And obviously...

WHAT I AM ... someone who closes my eyes and looks the other direction while Bush and his corrupt corporate croney cabinet; 1.) drive the salmon (and just about any other species that gets in the way) to extinction, 2.) gut existing environmental protections in favor of 'big business friendly' watered down versions, 3.) stage secret meetings with industry representatives to write laws that would govern their own industries, then not release them to the public until sued, 4.) block or surpress governemnt funded scientifc studies that go against their rape and pilliage philosophy of 'business first, health, wildlife, and environment last' and then LIE about the results, 5.) allow fat cat companies to freely dump poisons like arsenic and mercury into the land and water, and in the air.

You would expect better from the party of Theodore Roosevelt. Just as an example... Studies indicate that 10 million Americans have harmful levels of mercury in their system. One in twelve women carry enough mercury to effect development of a fetus. The majority of them got it from eating fish. Mercury is belched into the atmosphere (40% of which is produced by coal fired power plants), then falls in rain and is channeled into the oceans and waterways. It gets concentrated as it moves up the food chain, with top predators like tuna, sharks, and SALMON as the major vectors. And yet, under Bush, the EPA gutted Clinton's proposal to have mercury emissions cut by 90% by 2008 in favor of a proposal that gives power plants FIFTEEN YEARS to cut emissions by 70%. Almost certainly uncoincidentally, the biggest polluter that would benefit under this change in policy, the Southern Company, also contributed more than $500,000 to Bush's 2000 electon campaign. There's more examples too. Bush's cabinet is full of conflicts of interest, everything from Cheney's links to Haliburton to 'paying off' campaign contributors by dismissing fines due to breaking of environmental laws (in one case, $370 million in fines). But look at my recent post tiled 'The Sportsman's President' for an article from Flyfisherman's Magazine for more.

Show me someone that thinks that Bush as President would be better for the environment (and wild salmon in particular) than Kerry, or Al Gore if he had gotten the Presidency, would and I'll show you someone who's delusional. The Sept 2002 Klamath fish kill and the administration's response to it alone would tell you that much. 35,000 to 60,000 adult salmon (including ESA protected coho) and steelhead, dead before spawing. Due to the mismanagement of the water flowing into the Klamath River because the administration ignored scientific studies and wanted to prop up the popularity of a senator in Oregon by allocating 100% of the water allowances to agriculture. All of which was forecasted ahead of time by environmental groups, Indians, and fishing interests. Even their own biologists told them. Twice. And yet the farmers got all the subsidized water the wanted, and the fish paid the ultimate price, reaching adulthood and dying before ever passing on their genes. We ALL lost, every one of us. When it was obvious that the fish died for reasons stemming from lack of water, the administration tried to blame it on anything but. Until it was confirmed twice more in private studies, and the biologist who submitted the surpressed report twice finally sought protection under federal whistleblowers' protection and made it public. They didn't even increase the flow to the Klamath in 2003. It could have happened all over again.

http://www.fishsniffer.com/dbachere/092502klamath.html

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/11/19/MNGRC35FLQ1.DTL

http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/fish/2002fishdieoff2004/cheerreport080104.htm

http://www.triplicate.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=1035

http://www.onrc.org/programs/klamath/coallfactsheet2.html

http://www.washingtoncouncilfff.org/fishkill.htm

http://www.faultline.org/news/2002/11/stclair1.html

The Oregon farmers aren't totally to blame, of course. But agriculture is. The Trinity River in Northern California is the biggest tributary to the Klamath, but only 10% of the Trinity's water ever reaches the Klamath. It is dammed 30 miles from the Pacific, the rest of it gets shipped to Southern California for politically powerful large farms. That's how they grow all those crops in the middle of the desert. During the Clinton administration, Bruce Babbit tried to increase the allocation to the Klamath to 12%. Immediately there were lawsuits, and it got slapped with an injunction. The Bush administration claims they couldn't do anything even if they wanted to, which of course they don't.

Bush's environmental record has been the worst President's as far as the environment goes in at LEAST the last 30 years. Probably the worst in history since it became an issue. And fish and game can't live without clean habitat to live in. There may not be ANY (edible) salmon (wild or otherwise) left outside of fish farms after four more years. How anyone can consider themselves someone who cares about fish and support Bush is beyond my knowledge. He and his administration don't care about the environment, they don't care about salmon, and they don't care about the quality of the air we breathe or the water we drink, or the food we eat. All they care about are lining the pockets of campaign contributors, kowtowing to special intrest groups for votes, and covering their own party's butt when things go wrong. His 2000 campaign promises about the environment (salmon and other wildlife included) were nothing but lies, and I don't expect his 2004 promises to hold water either. 'The Sportsman's President' indeed.