I beg to differ.  And lest your comment discourages fellow listers
writing, permit me to observe the following.

We and "the Government" are an identity.  Government is a contract we make
with ourselves.  Everyone eats, so provided the Government spends money on
developing the tools with which farmers feed the country (I won't, out of
deference to the nature of this list, argue the case for helping farmers
stay on the land) then it is doing the people's business.

Because bees are under the gun from nature, man, and chemistry, not to
mention economic trade, safeguarding the bees through objective research
is of direct benefit to our entire population.  Organizing scientific
research where there may or may not be a marketable product to encourage
private investment is one of the things Government does best.  And since
our bees benefit all of agriculture, we bee keepers have just as much, if
not more right to a bit of the money to be spent on the common weal.

As has been said, if cattle owners were losing 50% or more of their
breeding stock every year, you can bet there would be a fully funded crash
program to figure out why and to correct it.

Although I disagree vehemently about whether a great civilization should
support its artist, I'll leave that debate to a more appropriate forum
too.




On Tue, 19 Mar 2002, Ozark Electronics wrote:

....

> The government has no more business funding agriculture then it has
> funding obscene art.
> Knox Adler
> Missouri, USA
>

---------------
Richard Yarnell, SHAMBLES WORKSHOPS | No gimmick we try, no "scientific"
Beavercreek, OR. Makers of fine     | fix we attempt, will save our planet
Wooden Canoes, The Stack(R) urban   | until we reduce the population. Let's
composter, Raw Honey                | leave our kids a decent place to live.