Don't kill flies Mr. President, PETA says

[surfpirate]

Support all of our Critters, big and small. Yes, even those irksome penguins, freaks of audibon nature that they are .....

[Wino you know]

When these people take up causes for dogs, cats, horses, seals, whales, manatees, etc. I'm usually behind them 100%.

But a F'ING FLY, for Christ's sake???
They need to grow their OWN wings and fly away.

Jeez, friggin' Louise!

[ph4ever]

Support all of our Critters, big and small. Yes, even those irksome penguins, freaks of audibon nature that they are .....

don't forget the emus

[Spider Johnson]

When these people take up causes for dogs, cats, horses, seals, whales, manatees, etc. I'm usually behind them 100%.

But a F'ING FLY, for Christ's sake???
They need to grow their OWN wings and fly away.

Jeez, friggin' Louise!

Don't forget how PETA enforces their "no kill" shelter policy. Sure PETA really loves cats and dogs. Tell that to the euthanized critters caqrcasses found in the PETA freezer. I wonder why PETA and the media have not have expounded on that? PETA seeks what they think will be POSITIVE publicity where ever they can find it. The media is not constantly seeking PETA out.

Anyone remember PETA's "advertising" of vegetarian hotdogs or the "Rats Have Rights" after a certain episode of "Survivor"?
PETA certainly uses the females often enough.

Yep I support PETA. But NOT the one in the article. I support PEOPLE EAT TASTY ANIMALS!

[SeattleParrotHead]

I think that the PETA folks should to go to Africa and stand in front of a herd of zebras so the lions don't get them . . .

Forget about People Eating Tasty Animals, how about animals eating tasty PETAs?

[carolinagirl]

P.E.T.A. is an easy laughable target for this. I am not a real fan of PETA.

But, targeting them for this is too easy.

PETA did not "seek this out" for their own press opportunity. What happens all too often, the mainstream consertavive and liberal media (yes - BOTH) .... seek out PETA for comments ... both HOPING that it will be something they (the press) can exploit. Not the other way around.

In this instance ... the media was all over PETA looking for a comment. Instead of saying "no comment" (maybe they should have) PETA essentially issued the following:

As we all know, human beings often don't think before they act. We don't condemn President Obama for acting on instinct. When the media began contacting us in droves for a statement, we obliged, simply by saying that the president isn't the Buddha and shouldn't be expected to do everything right—if not for that, we would not have brought it up. It's the media who are making a big deal about the fly swat—not PETA. However, we took the opportunity, when asked, to point out that we do offer lots of ways in which to control insects of all kinds without harming them, including the humane bug catcher we sent President Obama. There is even a chapter in PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's book Making Kind Choices about how to rid your home of "uninvited guests."

We have lots of other items on our agenda, as you can imagine, and PETA's focus will remain on our core issues—promoting alternatives to eating animals, opposing fur and products made from animal skin, opposing laboratories that torment animals, and fighting the abuse of animals in circus training camps as well as other overt abuses that fall within our mission statement, which states that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment.

We support compassion for all animals, even the most curious, smallest, and least sympathetic ones. We hope that everyone will take inspiration from Nobel Peace Prize–winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who believed that even insects were deserving of compassion and who would stop to move a worm from hot pavement to cool earth. Aware of the problems and responsibilities that go along with an expanded ethical code, Schweitzer said that we each must "live daily from judgment to judgment, deciding each case as it arises, as wisely and mercifully as we can."

We can't stop all suffering, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop any. Our wish is for all people to act wisely and mercifully toward animals.

The media (BOTH mainstream conservative and liberal) pick and choose what they wanted out of this, and the all too easy synopsis they chose was "OBAMA SHOULD NOT KILL FLIES".

C'mon people .... get real. PETA, as much as I disagree with them, did NOT SEEK OUT this issue.

Thank you for the post.

Yes, thank you, SurfPirate, for the clarification. BuffettNews is the only place I saw this side of the story.

[inked-parrotthead]

As a Non-Veggan,avid hunter,and fisherman,I am no phan of P.E.T.A. There is so much wrong in this world I cant believe anyone can make such a fuss over a fly!!