I can just hear AlGore now: "Ahhh thawt it wuz catfish..."

My wife just came home from work and told me she heard this on the news. I was going to link to this blog article, but you beat me to the punch.

Al Gore's daughter got married last week and apparently the event was so sacred it called for eating one of the world's most endangered fish: Chilean sea bass (which is not actually a 'bass'). Now Gore is justifiably under scrutiny by the media and charged with eco-hypocrisy. (emphasis - mine)

Well, as you point out, it's not the first time (that he's been guilty of eco-hypocrisy) How anyone can take him seriously is a total mystery. Too funny!!

Aren't there any Soth Park fans here? Everyone knows you NEED those fish to catch Manbearpig!

The comments following the blog post I linked to above are a hoot. Here's a sample:

This fact-challenged story is on the same level as the story about John Edwards' haircut: a silly political potshot.

Posted by: DeanOR | July 18, 2007 02:59 AM

"Fact-challenged story?" Chilean sea bass, along with roasted crab, was part of a six-course menu created by Crustacean restaurant Executive Chef Helene An.

You, sir, are a fact-challenged dolt. Al Gore is a hypocrite, plain and simple. It's okay though, I'm sure he purchased a bunch of "endangered animal credits."

Posted by: Alan Smithee | July 18, 2007 05:35 AM

How anyone can take him seriously is a total mystery.

We'll see soon enough, my friend. This kook's gonna run--bank on it...

This kook's gonna run--bank on it...

I hope he does, keefer. It would at least add a little fire to the donk side of the ledger. Have you ever seen Algore when he gets reeeeeally fired up. I swear smoke comes out of his ears.

Did you read the article to which you link?

"And then I read in this article that, actually, the Marine Stewardship Council is on the verge of declaring South Georgia Island Chilean sea bass as 'a sustainable fishery.'"

Was the fish served from that illegal 50% you mention? Was it farm raised? Was it SGI Chilean fish, a "sustainable" crop?

Do you know? Do you care? Or are you DESPARATE to slam Gore any way you can?

Did you use your Mac (Gore is on the board) to Google (Gore is on the board) the article?

I smell fear...

Oh, and... salmon and carrots? whaaa? Salmon and dill hollandaise, pecan crusted salmon baked in paper, salmon collar teriyaki, nigirizushi sake salmon, yum. Salmon and carrots? What side of the track are you from?

Maybe it's a secret message that Gore and hypocrisy are unrelated after all ;-)

Have you ever seen Algore when he gets reeeeeally fired up. I swear smoke comes out of his ears.

"He played on our fears" speech is one of my favorite moments.

Congressive, your post states that the declaration of sustainment is on the "verge"; that means it hasn't been declared yet. So actually is still listed as unsustainable.

Why don't liberals care about the environment?

Maybe it's a secret message that Gore and hypocrisy are unrelated after all

No, I'm pretty sure they're related.

Hey Broder, are you a big Gore fan? It would be fitting if you were; you're a nutcase too...

"He played on our fears" speech is one of my favorite moments

Neo, can't you see a clip of that making its way into a 2008 GOP ad if Algore does decide to throw his hat in the ring. They could probably edit in the smoke coming out of his ears with the disclaimer "what you see is not what you get." I'll be the first to admit that I have issues with President Bush on a number of levels, but Algore is just a Bozo, pure and simple.

GOTCHA!

Is that all political discourse has become these days? A series of "gotcha" moments?

Anyways, this does bring a serious question. Assuming that Gore thought that he was ordering legally obtained sea bass, to what extent is the consumer responsible for ensuring the legality of the products he purchases? I mean, should you be arrested if the tomatoes you bought at a grocery were cultivated by illegal immigrants?

Spook,

I want to see that clip (He played upon our fears) directly followed by the speech AlGore gave stating that unless AGW is addressed immediately, much of the planet will be uninhabitable in ten years.

I will even pay for the ad.

Yea Leo, a bit like family values and hookers eh? What makes you guys think Al had any say in the wedding plans? Got a daughter and wife? Who are you kidding?

I will even pay for the ad.

Problem is, Neo, I'm not confident that anyone in the GOP hierarchy has the smarts or the balls to run such an ad. There's been so much good ammo that's gone to waste in the past.

Awright Kahn!

Ole manbearpig hunter himthelf cannot be taken thereal by anyone.....LOL! A great episode. I laughed my ars off, and even my wife, who is not an SP fan, belly-laughed when she caught on that it was Alfgore.

Cartman (the fat little smartass) crapping gold at the end put Alfgore's whole career into persepective...don't ya think?

Sorry to be OT Leo, but the episode makes me chuckle just thinking about his lisp.

Someone should have snipped that frenulum thingy at an early age....ahhh, maybe not, then we wouldn't have him to make fun of!

Posted on the Cowboy Junkies website by some dude going by the moniker ‘Cornbread’, an ex-marine who did occasional guard duty on Gore when he was VP.. You Bushbots will like this.
So as written by Cornbread: "One more reason not to like Gore *(note this is not a pro-Bush thing either)
I think I have probably made it clear in the past that I really dislike Al Gore as a person because I and many other Marines had to guard him and work around him and the guy is an @sshole. He is the most two faced person you could ever hope to meet. I dislike him even more than I dislike Bush and I wouldn't vote for either of them. If they were the last candidates on earth I'd pencil in Donald Duck.

To make a long story short he seems to think there are two classes of people in this world. the kind that is equal to him and the kind that is beneath his dignity. If you were rich or a politician he had one face where he was this calm laid back kind of guy. If you were some one who guarded him, brought him dinner, cleaned the carpet etc. he was a raging @sshole. He would yell and scream at you for no reason and basically take his aggression out on people he considers beneath him. So pretty much everyone in America falls into that category. He is the most elitist person I have ever had the misfortune to meet. I personally don't mind being yelled at my DIs came up with way better stuff than he ever dreamed of yelling but to see him treat people like that was a real wake up call for me as to how two faced he was. That is why that article set me off so badly. It would be very typical behavior from him to tell all of us peons not to eat endangered animals but for him to do so because he is after all better than the rest of us, or so he thinks. That in a nutshell is why I can't stand him. The Secret Service guys with him said he was always like that when I asked them while we were off duty sitting in the kitchens eating.

I was not stationed in the US, our Company provided that type of security detail stuff only for military high ranking officials and their families stationed overseas and for political persona who were traveling in Europe. So most of my duties were guarding the rear admiral and his family. That was my permanent duty and then if special duty came up like guarding the First Lady then we had to volunteer for it in order to do it."

Ok, me again, Canuckguy. I was very disappointed in Gore after reading it. BUT HE IS STILL RIGHT ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING!!!.

much of the planet will be uninhabitable in ten years.

What d'ya want to bet that Algore's mega-carbon-footprint mansion will still be inhabitable in 10 years.

The MSC has declared SGI bass AS CERTIFIED, YOU BOZOS! (No offense to the actual "Bozo" the Clown)

No, it is not still "unsustainable." Would somebody please read up before spouting hate and lies? Leo links to an article that counters his own claims. It's a dated article.

If you conservatives REALLY care about your grandchildren's planet:

"Whole Foods Market is the first retailer to offer MSC certified Chilean sea bass. If shopping in other stores or restaurants, always ask if their fish is MSC certified and look for the distinctive blue eco-label affixed to all seafood products that meet their high standards. That label means you can buy with confidence, knowing that the product was harvested in a manner that guarantees stocks will never be depleted. As consumers, you have the power to encourage responsible, sustainable environmental practices through the choices you make in the marketplace. By purchasing MSC certified seafood, you are making a positive impact on the health of our planet."

So, I don't expect an apology, but how about a "whoops, never mind", Leo?

Why don't conservatives THINK before they hate?

I heard the market where he bought the alleged Chilean sea bass tricked him and actually sold him sewer trout...which of corth, ALfgore told all at the party it wuth chilean thea bath.

Canuckguy, I attended a college fraternity affair this spring (50th anniversary of the founding of our chapter), and had a long talk with a guy who was a year behind me whose best friend (now retired) was on the WH Secret Service detail during several years of Clinton/Gore and shared a lot of war stories with my fraternity brother. He backs up what the commentor you linked to said. Interestingly, he said Bill Clinton was a pretty regular guy -- someone you'd like to sit down and talk to over a beer. But he said Gore and Hillary were two of the most rude, nasty, boorish, elitist people he'd ever met.

Why don't conservatives THINK before they hate?

You're asking us that? That's hilarious.

Congressive... 50 percent of the Chilean sea bass on the market is illegally obtained.

How sure are you that the stuff that Algore got is legal?

You'd think that since Chilean Sea Bass is endangered in the first place, that Algore (I mean really, he's up on those things, isn't he?--after all--he is Algore!) would choose another entree.

Go ahead, congressive. Keep taking your best shot in defending your hypocrite-in-chief.

it doesn't actually matter to them congressive. They don't care. They just want to say "liberals are hypocrites , liberals are stupid. huh huh"

the fact that they are so concerned of what sort of fish Gore is eating tells you how deep their hatred goes.

Maybe Gore is a hypocrite and maybe he isn't. I really don't care. i don't have to defend every democrat to know that Bush is wrong

Any chance he had at the Presidency is now over. Leo, make sure O'Reilly, Limbaugh and Hannity have this as their lead story.

Spook, your comment - "But he said Gore and Hillary were two of the most rude, nasty, boorish, elitist people he'd ever met."- is interesting but this Cornbread character said this about Hillary:

"You know who was actually really fun and sweet to be around when I was doing that kind of duty? Hillary Clinton. Her public face may be one of sternness and such but in private she is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. She puts on her hard "nothing can touch me" face in public but in private she is some one you wish had been your mother growing up. I don't care for her politics but I like her a lot as a person."

So Spook, how about that for two wildly opposite views about her by people with the same sort of contact with her? Odd.

Heh!! Ain't it fun to see liberals squirm when their own tactics are used against them?

Canuckguy, that is odd. I have not EVER heard anyone describe Hillary the way this "Cornbread" character describes her. I've heard many like the one my fraternity brother related but his was the only one I've ever heard that was even remotely close to first-hand. Maybe Cornbread was doin' her in the Library (you know, where the Rose Law Firm billing records were miraculously discovered), and he felt he owed her.

If you're looking for a "gotcha" moment the new and last Harry Potter book goes on sale at any moment. You guys have been trying to get Harry Potter books outlawed for a decade. You failed. Oh, and Sponge Bob Square Pants and the Teletubbies are still on the air. You failed there too. And 88% of those who take those chastity pledges break them. Most of the time a Republican was in the White House and for four years they controlled all three branches of government. You got used.

Congressive quoted this:

"Marine Stewardship Council is on the verge of declaring South Georgia Island Chilean sea bass as 'a sustainable fishery".

Welllll OK, I'm on the verge of sleeping with a Brazillian supermodel. It might be because I almost won the lottery. Or the fact that I nearly flew a baloon around the world.

Bozo's? is on the verge is on the verge is on the verge is on the verge , but hasn't quite yet. You twit.
_______________________________________
Canuck : One of my neighbors was Secret Service (works for a different agency now). He said the same thing. So did the Secret Service nephew of a coworker. The Secret Service always considered Al Gore to be a dick.

Leo: How sure are you that the stuff that Algore got is legal?

How sure are you it wasn't? To make the charges you're making it seems to me you need to establish that the fish was illegal, he knew it was illegal, and he acquiesced anyway. Once you do that, then you have to establish the link between Chilean sea bass overfishing and global warming. There may be one, but I'm not familiar with it. Absent that link, I've never heard him speak out about anything related to Chilean sea bass overfishing. Even the salmon reference is several steps removed.

And I don't get the carrot reference at all. Maybe it has something to do with Kahn's Brazilian supermodel, lol!

" you have to establish the link between Chilean sea bass overfishing and global warming. There may be one, but I'm not familiar with it."

Rico, Chilean sea Bass are caught off the coast of between Patagonia (Tierra del Fuego) and Antarctica. The are frozen and flown from CHile or Mauritius to the Northern Hemishpere. How many millions of tons of carbon are spent in that endeavor? See the link yet?

The hypocrisy of leftists like Congressive and Kblack is astonishing. YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS GUYS. If you are going to condemn people driving SUVs, then you've got to condemn ALGORE for his choice of flying an endangered species in from halfway around the world to feed the liberals at his daughters wedding, when he could have had catfish out of the Great Muddy.

A little consistency would go along way toward adding some modicum of credibility to your typical rants.

Absent that link, I've never heard him speak out about anything related to Chilean sea bass overfishing.

From Fishupdate.com:

THE Chilean sea bass dish served to high profile green campaigner Al Gore at his daughter's Beverly Hills wedding was from an eco-certified fishery, it has emerged today.

But, according to The Telegraph, the fish enjoyed by the Gores were not endangered or illegally caught.

Rather, the restaurant later confirmed, they had come from one of the world's few well-managed, sustainable populations of toothfish, and were caught and documented in compliance with Marine Stewardship Council regulations.

Back to our regular programming schedule:

The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported today that 2007 has been “the second warmest on record for January-June year-to-date period,” missing 1998 by only 0.01°C.

'THE Chilean sea bass dish served to high profile green campaigner Al Gore at his daughter's Beverly Hills wedding was from an eco-certified fishery, it has emerged today.'

Posted by: Willem van Oranje at July 19, 2007 07:13 AM

Isn't the Internet grand? Lies and distortions can be shot down so easily by the facts.

Isn't the Internet grand? Lies and distortions can be shot down so easily by the facts.

Yeah, CO, but, for a short time, it provided a grand opportunity to poke fun at that doofus, Algore. Bush bashers routinely grasp as much thinner straws.

WVO, the problem with your statement about the temperature is that the phrase "on record" refers to a time frame that is but a dust speck in the planet's history. And, on top of that, we're just beginning to find that many of the recording devices are not exactly optimumly sited.

hummm...looks like Gore's off my voting list of earmarking multi-millionaire, corporate-sponsored attorneys who chow exotic species.

lets see who's left(?)...oh yea, all the rest.

(sigh) - think I'll go back to watching "bizarre foods" w andrew zimmerman.

Well, I didn't intend to creat a new word. That should have been "optimally" sited. Too much coffee, I guess.

RS

many of the recording devices are not exactly optimumly sited.

I'm a little confused with this certified fishery thing. I went looking for info on this fish last night also. I had some of this fish a few years back, and it's pretty good. I had heard you couldn't get it anymore because it was endangered.

Is the fish endangered or not? If it is, well it is. Isn't it? I must admit that I didn't realize that you could raise endangered species and kill them. Does that mean you could raise elephants for ivory or tigers as well?

Really - no joking - I just don't get how this works.

Really - no joking - I just don't get how this works.

Kahn, much of Leftist thought is a mystery to me too. I suspect that there are more Libs who desire to partake of exotic foods than there are who desire to own things carved from ivory, so they figure out a way to get around the endangered species problem. I joked about it earlier, but it really is no different than buying and selling carbon credits so that people like Algore don't have to alter their hypocritical lifestyle.

The debate here centers on the illegality of the fish species served at AlGores daughters wedding. (First of all, we all need to get a life)

However, shouldn't AlGore, the Preacher, hold himself to a higher standard? Shouldn't he conduct himself in manner that no one could even possibly question his Eco conduct?

You've never heard of calibration?

Willem, I suspect this is just a red herring, but on the outside chance that it is a real consideration, I've posted the question at Anthony's site. I'm sure sensors are recallibrated on a regular basis, and it seems to me that Anthony has even addressed that part of the equation in the past. But I'm not sure how or why you would want to recallibrate a sensor to accomodate something like an airconditioning exhaust or a burn barrel that doesn't exert an undue influence on the sensor 100% of the time as opposed to simply moving the sensor (or the undue influence) farther apart.

I've followed Anthony's research almost from the beginning, and I'm totally amazed that no one has ever attempted such a project before. If a significant degree of innacuracy exists for temperature sensors whose data are used for climate models, then the models themselves have to be suspect -- GIGO.

neocon,

Glad you brought up the "he played on our fears" AlGore moment. I've been thinking about what he was really doing, and this thread give me a chance to air my thoughts.

When AlGore screamed at the audience, "He Misled us. He played on our fears", exactly what was he doing?

He was creating the fear in his audience that the President and the Bush Administration would mislead them about the terrorist threat and then the Administration would "play on those fears".

AlGore is doing exactly what he was accusing the President of doing, misleading the American people to create a fear, then playing on those fears. He was one of the leading advocates to depose Saddam. What a total hypocrite.

In every interview I have seen of the former Vice-President, he comes across as smug, holier-than-thou, an elitist, and sees himself as the savior of humanity. There has been only one "savior of humanity", and it wasn't AlGore.

He misled the American people when he took credit for taking the initiative in creating the Internet.

He is misleading the American people, and the world, when he is trying to place the blame for the natural cycle of global warming and cooling on human factors. His "Inconvenient Truth" piece of propaganda is filled with "Convenient Lies, half-truths, and distortions".

He is misleading the American people when he is advocating personal conservation of our resources while his new home consumes 20 times the electricity of the average American home and he uses fuel guzzling private jets to spread the word on "Climte Change" and conservatism.

Even more that the other leaders of the left, AlGore is the poster child for Hypocracy.

spread the word on "Climte Change" and conservatism.

Algore spreads the word on "conservatism"? I did not know that, LOL. Did you perhaps mean "conservation"?

I guess that should be "Climate Change" and "conservationism".

KEEP focusing on $400 haircuts, 100 mph Prius’, $1500 electric bills, and Chilean Seabass while the True Patriots focus on our mangled Constitutuion,Healthcare,the Iraq debacle, the declining Dollar, Slumping wages,torture, the compromised DOJ, top to bottom corruption etc. etc. F’ ing Reichwing Loooooozers.

RS

If a significant degree of innacuracy exists for temperature sensors whose data are used for climate models,

"There has been only one "savior of humanity", and it wasn't AlGore."

It was Mr. Bush!

"He misled the American people when he took credit for taking the initiative in creating the Internet."

But, he did lead the iniative:

http://www.perkel.com/politics/gore/internet.htm

RS, here is a pdf from climatescience.gov that discusses data acquisition and analysis not only for the GISTEMP dataset but also for several other global datasets.

An excert about Land-based temperature data:

Land-based temperature data
Over land, temperature data come from fixed weather observing stations with thermometers housed in special instrument shelters. Records of temperature from many thousands of such stations exist. Chapter 2 outlines the difficulties in developing reliable surface temperature datasets. One concern is the variety of changes that may affect temperature measurements at an individual station. For example, the thermometer or instrument shelter might change, the time of day when the thermometers are read might change, or the station might move. These problems are addressed through a variety of procedures (see Peterson et al., 1998 for a review) that are generally quite successful at removing the effects of such changes at individual stations (e.g., Vose et al., 2003 and Peterson, 2005) whether the changes are documented in the metadata or detected via statistical analysis using data from neighboring stations as well (Aguilar et al., 2003). Subtle or widespread impacts that might be expected from urbanization or the growth of trees around observing sites might still contaminate a dataset. These problems are addressed either actively in the data processing stage (e.g., Hansen et al., 2001) or through dataset evaluation to ensure as much as possible that the data are not biased (e.g., Jones et al., 1990; Peterson, 2003; Parker, 2004; Peterson and Owen, 2005)

Just proves how ignorant Al Gore is about his religion.

Willem, you didn't even look at the site I linked to, did you, or at the actual project site? If this is a topic that interests you, you might want to track the progress of Anthony's project. You might learn something.

How about David Vitter and hypocracy?
And what does eating fish have to do with climate change?
How many neocons does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Neocons don't screw in lightbulbs, they screw in brothels!

When you consider the Bush administration's relentless war against the environment it takes some nerve to spend so much time trashing someone who partook of a legally caught (certified), legally imported fish.
Where was the outrage when the administration announced its 2002 water allocation plan for the Klamath basin? It is estimated that some 60,000 salmon died as a result.
Or the 2004 decision to allow hydroelectric dams to reduce spill -- finally struck down in April, 2007 by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on the grounds that it violated the Endangered Species Act. Potential savings to the hydropower industry -- $18-$20 million -- risk to endangered Oncorhyncids -- priceless.
Or, how about the August, 2005 decision to reduce protected river miles in the Pacific northwest from 167,700 to a mere 33,300? These fishes are already reduced to only 40 percent of their natural range.
Mr. Bush and his enablers like Rep. Richard Pombo and Sen. Larry Craig have forsaken wild salmon stocks to satisfy the hydroelectric industry, the logging industry, big agriculture, ranching or any other activity that chooses to exploit endangered species for profit -- most of these activities occuring on public land.
The list goes on and on as does the war on endangered salmon -- as usual, the administration has thrown a few extra dollars at the problem and declared their good intentions.
We could look at Bush administration's revision of things like the "Roadless Rule", but this thread was about a fish as I recall.
I won't call you people "hypocrits", however, you've made it clear, at least, since Reagan's infamous, "You've seen one tree you've seen them all" comment that trashing the environment is never a problem for Republicans -- as long as there is a profit in it for a crony.
You're not hypocrits -- but you are pretty disgusting.

On Larry Craig and Richard Pombo -- they're not the only ones (just two of the worst). Happily, Pombo is gone now and Craig looks to be endangered, himself.

Yes, I did look. And it was extremely silly.
You didn't understand one word I was saying now, did you?

Correct data acquisition is the primary and probably most important concern of any scientist. Nothing is more important than correct data. And scientists are extremely aware of problems with measuring and data acquisition. These problems have been adressed and tackled long before ‘weatherman’ Anthony Watts started his little ‘project’. And they will continue to address and tackle such problems long after Anthony ‘finishes’ his little project.

Salvelinus: You're not hypocrits -- but you are pretty disgusting.

That statement could be applied to oh, so many issues. Which is worse -- the hypocrisy charge or disgust? My opinion is that hypocrisy is worse, because it assumes an underlying disgust (which is itself rather nebulous without a specific reference) and disregards it to the extent of partaking in it. In either case, though, the labels mean little in and of themselves. It's the back story, the underlying reality, that is essential.

Is the salmon story really that disgusting? I'm not going to research it, but I'm curious.

I think the original article had a typo. It was supposed to say "100% of Chilean sea bass is illegally caught." If almost 50% of it is caught or farmed illegally, that means that more than half of the amount captured worldwide is caught legally. It would seem to then be necessary to show why we should believe that Gore's fishes fall into the former group.

If presented as a logic problem, we start with the given that "almost half of the fish are caught illegally." The conclusion should be "Al Gore's fish are caught illegally." So we just need the part that shows "Al Gore's fish are not captured legally" and then it fits together seemlessly. Until then, it seems like baseless accusation. Oh, sorry. Forgot which site this was. Continue on

I mean, should you be arrested if the tomatoes you bought at a grocery were cultivated by illegal immigrants?

No, Broder, but the guy who hired the illegals should be arrested, and the illegals should be deported.

i don't have to defend every democrat to know that Bush is wrong

I don't have to read every one of your posts to know that you're--not your--a stupid, moronic dumbass, Dr. Dumbass...

Keefer-

Ur a dum poo poo hed!

it's U'r a dum poo poo hed!

Since this story turned out to be incorrect and has been debunked, when can we expect B4B to post a correction? Surely they don't want people to think they're more interested in destroying liberals than telling the truth.

"Since this story turned out to be incorrect and has been debunked."

Incorrect accordg to whom??? The eatery that served the fish!!!! not too credible.

The self appointed lib group MSC, that certifies companies as employing sustainable harvesting practises "FOR A FEE"!!! less credible

or the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Living Marine Resources, a multi-government watchdog group, set up under international treaty, which has declared the Patagonia Toothfish as ENDANGERED???

We report you decide.

Sorry libs, hate to confuse you with those pesky facts.

Ricorun,
On second thought, I'm sure you're right -- the comments of some of those above are amazingly hypocritical in that these same people back the administration's every move on environmental issues while trash talking someone who ate a fish that might be (but wasn't) protected.
The back story is pretty disgusting -- but there is no hypocrisy since nobody douts that wild salmon stocks are a low priority for this administration.
Since the fishes concerned are of tremendous importance both economically and culturally to the region and, in a larger sense, to all of us.
Their native range literally defines what we call the "Pacific northwest."
Though it seems useless to discuss oncorhyncid ecology in a forum where most of those in the peanut gallery don't believe in evolution -- these fishes are also very interesting in a strictly scientific sense as well. Of the seven species involved, all but one is also native to Asia (one more in Asia not found in NA).
Nobody really knows when the oncorhyncids speciated but it is known that they moved north from their southern rufugia at the end of the last ice age leaving relic populations as far south as the mountains of the Baha peninsula and inland to the Mississippi.
Thus, in just the last 10-40,000 years these fishes colonized the entire Pacific rim north of a line running from Baha to Japan.
The fact that as many as seven closely related species adapted, or even evolved (salmonid species are very plastic) to use what are, generally speaking, not particularly rich environments without interbreeding (except when rainbow and cutthroat trout of the interior are mixed) and without even competing with one another is of tremendous interest. Instead, the resource is shared, each species filling a particular niche by staggering spawning times, choice of substrate, length of time juveniles spend in their natal stream, etc.-- and here's the kicker -- while the stock from different watersheds do not even qualify as subspecies -- they are unique to their watershed and seldom interact with fishes from even neigboring watersheds (so they are typically referred to as "stocks").
The fact that the administration is willing to play fast and loose with their survival is "pretty disgusting."
Bush even tried to cut the funding for the USFWS lab that tracks them -- fortunately, public outcry forced him to relent.
I appologize for the overly long explanation -- I'm sure it's more than anyone cares to know.
The fact that Bush can throw away $2 billion a week fighting a war that was not necessary, while ignoring (or even abetting) the impending loss of these irreplaceable stocks is, well, disgusting.

Ricorun,
Several subspecies of Mexican trout are also found on the Mexican mainland, though at basically the same latitude, my bad.