Valentine's Day Haters Rejoice
From Elizabeth Newell:
Think you’re anti-Valentine’s Day?
Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists are working round overtime to make sure flowers being imported for Valentine’s Day bouquets are free from insects and disease that could harm the agriculture and floral industries in the U.S.
According to CBP, agents processed approximately 500 million cut flower stems during the 2008 Valentine’s Day season. The top 10 ports of entry processing cut flowers last year were: Miami; Laredo, Texas; New York; Otay Mesa, Calif.; Los Angeles; Newark; Chicago; Wilmington, Del.; Boston and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Most of the cut flower shipments are imported from South America, primarily Colombia. The top three cut flower imports are mixed bouquets, dianthus and chrysanthemum and the most common type of insect found in flower inputs is the “Lepidoptera larva” also known as… a moth.
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Government Executive Staff Correspondent Alyssa Rosenberg takes a look at news affecting the management and operations of the massive federal bureaucracy.
What a ridiculous title for this fluff piece! Guess the author ran out of accurate, positive titles like: DHS officers working to prevent insect pests/diseases from entering the US, or something like that. Sure, it's not as eye-catching, but it projects a better image. And as we all (hopefully)know, Valentine's Day is just another Hallmark Holiday, dreamed up because a First Century Christian bishop wrote to either his wife/girlfriend/or sister, and ended the letters with: "your dear Valentine"! Come on now, you can do better.
ChristmasTree Posted Thursday, February 12, 2009 9:55 AM