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The Governator Reprises His Role as a Villain, Wins Top Honors
Field & Stream has named California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger the winner of the 2008 Heroes & Villains Face-Off—as a villain.
Playing the rake is not new for Gov. Schwarzenegger, whose first turn as the Terminator saw him working to destroy the world instead of saving it. And the governor’s win will not come as any surprise to fishermen in the Golden State, where funding for salmon and steelhead restoration has been dramatically cut despite sharply declining populations for years. During the governor’s tenure, the chinook salmon fishery in California collapsed, and on May 1, 2008, commercial and recreational salmon fishing were both banned along the West Coast in California and much of Oregon.
But the governor has not limited his influence to fish and fishermen. He’s also signed a ban on .50 caliber rifles, and on his watch the percentage of licensed hunters in California has dropped below 1%.
Gov. Schwarzenegger beat out fellow villains Pamela Anderson, Paul McCartney, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk, Vladimir Putin, Nancy Giles, Bobby Brown, and Kirt Darner.
Furthermore, Gov. Schwarzenegger proved that villainy can outrank heroism. F&S distinguished Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a hero—she not only endorsed the traditions of sportsmen while campaigning as a vice presidential candidate, she is an active hunter and fisherman herself. Moreover, Amy Poehler rapped about her shooting a moose on Saturday Night Live. What better way to inspire a new generation of hunters?
Country music star Miranda Lambert took hero of the year. She is a hunter who relates her love for the sport in her songs, and who donates game meat to Hunters for the Hungry. Other heroes included Boo Weekly, Eliza Dushku, Emma Watson and Tom Felton of Harry Potter fame, and New York senator Charles Schumer. The senator's selection came as a surprise to many gun owners because of his support for gun control over the years. He got the nod for backing a Farm Bill measure to give farmers grants for opening more land to hunters.
To read more about all of the 2008 F&S heroes and villains, see “A Year in Review: The best (and worst) of hunting and fishing” in the Dec. ’08/Jan. ’09 double issue.
Charles Schumer? A hero? Is that a misprint...how is one of the most anti-gun congressman in the country be a F&S hero?
Posted by: Greg | November 24, 2008 at 10:14 AM
Yah, really, Hitler brought about the autobahn & volkswagon, does that make him a hero???!!
Posted by: Scrap5000 | November 24, 2008 at 12:14 PM
i was dissapointed to see only the rich and/or famous in the article. I thought there might be other heroes that work to bone for conservation.
Nate
Posted by: I'm in school right now | November 24, 2008 at 01:12 PM
Nate, I'm pretty there's a whole story on conservation heroes who aren't celebs every year... I'm just surprised that California's gov doesn't care more about the salmon--big and strong like him with very small brains--seems he'd empathize with their plight.
Posted by: Horace | November 24, 2008 at 02:19 PM
Sarah Palin is not a hero, although she is a hunter her incredible urge to drill into the ANWR and other wildlife areas should not be an accepeted stance among hunters.
Posted by: matt | November 24, 2008 at 04:10 PM
Upchuck Schumer is a "hero"? He is one of the most virulently anti-gun politicians in the history of the United States Congress. Whoever dubbed him a hero must be either extremely gullible or smoking crack. Possibly both.
Posted by: Tom Sanders | November 24, 2008 at 06:41 PM
Upchuck Schumer is a "hero"? He is one of the most virulently anti-gun politicians in the history of the United States Congress. Who ever dubbed him a hero must be either extremely gullible or smoking crack. Possibly both.
Posted by: Tom Sanders | November 24, 2008 at 06:41 PM
Back to ANWR? The proportion of the area affected by drilling vs. the whole area of the ANWR, issues of the sensitivities of which areas, highlights the hype vs. fact.
One fact is that Schumer has been one of the most anti-gun senators NY has produced (and that takes a bit of doing!). And that isn't hype.
Posted by: Dan | November 24, 2008 at 09:26 PM
What about making Chuckie and anti-hero? That would be more like it. He never met a gun control bill he didn't love.
Now, Ted Nugent is a HERO, hunting with ALL kinds of hunting gear including bow and arrow and AR-15's.
Posted by: Richard | November 25, 2008 at 07:34 AM
I see your blog has its share of "Liberal"/eco commie trolls as do most other sites. I'm no fan of Palin, not until she proves to me she's serious about curing our nation of this terminal cancer called "Liberal"ism. But if she really wants to drill for more oil that's at least one point in her favor.
Hunters have been snookered by the self-proclaimed environmentalists who are mostly communists and are just using environmental issues, real and imagined, to destroy our Liberty and control every aspect of our lives all while enriching the worlds elites, such as algore. Funny how that works.
These are serious times folks.
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http://willowtown.com/promo/quotes.htm
Then follow my other links, then share.
Posted by: waypasthadenough | November 25, 2008 at 08:28 AM
Chuck Schumer. A HERO?!?!?!? Gimme some'a them drugs!
Ahnuld is a RINO of the first order. But I suppose he's a Republican in Kahlifohnia. Bah!
Sarah Palin, now THERE'S a hero! The area of ANWR is permafrost. Nothing lives there. Nothing would be harmed by the drilling, and it would produce oil we need. Sure we need to develop alternative energies, but as it sits we need oil to get there. The area for drilling is about the size of a large shopping mall, in an area of thousands of square miles. It's NOT going to hurt. Palin/Jindal 2012!
Posted by: cmblake6 | November 25, 2008 at 09:49 AM
Schumer is akin to Hitler for personal rights such as thOSE FOUND IN THE CONSTITUTION.
Posted by: Rich | November 25, 2008 at 09:55 AM
How in the world did Kevin Costner get on the "hero" list? The man exposed himself to a massuese, held her wrist so she could not escaped, and had a happy ending at her expense. When she complained, she was fired! Costner is self serving in all acts he commits. The breast cancer premiere was to promote his film!! This man is not a hero by any standards.
Posted by: Katherine | November 25, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Could it be there's another "Charles Schumer"?
You people are gonna get ZUMBOED!
Posted by: hessler | November 25, 2008 at 12:11 PM
Is there some other Chuck Schumer? Are we celebrating Chuck's desire to eliminate citizen's owning firearms since it'll make bow hunting more popular? Will F&S come up with secret videotape of Chuck shooting with Ted Nugent?
I bet the various Cerberus companies are going to get some e-mail over this one
Posted by: aimless | November 25, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Hey, didn't Charles Schumer vote for Ted Kennedy's amendment that would've banned that "dangerous" .30-30 rifle ammunition?
I can totally see how that would make somebody a hero. Voting to ban popular rifle hunting rounds.
Posted by: Spade | November 25, 2008 at 12:38 PM
Chuck You Schumer a hero? Thats like saying James Madison was an
anti-gunner! F&S must have been talking about a different Chucky Schumer.
Posted by: Hoss | November 25, 2008 at 02:16 PM
I think it has to be a misprint: other VILLAINS include schumer. That pissant little twerp on 9/12/01 saying "this shows we need more gun control" earned him a place on a gallows as far as I am concerned. Where in hell is there a connection between 19 foreigners with knives murdering 3,000 Americans, and needing to treasonously disarm Americans?
Posted by: ralpherus | November 25, 2008 at 03:11 PM
Hey, what about obama? He is a very big hero back home in Kenya.
Posted by: David | November 25, 2008 at 06:25 PM
Shame on you Field & Stream. Sarah Palin is no friend of Field & Stream readers, as I have been since 1965. I am an Alaska resident and I know Sarah Palin.
Gov. Palin came out against Alaska ballot measure 4, a clean water initiative. It is illegal for the governor to take sides on a ballot initiative, but she did anyway. Measure 4 was aimed at stopping the huge Pebble mine project, which scientists believe has a very high probability of polluting the watershed that drains into the largest salmon producing river system in the world, Bristol Bay. Palin's illegal stand against ballot measure 4, and the millions of dollars of misleading advertising by the two foreign mining companies behind the Pebble, who have a terrible track record of pollution, helped the initiative fail in the recent election. The Pebble mine, if allowed to proceed, will likely become Alaska's worst environmental disaster. Even the Juneau Empire (owned by a conservative Georgia newspaper chain) came out in favor of ballot measure 4.
Ballot measure 4 was an attempt to bring back the clean water regulations that were weakened by Palin's predecessor, former Republican governor Frank Murkowski.
At the web site below, play the video on the left side of the page that reads
“Governor opposes Ballot Measure 4”
Read more about the proposed Pebble mine in Fish Alaska magazine, a sport fishing magazine put out by Alaskans (it's long, but please read the whole article)
Isn't it just amazing that Governor Palin would side with these notorious foreign mining companies, when scientists believe that the Pebble mine will pollute the famous salmon rivers that run into Bristol Bay? Yes, Bristol Bay, the inspiration for the name Bristol Palin.
Palin’s radical fundamentalist Christian beliefs makes one wonder if she doesn’t share James Watt’s environmental philosophy. James Watt: “My responsibility is to follow the Scriptures which call upon us to occupy the land until Jesus returns. We don't have to protect the environment, the Second Coming is at hand.” (James Watt, Secretary of the Interior for Ronald Reagan, Quoted in the Washington Post, May 24, 1981)
Posted by: Dick | November 25, 2008 at 07:12 PM
OK, my web links got stripped out of my post. You'll have to do your own research on Sarah Palin and the Pebble Mine. Sorry.
Posted by: Dick | November 25, 2008 at 07:16 PM
SCHUMER?
WHAT PLANET ARE YOU ON?
ANTI GUN AND ANTI FREE SPEECH A HERO?
REMIND ME NOT TO READ THIS PUBLICATION EVER AGAIN.
Posted by: ROBERT | November 25, 2008 at 07:51 PM
Hey you people want to bitch about
Sarah Palin wanting to drill in the ANWR,Go check out Gull Island AK.
All the oil and gas that is there and was drilled and tested, and than covered up by Bush and his buddies. So we could keep buying Arab oil and line the pockets of who knows who.
How about all you dummies that believed BHO and voted for him,what now?
Posted by: BBB/SS | November 25, 2008 at 07:52 PM
Schumer? OOOppppssss... watch out for Chucky.
Posted by: Dr. Ralph | November 25, 2008 at 08:06 PM
HHhhmmmm, I like Sarah, She has a backbone, the Republican party lacks one!!
Posted by: Old Alaskan | November 25, 2008 at 09:45 PM