Last Wednesday, the Feds recreated a scene from The Untouchables, as they busted into factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing contraband.

Only it wasn’t illegal booze as during the days of Elliot Ness. Barack Obama’s and Eric Holder’s Department of Justice seized American-made guitars!

Supposedly, the Gibson Guitar Company is making guitars composed of endangered wood.

Huh? You mean with all these forests that International Paper and others are planting, this kind of wood cannot be re-grown, also? How do you endanger a tree?

Gibson’s chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, has since issued a statement in defense of his company’s manufacturing policies, and, at the same time, accusing the Justice Department of being a bunch of bullies:

The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier.

This wasn’t the first time that Obama has sent agents of the Fish and Wildlife Service to harass Gibson Guitars, the world-famous American maker of such legendary instruments as the Les Paul electric guitar, the J-160E acoustic-electric John Lennon played, and F-hole jazz-boxes such as Charlie Christian’s ES-150.

Back in 2009 the Feds seized several guitars and pallets of wood from a Gibson factory, and both sides have been going back and forth over the goods in a case curiously named “United States of America v. Ebony Wood in Various Forms.”

According to the Feds, they raided Gibson in 2009 because the company had been buying illegally harvested hardwoods from protected forests, such as the Madagascar ebony that composes their legendary fretboards.

If they can prove that Gibson did, with prior knowledge, import illegally harvested ebony from Madagascar, that would be a serious offense.

According to Peter Lowry, ebony and rosewood expert at the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Madagascar wood trade is the “equivalent of Africa’s blood diamonds.”

Wood, huh?

Sorry, tree huggers.  It was revealed yesterday, by Andrew Lawton, of landmarkreport.com, that the reason for the raids has about a much to do with wood as a buffalo nickel:

…It’s worth pointing out that Henry E. Juszkiewicz, Gibson’s Chief Executive Officer, is a donor to a couple of Republican politicians. According to the Open Secrets database, Juszkiewicz donated $2000 to Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN07) last year, as well as $1500 each to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). Juszkiewicz also has donated $10,000 to the Consumer Electronics Association, a PAC that contributed $92.5k to Republican candidates last year, as opposed to $72k to Democrats. (The CEA did, however, contribute more to Democrats in the 2008 election cycle.)

When warrants as ridiculous such as these are issued and executed, there appears no other reason than because the company or individual at hand is being targeted, not because there is any sort of wrongdoing. As a company, Gibson is a legendary. They’ve done nothing wrong, except, apparently, deigning to have a Republican CEO.

The plot thickens, however.

One of Gibson’s leading competitors is C.F. Martin & Company. The C.E.O., Chris Martin IV, is a long-time Democratic supporter, with $35,400 in contributions to Democratic candidates and the DNC over the past couple of election cycles. According to C.F. Martin’s catalog, several of their guitars contain “East Indian Rosewood.” In case you were wondering, that is the exact same wood in at least ten of Gibson’s guitars.

The Gibson facility wasn’t raided over allegations of tax evasion, charges of embezzlement, or even something as drab as child labor. Not even close. It was raided over what the DOJ deems an inability to follow a vague domestic trade law in India (one that apparently the Indian government didn’t seem too concerned about enforcing) regarding a specific type of wood. Not illegal wood, just wood with obscenely specific procedural guidelines.

Why is the Obama Administration going after America’s leading Guitar manufacturer, endangering American jobs, in the middle of the worst economy since the Great Depression?

According to Andrew Thomas, in an article posted on October 26, 2010 on americanthinker.com, it’s all about punishing his enemies:

Who is the real Barack Hussein Obama? Harvard-educated professor of law? Radical community organizer? Union flack? Or Chicago Way thug politician?

…This past Monday, speaking on Univision, he warned that attaining his goals will be harder “[I]f Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us’.”

What kind of Harvard professor talks like that? It appears that a majority of the electorate are about to be added to Barry’s enemy list. And how will he “punish” us? Put a “boot on our throats”? Find out “whose a- to kick”? On the same day, speaking in Rhode Island, he told Republicans “they can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in the back”.

With Obama now in complete command of 50% of the US economy thanks to ObamaCare and Financial Reform (with pending Cap & Trade legislation, EPA regulations, FDA food regulation, and FCC internet regulation to grab most of the remaining economy), finding creative ways to punish enemies and reward friends should be a snap.

Being the President of the United States comes with some unique responsibilities. The President must put aside petty politics and represent all of the American people, whether they be perceived “enemies” or “friends”. Apparently, Mr. Obama has not transcended the thuggish ways of his Chicago political past.

What next? Is the Politboro, err, I mean the Obama Administration, going to seize every vintage Gibson guitar in America?

I guess I had better hide my 1981 Epiphone Sunburst, then.

Oops.  Forget you just read that.