Bob said:

> 60 minutes and the nature program led watchers 
> to believe CCD is happening right now! 
> It is not! Period!

No need to wear out your exclamation point key. 
Samples are being sent in, they will be analyzed, 
and we shall see what we shall see.

As I have pointed out before, there are multiple very valid
reasons for beekeepers to deny that they have any problem at
all if they have serious problems, so I would not expect your 
"public questions" approach to yield anything but negative responses.

> I find it interesting that an author for BC wrote all about 
> the Australian bees without ever seeing his first import bee. 
> He did get hold of a thrown away shipment paper.

Even if this were true, which it clearly isn't, please explain 
why I had to be the first to notice the inherent problem with
the export certification versus what was required of exporters
in the APHIS "Import Rules".

> He has never taken the time to read my articles
  Does anyone?  
> about the many ways I consider the Australian import service 
> superior to the U.S.. 

All are entitled to their own opinions, but facts tend to back
up some views, rather than others. I've documented very specific 
and narrow critiques of BOTH the Aussie AQUIS and the US APHIS 
programs with specific facts, and I have not presumed to make 
value judgments about their relative merits.

In brief, APHIS has yet to do anything at all about inspecting 
live bee imports, and AQUIS has yet to be anything more than 
a paper tiger.  I can't say which is "worse".  It is irrelevant.

> For starters they have got Denis Anderson! He knocked the
> USDA-ARS on their heels with the discovery of varroa destructor.

Dennis is a good man.  So is Jeff Pettis.  Funny how they can be
in direct disagreement over an issue without engaging in personal 
attacks.  I don't see any reason why I should be subjected to them
either.

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