Obama's Hood has Stolen the Wood

Family Tradition
My father owned a vintage Gibson guitar.  While mom cooked a big Sunday breakfast, he would strum and sing.  Dad didn't play well, but the Gibson did.  With its solid wood top, big hollow body and gut strings, it could make any amateur sound good.  He particularly loved Hank Williams, Maybelle Carter, Woodie Guthrie, Chet Atkins, and Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, the father of Bluegrass, B. B. King--they played Gibsons too.  I remember the beautiful pearl inlaid oak leaf and Gibson name on the guitar's head, real ivory tuning pegs and the silky feel of its worn wood neck. 

Seized or Stolen?
 

Government officials are stealing the wood that makes the guitars that keep people employed.  On August 25, 2011, Gibson Guitar factories in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee were raided by the U.S. Department of Justice, "seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars.  Manufacturing operations were stopped and workers in Nashville and Memphis sent home for the day, while armed agents executed search warrants. Gibson fully cooperated with the execution of the search warrants.  The raid shut down both Gibson factories and the company lost money. This wasn't the first time that federal agents raided Gibson and disrupted production, but this time they caused lost productivity and sales, according to Gibson."  I call this "total governance of the many by the whim of a very few." The Gibson raid--you paid for it folks.  Your hard earned tax dollars at "work."  How does it feel to be ROBBED?

  

Look Busy

All we've heard for the past few months is how Obama is "creating jobs."  In fact this is the eve of yet another job speech that I won't be watching.  Game's on.  His "jobs" are Ponzi Schemes where he uses tax dollars to fund employment.  Excuse me.  That is called THEFT. Yes, he's Robbin' the Hood--only he steals from everyone and continues to increase the National Debt.  Can you hear the clock ticking?

Armed Agents at "Work" 

Via press release from Gibson, "The Federal Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. has suggested that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because it is the Justice Department’s interpretation of a law in India. (If the same wood from the same tree was finished by Indian workers, the material would be legal.) This action was taken without the support and consent of the government in India." Why the wood?  Well, apparently there's this thing called The Lacey Act of 1900.  "Anyone who imports into the United States, or exports out of the United States, illegally harvested plants or products made from illegally harvested plants, including timber, as well as anyone who exports, transports, sells, receives, acquires or purchases such products in the United States, may be prosecuted.  In any prosecution under the Lacey Act, the burden of proof of a violation rests on the government. (emphasis mine)."

So President Obama can ignore The War Powers Act and call it antiquated while sending U.S. Troops to Libya on our tax dollars but is enforcing The Lacey Act of 1900 to BULLY Gibson?  This sounds like a story for Anderson Cooper.  Didn't he do a special on "Bullies"?


The Red Violin:  A Marxist Parallel

It's the story of an 1681 Italian made violin.  The film begins with the violin up for auction at Christie's.  As the bidding starts, the violin's history is revealed.  Its travels included that of Communist China under Mao Zedong (Tse-tung).  Chairman Mao was a "Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist, political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect and founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held authoritarian control over the nation until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism-Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of policies, are collectively known as Maoism."  Have you noticed how Obama names everything he does after himself?  "With the Chinese Communist Party in power during the Cultural Revolution, all items deemed unsuitable (or 'foreign') to the ideology of Mao Zendong are being burned."  One of these "unsuitable" items includes the Red Violin but it escapes this fate and turns up in a sanctuary of instruments years later after the death of Mao.

Liberty and Justice for All

Gibson Guitar CEO, Henry Juszkiewic, will be attending Obama's Job Speech.  I wonder if he has any ideas for the President.

You might imagine this stuck a bad chord with me.  I'm an American who was raised with real American values.  I buy American made goods, hunt with Remington rifle, actually KNOW The Pledge of Allegiance and SAY it with my hand over my heart while facing the flag.  My pick up truck is a Ford with a bumper sticker that reads, "I'll keep My God, My Freedom, My Guns and My Money.  You can Keep the CHANGE."  An American Quarter Horse is my other ride.  The American flag pin is worn in my cowboy hat and I too own Gibson.  After all, it is an American icon.

Disclaimer:  Opinions expressed here are solely those of the author unless otherwise stated.