Keep an eye on the blog in the coming days for a defense of The Fifteen, the 15 Democrats who voted for CAFTA and who are being threatened with retribution by organized labor. We’ll also do a short blurb on the SEIU and the irony of everything that played out at the AFL Convention last week, and a “Report from America” or two. We will keep an eye on Lou Dobbs (we don’t expect the furniture to move very much over there) and will post a slide, a graph describing what the real problem is out there, the real problem our country and our economy faces. And, it’s something on which all can agree.

Stay tuned.

Not sure if any of you have been watching the yucky Discovery Channel series, “Dirty Jobs“. As the website promo says, “Starting in August, our brave host and apprentice Mike Rowe will introduce you to a hardworking group of men and women who overcome fear, danger and sometimes stench and overall ickiness to accomplish their daily tasks.” Among the tasks profiled are serving slop to pigs, collecting garbage, cleaning septic tanks and removing bones from fish. Wow — and we thought working in Washington could be bad. Assuming you don’t have any of these jobs, this show will make you run to your office in the morning and hug your co-workers.

As a public service, we should also take this opportunity to remind you that — far from the all-too prevalent public perception — manufacturing is a great career, rife with technology that requires good skills. The best way to make sure you don’t have to spend a life in one of these jobs is to prepare yourself for a career in manufacturing. Our plants are clean, quiet and hum with the sound of technology. Here’s a link to our “Dream It, Do It” campaign, for more information about manufacturing careers.

OK, public service message is over. Everybody back in the tank! Here’s a link to the schedule of upcoming “Dirty Jobs” shows.

OK, we got your Saturday off to a nice start with the “Watch Cool Stuff Being Made” video, now sit back, switch from video to audio and listen in on our weekly radio show. Hey — this is almost better than the Opry, and you can even get it in Podcast, which is yet another cutting edge technology where manufacturers are on the cutting edge.

This week has the usual first-rate lineup with House Energy Committee Chair Joe Barton (R-TX) talking about the new energy bill, the Costa Rican Ambassador the the US, Tomas Duenas, on CAFTA and a real live small manufacturer, David S. Pearl II, executive VP of Uniweld, from the plant floor in Florida, talking favorably about CAFTA and trade in general. (Not likely to see him on Lou Dobbs’ show any time soon, as he’s pro-trade). Congrats again to our own Darren McKinney for his smooth-voiced honchoing of the show.

Here’s a link to this week’s show, where you can also get your Podcast.

Yesterday, as long predicted by us and others, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) left the AFL-CIO, taking with them their 1.4 million members. This is in addition to the 3 million who already left as a result of the SEIU and Teamsters disaffiliations of earlier this week. This is a quarter of the AFL-CIO membership and budget. These are not good times ’round the Sweeney Corral.

Here’s a link to the letter that UFCW President Joe Hansen sent to the AFL-CIO, sounding some familiar themes. It flies under the heading, “UFCW Moves for a Revitalized Labor Movement, Disaffiliates from AFL-CIO”. Pretty much sums it up.

Hope this doesn’t get in the way of John Sweeney’s victory lap or his plans to seek revenge on the 15 Democrats who voted for more jobs for AFL-CIO members and CAFTA…..

You know, usually in Washington you have to wait years to see any cause and effect relationship between legislation and reality. That is, once legislation passes it takes years to work its way through the pipe. But not this time.

We have long said that CAFTA would be great for exports. The AFL-CIO, for its part, has threatened retribution against the 15 Democrats who had the temerity to vote for jobs and growth (more on that in the days ahead). We said yesterday that maybe they oughta wait and see if there’s a “giant sucking sound” before they take revenge against anyone.

Well, whaddaya know? Yesterday — only one day after CAFTA’s passage — the Commerce Department reported the largest drop in the trade deficit in 50 years. Unbelievable. Just as we predicted.

OK, let’s be serious for a moment. It is fortuitous that these two things happened within a day of one another, but it does help make the point. CAFTA was about free trade. The trade deficit drops in two ways: by decreasing imports or by increasing exports. We prefer the latter, as we manufacturers export $60b a year — more than 12 times that of agriculture. In the last quarter, exports rose by almost 13% and imports fell by 2%, resulting in the largest contribution to GDP growth from trade in ten years. Clearly the leveling dollar is having an effect. The more trade the better, open markets are the way to go.

Somewhere, Lou Dobbs is crying in his beer.

In this world, there really are few things as perfect or as versatile as the humble aluminum can. Think of how it follows you from your early years and soft drinks through college and adulthood and more interesting and delicious contents. In fact, you may have one in your hand right now as you’re reading this. The blogger-in-chief likes to pop a can of beer on Saturdays and put it in the pancakes. About a spoonful’s all you need. Hmmmm…. Can’t let a full can of beer go to waste, now can we….? OK, pull over, just kidding. Hic!

In any event, this video comes to us thanks to the hard work and diligence of all around good guy and manufacturing fan Scott McCarty of Ball Corporation. It is a great, high-quality 10-minute view of a 12-oz aluminum can being made. It really is fascinating to watch the process and listen to the narration, starting with rolls of aluminum and following it all the way through the process, making 2,000 cans per minute! In all, Ball Corp. makes about 100 million recyclable cans per day.

Click here, sit back, and feel the manufacturing vibe. And don’t forget to check out other cool manufacturing videos over on Jim Terr’s site at Manuflix.com.

We just had to file this under comic relief:

Fresh from his re-election (did we forget to mention that John Sweeney was indeed re-elected President of a much smaller — and shrinking — AFL-CIO this week….?), AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has threatened to punish House Democrats who voted for more jobs and CAFTA. That’s a puzzler, we know, but let’s put that aside for the moment. What’s funny is that a guy who has just won re-election of a group made smaller by his ham-handedness and ineptness is now threatening anybody. As a result of the split, they have at least 3 million fewer members. The split was precipitated by the allegations that he was completely unable to accomplish anything of note while at the helm other than a continued decline in membership. They lost the House, Senate and White House under his watch.

Kinda reminds you of the scene from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” where the Black Knight is getting his limbs lopped off, all the while goading his assailant and agitating for more of a fight. “Just a flesh wound….” (listen).

Truth is, Democrats and Republicans who voted for CAFTA voted for more jobs, more exports and more growth for US manufacturing. They deserve the gratitude of labor, not their revenge.

How ’bout this: how ’bout we wait and see if the sky really does fall, then go into “revenge” mode? If past is prologue (we gained 300,000 auto jobs after NAFTA passed), John Sweeney can save his breath.

Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow (we’re watching the blog traffic reports, know that a bunch of you are doing it….) to watch the Saturday video of cool things being made. This one just came in from a member company, is high quality, a little longer than usual and is really, really cool. All we can tell you is it’s about a product we all use. Watch this space tomorrow, feel the manufacturing vibe.

As this week draws to a close, we have to stand back and say, ” What a week this has been!” The energy bill — after many, many years in gestation – at last — got out of conference this week and was passed by the House yesterday. This balanced bill will lower energy prices for consumers, spur our economy, create hundreds of thousands of jobs and take unprecedented steps to promote energy conservation and efficiency. As a result of hatching a common sense energy policy, hopefully we can begin to see energy prices — especially natural gas — begin to level off in the months and years ahead.

On Wednesday, Congress passed the Trade Rights Enforcement Act by a vote of 255-168. This bill gives gives U.S. companies the tools to offset unfair subsidies that benefit competitors in China and other nations.

And, of course, the House passed CAFTA late on Wednesday too. Huge vote, huge shot in the arm for US manufacturers. On the day it takes effect, tariffs will disappear on 80% of our exports to Central America. The Washington Post says it will boost US exports by $1 billion.

None of these things happen by accident. All of them happen with the enormous activism of manufacturers — small and large — weighing in with their members of congress. We’ve said so many times before that we have the most engaged membership of any trade association in the country.

And so we say to our members, “Thank you — you all have done us proud once again.”

Take the rest of the week off!

There are some fashion trends that are just timeless: the Chanel suit, the wing tip shoe, cotton shirt, the penny loafer, Wayfarers…

…and mullets. Yes, mullets: the Kentucky Waterfall, the Shorty Longback (Sho-Lo), the Tennessee Top Hat, the Mudflap and the Squirrel Pelt, each with its own verve and character. Let us introduce you to Mullet.com, a paean to the mullet. On it you will find a veritable potpourri — a cornucopia, some might say — of mullet-mania.

Among the features are the Mullet of the Month, the Mullet blog (sheez, does everybody have to have a blog?!?), the Playground (which lets you add mullets to a few famous people) and — our favorite — the Mullet Mall.

On the Mall, you’ll find some mullet must-haves like Sparkling Mullet Body and Car Wash, Minty Frikkin’ Mullet Lip Balm (“When your beaver pelt’s flyin’ proud, it’s not cool to have a dry, cracked beer-hole”), and Vibrant Mullet Shampoo (“Limp, tired mullets can be a harsh toke. Vibrant Mullet Shampoo is the magical formula you have been waiting for, makes every style mullet rock and shine. Muscle Car scent.”)Muscle car scent?!?

Bottom line is if you have a mullet, had a mullet, or are thinking about growing a mullet, (there, that covers everyboody, doesn’t it….?) this is really the site for you.

Thanks to Tim and Meg Satrom, two big mullet-eers, for the hot tip to this very cool website.