Potemkin Research Institutes


In the down-is-up, war-is-peach Team Bush worldview--oh, and where insurance claim payouts are considered "relief aid"--we have yet another case of "I'm not surprised they'd resort to this:"

President Bush says he wants to diversify the nation's energy mix to end America's dependence on foreign oil, yet some critics are wary of his commitment and point to cutbacks at a government energy laboratory here.

Two weeks ago, 32 workers, including eight researchers, were laid off at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden. The lab helps develop the very renewable energy technologies the president is promoting.

Then, over the weekend, just before Bush's planned visit to the lab on Tuesday, the government restored the jobs. His trip to the renewable energy laboratory is part of a two-day, three-state trip to promote the energy proposals he outlined in his State of the Union address.

At the direction of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, $5 million was transferred to the Midwest Research Institute, the operating contractor for the lab, to get the workers back on the job, the Energy Department announced Monday.

Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said the decision restores only $5 million of the $28 million budget shortfall at the lab that forced the layoffs.

"The $5 million stopped the bodies from going out the door, but it doesn't provide the money for the (renewable energy) programs," Clapp said...

Lab employee Tina Larney said that even though the jobs are being reinstated, she still questions the government's resolve in finding alternative energy sources.

"There is technology available now, there is the know-how now," Larney said. "What is lacking is leadership on the large scale at the national level."

The White House says Bush is providing that leadership. They say he wants to invest more in zero-emission, coal-fired plants, as well as support solar and wind research, promote cars that run on hydrogen, encourage more nuclear power plant construction and fund work to produce ethanol — not just from corn, but from wood chips and switch grass.

Critics of the Bush administration are skeptical of Bush's energy proposals.

Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., co-chairman of the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, said the government has funded only one-third of the money the 2005 energy bill authorized for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Clapp claims the president is promoting renewables because polls show his job approval numbers are being weighed down by Americans' concerns about high utility bills this winter and the cost of gasoline at the pump.

Leadership? Like in New Orleans, where in the aftermath of the flood, he first couldn't be bothered, then grudgingly showed up...to recall his frat-boy days of hard partying? Or maybe it's like his "leadership" re: the war in Iraq...let's see, a veritable temper tantrum mixed and matched with lies about WMD, followed by "Mission Accomplished," "bring 'em on," Operation Enduring Clusterfuck, abandonment of any real efforts to rebuild...and thousands dead or maimed now that it's all about "saving face."

Just like the story above.

What a bunch of wankers. Evil, vicious wankers. But wankers nonetheless.