PETA vs. Obama - Really?

It never ceases to amaze me as to what passes for "news" in this country. Last Friday morning, the first four stories I saw on "Good Morning America" before heading off to work were...in this order: 1. Adam Lambert, the runner up from "American Idol" -- a show I never watch -- announces to the world that he is gay. 2. Miss California gets fired...don't even get me started on this "nonsense." 3. Chastity Bono has decided to become a man and change her/his name to "Chaz." And finally -- 4. Madonna gets to adopt the child from Malawi after all.

Now, I'm not trying to make any political statements on any of these "stories." I may not always understand the individual choices a person chooses to make, but it's their choice, and who am I to question it? But, on the other hand, what makes any of these stories "newsworthy?" Why should I care? If my neighbor across the street decided to have a sex change operation, or adopt a child from an impoverished country, no one would give a tinker's damn. The world is out of control.

And now the "Dumber Than Dirt" award of the week goes to... PETA. In case you missed it, President Obama was preparing for an interview this week and a fly...a common, ordinary Musca domestica, otherwise known as a housefly...kept buzzing the President. So, eventually it landed on him, and he smacked it and it fell to the floor...dead. Something we've all done, right?

Well, evidently the folks at PETA took exception to President Obama's "overt" action and issued a statement, which you can read here if you are thus inclined. Basically, they said "they support compassion for even the smallest animals and they wished that President Obama had served a better example." Then they sent him a "Katcha Bug" which is a device that will...henceforth...allow the President to trap the pesky critters and release them back into the wild from which they came. Yeah, right.

Please do not misunderstand me, I am all for the humane and ethical treatment of animals, but get a grip, people. It's called "perspective" or even just plain old COMMON SENSE. It was a "HOUSEFLY" which by definition is "often considered a pest that can carry serious diseases."

Insanity, folks. It's a freakin' epidemic, and -- unfortunately -- we're riddled with the disease and there does not seem to be an antidote in sight.


As you may well imagine, this story is all over YouTube, but I nabbed this one from Halbertis.