Mendacious! Slavishly corrupt! Bought and paid for!!!
Santorum has critical words for forecasters in wake of Katrina 09/09/2005
Damon Boughamer
(Washington) -- U.S. Senator Rick Santorum is suggesting that early mistakes in predicting the path of Hurricane Katrina may be a symptom of lost focus at the National Weather Service. Santorum, who introduced legislation earlier this year to curb the output of government weather forecasters, says tracking life-threatening weather must be central to what the agency is doing.
Asked about Katrina by WITF, Santorum described weather service warnings for Florida, where the storm first made landfall, as, quote, “not sufficient.”
Santorum’s bill instructs the government to abandon weather prediction and data reporting efforts that duplicate private-sector activity. He came under fire when it was revealed that the head of State College-based AccuWeather, which would benefit, has given his campaigns thousands of dollars.
This isn't the first time I've had something to say about everyone's favorite fan of Accuweather. Rick Santorum continues his zealous attack on the National Weather Service. He said their warnings were "not sufficient."
For someone who hates the National Weather Service so much, Rick Santorum doesn't sound like someone who has ever actually sampled the product. They have satellites, they have three and five day storm path predictors, they have wind probabilities, they have advisories (en español también!), discussions, and strike probabilities that cover extensive areas and time periods. What the heck is Rick Santorum smoking, when he says the warnings were not sufficient? I watched the live feeds for days, read CNN and the NYT online, the Palm Beach Post, and I saw reports warning and links all from the National Hurricane Center. They even briefed the President of the United States before the storm hit. Not sufficient!?!?!
BloodlessCoup even blogged links to the National Hurricane Center before landfall. Those sure were sufficient to scare the daylights out of me.
What does he want to achieve this sufficiency beyond broadcast on local and national televisions stations, local and national newspapers, radio stations, news websites, blogs, and not to mention, the amazingly useful, frequently updated, clear and understandable, diverse and scientifically sound, gathered from U.S. satellites data from the website of the National Weather Service itself?!
Painted hot air balloons tuned to a color-coded threat advisory? Cessnas with banners trailing behind? Trucks with loudspeakers driving about, broadcasting the message? What would be more sufficient than freely available and widely broadcast timely information about storms?
About the only thing that did go right in the whole run up to Katrina was the constant and consistent warnings from the National Weather Service. These warnings told people what to expect, when to expect it, and clearly discussed the range of possibilities - all dangerous - for the Gulf Coast.
Was he too lazy to check any of these sources? Was he too stupid to understand what they were saying? Both are highly doubtful. He does have a one track mind devoted to Accuweather though. And now he's trying to diguise his ever present attention to constituent service by trying to convince the rest of us that killing the weather service is necessary because the National Weather Service warnings were "not sufficient."
Maybe if the the National Weather Service relocated to Pennsylvania and started making sufficient campaign contributions to Santorum's reelection, he might change his mind.
Via Atrios. Posted by binky at September 9, 2005 09:23 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Politics