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Experts say a special breed found in Madagascar could hold the key to keeping them alive. But there are only five known trees in existence. Scientists are racing to develop new banana varieties strong enough to survive Panama disease, which is a major threat to banana crops around the world. Because bananas are clones, the disease is able to spread very quickly from one to another. It is currently wreaking havoc with crops in Asia – but could wipe out the world’s supply if it spreads to America. Richard Allen, senior conservation assessor at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, told...

Fewer than 40 such eggs are held in public collections today (The Buffalo Museum of Science, BSNS Q 257) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ hen humans first arrived on the island of Madagascar around 1500 years ago, they encountered an array of remarkable species that have since gone extinct: gorilla-sized lemurs, giant tortoises, tiny hippos and a huge, long-necked, flightless bird that lumbered through Madagascar’s forests and laid the largest eggs of any known vertebrate, including dinosaurs. The eggs of the Aepyornis, also known as the elephant bird, were a highly valuable food source for Madagascar’s human settlers. With a volume roughly equal to...

Rock n' Roll. The soundtrack to rebellion. Across the decades, the motif has held, and the mythology of the rebellious rocker striding into the political arena to shatter the establishment with some deftly played power chords still stirs the imagination. Sadly, the new world might not be ready for the revolution, because this week, after 116 years in business, and following years of attacks, fines, and losses incurred by federal bureaucrats, Gibson, the legendary manufacturer of electric guitars, revealed that it could face bankruptcy in July. .......the feds claimed was a violation of the Teddy Roosevelt-era “Lacey Act”, which was...

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...

Federal agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local police today seized wood, guitars, computers and boxes of files from Gibson Guitar's Massman Road manufacturing facility. Sources say the Nashville-based guitar manufacturer is being investigated for violating the Lacey Act, a key piece of environmental law, for importing endangered species of rosewood from Madagascar. Rosewood is widely used in the construction of guitars and sells for $5,000 per cubic meter, more than double the price of mahogany. The island nation off Africa's east coast is a key producer of the hardwood, the export of which has links to...

Federal authorities are pressuring Nashville-based Gibson Guitar to hand over an additional 25 bundles of Indian wood that the company allegedly planned to use in its famous guitars. The complaint was filed today in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and mirrors a 2010 action that sought official forfeiture of wood obtained in a 2009 raid of Gibson facilities. The latter of those cases has been stayed, pending the outcome of the most recent suit. As has been the case in previous allegations, at issue is the classification of certain wood imported to the United States from...

The real endangered species? I’ve seen a lot of enviro-nitwittery over the years, but this takes the cake. US Fish and Wildlife officials have raided the famous Gibson Guitars. And the instrument-maker isn’t alone. Antique piano dealers are also in the crosshairs. Why? Because rare, beautiful instruments made of ecologically incorrect materials must be sacrificed at the green altar. Talk about hitting a sour note. Eric Felten at the WSJ reports: 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...

Gibson CEO: Obama Administration Told Us Our Problems Would Go Away If We Used Madagascar Labor (Audio).......KMJ Radio host Chris Daniel interviewed Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz on Wednesday. Juszkiewicz told Chris that the Obama Administration told them, “Your problems would go away if you used Madagascar labor instead of our labor.”

Joe Biden’s bizarre disconnect regarding his scandal-ridden former boss. On December 13, former vice president, Joe Biden, appeared on CBS with the hosts of “This Morning” where he peddled his new book and showered his former boss with praise. During the course of the interview, he was asked about his relationship with Obama and responded with the following; “I’ve served with eight presidents and I’ve gotten to know four of them very well. I’ve never met any president that has more character, more integrity, and more backbone than this guy does.” Then he went completely off the rails when he...

Gibson Guitar Corp. agreed to settle charges that it illegally purchased and imported ebony wood from Madagascar and rosewood and ebony from India, the Justice Department said today. The company will pay a $300,000 fine under a criminal enforcement agreement that defers prosecution for criminal violations of the Lacey Act. Another $50,000 fine will go to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation “to be used to promote the conservation, identification and propagation of protected tree species used in the musical instrument industry and the forests where those species are found.” Since May 2008, it has been illegal under the Lacey...

Over the last few years, guitars and a sort of obscure law against illegal logging have come into conflict. Environmental activists are in Anaheim today, at the National Association of Music Merchants trade show, to do a raising awareness song-and-dance about this. Literally: they've got a musician with them. The guitars are Gibsons, and the law is the Lacey Act. An NPR colleague reported on this issue from Tennessee last year. Gibson is just a flash point: federal law enforcement officials have investigated the company on the suspicion that it broke laws in India and Madagascar. The Lacey Act makes...

Saturday October 8,2011 2 - 4 p.m. (CDT) Scoreboard Resturant 2804 Music Valley Dr. Nashville TN (across from Opryland Hotel) We need your help: - PLEASE make plans to attend and help us support Gibson Guitar - If you have contacts with musical talent who would like to lend their support, please let us know - If you can help with security and staffing and promotion please let us know - Please spread the word by emailing the link to the website

In addition to those Republican lawmakers who have announced – motivated, it seems, by disrespect — that they will decline to attend President Obama’s Thursday night jobs address to a joint session of Congress, Republicans are also taking the additional step of inviting a man whose company the Obama administration is investigating for possibly breaking the law. Henry Juszkiewicz, the CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp., will either sit in the House Gallery as the guest of his member of Congress, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. (members of Congress each get to invite one guest to sit in that balcony), or he...

Call Michelle Obama the ultimate guitar hero. The American First Lady presented French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy with a practical – and very rock 'n' roll – gift: an acoustic Gibson guitar. Offered "as a sign of friendship', Michelle Obama gave Gibson's Legend model, to Bruni, a former model-turned-singer who is currently in the process of recording her fourth album. The gift, which Michelle Obama brought to France, was presented to Bruni following their visit Saturday to Strasbourg's 12th century cathedral and the city's Renaissance Museum, a source says.

First Lady MICHELLE OBAMA is being accused of break­ing the law over a gift she gave French First Lady CARLA BRUNI-SARKOZY! Michelle presented Carla with a Gibson Hummingbird acoustic gui­tar in 2009 – but the problem is that it may have been made from wood that was illegally obtained. The guitar, which Michelle took from the U.S. to Strasbourg and gave to the supermodel-turned-singer wife of France’s president, has a fretboard made from rare rosewood – and that’s why Michelle could wind up singing the blues over it. In fact, if the first lady was aware that the guitar contained...

...Blaine Gibson, who has been gathering suspected MH370 debris as it washes up on Madagascar and Mozambique, said Mr Raza had been due to deliver new items to Malaysian investigators in Kuala Lumpur when he was unexpectedly slain. The timing has rattled Mr Gibson, who says he has been receiving death threats because of his self-financed mission to solve the baffling aviation mystery. He had planned to keep details of his latest finds — which included two items he considered particularly promising — under wraps until they had been safely transported off the island but changed his mind after Mr...

Do you see me in yourself for truly I AM there but are you allowing me to reign supreme or is there another god in my place of worldly desires ? For truly I am the answer to each breath and step of your life and my staircase leads to me alone for truly I AM all you will ever need and in this revelation you shall find the peace that surpasses the understanding of mortal flesh and desires . So make Me the gold and silver you search for and desire and for truly My rewards are eternal and...

Monday, The New York Times published the Palestinian response to an alleged Saudi peace plan. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly presented it to PLO chief and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas last month. According to the Times’ report, Mohammed told Abbas he has two months to either accept the Saudi proposal or leave office to make way for a new Palestinian leader who will accept it. The Palestinians and their European supporters are up in arms about the content of Mohammed’s plan. It reportedly proposes the establishment of limited Palestinian sovereignty over small portions of Judea and Samaria....

Living bacteria were found on the surface of the International Space Station (ISS), and they might have extraterrestrial origins, Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov said. The microorganisms will be studied further on Earth. Shkaplerov, an ISS expedition flight engineer who will take his third trip to the ISS in December as part of the Expedition 54 crew, said that scientists found living bacteria while they were taking samples from the surface of the station. Speaking to TASS, he said that the microorganisms might have come from outer space. ... However, traces of bacteria originating on Earth – from Madagascar – and...

Officials at the hospital say the main reason why patients run away is that they are scared of needles and don't have much experience of hospitals. Jean Benoit Manhes, the deputy representative of Unicef, told the Irish Times: "Some escaped because they’re afraid of needles. People here are not used to the hospital. "The problem of plague is not just a medical response. You can have hospitals but if people don’t come it isn’t enough.” Such incidents have prompted fears that the plague could spread even further with each confirmed case requiring 20 people have been in contact with to...