/ . --- start quotes --- / . <>Date: Sun, 26 Feb 1995 05:37:00 -0700 <>From: Allen Dick <[log in to unmask]> <>Subject: Give me a break! <> <>At risk of doing what I am objecting to -- getting into politics rather <>than bees, I will make one last post on this rather political and partisan <>subject, then let it lie. Unless, of course, it does become an objective <>discussion of the merits of isolation and methods of ensuring quarantine. / . --- end of quotes --- / . Thanks for your reply Allen, The attack and run approach is a good one. You posted a reply to a beekeeper who has taken a honest but political side on a problem that should concern all beekeepers, regardless of nationality or industry affiliation. And many of us do have better things to do with our time. But it was you who came back with an attack on the original post, which I thought was well thought out. Maybe you could explain better what you read as half truths in the original post without flames or half truths of your own or trying to limit debate so you get the last hit. It seems to me that it is your side that wants something from the other side, even if its only the landing rights in Hawaii. To flame the beekeeper from Hawaii who has real concerns for other beekeepers and then limit debate is not going to enlighten others on how rule making comes about. As it stands at this moment what Canada and New Zealand have asked for is about to be come law only because it is politically correct in the US. Your personal attacks on the opposing views may have added the fuel to at least for a 2nd look at this rule change with more then the jaundice eye of the politician. Maybe the politicians need a little more input from the scientific community and less from those who want the change one way or another. With only one or two queen breeders in Hawaii it does seem incredible that there is any opposition at all which indicates the concern of the opposition is greater then just a few $$$ in lost sales to Canada. As a beekeeper who has shipped 600 two pound packages to Maine one year by air to get 200 to a customer I do know from experience that bee's do get lost and end up in someone else's hives then whom they were intended. Banks and packages of queens are no exception as any shipper can testify. There is a danger, even if remote that for what ever reason bees, no matter how well regulated by numerous laws and government agencies the bees will end up in the wrong place. The US has had laws for generations to protect its beekeepers, they have not worked. It would be a sad loss to see the last island of clean bee stock wasted without serious study and thought when there is a chance it could be kept free of any new bee problems. I know no way of insuring or discussing the merits of quarantines that is not political as regrettably so much of what we beekeepers do in our daily routines. And even more certain a pest and disease free area as large as Hawaii should be of interest the the world scientific community as represented by the subscribers to the BEE-L and not just a disagreement between those who want something and those who want to preserve something, if only a clean environment for bees in their own home land. ttul Andy- - l l -- l l -- l l -- l l -- l l -- l l -- l l -- l l -- l l -- l l Wild Bee's BBS l l Beekeeping Information Service BBS 209/826-8107 28.8 bd INTERNET: [log in to unmask] - l l -- l l -- l l -- l l -- l l -- l l -- l l -- l l -- l l --