"The 2011 UN report recommended a greater emphasis on maintaining natural habitat as areas of refuge for pollinators and more focus on the disease-spreading hazards associated with transporting bees all over the world. This report also expressed the hope that the Rio+20 Conference (which was held last week) would bring more attention to this urgent problem. Sadly, this conference has now been characterized as 'a wash-out' and 'epic failure.'

"Maybe our elected officials will have to get hungry before they can be convinced of the need to take action on this very serious problem."

GOLDS: When bees are in trouble, so are we
By Elaine Golds - The Tri-City News



Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a minute.  You mean to tell me that a global UN conference was "a wash-out" and an "epic failure?"  That's hard to believe.  Maybe the next one will be more fruitful.

"African bees are a subtropical bee, Lemire said. They can be seen across the southern part of the United States from Florida to California. Mosquito Control has found them in tree holes, storm drains, underneath trailer boards, and gutters. The number of bee stings it takes to kill a person depends on their body weight and how allergic they are to the bees. It could take anywhere from 500 to 800 stings, Lemire said.

"If African bees attack, Lemire recommends getting inside because running from them won’t be enough. This type of bee will chase a victim the length of a football field, he said.

"'You can’t jump in a pool and go underneath and go back up,' Lemire said. 'True African bees will just hover around the pool waiting to sting you.'”

African Bees Kill Dogs, Injure Florida Woman
By Jennifer Abbey




Brutal, though the expert is wrong about one thing... the number of bee stings it takes to kill a person.  One sting can do the trick in some cases.

"You hear 'bees' and maybe you think 'honey' or 'sting' or even 'John Belushi' if you’re old enough to recall his killer bee comedy skits from 'Saturday Night Live.' But every half-hour Saturday afternoon, Rufus Isaacs made the word-association between 'bees' and 'Big Mac' for audiences at Michigan State University’s first Bee-Palooza.

"To explain the value of bees in everyday life, Isaacs, a professor of entomology, focused on the sometimes unfamiliar relationships between bees and some of Michigan residents’ favorite foods.

"The all-beef patties McDonald’s restaurants serve by the billions? Isaac linked the beef to cows, and the cows to the alfalfa upon which they might munch and the alfalfa to — you guessed it — bees in their role as pollinators of alfalfa blooms."

Bee-Palooza at MSU proves popular
Written by Steven R. Reed



On a side note, this may help explain Michigan's obesity problem... our favorite foods come from McDonald's.

This is what happens when a black bear invades a bee-yard...

Bear invades bee-yard

"I have to say I’m not one to inherently, blindly grant government too much power, but I do have to love the way the French are dealing with yet another study that says pesticides are killing bees. Within days of a scientific report that linked a synthetic nicotine known as Thiamethoxam to colony collapse disorder, the government announced it planned to ban the product.

"Get this: The French government is giving the manufacturer Syngenta all of two weeks to prove that Thiamethoxam is, in fact, safe for bees. Otherwise it’s off the shelves. In two weeks.

"Conversely the United States government has had all sorts of evidence — from its own scientists — that bees are being negatively impacted by this class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids. They’ve been sitting on these facts for years, yet the governments in the U.S., and I might as well toss in Canada, do nothing. Beehives have been dying off at the rate of about 33 percent each year since 2006 and every bit of real evidence has pointed to these pesticides as the root cause, yet our political machines ignore the truth."


Par for the Course: As Bees Die, Governments Sit Idly By
Paul Tukey - on Safelawns Daily Post and Q&A Blog.

"IDofA [Illinois Department of Agriculture] appears to have targeted Ingram for his research linking Roundup to CCD. Of particular interest was Ingram's extensive research on Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, which began several years ago when hundreds of Ingram's hives had died. He later determined that Roundup sprayings near his property were to blame, which prompted him to actively research the subject and closely monitor his hives in conjunction with this research from that point onward.

"What he gathered, and subsequently taught to others, was concrete evidence that Roundup kills bees. He also used this information and his many years of experience to develop and refine ways of growing strong, chemical-free bees in spite of Roundup sprayings, a move that apparently upset IDofA, which operates primarily to serve the interests of chemical companies rather than the interests of the people.

"'Is Illinois becoming a police state, where citizens do not have rights?' asked Ingram, who has been deliberately denied his rights, to the Prairie Advocate. 'Knowing that Monsanto and the Department of Agriculture are in bed together, one has to wonder if Monsanto was behind the theft to ruin my research that may prove Roundup was, and is, killing honeybees.'"


Government tyranny: Illinois Department of Agriculture secretly destroys beekeeper's bees and 15 years of research proving Monsanto's Roundup kills bees
by: Jonathan Benson of Natural News

A queen bee is the only bee in a colony that lays eggs.  She is the mother of the entire hive.  In that regard, she is like their leader.
When a queen begins to falter and fail, usually by laying too few eggs or perhaps an untimely injury, her daughters begin preparations for replacing her.  This process is called supersedure.  The bees will raise a new queen from among their sisters and remove and replace the older, failing queen.
Perhaps we humans can take a lesson from the honey bee.  Perhaps our old, failing governmental leaders need to be replaced.  If the bees wait too long before replacing their queen, there will be no viable stock left to raise a new queen from.  We cannot afford to procrastinate, or it may be too late.  We should begin replacing our failed leaders today.  We need to rid ourselves of decades of toxic policy that have left our country sick and weak.
The federal government has two roles: protecting U.S. citizens from foreign countries (military) and assisting the states in trade and commerce with each other and foreign countries.  Anything else is unconstitutional and illegal.  All of the social programs, healthcare, welfare, abortion, marriage, education... they're all unconstitutional powers illegally seized by an oppressive, bloated, greedy federal government.  These are state issues, and best left to the states and their citizens.
It is time for a change.  It's time for the people to take back our government from the greedy, evil, and failing bureaucrats.
Risky and sometimes painful measures sometimes need to be taken to save the hive.
The alternative is death.

"Stop! Before you do anything about removing bees or removing bee nests, you should first attempt to contact a local beekeeper.

There is a good chance they will get rid of your bees for free. Why? Because in the last few years wild honey bee populations have dwindled down to almost 3% of their estimated original population. Before resorting to bee killer, steps should be taken to remove the bees peacefully, without chemicals. Ask around your local co-op; someone is bound to know a beekeeper."


How to Get Rid of Bees
Jonathan Hatch


It's true that you should contact a local beekeeper.  BUT they probably won't do it for free, unless it's a really easy job.  Getting bees out of buildings is very difficult and time consuming for the beekeeper.  Many times, the bees won't survive anyway.  Most beekeepers won't even bother with this type of difficult situation, for good reason.  It's a waste of their time.  Expect to pay good money for good work.

Fine art by Tyler Fox, local photographer and entomologist.

"In ancient times, the Teutonic people began the practice of the honeymoon. Teutonic weddings were only held under the full moon. After the wedding, the bride and groom would drink honey wine for one full moon cycle (thirty days). This 'moon' (i.e., 'month') became known as the 'honey moon.' While the name survived, the purpose of the honeymoon changed. After the wedding, newlyweds would leave their family and friends to go and do what newlyweds are supposed to do. Today that purpose survives, only now a vacation is incorporated, usually to a romantic get-away locale.

"From the time of Adam and Eve, the relationship between a man and a woman has been unique and ordained by God. Eve was created for Adam and to complete his need for companionship. Our earliest records of history depict unification between a man and a woman and their respect for a higher being. It wasn't until Abraham disobeyed God that other women came into the picture and left generations of unrest for those who chose to take more than one wife."


The History of Wedding Traditions
by BridalWhimsy.com