I've been reading about this elsewhere as well.
Funny how the burden of proof isn't on the government to explain how exactly legally purchased wood is confiscated as being illegal. And how they can confiscate the materials even after legal proof of its legitimacy is presented.
Funnier still that this story doesn't receive more coverage, as it easily demonstrates the arrogance of the government.

On reading this, quite frankly Miss Alkon it strikes me as a form of protectionism, meant to keep imports from undercutting domestic industry.

There may be a globalthink mindset in there somewhere, to reduce deforrestation and all that, and I'm sure someone really believed in that mindset. But at the root of it, I believe protectionism is the goal.

As far as enforcing India's laws...well to be honest, I'd love to condemn this one, but without knowing more, I just can't do that. I'd want to know what kind of international treaties or laws about importing and exporting, stolen goods, smuggling, etc etc etc, are at play here.

Yes once the legality of the purchase has been proven it should have been immediately returned. But as far as the actual enforcement of the law here, there may be a legitimate basis.

BO ain't a socialist, he's a stalinist.

This is a BIG deal here in Tennessee. Young people and tourists stood on the street in downtown Nashville and watched the cops bust in. My 16-year-old musician daughter heard about it the next day. Her response: "That is so Stalin!". She was truly shocked, as were her young friends. It didn't help that it's been widely reported that the Gibson CEO is a Republican donor who moved Gibson from union-thug Michigan to right-to-work Tennessee, while Martin, which uses exactly the same products in its production and has been raided exactly zero times, is a unionized company whose CEO is a Democratic donor.

Obama lost a lot of the youth vote here with this little bit of Stalinism.

Even assuming the government has a right and responsibility (due to treaties) to enforce India's laws, from my reading of the case, it's not clear Gibson broke any of India's laws, directly or indirectly.

(I don't think Obama had anything to do with this directly. At best, the US Attorney thought he could score points with Obama, though it's more likely, the FBI and/or US Attorney are just incompetent morons.)

I've been following this Gibson thing for a while. I almost considered going to Nashville for the Gibson rally they are having soon but that would require flying. I am not going have my 4th ammendment rights violated to protest the rights of this business being violated. I own a Gibson. Rather than flying and being groped, I am gonna protest by jamming on it regularly. With my .38 on my on my hip for good measure.

All you need to know about this story is this:

One of Obama's big contributors is a competitor to Gibson.

QEF'inD

Read more on it Robert. Since the product is made in the USA, it isn't protectionism. They are buying raw materials from India that you cannot get anywhere else. There seems to be a feature to Indian law that perhaps Indian people need to me more directly involved with making the fingerboards, rather than just sourcing the raw wood into a basic shape... but importantly:
THE INDIAN GOVT DOESN'T THINK SO.

So it's the Justice Dept.'s interpretation of what an Indian law might mean, that they are using to bust one of 2 companies that get their wood from the same source. The conspiracies write themselves.

But I am not expecting any kind of coverage or resolution of this, soon. Because even if it's stupid, the losing of face will cost DOJ more than anything.

Just like GunRunner[murder] Fast And Furious or whatever you wish to call it, it's barely covered and most citizens just don't know.

> THE INDIAN GOVT DOESN'T THINK SO.

That's the part that really makes it look like crooked dealing from the Obama admin to me. I could see if the Indian Gov't had specifically asked the US to help stop a US company that was actively breaking Indian laws, but not only do they not seem to have been breaking said laws, but the Indian gov't never requested any action.

Come on. Why should anyone give Obama and his crew of thugs the benefit of the doubt at this point?

Ford pulls an ad critical of the GM bailout after getting a call from the White House? "That's a nice company you've got there. Be a shame if something were to happen to it."

We are being governed by Chicago Thugs. Just that simple. If the CEO of Gibson gives money to the Obama campaign and kisses the ring, his stuff will all be returned and the whole thing blown off as "an unfortunate misunderstanding with the Indian consul."

The MFM are covering for Obama. They will do literally anything to protect their boyfriend.

I predict a large number of on-air suicides next November when he loses.

> Ford pulls an ad critical of the GM bailout after
> getting a call from the White House? "That's a
> nice company you've got there. Be a shame if
> something were to happen to it."

Certainly Obama is a thug. I'm not saying there wasn't a phone call like that, but Ford was guilty of hypocrisy in any case.

For the record, Gibson is a great American brand.

And perhaps ONLY that at this point. If you know the dates of their expansions to their original Kalamazoo factory, you can basically chart the growth of the United States' global dominance. (Here's a squinty pic with those dates printed on it. It all begin in center-right building in the 1890's.) Each new, ever-larger wing represents a new American victory... Either of supremacy in war or in supremacy of world taste.

Then the unions got a little bit pushy. (Can you imagine something like that happening in Michigan?) So in the 1980's the name was sold to new investors who moved south. Most of the original tooling, and CERTAINLY most of their talent in design and the shop floor, was lost. Owning a new Gibson is essentially the same as owning a Gibson copy thirty years ago.

Nonetheless, it's a classic American industrial marque. To see them getting such a transparently political shakedown from this Chicago administration tells us a lot about the depth of Obama's corruption.

It's like they're raiding Quaker Oats so they can beat up the old guy with the hat.

Link:

It’s worth pointing out that Henry E. Juszkiewicz, Gibson’s Chief Executive Officer, is a donor to a couple of Republican politicians. According to the Open Secrets database, Juszkiewicz donated $2000 to Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN07) last year, as well as $1500 to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). Juszkiewicz also has donated $10,000 to the Consumer Electronics Association, a PAC that contributed $92.5k to Republican candidates last year, as opposed to $72k to Democrats. (The CEA did, however, contribute more to Democrats in the 2008 election cycle.)

When warrants as ridiculous such as these are issued and executed, there appears no other reason than because the company or individual at hand is being targeted, not because there is any sort of wrongdoing. [...]

One of Gibson’s leading competitors is C.F. Martin & Company. The C.E.O., Chris Martin IV, is a long-time Democratic supporter, with $35,400 in contributions to Democratic candidates and the DNC over the past couple of election cycles. According to C.F. Martin’s catalog, several of their guitars contain “East Indian Rosewood.” In case you were wondering, that is the exact same wood in at least ten of Gibson’s guitars.