Obama administration shuts down Gibson guitars

[lightsoutcalls]

Just heard about this...

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/08/obama-justice-department-shuts-down-gibson-guitar-for-breaking-indian-law-video/

Here's the way our current administration "saves" or "creates" jobs.  Eric Holder and the department of justice have shut down Gibson guitars, sending workers home while they examine claims that Gibson broke laws in India by importing unfinished wood for use in their guitars.  Interesting is the fact that the owner of Gibson guitars has donated funds to republican causes and Tennessee is not a forced union labor state.  

[stinkpickle]

I heard about that...stupid stuff.  I think I'll order my next custom guitar with the endangered Indian Ebony wood (stained with baby seal blood, of course) with California Condor beak inlays.

[lightsoutcalls]

Note to callmakers... if you have any ebony or rosewood from ebony, you better get rid of it before big brother tracks you down and takes everything you own....


I heard an interview with the CEO of Gibson on the radio today.  He said the wood was certified by the appropriate officials in India, is the same wood they have used for fingerboards for well over a decade and is the same material used by other guitar makers across the country.

[savduck]

What a crock. Pretty soon Gibson will have to  move its entire facility to India to save money because of the BS environmental fines put against them...causing more american jobs to be lost, but creating some new Indian ones.

Our governement needs to get handled.

[Kywoodsman]

Our economy is on unstable ground, we still have many fine young men and women overseas waging the war on terror and trying to keep our great country safe from terrorist punks who have nothing better to do than to attack innocent people and yet the Obama administration has nothing better to do than pick a fight with Gibson guitars. Give me a freakin break! The obama administration is a joke. You would think what kind of wood gibson uses on it's guitars wouldn't really be much of a priority to our government, but I guess they feel like the have to be involved in EVERY aspect of our lives.

By the way, I bet ol' Mr. Ted Nugent is just a little bit angry considering Gibson is what he has played for years. I would love to hear his take on it. 

[Cleburne]

WOW, I still think he is working on his dictatorship. We need change from the change.

[savduck]

I still think he is an under cover terrorist....groomed by terrorist to live among us and carry that big cheshire cat grin. They cant beat us physically, so they groomed one of their own to mingle amongst us and  to get into government and run it so we destroy ourselves.

He has  got to go and quick like. We wont survive if he somehow gets a second term.

[Turkey Trot]

That was not Gibson's first entanglement with USFWS on CITES issues. They've been raided before, and I believe that it happened under the Bush Admin too. The feds will raid on other stuff covered by CITES as well, such as live pets, hides, heads, and other body parts.

The yankee that runs Korg, which includes Gibson, is a prickly individual. He bought the company and moved it out of Kalamazoo, MI and took it to Nashville. It really has never been Gibson since then. I know a bunch of people that have worked for Gibson in N'ville in varying capacities, a lot of entertainment hopefuls do at least one hitch there, thinking how great it would be to work in the guitar business. Most cannot get away from there fast enough. One guy I know was in sales and had to deal with the head jerk and other senior management, and he is now a youth counselor for a big church and has nothing good to say about Gibson or its management integrity and ethics. Korg is abusive of dealers and consumers as well. I won't buy  from them, and would buy a Heritage, made by former employees of the real Gibson in Kalamazoo before I would buy the overpriced wares of Korg.

A lot of people face the prospect of getting hurt because of it and I lament that in light of this bad economy, but I will shed no tears for Henry the poletard or the corporation.

Henry the jerk and Gibson gained additional notoriety for its suit against PRS for using the shape of a Les Paul body in the PRS single-cut line.  It was always considered that the headstock was part of trade dress and was protected under trademark law, but not the body shape.  Korg bought Valley Arts, which had a tech named Joe Glaser in Nashville replicate Brent Mason's old 1968 Telecaster and slightly change the headstock to avoid a conflict with Fender's eighth note style.  It made no changes to the body in that instance, whereas PRS stylized the body of its single cut line by adding beveling (or scalloping).  Only a complete idiot would confuse a PRS sc with a Gibson Les Paul.  Nonetheless, Gibson pushed the case hard because it wants to crush the smaller, higher quality competitor.  The idjit district court in Nashville ruled in Gibson's favor and PRS finally prevailed on an appeal to the Sixth Circuit.

The USFWS may be proven wrong, but I'll expend no time on sympathy for Korg/Gibson.  It's nothing but karma coming back to bite Henry the jerk.

[mcgruff1533]

What a shame!   Just one more instance of Obamunism tearing our country apart.

[lightsoutcalls]

   I don't have any business or personal dealings with Gibson, so I have no personal or business interest in their success or downfall.  My concern is with a government entity shutting down a privately owned business, confiscating materials that have been certified by the country of origin (over a million dollars worth of materials) and turning the company's employees out on the streets with no idea of when they would return for work.  
  I can't comment on the business practices of Gibson, its family of companies or its management/ownership.  I don't understand, however, how in an economic situation as our country is in, our government can justify putting people out of work and reducing a company's potential of earnings.  
  An interesting little twist in the story is that Michelle Obama purchased a custom Gibson guitar and presented it to the "first lady" of France.  http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/Michelle-Obama-French-406/  This guitar contained components made of the wood in question in this raid.  IF these materials are indeed found to be "illegal", anyone possessing these materials or provent to be responsible for the transfer of these materials may be found complicit in any wrongdoing determined to have taken place.  http://www.courageinamerica.com/2011/08/michelle-obamas-gibson-guitar-gift-by.html
What's the chance we'll see Michelle in prison orange?

 

[Struttinhusker]

It never ceases to amaze me how on this board everything bad that has happened, is happening, or will happen in this country or in the world is somehow Obama's fault.  Things are not that simple.  A thread goes from a post about a raid on Gibson to a post about Obama being an underground terrorist.  The ironic, and to some, amusing thing will be that those who espouse political extremism will probably nominate someone to run against Obama who will be so extreme that he will be reelected in spite of the high unemployment and bad economy.  And it will also help if Dick Cheney stays on the book circuit and in the news.

[lightsoutcalls]

From a plaque at the Will Rogers memorial:

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression."

Nice first post.

[Struttinhusker]

Lightsoutcalls - Thanks.  I am the proud owner of one of your glass calls.  I just wanted to make the point that demonizing anyone is not patriotic, nor is it Christian.  It is something you do not do in your posts and you have no control over where the thread leads.  I also wanted to make the point that no one is going to get elected if he or she doesn't make the case to people who might be considered moderate or independent, like me.

[lightsoutcalls]

   I'm sick of the us/them attitude of politics in general.  I don't pretend to think that any president has ever done everything right.  However, in my 44 years I have yet to see one that was so arrogant and blatantly condescending to the average working man as our current potus.  Now the catch word is "compromise". Compromise equates to spineless in my book.  Strictly my 2 cents, but compromise is why this nation would be unrecognizable to many of those who fought and died for our freedoms.   I don't think I'm alone when I say it appears that every chance the man gets to pit one side against the other, he does it.  The concessions made for the LGBT crowd, estimated at 7% of the population of this country, is disgusting.  The changes he has instituted by encouraging gays to openly serve in the military will have a profound effect on our fighting forces, and at a time when our counrty is engaged in multiple conflicts?  It's enough to make a reasonable person suspect conspiracy.  His refusal to support the defense of marriage act?  I'm sorry, but as I see it, many of the negative changes made since January of 2009 have obama written all over them.  When these negatives result DIRECTLY from issues that he has presented, endorsed or voiced, how is that demonizing?
   As for conservatives nominating someone that is too extreme... I have yet to see that person.  The media will try to throw bones to liberals posing as conservatives to get them to devour those they see as the biggest threat to a second term.  There are only 2 in the running right now that I would consider voting for if it weren't for the simple fact that obama was the only other choice.  I think that honestly there will be enough people voting "anyone but obama" to get the job done. 
   I don't see that any of my reasoning could be construed as unpatriotic or unChristian.  If you do, feel free to confront me.  I'm not trying to be arrogant or sarcastic.  I'm not trying to stir up hatred or dissention.  It's not about race for me, nor party affiliation.  I just hate to see this nation turned into something it previously was not.  I'll never be politically correct.  I won't buy into arguments of tolerance and efforts to use "religion" as an argument against those who take a stand for morality and decency. 
   I'm not bashing anyone.  I'm just calling it like I see it.

[savduck]

   I'm sick of the us/them attitude of politics in general.  I don't pretend to think that any president has ever done everything right.  However, in my 44 years I have yet to see one that was so arrogant and blatantly condescending to the average working man as our current potus.  Now the catch word is "compromise". Compromise equates to spineless in my book.  Strictly my 2 cents, but compromise is why this nation would be unrecognizable to many of those who fought and died for our freedoms.   I don't think I'm alone when I say it appears that every chance the man gets to pit one side against the other, he does it.  The concessions made for the LGBT crowd, estimated at 7% of the population of this country, is disgusting.  The changes he has instituted by encouraging gays to openly serve in the military will have a profound effect on our fighting forces, and at a time when our counrty is engaged in multiple conflicts?  It's enough to make a reasonable person suspect conspiracy.  His refusal to support the defense of marriage act?  I'm sorry, but as I see it, many of the negative changes made since January of 2009 have obama written all over them.  When these negatives result DIRECTLY from issues that he has presented, endorsed or voiced, how is that demonizing?
   As for conservatives nominating someone that is too extreme... I have yet to see that person.  The media will try to throw bones to liberals posing as conservatives to get them to devour those they see as the biggest threat to a second term.  There are only 2 in the running right now that I would consider voting for if it weren't for the simple fact that obama was the only other choice.  I think that honestly there will be enough people voting "anyone but obama" to get the job done. 
   I don't see that any of my reasoning could be construed as unpatriotic or unChristian.  If you do, feel free to confront me.  I'm not trying to be arrogant or sarcastic.  I'm not trying to stir up hatred or dissention.  It's not about race for me, nor party affiliation.  I just hate to see this nation turned into something it previously was not.  I'll never be politically correct.  I won't buy into arguments of tolerance and efforts to use "religion" as an argument against those who take a stand for morality and decency. 
   I'm not bashing anyone.  I'm just calling it like I see it.

X2