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To: Bridge Player who wrote (443303)	8/30/2011 9:24:40 AM
From: Sdgla	2 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793575

Take It Away! August 30, 2011 6:16 A.M. By Mark Steyn John Hinderaker provides a good precis of the Gibson guitar raids. It seems a curious law-enforcement priority even for the Brokest Nation in History. Very few pianos are now made in the United States, but hey, that’s no reason not to do the same to the guitar industry. I would only add that the (century-old but recently expanded) Lacey Act is a characteristic example of the degeneration of federal “law”-making, whereby narrowly drawn legislation metastasizes way beyond its original intent to the point that no reasonable man, no matter how prudent, can know whether he is or isn’t in breach of it. Such open-ended “laws” are an invitation to tyranny, and it would be expecting an awful lot for a money-no-object bureaucracy not to take advantage of it. For example: Consider the recent experience of Pascal Vieillard, whose Atlanta-area company, A-440 Pianos, imported several antique Bösendorfers. Mr. Vieillard asked officials at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species how to fill out the correct paperwork—which simply encouraged them to alert U.S. Customs to give his shipment added scrutiny. There was never any question that the instruments were old enough to have grandfathered ivory keys. But Mr. Vieillard didn’t have his paperwork straight when two-dozen federal agents came calling. Two dozen federal agents? To raid a piano importer? Does the piano industry have a particular reputation for violent armed resistance? Or is it that the most footling bureaucrat now feels he has no credibility unless he’s got his own elite commando team? When you’re wondering how America’s national government settled into the habit of spending $4 trillion a year while only raising $2 trillion, it’s easy to get hung up on fine calibrations of entitlement reform circa 2030. But look at it this way: Imagine if, instead of 24 agents, the federal piano police had to make do with a mere dozen to raid a small importer. Note this, too: Facing criminal charges that might have put him in prison for years, Mr. Vieillard pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of violating the Lacey Act, and was handed a $17,500 fine and three years probation. They’re antique pianos. They come with ivory keys. They’re grandfathered in. There is no criminal intent and, in the most basic sense, no underlying crime. Yet he’s looking at being tossed in jail “for years”? Any “justice” system with such an utter lack of proportion is not justice at all. It speaks very poorly for us that we tolerate it.

To: Bridge Player who wrote (443303)	8/30/2011 10:12:20 AM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 793575

Subject 58315

To: Bridge Player who wrote (443303)	8/30/2011 10:13:10 AM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793575

And the Steinway pianos quality has deteriorated badly since then.

To: Bridge Player who wrote (443303)	8/30/2011 10:16:17 AM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 793575

Steinway pianos with ivory keys and the earlier technology before the Steinway brothers sold out to CBS, which turned their pianos into garbage, still exist and are used for concerts. Many people own them. A piano does not deteriorate like a car. This is a direct attack on the ability of classical music to survive. "When concert pianist Jeffrey Sharkey moved to England two decades ago, he had Steinway replace the ivories on his piano with plastic." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904787404576530520471223268.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

To: Bridge Player who wrote (443303)	8/30/2011 9:03:27 PM
From: D. Long	Respond to of 793575

Just about every piano manufacturer widely sold in the US, at least, uses plastic or plastic-ish materials for piano key. It's a bit of a competition point amongst the manufacturers to sell the best "feel" piano keys. Kawai's Neotex keys, starting on the K5, is pretty good - porous like ivory.