs. Satan”. Don’t wanna go near that one. “Funny Fights” include “O.J. Simpson vs. Homer Simpson”, “alpha vs. beta” and “Ted Turner vs. Tina Turner” (what about Ike?) among others. We never said it wasn’t mindless, just fun.

And, of course, the coup de grace, our favorite part of the site allows you to put in your own terms and battle it out. Hmmm… let’s see…, we could type in “John Sweeney” and “Competence” and…

Just as we thought — competence wins every time….

Go on — give it a go!

Article XX of the AFL-CIO Constitution prevents unions from organizing (or “raiding”, in common parlance) the members of another AFL affiliate. For many years, Article XX has served as a lure for outliers to join and as powerful handcuffs that have kept in many a would-be renegade or dissident. Leave and you lose the protection of The State. Leave and you will be eaten.

So here’s John Sweeney, battled and bruised, a dismal record behind him, running for re-election. A group of dissidents representing some 5 million of the AFL’s purported 13 million members have banded together, rallying around what issue? Oh yeah, organizing. They’re angry that the AFL and most of its affiliates have lost their way, focused almost entirely on holding their own and intent on pouring their members’ money down the political rathole. These dissidents are hardly a a bunch of rabid Republicans, but their focus is on organizing, believing (rightly, we think, as would Sam Gompers and John L. Lewis) that the political clout will follow.

So here come all these anemic unions rallying around John Sweeney, touting the leadership of the man who’s seen their financial fortunes crumble, their membership drop — their political fortunes right along with it, the man who’s laying off a third of the staff. Man oh man, they say, we’ve never seen a better leader. Wow. Don’t you wish you could lead this group? You wouldn’t even have to get out of bed.

Along the way, they wring their hands and talk passionately about holding the labor movement together. But why? Look at Article XX. As long as they can hold it together, they won’t have to put up with any wacky upstarts hell-bent on organizing upsetting their apple carts.

Unfortunately, in doing so, they are about to see — indeed hasten — the rending of the AFL-CIO. Even if Stern alone leaves, he is such an aggressive (and successful) organizer that he will be out there organizing other AFL unions’ members and prospective members, unburdened by the constraints of Article XX. In this world, one man’s protection is another man’s constraint.

No wonder they speak of unity. Without it, they might actually have to think about spending some time and money on organizing.

Under the headline, “AFL-CIO President is Poised for Fifth Term”, the Washington Post’s Tom Edsall reports today on the UAW’s endorsement of John Sweeney for the presidency of the AFL-CIO. This means that by Sweeney’s count, he has just enough to win re-election in July. Here’s a link to an Oakland Press story by Joseph Szczesny on the same topic, i.e., on UAW President Ron Gettelfinger’s glowing endorsement of the 71-eyar old Sweeney, who’s seen labor’s clout and fortunes evaporate during his tenure. As Edsall reports, the dissidents have some 5 million of the AFL’s purported 13 million members under their collective tents. That’s a pretty large splinter group.

Unfortunately the press of business kept us from posting this sooner, and so Andy Stern beat us to the punch, but it’s fair to ask, “Is this really a victory?” We predicted long ago that Sweeney would be unseated, as we picked up more and more whispers of dissatisfaction with his dismal reign. Then we modified our prediction to say that if he were re-elected, he would be king of a much smaller fiefdom. At the moment, it looks as if the latter prophecy might be playing out, but remember, this is a very dynamic situation and could still change. If it does not, the 71 year old Sweeney will ascend to the Presidency of what’s left of the AFL-CIO.

In 281 BC, Pyrrhus crossed into Italy with 25,000 men and 20 elephants, hoping to conquer Rome. After many battles — and many victories — his force was completely decimated. Stop us if you’ve heard this one. At the end, he said, “Another such victory and I shall be ruined.”

Pyrrhus, meet John Sweeney.

Some new fodder on the topic from a faithful blog reader, in the form of new stats from Evan Cornog, publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review:

– In l964, 81% of Americans read a daily paper. Today, that figure is down to about 50%, speeding toward a minority.

– The percentage of readers age 18-34 who read newspapers regularly is down to about 20%, dropping almost in half from 39% only 8 years ago.

– OK, mainstream media folks, avert your eyes…. Where are the young ‘uns going to get their news? You guessed it: blog readership jumped 58% to almost 32 million, growing by 40,000 new readers every day, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. We’ve seen our blog traffic grow tenfold since launching in November, simply because we have the most intelligent readers on the planet and because we never, ever pander.

Hey, by the way, why doesn’t anybody ever comment? We see our traffic soar, but our comments are almost nil. Our hope is to build an online community of folks interested in manufacturing issues (and Friday Follies, of course), but thus far, you readers have been shy. Are you bored or in awe? Please say the latter…..

Here’s a fairly exhaustive tome by Harold Meyerson, editor at large of the American Prospect, from their June issue. It’s a 5,000-word whopper entitled, “Labor’s Civil War”, subtitled, “Inside the tumultuous battle over labor’s future.” If you still need to know more after reading this, you are beyond junkie status (and maybe beyond help), whatever that may be.

It’s interesting how history repeats itself and even Meyerson misses the chance to make this point. He talks about how the SEIU’s Andy Stern was a Sweeney underling at the SEIU who Sweeney mentored and advanced. Now he sees his protege turning on him. How quickly they forget…. Sweeney assumed power by running a bitter and personal campaign against his SEIU mentor — and one of the most decent men the labor movement ever knew — Tom Donahue. Interesting how what goes around comes around, isn’t it? We’ve seen this movie before.

Showing once again his fierce independent streak, Teamsters President Jim Hoffa in an interview gives credit to the President for taking on Social Security.

“I think President Bush should be given credit for the fact that he has initiated a debate regarding what we should do [about Social Security]“, Hoffa is quoted in a Gannet article by Brian Tumulty appearing in the Detroit News.

He acknowledges something his AFL brethren have been unwilling to acknowledge, i.e., that “Social Security is a major problem in this country.” While the AFL pushes for stricter private sector pension rules, they whistle past the Social Security graveyard. By the very private sector standards they (and we) support, Social Security would be considered flat broke. Would they be willing to put private pensions under the same rules as Social Security? Not likely. As we’ve pointed out many times before in this space, they’re not really known for being consistent. And, they don’t dare criticize Hoffa as they are holding together a fragile (but failing) coalition to keep John Sweeney in power.

In any event, bravo to Jim Hoffa for speaking his mind and for actually thinking about his members’ interests. No wonder he’s ready to break from John Sweeney.

Not sure how many of you caught this, but Les Paul, the man who lent his name to the journeyman’s ax, the Gibson Les Paul, one of the classic electric guitars, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio earlier this month. Paul — now almost 90 — tells the story of playing his acoustic guitar in the 20′s at an outdoor barbecue restaurant, realizing that the instrument just wasn’t loud enough to be heard. “I’ve got to make the guitar louder”, he said, and make it louder he did. His first attempt was little more than a chunk of wood with frets and strings and — of course — electricity. Appropriately called, “The Log“, it sits in the Smithsonian today, a true piece of Americana.

The story of Les Paul is just a great story of American manufacturing. Here’s a guy, driven by his passion for music, who innovated, innovated, innovated, until he changed the face — and the sound — of music. He saw it and heard it in his mind, then went about the business of building it. Bravo to the Inventor’s Hall of Fame for recognizing this true genius and great manufacturer and guitar god. Yes, you can be a nonagenarian and still be a guitar god. Kudos to Les Paul for what he wrought and for doing all manufacturers proud.

Here’s a link to a story by Guy Gugliotta that ran in the San Jose Mercury News yesterday. Better still, click here to watch a video of a Gibson guitar being made.

We just couldn’t pass this up. In the study mentioned below by UConn’s School of Public Policy, only 11% of journalists rated the news from blogs as either excellent or good, while some 73% rated it fair or poor. Ouch! Worse still for the blogger-in-chief is the news that only 13% of them consider bloggers to be journalists. There goes our chance for membership in the National Press Club…

So what do you guess was the response when they asked how many journalists actually use these unreliable, un-journalistic blogs? Oh, well, uh… that would be 83% of them, with 40% using blogs at least once a week! If we’re so damned unreliable, why are they reading our stuff so often? How ’bout we just blushingly accept the compliment?

Aw, shucks, never knew you cared…..