Sunday, December 10, 2006

Out of Business.

No, this isn't an obituary to Augusto Pinochet. It's about Saturday's end of the Republican controlled congress. It's over, finito, gone fishin', closed for the holidays - take your pick. When congress returns in January, it'll be under new management, Democratic, in the house and senate.

Give'em their due, though, the outgoing congress gave America's fisheries a Christmas present before heading home. In its final hours yesterday, congress passed an overhaul to America's 30-year old fishing law, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which is intended to increase protections for fish stocks within US territorial waters.

Regional councils that now regulate fishing and set quotas will now be required to implement plans to restore fish stocks were stocks are declared overfished. A classy touch for the outgoing Repubs.

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