[tutstar]

Bill Nelson's spokesman made a point about paying twice.

[tutstar]

Anyone want to ping the hurricane list?
I don't want to lose the ability to watch satellite loops or look up info on my own.

[tutstar]

ping

[xcamel]

All you have to do is look at the NLDN (National Lightning Detection Network) so see what would happen. You paid for it (by taxes), and all the research, and the installation, privately controlled by Global Atmospherics, Owned by Vaisala (Based in Finland), and charging huge (insane) prices for lightning strike and warning data.

[CrawDaddyCA]

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R- Pa., who has at least 14 commercial weather companies in his home state...

Another political whore selling out to his pimps. I wonder how much the 'Honorable' Senator took under the table to draft this gem?

[Lazamataz]

If they want to do this, they can stop giving my our money to the National Weather Service, too. Make it a private company that charges, OR continue to give out the information.

Of course, we are becoming serfs, so, they'll do whatever the hell they want.

And we'll like it.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Sounds like Santorum is being targeted by RAT's early and their chewing on the edges looking to see what resonates at home and nationally. I suspect that the meaning of the bill's intent is a little less crass than servicing the donations of 12 weather companies in his state.

In any event, NOAA could be argued with reasonableness to be a legitimate function of government by right of providing forecasts for obvious public safety. Less obvious is that blanket system that allows people in agriculture to tune in for forcasts and daily weather information that they can't get from the blow-dry-guy on evening news.

In the case of serious budget deflation and determined cuts in all sectors, I suppose that NOAA's budget is as much on the block as many other 'functions' of the beast. I would like to see good will efforts like killing CPB/NPR/PBS first, though. After a few rounds of this kind of cutting, maybe we can ramp up and start the panic in the streets by gutting the social program infrastructure.

[OXENinFLA]

Huh?


ping....

[Rebelbase]

The US has over 6000 miles of coast line and Alaska has close to 34,000 miles of coastline if you include its islands.

Weather related SAR by the Coast Guard and maritime deaths will increase if NOAA weather is inaccessible to mariners.

[kittymyrib]

The national weather service is inferior to the private services, that's why commercial farms have contracts with private forecasters. TV stations in OKC are so superior in their weather watching that the tornado warning function of the government's office at Norman is unnecessary. The sky wouldn't fall if the fed's budget was trimmed.

[Fudd]

I don't know about this. On one hand, we're paying twice for services. On the other hand, the "provided by public services" clause could set a good precedent.

Welfare - is or could be provided by private-sector charities.
Social security - is or could be provided by private-sector 401(k) plans.
Education - is or could be provided by private-sector schools.
NEA - is or could be provided by private-sector funding of the arts.

Add your own.

[Smokin' Joe]

With the exception of the "preparation and issuance of severe weather forecasts and warnings designed for the protection of life and property of the general public," the proposed legislation would prohibit the National Weather Service from providing any product or service "that is, or could be provided by the private sector."

After putting my area at the limits of range of the nearest doppler radars (closed down the one in our town, held a hearing so they could say XXX citizens had voiced their opinion, and finished the rubber-stamp job, they would put people in an area known for blizards, severe thunderstorms, and the occasional tornado at risk.

In North Dakota and Eastern Montana, we work for a living, commonly out of doors, and distances from anywhere to anywhere else are measured in miles, not minutes. (For you commuting folk, that is approximately 1 mile per minute, for a couple of hours, unless you are off the end of the paved road, then 2 minutes for a mile).

Winter temperatures commonly reach -30F, and in a cold year have been known to hit "-54F", which, incidentally is where mercury becomes a solid.

Add in wind of 30 to 40 mph, and it gets a bit cold (I have seen days when urine would freeze on the way to the ground).

I have known two people who froze to death.

One of the few things the Government gets half-assed right here, (and that is about as good as it gets), is the weather. Without it, people are going to die.

Extortion, plain and simple. We already paid for the data once.