On 23 Sep 2003 at 21:22, Bob Harrison wrote:

> Keith said:
> In addition they will not be dumbed down and weakened by the use of
> dopes.
>
> "dumbed down" ?????
>
>  "weakened by the use of dopes"
>
> Get real!  Another myth!

   Amen!   When acarine mites arrived, I took some pretty heavy
hits, because there were some hives that seemed unaffected and I
saw the possibility of getting a better bee by breeding the survivors.

   When varroa arrived, there was a whole order of magnitude less
resistance, and failure to treat would have made a quick end of my
beekeeping.

   I'm glad there are some who have other sources of income to
support their beekeeping. Maybe they will become "point men" and
gain valuable information for all of us.

   But I do not appreciate the opinionated, self-righteousness tone
of many recent posts. I've seen a lot of beekeepers with such a
purist religious ferver who are no longer keeping bees at all. I don't
wish for the chance to say, "I told ya so." but fully expect the time
to come with more of our beekeeper colleagues.

   Would some of our "purist" colleagues refuse antibiotics or other
lifesaving drugs to their own children when they are ill?  -Or let
them die, rather than be weakend by "dopes?"

   When I was a child, I contracted pneumonia, and the brand new
wonder drug, penicillin was administered to keep me from dying.
Followers of the Darwinist religion would say the human race would
be better off if I had been left to die. Frankly I don't feel that way at
all. I would not feel that way for my children. I would not feel that
way for my grandchildren. I would not feel that way for my bees.
And I don't feel that way for the people that would be subjected to
famine if we let "nature" take its course and allow the majority of
our honeybees to die, our beekeepers fail, and our crops lose that
much pollination.

Dave Green    SC  USA
The Pollination Home Page:  http://pollinator.info

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::