Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Colony Collapse Disorder Vs. Global Warming

This is old news now, dated May 19th, but I had to post it because the lesson should last a thousand years. First, some background.

Global warming enthusiasts tell us that we have a problem like no other. The best estimates of these experts warn that our descendants in 1,000 years will have an intractable problem that we should solve today.

The Oceans will be several feet higher. Idaho, Utah, and Arizona-Iowa, Michigan, and Illinois will have great surfing, and Washington D.C. will have to be moved inland. New Yorkers will exclusively live in the top floors of the new Atlantis.

There has been another danger, even more present, and drastic. Beehives colonies have been dying off in the U.S. in large numbers. They suffer from a condition called Colony Colapse Disorder (CCD). Scientists, not to be left unawares, have been relatively quietly addressing this problem with little press attention. They've studied the effects of mobile phone signals, parasites, and bacteria.

Bees are responsible for a large amount of pollination that takes place on Earth.
"A congressional study said honeybees add about $15 billion a year in value to the U.S. food supply. Among the crops to be affected are apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash, cucumbers, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, cantaloupe and other melons.

The shortage will potentially affect the beef industry too because the growth of alfalfa is dependent on pollination from the bees."

Einstein reckoned that mankind would have 4 years to live without bees.

Einstein was a smart man.

I'll tell you what I told my wife months ago. Scientists will fix it, and it appears that they now have a way to treat Hive colonies to immunize them against the effects of parasites using relatively simple methods employed by ancient African tribes 60,000 years ago.

My point is that if scientists can solve a clear and present danger like CCD, don't you think they can address a foggy and distant danger such as Global Warming?

ScienceDaily:Using Spearmint And Lemongrass To Protect Bees From Mites That Threaten Hives

Thursday, May 03, 2007

WSJ:The Case For A Strong Executive

Harvey C. Mansfield has a great article at Opinion Journal from the Wall Street Journal on the tug-of-war between the "rule of law", and the case for a strong executive.

This one takes some time to absorb, so give yourself some space to read it.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

On Blank Checks

"The president wants a blank check. The Congress will not give it to him."
No, Madam Speaker, the President would like you to remove the following small print from your check.

In order to operate the Congressional funding service and to reduce the risk of fraud, Congress Inc, ("Congress" or "we") must ask you to provide us information about yourself and your bank account. This Policy describes the information we collect and how we use that information.

If you apply for a Congress branded credit card or credit line, you authorize Congress and the issuer of the Congress branded credit card or credit line ("Democrats" or "your eternal foe") to exchange the information you provide in the application form. If you are approved for a Congress branded credit card or credit line, your account may be frozen upon the existence of one or more of the following conditions.
  • You continue to operate in your assignment as "Commander and Chief" of the United States, without, first, declaring fealty to a panel comprised of the 222 members who dislike you.
  • You refuse to disclose the reasoning by which we funded your operations in the first case.
  • You continue to use words such as "veto" and "find common ground" in reference to Congress, Inc, 222 members who dislike you.