diff --git a/logentries/utils.py b/logentries/utils.py
index f8409bd..1d78ba1 100644
--- a/logentries/utils.py
+++ b/logentries/utils.py
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@
 import time
 import sys
 
-import Queue
-
 import certifi
 
 # Size of the internal event queue
@@ -187,8 +185,7 @@ def emit(self, record):
                 if self.verbose:
                     dbg("Starting Logentries Asynchronous Socket Appender")
             except RuntimeError: # It's already started.
-                if not self._thread.is_alive():
-                    raise
+                pass
 
         msg = self.format(record).rstrip('\n')
         msg = self.token + msg