"Overcast in Pennsylvania" - Santorum and Accuweather

[Coastie for Truth]

, New York Times, Saturday, June 4, 2005

June 4, 2005, New York Times
Overcast in Pennsylvania

Far from just talking about the weather, Senator Rick Santorum is doing something dank and cloudy about it: he is proposing to squelch the National Weather Service's growing role in the information age.

The Weather Service provides a priceless flow of nonstop measurements and readings that commercial forecasting companies package and sell to the public. Lately, the Weather Service itself has been trying to make all its information more accessible to anyone who wants it. But Mr. Santorum, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, has introduced legislation that would basically require the service to give much of its data only to those private weather forecasting companies. A dozen of those businesses happen to be located in Mr. Santorum's home state, Pennsylvania.

"It's not an easy prospect for a business to attract advertisers, subscribers or investors when the government is providing similar products for free," the senator said, somehow overlooking that taxpayers finance this round-the-clock national resource in the first place.

Senator Santorum, who is running for re-election, is vowing to protect hundreds of Pennsylvania weather company jobs. But timing is everything in both politics and weather, and his case was not helped by the fact that two days before the bill was introduced, his campaign accepted a $2,000 donation from one of the weather companies lobbying for protection. This was dismissed by the senator's supporters as a small-beer coincidence in a $25 million race. But as they say on the weather segment, it's a lingering disturbance on the Doppler.

Putting ordinary citizens, first responders, volunteer responders, and unborn babies at risk.

Note to Rickie: When the "microcell" or tornado or whatever hit Pittsburgh in the summer of 2002, unborn babies were miscarried and died. And a Pennsylvanian was killed at Kennywood Park.

Second note to Rickie: $2000 from Heck - you get more then that from the Hillman's, the Pitcairn's, and the Scaife's.

[trogdor]

1. It's OUR goddamned data.

We paid for it already. Why should we have to pay for it a second time from one of Ricky Santorum's friends?

[Allenberg]

2. Helping to get rid of Virginia Rick is part

of why I moved back to PA.

[rabid_nerd]

3. I linked to a petition, as did many other independant, free weather sites

Click the DC Forecast: