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posted by martyb on Friday July 07 2017, @11:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the how-did-THOSe-get-here? dept.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hobby-lobby-hands-over-5500-illegally-imported-artifacts-180963969/

Big-box arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby will surrender some 5,500 artifacts it purchased illegally and pay $3 million after federal prosecutors filed a civil complaint in New York yesterday, reports Dan Whitcomb at Reuters.

The objects are believed to come from Iraq, where they were smuggled into other Middle Eastern countries. In 2010, they were sent to the United States falsely labeled as clay tiles.

[...] The items include 144 cylinder seals, used to roll decorative images onto clay, as well as clay bullae, which were used to create wax tokens to authenticate documents. The majority of the items are cuneiform tablets. Cuneiform is a type of writing developed about 6,000 years ago in what is now southern Iraq, Smithsonian.com's Anne Trubek reports. Over time, the writing, which looks like a series of lines and triangles impressed into palm-size pieces of wet clay, was used for over a dozen ancient languages, much like the Roman alphabet for most European and Romance languages.

So, why was a craft chain buying ancient Iraqi artifacts in the first place? Whitcomb reports that company president Steve Green is the founder of the Museum of the Bible, now under construction in Washington, D.C. He began acquiring artifacts for the museum, including the forfeited items, in 2009.

Also at NYT. DoJ and Hobby Lobby statements.


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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by tonyPick on Friday July 07 2017, @12:59PM (12 children)

    by tonyPick (1237) on Friday July 07 2017, @12:59PM (#536091) Homepage Journal

    The Company was new to the world of acquiring these items, and did not fully appreciate the complexities of the acquisitions process.

    Oh yeah, that's convincing. "Haven't we all accidentally smuggled several thousand artefacts?". They try and make it sound like they ticked the wrong delievery box on amazon FFS.

    Mr. Green said that Hobby Lobby’s collection of historical Bibles and artifacts like the tablets was “consistent with the company’s mission and passion for the Bible.”

    "You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet." - Commandments 8,9 and 10: Exodus 20

    But, those are near the end of the list. Probably the less important ones. So they get a pass on those, right?

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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @02:52PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @02:52PM (#536127)

    "You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet." - Commandments 8,9 and 10: Exodus 20

    But, those are near the end of the list. Probably the less important ones. So they get a pass on those, right?

    I guess that means "Thou shall not have insurance provided birth control" and "Thou shall not be gay" are in the first seven Commandments?

    • (Score: 2) by marcello_dl on Friday July 07 2017, @07:04PM (3 children)

      by marcello_dl (2685) on Friday July 07 2017, @07:04PM (#536218)

      There is also no commandment that say you shall not burn your house or your riches. Or eat more than you need to.
      Why? because it is obvious?
      Well back in the day, when sons and daughters were literal wealth, homosexuality was a literal disgrace for the family, which was the unit of society.
      We can pull a Pasolini and discuss whether homosexuality is like gluttony, a sin whose consequences are not so grave, but we should not be criticizing a bible because it does not reflect the current zeitgeist of a society which is objectively broken (natality, inequality, pollution are measurable).

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @07:52PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @07:52PM (#536244)

        There is also no commandment that say you shall not burn your house or your riches. Or eat more than you need to.
        Why? because it is obvious?

        Hmm ... but the 10 Commandments they did list weren't obvious? Nice try but no literal dice.

      • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday July 07 2017, @08:56PM

        by butthurt (6141) on Friday July 07 2017, @08:56PM (#536261) Journal

        > [...] natality [...] pollution [...]

        Were people in Western societies to adopt biblical principles, they might be less materialistic but birth rates might increase. We do a great deal of damage to the environment just to feed ourselves; adopting an ascetic lifestyle would reduce some kinds of pollution, but we must still eat and drink. A greater population would entail increased fishing and agriculture, and those would increase pollution such as nitrate, nitrogen oxides, pesticides and greenhouse gases (among other harm). I know there's an exhortation against gluttony, but that only goes so far. At some point, a greater population means more food is needed. According to a 2005 study, 40% of the Earth's land area was being used for agriculture.

        http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1209_051209_crops_map.html [nationalgeographic.com]

        Malthus (a Christian) observed that human fecundity could easily exceed improvements in human productivity. He wrote:

        The happiness of a country does not depend, absolutely, upon its poverty or its riches, upon its youth, or its age, upon its being thinly, or fully inhabited, but upon the rapidity with which it is increasing, upon the degree in which the yearly increase of food approaches to the yearly increase of an unrestricted population.

        -- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_Essay_on_the_Principle_of_Population/Chapter_VII [wikisource.org]

        Genesis 1:28 has been interpreted as asking us to take care of the Earth and its creatures, but it also asks us to "be fruitful and multiply." Are there passages that anticipate the need to limit our fecundity?

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday July 08 2017, @12:56AM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 08 2017, @12:56AM (#536336) Journal

        but we should not be criticizing a bible because it does not reflect the current zeitgeist of a society which is objectively broken (natality, inequality, pollution are measurable).

        None of which is particularly bad in the developed world. Not really seeing the point of your post.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @05:40PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @05:40PM (#536194)

    Great. Now how am I suppose to tile the shower?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @11:15PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @11:15PM (#536307)

      Now[,] how am I suppose[d] to tile the shower?

      You weren't actually going to give your money to this company whose ownership treats its employees like serfs. Were you?

      How about an employee-owned company? [google.com]
      Tile Outlets of America is an ESOP.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @09:28PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @09:28PM (#536272)

    Don't forget that this is a company that makes its living importing goods from around the world, and now they're claiming that they were new to all these importation rules and regulations. They also paid five people through seven bank accounts, had the stuff mailed all over the place in the US, and lied on the customs forms as to what was in the packages and their country of origin.

    See, just a simple rookie mistake!

    • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by TheGratefulNet on Saturday July 08 2017, @02:11AM (1 child)

      by TheGratefulNet (659) on Saturday July 08 2017, @02:11AM (#536368)

      they believe in god.

      therefore, they can't be trusted.

      (go ahead, mod be down. I know some of you will want to).

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
      • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Saturday July 08 2017, @07:48AM

        by butthurt (6141) on Saturday July 08 2017, @07:48AM (#536460) Journal

        Among the allegations I see a claim that packages received by the company

        [...] bore shipping labels that falsely and misleadingly described their contents as “ceramic tiles” or “clay tiles (sample).” . After approximately 10 packages shipped in this manner were received by Hobby Lobby and its affiliates, CBP intercepted five shipments. All of the intercepted packages bore shipping labels that falsely declared that the Artifacts’ country of origin was Turkey.

        Supposing that that's true, I'd call the actions of the company dishonest. The terms of the settlement strike me as unfavourable toward the company. It's a company which hasn't been shy about pursuing litigation. If they had a good chance of winning, I think they would have declined to settle on such unfavourable terms. Hence I think there's truth in at least some of the government's claims. The claimed actions are, it seems to me, at odds with Christianity's teachings. Perhaps the beliefs espoused by the Green family aren't sincerely held.

  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday July 08 2017, @12:26PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Saturday July 08 2017, @12:26PM (#536505)

    Are these historical bibles and artifacts on display at the retail stores, or is this some "other level" of Hobby Lobby that their customers aren't able to access?

    Sounds to me like somebody is using the corporation as a shield for their expensive and legally questionable acts.

    Also explains a bit of why Hobby Lobby prices seem more aligned with Neimann Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue than they do Target and Wal-Mart, even while the stores and wares more resemble the latter.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 10 2017, @10:02PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 10 2017, @10:02PM (#537352)

    You know, I'm now sure I buy this line of reasoning. They bought crap in Iraq and they shipped it home. Is it much different from when musicians had instruments confiscated at the boarders because the instrument was made out of taboo materials. They didn't have papers showing the taboo materials were obtained legally, because the instruments were made before such paper work was required? Or they didn't have paper work because a boarder guard decided the instrument (some flutes) as an "agricultural item".

    This could be a case of cloak & dagger evil archeologists like the villains in an Indiana Jones film. But given how obscure rules are for importing things, I would never rule out a mistake outright. If someone in customs is gunning for you, they'll get you for something. And Hobby Lobby is a target for some folks.

    http://www.npr.org/2014/04/07/300267040/musicians-take-note-your-instrument-may-be-contraband [npr.org]
    https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2013/01/11/federal-laws-keep-pressure-on-small-instrument-makers/ [npr.org]
    http://www.wqxr.org/story/newark-officials-seize-budapest-orchestras-violin-bows/ [wqxr.org]
    http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/02/showbiz/musician-instruments-destroyed/index.html [cnn.com]