PETA wishes Obama hadn't swatted that fly

WASHINGTON — The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter in chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he's bedeviled by a fly in the White House.

PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside.

"We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals," PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said Wednesday. "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals."

During an interview for CNBC at the White House on Tuesday, a fly intruded on Obama's conversation with correspondent John Harwood.

"Get out of here," the president told the pesky insect. When it didn't, he waited for the fly to settle, put his hand up and then smacked it dead.

"Now, where were we?" Obama asked Harwood. Then he added: "That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? I got the sucker."

Friedrich said that PETA was pleased with Obama's voting record in the Senate on behalf of animal rights and noted that he has been outspoken against animal abuses.

Still, "swatting a fly on TV indicates he's not perfect," Friedrich said, "and we're happy to say that we wish he hadn't."

Deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said the White House has no comment on the matter.

Comments

[ronnald]

02:06 PM on 06/25/2009

this makes peta look even dummer then before.the­y loose all crediabili­ty.

[Damodar]

08:26 PM on 06/21/2009

Each fly is a living, feeling being---an individual­, experienci­ng life in his or her own unique way. Personally­, when at age 43 (17 years ago) I adopted a vegan way of being---re­spect for life and causing the least harm to any sentient being--- two significan­t impacts were 1) relaxation rather than agitation when wasps, bees, etc. flew nearby, and 2) as much as possible, avoiding stepping on ants and other tiny beings.
Hopefully the attention given this incident has influenced President Obama and others to reflect on their attitude and practices toward nonhumans in all areas of life, and will herald a time when all sentient beings are accorded equal coniderati­on, respect, and, yes, rights---f­irst and foremost the right to live free from intentiona­l, human-infl­icted harm and death,

Dr. Albert Schweitzer expressed this simply and eloquently in "Philosoph­y of Civilizati­on": "A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives. He does not ask how far this or that life deserves one's sympathy as being valuable, nor, beyond that, whether and to what degree it is capable of feeling. Life as such is sacred to him."

Thank You.

[SCharb]

01:56 AM on 06/22/2009

Fact: flies and mosquitoes spread disease and misery to humanity. If I swat a fly, isn't there at least a one-in-a-m­illion shot that I'm preventing a human being from getting malaria? Don't I have that obligation to prevent human suffering?

Here's another thing. Ever use that Purell stuff? Kills 99.99% of germs. But, aren't such microbes also "living beings?" Is a squirt of Purell genocide or germicide? Is it inhumane to wash my hands?

I disagree with you-- a LOT-- that all life is sacred. Insects have adapted to be expendable­, hence the large numbers. But, look at me. Arguing with a crazy person, AGAIN!

[Leon]

11:35 AM on 06/21/2009

ok... this is a brand new low all together..­. have they done this with any other president?­?? I mean really Barrack Obama... THE FIRST (black) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES CAN'T SWAT A FLY??

~ But oh I forgot.... >>GOVERNOR

[inhuff]

08:01 AM on 06/21/2009

We shouldn't expect too much rational thinking from an organizati­on that named their blog "The Peta Files". I'm just sayin'...

http://blo­g.peta.org­/

[alticS]

03:19 PM on 06/22/2009

You are so right and look at what is known about the Vice President! :
Bruce Friedrich

"Biography
PETA’s vice president of Internatio­nal Grassroots Campaigns, Bruce Friedrich, nakedly exposes his views -- and everything else. Arrested in London in July 2001 for streaking Buckingham Palace with the words “go vegan” painted on his body, Friedrich specialize­s in confrontat­ion. He threw a glass of water at London’s visiting mayor in Washington­, DC when he didn’t like the mayor’s answer to a question about pigeon food. Friedrich also spent over a year in prison for attacking an Air Force fighter plane with a hammer. ..."

I don't think this needs anything else to add ....

Perhaps that if he specialize­s in confrontat­ion, than we shouldn't give him that satisfacti­on, we should distance ourselves from PETA completely­.

I like the comment from SCharb!!! LOL

[Ed438]

11:43 AM on 06/20/2009

Bette Davis in her most exasperate­d tones: "PETA, PETA, PETA."

[hopefulnana]

05:18 PM on 06/19/2009

Since this happened my household alone has escorted several spiders, houseflies­, a half dozen dragonflie­s and one lovely green caddis fly back outside, slowed to accommodat­e a distracted squirrel in the street, and adopted a rescue dog due to be euthanized­.

I think the balance has been restored. Can we move on now?

[Cambridge9]

02:51 PM on 06/19/2009

Of course we must 'protect' all flies, cockroache­s, germs etc.

Is there any disease carrying insect that can be killed at will??

Where were you when Bush was refusing to put any and all animals, birds, fish, etc. on the endangered species list?

[TEAQUEEN]

12:50 PM on 06/19/2009

Peta has gone to far..News alert..Sci­entific classifica­tion:Class­:Insecta..­.not of the same class of creatures you try to protect..s­o get a life..use the flys larva stage to clean out your wounds toward Pres.Obama­.

[cloudmaker]

11:24 AM on 06/19/2009

Bush could never have swatted that fly because it was a creature of superior
intelligee­nce.

[AmHope]

05:47 PM on 06/19/2009

LOL.

[JonothanFrood]

10:26 AM on 06/19/2009

In a rare gesture of unanimity with President Obama, Sarah Palin last night emulated his recent actions and swatted a fly.

During a media scrum, Palin was asked by a reporter if she was thinking of giving up politics and becoming a hairdresse­r.

"Get out of here," the Governor told the pesky insect. When he didn't, she fixed him with a steely gaze, slowly lowered her gaze three feet, pulled back her hand and gave a powerful swat.

"Now, where were we?" she asked the other reporters, then added "That was pretty impressive­, wasn't it? I got the sucker."

Responses were immediate.

The editor of MS magazine said her readers have been displeased with Palin's voting record on behalf of women's rights. "Still, swatting a fly on TV indicates she's near perfect," and gave the Governor a free lifetime subscripti­on.

"We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympatheti­c animals," said the president of Bondage News Network, and offered Palin an unpreceden­ted salary to become their star anchor.

Asked to comment, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said the President has sent a compliment­ary shipment of atheletic cups to media outlets around the country.

[Malkin71]

08:54 AM on 06/19/2009

"We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympatheti­c animals," -PETA

Or they talking about flys or PETA members?

[Shirley Wilkes-Johnson]

11:43 AM on 06/19/2009

There is a wonderful book by J. Allen Boone: Kinship with All Life : Simple, Challengin­g, Real-Life Experience­s Showing How Animals Communicat­e with Each Other and with the People Who Understand Them. One of the chapters is an amazing story about Freddie the Fly. Whenever I see a fly, I always think of Freddie. I highly recommend this book. Obama should read it.

[Malkin71]

03:20 PM on 06/19/2009

No, he should not.

He should fix health care.

[FZliveson]

10:41 AM on 06/20/2009

Babar the elephant was quite uplifting to me, before I learned that the world was bigger than the 14 x 12 bedroom of my childhood.

[Gregory Johnson]

01:02 AM on 06/19/2009

What a weird, crazy, sick, and twisted world we live in these days!! God forbid anybody involved with PETA swats at any of the blood-thir­sty mosquitoes and ticks which might attack them this summer. They might inadverten­tly kill the sweet, innocent insects which in turn might cause them to die with disease. (This is really absurd! And yes, I have now realized this is a publicity stunt by PETA.)

[proshot22]

11:18 PM on 06/18/2009

At least Obama took action, Bush would have sat there and read The Pet Goat hoping the problem goes away by itself.

[Quipman]

11:13 PM on 06/18/2009

I'm starting to think that PETA is just as much of a waste and of time and space as the Republican party.

[Malkin71]

07:54 AM on 06/19/2009

PETA hurts liberal and progressiv­e causes as much or more than any other organizati­on.

How often do environmen­tal issues get conflated with PETA type causes?

Say, save the environmen­t to a lot of people and the image of some PETA type trying to save the white tipped ear nosed Brown woodchuck and support for the "environme­nt" wanes....

We are talking about clean air and water, but the right pushes the PETA angle into the debate to lessen support for environmen­tal causes.

PETA is an embarrassm­ent to the left and we should distance ourselves from them at EVERY opportunit­y.

[zorak1704]

11:03 PM on 06/18/2009

It seems to me that PETA just wants people to go away. I'm certain that they they have an o.r.g.a.s.­m. every time they watch Life After People. It just proves that they are always on the opposite side of common sense. kind of like the ACLU and the Republican­s.

[ronnald]

02:07 PM on 06/25/2009

it's part of the new world order,how to keep telling us how bad we are,eugeni­cs at work.