National Weather Service

[creek]

Found this on the RDT site.

Turns out that one Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. has submitted a bill to the U.S. Senate to prohibit the National Weather Service from forcasting day to day weather and making that information available to the public via the internet. This includes all NOAA data as well. Except in the event of a disaster.
Behind the bill are AccuWeather, The Weather Channel and cetera. The long and short of it is that the NWS forcasts are interfering with the above parties ability to charge for the info that NWS gives away for free.
Meaning, for example , no more water temp sattelite images for you and me.
Fact is we, the taxpayers already pay for this info once, even when it turns out dead wrong. And Accu Weather, Weather Underground and Weather channel rely on the same NWS data we already pay for except they charge for the up to date info that we paid for in the first place.
Of course if theres a Hurricane, we get to hear the NWS stuff.
NWS argues that in order to inform the public about changes,they need to provide daily, even hourly forcasts. I agree. But perhaps the head of NWS said it best when he stated,"you dont plug in your clock just to see what time it is".
Anyway, this ticks me off. Pardon the rant. Call your Reps, see if we can trash this bill.

[Mullet Wrangler]

Why do people like Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. even get involved with such issues? How does that serve the needs of the people? I'm sure when people voted for him, they were hoping he'd fix other broken governmental problems, not the weather. :mad: Leave the weather alone and go ban some more gill nets or something!

[sand flea]

Great, so we get to pay for that data twice. If you don't mind, I'm moving this over to Open Forum so the broader group gets a look at it.

[Cdog]

I knew that govment meant stupid but that takes it to a new level. Gonna have to write me some letters.... :mad:

[can't fish today]

I was skeptical until I read the story on the senator's own web site. What a jerk. He obviously is taking money from the commercial weather industry.

Read it here. (http://santorum.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.View&ContentRecord_id=1180&Region_id=0&Issue_id=13&CFID=14510345&CFTOKEN=87618541)

http://santorum.senate.gov/public/_images/home/welcomeheadshot.jpg

[rattler]

put in a bill...add some pork...stir...= tax payers get "it" again...fire them all and start over...thats what we did in the first place... :eek:

[Caught Myself]

He obviously is taking money from the commercial weather industry.
You got it. That's what senators do.

[Digger]

It's time to start writing your Senators and Congressmen. The really sad part is the pay services are just culling their info from NWS and many times it is just a reprint.

[J_Lannon]

The people pay for the service, it should be kept open to the public.

Many fisherman and boaters use the service as a reference.

[creek]

Great, so we get to pay for that data twice. If you don't mind, I'm moving this over to Open Forum so the broader group gets a look at it.


Sand Flea Thanks for moving this were it gets the most coverage. :)

[Shoebag22]

would be interesting to see just how much money he stands to gain... a public servant indeed...

[RoryGoggin]

Aren't we entitled to this information under the freedom of information act?

That means he can't stop us from getting it... just means we'll have to wait 6 months for it. :rolleyes:

[RoryGoggin]

I also decided to write an email to the good Senator, and coppied both of my Senators as follows:

I wished for you to see the following I sent to Senator Rick Santorum regarding his introduction of the National Weather Services Duties Act of 2005. I would like you to know that I strongly oppose this measure and so am copying you my missive to him.

"It is my strong belief that I am entitled to any reports generated by government projects the release of which would not endanger our freedoms. I further believe that the National Weather Service provides me with information I require in exercising my rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I do NOT feel that private parties are entitled to use this same information provided by MY tax dollars and repackage it to make a profit without my having the opportunity to get it directly from the source. They ARE entitled to hire their own meteorologists and/or repackage the information is such a fashion as to actually provide a value added service for which I and others might be willing to pay.

What you are proposing could very well lead to such measures being passed that would prohibit the government printing office from providing free information to us citizens.

What is next? Do you intend to privatize tax forms and require all tax payers to go to a paid tax preparer? (Being an accountant, I STILL would oppose this.)

Please, sir. Reconsider your proposal. Private industry is NOT guaranteed a profit. Citizens ARE guaranteed benefits from their taxes. It is WHY we are no longer a British Colony."

I think you can see that there are very good reasons to oppose this measure, and I'm asking you, Senator Allen, to please meet with Senator Santorum and convince him of his error. There should be no reason to force your constituency to pay a private party for a service for which we already pay taxes. Are we next to ask our police force to not protect the citizenry as that would be competing with the private security agencies?

Respectfully,

Rory W. Goggin

[Digger]

Rory that is too well said. I love it.

[johnnyleo11]

Nice message. Let's hope it pushes through.

And I doubt the general public relies on NWS weather reports as they do The Weather Channel and Accuweather.

How much more money would they be able to generate for themselves anyhow?

Fleecing of America? You bet.

[emanuel]

:rolleyes: I guess they don't want all those terrorists, I mean fishermen, ooops, from being able to get their boats out on the bay without paying for it first.

[creek]

Go to this site and look at the news for a good article on the Bill also a good article on the Plover on the local news site.

[creek]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SANTORUMS_STORM?SITE=MDSAL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-05-27-10-47-30