PETA miffed at President Obama's fly "execution"

[Matt Collins]

POLITICO (Washington) - The president has been getting lots of kudos for a lightning-fast, Mr. Miyagi-worthy swipe he employed to slay a pesky house fly that was buzzing him in mid-interview during a taping with CNBC that aired Wednesday.
"He stopped the interview to track and kill the fly," said talk show host Conan O'Brien.


"That's some pretty impressive hand-eye coordination right there," Jimmy Fallon gushed. "Makes Obama look like a bad ass."


But now People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, calling it an "execution," wants the commander-in-chief to show a little more compassion to even "the least sympathetic animals."


"Believe it or not, we've actually been contacted by multiple media outlets wanting to know PETA's official response to the executive insect execution," a blog on the group's website explained. "In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn't the Buddha, he's a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act."


http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE55H4Z220090618

[Elwar]

I do believe that goes against Obama's campaign promise that he wouldn't hurt a fly.

[Original_Intent]

POLITICO (Washington) - The president has been getting lots of kudos for a lightning-fast, Mr. Miyagi-worthy swipe he employed to slay a pesky house fly that was buzzing him in mid-interview during a taping with CNBC that aired Wednesday.
"He stopped the interview to track and kill the fly," said talk show host Conan O'Brien.


"That's some pretty impressive hand-eye coordination right there," Jimmy Fallon gushed. "Makes Obama look like a bad ass."


But now People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, calling it an "execution," wants the commander-in-chief to show a little more compassion to even "the least sympathetic animals."


"Believe it or not, we've actually been contacted by multiple media outlets wanting to know PETA's official response to the executive insect execution," a blog on the group's website explained. "In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn't the Buddha, he's a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act."


http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE55H4Z220090618

Give me a break! Miyagi-like? Lightning fast? the fly landed on his hand for crying out loud. I swear these people wait outside the bathroom to applaud him for not going in his pants.

[emazur]

I'm a vegetarian and animal rights guy, but anyone who complains about killing insects has never had an infestation in their home. Despite not having any pets, I somehow managed to get a flea infestation in my apt. 10 years ago. According to the internet, fleas can't live long w/o an animal host so I tried to wait it out a week. Made no difference, so I vacuumed and had the apt. manager send in the bug man to spray. Made no difference. I left for about 2 weeks for winter vacation and expected they would be all be dead by the time I came back. Nope. I bought a flea bomb at the supermarket and set it off. Not only did it not work, when I came back to the apt. I saw a roach crawling on my keyboard. Only thing that worked was spraying the bejeezus out of the carpets and vacuuming (and I sprayed inside of the vacuum for good measure.)

[Indy Vidual]

PETA =

People
Eating
Tasty
Animals :)

[zach]

It's beyond me why the President killing a fly with good accuracy during an interview is considered newsworthy.

This shit is worthless.

[ChaosControl]

I'm with emazur on this.

[dannno]

C'mon Matt, what's with the "thumbs down"?? Should be a :D

[erowe1]

"In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn't the Buddha, he's a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act."

So wait, is PETA a Buddhist organization now? And since when was he not a human being anyway?

[Hiki]

I don't know which is worse.. Obama killing a fly being such a big thing or PETA complaining about it.

[dannno]

"In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn't the Buddha, he's a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act."

So wait, is PETA a Buddhist organization now? And since when was he not a human being anyway?

The idea of not killing animals and insects is Buddhist, so a lot of Buddhists are in PETA.

[Yieu]

Though PETA has proven itself to not be in tune with most vegetarians and tries to come off as fringe to discredit themselves, that does not excuse him from killing an innocent being and being quite proud about it. It says a lot about his personality.

[Yieu]

The idea of not killing animals and insects is Buddhist, so a lot of Buddhists are in PETA.

Actually, it is a Hindu idea which Buddhists adopted. :D

And there are a lot of people who believe in and practice ahimsa (non-violence) who do not stand behind PETA because of some of the more radical things they do.

[Matt Collins]

I don't know which is worse.. Obama killing a fly being such a big thing or PETA complaining about it.A very very very true statement.

[Dianne]

Stop calling him President Obama. US President's are Commander in Chief of the military, only. Please begin to refer to him as Elcomandante Obama. I think he would prefer that as well.

[Theocrat]

PETA needs to do us all a favor and just cease its existence, for the sake of all living microorganisms in the air. After all, living microorganisms have rights, and the individuals at PETA need to quit breathing. :rolleyes:

[Dreamofunity]

PETA never ceases to amaze me.

[angelatc]

I don't know which is worse.. Obama killing a fly being such a big thing or PETA complaining about it.

Or the intense media scrutiny of these events.

[james1906]

""In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn't the Buddha, he's a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act."


He's a human being and not a god. If anyone sees Keith Olberman, please repeat this to him.

[kathy88]

I can't even believe this is real. I checked snopes.

[Anti Federalist]

Sloppy thought, sloppy "journalism".

FFS, if you're going to report on such nonsense at least get it right.

Mr. Miyagi never was able to catch the fly with chopsticks.

It was Daniel LaRusso who was able to catch the fly on his first session.

Prompting Mr. Miyagi to quip, in a huff: "Ahhh, Daniel - san, you beginner's luck".

[Yieu]

I was also disturbed that he killed the innocent fly, and feel that it shows he has a destructive personality. I agree with PETA on this (though I do not agree with everything they do), but that doesn't make it news. Both the killing of the fly and PETA's response to it were over-reported, especially with other things going on.