One Brick Short

Some things make you say huh?

Like the fact that there is no longer a war against terrorism, according to the Washington Post. It is now officially being referred to by the Obama administration as a contingency operation.

Now, I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing, but it’s one thing to risk your life in your country’s “global war on terror,“ but something else entirely different to get killed as part of your country’s “overseas contingency operation.“ The change probably won’t help military recruiters meet quotas.

Some things make you say what?

Like the Australians proving that Blue Oyster Cult was correct and trying to correct their mistake by hunting down and killing toads.

Remember BOC’s “Godzilla,“ with the refrain “history shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man?“ Well, Godzilla’s baby brother, the cane toad, is proving the sheer idiocy of introducing alien species to solve a native problem.

According to the Associated Press, the poisonous cane toad has plagued the great Down Under for decades, breeding rapidly, eating voraciously and bestowing death upon most animals that dare consume it. So officials are holding a celebration of death, supporting mass killing of the creatures and using their reptilian corpses as fertilizer.

The toads were imported from South America to Queensland in 1935 to control beetles on sugarcane plantations. Unfortunately, the toads can’t jump high enough to eat the beetles, which live on top of cane stalks. The toads could, however, eat damn near everything else and are poisonous to anything that tries to eat them.

To encourage the speciecide, organizers are offering prizes and awards that range from cane toad trophies made of actual stuffed cane toads to a gift certificate for a local resort. Organizers received advice on creating toad “detention camps” and “detention techniques” to ensure safety and to keep the toads “alive and unharmed for interrogation.“
Live toads brought to the collection points will be examined to ensure they’re not harmless frogs. Then they will be killed, either by freezing or by being placed in plastic bags filled with carbon dioxide.
Some things make you say “oh, wahhhh.“

According to the AP, China, today, criticized a newly released U.S. report on its growing military power, saying the report could damage military relations.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang lashed out at the report as interference in China’s affairs—exactly how it interferes is not made clear—and said his country had formally complained to the United States.

“It is a gross distortion of facts and interference into China’s internal affairs. China resolutely opposes it and has made solemn representation to the U.S. side,“ he said at a regularly scheduled press conference.

The problem? A U.S. Defense Department report released in Washington, D.C. said that Beijing’s rapidly growing military strength is shifting the military balance in the region and could be used to force its claim in disputed territories. Notice the Chinese didn’t say the report was false.
Qin said at a regularly scheduled press conference that China has pursued peaceful development and that its military policy is defensive in nature. Sure it is. It’s just funny how weapons systems and armed forces are capable of functioning in both offensive and defensive situations, isn’t it?

Some things make you grab your head, cover your ears and squint closed your eyes and shout “T.M.I.“

A Saginaw, Mich., man caught by police in the act of mating with a car wash vacuum, has been sentenced to 90 days in the Saginaw County Jail.

Kind of makes you anxious to see what happens tomorrow, doesn’t it?