Military May Kill Rats to Prove Firepower.

In September, an illegal fishing vessel was picked up by the US Coast Gaurd near Alaska who intended to impound the ship until it discovered it’s furry passengers, tons of rats.

Not only was the ship filled with rats, a crew of 22 were on board along with 10 miles of drift nets, 22 tons of squid, and 30 dead sharks. The crew were taken to shore for violating laws against using drift nets but the ship is stuck at sea. Ships containing rats are not allowed into dock because the animals could come ashore and throw the local ecosystem off balance and spread disease. As Coast Guard officials decide what to do with the rat filled ship, Democratic Sen. Mark Begich offers this advice, “sink it.”

Begich told press, “in addition to solving the rat problem using the [ship] for gunnery practice could demonstrate the firepower of the Coast Gaurd’s new National Security Cutter.” The Cutter is a $641 million boat with guns that the US government bought a couple years ago. The cost of buying one of these ships could have paid the year’s salary for over 10,000 teachers in the Alaska Public school system.

Forget “firepower” we need to demonstrate brainpower first.