Saturday, April 2, 2011  Stinkbug Invasion  This winter I've
noticed these dark sepia-colored "stink bugs" (or "shield bugs",
as some call them) in my house. Following the Buddhist golden
rule of "Do No Harm", I gently escorted these critters out the
door and let them go about their buggy way.  As it turns out, my
mercy for creepy-crawlies may have been a bit premature. For you
see, these were no ordinary stinkbugs. They were the dreaded
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, which is indigenous to China and did
not exist in North America until 1998, when an infestation of
them manifested out of nowhere in Pennsylvania. Apparently they
stowed away in some shipment of items from China, and
immediately gained a foothold in the new world.  (Gee thanks
China, that's another favor we owe you. And we still haven't
forgotten your poisoned cat food, fake eggs, melamine-tainted
fish, sewage-fed fish, faulty GM automotive parts, toxic sofas,
cancer-causing mattresses, cadmium-laced children's jewelry, and
dumplings with ground-up