Now who's a meteorologist?

[crispini]

Yet another "Oh Please" from the Tx Lege....

79th LEGISLATURE

Chilling effect on meteorologists?
Bill causes a stir for weathercasters

By Mark Lisheron
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, February 03, 2005

A storm, a gale force, a hurricane of ill will has lashed, battered and pounded Rep. Vicki Truitt's office since word got around this week that she wants the state to dictate what TV and radio weathercasters can call themselves. In the rather tiny hamlet of forecast folks, word has gotten around with tornado-like impact.

The bill, which has the active support of a Dallas TV meteorologist from Truitt's district, would make it a very minor crime (misdemeanor) to call yourself a meteorologist unless you meet specific academic requirements included in the bill.
...

The list of forecasters who wouldn't meet the standards include all of the weather people on America's national network morning programs and many of the weathercasters in Texas,

And who's one of the folks FOR the bill? Why, KXAS-TV's own Rebecca Miller from right here in Dallas!

the problem became apparent to Truitt, she said, after meeting with Rebecca Miller, who does the morning weathercasts for KXAS-TV in Dallas. Miller has a degree in meteorology from Texas A&M.

In an e-mail she sent shortly after the bill was filed, Miller asked other meteorologists to support the bill. Miller directed them to a poll on her station's website that says: "Many TV station weathercasters call themselves meteorologists, even though they have no degree or weather training. Should anyone be able to call him/herself a meteorologist?"

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared/tx/legislature/stories/02/3WEATHERMAN.html

This :wtf: moment brought to you by the Texas Lege, and REPUBLICAN Ms. Vicki Truitt.

[GOPisEvil]

1. On the complaint of ONE WOMAN, a bill gets filed.

:eyes:

[StephanieRocks]

18. weatherman

Try Troy Duncan.. well technically he isn't a meterologist but he's one heck of a nice guy.

Kevin

[pmbryant]

2. Sounds very reasonable to me. Truth in advertising.

I guess Republicans have decent ideas once in a while.

--Peter

[Wright Patman]

3. What does studying meteors

have to do with predicting the weather? ;)

[madinmaryland]

4. Thanks for the laugh!

I always though Willard Scott and Al Roker were real meterologists. /sarcasm

Does that mean we won't see them anymore?

[mdhunter]

5. I think the bill needs to be reworked, but I support its principle

You can make a lot of money trading on a name and degree you've never earned.

You can't call yourself a lawyer, doctor, or architect and dispense professional advice as such without breaking the law, so that same standard appears to apply.

[johncoby2]

6. Yea, but imagine if they could put this type of energy into a bill to

reduce my damn insurance rates!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[crispini]

7. Exactly.

The air here SUCKS, corporations are bending us over left and right, the environment is one of the worst in the nation, and they're whining about what you call meteorologists.

Talk about rearranging the deck chairs on the fecking Titanic.

[Skittles]

8. this is very reasonable

my dad was a meteorologist and he could easily spot the ones who knew what they were talking about

[GOPisEvil]

9. But one need not have a degree in meteorology to know one's stuff.

Troy Kimmel here in Austin TEACHES meterology classes, but his actual degree is in geography. He definitely knows his stuff.

[Skittles]

10. he should not call himself a meteorologist

if he is not a meteorologist.

[GOPisEvil]

11. Yeah, but a crime...come on...

[Skittles]

14. why can't they just be up front?

that's the reason they have to make it a law - the deception

[rainbow4321]

13. Don't most admit it??

I know Troy Dungan at WFAA does...if you look at when they list him and the rest of the weather people at channel 8, everyone else is meteorologist and he is called weathercaster.
Who cares, half the time they are ALL wrong...and in the TX summer how hard is it to say it is going to be friggin HOT HOT HOT..spring time = RAIN RAIN RAIN.

[rainbow4321]

12. Is their session OVER yet???

Cuz everyday the news bits on their dumbass proposed bills are getting stupider and stupider..let's see... we have the kids' body fat on report cards and now this?? I swear, if the session ends and they say that they ran out of time to get anything productive done, we need to do a collective kick-their-asses to Mexico....

[crispini]

15. Update: This one went swirling down the toilet...

Dan Sutherland, legislative director for Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, had a revelation as he jaywalked in the rain across the Congress Avenue bridge Monday morning.

“I thought that if I were struck by lighting and I was found there, lying prostrate in the middle of Congress Avenue,” said a fatigued Sutherland, “how much satisfaction that would bring to all of the people we’ve heard from on this bill.”

...

Truitt found herself in the middle of a struggle in broadcast-weather circles between people such as Rebecca Miller, a constituent of Truitt’s and a weathercaster with a meteorology degree from Texas A& M University, and Troy Kimmel, who has risen to the heights of trust in forecasting in Austin without that particular degree.

Representatives for the National Weather Association and the American Meteorological Society, the heavyweight organizations in the field, essentially told Truitt and her staff to mind their own business, Sutherland said.

“The realization of what we needed to do came in spite of the pressure,” Sutherland said. “This was taking 80 percent of our time. I wasn’t getting anything done. To this day I can’t really believe what happened.”

Tee hee hee!

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/custom/blogs/legislature/archives/2005/02/07/meteorologist_front_stalls.html

[ashling]

16. I'm not a meteorologist, but

I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Truth in Advertising: I did not actually stay at one last night, but I have stayed at them in the past. The last time was when I visited my daughter for parents wekend at her college.

[ashling]

17. I wish they would make it a crime

for the other newsnitwits to blame the weatherman for inclement weather. :eyes:

[Skittles]

19. my dad was a meteorologist and he would tell people

YOU try to predict Mother Nature and see how YOU do. :D