At 08:27 AM 10/13/98 -0500, you wrote:
 
>>this string has hit a nerve that I have been dealing with about imported
>>honey.
 
>we eat it any way.   Whats the logic.   Who are the laws portecting?
 
>all of it.   I hope that this clears up your questions about that.
 
>As for who are they protecting?   The Communist Chinese have broken our
>polical campaign finance laws (along with Clinton and Gore).  Who knows what
>influence they have purchased with the USDA which comes under the purvue of
>the Clinton administration as a result.
 
You got that right. Its called "fair trade", they sell us honey, we sell
them political influence and plans for rockets. We will have to wait to see
who got the best deal.
 
I hate it, and I am for throwing the bums in jail, others of the different
bent would slam them on the back of the hand and move on. I do have to
remember what one of our old bosses here in California said about the
subject of lobbying which went something like this, "if you can't take
their money, drink their booze, use their women and then vote against them
you don't belong in politics". Its too bad this generation of Democrats
have forgotten their old hero who said that, and Willie don't drink.
 
It does seem that todays political heros have forgotten about the "vote"
against them part and may have passed on some of our national secrets that
could come back in a ballistic form.
 
Back on earth we US beekeepers have created a real problem, a demand for
honey that we can not supply even with our barns full of it. This increased
demand is supplied by producers in countries that have much lower costs
then we do in the US so we are forced into competition with those who can
always sell at our lowest price or under us. We have changed the consumer
protection laws to require honey produced outside the US to be identified
on the honey label, as far as I know it has made no difference, as
consumers are less concerned with the area of production then they are
other differences such as price and floral source.
 
Strange not long ago in the 50's the government paid us to export honey and
we did.
 
Even stranger is some of our solutions to insuring the future of the honey
producers, including promoting generic honey which is mostly imported
honey, re-starting the honey price support program that what ever price is
set it becomes both the bottom world price and top price for US honey. That
is OK for those who would ship honey here but a bummer for our own
producers who already are suffering because of low prices and high cost.
How much honey does it take to buy a new truck? I guess we will be able to
clear the decks of honey in storage, but without import controls I don't
see any lasting benefit other then  just another generation of beekeepers
dependent on the government.
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
http://beenet.com
 
 
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