Whoopie!! Bush is coming to Denver to NREL

[XOKCowboy]

right up the road from me. Some of the employees who were laid off after their funding was cut in the last budget are somewhat skeptical about Bush's newfound love of renewable energy since the SOTU.

Imagine that. Scientists are angry at Bush. They know that just as soon as the photo op is over it's very likely they'll be unemployed again soon.

[punpirate]

1. Wanna bet those 31 people laid off earlier...

... won't be invited to sit in the front row? :)

[XOKCowboy]

2. Not from what I saw on TV this evening...

I'll be surprised it they're allowed in the building.

[punpirate]

3. This is on top of other cuts...

... much earlier. I remember talking to a guy on a plane a month or so after Bush was inaugurated with contacts at NREL who said then they were being told to get ready for some significant cuts. And, they've continued to seek privatization deals with private industry. Lots of things at NREL formerly available to the public through the net were pulled because they didn't have the money to keep the servers going.

From that, this latest layoff was just bad timing by the Bushies, PR-wise, but it wasn't unintended. I think we'll see a new energy bill just like the last one--lots of tax credits and subsidies for the big guns in the energy industry, and less for NREL, unless they develop programs that primarily benefit the large corps.

[Supersedeas]

4. once the WH discover these cuts -- didn't they shift money to pretty up

the prop