Shocking what the government attempts!


WAR OVER THE WEATHER
It's an unseasonably fluky day when a member of Congress tries to
punish a government entity for doing too good of a job. In this case,
the National Weather Service apparently has been putting out too much
useful information. Its graphics and Web site are more user-friendly
and better-organized than ever. Its forecasts are clear and concise.
And it's free. For shame!

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) argues that the National Weather Service has
an unfair competitive advantage against commercial weather businesses.
He makes no secret of the fact that more than a dozen of those private
companies happen to be based in his state, where he happens to be
running for re-election.

Santorum has a bill that would require the National Weather Service to
give much of its data only to private companies like AccuWeather and
WeatherBank, which repackage the taxpayer-funded information for radio
and TV and the like to make their tidy profits. The bill appears to
block the Weather Service from providing this information directly to
the public. The public would still pay to collect this information. It
just wouldn't have access to what it's paying for.

If private weather companies want competition, let them start by buying
their own satellites, buoys, aircraft, upper-air weather balloons and
other fancy barometric equipment. Let them create their own multimodel
ensemble blends and generate their own storm warnings and small craft
advisories. And then let's talk. The public pays for the National
Weather Service. The public should be able to use it. - Excerpts from
an editorial in the Chicago Tribune, full editorial:
http://tinyurl.com/9gn4w

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this is disgusting; that these private companies, and a $hort $ighted $enator, have the audacity to rob, and re-sell us information,