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Not only are honeybees disappearing, but bumblebees are going the way of the dinosaurs too. Bumblebees pollinate roughly 15% of crops, which are worth about $3 billion dollars. While there isn’t a definitive cause yet, the National Academy of Sciences has reported that a combination of habitat loss due to housing developments, intensive agriculture, pesticides, pollution and disease are contributing to a worldwide decrease in pollinators. I wonder how long before global warming is added to that list?
A couple of quotes caught my attention from the article in Discovery News:
“We have been naive,” said Neal Williams, assistant professor of biology at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. “We haven’t been diligent the way we need to be.”
“We are smart enough to deal with this,” said Laurie Adams, executive director of the Pollinator Partnership. “There is hope.”
Well, I hope Laurie Adams is right, but I don’t have much faith in the intelligence of mankind. Pollinating insects are one of those things that most people don’t even realize we depend on. Probably given the choice, many people would rather do without bees altogether, except for the honey they make. I know I’ve said something to the effect of “I wish all bees would die” after getting stung. I hate it when trite sayings like “be careful what you wish for” come true. Why didn’t my wishes for no mosquitoes come true instead? I suspect they will only continue to flourish.
The problem with our two-party system is that it encourages uniformity. I am becoming more and more convinced that the only difference between the parties is their rhetoric. An observation that led me to vote Green in the last presidential election. When the Democrats took control of the House in the last election, there was much rejoicing with people celebrating as if the Endless Summer had come at last. There would be no more pain and war and suffering. Total crap. I was happy, but my expectation was failure and weakness and I have not been disappointed.
So now Congress looks to be extending the Bush administration’s wiretapping privileges. Way to stand up for the so-called mandate you were touting, Dems. You suck. From the NY Times:
As the debate over the eavesdropping powers of the National Security Agency begins anew this week, the emerging measures reflect the reality confronting the Democrats.
Although willing to oppose the White House on the Iraq war, they remain nervous that they will be called soft on terrorism if they insist on strict curbs on gathering intelligence. (emphasis mine)
A Democratic bill to be proposed on Tuesday in the House would maintain for several years the type of broad, blanket authority for N.S.A. eavesdropping that the administration secured in August for six months.
In an acknowledgment of concerns over civil liberties, the bill would require a more active role by the special foreign intelligence court that oversees the interception of foreign-based communications by the security agency.
A competing proposal in the Senate, still being drafted, may be even closer in line with the administration plan, with the possibility of including retroactive immunity for telecommunications utilities that participated in the once-secret program to eavesdrop without court warrants.
Reminds me of those Hefty trash bag commercials: “wimpy wimpy wimpy.” I think that makes for a good analogy, because it’s time to take out the trash. With the exception of Dennis Kucinich, I am giving up on the Democratic party. Dennis is the last principled person there. The rest are Republicans in donkey’s clothing. From here on out, I’m voting straight Green (though actually this isn’t much of a change since I never had much faith in the Sheepocrats and voted Green when I could anyway).
