Our Amazing Bee-hazing Government

My husband smokes bees. But he never inhales.

I try to mind my own business, usually between 7-8 am , and I try not to get overly worked up about the "little stuff" but lately our dear government in its lack of wisdom and common sense, just pushed me to the edge. (Not to worry, I live on the edge, but with only faith and Keith to keep me from tumbling off completely.)

If you're a regular to this broadcast you know how I feel about raw milk. If you are new, you can catch up by reading my views about raw milks sales HERE and HERE. One of the reasons I feel so strongly about the raw milk issues really has very little to do with the cold beverage we put on our cereal and into our grandchildren but much much more to do with our constitutional rights.

They are being stripped from us. One by one by one.

Many of you feel this view is extreme and in fact have been brave enough to tell me so to my face, but usually you take the safe route and just email me, as my own children often choose to do, but the topic of this blog might help you see around those rose colored glasses of yours.

An elderly gentleman, here in River Apple Illinois, has had over $5000 worth of bees and equipment removed from his property by inspectors form the Illinois Department of agriculture and faces fines. The bees were removed in his absence, without his knowledge and without a search warrant. In this attack on his property he also lost 15 years of research related to bees and Roundup use.

The reason?

The Illinois Department of Ag stated that his bees tested positive for Foulbrood, specifically American foulbrood (AFB), caused by the spore- forming Paenibacillus larvae ssp. larvae (formerly classified as Bacillus larvae), which is the most widespread and destructive of the bee brood diseases. Paenibacillus larvae is a rod-shaped bacterium, which is visible only under a high power microscope and is highly contagious.

The problem is this. The bees were not tested in Mr Ingram's presence, they were instead taken from his property and then LOST or so the Dept. claims. The "evidence" disappeared and Mr Ingram was not informed of their whereabouts either before, during or after his trail on April.  Funny isn't it, how the Department of Ag claimed his bees had Foulbrood, a highly contagious disease for which burning of all bees and equipment is considered the only safe treatment, yet they TRANSPORTED the bees to an undisclosed location. Hmmmmm.

His trail and the evidence against him was lengthy but fortunately was extremely well documented by The Prairie Advocate Newspaper. Kudos to this small town publication for the real investigative work they printed.

The articles are in four parts and I will warn you, they take a good amount of time to read and digest. Good journalism is not often brief. Yes, I hear you. "I don't have the time to read four articles about some fellow I don't even know and besides...I don't even like bees and I'm more of a Treacle girl instead of a honey babe, (Don't you HATE it when people call you 'honey-babe'?) so I think I'll go watch that movie The Hunger Games since it's about food anyway"

But, please, and now I am serious. Take the time to read the articles. Because if you don't have the time to read about issues that are affecting your constitutional rights and those of your children and your grandchildren...who will?