Senator Introducing Bill to Ban Free Weather Information

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Post by Guest » Wed Apr 27, 2005 5:27 pm

I hope none of you mind, but I plagiarized a good deal of your text (without attribution) so that I could cross-post on two HEAVILY-trafficed stunt kite forums to which I belong. I figured that since this is pretty important and urgent, it would be okay. I apologize if it wasn't.

Next agenda item: sending that letter to Congress!

cheers,

David

Guest

Contact Sen. Kerry's Office

Post by Guest » Sat May 07, 2005 6:20 pm

Kerry should fight this his a kiter and a windsurfer.

Louis

Senator Santorum

Post by Louis » Sat May 07, 2005 6:35 pm

Rick Santorum is always lined up on the wrong side of every issue. He is one of the most despicable politicians in Washington. He wants to be President of the United States. I'm not the least bit surprised by this, he's a disgusting human being. I understate my case.

Sander

Good news...Boxer against this bill

Post by Sander » Wed May 11, 2005 9:21 am

Hey,
I just got a response from a letter I wrote to Sen Boxer regarding this bill.
She writes:
"Rest assured
that I am not in favor of this bill and that I
will work with my colleagues to prevent this bill
from reaching the full Senate floor. "
Right on Sen Boxer!
Sander

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Post by kite-o-matik » Wed May 11, 2005 1:50 pm

If you need more material for writing to your senators, there's some interesting data at these sites:
Techdirt Article
Financial Times Article
The conventional wisdom is that mailed letters carry more weight than emails, but since the anthrax mail scares I'm not sure that's true anymore.

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Post by OliverG » Wed May 11, 2005 8:22 pm

david wrote:good idea, we can make a template from Ollie's first letter for others to us !

Also, anyone listening in ... please, post all relevent info, ie. email addresses, fax numbers, telephone numbers, etc .... of relevent people, like the idiots introducing the bill, any idiots supporting the bill .... even our own fed reps to cc them in .... I know all this info is available, but as a convenience, post it here for quick retrieval.

I have sent this info to Peter Thorner, SFBA, so hopefully, he will decide to put the SFBA behind it (fyi ... I am on the board of SFBA, but I don't like to make decisions)
Hey, sorry I didn't post my letter before, I didn't see the replies asking me too, somehow I missed them. Note that you can send this to your Senator and local Congress Representative. Mine is Senator Boxer and Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Here it is, my variation of Sanders' letter, which I'd elected to send in via traditional mail to both Senator Boxer and Congresswoman Lee:
[hr]
Dear Your Senator,

*or*

Dear Your Congressperson,

Recently I learned of Senator Santorum's proposed bill to restrict public access to the National Weather Service, N.O.A.A., & The National Hurricane Center, which I feel is a threat to the safety & security of all American citizens.

These services, which have always been publicly available, are essential to many of us who spend much time outdoors, both for work and recreation, as well as the safety of our property and family. Many coastal residents depend upon N.O.A.A. Weather Radio and its excellent prediction services, as well as the reliably accurate information on the web sites of each National Weather Service, N.O.A.A., & The National Hurricane Center.

The safety of recreational & commercial boaters, fishermen, vacationers, retirees, and countless others is safeguarded by the N.W.S. and its Tax Funded Services.

Limiting access to information that is FUNDED BY THE TAXPAYER, in favor of private business is at best a very bad idea. Please fight this shortsighted bill.

Sincerely,
Oliver Govers,
Oakland, CA

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Post by OliverG » Wed May 11, 2005 8:44 pm

pissed in oakland wrote:Ollie - can you post your letter in this thread? I'd like to send the m*f*er who thought of this bill a love letter, but I"m too lazy to post.....busy surfing the NWS web site while it's still free ;-)

Z.
I had sent letters to my congresswoman and senator, but just posted them online via their respective web contact forms as well. Best to cover all bases on this one, I think!

Please take a moment to do the same, it won't take hardly any time. Find your local congresspersons and senators at:

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

http://www.senate.gov/

Thanks a bunch!

OG

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Post by ricki » Sat May 28, 2005 5:38 am

ACCESS TO FEDERAL WEATHER INFO TO BE BANNED!!!?

Image
Get ready to kiss this goodbye ... IF Senator Richard Santorum,
(R-PA) has his way and his bill becomes law.

Santorum proposed and is trying to hammer through Senate Bill 786,
ìNational Weather Service Duties Act of 2005î with the goal
of ending your access to a tremendous quantity and variety of competently prepared, free Federal information forever.

TEXT OF THE BILL HERE


PROPOSED BILL WOULD CHANGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
USATODAY
"Proposed bill would change National Weather Service
WASHINGTON (AP) ó Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) is pushing a bill that some fear would restrict what information the National Weather Service (NWS) provides to the public. The bill has drawn criticism from those who say it unfairly favors private weather providers, and would endanger the public by preventing the dissemination of certain weather data.

Under the proposed legislation, the NWS would be allowed to offer particular types of services only if the private sector does not offer them " CONTINUED HERE

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE AND TO TRY TO STOP THIS, SEE BELOW.


CLICK FOR FULL SIZED IMAGES

CLICK FOR THUMBNAIL IMAGES


.

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Post by ricki » Sat May 28, 2005 5:43 am

WANT TO TRY TO PRESERVE YOUR RIGHT TO ACCESS FEDERAL WEATHER INFORMATION? SOME IDEAS FOLLOW ...

1. Sign online petitions.

PETITION #1, JUST CLICK HERE

PETITION #2, JUST CLICK HERE

2. Send letters to your State senators
(ITíS VIRTUALLY AUTOMATIC REQUIRING VERY LITTLE INPUT AND IS FAST!)
JUST CLICK HERE


NOTE: Email is fine but a real letter can be even more impacting. Why not print out the letters this application generates and not only mail them to your State senators but also to Senator Santorum? He needs to know that he has a lot more to worry about than a few special commercial interests.

3. Send copies of your letters to Santorum at:

Senator Rick Santorum
511 Dirksen Senate Office Building?
Washington, DC 20510?
Main #: 202-224-6324
senator@santorum.senate.gov



*** I M P O R T A N T ***

If you know others that might be impacted by this bill, e.g. farmers, nurserymen, commercial and recreational pilots, commercial and recreational boaters, golfers, golf courses, fishing boats, baseball parks, skiers, homeowners and business owners, investors, developers, bankers and anyone else influenced by weather and forecasts, NOT JUST IN THE USA BUT WORLDWIDE (NOAA currently provides MANY valuable international weather resources), DO ALL OF US A FAVOR AND PASS THIS LINK ON.


If you have other ideas and suggestions, please let us know here. This is an important cause that effects important interests of millions of people. Make your views heard where they can do the most good.

Thanks!

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Post by OliverG » Sat May 28, 2005 7:41 am

Rick,

Thanks so much for the additional information. An article i wrote on this just came out in The Kiteboarder mag, so hopefully that will increase awareness as well. In the article I mentioned that one of the things people could do is to write Santorum to voice their opposition, however I'd like to urge everyone to write their local Senator and Congressperson as well.

I wrote mine via email and regular mail and here's my response from Senator Barbara Boxer:


Dear Mr. Govers:

Thank you for contacting me regarding
S.786, the National Weather Service Duties Act of
2005. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to
your views, and I share your concerns about this
bill.


S.786 seeks to severely restrict the
functions of the National Weather Service (NWS),
which is run by the federal National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. The NWS currently
offers a wide range of free weather services for
all Americans, including invaluable information
for airplane pilots, farmers, and those seeking
details about severe weather in their areas.
This bill would prevent the NWS from offering
these free weather services to the public.
Instead, private weather companies, which rely
primarily on the same data used by the NWS, would
charge Americans for their services.


The NWS provides a reliable and effective
public service that is utilized by over six
million Americans each day. S.786 eliminates
this valuable service and unfairly penalizes
people by requiring them to pay for information
that should be available free of charge. This
bill is currently in the Senate Commerce
Committee, of which I am a member. Rest assured
that I am not in favor of this bill and that I
will work with my colleagues to prevent this bill
from reaching the full Senate floor.


Again, thank you for writing to me. Please
do not hesitate to contact me again about this or
any other issue of concern to you.




Sincerely,


Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

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