Howard, David, Stephen,
One would hope that overzealous- "draconian, inflexible enforcement..."
doesn't impact any of our beloved & highly esteemed luthiers. Gibson
Guitars may have deeper- much deeper- pockets than the average
luthier-so I thought this article was of some concern; ( "United Breaks
Guitars", - it also breaks lutes.) But as a lute list, we are of course
well advised not to veer too far off topic- especially if discussions
are in danger of falling into the hopeless deep end of politics.
Apologies if my link led to any of that. (Can't be too careful these
days.) -Dan
__________________________________________________________________
From: "David Smith" <[email protected]>
To: "howard posner" <[email protected]>
Cc: "Lute List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011 12:04:11 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: An article from today's Wall Street Journal
Thank you!
regards
David
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 27, 2011, at 10:10 AM, howard posner <[email protected]>
wrote:
> On Aug 27, 2011, at 7:12 AM, Stephen Stubbs wrote:
>
>> Just another example of the Social Justice experiment still going on
in USA.
>>
>> Basically,
>>
>> Corporations are Bad.
>> Social Justice is Good.
>>
>> The last major Social Justice experiment made it all the way into
the USA Constitution as the 18th Amendment, (the Prohibition Amendment
making it very difficult to obtain alcoholic beverages legally) on
January 17, 1920.
>>
>> It took the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933 to repeal the 18th
Amendment.
>>
>> I don't expect the irrational experiments being done by the current
Attorney General of the USA (Eric Holder) to continue after the next
President and Congress take office in January 2013.
>> "The Other" Stephen Stubbs
>> Champaign, IL
>
>
> I hate to burst your bubble when you've obviously been saving up this
little Republican bumper sticker for the right moment to plaster it on
the lute list, but you got the subject wrong: this is about actions to
enforce an international treaty by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Interior Department) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(Department of Homeland Security). It's the second time in a couple of
years that Gibson has been raided on suspicion of using wood from
protected species.
>
> It has nothing to do with the Attorney General, the Democratic Party,
corporations, or social justice (neither did Prohibition, which was an
attempt to enforce morality; social justice legislation would be
something like the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which is still in effect,
even in rural Illinois, regardless of whether it's considered untoward
government interference to tell a business that it can't exclude
customers because of their skin color).
>
> The documentation issue is a difficult one. On the one hand,
draconian, inflexible enforcement is unfair. On the other hand, if
enforcement authorities don't demand rigorous documentation it's far
too easy to smuggle illegal substances. This would defeat the purpose
of environmental protection treaties, which are understood to be
important by everyone in the world except members of the Republican
Party in the USA. I have owned pre-CITES instruments made of woods
that have since been protected (my charango made of elephant-tusk
ivory, strung with Barbary Sheep gut, in an rhinoceros-skin case lined
with otter fur, comes to mind). In the course of trying to sell a
rosewood instrument a few months ago I made a point of telling
potential buyers there could be problems taking it across borders. A
couple of overseas buyers expressed interest and then disappeared; I
don't whether the CITES problems scared them away. Sometimes we are
inconvenienced by concerns (such as biod!
iv!
> ersity and deforestation) more important than our own little
problems.
>
> Anyway, if you really needed to offer an off-topic political rant,
you should have saved it for a time when it was actually a propos of
the subject. I'm going back to my morning coffee. You enjoy your tea
party.
>
>
>
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--
