[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '&')quot;You don't need to know. You can't know." That's what Kathy Norris, a 60-year-old grandmother of eight, was told when she tried to ask court officials why, the day before, federal agents had subjected her home to a furious search.

The agents who spent half a day ransacking Mrs. Norris' longtime home in Spring, Texas, answered no questions while they emptied file cabinets, pulled books off shelves, rifled through drawers and closets, and threw the contents on the floor.

The six agents, wearing SWAT gear and carrying weapons, were with - get this- the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Kathy and George Norris lived under the specter of a covert government investigation for almost six months before the government unsealed a secret indictment and revealed why the Fish and Wildlife Service had treated their family home as if it were a training base for suspected terrorists. Orchids.

That's right. Orchids.

[SeaGypsy]

"Orchids, like tulips, have become a major market throughout the world. Buyers now bid hundreds of dollars on new hybrids or improved ones. Because of their apparent ease in hybridization, they are now becoming one of the most popular cut-flowers on the market" (wiki)

I can't find a figure for the value of the Orchid business worldwide; but it huge and growing. In China they are revered. China is growing. The USA has the best orchid researchers and breeders in the world.
This doesn't exactly answer Matt's post but I think it's got something to do with it.

[hardtootell-2]

No offense intended but-I thank my lucky stars that I do not live in the USA or Britain.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hardtootell-2', 'N')o offense intended but-I thank my lucky stars that I do not live in the USA or Britain.

[pedalling_faster]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'I') won't have Obama leafing through my drawers for orchids. No sir.

[Aaron]

I live in Spring Texas...

[dinopello]

They are just trying to avoid a disaster like the Dutch Tulip Market Crash of the 1600's !

[rangerone314]

Thanks for renewing my faith in human stupidity when I was in danger of thinking there were people in government with half a brain!