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What Gibson Guitars Did with the Wood the Government Returned
American Thinker ^ | 2-2-2014 | Victor Keith

Posted on 02/02/2014 1:02:51 AM PST by sheikdetailfeather

In 2011, the Department of Justice conducted raids on the Tennessee facilities of the famed Gibson Guitar company and confiscated large quantities of tonewood that had been imported from India and Madagascar. The action included armed SWAT teams, with automatic weapons, who apparently feared being garroted with a guitar string by an enraged Gibson employee. These raids were conducted due to the Lacey Act, which bans the importing of certain woods. The issue at hand was not that the wood was endangered or illegally harvested, but that it was not of the proper thickness that would have meant that some labor had been performed on it by workers in India and Madagascar. This was the law in Madagascar and India as a nod to the unions in those countries. Gibson, who hand-makes its guitars, cannot guarantee the craftsmanship of its products if a portion of the work is done outside their facilities.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Politics
KEYWORDS: doj; gibson; gibsonguitars; government; guitar; holder; returned; wood
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The chief intimidator just got neutered.
1 posted on 02/02/2014 1:02:51 AM PST by sheikdetailfeather
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To: sheikdetailfeather; Scoutmaster

2 posted on 02/02/2014 1:07:35 AM PST by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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3 posted on 02/02/2014 1:10:15 AM PST by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: sheikdetailfeather

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Government-Series-II-Les-Paul.aspx


4 posted on 02/02/2014 1:10:26 AM PST by Fresh Wind (The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.)
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5 posted on 02/02/2014 1:11:56 AM PST by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: sheikdetailfeather

Not really. An act of defiance but plenty of cash for it. You know one of the very few good ideas put forth in Obamacare, even though it will fall on its face is nobody should go bankrupt over an illness. I know some here will argue that but it’s my belief and i’m not going to respond to debate on this. My point is Gibson can afford the money. I would have to accept a public defender and most likely lesser representation because defending myself in court would bankrupt me.
To me , the prohibitive cost of defending yourself is just as big an issue as the cost of healthcare. An innocent man could face incarceration because of lack of funds.


6 posted on 02/02/2014 1:14:16 AM PST by wiggen (The teacher card. When the racism card just won't work.)
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To: wiggen

Great move by Gibson. They’ll recoup a lot of their lost money by selling these special edition guitars, and I’ll bet a lot of them will be purchased by patriotic monied and capitalistic Americans who are in solidarity with Gibson guitar.


7 posted on 02/02/2014 1:26:59 AM PST by flaglady47 (Proud Conservative Republican)
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To: flaglady47

Sure it is but the real point is what if you or I had to defend ourselves from the government? Could we do it? Thats my point. The govt can pretty much bankrupt any citizen it wants by ensnaring them in the court system.


8 posted on 02/02/2014 1:34:43 AM PST by wiggen (The teacher card. When the racism card just won't work.)
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To: sheikdetailfeather
who apparently feared being garroted with a guitar string by an enraged Gibson employee.

During Basic Training at Little Vietnam, at Ft. Polk, I did make two piano wire (I can't remember for certain what wire they were, but I can ask him) garrots, one for me and one for my partner, but during orientation, as we prepared for Escape and Evasion and POW/torture, etc, the Green Beret that was leading the introduction was so convincing of what would happen if one of his Green Berets were hurt with weapons, that I told my buddy that we should drop them under the bleachers and not risk being caught with them, and like many young men, I can't explain what I intended them for, but I had felt going in that we needed to be prepared as best as we could be with what little we had available.

It is a creepy weapon, or tool.

9 posted on 02/02/2014 1:34:43 AM PST by ansel12 (Ben Bradlee -- JFK told me that "he was all for people's solving their problems by abortion".)
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To: sheikdetailfeather

Another Day In The Life of the Obama White House, or aka, When Presidents Attack!


10 posted on 02/02/2014 1:38:16 AM PST by lee martell
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To: Liberty Valance
Nice tidy looking axe.

However,I agree with one of the comments..."Strats rule"

11 posted on 02/02/2014 1:47:30 AM PST by mitch5501 ("make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things ye shall never fall")
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To: wiggen

If you don’t have a good lawyer you don’t actually have any rights.


12 posted on 02/02/2014 1:56:57 AM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: mitch5501

+1


13 posted on 02/02/2014 2:11:38 AM PST by sauropod (Fat Bottomed Girl: "What difference, at this point, does it make?")
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To: wiggen

“Sure it is but the real point is what if you or I had to defend ourselves from the government? Could we do it? Thats my point.”

Of course that’s the point. I’m just adding my own point that when handed a lemon, make lemonade. Gibon made the best of a bad situation and will, in true capitalistic fashion, make money off of it to boot. Great American ingenuity. As to the gov’t, we’ve got a fascist one at present, that needs to be done away with as fast as possible.


14 posted on 02/02/2014 2:18:18 AM PST by flaglady47 (Proud Conservative Republican)
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To: flaglady47

Gibon = Gibson above. Typo.


15 posted on 02/02/2014 2:19:07 AM PST by flaglady47 (Proud Conservative Republican)
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To: lee martell
The action included armed SWAT teams, with automatic weapons

Unless their abuse of power used some traffic cones or registered Republicans the urban media doesn't care. I know the machine guns are for banana republic style intimidation but some government hireling is eventually going to trip on their shoe laces and cause a mass killing.

16 posted on 02/02/2014 2:29:50 AM PST by Reeses
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To: sheikdetailfeather
The issue at hand was not that the wood was endangered or illegally harvested, but that it was not of the proper thickness that would have meant that some labor had been performed on it by workers in India and Madagascar. This was the law in Madagascar and India as a nod to the unions in those countries.

Wait, so India and Madagascar OK these purchases, but the US Department of Justice nails Gibson because it thinks Gibson violated the laws of India and Madagascar, no matter what India and Madagascar think? So now the US government is deciding other nations' laws for them?
17 posted on 02/02/2014 2:32:25 AM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: AnotherUnixGeek
So now the US government is deciding other nations' laws for them?

Why not? The occupant of our White House is deciding our own laws for us too. He's usurping court power by interpreting the laws unnaturally, and he's usurping congressional power by rewriting those laws that he doesn't like. Acting as if he has the authority to decide the laws of other countries too is entirely consistent with his overreach regarding American laws.

18 posted on 02/02/2014 3:01:00 AM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: sauropod
I could of course be slightly biased,I named my son 'Ritchie'

Love that vicious twang.

19 posted on 02/02/2014 3:05:41 AM PST by mitch5501 ("make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things ye shall never fall")
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To: driftdiver

exactly. you put in a handful of words what i tried to convey in a paragraph. My journalism professor would strangle me.


20 posted on 02/02/2014 3:12:51 AM PST by wiggen (The teacher card. When the racism card just won't work.)
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