Lots more on the fisheries problems - hearing on Tuesday in the Commerce committee

[karynnj]

Here is the link to the hearing - http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Hearings&ContentRecord_id=5c7188ff-5a05-4342-84f7-fbdb377ab3a3&ContentType_id=14f995b9-dfa5-407a-9d35-56cc7152a7ed&Group_id=b06c39af-e033-4cba-9221-de668ca1978a

Here is the article from the Gloucester Times:

Expressing concern that the commodification of New England's groundfishery has accelerated economic inequality, Sen. John Kerry has urged the U.S. Commerce Department to acknowledge the policy has been a "disaster" — as alleged by elected federal and state officials.
<snip>
Kerry also complained that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries service had provided information that did not "accurately" reflect the status of the fishery while improperly withholding market reports and other data on the catch share regimen now nearing the end of its rollout year.

The state's senor senator issued his critique of Obama administration fisheries policy in parallel documents — the first a letter to Locke and NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco, arising from a meeting he had with them last Thursday; the second, written testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee's fisheries subcommittee, which held a hearing Tuesday into the impact of the 2006 reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
<snip>
"Due to an allocation schematic that left many of the fishermen with woefully small allocations making them unable to fish or afford to lease quota that would enable them to fish," Kerry wrote to the subcommittee, "the bottom 90 percent of the fleet" was been weakened by while "the top 10 percent" has grown stronger."

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/local/x740871261/Kerry-Commerce-should-admit-catch-shares-disaster
(Hey Tay Tay, this is a fisheries hearing that I actually WANT to watch)

Here are interesting points from another article:

"In a sign that Kerry has already made some progress, the senator said in his letter that Locke had suggested the possibility of convening a high-level emergency interagency meeting on the fishing industry. He told Locke he appreciated the step and also invited him to Massachusetts."
<snip>
n his letter, Kerry asked for higher catch limits, arguing a report from Patrick provided the economic and scientific data necessary to justify emergency changes to regulations.

"The standard for justification for emergency regulations is not 'new' scientific information but 'best available,' and that is what was supplied in the state's report," Kerry said

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110310/NEWS/103100336/-1/NEWSMAP

Here is an article that contains Kerry's full statement to the committee and the excerpt they put in their article

http://www.thestatecolumn.com/state_politics/massachusetts/sen-john-kerry-drills-feds-on-massachusetts-fishing-industry/#ixzz1GCp6anM9

[Mass]

1. BG continues his weird coverage of our senators

While their frontpage has the nth story about Brown's book, the only coverage they have of the hearing is on an inside page, and just the AP press release....

[karynnj]

2. Uggh - I'm sorry I looked and am sorry I did

It sounds like his childhood was a mess. However, it did not seem to create much empathy for other in similar situations. It bothers me to see the shallowness of the man, with a past as an abused, sometimes hungry, some times homeless child living in a world where the adults contributed mostly chaos, not stability, could work through it and succeed, then vote against funding programs that helped him. (like when he voted against TANF and summer jobs, because it was paid for by a tax increase .... on money that was previously sheltered offshore.) But, maybe this is because of the difficulty of his past - leaving him in some ways still a bit "crippled inside."

It is still shocking that his biological father, a Republican on a town council, didn't demand and get custody. He had to have some status to be elected - so why was Scott left in situations he described? (Not intended as a commentary on Brown, he was the victim of all this.)