It would seem that Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania has decided that the National Weather Service is a Bad Thing, and that they are unfairly providing weather data to the taxpaying public–you know, the people that pay the taxes that pay for the NWS?
I’m not much of a fan of our over-sized, over-reaching government. But the NWS is one of the things I genuinely don’t mind paying for. Knowing the weather comes in handy a lot of the time, and I don’t see why I should have to pay a private concern, who is most likely getting some if not all of their data from the NWS, to repackage it and add ads or charge me. I’ve already paid for this once.
I guess it’s time to start writing my Senators. Heck, they haven’t heard from me since the Assualt Weapons Ban (of unblessed memory) was expiring. I’m sure they’ve missed my letters and emails.
Should you want to write, you can find your way to their contact information here.