Dubie dips his biscuit in the gravy

Vermont’s former Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie may be dipping his financial biscuit into some consulting gravy. The Vermont Press Bureau reports Dubie Solutions LLC is now registered with the Vermont secretary of state and that even for a time the firm was represented online.

It’s unclear whether Dubie Solutions, the limited-liability company registered by Dubie at the Secretary of State’s Office on June 27, has any paying clients. Dubie did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The company has its own website, however, saying “our team has the experince (sic) when you need results.”

“We have made investments in relationships,” the site says. “Let us tap into our trusted relationships to serve your needs.”

The site was up as recently as 2:30 p.m. Monday but had been taken down by 3:30 p.m. A cached version was still accessible via Google by searching “Dubie Solutions.”

Maybe the site was taken down to run a quick spell-check.

Dubie was unavailable for comment on how this new business might affect his rumored desire for a rematch against Governor Shumlin. But State Republican Party chair Pat Mac Donald still seems to be patiently for a gubernatorial candidate and expects to hear by the end of the month. Will Dubie be the solution? Exprince must count for something.

"...You've covered your ass, now" George Bush August 2001

I Googled this quote- "All right.You've covered your ass, now." A Google news search today Sept. 11, 2011 brings up hardly a reference to that line. In August 2001 President Bush is reported to have uttered it to an intelligence agent after receiving a briefing titled Bin Laden determined to strike in US.
One interesting article is found in the Guardian UK which has a review of three 911 books. The reviewer finds that in the past ten years the world has learned much about al Qaida and Bin Laden. He says:

Since then, of course, we have heard a lot about al-Qaida as a result of events that took place 10 years ago today. Perhaps even too much – and definitely too much that has been ill-informed. But one thing is certain: no one can say America was not warned about the biggest attack on its soil since Pearl Harbor.

The gist of the memo Bush received August 2001 summarized here from a 2004 article

The 1 1/3-page memo reported that U.S. intelligence officials had not been able to corroborate that bin Laden "wanted to hijack a US aircraft" in 1998. "Nevertheless," it said, "FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York."

It said the FBI was "conducting approximately 70 full field investigations" throughout the United States that it considered bin Laden-related. The CIA and FBI, it continued, were investigating a tip called in to the U.S. embassy in the United Arab Emirates that said a group of bin Laden supporters were in the United States "planning attacks with explosives."

Well who could have predicted?

Generation of jobless

Maybe someone should do something about this-

Labor Day 2011 finds the US with the lowest portion of the 16-24 year old demographic employed since the government began tracking the youth market in 1948. Unemployment among that group this summer stood at 18.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual Labor Day weekend report, down a percentage point from the year before. However, only 59 percent of that age group was participating in the job market, either working or searching for a job. Overall unemployment stands frozen at 9.1 nationwide.

This depressing news isn’t shocking as warnings of the societal dangers are well known and have been sounded for almost three years. In October 2009 Business Week worried about the lost generation unable to enter the workforce and start careers. Studies suggest that an extended period of youthful joblessness can significantly depress lifetime income as people get stuck in jobs that are beneath their capabilities, or come to be seen by employers as damaged goods.

Maybe somebody could do something about this?

Would that Obama’s long awaited pivot to jobs speech might offer some hope or even change. Since the President has secured Speaker Boehner’s approval for the date and time for the speech there are calls (again, still?) for him to act boldly. Maybe he has something more creative up his sleeve than the cancelation announced Friday of scheduled changes to EPA clean air regulations. The Chamber of Commerce which lobbied hard for this move claims loosening regulations will aid job creation. Naturally it will also save industry expenses.