The power of NT! Help my brother win a guitar + Amend the Lacey Act UPDATE: He won!

[irocktmacs]

Gibson Guitars had a contest asking fans to create short videos under the topic of "Amend the Lacey Act.' For those that do not know, here is some background on the Act and how it affected Gibson, its customers, and fans worldwide:

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Background: On August 24, 2011, agents from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service raided Gibson’s facilities in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee and seized more than 10,000 guitar fingerboards made from Indian Rosewood along with computers and other records. The US Government claims that Gibson violated the Lacey Act by purchasing and exporting Fingerboards from India. The Lacey Act was amended in 2008 to prevent trafficking in illegally harvested or illegally exported plants and further states that plant materials, like fingerboards, cannot be taken in violation of the laws of another country. Gibson took extra measures to make sure that the fingerboards were legally exportable and even received approval from the Indian Government before purchasing the fingerboards. Gibson has done nothing wrong and firmly believes that the Lacey Act does not give the United States the power to tell another country how to enforce their laws.

In a piece for Huffington Post titled "Repeal the Lacey Act? Hell No, Make It Stronger," Juszkiewicz wrote: "As a lifelong conservationist, I am distressed that our government is using a law as important as the Lacey Act not to fight illegal logging but to enforce protectionist Indian labor statutes. This use of scarce governmental resources does nothing to further the critical environmental effort to halt global deforestation or to protect American jobs."

Gibson is working with relevant authorities to amend the Lacey Act and has become the voice for other small businesses, some of which have faced similar treatment. Gibson wants to continue bringing global awareness to the issues at hand and requests that you help take its efforts to the next level!  

So my younger brother entered a video, and is currently the only Canadian finalist! He has made it through Gibson judging and needs public votes to win a Gibson Custom Les Paul Standard. He's very pumped about it, and I said I could do what I could to help him. 

This is where NikeTalk's collective power comes in. If you guys could click this link to the Canadian video contest and from there click Vote Now. You can watch his video, and vote a thumbs up. It's the one by Daniel Stark titled, Amend The Lacey Act... For Music's Sake.




There is no e-mail address or sign up required, and apparently you can vote multiple times by clearing your browser history, but they may be monitoring independent votes from IP's.

Personally I think it's the best video on there anyway, but you guys can be the judge of that.

Thanks a lot, you guys are my internet family.

 

[Bad Religion]

Voted. 
But just buy him one with that Pepsi money. 

 

[irocktmacs]

Appreciated, homie.

 

[proshares]

Voted

 

[sole vintage]

voted

 

[hongcouver604]

voted

 

[slicknick951]

voted gl to your brother.

 

[iYen]

voted

 

[noskey]

Voted. Hope he wins.

 

[irocktmacs]

Thanks a ton for the support already shown. It means a lot 

What do you guys think about the Lacey Act? I'm all for corporate social responsibility, and I approve of laws that prevent corporations from exploiting lax laws in other, less developed countries, but it really sounds like Gibson went through all of the right steps to ensure that the wood they were acquiring was legally obtained.

 

[irocktmacs]

UPDATE:

My brother got an e-mail today and his video won the Canadian contest.

Wanted to thank all of the NT'ers who voted and helped him win a Les Paul Standard guitar.