John Ousterhout wrote:

"Two days before Sen. Rick Santorum introduced a bill that critics say
would restrict the National Weather Service, his political action
committee received a $2,000 donation from the chief executive of
AccuWeather Inc., a leading provider of weather data."

"Joel Myers and his brother, Barry Myers, AccuWeather's executive vice
president, have donated more than $11,000 to Santorum and the Republican
Party since 2003"

entire story:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...LATE=D EFAULT

- John Ousterhout -


Thanks for the link John.

To all:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation makes it easy to send your concerns
about this bill to your Senators. Go to http://www.eff.org, click
"Action Center" on the top navigation bar, then click "Protect Public
Weather Data". Fill in your correct name and address etc., select
your state, customize the prepared message as you wish, and send it
off.


Here is AOPA's position on the bill,

"AOPA opposes bill that would prevent National Weather Service from
providing weather products to public

AOPA is concerned over legislation that could eliminate free National
Weather Service (NWS) aviation weather products for pilots. Sen. Rick
Santorum (R-Pa.) last week introduced a bill (S. 786) that would
prohibit the NWS from offering any "product or service that is or
could be provided by the private sector."

"Aviation weather products are critical to general aviation safety and
must be available for use by pilots," said Melissa Rudinger, AOPA vice
president of regulatory affairs. "Some 40 percent of all aviation
accidents are directly related to weather."

This isn't the first time that someone has tried to shut down free
weather information from the government. In 2001, the NWS was forced
to pull the plug briefly on its innovative Aviation Digital Data
Service (ADDS) Web site, reportedly under pressure from commercial
vendors.

"This bill has the potential to kill much of the information the NWS
provides over the Internet, including ADDS," said Rudinger. "And with
this legislation in place, the commercial vendors might even make a
case for the complete privatization of weather products."

In the past, AOPA has successfully protected aviation weather products
from so-called "non-compete" efforts. The bill has been referred to
the Senate Commerce Committee, where Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
is very aware of the importance of readily available weather
information to general aviation pilots. Committee member Sen. Bill
Nelson of hurricane-ravaged Florida has already expressed his
opposition to Santorum's bill.

He'll be getting plenty of support from AOPA."


David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com