Some proposals
As the president is the head of the Executive branch, any actions by
Federal agencies should accrue to him, personally. On laws passed by
Congress, he has some shared equity with Congress. He theoretically has
a veto, but if Congress passes it, he usually signs it into law.
Some contenders as Federal agency actions (I would have to look up the
Presidents):
1893 - Mendenhall Order
1954 - Adoption of International Nautical Mile (Eisenhower)
1958/1959 - Adoption of new values for foot and pound. This one is
debatable, but it rationalized the foot and pound with other nations and
more clearly declared them to be fractions of metric standards. (Eisenhower)
ca. 1978 - TTB requirements for metric fill and net contents on wine and
spirits (took effect in 1979 and 1980. I haven't been able to find the
date of regulations.
Laws - shared equity with Congress:
1988 Omnibus Trade and Competivness Act - declared metric preferred
system of weights and measures, but also made it voluntary
We should probably consider the two laws which undermined metric
conversion plans by Federal agencies as well:
1995 National Highway System Designation Act - undermined plans for
metric signs and metric highway construction
1996 Savings in Construction Act - underminded GSA plans for metric
Federal facilities construction by requiring Customary brick and
lighting fixtures if they were cheaper. Requiring things that don't fit
the standard modules undermines modularity.
These two sent two good metrication plans into tailspins, and were a
definite win for "the forces of evil."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* Pat Naughtin <[email protected]>
*To:* U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]>
*Sent:* Mon, January 17, 2011 3:22:49 PM
*Subject:* [USMA:49544] Re: The REAL Reason
On 2011/01/17, at 23:08 , John M. Steele wrote:
Neither party has exactly touted a pro-metric plank in their party
platform, so perhaps we should not politicize this, or stick to
facts, not acusations. However, I have to point out that George H. W.
Bush issued EO 12770 and is the President that signed into law the
FPLA amendment requiring metric in 1992 (it came into effect in
1994). Subsequently EO 12770 has been poorly enforced by Presidents
of both parties and undermined by Congress (exemptions in Federal
metric construction, and total reversal of FWHA highway plans).
Dear John,
This extract from the most recent Metrication matters newsletter might
be useful for your discussions (the source is at
http://metricationmatters.com/mm-newsletter-2011-01.html ):
Question:
"Which presidents of the USA have been supporters of decimal metric system?"
Answer:
Here are my candidates:
* President George Washington (1789-1797) pushed for a rational
decimal system of measurement based on the Constitutional
requirement for national measurements.
* President Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) produced a report that
described a decimal measurement system using redefined old
measuring words Together with Benjamin Franklin, Jefferson
successfully promoted the idea of using decimal numbers for a
universal decimal metric system that was legalised in France in
the 1790s.
* President John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) Produced a report (in
1821) that favoured the metric system
* President Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) Legalised the metric system
in the USA
* President Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) Signed "The treaty of the
metre"
* President Grover Cleveland (1893-1897) Approved the use of metric
system electrical units
* President Gerald Ford (1974-1977) signed the Metric Conversion Act
of 1975
* President George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) Signed Law EO12770 that
required Government Departments to use the metric system
Perhaps you can provide others that I don't know about.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Geelong. Australia
On 2011/01/17, at 23:08 , John M. Steele wrote:
Neither party has exactly touted a pro-metric plank in their party
platform, so perhaps we should not politicize this, or stick to facts,
not acusations. However, I have to point out that George H. W. Bush
issued EO 12770 and is the President that signed into law the FPLA
amendment requiring metric in 1992 (it came into effect in 1994).
Subsequently EO 12770 has been poorly enforced by Presidents of both
parties and undermined by Congress (exemptions in Federal metric
construction, and total reversal of FWHA highway plans).
Feel free to add a list of important Democratic contributions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:*"[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>"
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
*To:*U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
*Cc:*U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
*Sent:*Mon, January 17, 2011 6:41:09 AM
*Subject:*[USMA:49532] Re: The REAL Reason
First, I could not find the original article onbigpond.com
<http://bigpond.com/>, which I think is a Australian site, but I did
find a nice scale,http://shop.bigpond.com/product.asp?ID=92785with a
built in temperature probe.
Second, thanks to our republican side, yes that is how half (or more
that half since last election) of America thinks. That is funny
because I think republicans are the ignorant ones, not the friendly
French.
Id put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I
hope we dont have to wait til oil and coal run out before we tackle
that. I wish I had a few more years left. -- Thomas Edison♽☯♑
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pat Naughtin" <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>>
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2011 4:10:17 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [USMA:49531] The REAL Reason
Dear All,
How common is
this?http://politicsnetnews.blogspot.com/2011/01/re-gingerymachines-re-metric-argument_6154.html
It contains this quote:
The REAL Reason:
7. Metric is a stupid cowardly French system. You don't want to
support those smelly unwashed arrogant ingrates, do you? GOD BLESS
AMERICA!
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin LCAMS
Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide,
seehttp://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
Hear Pat speak at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many
different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial
and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST,
and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. S
eehttp://www.metricationmatters.comfor more metrication information,
contact Pat [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>or to get the free '
Metrication matters ' newsletter go
to:http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletterto subscribe.
Pat Naughtin LCAMS
Author of the ebook, /Metrication Leaders Guide,/ see
http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html
Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped
thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern
metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save
thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their
businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different
trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and
government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's
clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the
metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See
http://www.metricationmatters.com
<http://www.metricationmatters.com/>for more metrication information,
contact Pat at [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>or to get the free
'/Metrication matters/' newsletter go to:
http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
