I’m as surprised as anyone.
Thanks to Liz, who pointed me to this article in the Palm Beach Post about a bill submitted to the Senate by everyone’s favorite fan of bestiality and incest, Rick Santorum (R-PA). Among other things, The National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005 says that
The National Weather Service shall not provide, or assist other entities in providing, a service or product (other than a service or product described in subsection (a)(1)(A)) that is or could be provided by the private sector
The services and products “described in subsection (a)(1)(A) are limited strictly to “The preparation and issuance of severe weather warnings and forecasts designed for the protection of life and property of the general public.”
Who cares, you ask? Well, I do, for one. As I mentioned in my previous post, I routinely check the National Weather Service website. Were this bill to become law, the NWS would no longer be able to provide daily forecasts on their site, as this sort of service is also provided by private companies who either charge for the service, or are supported by advertising. Do you suppose it is a coincidence that one of the leading supporters of this legislation is Barry Myers, vice president of Accuweather, a for-profit weather prediction service that is headquartered in Pennsylvania, Senator Santorum’s home state? I’m sure it’s also a complete coincidence that Myers and his company are campaign contributors to both Santorum and the Republican Congressional Committee.
The service that these companies provide is entirely dependent upon the data collected and compiled by the National Weather Service, which is financed by my tax dollars. They now want to be able to turn around and charge me for a dumbed-down, advertising-invested version of that data, and knuckleheads like Santorum are only too happy to help them reach that goal. Sorry, but stuff like this really grates my cheese.
The legislation will have to get through the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee before it can be voted on by the full Senate. Here is a list of the members of this committee. If you find this bill as irritating as I do, do me a favor—take a minute to read through it (it’s pretty brief), and then email a couple of these folks to let them know how you feel about it.