So amid the deepening crisis in the Mideast, the IRS "the dog ate my emails" scandal, the deepening crisis of thousands of kids being dumped across the border and on and on and on, the administration announces a honey bee task force. The task force, to be co-chaired by the Secretary of Agriculture and EPA Administrator, is to investigate "Colony Collapse Disorder".
Srsly.
Milton Friedman once said, "If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand." The bees are doomed. Being the Agr. Dept. and the EPA, they'll also kill 25 million people.
(BTW, if you want me to be serious about the honeybee problems - which are real and are important - sorry. Not today. If Obama told me the sun was rising in the east, I'd look west.)
Up here in the Pacific Northwest I-5 goes right through the valley so you get to see what is growing. Normally grass seed is the big crop with wheat and a few oddball crops like mustard seed. I noticed this year a lot of clover both red and white. Why? Because of the price of honey. You see clover fields of 100 acres or so with 20-30 hives. I realize 100 acres is not huge but the point is there are a couple hundred of these clover acreages with 20-30 hives apiece when last year there were none. So where did all those bees come from? I mean if they have colony collapse so bad that we are in fear of losing all the bees and it requires a federal investigation how do a handful bee keepers come up with a couple thousand colonies of bees over and above the ones they are using for orchards and other plantins that need bees for pollenating? It seems too easy? Maybe we don't need a government investigation when capitalism seems to be able to solve this problem. Yes I know someone will write in and say that colony collapse is a real problem, I'm not disputing that. What I am saying is if it were as big a problem as the hype then these bee keepers wouldn't be able to come up with massive increases in their bee hives. I'm betting that given the huge increase recently in the cost of honey that this is actually going on all over the country. So what's the truth?
ReplyDeleteI think it started out as the "Crisis of the Week" a while back, and while it might be improving, it took fedgov that long to latch on to it and start milking it.
ReplyDeleteThe bee problem is serious, but not government task force serious.
ReplyDeleteSideshow politics at its finest.
Sir,
ReplyDeleteThe CCD issue has been going on since long before you got your most recent does of 'hope' and 'change'. Only NOW it is revealed unto the Obamas that this is a serious problem? Wow. I would refer them to what Einstein said on the subject of bees.
Thank you for your site and your thoughts. Your current president is an ass.
I think AM has a good summary: the colony collapse problem is important but it's not government task force important. As Anon said, the private sector is attacking this problem. In addition to the beekeepers Anon mentions, I bought a can of Blue Diamond Almonds with Honey Chipotle flavoring and a prominent ad about how dedicated they were to the bee problem; how they donate to the cause, See Our Website, and so on.
ReplyDeleteThe real agenda is more regulation. European EPA equivalents have regulated chemicals in the environment thought to contribute. Much like the central valley irrigation and the little minnow, I bet the data is contradictory on whether those chemicals matter, but Fed.Gov to the rescue!
We keep bees and the only hives we have lost were to poisons sprayed by guys trying to protect their crops or hives we did not have the time to properly inspect often enough to forestall the problems. If you place your bees where they won't get overspray and maintain them properly, you won't lose them. That being said, there are some chems that can be carried back to the hive and cause death and ruined honey, but I think modern ag and modern bee keepers can be good neighbors with a little bit of education. 2
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