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Elwood P Dowd

(11,443 posts)
Tue May 21, 2013, 03:32 PM May 2013

Republicans plan to gut the National Weather Service will kill more Americans, including children,

but they don't freaking care. Once this recent disaster is forgotten, they will go back to doing what is best for the billionaires that totally own the republican party and putting more innocent Americans at risk in the process. The Pro Death republican party strikes again.

http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/how_are_we_cutting_the_weather_service_now/

<snip>

The Department of Commerce warned that not only will the loss of satellite data and imagery diminish the quality of forecasts, but so will other important weather data surrendered by spending cuts.

Before you dismiss that as esoteric, nerdy, overly technical and therefore just abstract, check out what the president of the American Meteorological Society says it means in practice:

"The public may take for granted a tornado warning or satellite loop of an approaching hurricane. Likewise, the public probably just assumes that they will have 5- to 9-day warning of storms like Sandy; 15 to 60 minutes lead time for tornadic storms approaching their home; an airline with appropriate data for safe air travel; or a military with reliable information to avoid hazardous weather on a mission protecting our freedom. However, these capabilities “can” and “will” worsen/degrade if we cut weather balloon launches, cut investments in the latest computing technology for our models, reduce Doppler radar maintenance, delay satellite launches, or shatter employee morale … I am honestly concerned that we will regress in capability and this will jeopardize lives, property, and our security."

Following in the footsteps of former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, conservatives faced with these self-evident facts have taken to Fox News to cite the problems previous flat budgets have already created to call for a wholesale elimination of the National Weather Service. It’s a classic self-fulfilling sophistry of the right: Ignore the positive work an agency does, keep the agency’s budget flat so that its capabilities do not keep up with the times, then cite the agency’s reduced capabilities as justification to keep cutting it.

Perhaps, though, the devastation in Oklahoma City will serve as a reminder of why that’s the wrong path. After all, the wreckage is an explicit commentary on how bad things can be even when our weather forecasting system works — and, thus, an implicit reminder of how much worse things could be if it doesn’t. It is also a reminder that we shouldn’t think of weather forecasting as the insignificant television arena of dim-witted Brick Tamlands, but instead as an integral part of homeland security infrastructure.

When the ideology of austerity and Congress’s manufactured crises like the sequestration collectively jeopardize that infrastructure, we are needlessly inviting unnecessary and tragic consequences.

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Republicans plan to gut the National Weather Service will kill more Americans, including children, (Original Post) Elwood P Dowd May 2013 OP
Stoopid kids should get jobs and hire butlers to warn them about tornadoes. nt onehandle May 2013 #1
The voters who keep voting in GOP thugs need to read and understand every word. Ninga May 2013 #2
Slim and none I'm afraid. The Dems have no idea how to effectively get this message out. Elwood P Dowd May 2013 #3
What's the chance of that happening?. Flashmann May 2013 #4
In 2005 Santorum pushed a bill to undercut the NWS and bolster private weather forecasting companies John1956PA May 2013 #5
I was about to mention AccuWeather... Blue_Tires May 2013 #10
But if we privatized it, we could just call Aristus May 2013 #6
I wish the 45% of those in government who hate government would leave the government NightWatcher May 2013 #7
Might even get some congress-critters killed. Downwinder May 2013 #8
Remember how some of the East Coast repukes sounded more like Democrats after Sandy? (nm) Elwood P Dowd May 2013 #9
Unfortunately, many Americans only learn something Zoeisright May 2013 #11
These dangerous congressional lunatics sulphurdunn May 2013 #12
The GOP wants us all to go back to the days of Dorothy & Toto...... lastlib May 2013 #13
They had a shelter! SCVDem May 2013 #15
Remember when Jindal wanted to cut SCVDem May 2013 #14
Stuff like this needs to be spread across the mid-America belt so that they know their real enemy. kelliekat44 May 2013 #16

Ninga

(8,276 posts)
2. The voters who keep voting in GOP thugs need to read and understand every word.
Tue May 21, 2013, 03:36 PM
May 2013

What's the chance of that happening?.

Elwood P Dowd

(11,443 posts)
3. Slim and none I'm afraid. The Dems have no idea how to effectively get this message out.
Tue May 21, 2013, 03:39 PM
May 2013

So what else is new?

Flashmann

(2,140 posts)
4. What's the chance of that happening?.
Tue May 21, 2013, 03:45 PM
May 2013

Virtually nil...Zip...Nada...None...Zero...The proverbial snowball...

John1956PA

(2,655 posts)
5. In 2005 Santorum pushed a bill to undercut the NWS and bolster private weather forecasting companies
Tue May 21, 2013, 04:02 PM
May 2013

One of the private weather forecasting companies which would have benefited from the proposed legislation was a company which had contributed to Santorum's campaign.

Here is a link to an article about Santorum's sponsorship of the bill:

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/rick-santorums-war-against-the-national-weather-service/

Here is an excerpt from the article:

The bill went nowhere but brought Santorum a nationwide pasting from bloggers, weather enthusiasts, airline pilots and other critics. Some of them noted that executives from AccuWeather — a company based in State College, Pa., in Santorum’s home state — had donated thousands of dollars to his campaigns over the years.

Doubling down later in the year, Santorum also accused the weather service’s National Hurricane Center of flubbing its forecasts for Hurricane Katrina’s initial landfall in Florida, despite the days of all-too-prescient warnings the agency had given that the storm would subsequently strike the Gulf Coast.


Blue_Tires

(55,445 posts)
10. I was about to mention AccuWeather...
Tue May 21, 2013, 04:26 PM
May 2013

My smart phone came with an un-deletable AccuWeather app...I downloaded a NOAA app for use, just to make a point...

Aristus

(66,434 posts)
6. But if we privatized it, we could just call
Tue May 21, 2013, 04:06 PM
May 2013

the Wal-Mart Weather Service, and pay $25 or so for a weather forcast offered by the least-expensive weather-forcast provider, and relayed over the phone by an unskilled worker making minimum wage. That would work, wouldn't it?

Problem solved!

NightWatcher

(39,343 posts)
7. I wish the 45% of those in government who hate government would leave the government
Tue May 21, 2013, 04:08 PM
May 2013

Hell, leave the country. I hear Somalia has a shit ton of freedom and no gubmint

Zoeisright

(8,339 posts)
11. Unfortunately, many Americans only learn something
Tue May 21, 2013, 05:29 PM
May 2013

when something bad happens to them. While I certainly don't want anyone to be killed or hurt by storms, votes have consequences. Many people need to learn that.

 

sulphurdunn

(6,891 posts)
12. These dangerous congressional lunatics
Tue May 21, 2013, 05:50 PM
May 2013

and their corporate sugar daddy's must be stopped before they kill us all.

lastlib

(23,258 posts)
13. The GOP wants us all to go back to the days of Dorothy & Toto......
Tue May 21, 2013, 06:19 PM
May 2013

...because those nice warm, fuzzy "family values" are so nice.......and white...........

 

SCVDem

(5,103 posts)
14. Remember when Jindal wanted to cut
Tue May 21, 2013, 06:23 PM
May 2013

volcano research in Alaska?

How is all that hopey praying thing working out?

 

kelliekat44

(7,759 posts)
16. Stuff like this needs to be spread across the mid-America belt so that they know their real enemy.
Tue May 21, 2013, 07:30 PM
May 2013

FOX sure won't report it.

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