My god, is Obama for real? I couldn't believe this when I tripped on
it. Fishing is sacred stuff.

Obama is about to ban fishing?

In what may be the worst example of outdoor sports reporting in the
history of America, ESPN has claimed that President Barack Obama is on
the verge of banning recreational fishing.

ESPNOutdoors.com writer Robert Montgomery posted an article today
claiming that the administration's decision to end the public comment
phase of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force means that Obama is
likely preparing to issue an executive order outlawing recreational
fishing in America.

As a sportsman who covers fisheries management and politics I do think
there are many issues surrounding the Interagency Ocean Policy Task
Force and its eventual recommendations that all fishermen should be
aware of and concerned about.

But to go from concern to suggesting that President Obama is about to
ban fishing in America is the most absurd and irresponsible thing I have
ever seen a major news outlet publish. There is not even a remote
possibility that a standing president of the United States will outlaw
fishing in America.

And yet, Robert Montgomery presents his case that it is about to happen
as if it is the most likely thing in the world.

ESPN should have to provide some answer for why they allowed this
irresponsible article to be published under their logo.

Let me try to walk you through what is happening, and where this crazy
ESPN story came from, so that you can see how a legitimate news source
could so irrationally let something like this go public.

The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force was created to study things like
fishing and how it is regulated, and how we as fishermen are managing
our interaction with the environment.

To a sportsman like me, this is certainly a cause for attention and
concern, as some fringe environmental groups have expressed foolish and
extreme ideas about fishing which responsible anglers and sportsmen
would certainly like to counter.

Most environmental groups, however, have legitimate concerns which
recreational fishing groups can understand and work with to keep fishing
open throughout America and still be wise stewards of the resource.

However, the conflicts between commercial fishing groups and
environmental groups throughout the country have been much more
rancorous, and it is certainly not all the environmentalists' fault.

In state after state for decades commercial fishermen have made poor
choices and overharvested species of fish. Meanwhile, both recreational
anglers and environmentalists have fought to stop fish or other wildlife
from being threatened or endangered due to unwise fishing practices.

Instead of attempting to find a compromise, commercial fishing groups
have fought these efforts every step of the way. Because of that, the
feud between the environmental groups and the commercial fishing groups
has become harsh and bitter, filled with ugly, unethical politics on
both sides.

What does this have to do with recreational fishermen? Right now, not a
lot. In fact, recreational fishermen in many states have long been
complaining themselves that commercial fishermen are not following
proper and responsible species management procedures.

In fact, recreational anglers have often had to organize efforts like
the Florida inshore gill net ban in 1994 to stop commercial fishing
abuse, and in doing so environmental groups (far from being the green
wackos they are portrayed as) have proven valuable allies to
recreational fishermen.

Yes, some extreme groups are not liked by recreational anglers because
their agenda really is extreme and, frankly, about as un-American you
can get for a responsible southern sportsman like me. PETA is the
biggest and best-funded example. I have no love for PETA or its allies.
I do, however, appreciate many of the other more mainstream and sensible
environmental organizations and support their efforts.

Most environmental groups have demonstrated the understanding that we
must retain our nation's outdoors sports tradition while still
protecting our natural resources. That is why the Interagency Ocean
Policy Task Force was created.

Am I going to agree with everything that this task force does? Probably
not. Issues like access to fishery grounds and over-regulation of
species without sound scientific data are legitimate concerns. However,
in no way shape or form is the task force President Obama created about
to ban recreational fishing. That is silly. ESPN should be ashamed.

No, it is the commercial fishermen who have much to fear. Many
commercial fishermen are fine and responsible individuals, but as a
group in state after state they have allowed short-term mismanagement of
fish stocks in exchange for short-term profits.

I have been writing about these issues in North and South Carolina for
over 15 years and I can tell you without hesitation the worst enemy of
commercial fishermen has been commercial fishermen. I have been pleading
with them for years to explore compromise on these issues, and they will
not.

Now they are in trouble, and commercial groups know in a direct fight
against environmentalists they will lose. So they are clinging to an
amazingly brazen life line: They have decided to scare recreational
fishermen in an effort to get recs like me to fight the
environmentalists with them.

It is such a hypocritical stance I can't even begin to express it in
words. It goes back to years and years of backroom good old boy politics
that kept sensible fishing laws out of many places in the U.S. (my home
state of North Carolina is a great example, but there are plenty more).

Now, after attacking recreation fishermen for years and fighting them
tooth and nail against any efforts to have responsible fisheries
management in this country, commercial fishermen are trying to make us
their best friends because they are so scared of the environmentalists.

Well, I'm scared too. I'm scared responsible recreational fishermen are
going to get lumped together with irresponsible commercial fishermen.
That is exactly what folks like Robert Montgomery want to see happen.

Recreation anglers give commercial fishermen more credibility and
respect, because in almost every state responsible recreational
fishermen have worked hard at things like reasonable size and creel
limits on fish and keeping harmful interaction with wildlife to a
minimum. Recs have done exactly what the commercial industry as a whole
has not done: Be responsible.

But if you lump all fishermen together and recs take on the sins of
commercial fishermen then we are in trouble indeed. No, it will not be
Obama banning fishing. But it will be tougher regulations on anglers, I
can assure you.

Many anglers may not understand and may do the same thing ESPN writer
Robert Montgomery is doing: Blame environmental groups and President
Obama for the problem. And the commercial fishing industry will happily
encourage them to do so. As recreational fishermen, we need to avoid
that at all cost.

I have been fighting with commercial fishermen for years over their lack
of responsibility and self-management. To think that I will now be
blamed for their actions infuriates me.

But I am not mad at environmental groups or President Obama, I am angry
at the people who caused the problems in the first place and now hang
like an albatross around a simple recreational fisherman's neck.

No, Obama is not about to ban recreational fishing. We are about to see,
however, commercial fishermen answer for past decades of abuse of our
natural resources.

I, for one, do not want to see all commercial fisherman lose their
businesses. I think they are a valuable and important part of our
nation. But I can tell you this (from long experience): The leaders of
the commercial fishing lobby are irresponsible and poor stewards of the
environment. And they are now playing desperation politics, trying to
get responsible recreational anglers to take the bait.

That makes all fishermen look bad, including folks like me who have
actually been calling for commercial fishing reform for years.

President Obama may not be about to ban fishing but there are more
difficult times for fishermen ahead. Before we start pointing fingers at
environmentalists and believing wild conspiracies we need to look at
fisheries management history and put the blame for this all where it
really belongs.
--
The bigger government gets, the more it tends to rule out common sense.

On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:32:13 -0600, Canuck57
wrote:

My god, is Obama for real? I couldn't believe this when I tripped on
it. Fishing is sacred stuff.

Obama is about to ban fishing?

In what may be the worst example of outdoor sports reporting in the
history of America, ESPN has claimed that President Barack Obama is on
the verge of banning recreational fishing.

ever notice how the right gets SSOOOO upset over stuff obama is GOING
to do?

OMFG!!! HE'S GONNA BAN GUNS!!!

nope.

OMFG!! HE"S GOING TO NATIONALIZE BANKS!!!

nope

OMFG!!! HE"S GONNA BAN FISHING!!!

when he actually DOES any of these things, you be sure and let me
know, OK?




President Obama may not be about to ban fishing but there are more
difficult times for fishermen ahead. Before we start pointing fingers at
environmentalists and believing wild conspiracies we need to look at
fisheries management history and put the blame for this all where it
really belongs.

now THIS makes sense!!

On 6/20/10 3:32 PM, Canuck57 wrote:
My god, is Obama for real? I couldn't believe this when I tripped on
it. Fishing is sacred stuff.

Obama is about to ban fishing?

In what may be the worst example of outdoor sports reporting in the
history of America, ESPN has claimed that President Barack Obama is on
the verge of banning recreational fishing.

ESPNOutdoors.com writer Robert Montgomery

You ignorant ass...Montgomery's piece has been debunked over and over:

Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh need to shut up about Obama fishing ban
*March 11* , 12:48 PM · Jeffrey Weeks - Charlotte Fishing Examiner

I have spent the last two days trying to undo the damage ESPN did when
it allowed writer Robert Montgomery to fuel the absurd Obama fishing ban
rumor, yet right-wing bloggers and media personalities like Rush
Limbaugh and Glenn Beck continue to spread this lie and anger more and
more fishermen.

There are huge dangers in what is happening for the American
recreational angler. If we allow extreme right-wing conservatives to
become the national spokesmen for us as fishermen against the Obama
Administration and environmental groups, we run the risk of actually
encouraging the over-regulation of fishing in the USA.

The truth of the matter, as I have repeatedly stated since ESPN started
the Obama fishing ban myth earlier this week, is that the administration
Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force is likely to recommend broad
potential regulations on some ocean fishing which will not affect
average recreational fishermen at all.

However, both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh as well as the National
Review and other right-wing bloggers are now reporting ESPN's false
rumor that Obama wants to ban recreational fishing as essentially fact
and trying to make themselves spokesmen for American anglers.

Meanwhile, some average fishermen are so confused by this they have
turned fishing in America into yet another conservative versus liberal
firestorm and are on the verge of tactually making recreational fishing
into a Tea Party issue.

I and others like me have actually been accused across the internet of
promoting an Obama administration plan to ban recreational fishing!

Anyone who knows me at all knows that this is like some kind of
monstrously ironic joke. If I thought Obama were actually out to ban
fishing I would be in Washington banging down the White House door.

I am a lifelong recreational angler and fishing is a huge passion in my
life. I would no more support a secret plan to ban recreational fishing
than I would support a full scale nuclear war.

Meanwhile, both the White House and environmental groups are clearly
confused as well.

The Obama Administration, while still obviously not understanding what
rock this crazy rumor crawled out from, has issued an urgent denial of
the fake ban fishing plot. And environmentalists have been contacting ME
in total confusion trying to figure out what America's fishermen are so
upset about.

The real danger for fishermen is that there are true concerns to be had
about both environmental over-regulation of fishing and the final report
and recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. I and
some other fishing journalist have been writing about the dangers of
over-environmentalism and fishing for years.

But nobody out there is going to listen to us as long as Limbaugh and
Beck are blowing this story out of proportion and making American
fishermen sound like right-wing nut jobs.

We may actually find the average US recreational angler shut out of this
debate as the Obama Administration and environmental groups begin
fighting by reflex against the Tea Party folks and fishermen stand back
confused and misled about what is actually happening.

Frankly, as a recreational angler in America this is about the worst
thing that could have happened to USA fishermen. I was worried about a
coming struggle against environmental regulations in the first place.

I've benn praying that American anglers would stay cool and pool their
resources to let everyone know that we as fishermen care passionately
about the environment and are not the danger to fish stocks and
endangered species that some extreme environmentalists may claim.

Now, instead of sounding reasonable we are losing all our credibility as
if we could care less about sounding rational and actually influencing
environmental policy. Mainstream and (before this) level-headed
recreational fishing leaders are starting to sound dangerously just like
extreme right-wing bloggers.

This has got to end, and now. Otherwise we really WILL face some harmful
environmental over-regulation in the future and we won't be able to
fight it.

Amercia's fishermen need to immediately and forcefully tell Rush
Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to shut up about the mythical Obama fishing ban.

If you are an angler who cares about recreational fishing please pass
the truth on to other fishermen and demand ESPN take responsibility for
this harmful myth before this stops being about fishing and the
environment and becomes just one more political issue decided upon by
government officials and talk media extremists.

- - -


You really are an asshole, canuck.

On 20/06/2010 1:51 PM, Harry wrote:
On 6/20/10 3:32 PM, Canuck57 wrote:
My god, is Obama for real? I couldn't believe this when I tripped on
it. Fishing is sacred stuff.

Obama is about to ban fishing?

In what may be the worst example of outdoor sports reporting in the
history of America, ESPN has claimed that President Barack Obama is on
the verge of banning recreational fishing.

ESPNOutdoors.com writer Robert Montgomery

You ignorant ass...Montgomery's piece has been debunked over and over:

Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh need to shut up about Obama fishing ban
*March 11* , 12:48 PM · Jeffrey Weeks - Charlotte Fishing Examiner

I have spent the last two days trying to undo the damage ESPN did when
it allowed writer Robert Montgomery to fuel the absurd Obama fishing ban
rumor, yet right-wing bloggers and media personalities like Rush
Limbaugh and Glenn Beck continue to spread this lie and anger more and
more fishermen.

There are huge dangers in what is happening for the American
recreational angler. If we allow extreme right-wing conservatives to
become the national spokesmen for us as fishermen against the Obama
Administration and environmental groups, we run the risk of actually
encouraging the over-regulation of fishing in the USA.

The truth of the matter, as I have repeatedly stated since ESPN started
the Obama fishing ban myth earlier this week, is that the administration
Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force is likely to recommend broad
potential regulations on some ocean fishing which will not affect
average recreational fishermen at all.

However, both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh as well as the National
Review and other right-wing bloggers are now reporting ESPN's false
rumor that Obama wants to ban recreational fishing as essentially fact
and trying to make themselves spokesmen for American anglers.

Meanwhile, some average fishermen are so confused by this they have
turned fishing in America into yet another conservative versus liberal
firestorm and are on the verge of tactually making recreational fishing
into a Tea Party issue.

I and others like me have actually been accused across the internet of
promoting an Obama administration plan to ban recreational fishing!

Anyone who knows me at all knows that this is like some kind of
monstrously ironic joke. If I thought Obama were actually out to ban
fishing I would be in Washington banging down the White House door.

I am a lifelong recreational angler and fishing is a huge passion in my
life. I would no more support a secret plan to ban recreational fishing
than I would support a full scale nuclear war.

Meanwhile, both the White House and environmental groups are clearly
confused as well.

The Obama Administration, while still obviously not understanding what
rock this crazy rumor crawled out from, has issued an urgent denial of
the fake ban fishing plot. And environmentalists have been contacting ME
in total confusion trying to figure out what America's fishermen are so
upset about.

The real danger for fishermen is that there are true concerns to be had
about both environmental over-regulation of fishing and the final report
and recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. I and
some other fishing journalist have been writing about the dangers of
over-environmentalism and fishing for years.

But nobody out there is going to listen to us as long as Limbaugh and
Beck are blowing this story out of proportion and making American
fishermen sound like right-wing nut jobs.

We may actually find the average US recreational angler shut out of this
debate as the Obama Administration and environmental groups begin
fighting by reflex against the Tea Party folks and fishermen stand back
confused and misled about what is actually happening.

Frankly, as a recreational angler in America this is about the worst
thing that could have happened to USA fishermen. I was worried about a
coming struggle against environmental regulations in the first place.

I've benn praying that American anglers would stay cool and pool their
resources to let everyone know that we as fishermen care passionately
about the environment and are not the danger to fish stocks and
endangered species that some extreme environmentalists may claim.

Now, instead of sounding reasonable we are losing all our credibility as
if we could care less about sounding rational and actually influencing
environmental policy. Mainstream and (before this) level-headed
recreational fishing leaders are starting to sound dangerously just like
extreme right-wing bloggers.

This has got to end, and now. Otherwise we really WILL face some harmful
environmental over-regulation in the future and we won't be able to
fight it.

Amercia's fishermen need to immediately and forcefully tell Rush
Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to shut up about the mythical Obama fishing ban.

If you are an angler who cares about recreational fishing please pass
the truth on to other fishermen and demand ESPN take responsibility for
this harmful myth before this stops being about fishing and the
environment and becomes just one more political issue decided upon by
government officials and talk media extremists.

You really are an asshole, canuck.

Stuff it Harry, it is the left that wants control.

Rand Paul and Sara Palin, would be a good ticket.

--
The bigger government gets, the more it tends to rule out common sense.

On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:15:56 -0600, Canuck57
wrote:



Stuff it Harry, it is the left that wants control.

ROFLMAO!!! who DOESNT want control? the right? with their sex
obsession and desire to put a cop in every bedroom?

jesus you're stupid


Rand Paul and Sara Palin, would be a good ticket.

liars, thugs and racists running america?

typical right wingers

On 20/06/2010 3:26 PM, bpuharic wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:15:56 -0600,
wrote:



Stuff it Harry, it is the left that wants control.

ROFLMAO!!! who DOESNT want control? the right? with their sex
obsession and desire to put a cop in every bedroom?

jesus you're stupid

Make some sense!! I don't want to hear your fantasies about sex
obsessions in your dreams.

Rand Paul and Sara Palin, would be a good ticket.

liars, thugs and racists running america?

typical right wingers

Not only right, more importantly than right, they are anti-statist. I
know your small mind thinks left-right and that is it, but the other is
front (startism) and back (libertarian).

Less government is better for all in the end, even you poor slugs as in
the end you have to have a good enough economy to support the
government. And if government gets too big, no one will want to support it.

One way or another, our governments are now too fat, too expensive and
we the economy can't support their dead weight any longer. In Caanda we
call it the underground economy. Very much alive and well.

--
The bigger government gets, the more it tends to rule out common sense.

On 6/20/10 7:05 PM, Canuck57 wrote:
On 20/06/2010 3:26 PM, bpuharic wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:15:56 -0600,
wrote:



Stuff it Harry, it is the left that wants control.

ROFLMAO!!! who DOESNT want control? the right? with their sex
obsession and desire to put a cop in every bedroom?

jesus you're stupid

Make some sense!! I don't want to hear your fantasies about sex
obsessions in your dreams.

Rand Paul and Sara Palin, would be a good ticket.

liars, thugs and racists running america?

typical right wingers

Not only right, more importantly than right, they are anti-statist. I
know your small mind thinks left-right and that is it, but the other is
front (startism) and back (libertarian).

Less government is better for all in the end, even you poor slugs as in
the end you have to have a good enough economy to support the
government. And if government gets too big, no one will want to support it.

One way or another, our governments are now too fat, too expensive and
we the economy can't support their dead weight any longer. In Caanda we
call it the underground economy. Very much alive and well.



Ahhh...you're a loonitarian. Figures.

On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 17:05:45 -0600, Canuck57
wrote:

On 20/06/2010 3:26 PM, bpuharic wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:15:56 -0600,
wrote:



Stuff it Harry, it is the left that wants control.

ROFLMAO!!! who DOESNT want control? the right? with their sex
obsession and desire to put a cop in every bedroom?

jesus you're stupid

Make some sense!! I don't want to hear your fantasies about sex
obsessions in your dreams.

never heard of maggie gallagher, have you? brian brown? judie brown,
mary ann glendon...robert george

you know nothing about the US. you know zip about what the right
believes. you h ave your little transistor tuned to rush and it gives
you all the answers



Rand Paul and Sara Palin, would be a good ticket.

liars, thugs and racists running america?

typical right wingers

Not only right, more importantly than right, they are anti-statist.

the right has never been anti state except when the state intervened
to protect individual rights. THEN they become 'anti statist'

I
know your small mind thinks left-right and that is it, but the other is
front (startism) and back (libertarian).

the libertarians are a group of befuddled, well meaning back water
idiots who cant think their way out of a paper bag.


Less government is better for all in the end

when has the right or the libertarians, ever believed in less govt?
the right LOVES to intrude on privacy. read the works of robert bork

oh. you've never heard of bork....

or the works of robert george

oh. you've never head of him either....


One way or another, our governments are now too fat, too expensive and
we the economy can't support their dead weight any longer. In Caanda we
call it the underground economy. Very much alive and well.

blah blah blah.

On 6/20/10 5:15 PM, Canuck57 wrote:
On 20/06/2010 1:51 PM, Harry wrote:
On 6/20/10 3:32 PM, Canuck57 wrote:
My god, is Obama for real? I couldn't believe this when I tripped on
it. Fishing is sacred stuff.

Obama is about to ban fishing?

In what may be the worst example of outdoor sports reporting in the
history of America, ESPN has claimed that President Barack Obama is on
the verge of banning recreational fishing.

ESPNOutdoors.com writer Robert Montgomery

You ignorant ass...Montgomery's piece has been debunked over and over:

Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh need to shut up about Obama fishing ban
*March 11* , 12:48 PM · Jeffrey Weeks - Charlotte Fishing Examiner

I have spent the last two days trying to undo the damage ESPN did when
it allowed writer Robert Montgomery to fuel the absurd Obama fishing ban
rumor, yet right-wing bloggers and media personalities like Rush
Limbaugh and Glenn Beck continue to spread this lie and anger more and
more fishermen.

There are huge dangers in what is happening for the American
recreational angler. If we allow extreme right-wing conservatives to
become the national spokesmen for us as fishermen against the Obama
Administration and environmental groups, we run the risk of actually
encouraging the over-regulation of fishing in the USA.

The truth of the matter, as I have repeatedly stated since ESPN started
the Obama fishing ban myth earlier this week, is that the administration
Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force is likely to recommend broad
potential regulations on some ocean fishing which will not affect
average recreational fishermen at all.

However, both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh as well as the National
Review and other right-wing bloggers are now reporting ESPN's false
rumor that Obama wants to ban recreational fishing as essentially fact
and trying to make themselves spokesmen for American anglers.

Meanwhile, some average fishermen are so confused by this they have
turned fishing in America into yet another conservative versus liberal
firestorm and are on the verge of tactually making recreational fishing
into a Tea Party issue.

I and others like me have actually been accused across the internet of
promoting an Obama administration plan to ban recreational fishing!

Anyone who knows me at all knows that this is like some kind of
monstrously ironic joke. If I thought Obama were actually out to ban
fishing I would be in Washington banging down the White House door.

I am a lifelong recreational angler and fishing is a huge passion in my
life. I would no more support a secret plan to ban recreational fishing
than I would support a full scale nuclear war.

Meanwhile, both the White House and environmental groups are clearly
confused as well.

The Obama Administration, while still obviously not understanding what
rock this crazy rumor crawled out from, has issued an urgent denial of
the fake ban fishing plot. And environmentalists have been contacting ME
in total confusion trying to figure out what America's fishermen are so
upset about.

The real danger for fishermen is that there are true concerns to be had
about both environmental over-regulation of fishing and the final report
and recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. I and
some other fishing journalist have been writing about the dangers of
over-environmentalism and fishing for years.

But nobody out there is going to listen to us as long as Limbaugh and
Beck are blowing this story out of proportion and making American
fishermen sound like right-wing nut jobs.

We may actually find the average US recreational angler shut out of this
debate as the Obama Administration and environmental groups begin
fighting by reflex against the Tea Party folks and fishermen stand back
confused and misled about what is actually happening.

Frankly, as a recreational angler in America this is about the worst
thing that could have happened to USA fishermen. I was worried about a
coming struggle against environmental regulations in the first place.

I've benn praying that American anglers would stay cool and pool their
resources to let everyone know that we as fishermen care passionately
about the environment and are not the danger to fish stocks and
endangered species that some extreme environmentalists may claim.

Now, instead of sounding reasonable we are losing all our credibility as
if we could care less about sounding rational and actually influencing
environmental policy. Mainstream and (before this) level-headed
recreational fishing leaders are starting to sound dangerously just like
extreme right-wing bloggers.

This has got to end, and now. Otherwise we really WILL face some harmful
environmental over-regulation in the future and we won't be able to
fight it.

Amercia's fishermen need to immediately and forcefully tell Rush
Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to shut up about the mythical Obama fishing ban.

If you are an angler who cares about recreational fishing please pass
the truth on to other fishermen and demand ESPN take responsibility for
this harmful myth before this stops being about fishing and the
environment and becomes just one more political issue decided upon by
government officials and talk media extremists.

You really are an asshole, canuck.

Stuff it Harry, it is the left that wants control.

Rand Paul and Sara Palin, would be a good ticket.



Sarah Palin the moronic quitter, and Randy Paul, who thinks the private
sector should not be required to obey civil rights laws? Maybe in your
world of the insane.

Nice try with the debunked "fishing" bull****...Maybe you can convince
Snotty Scotty...the guy with the two digit IQ.

"Canuck57" wrote in message
...
On 20/06/2010 1:51 PM, Harry wrote:
On 6/20/10 3:32 PM, Canuck57 wrote:
My god, is Obama for real? I couldn't believe this when I tripped on
it. Fishing is sacred stuff.

Obama is about to ban fishing?

In what may be the worst example of outdoor sports reporting in the
history of America, ESPN has claimed that President Barack Obama is on
the verge of banning recreational fishing.

ESPNOutdoors.com writer Robert Montgomery

You ignorant ass...Montgomery's piece has been debunked over and over:

Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh need to shut up about Obama fishing ban
*March 11* , 12:48 PM · Jeffrey Weeks - Charlotte Fishing Examiner

I have spent the last two days trying to undo the damage ESPN did when
it allowed writer Robert Montgomery to fuel the absurd Obama fishing ban
rumor, yet right-wing bloggers and media personalities like Rush
Limbaugh and Glenn Beck continue to spread this lie and anger more and
more fishermen.

There are huge dangers in what is happening for the American
recreational angler. If we allow extreme right-wing conservatives to
become the national spokesmen for us as fishermen against the Obama
Administration and environmental groups, we run the risk of actually
encouraging the over-regulation of fishing in the USA.

The truth of the matter, as I have repeatedly stated since ESPN started
the Obama fishing ban myth earlier this week, is that the administration
Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force is likely to recommend broad
potential regulations on some ocean fishing which will not affect
average recreational fishermen at all.

However, both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh as well as the National
Review and other right-wing bloggers are now reporting ESPN's false
rumor that Obama wants to ban recreational fishing as essentially fact
and trying to make themselves spokesmen for American anglers.

Meanwhile, some average fishermen are so confused by this they have
turned fishing in America into yet another conservative versus liberal
firestorm and are on the verge of tactually making recreational fishing
into a Tea Party issue.

I and others like me have actually been accused across the internet of
promoting an Obama administration plan to ban recreational fishing!

Anyone who knows me at all knows that this is like some kind of
monstrously ironic joke. If I thought Obama were actually out to ban
fishing I would be in Washington banging down the White House door.

I am a lifelong recreational angler and fishing is a huge passion in my
life. I would no more support a secret plan to ban recreational fishing
than I would support a full scale nuclear war.

Meanwhile, both the White House and environmental groups are clearly
confused as well.

The Obama Administration, while still obviously not understanding what
rock this crazy rumor crawled out from, has issued an urgent denial of
the fake ban fishing plot. And environmentalists have been contacting ME
in total confusion trying to figure out what America's fishermen are so
upset about.

The real danger for fishermen is that there are true concerns to be had
about both environmental over-regulation of fishing and the final report
and recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. I and
some other fishing journalist have been writing about the dangers of
over-environmentalism and fishing for years.

But nobody out there is going to listen to us as long as Limbaugh and
Beck are blowing this story out of proportion and making American
fishermen sound like right-wing nut jobs.

We may actually find the average US recreational angler shut out of this
debate as the Obama Administration and environmental groups begin
fighting by reflex against the Tea Party folks and fishermen stand back
confused and misled about what is actually happening.

Frankly, as a recreational angler in America this is about the worst
thing that could have happened to USA fishermen. I was worried about a
coming struggle against environmental regulations in the first place.

I've benn praying that American anglers would stay cool and pool their
resources to let everyone know that we as fishermen care passionately
about the environment and are not the danger to fish stocks and
endangered species that some extreme environmentalists may claim.

Now, instead of sounding reasonable we are losing all our credibility as
if we could care less about sounding rational and actually influencing
environmental policy. Mainstream and (before this) level-headed
recreational fishing leaders are starting to sound dangerously just like
extreme right-wing bloggers.

This has got to end, and now. Otherwise we really WILL face some harmful
environmental over-regulation in the future and we won't be able to
fight it.

Amercia's fishermen need to immediately and forcefully tell Rush
Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to shut up about the mythical Obama fishing ban.

If you are an angler who cares about recreational fishing please pass
the truth on to other fishermen and demand ESPN take responsibility for
this harmful myth before this stops being about fishing and the
environment and becomes just one more political issue decided upon by
government officials and talk media extremists.

You really are an asshole, canuck.

Stuff it Harry, it is the left that wants control.

Rand Paul and Sara Palin, would be a good ticket.

--
The bigger government gets, the more it tends to rule out common sense.

Ah confirmation... you are ignorant. Fortunately, you can't even get into
this country no less vote.