As a member of the American Beekeeping Federation, I just received an urgent message asking that I contact my Congressional elected representatives to object to proposed reductions in the $246MM (that's millions, folks) budget for honey bee research. Yikes, $246 Million! This is an example of the difficulty we, as Americans, are in. *Our ox *is getting gored. So, the call to arms goes out. Why can't we spend just $15 million on Varroa and let all the rest go? Ok, you twisted my arm...$15 million on Varroa and another $10 million on neonics. While I consider some of the USDA folks involved in honey bee research as 'friends', $246 million is insane in the wider view of things. And with honey at $1.50 a pound (in the barrel) why can't we (privately) fund what we need? I'll do my share. I won't be writing a letter... Lloyd *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm