On Aug. 24, 2011, the Department of Justice sent armed agents into the Gibson Guitar factor in Memphis "confiscating half a million dollars worth of guitar making material is an alleged violation of environmental standards."These data points look very different now than they did at the time, and I wonder how many data points we've missed over the last 4+ years because we were not so
Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz is a conservative, and his company eventually settled rather than take matters to court....
Just a few weeks later, the Obama administration squared off against Boeing for daring to set roots in a "right to work" state....
The NLRB complaint against Boeing was eventually dropped, but not before the union got a pretty compensation package as a parting gift.
May 16, 2013
Connecting the dots: the Justice Department targeted Gibson Guitars and Boeing in 2011.
Breitbart digs into the past:
paranoid vigilant.
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87 comments:
"What this 'we', white woman?"
/tonto
(It should be noted parenthetically that this is a play on the classic joke:
Lone Ranger: "Indians, Tonto, all along the ridge! What are we going to do?"
Tonto: "What this 'we', white man?")
I have to agree with Clyde. I remember being active at Big Government back in those days, and the comment stream was filled with discussions about Gibson and Boeing being targeted for not toeing the line.
Even the paranoid have enemies.
I think I'm sad that Clyde felt he should explain hisself.
The data points define an obvious curve, and anyone who denies the curve is anti-science.
Some of us have been pointing out this thuggish behavior by the Obama administration for years. If you're only now paying attention because of the recent news stories, you should try to keep up.
A lot of us noticed and connected the dots. Speak for yourself. I grew up in Chicago and this is nothing unusual. We haven't seen judges disappearing yet. I hope Darrell Issa is being careful.
Don't feel sad, CEO-MMP. In this politically correct day and age, many younger folks probably wouldn't get the reference, just as they don't understand a "please don't throw me in the briar patch" reference because Uncle Remus is politically incorrect, too, and they never read it. Doesn't help that Disney keeps "Song of the South" under lock and key, either.
This data points look very different now than they did at the time...
They look the same to me now as then. Maybe your eyesight has improved since you took off your rose-colored glasses?
Ah yes, "paranoia". The usual charge against those who try to expose the subtler and/or more complicated shenanigans of politicians.
Luckily we have a free press to bring such malfeasance to light when indeed it is not paranoia, but rather prescient and accurate analysis of wrong-doing.
Well, at least when ether a) it is Republican malfeasance or b) the is such irrefutable evidence against a Democrat (at least those in the favor of the press) that it can no longer be ignored.
For a) we can expect hard-hitting, non-stop digging towards the truth, and a healthy skepticism against any explanations or misdirections offered. For b), we can expect initial minimalistic reporting of that which cannot be buried immediately, followed by a slow but inevitable circling of the wagons to help minimize the damage (to the Democrat, that is. Screw the county - we [Conservatives] deserved it, as Media Matters for America and has already explicitly said).
Chicago, Chicago that mafia town
Chicago, Chicago I'll shove you around - I love it!
Bet your bottom dollar you lose the vote in Chicago, Chicago
The town that pushed old Billy Graham down
The community organizer presidency turns out to be the Chicago Mob shakedown presidency.
Michael K- and no inconvenient government functionary has committed suicide by drowning in the Chicago river with a gunshot to the back and a helpfully laminated suicide note pinned to his jacket!!!
So we're still in the early stages here.... nothing to see here......
It's all been obvious all along.
I'm waiting for someone to secretly record Al Gore cracking a joke about what a scam "climate change" is.
Right now, these tall vertical objects outside my window are putting out these green flopsy things that wiggle in the wind. There are thousands of them! I have noticed also that when the weather gets cold, these things change color and fall on the ground. There must be millions of them! Is this caused by pollution? Are they safe for children to touch? Does the government know about this?
"The voters get what they deserve" is truer than ever.
But those of us who deduced the larger truth about Obama from the facts available are stuck with this crap now, too.
Obama's scandalous behavior = the tactics of the third world
Like there were no signs of this before the 2008 election. I mean, why would the press want to know about Obama's school grades, papers, test scores, financial aid? Why would the press care about his legislative or administrative capability? Why would the press care that his ideas were economically/financiall unsound?
It took years to get over their pride in electing the first half-black, half-white president.
Our Affirmative Action President apparently beleived he could get away with his thuggish behavior.
The funny thing is, he probably will, in the end, get away with it. How many times do conservatives have to have their hopes dashed before they realize that our ruin is already a fait accompli?
The Obama Administration's IRS harassed religious organizations, too.
The arc of Obama's history is long, and it bends toward Justice (Department).
Harry Reid and the Obama Progressives at the IRS - rat fuckers.
How many times do conservatives have to have their hopes dashed before they realize that our ruin is already a fait accompli?
Some will never realize it.
St. George said...
Right now, these tall vertical objects outside my window are putting out these green flopsy things that wiggle in the wind.
I'm having the same problem here. The worst part is, they completely block my view of the forest.
Nice little guitar company you got there. Shame if anything should happen to it.
If you were paying attention, the Gibson story was discussed at the time (I believe in the WSJ and elsewhere). It was duly noted that Fender, which used the exact same wood, was not targeted, and why.
Some of us have been screaming about this for years.
And some didn't want to say anything because it might appear improper.
Or even racist.
AprilApple said...
The community organizer presidency turns out to be the Chicago Mob shakedown presidency.
AKA The Choom Gang.
I feel bad telling people that these probably weren't conspiracies, just coincidences, because now, it looks like that is at least a legitimate theory that has some merit.
Nomennovum said...
Our Affirmative Action President apparently beleived he could get away with his thuggish behavior.
The funny thing is, he probably will, in the end, get away with it. How many times do conservatives have to have their hopes dashed before they realize that our ruin is already a fait accompli?
This time he won't get away with it.
Benghazi has opened the floodgates and, eventually, he'll be swept away.
As for the rest, as I've said before, some people give up awfully easily.
Don't feel sad, CEO-MMP. In this politically correct day and age, many younger folks probably wouldn't get the reference, just as they don't understand a "please don't throw me in the briar patch" reference because Uncle Remus is politically incorrect, too, and they never read it. Doesn't help that Disney keeps "Song of the South" under lock and key, either."
That's why I'm sad!
If the Democrats didn't attack the Press, we'd still be hearing little of this. What? They weren't satisfied with 99 44/100% of the Press in the bag?
Tank, the only company who went into Madagascar was Gibson, which was the first recent Gibson violation. They have had issues before this recent one.
I know Gibson loves the PR, but they were considered to use more 'gray market' before this happened.
Matthew Sablan said...
I feel bad telling people that these probably weren't conspiracies, just coincidences, because now, it looks like that is at least a legitimate theory that has some merit."
The past few days have been a little rough for you, haven't they?
:)
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
H. L. Mencken
These data points look very different now than they did at the time
They look exactly like they did at that time. Nothing has changed except a little more sunlight is being shone on the mold.
Yeah. I'm cynical, but I believe in never attributing to malice what can be explained through incompetence. But, well, when you've ruled out all other possibilities, whatever remains, however improbable, and all that.
Mark
Gibson's crime was:
Using wood in guitars.
Maybe that should not be a crime?
The high water mark of he Obama Blitzkreig through the American way of life has been reached. Hi invading Army is stuck in reverse now.
I believe that the Gosnell murder trial was the point when everything changed. People woke up from under the spell that murdering of the innocent is good when it is being done under cover of a noble purpose.
Obama's good murdering of the American way of life is out from under cover of the spell of Obama's smile and the noble purpose of electing an African American President.
"I remember being active at Big Government back in those days, and the comment stream was filled with discussions about Gibson and Boeing being targeted for not toeing the line."
I know that, but that's not my point. My point is connecting the dots and finding the other dots, the dots that we're only getting now. There were other data points like those that we did see, and we were not vigilant enough to get more and to build the picture. The picture is still not developed to obvious clarity.
The Gibson affair pointed out how fucked up Government rules and regulation have become. The Feds confiscated everything--even the legacy woods and veneers purchased before any fuckhead Lefties infested agencies dealing with actuall producing a product. Gibson prefers--insistes--on using unstained wood--as most woodworkers do--in order to insure good results. The numbnut have decided that wood must be fully processed in the source countries. No eveidence was presented that Gibson did anything illegal. No effort was taken to judge if the materials confiscated were legal or not--grandfathered purchases.
Gov't bullies can and they do.
So, second look about those Chrysler bond holders and the auto dealerships that were closed with "no sign of political preference playing a role in their closing?"
Second look at Occupy being treated with kid gloves and not required to pay any fees for use of public land while Tea Party groups were forced to cover the expenses for added security, etc.?
Take a second look at why the unibomber's Manifesto has become National Energy Policy.
And what that has cost this Nation--what it WILL cost.
Third look at Solyndra etc.? All of a sudden all of those things dismissed with minimal review needs another review.
[S]ome people give up awfully easily. -- edutcher
Who said anything about giving up? Recognizing the reality of the situation -- that over half of the population of the US thinks a strong government is a good thing and this situation is not about to change -- frees you to arrange your life to deal, and even thrive, with the inevitable consequences of our nation's poor choices.
The picture is still not developed to obvious clarity.
things were pretty clear when the rule of law was discarded in the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies. perhaps you were operating on emotion.
"I know that, but that's not my point. My point is connecting the dots and finding the other dots, the dots that we're only getting now. There were other data points like those that we did see, and we were not vigilant enough to get more and to build the picture. The picture is still not developed to obvious clarity."
Okay. Because I read the last paragraph of your post as though you were just now looking back at these things (and the title helped) and were suddenly shocked.
I *knew* Obama and the Democrats were corrupt. I know they are corrupt. I knew electing that man was going to cause untold damage to this nation. I was one of those people accused of being racist and paranoid back in 2007-2008 (and since...but that's different).
I don't have to use hindsight to look back at things they've done before in context with things they're going now to say "a ha!".
But yes--the picture hasn't developed completely yet. And frankly my dear--I'm terrified.
Yep, I have been wanting to bring up Gibson guitars for a few days now. It certainly looks like it was retribution for Gibson's political beliefs. Kind of like "pay for not playing".
Second look at the attempt to freeze Fox News out of the press pool (the last time the media as a whole unified against the White House?)
Second look at where Journolist got its talking points from? There's a lot of dots that we can see if they connect!
"This time he won't get away with it.
Benghazi has opened the floodgates and, eventually, he'll be swept away."
Forgive me for calling you a cockeyed optimist.
There are a lot of scandals. Probably a lot more coming.
But 40 odd percent of the country still doesn't give a shit as long as the goverteat still functions.
And the percentage of the country that just blindly hates everyone not a smug liberal.
And the percentage of the country that are just flatly too stupid to be allowed to vote who are encouraged to vote (yes, there's overlap there).
And this putz will be holding onto the whitehouse so tightly--they'll be dragging him out with a winch.
Hi.
We told you so.
Sincerely,
Conservatives
"Swatting*" Conservatives and bloggers who wrote about it--judges protecting those involved because of political connections.
*Making a false police report that sends an armed SWAT team to a person's home, guns drawn.
Ann Althouse said...
My point is connecting the dots and finding the other dots, the dots that we're only getting now. There were other data points like those that we did see, and we were not vigilant enough to get more and to build the picture.
Laugh out loud funny.
Um, voting for the black guy made you, a lilly white boomer child of privilege, feel good inside.
You had zero interest in connecting any "dots" at all.
WE didn't miss them. WE noticed Obama's proclivity to attack opponents via government means (again, the GM bondholders, conservative Chevy dealers, etc).
This is what we said was happening. For years.
And these same people are going to run healthcare now. Solid plan.
I know that, but that's not my point. My point is connecting the dots and finding the other dots, the dots that we're only getting now. There were other data points like those that we did see, and we were not vigilant enough to get more and to build the picture. The picture is still not developed to obvious clarity.
The "dots" are that Obama is quite skilled at using the government to attack enemies, perceived or real. I'm, sadly, not remotely shocked by any of these revelations.
The numbnut have decided that wood must be fully processed in the source countries. No eveidence was presented that Gibson did anything illegal. No effort was taken to judge if the materials confiscated were legal or not--grandfathered purchases.
If it were reversed, Barbara Boxer would be whining about "Outsourcing and Offshoring" all those good American jobs to those Indian varnishers
I know that, but that's not my point. My point is connecting the dots and finding the other dots, the dots that we're only getting now. There were other data points like those that we did see, and we were not vigilant enough to get more and to build the picture. The picture is still not developed to obvious clarity.
It was very clear years ago. Just google some of Michael Barone and thugocray from pre-election 2008. Perhaps you low info voters missed it:
The Coming Obama Thugocracy
Michael Barone | Oct 11, 2008
"I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors," Barack Obama told a crowd in Elko, Nev. "I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face." Actually, Obama supporters are doing a lot more than getting into people's faces. They seem determined to shut people up.
That's what Obama supporters, alerted by campaign emails, did when conservative Stanley Kurtz appeared on Milt Rosenberg's WGN radio program in Chicago. Kurtz had been researching Obama's relationship with unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers in Chicago Annenberg Challenge papers in the Richard J. Daley Library in Chicago -- papers that were closed off to him for some days, apparently at the behest of Obama supporters.
Obama fans jammed WGN's phone lines and sent in hundreds of protest emails. The message was clear to anyone who would follow Rosenberg's example. We will make trouble for you if you let anyone make the case against The One.
Other Obama supporters have threatened critics with criminal prosecution. In September, St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce warned citizens that they would bring criminal libel prosecutions against anyone who made statements against Obama that were "false." I had been under the impression that the Alien and Sedition Acts had gone out of existence in 1801-02. Not so, apparently, in metropolitan St. Louis. Similarly, the Obama campaign called for a criminal investigation of the American Issues Project when it ran ads highlighting Obama's ties to Ayers.
These attempts to shut down political speech have become routine for liberals. Congressional Democrats sought to reimpose the "fairness doctrine" on broadcasters, which until it was repealed in the 1980s required equal time for different points of view. The motive was plain: to shut down the one conservative-leaning communications medium, talk radio. Liberal talk-show hosts have mostly failed to draw audiences, and many liberals can't abide having citizens hear contrary views.
In Obama's America, private businesses cannot relocate unless the democrat progressives allow it and you cave to unions.
Because we weren't so vigilant? What do you mean "we", kimosabe?
There were plenty of us who knew about this and protested, and pointed out Martin guitars, Obama supporters, were committing the same "violations" or worse. But, again, the MSM, fully in the tank for Obama, didn't give a shit. Freedom, equal protection under the law, etc are just meaningless words compared to tingles running down your leg.
"There were other data points like those that we did see, and we were not vigilant enough to get more and to build the picture. The picture is still not developed to obvious clarity."
Who are the prime "picture builders" in our society? The press. There's only so much a commenter here or there can do. The press has to take the story and run with it for it to get anywhere. They connect the dots. But when they close their eyes, stick their fingers in their ears, and sing "la la la la la" is it any wonder those dots don't get connected? Even in a story as obvious as Benghazi (there was NO spontaneous demonstration) it's taken the press 8 months to get around to being curious about the truth. And only because they were dragged into it by those awful, partisan Republicans. Think of all the Pulitzer Prizes left unclaimed by the incurious media in the last four years.
Here's one example:
Megan McCardle: Conservative groups have been complaining for a few years that they're being harassed by the IRS, forced to endure an inordinate amount of scrutiny. I've been ignoring those complaints, because it just seemed so unlikely.
I don't think that they look a bit different today than they did then. It was wrong at the time it happened, and it remains wrong today. For those with eyes to see, it was government overstepping its proper bounds, just as plain as day. Some are just slow to wake up, I suppose.
Ann Althouse said...
I remember being active at Big Government back in those days, and the comment stream was filled with discussions about Gibson and Boeing being targeted for not toeing the line.
I know that, but that's not my point. My point is connecting the dots and finding the other dots, the dots that we're only getting now. There were other data points like those that we did see, and we were not vigilant enough to get more and to build the picture. The picture is still not developed to obvious clarity.
I was. Others here were.
I've made a pain in the ass of myself linking stuff like this for 5 years.
The clarity was there for me.
PS Drill, I've made mention of the Barone piece several times, but thanks for copying it in.
Some of us knew this was coming. Some did not want to be mean to a person of color.
The MSM is pedaling so fast on Benghazi and the IRS (just a couple of low level employees in Cincinnati) that really the only thing that interested them was the AP phone records scandal. Then it was personal. In the meantime, they will say, everything is "ginned up."
My eyes have always been wide open, but like a lot of people, when you are called a racist, you shut up so your life isn't ruined.
I know that, but that's not my point. My point is connecting the dots and finding the other dots, the dots that we're only getting now. There were other data points like those that we did see, and we were not vigilant enough to get more and to build the picture. The picture is still not developed to obvious clarity."
For those who didn't choose to willfully blind themselves it was obvious from day one. Indeed it was obvious before the 2008 election.
You don't have to be too smart (or even paranoid)to see what Obama and his crowd are up to. And "are" is deliberate. They are still doing it. And big media is on the job helping them.
And I'm not missing "Song of the South" near as much as I miss "Aesops Fables"
"... we were not vigilant enough to get more and to build the picture. The picture is still not developed to obvious clarity."
Some of us saw it early, some needed more points of different types for the picture to take shape. I knew before he ran the first time what kind of a leader he would make. He has a bad character. People with bad character will occasionally surprise you by being decent, but that isn't their norm.
Add to your dataset the closing of Republican-owned GM dealerships (and of course, leaving Democratic owned ones to remain in business) when the government took it over.
In fairness the GM thing might not be true.
Does that matter?
Matthew: "Yeah. I'm cynical, but I believe in never attributing to malice what can be explained through incompetence."
Then you are a fool. Adhering strictly to simplistic rules like that makes you cattle led to the slaughter.
You don't think someone can recognize that a veneer of incompetence makes great cover, because of fools like you who will jump on any sign of incompetence and wrap it around you like a security blanket?
Dude, you are not the only person with a brain in the world. Other people can exploit any weakness you have, and the widespread willingness to attribute malice to incompetence makes incompetence the perfect cover for malice.
It's not rocket science.
Professor--your use of "we" is at best ingenuous Why didn't YOU, Professor Althouse, pick up on it. You are the scholarly law professor, well educated, etc. Looks to me like YOU failed abysmally and let your ideology trump your intellect.
You're trying to blame the victims here Professor. The fact is nearly all of the public media is a now a functioning part of the progressive noise machine. Kinda hard to dot connect when you're marginalized as a kook from the get-go. Like trying to talk sense to Garage or sexual normalcy to Titus the Queer, it would be a futile undertaking. About all we can do is hunker down until the shooting starts.
oops--DISengenuous
"Reward your friends and punish your enemies."
"Get in their faces."
"Punch back twice as hard."
Macaulay Culkin ,,,|O|,,,
Some people will still not accept that the kinds of political coalitions Obama relies upon, the old civil rights apparatus, unions, green and red true believers and secular ideologues, ward healers and 60's semi-commiecrats. drive policy.
His record is pretty clear. Sometimes it's incompetence, sometimes its petty politicking and handouts, sometimes, apparently it's corruption as well.
It's idealistic in theory and destructive in practice.
Chicago's Northwestern Hospital was fined and has to pay $130 million back taxes and lay off 400 (10%) of its employees for supposedly violated its tax-exempt status in a "random" IRS audit. Northwestern's competitor, the U of Chicago Hospital, Mrs. O's former employer, beneficiary of then junior senator's million dollar largesse was not audited.
So like Gibson Guitar to get nailed for doing the same things that their competitors are free to do.
I wonder how many data points we've missed over the last 4+ years because we were not so paranoid vigilant.
WE? Not me, and not a lot of other folks who voted for Romney. WE were vigilant as all hell but were ignored by some really smart people who voted for Obama. And it's NOT paranoia if it's true.
In was paying attention. Why weren't you?
As I recall, this wasn't enough to keep Althouse from being undecided back in 2012. She did post about it, which was good, but it wasn't enough.
Boston Globe 6/27/08 article by Binyamin Applebaum should have won a Pulitzer. Still the most important single view of the Barack and Valerie show. Nothing new except the scale. Depressingly predictable.
Boston Globe 6/27/08 article by Binyamin Applebaum should have won a Pulitzer. Still the most important single view of the Barack and Valerie show. Nothing new except the scale. Depressingly predictable.
A point:
Inga, phx, garage mahal, harrogate, ARM, Ritmo, et al, work very hard to prevent the connecting of any dots that might draw a line harmful to liberal causes.
On the other hand, it must be pointed out that someone with a signficantly high blogging profile reacted badly when attempts were made to connect dots.
She called it racism.
Maybe one should apply the same enlightened viewpoint toward the SSM movement?
Nah.
It's important to note that in Obama's eyes — and in the eyes of the left – these actions were not thuggish — far from it.
Remember that, after all, the thugs, the greedy, the clueless, and the racists are all those who (mindlessly) oppose the forward-looking policies of BHO, who, do not forget, is the anointed one with the smart policies who will make America loved and respected, and who of course is the generous heart for the poor and needy who will (finally) transform America.
Therefore, in the eyes of the left, using any means to oppose the right is an unabashed good.
Really, how many dots have to be connected before the penny drops?*
*Honorable Mention, Notable Comment, Mixed Metaphor Category
Althouse often resorts to being her own troll and you all fall for it every time. She posts one of these "Who knew?" dopey statements and 97 people jump up and remind her she was warned from the start about Obama. Nothing gained, nothing learned, just more posts for the Althouse website.
The question of vote fraud merits a second look as well.
Hell, it merits a first look.
But the MSM will never, ever go there. That's kooky paranoid conspiracy theory bananas.
Historians may-- even if there's no way to ascertain, definitively, whether the extent of fraud was enough to sway the election. Cf. the sainted Kennedy.
This is what you get when the commander in chief was a former community organizer and Chicago politician.
Is anyone surprised?
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