Already we have watched the Obama regime drop a criminal conviction of Black Panthers violating the voting rights act, rescue and repair vessels being detained by the Coast Guard en-route to the Gulf oil spill and the Obama appointed NLRB preventing Boeing from opening its new production facility in South Carolina. Last Wednesday, DOJ enforcers, under command of capo Eric Holder, raider the Gibson Guitar company facilities in Nashville and Memphis.

According to my source inside Gibson, 20 armed agents raided the factory and seized pallets of wood, guitars and company computers (no word yet on the embargoed wood content of the computers). Gibson Chairman Henry Juszkiewicz was livid at this latest bullying of Gibson by the US Justice Department. In 2009, they had staged a similar raid and, while no charges have been filed, the DOJ refuses to return the confiscated property.

Juszkiewicz points out that the wood comes from one source in Africa and one in India. The wood is purchased from the same suppliers as other US guitar manufacturers, Fender, Taylor and C.F. Martin. This is the second raid on Gibson while all other manufacturers have been left alone to do exactly what Gibson is doing with no interference from the Federal government.

There has been speculation that these actions could be political payback because Henry Juszkiewicz is a Republican donor while Chris Martin gives to Democrats. Some company history here might shed more light on the subject.

The Gibson Company was started by Orville Gibson in 1894 at his workshop in Kalamazoo, Michigan. As the popularity of Orville's instruments grew, his company grew with it. Gibson eventually became the most respected name in Mandolins, banjos and guitars in the world. In 1963, Gibson was having difficulty remaining solvent and parent company CMI president H. H. Berlin hired Stan Rendell as V.P. for manufacturing to straighten out the problem. In the book, 100 years of Gibson, Rendell says explaining the problem the company faced:

"The problem was the steelworkers union!" he details (the company had been unionized during World War II, when the plant was making metal-intensive war products). "They were dictating everything."

Rendell's solution was simple: Move all string manufacturing from Kalamazoo across Lake Michigan to Elgin, Illinois. This reduced the crossover from job to job and increased efficiency both in guitar production and string making. It also sent a message to the union that Rendell was not going to mess around. (Mulhern, 1994)

Rendell soon returned the company to profitability but labor and quality problems persisted. Finally, the decision was made to open a new production facility in Tennessee, a right-to-work state. Hear this Boeing! Manufacturing in a new location with a new labor force was not easy but eventually the old Kalamazoo plant was phased- out with products coming out of plants in Nashville, Memphis and Bozeman, Montana.

Gibson has not only regained its former reputation for the finest quality electric guitars, but also enhanced that reputation. Gibson (like Chrysler and General Motors), was nearly destroyed by a parasitic labor union. The company survived by shedding the shackles of organized labor and starting out anew. This is not an American success story that unions, democrats or President Obama would like to share. Consider also that C.F. Martin's whose headquarters are in Pennsylvania while Fender and Taylor hail from California- not exactly right-to-work states. One more thought to consider is that Martin, Taylor and Fender also have a vast manufacturing presence in Mexico while all Gibson's are 100% US made.

You can take you pick of reasons Obama's DOJ is using their Gestapo tactics on Gibson, but one thing is certain; this sounds like Nazi Germany, not Nashville, Tennessee.

Felten, E. (2011, 08 27). Guitar Frets:Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear. Wall Street Periodical .

Mulhern, T. (1994). Gibson: 100 Years of an American Icon. In Gibson. Gibson Publishing.

Parsons, C. (2011, 08 26). Mai lOnline . Retrieved 08 26, 2011, from http://www.dailymail.com.uk/news/article-2030535/Production-legendary-Gibson