Is government overreach of the kind we see in the Gibson Guitar story an issue liberals could care less about? I’d bet my middle finger if the Bush Administration had done this, it would be front and center on left wing sites. But Obama? Holder? Not so much. Did a Google Search – it’s all conservative blogs talking about this. Here’s a screen grab – Malin, Red State, Breitbart, Hoft and so on..
So I went to hear the voice of the people – the Daily Kos.
Yes, one blogger wrote about it. One.
And it’s a good post. Hits on the right points. Read it…
The author says…
I don’t know exactly what else Gibson could have done to avoid this. Apparently, they have all of the correct permits required by the Indian government, and those permits were presented and accepted by the U.S. Customs Service when the wood was imported. They have the stamp of approval of the Forest Stewardship Council. They’re actually manufacturing a high-value, world-famous product in the United States, providing jobs to U.S. workers. Maybe there’s something I’m not seeing here, but I don’t know what.
But here’s the very first comment…
Do you enjoy destroying the worlds forests?
Using banned species?
More than likely even though the guitar maker has all the correct paper work the paper work itself was bogus at the Indian end of things and Gibson knew it.
That’s why they took the computers.
As usual DKos people only care about species when they have doe eyes. Tropical forests support the largest diversity of species of any environment in the world and the loss of the forests themselves is the most pressing cause of species loss, equal to global warming.
I would hr your tip jar (NOTE: SEE BELOW – LEE), something I’ve not done to a posting here yet. I’m ashamed to think anyone reading this would think DK users have such a blatant disregard for the ecosystems of the world.
Any tropical hardwood can be replaced with an equally good hardwood from the US, the difference is strictly cosmetic. They are meeting a demand form customers who could care less about tropical forests. Don’t let that be you.
HR is ‘hide rating’ and it means call for making the content invisible. As in, let’s not even allow the material to be seen. Censorship, Kos-style.
And to the commenter – dude. Go sell your albums. Because all that music you like? Dead trees galore.
Music or bureaucracy. Music or bureaucracy. Music or bureaucracy. What to do? what to do?
-Typical liberal
If that thread were a Goal Post moving competition, Dailykos would have an Olympic Gold. Pikington did a good job on the peice and the commentary. It’s maddening but revealing to read.
Wrap your head around this one.
“But we can only sell items that could have been legally imported for commercial purposes, if the importer had gotten the proper permits.”
Fish and Wildlife can only auction siezed items that were legally imported with permits? WTF?
http://www.fretboardjournal.com/features/magazine/guitar-lover%E2%80%99s-guide-cites-conservation-treaty
I was curious if the Feds had gone after LMI (the importer) also, but then I read this.
” The defendant need not be the one who violated the foreign law; the plants or timber, and the products made from the illegal plants or timber, become “tainted” even if someone else commits the foreign law violation. However, the defendant must know, or in the exercise of due care should know, about the underlying violation.” http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.fs.fed.us/global/aboutus/policy/tt/illegal_logging/Lacey_Act_amendments_public_summary.doc&sa=U&ei=89RaToWbJobYgQeck7CyDA&ved=0CDwQFjAK&usg=AFQjCNGvqZnWg-340V5A1wTWtgHHmaoI9g
So, it doesn’t matter if the Supplier sends, Importer orders, and Customs clears the products in violation and release to the end user? It’s up to the defendant to know where the problems will appear ahead of time? What a joke. Just ban it if you don’t want it imported. Who can conduct business under such variables?
“Regardless of any prosecution, the tainted plants may be seized and forfeited. ”
Does that put the Feds in a position to never have to be accountable to wrongful seizure of private property?
so, to break down the complaint from the commenter, “it doesn’t matter that it’s legal, and gibson did everything they were supposed to, they’re destroying trees!”
and I’m sure that blogger is sitting at his not-wooden computer desk, in his not-wooden house, filled with books made from tree-less paper… ah, you get the point.
Gibson is in the right here. It’s a goddam shame that more people aren’t standing up for them.