Posted on 08/26/2011 9:26:29 AM PDT by yoe
Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday, raiding factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Feds are keeping mum, but in a statement yesterday Gibson's chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, defended his company's manufacturing policies, accusing the Justice Department of bullying the company. "The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier," he said, suggesting the Feds are using the aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle.
It isn't the first time that agents of the Fish and Wildlife Service have come knocking at the storied maker of such iconic instruments as the Les Paul electric guitar, the J-160E acoustic-electric John Lennon played, and essential jazz-boxes such as Charlie Christian's ES-150. In 2009 the Feds seized several guitars and pallets of wood from a Gibson factory, and both sides have been wrangling over the goods in a case with the delightful name "United States of America v. Ebony Wood in Various Forms."
[snip] It isn't just Gibson that is sweating. Musicians who play vintage guitars and other instruments made of environmentally protected materials are worried the authorities may be coming for them next.
[snip] If you are the lucky owner of a 1920s Martin guitar, it may well be made, in part, of Brazilian rosewood.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I guess I should read the whole article.
And the administration wonders why there are no jobs in this “recovery”.
Next they go after gun manufactures that use Cocobolo (Rosewood). Admin flat out nutz. Wish Holder lived in Irene path. He’d get a taste of wood alright.
And we actually pay people to do this? No wonder the government is drowning in debt. Gad! This country is most certainly insane if we continue to put up with this sort of thing.
The gummit has bloated itself to the point of being well nigh unwatchable. Too much stuff going on.
Why are these enviro laws being used retroactively???
More harassment from NObama & Holder???
“If my next Les Paul is built overseas”
The Feds won’t allow it to be imported. No LP for you!
This isn’t a _resident. This is an emperor!
They’re just going to yawn and wave through anything that comes on a Chinese ship. Fellow travelers respect one another, after all.
Did they shoot any dogs and flashbang the assembly line workers on the way in? I know those ... wood violators ... can be a shifty sort.
Technically, they're not. However, the law can be enforced so heavy-handedly that it will be up to the owners of vintage guitars to prove that their guitars are vintage.
This means if grandpa wills me his beloved 1959 Gibson Les Paul (thanks gramps!) and I left the country with it, in order to not lose this priceless instruments to customs upon returning, I would need to have documentation attesting to it being vintage. Would grandpa's receipt be good enough? Who knows. Would I need George Gruhn to provide me with a detailed appraisal (that he charges hundreds of dollars for)? Who knows.
Well Good God man!
They weren’t simply threatening and intimidating voters at a polling place, they were working and paying taxes and employing people and fostering the arts! And thought they could get away with it ... not on Holder’s watch
Unbelievable ...
Kind of off topic:
Why does it take 6 bluegrass musicians to screw in a light bulb?
One to hold it and 5 to complain because its electric (~).
You’re probably right. Sure hate to “loose” my ‘63 Sho Bud with the Rosewood aprons if I had to play a gig in Canada though! That would make me mute and irrevalunt!
keyboard spew alert
Likewise for my 1950 Gibson C-1.
And during the Bush administration, let it not be forgotten.
“All your fretboards are belong to us!”
Right. And look what happened to him. He angered our mother earth and he paid the ultimate price!
;-)
Good joke!
I was going to blame this on Bush but...
He vetoed the Farm Bill that this expansion was attached to. Twice! (Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008.)
Bush's veto was overridden by congress.
Yep. Guitar players can truly blame the democrats for this mess.
That’s good!
I host a monthly Bluegrass show and there was some criticism of one of the bands because the Bass player had an P-Bass.
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