"Nice little guitar company you got there Henry. Be a shame if something bad happened to it ..."
Posted on 08/28/2011 5:57:32 PM PDT by Nachum
Henry Juszkiewicz, the CEO of Gibson Guitars, Inc. was on The Dana Loesch Show on Friday. Gibson is under attack by the the Obama Justice Department for accusations that the company broke American Indian laws.
Juszkiewiz said the government suggested that the company's use of unfinished wood from India is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because of the Justice Department's interpretation of a law in India. The Holder Justice Department raided at least two Gibson manufacturing plants this week forcing hundreds of workers off their jobs. Juszkiewiz says the company lost a million dollars this week.
Finally, Henry Juszkiewicz told Dana, "The Obama Justice Department wants us to just shut our doors and go away." He says he will continue to fight for the Gibson company and its workers.
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
I wouldn’t be so sure about any of this. Many musicians currently get a lot of free stuff from Gibson. They will not necessarily take Obama’s side on this.
“Never anger a bard, for your name is silly and scans to “Greensleeves”.
Yes they are... and now they are biting the hand that feeds them. Hope the hands can tell that their fingers are being chomped off. (hard to play your Gibson with stubs).
Gibson guitars are some of the FINEST guitars MADE IN AMERICA! Stay away Obama!
My Gibson Les Paul Studio is beautiful!
I hope the DOJ makes the profound mistake of going after Harley-Davidson with equal idiocy...
How would that matter? The Obama Administration isn’t afraid of HD or their customers. No need to be.
Ebony is native to South Asia — India and Sri Lanka. They use that wood in their guitars, hence the imports.
I read this in a column last night...
“Gibson is the only guitar company targeted by the Obama DOJ under the Lacey Act. Tennessee is a right-to-work state. Fender, Taylor, Rickenbacker, Danelectro, Carvin, MusicMan, and ESP are in California; Spector is in New York; Martin is in Pennsylvania; Guild, Ovation, and Hamer are in Connecticut; Alvarez is in Missouri; B.C. Rich is in Kentucky; Heritage is in Michigan; Washburn is in Illinois. All are forced-union states.”
Ah, this was the article I read it in LOL.
As you were...
Nachum, this is enraging. What a corrupt, lying, obfuscating bunch of anti-capitalist liars. Holder ignores the finding of the Circuit Panel in Atlanta finding Obamacare unconstitutional and they proceed as though nothing has happened...then they turn around and sue Boeing and Gibson for being nonunion...and the excuse in the case of Gibson is that Gibson is violating INDIAN LAW?? IMPEACH THIS PRESIDENT’S CORRUPT FASCIST ASS!
Welcome to the New United States of Amerika, courtesy of der 0berFuhrer Hussein 0bama and der ReichFuhrer Eric Holder. Your company is only the first of many that will be "cleansed" to comply with der 0berFuhrer's policies.
FUBO GTFO !
“Why not use American wood?”
I bought a 4-string bass whose body is a solid piece of ash. I think the board is made of maple. I love it! I found it on Ebay. It wasn’t made by a company but by an individual whose name isn’t on it anywhere, nor is there any type of label, logo or serial no. I got it for something like $160 about 4 years ago. Sweet!
*
“Yes they are... and now they are biting the hand that feeds them. Hope the hands can tell that their fingers are being chomped off. (hard to play your Gibson with stubs).”
This is complete BS,They need to be investigating the POS Muzzies,ACORN,LaRaza The Unions,Instead of honest American business.
We can also look at Gibson's earlier Press Release that goes into greater detail.
Of note is the section where Gibson talks about the government's seizure of Madagascar ebony fingerboard blanks.
Gibson's Press Release fails to note that, when it imported those blanks, the initial paperwork listed the wood only as ebony and (conveniently?) didn't list the wood as Madagascar ebony, which was essentially illegal to import. The Press Release didn't mention that the Gibson import failed to include the required Lacey Act documentation, nor that the man who acted as Gibson's supplier was authorized by Madagascar to export only finished Madagascar products, and had not been authorized by Madagascar to export unfinished, semi-worked or sawn ebony since 2006. Source.
Gibson's Press Release fails to note that the government has internal Gibson emails in which an employee who was sent to Madagacar in 2008 stated "I represented our company along with two other guitar manufacturers… All legal timber and wood exports are prohibited because of wide spread corruption and theft of valuable woods like rosewood and ebony.’
Nor does it mention the follow-up email in which the employee stated "On February 25, 2009, in a reference to the potential long term solution, [he] wrote… that the company Maderas Barber ‘has been in the business a long time and may be able to help begin some legitimate harvests. Mr. [Roger] Thunam on the other hand should now be able to supply Nagel with all the rosewood and ebony for the grey market.’
Who supplied Gibson with the Madagacar ebony that was seized? Not Maderas Barber, the man Gibson's internal memos said could supply it with "legitimate harvests." Instead, it was the Nagel company in Germany - which Gibson said was the "grey market." Source.
Doesn't sound like Gibson was necessary acting above-board or with clean hands when it bought the Madagascar ebony in 2008, nor when it imported it without the Lacey Act declaration showing that the reported 'ebony' was really "Madagascar ebony.'
Yeah, Gibson's NOW gone back and managed to get somebody in Madagascar to say the wood was harvested legally. Even though 2008 was the period when armed rebels were logging Madagascar rosewood and ebony and there was a huge illegal trade in the wood. And even though Gibson didn't have the documentation in 2008 and attempted to import "Madagacar ebony' marked only as 'ebony.'
Maybe other manufacturers did the same end-run Gibson did. Maybe other manufacturers issued misleading Press Releases.
But do I take everything Henry Juszkiewicz and Gibson say at face value given the 2008 Madagacar ebony situation and how Gibson's trying to spin it now?
No. I trust Henry Juszkiewicz and Gibson only slightly more than I trust Obama. I know how Henry J. refused to give his lenders copies of Gibson's audited 2008 financials, as required by the loans (and I mean Henry J. - he'd dissolved the board of directors).
And I hate that, because Henry J. turned Gibson around from collapse. I love my Gibsons - electric and acoustic guitars, banjos, and a mandolin.
My Slingerlands where made in Niles Illinois out of American Rock Maple. They go KA and BOOM!
They need to do an update to the old Frank Zappa song, and call it, “My Guitar Wants to Kill Obama.”
He is THE most UN-American President EVER!!!
WTF?
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