What ever happened to killer bees? (a look back)

[Lethe]

Anybody here remember back in the mid-late 1980's when the media was doing all those scare tactic shows on killer bees from africa? How they were supposed to be invading the USA from the south, killing all the normal honey bees, threatening the lives of people, etc etc?

What ever happened to them? You never hear of people being attacked and killed by these killer bees.

Why did the media have to scare the shit out of us with this killer bee stuff? More to the point, why do they continue to blow things out of proportion? They have something new every year seems like.

Sharks!
Killer Bees!
Communists!
Alligators!
SARS!
Ebola!
West Nile Virus!
Bird Flu!
Pretty white college girls being kidnapped!
TERRA TERRA TERRA!
Meteors could hit the earth!

I'm sure i left out quite a few. Of course you can die from any of these things, but you got a better chance of being struck by lighting i would imagine.

Has the media ever ran a story saying...."in 1987 we did a story about how killer bees were coming to america and will be potentially killing you. We now realize that no one had died, and in fact, most of them stayed in brazil because they like it very much there. We apologize if we scared the shit out of you."

(i am not a killer bee expert btw)

[Mabus]

1. Fear sells

and the answer to your question is "no". The media doesn't like to go back and admit their mistakes. That's called accountability and it isn't something the many of the news personalities (not reporters) practice.

[pitohui]

2. sure you hear of people being killed by killer bees

of course people are being killed by killer bees, but they're here now, there is nothing to be done about it so it is no longer newsworthy, they are forever part of our eco-system now and there is no way to remove them

they do kill people and regularly, perhaps most notably and widely reported was the case of the jogger killed by the killer bees in las vegas, a desert where you would not normally number the chance of being killed by bees as among your bigger day-to-day worries -- but the lady is just as dead

however the real harm done has been to the honey and bee industry, since killer and european bees look the same (they are distinguished by behavior) then the insurance to have a hive is through the roof

ever notice how you can't afford that honey at the farmer's market any more?

most of the cost is insurance!

they were right about killer bees but people can get used to anything

[Lethe]

13. killer bee fatalities vs. lightning strike fatalities

in USA:

15 killer bee fatalities EVER

756 lightning fatalities from 1990-2003


i am not denying to people are dying, just that it was way over-hyped and sensationalized

[pitohui]

42. the economic harm has been quite huge, my friend

maybe it shouldn't have been sensationalized but it's a bit sad that a once common natural pleasure like honey has become so expensive

[SPKrazy]

38. Yes, They've Interbred A Lot- Africanized Bees Is More Correct

and they do kill people

and they do watch for them because they are a threat to the honeybee industry big time

[Dr.Phool]

3. I seem to remember a woman being killed by them

In Las Vegas last year.

[Lethe]

11. but was she allergic to bee stings ?

1% of the population is allergic to bee stings and can die from one. but the average human takes like 8 stings per pound of body weight to die.

this info is from one of the morning shows i saw today that had a segment on bees

[WinkyDink]

12. I found this article:

"Since January 2000, two serious attacks have been reported in Las Vegas. A 79-year-old man was stung 30 times, but survived. In March, a swarm blanketed a 77-year-old woman walking down the street, apparently attracted to something in the bag she was carrying. Firefighters wearing special equipment doused the woman with water to remove some 200 bees swarming over her. Stung more than 500 times, the woman nonetheless survived."

[pitohui]

43. the lady who died in vegas was a jogger, not one of these seniors

it is good to know that some people can survive these attacks however

my neighbor's son was covered in bees and attacked by a huge swarm in louisiana, he too survived although my neighbor says it was the worst day of his life when he turned down the path and saw his then 9 year old boy covered in bees

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. The Arkansas State Plant Board,

which regulates pest control companies in the state, is monitoring the spread of the African honeybee ("killer bees"), and gives regular seminars on areas affected by them. I haven't seen any hype on this in the news media, but the industry responsible for trying to contain the critters is being kept informed of their spread and eradication techniques.

[cornermouse]

6. Yep.

They keep moving north but without all the publicity.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. Another point to make

Any bee can be a "killer" bee to a human if they have a severe reaction to a bee sting. I've heard of people who were stung and who stopped breathing because of it-luckily they called 911 in time.

[ComerPerro]

5. they made for some hilarious made-for-TV movies

[MichaelHarris]

7. All of this will tie together nicely when

we find out the killer bees, invented by the communists, actually killed JonBenet. This will lead to a boycott of Killer Bee Honey by Bill Oreilly and Fox News.

[WinkyDink]

9. And Freedom Honey.

[MichaelHarris]

17. hahhahahahahahaha

Good one

[Cocoa]

10. Reagan killed them

everyone knows he defeated the communists, but little is said about his victory over the bees.

[Swamp Rat]

14. Dey were killed in da Superdome back in 1976.

:D

[mainer]

15. Aggressive bees are moderating due to more interbreeding

It was actually predicted by entomologists. As they reach further north in North America, their aggression may well be bred out.

[conflictgirl]

62. I'm in Michigan and they're here and still aggressive.

It's possible that the entomologists were wrong about that aggression being bred out, or maybe it will take longer than they predicted.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

16. There's one person in my area SW Fl. who got attacked this month

He ended up being ok. They have finally made it to Florida - but they don't seem to be as much of a big deal as they had built it up to be. They had the same hype about fire ants. We have tons of them and they are a pain in the ass - but not as bad as they built them up to be.

[Lethe]

18. fire ants are EEEEEEEEEEEVIL

they very silently climb all over you en masse, and then one of those little bastards gives the signal and they all sting at once


do not go anywhere near a floating raft of pissed off waterlogged fire ants:

[don954]

20. when i was a kid, my mom kept and bred rabbits

we had about 100 in elevated cages. One day, i go to feed them, and to my horror, fire ants swarming, stinging, and eating our rabbits. All but 10 died, many were reduced to bone. Every since then i have feared and hated fire-ants, i was only about 10 so it was really shocking.

[pitohui]

44. they killed and ate one of my small birds

you are right, it is a horrible thing to see

i think they attack weakness, my little bird was old, but it was still a horror

[SPKrazy]

39. Fire Ants Will Bite The Hell Out Of You Before You Know It

and if you happen to be allergic to them you can die from them (particularly if you are not near a hospital or at least a big shot of epinephrine)

My wife got attacked by fire ants out on Lake Texoma (well not on the lake but on the shore) and she was covered with bites before she knew what happened.

Luckily she was not allergic to them because if she were, I'm not sure she'd be with us today as there was no hospital or ambulance nearby on the lake.

[Greyhound]

19. They're here, have interbred with native species and pose a minor

threat (great band BTW) at best.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

72. I've gotten bitten several times & was ok but if you get bit near arteries

you can have a really bad reaction.

[Kickoutthejams23]

21. Thinking about it this is a very long list indeed...

I hate to say it but this years two big ones are terrorism (for the right)and Global Warming (for the left)

The exaggeration and hyperbole on both is out of control. They both exist but the reality is not nearly as bad as the media would have you believe.

Terrorism is a pretty small potatoes concern for most Americans. Crime for example or auto safety would be a more logical concern. Instead politicians and the media get silly panic about it. A local high school down here banned book-bags and purses at football games to avoid terrorism. Huh? Is their an intifada in Polk county I haven't heard about? Suicide bombers from Orlando. Better safe than sorry is their byword it's as laughable and sad as the Homeland security list of targets. (No roadside attraction is safe :) )

Global Warming advocates aren't much better. Taking a page from the chicken littles of the seventies. (you remember no food by 1985 one billion people dead of starvation. All the forests gone.) they seem to confuse what is happening (the earth is getting warmer due to both cyclical climate change and man-made pollutants) And the actual result. (Florida and Manhattan will disappear under rising oceans wildlife will die starvation no food by 2025 etc). The Day after Tomorrow is no more a documentary about Global Warming than the Swarm was about killer bees. In reality during your lifetime the earth will get warmer and that is probably about it. If you buy a retirement home in Naples (Fl) it will still be there in 2040 (You might have to run the air a little more though)

The list of media end of the world stories from the past goes on. Y2K was one of my favorites and the spread of AIDS among heterosexuals never did quite pan out like the media claimed it would in the mid '80s (Thank God)

The media (with petty bureaucrats and advantageous politicians in tow) hypes things beyond any reason and them expresses surprise when we stop taking them seriously. I have stopped taking the chicken littles of any stripe seriously and I hope they are all proved very wrong. The sad thing is most chicken littles would rather see freedoms taken away and have people suffer and die than have to admit they were wrong about threat X.

One last thing since I was growing up LSD, then Angel Dust, Then Crack Cocaine, Then that date rape drug, Then Ecstasy, and now Methamphetamine are sweeping the nation and destroying todays youth. Well despite the media hype in general I think the kids are alright.

[Lethe]

24. forgot about Y2K!

Y2K
Anthrax
Mad Cow Disease
"Worst Flu year ever this year!"

[ima_sinnic]

28. "the earth will get warmer and that is about it"? head in the sand much?

sheesh, try to get out a little. ever hear of melting glaciers, rising sea levels? have you even heard of "An Inconvenient Truth"?

and by the way, AIDs among heterosexuals is an epidemic in Africa and other places.

[Kickoutthejams23]

32. This is my point.

My head isn't in the sand. I think that the trend is currently one of warming. I just don't think that it is the crisis that others make it out to be. You recall An Inconvenient Truth I recall The Population Bomb.

The claims of Paul Ehrlich are notorious

The battle to feed humanity is over. In the 1970s the world will undergo famines. Hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death." (1968)

"Smog disasters" in 1973 might kill 200,000 people in New York and Los Angeles. (1969)

"I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000." (1969)

"Before 1985, mankind will enter a genuine age of scarcity . . . in which the accessible supplies of many key minerals will be facing depletion."

Paul wasn't wrong about population growth mind you. He was wrong about the results of such growth.

Now take a look at the global warming doomsday claims

Deaths from global warming will double in just 25 years -- to 300,000 people a year.

Global sea levels could rise by more than 20 feet with the loss of shelf ice in Greenland and
Antarctica, devastating coastal areas worldwide.

Heat waves will be more frequent and more intense.

Droughts and wildfires will occur more often.

The Arctic Ocean could be ice free in summer by 2050.

More than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction by 2050.


I don't disagree with the idea the climate is changing but really such claims above are almost indistinguishable from Ehrlich's beatings 25 years ago.

My favorite is deaths from global warming will double in 25 years. Really? So 150 thousand people are dying right now from global warming? Is this number offset by the number who people who won't freeze to death anymore? (even if he is right that is only .00005% of the current Earths population. Not exactly plague numbers.)

You know one thing I hate about Re-pugs is their disdain for science facts (evolution, stem-cell research etc)But the Chicken Little-ism of some progressives also drives me nuts.

The world is not ending. This is not the end times. There will be no rapture. Humanity will continue to prosper in its awkward and admittedly sometimes even evil ways.

[ima_sinnic]

35. whatever. it's happening right before your eyes but

that's just "Chicken Little" of me. You didn't notice that 150 more people just died in California as a result of the heat wave? (I don't remember how many died recently in UK), or that wildfires in Western states have increased due to earlier/warmer spring? and I know for a fact you don't have a clue about what's going on in other parts of the world. Get back to me in about 5 years . . .

[hatrack]

64. Your ignorance is astounding

Have a nice day.

[johnaries]

34. Global Warming won't be the end of the world, but it's already

much worse than "just getting warmer".
Here's a thread about the current drought affecting the US and the effects on crops.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1943726

And the people on this island aren't too happy about their island slowly disappearing:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/08/20/global-warming-swallowing_n_27625.html

No, Climate Change won't be the end of the world, but it is affecting a lot of people already and it will affect a lot more in the future.

[ima_sinnic]

36. it won't be the "end of the world," b/c the world will adapt --

humans may or may not be able to.

[johnaries]

40. Exactly. Read my sig line. nt

[ima_sinnic]

48. exactly, spot-on (n/t)

[Odin2005]

22. The danger posed by "killer" bees has been greatly exaggerated.

I hate using the term "Killer Bees," it just reinforces the media-driven panic, they should be simply called African honey bees. As long as you don't provoke the hive you are fine, the main difference between African and European honey bees (The US has no native honey bees) is that African bees are more agressive WHEN PROVOKED into attacking an perceived threat to the hive. If you don't mess with them they wont mess with you, just like with any other honey bee.

[pitohui]

45. we did have native bees

unfortunately our species could not compete once the european colonists brought over the european honey bee but we had many species that have largely or perhaps entirely disappeared

[Odin2005]

47. Doh, your right.

I must of remebered wrong. :dunce:

[Xithras]

57. Not correct. They do attack without provocation.

The difference between African and European honeybees is that the African bees do attack without provocation. Unless you define "provocation" as "walking 200 yards from the nest, upwind". Africanized honeybees have a huge defensive area when contrasted against the European varieties, and any person or animal unlucky enough to wander into that area is likely to get stung. If you don't get out quickly enough, the Africanized bees are also far more likely to swarm, which can be lethal.

The problem with African bees is the very size of their defensive area. It's very easy to find yourself in their territory while still being out of sight or earshot of the actual hive (they can defend themselves up to several hundred yards from their hive). The best way to avoid problems is to flee at the first sting, but without knowing where the hive is many people have fled in the wrong direction, unknowingly cutting deeper into their range while trying to get away. If you're jogging down a trail and get stung, is the hive ahead of you, where continued jogging will put you deeper into their range? Or is the hive behind you, and you simply got lucky and avoided the sentries until you were almost clear of their range? Which way do you run? Choose poorly and at the minimum you're going to the hospital.

Although it's less of a danger, African bees are also more likely to uproot and relocate their hives as conditions change. If you're unlucky enough to be along their flightpath as they swarm along looking for a new residence, you WILL be attacked. They will have a queen with them, and will be hyper-aggressive. While European honeybees do exhibit similar behavior when relocating, they tend to travel in denser packs and only attack people or animals in the direct flightpath of the queen herself.

[mtnester]

23. Well, first John Belushi died

and the rest, well, is history

:)

[loves_dulcinea]

25. actually, yeah.

i'm from south texas and there have been several times in the last ten or fifteen years that i've heard on the msm that bees have attacked en masse. the people in question werren't doing much more than mowing their lawns. i had to leave south texas, the people of south carolina seem like rhodes scholars by comparison.

[Akim]

26. Maybe they bit Cheney and died. n/t

[conflictgirl]

27. I got attacked by killer bees a couple weeks ago

Okay, maybe they weren't really killer bees. But I got stung by two normal-looking cute little honeybees, completely unprovoked. I am normally not allergic to bees at all and that's the first time I was ever stung when I had done nothing whatsoever to provoke them. I had more severe reactions to the stings than normal too.

I was joking with my husband that they were those killer bees we heard so much about. I don't really think they were, but it was really strange nonetheless!

[pitohui]

46. yes the african or killer bee looks identical to the other species

this is a long thread but i think i mentioned it above, you can't distinguish them from regular european honey bees by looking at them

you distinguish them by behavior, the african honey bee is the more aggressive and will attack w.out being provoked

hence the rise in insurance premiums that has put so many beekeepers out of business

i think you can be confident your attacks were the infamous killer bees

[conflictgirl]

60. OMG! Are you series?!!!!111

I was just joking, I really didn't think I had been attacked by the so-called killer bees. I just thought it was incredibly bizarre that I was attacked unprovoked. If that's really what it was, it explains it. And it's also a little creepy because I don't seem to be able to kill them.

[McCamy Taylor]

29. I heard that fire ants are their natural enemie in Texas and fire ants win

Since humans can outrun fire ants, I am not too worried about killer bees anymore. They are mostly a problem for the honey industry. You dont see many hives in urban areas.

[morningglory]

30. Back before Tanya Harding/OJ etc, DC-10 engines fell off of airplanes.

A couple fell off, and there was 24/7 coverage about that. Then it was herpes. Then AIDS. My husband back then said "they found a cure for Herpes: AIDS." Maybe I have the wrong order, but the cure for killer bees might have been Gary Condit. Seriously, they make tupelo honey and other local honey around here. The beekeepers say, if a hive acts aggressive, they just reach in, pinch the queen's head off and get a new queen.

[Bluebear]

37. "They found a cure for Herpes: AIDS."

So AIDS was just a media sensation?

It may have been a nuisance to hear about so much but it did affect a person or two!

[1monster]

31. Apparently they are still migrating northward. I've heard of several

incidents where Africanized bee (aka killer bees) colonies have been found on ships at Blount Island in Jacksonville, Florida.

There is a very strong interdiction policy in effect there. Perhaps they have been very successful in keeping the bees out, perhaps the bees have slowed down, or perhaps the media just lost interest.

[Batgirl]

33. I'll always think back fondly

to that time in the 80s when the streets and daycare centers of this great nation were crawling with baby-sacrificing satan worshippers. You couldn't mow under the hostas without winging one of them. Or at least that's what I heard on the TV.

[SPKrazy]

41. Let's Check It Out

Sharks- saw an article on Yahoo yesterday saying bait fish were drawing sharks in to the beaches in Florida

Killer bees- addressed below

Communists- still around- see China, N. Korea, Cuba, and probably Russia. Turns out their economy isn't as successful as the hype- and their power wasn't either. Although China is rapidly becoming a superpower and will own our US asses if we don't watch it!

Alligators? -they are still around

SARS- seems to have gone underground again

Ebola- outbreaks continue every once in a while- no vector has ever been found- luckily it has never mutated to an airborne version

West Nile Virus- seems to have spread across the country now to where there seems to be an immunity being built up- also mosquito control programs helped make this less painful- but there are a good number (in the low thousands) that have had severe cases, and quite a few deaths as well

Bird Flu- I'm afraid to say this here, but I believe it will mutate and we will see a pandemic of this. Don't know how lethal it will be when it mutates, but it won't be pretty.

Pretty White College Girls kidnapped- just turn on MSRNC or Feaux, they usually can conjur up one

Terra Terra Terra- why just last week a plot was foiled, don't ya know?

Meteors could hit the earth- of course they will, asteroids as well too. When? probably not in our lifetime, but the earth is scarred with them. Take a look at the moon and you will get an idea of the reality of what has happened to our earth, we just have water covering the majority of the planet, and the scars on land are soon grown over (unless they are in the desert)

Of course you have a better chance of being hit by lightning and dying of most of these (bird flu remains an unknown) but they are all real

[rman]

50. All true - but none turned out to be the threat they were made out to be

at the time when these were hot topics.

I can't help but comment on communism:
Officially we won the cold war, we beat the communists. In reality, what's probably the most atrocious communist regime ever, is still around. But it can't serve both as boogie man and most favorite trading partner at the same time...

[SPKrazy]

53. IMO We're Being Bled Dry

by those who move manufacturing overseas to China and elsewhere
by the fact that while we "help" the Chinese build their economy, they are spending the money on weapons
by the fact that our debts are largely owned by the Chinese now, they basically own the average Joe or Jane in America because the "ruling class" has the mobility to be elsewhere in the world

You're right, we can't call them the "evil" and most favored nation trading status at the same time

We've been sold out

but I'm sure we all know that

[malaise]

51. They've moved on - terra is more fun

http://www.oneplanetonenation.com/ponightmares1.html

[robcon]

49. "Killer" bees don't kill humans. They kill honeybees.

Their only threat is to wipe out or damage the honey business. The word "killer" was just used to frighten people. They do not attack humans unless provoked - just like honeybees.

[SPKrazy]

65. Ah, But They Are MUCH More Aggressive

and will continue to attack and persons with allergies are in big trouble, and even those without previous allergies may succumb to the high number of stings.

Africanized bees are a threat to honeybees, but they are also a threat to someone who comes across a hive.

[1932]

52. You mean the "Africanized" bees? Best part of Michael Moore's second

last movie was the segment on killer bees.

[WI_DEM]

54. Irwin Allen's 1978 film "The Sharm" killed them off

[leftofthedial]

55. 1960's marketing 101

the FUD factor

fear, uncertainty and doubt


if you don't (x) your family will die.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

56. My friends father was killed by a hybrid of African/honey bee

He was running a tractor an he hit the stump where their hive was. They swarmed and killed him. This was about 4 or 5 years ago. They were told that if they hadn't been partial Africanized they wouldn't have attacked him the way they did.

Our county is under quarantine due to the presence of "killer bees" but most of the bees have been breeding with standard honey bees and aren't as dangerous anymore. This inter-breeding combined with a mite problem that is in effect killing all the honeybees is why they never became a more serious issue in our area.

[PsN2Wind]

58. Lotta really cute posts here

Too bad the guy that died yeaterday in Huachuca City, Az from 300 stings by africanized bees isn't here to read all the expert opinions.

[Lethe]

59. you are missing my point

yes people die from bees, and it is terrible. the point is the whole thing was sensationalized and hyped. put into perspective, you would stand a better chance of winning the lottery than dying from killer bees

[SPKrazy]

67. The Media Hype Everything

but that doesn't take away from the reality that africanized bees are a threat to the honeybee population, and they do kill people from time to time.

All of the threats on your list have been real, have been hyped, and some remain lurkers that may still be waiting (like a virus) since viruses have been around since the beginnings of Earth, viruses are very patient (if you will) they are simply looking for new ways to survive best (evolve) and if mutation leads to human to human transmission and it remains viable for the virus to evolve in that direction, then you may have a problem.

[conflictgirl]

61. I am not surprised that happened to that guy

I was sort of making light of the killer bees because I too thought it was a big overly sensationalized story, like the bird flu or SARS. But I do believe the 'killer' bees are real and I know they're scary. I mentioned up-thread that I got attacked by two bees at once, completely unprovoked, a couple weeks ago. And the stings seemed to be far more venomous than others I've experienced in the past. My ankle, where I was stung, was swollen and extremely itchy, for almost two weeks. It actually turned kind of purple and people wondered what happened to my ankle.

The even weirder part is that, as a rule I don't use any kind of pesticides or lawn chemicals around my house. At my request my husband actually went out and bought some bee killer and sprayed where the bees seemed to be coming from around the perimeter of our house. Guess what? It didn't do a damn thing. They're still all there. I am normally not too afraid of insects and was never afraid of bees before, but I admit that now I try to avoid going by the part of the house where the bees are gathering.

[SPKrazy]

66. SARS Did Kill People Too

differences in proximity and the way we care for people (or the way Canadians in Toronto cared for people) made a difference in the lethality of SARS

also, the virus may have weakened through mutation

bird flu isn't a done deal either.

the likelihood of it becoming human to human transmissable is pretty good, again because of the close proximity of people and birds, and people and people in Asia where it seems to have started.

I wouldn't seal my house up with duct tape and shoot anyone on site yet, but as flu season comes around it will be sure to be on the radar (and not just the * radar) of public health experts who know the reality of a pandemic (whether it is bird flu or some other flu or emerging virus, remember, we are not able to cure viruses, and vaccines don't just suddenly develop.) We live in a world where virus transmission is expedited by air travel, close quarters, and other factors that go into spreading a virus.

I get really un-nerved that just because the* administration says something about bird flu, people say it must be a hoax.

That is as far from the truth as anything I can think of. We don't need to panic, but there are real threats out there in the virus world. There are more viruses than all of the humans that have ever lived. Viruses have probably played a part in the process of evolution of the species. Viruses have throughout history been responsible for "plagues".

Don't minimize the virus, ever.

Peace

[conflictgirl]

71. I know the potential from bird flu could be really bad

I don't downplay the threat just because of Bush - I know that we are actually very lucky that there hasn't been another pandemic (yet) like the 1918 influenza. I know we're probably overdue for it, and that when it hits, we're all screwed.

I do think it's very irresponsible that the media overhyped it to the degree that they did, though. It wasn't in the US and hadn't even jumped to humans and they were already causing people to stockpile Tamiflu. I am more skeptical of the media hyping diseases that aren't even in America, resulting in people being terrified of diseases that *could* possibly come here, while meanwhile they're not paying attention to things that really are happening close to home.

I definitely didn't mean to make it sound like SARS or bird flu weren't potentially serious, and I know some people died of both. I also know the scary potential of a disease that could cause a pandemic with a high mortality rate. I just wish people weren't so terrified of things that aren't an immediate threat, because it distracts them from things that ARE immediate threats.

[SPKrazy]

73. Yes The CMSM Is Good At Hype And Hysteria

stockpiling Tamiflu is irresponsible in itself.

The media preys on people's fears because it sells. They've found a co-sponsor of fear in an administration that plays on fear as well. I hope that when we Democrats regain control of the house, senate, and the white house, that we aren't just as bad.

Just because fear sells, and just because fear creates people that are willing to give up rights, and go along with whatever because of it, doesn't mean it is the only way to lead, or have power.

Power based on fear is perhaps the most primitive kind.

[lonestarnot]

63. There have been a couple of people who were killed by these

varmints in AZ.

[U4ikLefty]

68. Belushi died. n/t

[Kickoutthejams23]

69. See what happens when you doubt the Bee?

The bee strikes back....

Arizona man stung to death by "killer" bees Mon Aug 21, 2:31 PM ET



PHOENIX (Reuters) - A swarm of "killer" bees attacked a man and his father as they repaired a roof in a small town in southeast Arizona, killing one man and hospitalizing the other, police said on Monday.


Cochise County Sheriff's Department said the Africanized honey bees stung Charlie Pasley, 39, more than 300 times as he carried out repairs to a home in Huachuca City, 160 miles (250 km) southeast of Phoenix on Sunday. He died at the scene.

Spokeswoman Carol Capas said the swarm also attacked Pasley's father, Chuck, 62, who was reported to be in a stable condition in hospital late on Sunday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060821/sc_nm/life_usa_bees_dc

[peacebaby3]

70. I was just going to post this....how weird, huh?!?!? n/t

[lynne]

74. No need to look back - Arizona man was killed by "Killer Bees" this week -

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004608383

Arizona Man Dies After Being Stung By "Killer Bees"

August 21, 2006 9:59 p.m. EST

Yvonne Lee - All Headline News Staff Reporter
Phoenix, AZ (AHN) - An Arizona man dies after being stung more than 300 times by a swarm of "killer" bees.

Charlie Pasley, 39, was working with his father Chuck to make repairs on a roof in Huachuca City when the honey bees arrived. He died at the scene.

Chuck Pasley, 62, was also attacked and sent to the hospital. He is reportedly in stable condition.

The insects are called "killer" bees because they are highly aggressive. They come from a ferocious African strain of bees that were imported to the Americas in the 1950s.

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