Catch and release program for flies

I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.

As soon as I saw that outstanding moment by moment coverage of Obama swatting that fly followed by a close up of the dead (or worse dying) fly I knew that someone somewhere was going to object. And, of course, they did, and of course it was PETA.

Was it that the President like untold millions of others was able to swat the fly dead or that they taped it or that they showed pictures of the fallen corpse?

On a day to day basis I am surrounded by dog lovers. If the prez had beaten his dog to the carpet all of us (even Michael Vick at this point in his life) would be horror struck. So somewhere between a fly and a dog we take a stand on what is morally acceptable to us. And I am quite sure that stand would differ based on our age, cultural background, geographical location, etc.

In like manner, don't we then need to take a stand on those who comment on the news? Once again I would say that we couldn't reach a 100% agreement on that either, but in PETA's case I would bet the barn that the majority of people would say that their opinion in this matter is just flat out ridiculous. And the more we pay attention to them the worse they get.

So, let me tell you about a technique that I have used successfuly to catch a fly without hurting it. You have to come up behind the fly with an open hand, and as your hand gets close to the fly quickly close your hand and trap the fly safely in the airspace in your hand. It helps if you come up from the rear so that if it (is it okay if I call it an "it") takes off, the motion of your hand will follow the flight path. If you are successful you can feel the fly in your hand. The pest has now been safely captured.

Then what?

Kill it.

Next?