Ok, I hate doing this since I'm somewhat to the right of Attilla the Hun but still, illegal importation of exotic hardwoods is a huge problem worldwide. It boils down to are there illegal hardwoods in that factory or not? If there are then what's the defense? Is it the good ol "Gee officer I have no idea how that cocaine got under my seat, honest!". Or is it "The manifest says it was this kind of wood when it's actually that kind of wood and how were we supposed to know?". Right. Trust me, the exec's at Gibson are experts in those woods, they know what is what. The only real defense is the feds are wrong, those woods are in fact legal and I hope that's the case.

I'm definitely on the side of preserving American jobs and all that but what are you guys suggesting here? That the feds look the other way because it's Gibson? What about another boutique guitar maker up the street that competes with Gibson who is stuck using legal hardwoods that are not as nice as that killer illegal Brazilian Rosewood, or Indonesian Ebony or whatever it is? Those guys can't compete and wind up going out of business because the Gibsons are nicer with better wood. What about those jobs?

Same principle with illegal immigration. They're either here legally or they're not. It's totally unfair to all the hundreds of thousands of people worldwide who spent the money and went through all the crap to get their legal green cards to then see all the illegals get some kind of amnesty? What a slap that would be.

It's not fair to the legal immigrants and it's not fair to Gibson's competitors if it proves to be true.

Bob

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