Aunty, Aunty, Aunty... You didn't answer that you would read a thing, so I didn't respond... why should I spend a few minutes or an hour trying to get you to change your mind when you didn't express interest and it's obvious to me that you won't vote for Bush even if Kerry died tomorrow? If you said you were interested, I would have shifted some of my work around for you.

The one item I posted I happened to run across when I was looking for something else; since Dave Vedder was doing his bit for Kerry by touting a commercial fishing bill (yes, I know it will have impact on sport species but it's primarily about commercial fishing) I thought I would balance that a bit with something that Bush did for SPORT fishing. That being said, it is still more than Kerry has done for SPORT fishing, where our discussion began. Or is there something in the links you posted that I missed?

If we follow the logic of the forum that Bush is responsible for what happens on his watch, then here's some Northwest items you should know about that you should give Bush credit for:

Drafting of a recovery plan for bull trout in the Puget Sound basin (just finished)

Extension of ESA species protection to another ESU in the salmon/steelhead program

Continuation of ESA listing for salmon and steelhead stocks DESPITE what many folks on this board said he was going to do after the Alsea River decision

Initiation of the clean-up of the Clark Fork River

Continued funding for removal of the Elwha dams (this is the issue that caused me to vote for the removal of Slade Gorton from the Senate)

An evaluation program that studies the best way to control double-crested cormorants (it has application here but is currently being run in the Great Lakes in upstate New York and is one of the primary reasons for the resurgence of the fishery there)

Continued funding for all federal hatchery programs

Funding for the mass marking program (Norm Dicks pushed this one through, and you may thank him, as I do, for that) that Bush approved

Some federal funding for Fish First on the Lewis River

Every appropriations bill that Kerry takes credit for since Bush became president, Bush signed

And the list goes on

Yes, Bush and his administration have made mistakes in fisheries in the Northwest. If Kerry is elected, he'll make mistakes as well in all likelihood.

As for the "leading scientists" BS (sorry, but that's what it is)-- you can find a leading scientist to tell you the earth is flat if you look hard enough. I don't know how many scientists you've worked with (I've worked with a bunch in a former career), but they are just like you and me-- each one has his own opinion and can back it up with irrefutable proof, even if that proof is obviously incorrect. Just remember that "leading scientists" in the environmental movement told us that wood and logging debris in streams was wrong and had to be removed... we're now putting some of the same material back in rivers because it's important rearing habitat. "Leading scientists" told us that spilling water over dams led to nitrogen narcosis in salmon and steelhead smolts-- whereas now a different flock of "leading scientists" say we must spill and that nitrogen saturation problems are a red herring trailed by those who want to forget about spill.

The point I've made before is that you shouldn't make fisheries and politics part of the same argument-- partisan politics and natural resource issues just don't mix... the issues are too long term and if you get into the Republican/Democrat thing, the fish lose.

My $.02,

Keith