Bugged out: Albemarle swarming with stink bugs
Coming to a house near you...FILE PHOTO
There's no electronic security system that can prevent this home invasion, and once they get inside, calling 911 won't get you anywhere. Fortunately, these invaders are non-violent, but that doesn't mean they're welcome guests.
Known as Halyomorpha halys– or more commonly, the brown marmorated stink bug– these recent entomological arrivals from Asia have likely already come knocking on your door, looking for a warm, dry home for winter, and keeping them out is easier said than done.
"It's horrible," says Maryann Altman, who lives off Route 20 South about two miles from downtown and who says this is the second year the brown bugs have swarmed her house. This year, however, seems decidedly worse, and Altman now uses a broom to sweep piles of them away from her door when she takes her three young children outside. While she's managed to keep the numbers down to a couple dozen inside, she says she can no longer even open screened windows to let in a breeze.
"There's probably 30 between each screen and window," she notes, and more are constantly trying to squeeze their way inside through a slim gap at the top of her front door.
Altman's not imagining things.
"The numbers are higher this year," agrees Peter Warren with the Virginia Cooperative Extension, explaining that the shield-shaped pests were first officially documented in the U.S. in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2001–- having likely stowed away in shipping crates–- and have since spread up and down the East Coast, increasing in number each year since they have no native predators. He says the usual bug-eaters–- of the insect and animal variety–- aren't attracted to them.
"It's hard to know whether predators haven't discovered them yet or whether they're not very tasty," says Warren, noting the pungent odor the bugs emit when stressed (or squished) likely contributes to their undesirability as prey.
If stink bugs are a nuisance for homeowners, they can be even more detrimental to those in agribusiness, as they lay eggs on leaves and dine on fruit, leaving small bruises and puncture marks that one orchard owner likens to hail damage.
"Orchards have been a family business since 1912, and I've been doing it since 1954, and this is the worst thing I've seen," says Henry Chiles, owner of Crown Orchards, which operates half a dozen local orchards including Carter Mountain and Chiles Peach Orchard.
"Usually, when you find something, you got a solution," says Chiles. "Right now, we don't have any solutions for this problem."
Among the solutions being considered by insect experts is the importation of the stink bug's natural predator, the Asian parasitic wasp, which kills stink bugs by invading their eggs.
However, importing predators, says naturalist Marlene Condon, is "never, ever a good idea," as it can create other unforeseeable problems that then also must be dealt with.
One such situation occurred in the late 19th century when a Hawaiian plantation owner imported some Indian mongoose to control rats. More than 100 years later, the mongoose has proliferated and is still causing problems by decimating populations of Hawaii's other native animals, particularly birds–- but not rats.
In fact, Condon says, if we're patient, our own ecosystem will adapt to the insect-erlopers in just a few years.
"It takes a bit of time for natural things to get into place," says Condon, who says that both gypsy moths and ladybugs–- both problems in years past–- have been controlled thanks to native predators.
As for the orchards, Condon says managing stink bugs is no different from managing any other insect.
"The way to farm is the way they used to do it in the old days," she says, "where you had hedge rows, where animals could exist. You need to have things so that it's not one huge area of one crop, but several areas of different crops interspersed. That's how you have organisms that serve as natural control."
Condon, who has lived in a rural area of Albemarle County for 24 years, says she has never used pesticides. "I don't have problems," she says, noting that thanks to the way her yard is landscaped, she saw only six stink bugs this summer, and she welcomed them. "They're small, they don't eat much, they take a few fruits– it's not a big deal."
She wishes crop growers and consumers would stop using pesticides and focus more on the flavor and health of their fruits, accepting a few dings or other superficial damage as just part of nature.
"Everything's made to look beautiful at the expense of taste," she says, complaining, for instance, that many strawberries now are white inside. "It's a sin, a real shame," she says. "We've destroyed our quality of life."
Over at the organic Wayland Orchard in Crozet, owners David and Ginny Wayland are living by Condon's advice and not complaining about the stink bugs, which they say haven't caused more damage than many of the other insects that dine on apples.
"We tell our customers that our fruits won't look perfect, so they don't expect them to," says David Wayland, who says he has stink bugs all over his house but hasn't noticed them in the adjacent apple orchard. If there are stink bug puncture marks on the fruit, "It would look normal to me," he says. "I wouldn't even spot it."
This variety of stink bug, fortunately, does not bite people or animals, says Warren. "They're vegetarians and fruitarians," he says. "They don't have any interest in a blood meal at all, so they're not going to try that." But living amicably with stink bugs doesn't have to mean living amicably in a house filled with them.
Those looking for a way to say adieu to the bugs–- who are apt to fly suddenly into your hair, face, or food–- can employ a few techniques: sweeping them outside or vacuuming them up are popular methods of indoor control, although the vacuum treatment causes them to release the stink (and "it's cruel," cautions Condon.) There's also the pesticide approach, another method Condon condemns.
"You kill other kinds of insects that are innocently walking around that area," she says, adding that drought, nighttime lighting, bug zappers, and pesticides are leading to the loss of numerous insect species.
"Insects run the world because they perform so many vital services that make the environment habitable for us," says Condon. "People need to stop thinking of insects as pests. They are only pestiferous when people aren’t doing things in a nature-friendly manner."
All that is not to say Condon thinks you should simply accept stink bugs in your bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and clothes. And they may bring valuable information.
"The stink bugs are giving you the message," says Condon, "that you need to stop letting all of your air conditioned or heated air slip out the cracks, which causes you to use more energy which pollutes our environment and wastes your money."
So instead of complaining about the new arrivals, perhaps we should try thanking them?
–Story updated 10:06am Monday, September 27. (Added Warren's quote on biting.)
80 comments
Yay, praying mantises. I know I've got those outside. Go to it, feast away.
The stink bugs are all over Nelson County as well. I take a fly swatter with me when I go outside and use it to eliminate as many as possible. I also check out doors and windows several times a day and kill the ones trying to find a way inside.
They are on my porch, on my screen doors and window sills. I am obsessed with getting rid of them. I tried gently picking them up and throwing them out, but they come right back. I went online and typed in STINKBUGS and there are some products that are supposed to treat areas in my home and on the outside of my home, but they have to be ordered and that takes time. Meantime, I am swatting them onto the floor and sweeping them outside. They are the worse bug nuisance I have ever had to deal with! If anyone finds something that works better than a fly-swatter, please post it for the rest of us.
WE GOT RID OF THEM!! We used Stink Bug Eliminators!(434) 882-0160
It's $150 for œ acre or smaller and it worked. They spray outside only with a solution that approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. It eliminates the stink bugs that encounter the spray, continues to eliminate stink bugs that feed on the shrubbery and prevents eggs from batching.
Still have to get them out of the house yourself but once you do, they're gone!
When trapped, as in between my shirt and skin, stink bugs do bite. Soreness and redness have persisted four days. Within 24 hours of attack blotches about 1/2 inch in diameter formed around bites sites. These had burning and itching akin to a chemical burn. The epidermis peeled away on one when cortisone rubbed in. STINK BUGS DO BITE!!!
i wasn't willing to say as much, Mr. Betts, but feel the same. These are the people who want us to rinse and re-use our toiletpaper.
When I first read the headline, I thought the article was about Perriello and his supporters.
Only six stink bugs in her garden? Yeah, right.
@Mike re "I bought a big can of Raid Ant and Roach killer and used it to spray the bugs in my room. It killed them all within minutes. I, then, sprayed the window sill and my AC unit and have not seen one stink bug in 3 days."
How about that eyelid twitch...has it stopped yet?
Ms. Condon frequently gives her blessing to invasive exotic species. I remember several years ago where she praised the invasive European starlings and bemoaned the fact that people set out bluebird houses to save the American bluebird. One could ask why she doesn't like bluebirds and apparently it is because they devour grasshoppers and locusts.
They taste like chicken.
Everybody: a cup full of water mixed with dish soap does the trick. The bugs literally drop, and sometimes even seem to be pulled, into the cup. It's the darndest thing, seriously. Several people gave me this tip so finally I tried it out, and they're not kidding. I go around the outside of my apartment building with the soapy water cup and hold it underneath these bugs, and the ones that don't drop (or get pulled) in, I used a piece of cardboard to shoo them in. This weekend I went on a bit of a rampage, and got rid of cup after cup of these things, hundreds of bugs in all. What a site it was to see our apartment building, screens, doorways and cars in the parking lot NOT covered in bugs, and to be able to open our door and not get dive bombed by loud buzzing bugs falling on our heads, with 10 bugs getting in everytime we go out. It's hard to believe anymore that at one time it was the norm to not have these things everywhere. Seems so long ago...
I think the reason these bugs fall/drop/get pulled into the dish soap has to do with an electrical charge or something. Think static electricity, I don't know. It's trippy though. Felt like half my weekend was devoted to getting rid of stink bugs. Be careful though not to spill the soapy water on yourself because it smells like stink bug "cilantro."
I vacuum as many as possible, but it stinks up the vacuum! Now that's cruel, messing up my vacuum cleaner. If preying mantis' are eating the stink bugs, we should soon be overrun with big fat, happy ones! Preying mantis',that is.
I was going to make a politician comparison joke, but I see that several folks have beaten me to it...
Do not hit them with a fly swatter or smash them. When in danger or killed, they will naturally emit an odor that actually attracts MORE stink bugs. I bought a big can of Raid Ant and Roach killer and used it to spray the bugs in my room. It killed them all within minutes. I, then, sprayed the window sill and my AC unit and have not seen one stink bug in 3 days.
Stink bugs don't bother us as much as the small centipede like things that blanket everything each summer. You can't dare leave a light on over night either, by morning the garage floor will be literally moving. They leave white carcasses each fall and emit an odor as well. Maybe the stink bugs will eat them!!! Natural predators yooo hooo
Now it's "cruel" to vaccuum them up? Yeah, suck out the pre-born but don't make those stink bugs suffer! Jeesh!
completely different how bout instead of ground zero dropping them off on all the settlements area in israel...maybe that can scare the settlers and bring peace
are we still stuck with that ridiculous "libs fear Palin" meme? strangely appropriate that it should appear out of the blue in a string of comments about stinkbugs...
What's worse, stink bugs infesting the house, or Marlene, self-appointed czar of the lower forms of life, dictating what we're to do-feel-think?
We can put Marlene in the bottom of the bird cage where she does more good than bugs can. Thats something.
Sure they aren't politicos? It is close to election time.
I tried feeding a stinkbug to our friendly garden spider that webs in our doorway each night. I placed the live stinkbug in her web, she felt the vibration and headed for him, but when she proceeded to deliver the death bite, she jerked away and then flung the stinkbug from her web. For some reason I see this a
s a telltale sign that our local insects are not going to be dining on these unwelcome guests.
I am very grateful to know that our home is not the only one being invaded by these aggressive comfort seekers. They consume so much of our time while at home, obsessed with eliminating them. Although in the big picture, fretting over bugs is far better than most things to fret over.
I have recently replaced my beehives with parasitic wasp colonies. they really seem at home at my Kudzu farm in Mutton hollow. I have a number of 1,000,000+ swarms available for home delivery as stink-bug remedies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLtUk-W5Gpk&feature=related
My labrador retrievers think stink bugs are dog treats. I knock the bugs off the wall and the dogs gobble them up. Now if I could just get the dogs to jump all the way to the ceiling I wouldn't even have to knock them down....
What if we make the Ground Zero Mosque site a Stinkbug Amnesty Zone?
Certainly the Religion of Peace would welcome them as converts?
(or solve-for them the way they habitually have done for non-believers).
After the plague of locusts came darkness. Dumber and dumberer became the land. Out with edumecated politicians! In with Plumberers!
The "quiverfull" movement has inspired me to start my own movement to be called Stinkbugfull. Our first priority is to serve God through proclaiming that every stinkbug is a gift and blessing from our gracious heavenly father.
Behold, halyomorpha are a heritage from the LORD,
The fruit of their womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the stinkbugs of one’s youth.
Happy is the man who has his quivering house full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
Oh, pardon me. I didn't realize I'd stumbled into a bashing-Palin blog, except that the name, "Condon", has been substituted. The fear of Condon being exhibited out there appears to be similar to that of the libs toward Palin.
Both chicks are expressing some truth and getting arrows in return.
My special message for "Neil" is this: If only Congress had the same attitude toward this country's "problems" as Condon has towards these bugs.
Henceforth the stinkbugs shall be known as "Xe".
It seems that some poor individuals have discovered that the stinkbugs do bite when accidentally squashed or frightened. The bite area will turn red about the size of a dime and eventually turn black and blue then scab over. Initially it's only going to be somewhat painful and then start itching.
One poor guy was bitten on his left eyelid. It swelled shut on him within a couple of days and stayed that way for even longer. Just sayin'.
"Those looking for a way to say adieu to the bugsââ?¬â? who are apt to fly suddenly into your hair, face, or foodââ?¬â? can employ a few techniques: sweeping them outside or vacuuming them up are popular methods of indoor control, although the vacuum treatment causes them to release the stink (and ââ?¬Å?it’s cruel,” cautions Condon.)"
'It's cruel'????
Is it cruel to smash a mosquito that is attaching itself to your arm? To shoot a rapid fox?
anyone else tried Stink Bug Eliminators? I paid $300 to a local exterminator. They sprayed inside the house and the outside walls and windows. No good, they've been back twice now to re-spray. SBE's treatment really works? How bad was the problem...I have hundreds of the damn things.
I didn't believe that the bugs could bite, but i now have that dime-sized welt on my face that seems to be from one...I think I rolled-over on one in my sleep.
Why isn't the Dept Ag or Extension Coop having cropdusters spray the county? If I kill mine and my neighbor doesn't kill hers, we'll just have to go through this all again next year.
"Embedded". I think you are on to something! OK, how about this: We (Virginia) trade guns for bedbugs with New York. We give the bedbugs an STD and release them as "comfort bugs" among the stink-bug population. Our problem is solved and New York? Who cares what happens there...
They're taking over in Rockbridge County as well. I live in Lexington, and they are hiding in the windows, around the front door, and they love to hang out in my curtains so I can't see them. Last year, in 1 day, I killed close to 20. The other day I killed 5 in under an hour. We use to have a lot of spiders when the weather switched from summer to fall, but I'm now seeing less spiders, and more of these ugly bugs. They seem to be really damaging the trees in the lot next door to us.
I just put them back outside and most fly away. I don't like the Japanese Beatle that has eaten every rose in sight. I will take a Stink Bug anytime over those. Just gently pick up and put back out.
KILL! KILL! KILL! Have one fly in your mouth. and puke for an hour.
I live in an older home and these bugs are everywhere in and out - walls, ceilings, behind pictures hanging on the wall, in drawers, between the bed sheets, underneath the bed skirt! I counted roughly 500 inside the house on a hot day last week. And don't be fooled, THEY DO BITE WHEN TRAPPED! I unknowingly had one on the back on my knee and crossed my legs. The bug was trapped and did bite, leaving an unusually shaped, itchy, red mark. UGH!!
I want to kill them all..
Vacuuming them is cruel? Well, try having 500 bugs on your screened porch first. It's the only way to control them, I can't even imagine what the porch would look like if I wasn't vacuuming. We'd have to rip the porch off to keep them out.
Do goats eat stink bugs?
Sounds like love bugs in Florida, without all the splatters on our cars.
We've begun to capture them by hand, place them in a jar and flush them down the toilet!
Tomorrow we're going to begin a logged count of the number flushed each day.
Condon is a radical environmentalist.
Her solution is no solution.
WONDER IF THERE ARE ANY STINK BUGS IN WASHINGTON???
What's next from Ms. Condon, a lecture on the joys and eco-benefits of raising tse-tse flies and deer ticks?
Actually, it is clear that there can be only one of two causes: either it's global warming or George W. Bush is behind it. I think this aging/wanna be 1960's flower child should use some of her grandaddy's trust fund money to get to the bottom of this. After all, something just doesn't smell right here.
Wouldn't they be entitled to deportation hearings? And aren't the ones born here now U.S. (bug) citizens?
One cannot make this stuff up - especially the timing. I just read where the U.N. is creating a new "position" (gee, I wonder who is paying for this one)to be designated the world's official Alien Greeter/Point of Contact in the event we are visited from afar. I think Ms. Condon should volunteer. I hear it pays well. You never know what they'll look like - or smell like. Who knows? Maybe they're already right here in Albemarle County!
Perhaps she could start and co-sponsor a program with the federal government to hire illegal immigrants at $17.50/hr to wander the county gently plucking these bugs from the walls of homes, putting them in breathable recycled cloth bags, and shipping the bugs back to asia where they would be more comfortable and amongst friends and family?
One nice thing about the stink bugs, they are easy to catch and kill. You don't have to chase them around like cave crickets. They don't crap on your food like fruit flies or roaches. They don't sting like yellow jackets. They don't swarm like fire ants. They don't scare the hell out of you like hornets or wasps. They don't hover and attack like tiger skeeters. They aren't stealthy like no-see-ums. They don't eat up your woodwork like termites. They don't make a terrible racket like cicadas. They don't jump in front of your car like deeer. They don't get into your car and die like mice. They don't roost and putrify like buzzards. They don't fall off of power lines like squirrels. They don't get run over and stink to high hell like skunks. All things considered, compared to our native vermin, they aren't so bad. And when you squish them, they smell like fresh-chopped cilantro, at least on a finger's first whiff. But I do enjoy vacuuming the things up.
I say- it's not too late to get on the WINNING side!
WINDEX kills stink bugs within seconds
i tried Niagara spray-starch, Lock De-Icer, Engine De-Greaser, Wasp Spray, WD-40, foaming toilet-bowl cleaner, all with no real luck. does it have to be Windex Brand, or will any glass-cleaner do?
@ bored by republicans, get a clue.
Tractor Supply is recommending this bug repellant that you spray on Horses. It has pyrethrecin, the stuff in some of the kill-spray from Lowe's, but is evidently safe enough to use for dousing animals. Also seems to include citronella oil. You evidently spray windows/screens and around doors to keep the bugs away.
Had a recommendation yesterday from a clever researcher to put fresh mint in all the window ledges and spray peppermint oil around the outside of windows.
Windex(bigfatgreekwedding joke, maybe?) didn't seem to do much. If anything it appeared to invigorate the creatures...some of the ones I thought were dead, on their backs, appeared to come back to life and walk around.
Waiting for results on mint (my place smells like a julep now), and will try liquid SEVIN later today.
Why is it that every subject, even bug squashing, degenerates into a string of right wing zealots bashing anyone who is politcally to the left of Mussolini? C'mon, re-pube-lickins -- it's time to get over the fact that no one ever invites you to the fun cocktail parties. Just try to be happy with your stale churchy doughnuts and watered-down Koolaid, and let the rest of us enjoy our moderately inebriated lifestyles.
Its like "Stinkbuggapalooza" out there. Still...at least it isn't swarms of angry bees. All in all they aren't the worst pests we could have decend upon us thats for sure.
Ms. Condon has already approached and befriended a half-dozen of the bugs, making her our expert Interspecies Communicator (see ad in newage Echo newspaper).
Could we 'turn' The Condon Six...maybe send them back out as double-agents or to work with US special operations advisors to form a counter-insurgency?
Could we get some VQR writers to go undercover amongst the bugs, or get a Hook journalist embedded?
I think you guys are on the right track. Let's get some contractors in here and get the job done. I think the guys from Blackwater are itchin to get wet again. We could use the Condon lady to approach the critters and set up dialogue. when she has lulled em sufficiently, we go in with nano-drones and blast em all straight to heck. Problem solved.
These buggers are juicy. Lots and lots of guts when squished. I suggest using ketchup to control them. Everything tastes better with ketchup so maybe the spiders will eat them then.
I say let the punishment for terminal silliness fit the crime. Lock up Ms. Condon in a 10' x 10' padded room with "no one" but about 5000 stink bugs to keep her company. And just to lend assistance in her return journey from planet Halyamorphaton, give her a dust buster - without the batteries.
Very bad, these things. Tried five different products from Lowe's, both aerosol and mix-and-spray with no good results. Paid exterminator to come spray indoors and out, but three days later still had hundreds of the bugs. Exterminator returned (guaranteed service) and sprayed again, but still have the bugs.
Lowe's recommended pyrethrecin, but the formulas available seem to have very low concentration and barely do anything. The exterminator used cymulacin or something like that.
Any advice on manmade extremely virulent and effective chemicals would be welcome. Earth serves man, man controls environment. I am not the culmination of species evolution to squat in the dirt, sleep in a pile of grasses, and let bugs crawl over me...eco-barrier and pest-cuddling bedamned.
Exterminator said that the stuff that really works on the damn things has been banned by enviroradical save-the-planet folks...I'd assume the banned chemical is the one that USED to keep third-world children from dying of malaria, yellow fever, triptosomiasis but is now not used much to the depopulation and woe of tropical countries.
We had terrible problems with asian lady beetles in our drafty old house. Now we're in a brand-new home, built to pretty tight specs, and we're not getting any beetles in our house. Marlene Condon is rightââ?¬â?if you've got stink bugs in your home, then you've got a drafty home. Watch where they come in, and now you know that you need to seal that spot up to keep out drafts.
Not that you should be grateful for them providing that warning. I nearly lost my mind in the face of thousands of lady beetles...
1. The bugs actually smell kind of nice when squashed.
2. The stink bugs have captured Greene County. All County offices are
currently being staffed by stink bugs. Except the library.
If they like it warm and dry, then get out the hose and spray the house and them with water.
Huge pesky humans infest my house. Smell awful squashed.
i found that if you just gently pick them up and put them outside, they WILL NOT emit their stink on you. they do not bite, though they may if you "trap" one behind your knee. and the other day while at work painting an exterior, i saw a preying mantis chomping away on a stink bug. give our local bug killing bugs time to figure it out. nature has a way of taking care of herself. it does seem a drag, though, that asia sends us so many native species killers....kudzu, chestnut blight, etc.....have native american insects or species caused the same amount of problems for asians?? anyone know?
Eastern grey squirrels are a huge pest in England. Our black cherry tree is a problem in some places too.
Here's a list of some of the invaders China is dealing with. Canada geese and other N. American natives are listed there.
http://monkey.ioz.ac.cn/bwg-cciced/english/cesis/invasive.htm
These things are in the city of Charlottesville too. I keep finding them crawling around on the screens (outside, thankfully). I saw one a couple days ago, all wrapped up in spidersilk and hanging in a web. Hopefully the spiders will keep doing their job.
really? the stinkbugs are not that big a deal. what is neil's solution? kill?
@ local40
Yes they do, Japan is overrun with a lot of American and European species.
I wish that the stinkbugs would teach many of the people in Charlottesville how to parallel park, and how to drive correctly...While the stinkbugs are here and all, since they have nothing to do other than be vacuumed up by housewives...
Condon indicated she has never used pesticides and noted that it's due to the way her yard is landscaped. If she could provide advice about landscaping it might be helpful since the bugs will we here for a few more years.
that is not the only kind of bugs Albemarle is swarming with ...
I just got it- I thought the article was about politicians..........
very appropriate given the location.
We are the Bug Eliminators, Mosquito Squad, mentioned above. 434.882.0160. To keep stink bugs out of your yard, the solution is applied all over the property and creates a barrier at the edges that the bugs ââ?¬â?? stink bugs, ticks and mosquitoes ââ?¬â?? do not want to cross. The solution will take down any stink bugs that encounter the spray and for the next 21 days the dried residue will continue to eliminate stink bugs that feed on the shrubbery and kill eggs as well. Most yards can be treated in about 15 minutes. Family and pets can safely return to the yard 30 minutes after treatment. This is an exterior spray only using a solution that adheres to all local, state and federal licensing guidelines and utilizes pest-control solutions that have been registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The active ingredient is a synthetic reproduction of a natural substance derived from chrysanthemums. This same basic ingredient can be found in a variety of household products including some used to treat scabies and lice, although its’ ability to effectively kill lice has been questioned.
STINK BUGS DO POOP !! They leave a shiny, sticky film on leaves of plants. I was standing and looking at one, and actually saw him deficate. It was yellowish, but dried clear, or so it seemed, on the leaf. I was completely disgusted by this, and the fact that there were hundreds on my garage door. Yuck !!!!!!!
"If any of my fellow progressives doubt the capabilities of charismatic leaders, like Limbaugh, Beck, Palin, DeMint, and others who are lauded and encouraged by a vocal minority of social and economic conservatives, I ask you to read a book by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen called Hitler's Willing Executioners.
A book explaining how Hitler was able to rise to power as leader of a minority party, then convince the average, German citizens, farmers, and businessmen, to partake in the round up and killing of minorities, gays, Jews, Eastern Europeans, the mentally ill, and the others who were "cleansed" from Germany and Europe. They didn't just let Hitler and his party kill millions of people. The averages citizens helped.
This is an excerpt from a website owned by Dr. Marjory Bloy called A Web of English History. The words in this excerpt will ring very familiar to everyone:
The main groups who supported Hitler and the National Socialists were
Protestant middle-class voters. They lost confidence in the Weimar Republic with the onset of the ââ?¬Å?Great Depression”.
Nazi support was strongest in the Protestant and rural areas.
Conservative older voters who believed Hitler would restore the traditional values of the German past e.g. order and discipline.
The party did not do as well among the working class, but it still managed to capture a significant vote with 40% of its vote coming from this source.
This is why we must be concerned with this new form of conservatism we see today."
Listen, it's not the most efficient method, but I can promise you it works...
First, catch an unwelcome stinkbug. Then, tape your prisoner to a firecracker. Light the sucker, yell "fire in the hole!", and be sure to toss the stinkbug-cracker outside of your home.
If you do this, I promise that that particular stinkbug will never return to annoy you again (can't say the same about his extended family).
Trust me, if the above recommended removal methods fail, the satisfaction from an occasional stinkbug-cracker becomes a welcome consolation prize.