> Like so many things, it seems like so many  people want to have someone to 
> blame for their problems. I believe that it is  the responsibility of the 
> individual to make their own choices on what is "best"  for them (even if 
> they are wrong).

Very true, and making choices requires good information.  These days, old 
ideas are being proven to be very wrong daily, and there is a lot of 
misinformation to confuse issues, so decision making is difficult. BEE-L is 
place where we can exchange information with people of similar interests who 
we know and trust (or not) from their writing, and often from personal 
contact that resulted from meeting on the list.

> I get the feeling that instant riots (verbal  of course :-)) would occur 
> on bee-L if we had some deciding how we kept our  bees.

Well, we do have some deciding how we are permitted to keep bees.  There is 
legislation and enforcement, and peer pressure.  If you felt like keeping 
skeps or gum hives--a prefectly valid and historically proven method--how 
would that work out?  Mostly, the riots happen when someone, even quite 
legitimately, tries to limit discussion.  There are times when such limits 
make sense, but everyone has his own idea of what should be allowed and what 
should not.  The owner's the owner, and he has final say when things go too 
far, and that is how it should be.  He is a reasonable man).

> Lets talk about bees so I can continue to improve my beekeeping

We do and I hope our contributions help you do so.  If not, please feel free 
to add me (and Bill) to your killfile.

> If I  want to talk about the evils of white bread, Walmart, and 
> advertising,  I will go to other places for that.

Good.  And you can hit the delete button if you think the article you are 
reading strays to far from beekeeping--Like this article and the one you 
just submitted and to which this is a reply.

As for me, I'm for letting discussions roam a bit, as long as the central 
theme is beekeeping, or close, or looks as if it will return shortly to 
relevance, and things are civil.

Frankly, human and bee diets, HFCS, sugars, and the effects on bees, humans, 
and the environment are pretty important to beekeepers, and we tend to have 
a unique slant, since our interests do tend to be a little off-centre.

As for globalization, advertising and food promotion, these are topics with 
heavy impacts on beekeepers, both in everyday life, and as marketers of 
honey.

I don't recall anyone having mentioned Wal-Mart lately, but Wal-Mart is an 
important buyer of honey, and one which has started pressure towards 
guarantees of quality, so maybe we need a new thread on that one.

allen 

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