Bush pulls plug on renewable energy research
A story by Diane Carman in the Denver Post reports on the contrast between State of the Union rhetoric and reality:
The day Carol Tombari got fired plays in her head like a scene from a cheesy espionage thriller.
She arrived at work and was told to appear at a mandatory meeting in 20 minutes. It was there that she learned she was being laid off and that she had five hours to pack and vacate the premises.
When she returned to her desk, her computer had been disabled, her phone service cut. . . .
She was among the disappeared from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, where 31 workers were dismissed seven days after President Bush read the words “addicted to oil” off the teleprompter and announced yet another “Advanced Energy Initiative.”
“It was a week to the day after the State of the Union,” Tombari said. The single mother of three with a son in college was given one month’s severance pay.
