Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

LtKojak

LtKojak

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Gibson Guitar Corp. Responds to Federal Raid:

"08.25.2011 The raids forced Gibson to cease manufacturing operations and send workers home for the day while armed agents executed the search warrants. “Agents seized wood that was Forest Stewardship Council controlled,” Juszkiewicz said. “Gibson has a long history of supporting sustainable and responsible sources of wood and has worked diligently with entities such as the Rainforest Alliance and Greenpeace to secure FSC-certified supplies. The wood seized on August 24 satisfied FSC standards.”

Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp., has responded to the August 24 raid of Gibson facilities in Nashville and Memphis by the Federal Government. In a press release, Juszkiewicz said: “Gibson is innocent and will fight to protect its rights. Gibson has complied with foreign laws and believes it is innocent of ANY wrong doing. We will fight aggressively to prove our innocence.”

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/gibson-0825-2011/

There's a half hour video of H talking 'bout this... only in America, folks!

The land of the free? Not anymore...
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

LtKojak said:
The land of the free? Not anymore...
Click to expand...

The land of the free has decided to protect some of it's endangered species, including certain types of plants such as specific trees.

I don't trust our lovely Gibson CEO any further than I can throw this building, and that might be the problem here.
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

Here's an specialist form the DOJ in Gibson's case.

identifying-wood-1.jpg


C'mon folks! Let the guy do his job, would you! :naughty:
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

uOpt said:
The land of the free has decided to protect some of it's endangered species, including certain types of plants such as specific trees.
Click to expand...

What does this gotta do with anything? It's INDIAN rosewood we're talking about here. A type of wood NOT LISTET in the WWF list of endangered species.
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

Interesting that India is brought up when the original article out yesterday mentioned Madagascar.

Either way, it's a load of B.S. There's more important things the gov't should be working on.
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

ErikH said:
Interesting that India is brought up when the original article out yesterday mentioned Madagascar.

Either way, it's a load of B.S. There's more important things the gov't should be working on.
Click to expand...

Madagascar (ebony I suppose) was the last time Gibson was raided. I haven't read enough to see what kind of wood it's about this time.
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

Gibson was raided, again, and this time it has a stench of foul play that I can smell from here.

But what´s with the misleading thread title? How does buying a Gibson make me or anyone else into a criminal? After I read the press release you linked to this morning there was nothing lingering in my mind about going to jail as a consumer... 0.o
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

I have a SG Classic. Does this mean the Feds are coming to arrest me? ;)

Oh, I bought it used from a friend so does that make me an accomplice?
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

tc said:
Madagascar (ebony I suppose) was the last time Gibson was raided. I haven't read enough to see what kind of wood it's about this time.
Click to expand...

Ah, yes. I read that paragraph in the story wrong.
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

Howdy,

This looks like harrassment of a company that is no longer unionized and now in a "right to work" (read "Red) state. Oh, the DOJ has some piddly excuse about finished Indian Rosewood, but it's easy to see Orwellian measures for what they are.
According to the WSJ's related story, guitar owners are guilty until proven innocent with respect to wood content.
I wonder how many votes our president recieved from middle-aged guitarists in '08? Not many, I suspect and that's my point: one can't lose votes one never had in the first place, so why not harrass them and make an example of them for playing instruments made in a "right to work state"?
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

eggman said:
Howdy,

This looks like harrassment of a company that is no longer unionized and now in a "right to work" (read "Red) state. Oh, the DOJ has some piddly excuse about finished Indian Rosewood, but it's easy to see Orwellian measures for what they are.
According to the WSJ's related story, guitar owners are guilty until proven innocent with respect to wood content.
I wonder how many votes our president recieved from middle-aged guitarists in '08? Not many, I suspect and that's my point: one can't lose votes one never had in the first place, so why not harrass them and make an example of them for playing instruments made in a "right to work state"?
Click to expand...

I wear an aluminium helmet so that MLB can't scan my brain.
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

eggman said:
Howdy,

This looks like harrassment of a company that is no longer unionized and now in a "right to work" (read "Red) state. Oh, the DOJ has some piddly excuse about finished Indian Rosewood, but it's easy to see Orwellian measures for what they are.
According to the WSJ's related story, guitar owners are guilty until proven innocent with respect to wood content.
I wonder how many votes our president recieved from middle-aged guitarists in '08? Not many, I suspect and that's my point: one can't lose votes one never had in the first place, so why not harrass them and make an example of them for playing instruments made in a "right to work state"?
Click to expand...
:cool2:
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

eggman said:
Howdy,

This looks like harrassment of a company that is no longer unionized and now in a "right to work" (read "Red) state. Oh, the DOJ has some piddly excuse about finished Indian Rosewood, but it's easy to see Orwellian measures for what they are.
According to the WSJ's related story, guitar owners are guilty until proven innocent with respect to wood content.
I wonder how many votes our president recieved from middle-aged guitarists in '08? Not many, I suspect and that's my point: one can't lose votes one never had in the first place, so why not harrass them and make an example of them for playing instruments made in a "right to work state"?
Click to expand...

Tokin', tokin', tokin'…
Gotta keep the smoke in…
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

Really? Just because we're a bunch of guitar players doesn't mean we have to back Gibson in any way. If the ****ed up, they did. Let them pay the price. Hell, let them pay a premuim price. If we get raided by the police do you think Gibson will back us, cause we like their guitars?

I happen to like guitars, alot, Gibsons among my most favorite, but IF and I say only IF they are dealing in shady wood, that is not classy, and not good business.
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

Actually Gibson themselves released a conspiracy theory statement that they are being harassed. Gotta love that guy's balls. When this defense is invoked the result usually is that there was some very juicy mischief. Let's see how it plays out. Surely nobody here trusts Juszkiewicz more than the feds, right?

Anyway, this is all a followup to the 2009 raid, which apparently everybody forgot about. The government has identified wood seized in 2009 as actually illegally sourced earlier this year and this month's raid obviously is related to the suit to gather further evidence.

The way that this unfolds my money is on Gibson being at fault.
 
Re: Buy a Gibson, become a criminal: only in America...

OK, what is so special about this wood the Government says they are using?
I mean, say for sake of discussion, they are using this wood, why?
What make it so special they would want to risk using it over their normal stocks of wood?

Understand, I am not saying they are innocent or guilty, I am just trying to figure out what is so special about this wood to make people want to try and skirt the law to use it.
 
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