So much has been written about blogs as they have proliferated, and more than one commentator has objected to the bloggers’ seeming lack of ethics in the blogosphere. We take umbrage at this charge and point out once again that while journalists — who appear to be largely free of any ethical restraints at all — seem to detest blogs, in fact they rely on ‘em, read ‘em all the time.

In an attempt to keep the bloggers’ reputation one notch above that of working journalists (a low bar, you might say), we propose the following as “The Blogger’s Code”. Please click on “Comments” below to add any we may have missed:

1.) We will not post anything we know to be untrue unless it helps to build traffic to the blog.

2.) We will not use the blog to further any personal grudge or vendetta unless there’s an excellent reason to do so.

3.) We will not post anything based solely on a single source. We will verify everything with at least one other independent source unless doing so means losing the scoop on a really juicy story.

4.) We will not accept information from a source without checking their motives unless the information they give us appears to be an “exclusive”, or really, really excellent.

See? We have standards, we have ethics. We promise to follow these religiously and never depart from them — ever — unless we absolutely have to.

What have we missed?

Washington DC Metro riders this summer have been treated to a poster campaign by a left-wing group intent on combating that scourge of society, lactose intolerance. The ad features a foursome of near-perfect racial and ethnic balance (only Aleuts are missing, near as we can tell) obviously in discomfort, racing to a unisex biffy. “Got Lactose Intolerance?” the ad screams, “Take Legal Action.” After you go to the bathroom, that is.

It goes on. “Do you suffer from symptoms of lactose intolerance?”, it asks. (We won’t list the symptoms, it’s too soon after breakfast.) “If so,” it says, “You may have grounds for a lawsuit.” What are they going to do, sue the cows? The ad notes that some 75% of people worldwide are lactose intolerant, noting/pandering that it’s especially common in people of color.

The ad is sponsored by a groups called PCRM, or the Physicians Committee for Responsible (other than this ad, apparently) Medicine. Their website is a neurotic’s nightmare, and an adventure in litigation, as they seem to be lawsuit-happy, filing suit on every issue real (but mostly imagined) under the sun. Can you imagine a group less likely to get in bed — or the bathroom — with lawyers than doctors? Doctors are a group second only to manufacturers in their appreciation of the destructive and pernicious effect of trial lawyers.

Who exactly is PCRM? ActivistCash says they are “a fanatical animal rights group that seeks to remove eggs, milk, meat, and seafood from the American diet.” (Remind us never to go to dinner at their house….) However — important caveat — “Less than 5 percent of PCRM’s members are physicians,” Newsweek wrote in February 2004. Guess it sounds better than “Fewer Than 5% Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.” Think of them as kinda a soy version of a real physicians committee.

In any event, their website for this ridiculous lactose adventure is MilkMakesMeSick.org. Milk makes me sick? Y’know what makes us sick? Trial lawyers!

Hey, wonder what happens when you click on TrialLawyersMakeMeSick.org….?

For anyone who loves manufacturing, there are few thrills as great as being in a big Midwest manufacturing city, taking it all in. The blogger-in-chief was in Oconomowoc speaking to the WMC meeting, a group of mostly HR folks, talking about the need to weigh in on HR issues like FMLA and ADA. These are two statutes that we support — and with which we comply — but both have wandered far afield from their roots. Most of the folks in the room today we’re sure had a horror story about FMLA and ADA abuse. We urged them to document these cases and pass them along to us and to their elected Representatives. Only then can we hope for meaningful correction (not reform) of these two laws.

Oh, we also put up a slide showing the NAM vote ratings of the Wisconsin Congressional delegation. All claim to be friends of manufacturing but the vote ratings tell a different tale.

But we digress: We traveled from Oconomowoc to Milwaukee. Driving through there on US 94 it’s a manufacturing paradise. The names of the great manufacturing names just scream at you: Miller just celebrated its 150th anniversary, only one year after Milwaukee-based Harley celebrated their centennial. There’s Rockwell/Allen-Bradley and a host of other billboards and signs of great American manufacturing names large and small.

And, Milwaukee is a microcosm of manufacturing. Once great, had some tough times but rebuilt. It’s a great city — the art museum with its gull-winged roof is just spectacular, especially on a brilliant summer day like yesterday. But it reminds us of the renaissance of manufacturing. A company like Harley that faced near-certain death and came bounding back to become a great American success story, told ’round the world. The power of the brand, the power of a Harley, the power of a great American manufacturer.

In any event, saw a bunch of manufacturers. All are well, working, innovating, competing every day, not looking for any special treatment or handouts, only wishing government wouldn’t be making it tougher for them to compete.

Welcome to our good friends over at the US Chamber of Commerce who yesterday weighed in with an endorsement of Judge John Roberts’ nomination to the Supreme Court, thus joining the budding effort by business to confirm Judge Roberts. We were the first business group to endorse, have received letters from a few others, and now the Chamber adds its considerable heft to the fray. We welcome them and look forward to working with all like-minded groups and associations to make sure Judge Roberts receives a swift up or down vote from the US Senate and joins the court when its term begins in October. It’s just good business.

Greetings from beautiful Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Spent last evening with Susan and Bill Thiel of Appaloosa.org, the folks with the world famous “BarnCam” that damn near melted down Animal Planet’s server with almost 4 million hits in one month. These are two HR folks, one reformed, one not, who just hung a camera in their barn one day and caught the brith of a foal on camera. It spread by word of mouth, then was picked up by Animal Planet and now is its own industry.

True manufacturers though they are here in manufacturing country, Bill innovated and invented a better mousetrap, a smaller and more powerful barn cam, and even developed one that can transit wirelessly through a metal building. These things are selling like hotcakes, made of all US-made components, assembled by Bill & Co. right here in Oconomowoc.

It’s just a classic manufacturing story — two folks who followed their passion an in the process stumbled into a very lucrative business by constantly innovating. It’s what manufacturers do.

So check out the Barn Cam (although there’s not much birthing activity these days) and even the Barn Blog. Apparently, even Appaloosas have a blog. Don’t even need opposable thumbs to have a blog.

We were feeling pretty good about our traffic these days, but were blown away by the 4 million number. We sought advice from Susan and Bill Thiel under the theory of continuous improvement. Susan suggested the thing that worked first and best of them: Broadcast a live birth.

Show of hands, anyone…?

Do these folks look like manufacturers to you? Well, they do to us. It’s Kellie and Gary Johnson of Ace Clearwater Enterprises in California. Ace Clearwater is a manufacturer in Torrance, California that builds complex formed and welded assemblies for the aerospace and power generation industries. As if you didn’t already think manufacturers were cutting edge, you should check out their website which is very cool. It even includes a picture of Kellie with the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. It also has an “Ace Cam” where you can view Ace employees at work.

Kellie has been such a leader on so many issues, from getting Kiss interested in manufacturing to the R&D Tax Credit. We profiled her a little while back in Leadership magazine.

In short, Kellie and Gary epitomize what’s great about manufacturing: they are innovative, aggressive, smart. Oh, and did we forget hip?

Yeah, they’re hip, too. Whaddaya expect? They’re from California!

Click on the image to enlarge it. Surf’s up!

Earlier this month, the NAM became the first business group to endorse the nomination of judge John Roberts to the Supreme Court. This was done by our Judicial Review Committee (JRC), a group of General Counsels and top executives from manufacturing companies.

We have fielded hundreds of calls from reporters, all beginning with one central question: “What in the heck is the NAM doing mucking around in Supreme Court nominations?” After all, in their view, this is the sole province of the groups arrayed around the various social issues. What on earth do we care about social issues?

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In case a few of you slept in over this past August weekend and missed our radio show — or if you opted to watch C-SPAN and the reading of Hank Cox’s book (which ran at the same time), here’s a link to this week’s show — available in Podcast, too.

This week’s show includes an economic analysis by Manufacturing Institute President — and economist extraordinaire – Jerry Jasinowski on energy prices, interest rates and growth; an observation from across the pond on Europe’s flagging efforts to comply with Kyoto (they signed it, didn’t mean it, apparently); some neat stuff from Emerson Climate Technologies and other items.

Tune in by clicking on this link.

The world lost a great innovator when Robert Moog passed away yesterday of a brain tumor at age 71. Moog was the inventor of the eponymous Moog Synthesizer, an innovative electrical instrument that revolutionized music and sound in the 60′s, 70′s and beyond. He is the grandfather of electronic music in the same way as Les Paul and Leo Fender are for the electric guitar.

Moog was first influenced by the sound of the theremin, an instrument best known to the pop world in the opening to the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations“. He studied electronics and sound until perfecting his synthesizer. People of a certain age remember Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer as a master of the instrument. It was also used by the Beatles on “Abbey Road” and by such diverse artists as Yes, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea.

We celebrate manufacturing on this blog and the innovation of manufacturers. Robert Moog was an innovator whose sound was heard ’round the world. So many manufacturers toil in obscurity. Robert Moog and his innovation was fortunate enough to be well known. We salute him and his work on behalf of the worlds of music and manufacturing. Here’s a link to an AP story on Moog’s passing by Natalie Gott.

For without manufacturing, there would be no music.

One of the biggest issues facing manufacturers large and small is the piracy of their products and their intellectual capital around the world. Innovation is not only our life blood, it’s our competitive advantage in this country, as we still have the most innovative manufacturers in the world. We need to be vigilant to fight against counterfeiting and piracy where ever we find it.

To that end, we have two action items for you:

– First, check out the website of the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy. This is a business-wide coalition “Committed to increasing the understanding of the negative impact of counterfeiting and piracy by working with Congress and the administration to drive greater government-wide efforts to address this threat.” If you care about counterfeiting, you should join the coalition.

– Second, to that end, the OECD is trying to compile some data on the breadth and depth of counterfeiting. Here’s a questionnaire from the OECD. We’ll only caution you that it’s a little bit typical of OECD international bureaucracy, but you really only need to focus on pages 5-7, the actual questionnaire itself. It’s very important that you fill it out of you have a story to tell. Please take a look, join the effort to stop counterfeiting.