Dead bees, George Bush and the liberal media.

A story in our local paper, the Raleigh N&O, tells about a suit filed by Germans against Bayer, the makers of an insecticide that many people think are killing the honey bees.

If you're not familiar with what's called colony collapse, you should be. Bees are necessary to produce a huge amount of the food we eat. The news story said that every third mouthful we consume is available for our masticatory delight because of busy little bees. No pollinating bees means trouble, my friend, with a capital T and that rhymes with bee, and that stands for DEAD.

People like to eat. You can strip them of their rights, cancel their favorite TV shows, even convince them to wear funny hats backwards, but snatch away that Ring Ding and you've got riots, anarchy and social upheaval.

So, as bees die and people bandy about words like famine, researchers think they've found the culprit. It's one of the best selling insecticides in the world, worth more than a billion dollars to Bayer.

So, why isn't the use of this insecticide at least suspended until we know for certain? Did I mention that it's worth a billion dollars a year?

But surely, with calamity at hand our EPA would step in. Wouldn't they? No, not if George Bush is president. Because under George Bush, any environmental news that might harm a big corporate donor is tucked away in the Department of We Have No Idea What You're Talking About. That's what lawyers for American enironmental groups think is happening here.

OK, now I know you're asking, where does our liberal media fit in this story? Our paper, the Raleigh N&O, is often the whipping boy for conservatives who think it's a little too lefty. So why am I picking on them?

Because they buried this story, a story whose ramifications include the potential for famine, calamity and the destruction of a huge swath of America's food production, on page 7B.

But why would the N&O do this? Call me a cynic, but it may be because the headquarters for Bayer CropScience, the group responsible for these insecticides, is right down the road in our own Research Triangle Park.

Did I mention a billion dollars? I thought I did.

Think of that the next time you hear a buzzing in your ear. That's not a honey bee, that's the government whispering not to worry, that everything is under control and the only things you have to fear are people who are not like you.

By the way, did you know that John McCain was a POW?

See, don't you feel better already?