We took delivery on our first shipment of heavyweight duck blanket lined jackets, made by UFCW local 1541 workers. The boxes piled high in the photo give an indication of what the rest of my house looks like at the moment.

We’ve been working hard behind the scenes for the past few weeks with FDL members on the OccupySupply program. So far the FDL Membership Program has raised $83,583.88 and spent $42,833.96 on supplies, and we are proud to report that union made hats, scarves and socks are now on their way to 40 Occupations across the country.

I’ve been calling a lot of the people who have joined the FDL Membership Program over the past couple of days, and it’s been one of the most fun things I’ve ever done in the five (yikes!) years since we opened the doors. Much to my surprise, many were people who have never even commented here before, and it was the first time I’d ever had the opportunity to interact with many of them.

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This week, the UAW published a list of 2010 union-made cars, trucks, vans and other vehicles. It’s also Union Label Week, which we hold annually to highlight howunion-made goods are high in quality and help support middle-class communities. These two events reminded me: Making a case for Buy American means we in the union movement need to do our job and show U.S. consumers how and where to buy American, and buy union.

Or at least we can try. I’ve seen an awful lot of brand-new BMWs, Mercedes and Lexus brands of all types driving around here in Washington, D.C., recently. Something tells me my money helped purchase those vehicles—no doubt some of the drivers are beneficiaries of taxpayer-bailed out financial institutions.

Still, not everyone is laughing all the way to making high-end purchases of foreign-made goods with U.S. taxpayer dollars. And for those who still have a conscious that can be appealed to, this list is for you.

We heard Bill O’Reilly is having trouble finding American-made T-shirts to sell in his Patriot Store. We know he’s heartbroken because, after all, what good is a Patriot Store if its products are made in El Salvador or Haiti? (Especially if you’re selling red, white and blue “American Patriot” T-shirts, like the one on the left.)

We heard he can’t find made-in-the-USA T-shirts because O’Reilly said so himself (h/t to D-Day).