Wednesday, May 30, 2012

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?

12 comments:

  1. Humbug! Humbug!! YOU KNOW I HATE THIS--ok, I am on fire--I will be writing something about this VERY SHORTLY on TRF. I heard about it but, seriously, what the heck?!?!

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  2. It would be impossible to take away every single bee from his hives; there must have been a few stragglers left behind. Easy enough, I would have thought, to have independent tests done. I haven't read the article yet, so maybe this is what he did.

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  3. Our rights have been being stripped away for decades, but I would say it's starting to come to a head in the last few years. We seem to be in an all out food war, but it's being held covertly, with the government carrying out "small actions" against producers and sneaking off into the night with people's animals and foods.

    We need more vigilance, but honestly, it's tough to say that we can stop it. This whole thing makes me sick.

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  4. Thanks for posting about this. I'm bookmarking the article so that I can read it when I have more time after work. What I do know now is that this government is WAY out of control and this is simply unacceptable.

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  5. The gov't is definitely out of control. They allow pink slime but no raw milk in some states? GGRRRRR!! Maybe they should worry about more important things like the economy, unemployment and the atrocities that are being covered up in Iraq and Afganistan! Google MST...Military Sexual Trauma.

    Leave the bees alone!

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  6. There are so many REAL problems in the world that need solving. So many evil people that need stopping. The government sent the "men in black (okay bee suits)" to pull this guys hives because he is testing against a herbicide????? Someone has their helmet on sideways. This guy was TRYING to do humanity a favour and is being punished.
    You know we're not allowed to use herbicides here? It's not on the shelves. (and there are people up in arms about that)

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  7. You aren't extreme at all... Just sane in a crazy world.

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  8. The part that is very unsettling is the secretive/sneaky way it was done. Also, and I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but he was doing tests on RoundUp and the Bee population? Hmm.
    Just saying that Montsanto's reach is very wide and they are EXTREMELY testy when anyone questions their science. I have a blog post coming up about that in about a week.

    So glad you're around, lady. I dig your style. And raw milk is the SHIT.

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  9. Read this earlier in the week. Tough call on government involvement. I like roads plowed in winter and a fire department to put out a fire, but in this case it sounds like government created a fire to put out.

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  10. This is disturbing to be sure!

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  11. I went and read the articles. On many levels, it's a distressing story. However, even assuming that the bees were infected with this highly contagious disease, what alarms me the most is government officials sneaking onto a private citizen's property to remove the beehives. And they don't even feel a need to explain themselves.

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  12. Your posts give me hope that I am not the only one who sees these things happening.
    With only 16 to 17% of the American people engaged in knowing what is happening in America there is no wonder the 'governments', local to federal, do what they want without anyone complaining.
    What irks me the most is the "POLLS". One day they are 80% for something and the next day they are 80% against something.
    If the American people change their minds that fast, WE are in trouble.
    I won't make this a book I will just say Everyone needs to be involved in our politics, Everyone should vote. There is absolutely NO excuse NOT to VOTE!!!!!!!

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