November 18, 2009
“Where were you when wood became a felony?” [Darleen Click]

One month ago, Eric Scheie wrote on the 663 page Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 which contained the Lacey Act Amendment

The Lacey Act now makes it unlawful to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce any plant, with some limited exceptions, taken in violation of the laws of a U.S. State, or any foreign law that protects plants. The Lacey Act also makes it unlawful to make or submit any false record, account or label for, or any false identification of, any plant.

The definition of the term “plant” includes “any wild member of the plant kingdom, including roots, seeds, parts, and products thereof, and including trees from either natural or planted forest stands.”

[...]

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.

[...]

Violations of Lacey Act provisions for timber and other plant products, as well as fish and wildlife, may be prosecuted through either civil or criminal enforcement actions. Regardless of any prosecution, the tainted plants may be seized and forfeited.

Eric observes

Obviously, this means that in the future, the Fish and Game guys will be able to accompany SWAT Team raiders to check all wood in homes and businesses for possible violations. Even if they’re wrong in their suspicions about the wood, it can still be confiscated. (Might that be a goal? To beef up employment at Fish and Game?)

Just think about the law enforcement possibilities alone. After kicking through and impounding your illegal wooden door, a federalized army of government termites could literally strip all wood paneling and flooring from every raided house as suspicious contraband, and haul away all the furniture, wood carvings, picture frames, tools, musical instruments! I can’t think of a better harassment tool.

Indeed

An international crackdown on the use of endangered woods from the world’s rain forests to make musical instruments bubbled over to Music City on Tuesday with a federal raid on Gibson Guitar ’s manufacturing plant, but no arrests.

Agents of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service made a midday appearance and served a search warrant on company officials at Gibson’s Massman Drive manufacturing plant, where it makes acoustic and electric guitars.

It should be noted that no where in the article does it say that Gibson was ever approached for documents, or subpoenaed.

But hey, what’s more important then giving some Fed agents some practice raiding dangerous guitar crafting facilities? I mean, it’s not like there are any Islamist terrorists out there or anything.

(h/t sdferr)

95 Comments  :::   Post a comment »

  1. Comment by geoffb on 11/18 @ 9:50 pm #

    Be careful JD.

  2. Comment by JD on 11/18 @ 9:53 pm #

    Holy jeebus! Is there a list of illegal wood somewhere?

  3. Comment by DarthRove on 11/18 @ 10:01 pm #

    Ben Affleck is in hiding.

  4. Comment by Ric Locke on 11/18 @ 10:02 pm #

    Is there a list of illegal wood somewhere?

    No. That’s the beauty of it. The President For Life of Bumfuckistan decrees that export of Honduran mahogany from his country (where Honduran mahogany doesn’t grow) is illegal, and presto! all your cabinetwork is a Federal felony. Is it not elegant?

    Regards,
    Ric

  5. Comment by Spiny Norman on 11/18 @ 10:03 pm #

    JD

    Holy jeebus! Is there a list of illegal wood somewhere?

    Not one any of us will be allowed to see. But don’t worry, after they’ve ripped up your floors and hauled away your furniture, they let you know if any of it was “illegal”.

    Maybe.

  6. Comment by geoffb on 11/18 @ 10:14 pm #

    Anyone remember the days of “paper not plastic” because wood was a renewable, biodegradable, recyclable product?

    If they are going to do raids they should start on every home of every retired Democrat Speaker of the House. They always took most of the House woodwork with them into retirement as mementos.

  7. Comment by Blake on 11/18 @ 10:16 pm #

    Great, you can get in more trouble over what the bong is made from, rather than what is in the bong.

  8. Comment by sdferr on 11/18 @ 10:22 pm #

    For more detailed information on your woods, Bruce Hoadley’s sections on wood identification are pretty good, especially the microphotographs and his technique instructions on obtaining and preparing samples.

    Heh.

  9. Comment by geoffb on 11/18 @ 10:30 pm #

    Obviously, this means that in the future, the Fish and Game guys will be able to accompany SWAT Team raiders to check all wood in homes and businesses for possible violations.

    In Canada the “Fish and Game” guys have for a long time had the right to search anywhere anytime if they have any suspicion that there might be illegal possession of game. Always had to make sure that all fish I caught were marked as mine could be IDed for species, number, and size so as to prove I and the camp were legal.

  10. Comment by sdferr on 11/18 @ 10:34 pm #

    Then for even more detail, he produced this classic too.

  11. Comment by Joe on 11/18 @ 10:43 pm #

    Jesus, should have gone with the red oak. Last time I checked, that was not endangered.

    That is some scary powers for the enviros, but they will never abuse their powers. Enviros are so sane.

  12. Comment by zmdavid on 11/18 @ 11:25 pm #

    I think they’ll go after firewood. When they make coal, oil and natural gas unaffordable to average people, we will turn to wood to heat our houses. Then they will strike. We will all freeze to death because of Global Warming.

  13. Comment by Carin on 11/18 @ 11:31 pm #

    Darleen, whattaya think of your overlords in California banning flatscreen tvs? I laughed and laughed and laughed.

  14. Comment by happyfeet on 11/18 @ 11:39 pm #

    America is damaged.

  15. Comment by easyliving1 on 11/18 @ 11:42 pm #

    Comment by EasyLiving on 3/29 @ 5:10 am #

    The first post I read at PW was regarding the launch of Pajamas Media, and although I barely knew who Jeff was writing about, I really thought it was funny after I figured out it was bunk.

    Go read it.

    Now.

    Right now, jackass. Go read it. I dare ya. I double dog dare ya. GO READ IT NOW, BEEEAAATCH.

    Alright, I’ve about had it with you. If you don’t go read that post right f’ing now, I’m gonna………….

    TYPE!!!! WITH EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!! IN CAPITOL FREAKIN’ LETTERS PEOPLE!!!!!

    Okay, okay, could you just please, pretty please, go read it? Could you? I mean, it would help me out a little, ya know? I would feel like I was part of something big, introducing you to something that will totally, completly blow your mind. For days and weeks, not just hours.

    So, are you gonna read it?

    Comment by EasyLiving on 3/29 @ 5:20 am #

    Ah,

    You lazy bastards.

    Here ya go:

    Liveblogging the Pajamas Media launch festivities from the W Hotel in New York, 1

    My cab pulled up outside the W a little before 9 PM New York time, and after checking in and dropping my suitcase on the bed, I immediately made my way to the hotel bar, where I found Tim Blair, Roger Simon, and Ed Driscoll bunched around a small table near the restrooms. Ed and Roger were nursing Gibsons, while Tim (who at 5’1” is much shorter than I thought he’d be) was drinking what looked to be IPA out of a pilsner glass inscribed with the legend, “Bloggers Do It In Their Pajamas.”

    “Heh, cool,” I said, motioning to Tim’s glass. “You have those made up for the launch?”

    “What do you think, genius?” Blair asked, not looking up. “I maybe had it printed up special for myself?”

    Ed, who I’d met once before at a Rocky Mountain Blogger bash, threw me a glance that said, “skip it, he’s Australian,” before sliding me a chair. “Take a seat. How was your flight?”

    “Fine, nice,” I said, sitting down and looking around for the waitress. I hadn’t had anything to drink on the plane and was really craving a Guinness.

    “So”—this from my left, where Roger Simon, sans his trademark fedora, sat smiling and bleary-eyed, holding aloft a half-empty Gibson glass as if threatening to make a toast. “Protein wisdom is in the hizzouse, as the kids say! Welcome! Or—as my friend Bill Bixby once said to a French prostitute (god rest his soul), ’bonjour, you plump little tart!’”

    “Bullshit,” Blair hissed. “The Hulk never said any such thing. Any such thing. You fibbing wizened bastard.”

    “Absolutely he did,” Simon plucked a cocktail onion from his drink with his fingers. “Paris, 1979. Had her eating out of the palm of his hand, too. Literally. Cake and a little salted herring, I think. Christ, do I ever miss him.”

    “We all do,” I said, looking around again for the waitress. Then, “So, you fellas been here long, or…?”

    ”Fellas?” Blair shot me a look like he’d just found me buggering a wallaby. “Jesus. Tell me you’re not bloody serious, man.”

    “Shut up, Tim,”– Simon, waving his hand dismissively. “Jeff’s from flyover country. Colorado, isn’t it? Or Kansas?—someplace like that? Say, why aren’t you drinking? Waitress –!”

    “– ’Fellas.’ Christ. You don’t happen to play banjo by any chance, do you? You bloody mountain hick.”

    “You know, come to think of it, I’m a little beat from the trip. I think I’m gonna have to take a raincheck on that drink –”

    “– You’re sure?” Ed asked, rising alongside me and shaking my hand.

    “Yeah. Air travel is not my friend, as it happens. My legs are really sore.”

    “Oh boo flippin’ hoo, mate,” Blair spit, taking the final swig of his beer before slamming the empty glass on the table. “Try flying in from bleedin’ New Zealand—then come bitch to me. After 23 hours, your ass starts to feel like a diabetic’s feet.”

    “I’ll bet,” I said, not really sure what he meant. “So. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, then…?”

    Blair: “Feh. Whatever.”

    “Sounds good, Jeff. Thanks. And sorry about this,” Ed seemed genuinely apologetic. “Things should be a little more…relaxed by tomorrow, I should think.”

    “Sure,” I said. “I totally understand.”

    “Protein wisdom!” Simon raised his glass one last time, sloshing a bit of gin into his shirt cuff. “P-Dub is in the hizzy!”—At which point I smiled and nodded and turned to take my leave. Quickly.

    Should be an interesting couple of days, if nothing else. Wish me luck!

  16. Comment by Darleen on 11/18 @ 11:48 pm #

    Carin

    Like anyone who wants a 58″ plasma won’t be able to go to Nevada or Arizona and pick one up.

    SHEESH.

  17. Comment by happyfeet on 11/18 @ 11:48 pm #

    I miss him so much.

  18. Comment by JD on 11/19 @ 12:10 am #

    Brazilian Walnut? Is that fucking illegal? Because I really want to know. Since I have a little over 4000 square feet of it sitting in my dining room. I would like to know if I am going to get half my home confiscated … Is that too much to ask ?

  19. Comment by maggie katzen on 11/19 @ 12:16 am #

    um, JD, I don’t think I’d be posting that in public.

  20. Comment by JD on 11/19 @ 12:26 am #

    Fuck you, alphie. Fuck you swordfish-style.

  21. Comment by geoffb on 11/19 @ 12:53 am #

    Considering that IPE is sold by so many different flooring places. Even for outdoor decking you are safe. Unless they are going after the Atlantic City Boardwalk and Las Vegas’ Resort Hotel Treasure Island.

  22. Comment by JHo on 11/19 @ 6:29 am #

    Do we all have time today to retire momentarily from our pursuit of tax-paying activity to venture to call every one of our illustrious Congresspersonages and kindly request a update on this action? Surely we overreact. Surely it’s All Okay™.

    Perhaps they’d deign to get back to us.

    In related news, the US Senate, comprised of one hundred of our Leaders, Superiors, and Masters, hath produceth a masterful document, that, once it passeth the halls, functions, and vagaries of our highest of offices — they being established and instituted solely and wholly on behalf of our betterest of interests — shall grant they, this minority of strangers in this far-away small burg, the power.

    Of life and death.

  23. Comment by serr8d on 11/19 @ 6:32 am #

    So that’s why they raided Gibson. I hadn’t paid any attention, other than in passing.

    The Gibson CEO has resigned from the ‘Rainforest Alliance’ envirogroup of which he’d been a member…

    After the federal search, Juszkiewicz called the alliance and offered to take a leave of absence “to avoid conflict or distraction,” said President Tensie Whelan. “It’s very difficult to know what’s happening at this point,” Whelan added. “Our hope indeed is there will be no violations of the Lacey Act.”

    Juszkiewicz has been on the group’s board for more than 15 years and has taken a lead role in urging the music instrument industry to use sustainable wood products, the group said.

    The federal inquiry raised some eyebrows.

    “I think it shows the reach of the Lacey Act, and nobody is immune from its prohibitions,” said James Goldberg, Washington-based counsel for NAMM, a trade group that represents music equipment distributors, retailers and instrument makers. “Even if you think you know your suppliers, you may (still) have a problem.”

    Nice Federal government we have here.

  24. Comment by SDN on 11/19 @ 6:33 am #

    geoffb, the problem in a nutshell is that just because they don’t choose to prosecute the Atlantic City Boardwalk doesn’t mean they won’t choose to prosecute you. Welcome to the baksheesh economy, where paying off the right people is the most essential skill of all.

  25. Comment by serr8d on 11/19 @ 6:43 am #

    @15, easyliving1: I couldn’t read that. So I fixed it for you.

    Liveblogging the Pajamas Media launch festivities from the W Hotel in New York, 1

    My cab pulled up outside the W a little before 9 PM New York time, and after checking in and dropping my suitcase on the bed, I immediately made my way to the hotel bar, where I found Tim Blair, Roger Simon, and Ed Driscoll bunched around a small table near the restrooms. Ed and Roger were nursing Gibsons, while Tim (who at 5′1″ is much shorter than I thought he’d be) was drinking what looked to be IPA out of a pilsner glass inscribed with the legend, “Bloggers Do It In Their Pajamas.”

    “Heh, cool,” I said, motioning to Tim’s glass. “You have those made up for the launch?”

    “What do you think, genius?” Blair asked, not looking up. “I maybe had it printed up special for myself?”

    Ed, who I’d met once before at a Rocky Mountain Blogger bash, threw me a glance that said, “skip it, he’s Australian,” before sliding me a chair. “Take a seat. How was your flight?”

    “Fine, nice,” I said, sitting down and looking around for the waitress. I hadn’t had anything to drink on the plane and was really craving a Guinness.

    “So”, this from my left, where Roger Simon, sans his trademark fedora, sat smiling and bleary-eyed, holding aloft a half-empty Gibson glass as if threatening to make a toast. “Protein wisdom is in the hizzouse, as the kids say! Welcome! Or‚ as my friend Bill Bixby once said to a French prostitute (god rest his soul), ‘bonjour, you plump little tart!’”

    “Bullshit,” Blair hissed. “The Hulk never said any such thing. Any such thing. You fibbing wizened bastard.”

    “Absolutely he did,” Simon plucked a cocktail onion from his drink with his fingers. “Paris, 1979. Had her eating out of the palm of his hand, too. Literally. Cake and a little salted herring, I think. Christ, do I ever miss him.”

    “We all do,” I said, looking around again for the waitress. Then, “So, you fellas been here long, or…?”

    “Fellas?” Blair shot me a look like he’d just found me buggering a wallaby. “Jesus. Tell me you’re not bloody serious, man.”

    “Shut up, Tim,”– Simon, waving his hand dismissively. “Jeff’s from flyover country. Colorado, isn’t it? Or Kansas?,someplace like that? Say, why aren’t you drinking? Waitress –!”

    “– ‘Fellas.’ Christ. You don’t happen to play banjo by any chance, do you? You bloody mountain hick.”

    “You know, come to think of it, I’m a little beat from the trip. I think I’m gonna have to take a raincheck on that drink –”

    “– You’re sure?” Ed asked, rising alongside me and shaking my hand.

    “Yeah. Air travel is not my friend, as it happens. My legs are really sore.”

    “Oh boo flippin’ hoo, mate,” Blair spit, taking the final swig of his beer before slamming the empty glass on the table. “Try flying in from bleedin’ New Zealand,then come bitch to me. After 23 hours, your ass starts to feel like a diabetic’s feet.”

    “I’ll bet,” I said, not really sure what he meant. “So. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, then…?”

    Blair: “Feh. Whatever.”

    “Sounds good, Jeff. Thanks. And sorry about this,” Ed seemed genuinely apologetic. “Things should be a little more…relaxed by tomorrow, I should think.”

    “Sure,” I said. “I totally understand.”

    “Protein wisdom!” Simon raised his glass one last time, sloshing a bit of gin into his shirt cuff. “P-Dub is in the hizzy!”,At which point I smiled and nodded and turned to take my leave. Quickly.

    WTF is going wrong with the archives? Prolly that Aussie hick what runs the servers down there. Slap him upside the head with a Gibson.

    /sarc, dammnit~!

  26. Comment by serr8d on 11/19 @ 6:48 am #

    hmmmph. Didn’t get it completely correct then, either. I used Wordpad’s Find & Replace to snag the weird characters (mostly it’s only the punctuation characters that are suffering transposition most: ‘ ,; there should be a way to write a routine to go through the servers and pull those strange characters out. Needs to be done, by somebody.

  27. Comment by Bob Reed on 11/19 @ 6:52 am #

    See, stuff like this is the problem with zillion page bills in Cingress. It neables our freedoms to get chiseled away at, little by little, traded away as part of a skillfull parlaimentary gambit; put into a bill that opponents could use to hang the tag of, “hater of food and energy consrvation”, and beat you with it like an electoral cudgel. Since they are all full time politicians I say that they should have to pass individual acts on their merits alone, and not attach them to “milk for schoolchildren” measures and such. And pass the omnibus spending bill in 10 page chunks; that would go a long way to eliminating pork, needless spending, and abominations such as this…

  28. Comment by Rusty on 11/19 @ 7:05 am #

    You got a 4000 square foot dining room? You are now my new best friend.

  29. Comment by serr8d on 11/19 @ 7:14 am #

    4000 square feet of it sitting in my dining room

    Heh. That’s just the serving table.

  30. Comment by serr8d on 11/19 @ 7:34 am #

    Heh. That’s just the serving table.

    Oh, and there’s the <a href=”">wine cellar, just an elevator ride away.

  31. Comment by serr8d on 11/19 @ 7:35 am #

    WINE CELLER. I should just get back to being sick and miserable. Even my HTML is dangling.

  32. Comment by Bob Reed on 11/19 @ 7:51 am #

    Nice pic serr8d. Is that your wine cellar?

  33. Comment by Challeron on 11/19 @ 8:00 am #

    So, uh, does this mean that Gibson is going back to fiberglass?…

  34. Comment by serr8d on 11/19 @ 8:33 am #

    No, Bob. Not mine. Isn’t it JD’s? He should have us all over for a Mouton-Rothschild Pauillac Bordeaux ‘67 soon, eh? ;)

    (I did enhance the photo just a bit; I can’s stand to see a flawed pic~! )

  35. Comment by Squid on 11/19 @ 8:45 am #

    It used to be “If you keep doing that, you’ll grow hair on your palms.” Then, it was “If you keep doing that, you’ll go blind.” Today, it’s “If you keep doing that, Fish & Wildlife will kick in your door and take away your pecker.”

    Is it any wonder that today’s yoof are so deranged?

  36. Comment by JD on 11/19 @ 8:50 am #

    Ain’t my place, but it certainly looks nice. I have extended an offer to the collective group to have a get-together at Compound JD, and it remains open.

  37. Comment by ThomasD on 11/19 @ 9:05 am #

    This is just an extension of all the CITES crap. If you have anything made from real ivory do not let it be known, and especially do not attempt to cross a border with it, ever.

  38. Comment by BJTexs on 11/19 @ 9:17 am #

    JD has graciously offered to stand down the .50 Cal’s and open a gap in the Concertina wire for the commentariat to walk on his illegal hard wood floors. Hmmmm … JD’s hospitality or reward money?

  39. Comment by HeatherRadish on 11/19 @ 9:34 am #

    Is the Resolution Desk in the White House appropriately labeled with genus and species?

  40. Comment by Ernie G on 11/19 @ 9:37 am #

    Wood is a felony now? I knew that it could sometimes be embarrassing, but a felony? Geez!

  41. Comment by geoffb on 11/19 @ 9:44 am #

    Is the Resolution Desk in the White House appropriately labeled with genus and species?

    Buried somewhere, in a sub-section deep inside one of those 2000 page monsters is a small line exempting precisely 545 persons from every law passed, ever. Bet on it.

  42. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 9:50 am #

    Scheie’s piece didn’t get much attention back when he wrote it, but Insty links it this morning. Which is good, because Scheie deserves the attention.

  43. Comment by PCachu on 11/19 @ 9:58 am #

    Nice Federal government we have here.

    Yeah, it’d be a cryin’ shame if somethin’ happened to it.

    Oh, wait. No it wouldn’t. My bad.

  44. Comment by serr8d on 11/19 @ 10:53 am #

    There’s an old story about Tennessee’s monumental Governor Ned Ray McWherter who, assuming office, found that, in the Governor’s Mansion, the Governor’s Desk (a very nice piece of antique wood) was not allowing him to sit up close enough, because of his girth (monumental, you see). So he had it sawed and shaped to better fit his rotunditude.

    No that should’ve been a felony.

  45. Comment by bitchenFirebird on 11/19 @ 11:05 am #

    Careful with that axe, Eugene…

  46. Comment by JD on 11/19 @ 11:18 am #

    BJ – You are correct. Actually I am working with DHS to try to lure all you domestic terrorists to one spot.

  47. Comment by serr8d on 11/19 @ 11:29 am #

    Day-um. OT, but since I’ve been sick and not paying much attention, I’ve been linked by Ed Driscoll for my Sarah Palin – Newsweak pshop fix. Huh. The ‘Big Time’, huh? )

  48. Comment by cranky-d on 11/19 @ 11:30 am #

    I knew you were “one of them” JD. That whole friendly demeanor bit is just a ruse.

  49. Comment by JHo on 11/19 @ 11:46 am #

    Bastards.

    Point us to where the population this sterling piece of merely ostensible protectionism serves supports it, meya. And how they were engaged in the lawmaking process, except by their legally rote residence in the US.

  50. Comment by Slartibartfast on 11/19 @ 11:53 am #

    “Are all these your guitars?”

    Notanymore.

  51. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 11:56 am #

    Wait’il the Feds figure out what’s in pipe organs. Can we say, FIELD DAY! Yeehaw!

  52. Comment by Slartibartfast on 11/19 @ 12:11 pm #

    Lead, I’m guessing.

  53. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 12:13 pm #

    Mahogany, Ebony, Rosewood, Ivory … it’s a long list

  54. Comment by JD on 11/19 @ 12:15 pm #

    STFU, meya/RD.

    Busted, cranky.

  55. Comment by JD on 11/19 @ 12:18 pm #

    Did we ever determine if Brazilian Walnut is on that list?

  56. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 12:18 pm #

    What’s more, pipe organ building requires long lead times, so supplies for an organ planned to be begun in construction four years from now may well have been laid in for storage twenty years ago, slabs of this timber and leaves of that veneer carefully stacked and lovingly tended for many decades, especially when the business is successful and handed down the generations. Same deal with the piano builders.

  57. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 12:19 pm #

    It is not JD.

  58. Comment by JD on 11/19 @ 12:27 pm #

    Thanks, sdferr. I did not feel like being a felon, today.

  59. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 12:30 pm #

    No probs, JD, especially when you’d have had to pay through the nose for the privilege of earning the distinction. But you’re no doubt a felon on account of other stuff, so don’t go thinking you’re off the hook yet. ;-)

  60. Comment by JD on 11/19 @ 12:39 pm #

    I actually got a helluva deal. I think the statutes of limitations have all ran out on my felonies – knock on wood. ;-)

  61. Comment by Kresh on 11/19 @ 12:40 pm #

    …and this is why we can’t have nice things.

    Boy, I can’t wait for all the children to enjoy the melodic sounds of guitars and violins made from medium density fiberboard. Wow, is there nothing that socialists can’t ruin? Do none of them listen to classical or acoustic music? What a bunch of retards. Sorry, I shouldn’t insult retards that way. I denounce myself.

    Why is it illegal to shoot them again? Just wondering ’cause I can’t think of a single good reason why it should be illegal. This just doubles down on the stupid.

  62. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 12:48 pm #

    In fairness though Kresh, most of these pretty hardwoods don’t make up the resonators themselves (save perhaps some pipes or guitar backs made of mahogany), they tend rather to be veneers on the surfaces of the actual resonators, fret boards or in the case of the keyed instruments, the keys themselves (and even there, often veneered). Which isn’t to say that they don’t have distinct utility in those roles, for they often do, or so it is claimed. What has become of clarinets? Oboes? English Horns? Bassoons? Dunno.

  63. Comment by Pontius' Pilot on 11/19 @ 1:04 pm #

    “TOOTHPICK!”
    “Get him! GET HIM!”

  64. Comment by maggie katzen on 11/19 @ 1:07 pm #

    What has become of clarinets?

    pretty sure the one I had was some kind of plastic. These folks seem to agree.

    The clarinets most played in modern times are made of resonite or African hardwood of some type. Resonite is Selmer’s trademarked name for the plastic they use in some musical instruments. A resonite clarinet is usually the initial instrument a beginning clarinetist, especially a young student, may play. Cost is the biggest factor in the decision to play a resonite clarinet.

  65. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 1:15 pm #

    “…it can still be confiscated.”

    The question that this raises is, What then? What becomes of the stuff after it has been used in court to convict the convictable? Does it just go to the great Government storage locker posited at the end of Spielberg’s Raiders? Who cares for it there? Who sees to it that termites, other insect borers or fungus don’t destroy it? Does the Government, now holding increasingly valuable materials because increasingly made scarce by Government edict guard the stuff with the same ferocity shown for gold at Ft Knox? Or does the Government hold an auction and sell the stuff off for huge profits? Or does the Government hold a Big-Bonfire-On-The-Mall and destroy the stuff? Silly questions, I guess.

  66. Comment by BJTexs on 11/19 @ 1:15 pm #

    Being an owner of a Taylor Acoustic guitar … it wasn’t too long ago that Taylor used the wood from the last Liberty Tree to make beautiful and really cool guitars.

    Does this mean we can charge Bob Taylor and the entire company with treason?

  67. Comment by maggie katzen on 11/19 @ 1:16 pm #

    Bonfire! Bonfire! you’ll be thankful when we’re not aloud to burn oil or coal anymore.

  68. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 1:18 pm #

    I learned on one of these as a kid maggie.

  69. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 1:19 pm #

    Sorry, link broke, here’s a substitute.

  70. Comment by greginsewa on 11/19 @ 1:20 pm #

    All your furniture are belong to us…

  71. Comment by maggie katzen on 11/19 @ 1:24 pm #

    oooooh, shiny.

  72. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 1:25 pm #

    BJT, did you see my link yesterday? I ate lunch under that tree, puzzled over Aristotle under that tree, attended graduation ceremonies under that tree. That tree was a large a part of my life.

  73. Comment by BJTexs on 11/19 @ 1:53 pm #

    Oh, sdferr, I missed it.

    It’s a great story (St. Johns College, right?) and the guitars are beautiful with a very deep resonate sound. Definitely not for thrashing. That’s a copy of the Declaration of Independence inlayed into the bottom of the neck.

    I’m aware of the students back in the twenties trying to blow the tree up and some genius tree guy saving it with a pillar built into the core of the trunk out of concrete and brick. The red from the brick leached into the wood over the years creating an amazing pattern in the grain.

    Bob Taylor did a wonderful job preserving an American heritage. They managed to plant and maintain 13 seedlings from the tree and, when the guitars were manufactured, Bob and guitarist Doyle Dykes went to the 13 original states and presented a seedling to be planted as their new Liberty Trees. I got to see the presentation in Newport, RI.

    Short video here.

    What about the treason issue? ;-(

  74. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 2:01 pm #

    “They managed to plant and maintain 13 seedlings from the tree and, when the guitars were manufactured, Bob and guitarist Doyle Dykes went to the 13 original states and presented a seedling to be planted as their new Liberty Trees. I got to see the presentation in Newport, RI.”

    That’s way cool to hear. I had heard a rumor to that effect but didn’t know it had happened. And wouldn’t that be a Tree-son issue?

  75. Comment by BJTexs on 11/19 @ 2:15 pm #

    The highlight of the presentation was Doyle Dyke’s original rendition of “God Bless America” on one of the guitars. He’s a phenomenal finger style guitarist (you’ll hear a small bit of the song in the video linked above) and the song brought tears to my eyes in that setting.

    I’d recommend buying the Liberty Tree DVD that Taylor sells. It takes you through the entire process from history to death to harvest to sawing to manufacture. One of the most interesting DVD’s in my collection. (The video is from the intro.)

    Tree-Son. Ha! [ba dump chink!]

  76. Comment by Kresh on 11/19 @ 5:02 pm #

    Sorry. I think musical instruments should be made of wood, if that is their natural and original manufacturing method. It is purely my bias.

    This is mostly due to my hatred of the plastic (or Bakelite) school-issued recorder I had foisted upon me in 3rd grade. A truer “instrument” of torture there has never been. Well, that or a recorder is a crappy instrument no matter what it’s made of. I hate, with a Capital H and A and T and a E, that bloody noisemaker. My nightmares are filled with orchestra pits full of tone-deaf children wailing away on those horrific tubular ear-shattering devices. Poe had his tell-tale heart, I have the recorder in the hands of 3rd graders.

    I quickly jumped ship to the coronet after that horrific experience. Brass Baby! That’s where it’s at. Wait, didn’t the Consumer Safety Product Commission say brass had dangerous amounts of lead in it?

    This is why we can’t have nice things!

  77. Comment by maggie katzen on 11/19 @ 5:08 pm #

    I tend to agree with you Kresh. love your recorder story. I never had one, but my sister did and she learned to play Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with the bells and drove my mom up the wall.

  78. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 5:08 pm #

    I didn’t mean to suggest I disagree with your (and my) prejudice in favor of wood, Kresh, not at all. It’s just that I’ve been taught that more common, less threatened, more ordinary woods like Sitka Spruce, for one, makes superior violin backs or soundboards — that sort of thing, where these outlawed rare exotics are, while still useful as such (in the use or handing, touching) are most often used for their beauty or even on account of their rarity as such, in a “conspicuous consumption” sense.

  79. Comment by Kresh on 11/19 @ 5:57 pm #

    I didn’t mean to suggest I disagree with your (and my) prejudice in favor of wood, Kresh, not at all. It’s just that I’ve been taught that more common, less threatened, more ordinary woods like Sitka Spruce, for one, makes superior violin backs or soundboards — that sort of thing, where these outlawed rare exotics are, while still useful as such (in the use or handing, touching) are most often used for their beauty or even on account of their rarity as such, in a “conspicuous consumption” sense.

    Oh, there is no doubt that some, or many woods, are used merely because they’re pretty. Isn’t that the point? Isn’t it also the point that their reach knows no bounds? They’re like an undiagnosed diabetic trying to quench a thirst; it’s impossible. One type of wood will become two. Rare hardwoods will become not-quite-so-esoteric not-quite-as-rare-kinda-common-actually woods that will face their hatchet, so to speak. These people have no common sense, and those that do are often driven from their ranks as heretics.

    Eventually, we’ll be down to MFD (Medium Density Fiberboard) for all building instruments, and that will have to be made from recycled newspapers, old hobby-horses, and non-petroleum-based resins.

    It’s coming. You know it is. That’s why I keep wondering why we can’t shoot these people. I’m sure they’re violating a commandment or two somewheres that carries a capital punishment requirement. How much fun will they ruin before their heads explode from the sheer massive amounts of joy they have willingly and joyfully sucked out of society?

    They are why we, and our children, can’t have nice things. Jerks.

  80. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 6:10 pm #

    I don’t think we’ll (who we?) be reduced to MDF alone, or worse, for instruments before the time comes that the people insisting on such a proposition are impaled on stout pikes and set out in the sun to rot Kresh. Not that I believe that there is a race to see who can get to which position first, just that they seem to me about equally plausible.

  81. Comment by JD on 11/19 @ 6:26 pm #

    Sdferr – I get the impression that you are a real craftsman. Am I off base?

  82. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 6:31 pm #

    Search me JD, it would all depend on what a real craftsman is supposed to be. I probably fall in most endeavors into the jack-ass-of-too-many-trades pocket though. But I can make a mean pot o’ beans.

  83. Comment by JD on 11/19 @ 6:38 pm #

    I have selfish and ulterior motives for asking. We have a couple fairly sizeable projects that we want to do, and I am trying to find someone that loves what they do. That comes through in how you speak of things.

  84. Comment by geoffb on 11/19 @ 6:38 pm #

    In searching for a picture of the Baldwin baby grand in ebony finish that was in my childhood living room I came across this site with some examples of the beauty that the left considers to be a felony.

  85. Comment by Denis Lemieux on 11/19 @ 7:06 pm #

    Nothing beats a good piece of ash.

  86. Comment by sdferr on 11/19 @ 7:09 pm #

    Ah, I see JD. Unfortunately for me (and you, in passing, perhaps) my physical chops for the building work I used to do are now largely gone, making any thought of such a project quite impossible. I am paying the long term price for years of abuse of my body, i.e., taking advantage of same during the time it was there for the taking and using it up, so to speak, to the point that nowadays I’m content to be able to get out of a bed. But enough of that.

    What are you looking to do? And if home building work, I think your best bet is a 30ish person(s) striving to make a living and respected name for good work in these surely competitive days. I’d have to guess that there a scores of such people out there in your vicinity, though finding them mayn’t be as simple as shouting out the window.

  87. Comment by Mikey NTH on 11/19 @ 8:14 pm #

    Public utilities have to trim trees and brush from their electric lines and from gas pipelines. I wonder what will happen when an order to clear lines comes against this? State utility commissions and FERC against the Lacey Act?*

    My guess is that the Lacey Act will bow to everything else as congressmen catch heat.

  88. Comment by Swen Swenson on 11/19 @ 9:14 pm #

    ThomasD is right, this is an extension of the CITES laws. Not sure I’d call it crap though as the whole point is to stop poaching and trafficking in endangered species, stuff like rino horn and tiger gall bladders. In this country it’s mostly an issue for musical instrument makers and musicians.

    The Fretboard Journal had an interesting article on CITES recently which is unfortunately not available on-line. The gist is, all materials harvested and/or imported prior to passage of CITES, or before that particular material was listed are grandfathered. That’s a very good thing because many, many older stringed instruments have fingerboards and bridges of Brazilian rosewood, ivory nuts and saddles, tortoise shell pickguards, and such. But the point is to stop poaching now, not penalize people who own 50-year-old musical instruments.

    Where it gets sticky is with the instrument manufacturers like Gibson who have been hoarding fine woods for 100 years — how do they prove that board has been sitting on that shelf for 40 years? And musicians who travel internationally. It’s illegal to transport even grandfathered materials across international borders. So.. While my dad’s old mandolin and my 1953 Gretch New Yorker are grandfathered, I won’t be taking them on any trips to Canada, eh?

    Another big problem arises in the identification of these materials. I’ve used mammoth ivory from Russia to make nuts, saddles, and inlays for a couple of instruments I’ve made (start here and keep scrolling). It’s perfectly legal (they’re already extinct doncha know), but difficult to distinguish from elephant ivory, so I won’t be taking them across any borders either for fear they’ll confiscate first and ask questions later (and you’d better believe I have receipts etc. to show where I got this stuff).

    Bottom line though, all these materials are from endangered species and are rare as hen’s teeth and terribly expensive by definition, so it’s unlikely that your hardwood floors will be confiscated. That new dining room table might be Brazillian rosewood, but only if you paid six figures for it. Most of the things you’ve got to worry about are heirlooms, old jewelry and grooming sets that might contain ivory or tortoise shell, and such like.

    Musicians face a particular problem because the resonant qualities of wood improve with age so older instruments are sought for their tonal qualities. That means a lot of professional touring musicians own instruments that can’t be transported internationally. And that sux.

  89. Comment by B Moe on 11/19 @ 9:32 pm #

    As someone who damn near got arrested for picking a Canada Goose feather up from his yard and sticking it in his hat, a feather dropped from a molting, mating pair that nested on a small island in my pond, a pair I fiercely protected and cared for every year, I have real issues with the abuse of these kind of laws. Like most other shit the government gets involved with reason and common sense are not a concern.

  90. Comment by Pablo on 11/19 @ 9:51 pm #

    They’re like an undiagnosed diabetic trying to quench a thirst; it’s impossible. One type of wood will become two. Rare hardwoods will become not-quite-so-esoteric not-quite-as-rare-kinda-common-actually woods that will face their hatchet, so to speak. These people have no common sense, and those that do are often driven from their ranks as heretics.

    Just look at how they are with guns. Absolutely clueless, and yet with an expert opinion on all things firearm related, and a solution for every problem they perceive. The MonsterMan grip exists only because they’re absolute idiots. At least somebody is making a buck.

  91. Comment by Pablo on 11/19 @ 9:57 pm #

    Oh, and the testimonials might clue you in if you don’t already get it. Like this one:

    Dear MonsterMan Grips,

    I love the grips that you have made for the AR & AK type rifles. They are very ergonomic, fit my hand well and look great on the guns. I have 2 for my AR clones. And I have 4 (2 Nylon and 2 Wood) for my AK clones. Thanks for building such a wonderful product to allow me to use my preban mags.

    -Steve
    Groveland, CA

    See, if you lose the scary pistol grip, you shake loose the Evil Black Rifle list, and then you can use the high capacity magazines (that you probably owned before they were banned) that would be a crime if you still had a heinous pistol grip of death instead of a MonsterMan.

    Calling them retarded would be an insult to the retarded.

  92. Comment by Swen Swenson on 11/19 @ 10:14 pm #

    You should be happy for the CITES laws, Pablo. Pretty soon gun owners will be an endangered species on California and then they’ll have to protect you! In the mean time, could I interest you in a few nice wolves?

  93. Comment by Pablo on 11/19 @ 10:21 pm #

    Ah, but I moved out, Swen.

  94. Comment by Harun on 11/21 @ 10:34 am #

    Yet another form to fill in. As an exporter from Asia, we see more and more US regulations thrown onto us. (The importers and stores pass their paper work onto cheap office labor in Asia.)

    Seriously, this act requires me to fill out a form saying what species of wood anything I sell made of wood comes from. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

    As if, criminal can’t lie. As if, creating huge databases of useless information will save any trees. How about catch the bad guys and leave everyone else alone?
    no…..lawyers don’t like that. They like lots and lots of documents. Documentation is the solution to all problems.

  95. Comment by Danger on 11/22 @ 5:10 am #

    “As someone who damn near got arrested for picking a Canada Goose feather up from his yard and sticking it in his hat,”

    BMoe,

    Did you forget to call it Macaronni? Were you riding on a pony?

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