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neuralfraud
08-26-2011, 10:09 PM
I'll leave the snarkiness to FARK. Very bizarre story. gibson, it seems is definitely in the shit these past few years.

I'm fairly certain my ibanez RG2550EGK has an ebony fretboard and yet noone's bombed the hoshino factory! Oh.. that's right.. it's japanese; I suppose they just dont care over there? :umm:


Federal authorities conducted simultaneous raids at Gibson Guitar offices and factories in Nashville and Memphis on Wednesday in the latest of a series of legal woes to strike the legendary guitar maker.

Read the full story at http://www.tennessean.com (http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110825/NEWS01/308250049/Gibson-Guitar-raided-lips-zipped)

Hardrock69
08-27-2011, 01:24 AM
The Justice Department does not have a fucking leg to stand on. Why they are persecuting Gibson is beyond me. They raided them 2 years ago in 2009, and have yet to file any charges.
Gibson is suing them to get the stuff back from that raid that was taken by the idiots from DOJ.

Fucking stupid bullshit.

Blaze
08-27-2011, 03:15 AM
I did not know they were raided the first time.

HR/?/ How odd a reaction from in 20o9 and 2010 you were angry at Gibson.

http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?57727-Hahahahaha!!!-Gibson-rated-quot-worst-place-to-work-quot-by-it-s-own-employees!!!

http://www.rotharmy.com/forums/showthread.php?55715-Anyone-Here-Think-They-Can-Run-Gibson-Guitar-Corporation

Not only that but you and others pointed out clear signs that Gibson engaged in corrupt business practices, if not fraudulent business practices.

Why the love for Gibson now?



~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a side note while data mining for the Gibson raid, I came across this tidbit.


COMPLAINT

The United States of America, acting under the direction of the Attorney General of the United States, and the States of Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin, and the Commonwealths of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, acting under the direction of their respective Attorneys General or other authorized officials ("Plaintiff States") (collectively, "Plaintiffs"), bring this civil action pursuant to the antitrust laws of the United States to enjoin the proposed merger of Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. ("Ticketmaster") and Live Nation, Inc. ("Live Nation") and to obtain such other equitable relief as the Court deems appropriate. The United States and the Plaintiff States allege as follows:

I. INTRODUCTION

http://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/f254500/254552.htm

COMPETITIVE IMPACT STATEMENT

Plaintiff United States of America ("United States"), pursuant to Section 2(b) of the Antitrust Procedures and Penalties Act ("APPA" or "Tunney Act"), 15 U.S.C. § 16(b)-(h), files this Competitive Impact Statement relating to the proposed Final Judgment submitted for entry in this civil antitrust proceeding.

http://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/f254500/254544.htm

Blaze
08-27-2011, 03:55 AM
http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20110826&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=308260088&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Gibson-Guitar-chief-denies-wrongdoing-after-raids

“What is more troubling is that the Justice Department’s position is that any guitar that we ship out of this facility is potentially obstruction of justice and will be followed with criminal charges,” said Juszkiewicz, who added later that he plans to defy the government and resume operations. “I have taken personal responsibility. I have instructed our staff to continue building product.”

:biggrin:


Ohhh you wild and crazy man! You cannot personally take responsibility. The "good employee" defense does not exist. Your employees will be held accountable for their actions within the organization. Ooh I lost my Indian accent.... Nevertheless, what a silly man. I hope you did not have any naughties of your weewee on that hard drive. Now that would be an "Oh My!" :hee:

Let us continue. I could not find at the DoJ, but never fear the silly man will prattle about for us...


Juszkiewicz denied any wrongdoing. He said the wood materials seized Wednesday are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, a third-party organization that promotes responsible forest management. According to the search warrant, however, federal authorities aren’t concerned with the way the wood was harvested, but the way it was imported to the United States.

On June 27, authorities in Dallas seized a shipment that arrived by air and included 1,250 sawn Indian ebony wood logs. The logs were cut to a size that could be used to make fretboards, but were unfinished. According to a federal affidavit, Indian law prohibits wood in this form from being exported and the federal Lacey Act requires American importers to obey foreign laws pertaining to the export of plants and woods.

Various shipping documents misrepresented the package’s contents, according to the affidavit. One document said the shipment included veneer sheets of wood less than 6 millimeters — the type of materials that would be used to build guitar bodies, not fretboards — and another labeled the shipment as “finished products of musical instruments,” according to the affidavit.

Juszkiewicz bristled at the notion that Gibson could import fretboards finished by Indian workers, but that allowing partially finished fretboards to be completed by American workers is illegal.

“Over the last two years, we have hired 580 American workers,” he said. “We are one company that is manufacturing in the United States, that is hiring people ... and yet the government is spending millions of dollars on this issue.




Wait for it.....

Wait for it....



“We feel totally abused.”


http://cache.ohinternet.com/images/thumb/5/56/Butthurt_pokemons.jpg/94px-Butthurt_pokemons.jpg



That is what he said sure enough!!!!!1 Read it! http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110826/NEWS01/308260088

GreenBayLA
08-27-2011, 05:30 AM
From what I can tell the wood in question was legally shipped form India yet the DOJ is trying to enforce Indian law that they interpret differently than India. WTF?

Hardrock69
08-27-2011, 06:22 AM
Blaze, FUCK HENRY!

I love Gibson guitars.

Henry has done a lot of damage to the company reputation. He is a fucking jackass.

But anyone with half a brain understands the DOJ are an entire department of the Federal Government STAFFED BY FUCKING JACKASSES.

Since when do you need to raid a guitar factory with machine guns in order to confiscate some fucking wood?

The fucking idiot who masterminded that plan is a FUCKING ASSHOLE.

I may not like Henry, but I dislike assholes in Federal Law Enforcement who harass and abuse Americans for no valid reason, or, when they have a valid reason, they use it to abuse their authority and go to extremes in dealing with the situation.

ARE YOU FUCKING SATISFIED BLAZE?

Hardrock69
08-27-2011, 06:23 AM
:biggrin:

neuralfraud
08-27-2011, 07:58 AM
I must admit to being completely ignorant of the situation dating back to 2k9, but tbh knowing that it's F&W who's involved just makes me facepalm.

This is the same division who allows large corporations to get certain "breaks" in return for dumping their trash into the sea, err i mean, creating artificial reefs.

The same division who is apparently so underworked that our local movie theaters use them as a makeshift police force to watch the teenyboppers.

Isn't all of this soft of similar to saying that you can cut down an oak tree in vermont, but if you cut down an oak tree in Florida you're going to jail? The article specifically mentions they allegedly took madagascar ebony but elsewhere it is suggested they legally imported the wood from india?

All I know is that it's fucked up and i think that building guitars is the least of our environmental problems.

:pullinghair:

ODShowtime
08-29-2011, 06:32 AM
my dad was pissed off about this

Hardrock69
09-02-2011, 01:40 PM
Henry was interviewed by a DJ on a radio station. He said he has been told Gibson's would go away if they were to move their production to Madagascar.

Web page:

http://www.kmjnow.com/pages/landing?blockID=546848

Here the interview here (direct link):

http://www.kmjnow.com/common/global_audio/174/34048.mp3

Nitro Express
09-02-2011, 02:00 PM
I bought my daughter a nice Manuel Rodriquez guitar made from various Brazilian woods. The grandfather of the sons who own the guitar making company bought up a big stash of nice wood years ago. The company used to be in California but now makes guitars in Spain. They have to import the guitars under a different name into the US for some stupid legal reason. More forest damage is being done due to oil drilling, mining, and agriculture than someone wanting a nice guitar. Brazil has 18% of the world's fresh water and they are slashing the jungle for the water to grow stuff. There isn't enough demand for wood to deforest huge swaths of rain forest. The fertile soil and water are why the trees are being cut down.

jhale667
09-02-2011, 05:32 PM
Most disturbing about this is what they're basing it on, the Lacey Act (last amended in 1988 IIRC) is so vaguely worded it could now be interpreted as being able to be applied retroactively...meaning someone could come for your '59 Flame-Top LP, or should you dare travel overseas with it, there's a chance it could be confiscated (unless you have the documentation on you to prove none of the wood it was constructed with was illegally sourced - yeah, I carry that shit around in my gig bag, don't you?). :umm:

Someone's going to NEED a machine gun (and a dozen Ninjas) if they think they're getting my 1-piece Koa (now also on the endangered species list, wasn't in '96 when I built the thing) Strat...oh, and the neck has an Ebony board too...F*CK YOU DOJ... :dafinger:


There's way too much more important things going on for the DOJ to be going to ANY guitar manufacturer with guns drawn....PUH-leez.

VAiN
09-02-2011, 07:23 PM
This is one of the most retarded things I've ever read. A complete waste of money, doesn't accomplish jack shit and could send US jobs overseas... :scared14:

Blaze
09-03-2011, 02:50 AM
This is one of the most retarded things I've ever read. A complete waste of money, doesn't accomplish jack shit and could send US jobs overseas... :scared14:
They are such a good company to work for and a wonderful leader in business dynamics!
We all must hail Henry and his 6' Rabbit Harvey!