LLNL - The True Story -

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/05/developers-pitch-ideas-for-livermore.html So sad...no vision..perhaps you should get new leadership

Employee Relations Why is it a sin to make life better for the rank & file employee (not the managers - they're doing fine). Seems that basic employee relation efforts are non existent at the national lab LLCs.

J-Dog said... This is the downside of having a Union at LLNS. If you do not like LLNS management (I do) then this is the other side of the coin. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/28/NY-Union-Workers-Fed-Up-with-Bosss-2-Hour-Work-Day

Not classified and hasn't produced a Thing This folks is a joke. It appeared in the Modesto Bee brought over to me by a neighbor. He was laughing and after I read the article so was I. NIF needs to stay the hell out of the newspapers until the actually do something useful for the nation instead of trying to get funds by lying to the press. Things like this are going to bite them in the ass cause people that know are going to tell the truth. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/05/22/beam_us_up_national_ignition_facility_star_trek

LLNL, LLNS benefits compared to other DOE This item is from the Pleasanton Weekly blog, might be of interest: http://www.pleasantonweekly.com/square/index.php?i=3&d=&t=10508 Posted by cosmic-charlie, a resident of the Downtown neighborhood, on May 14, 2013 at 8:26 am cosmic-charlie is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com Don't I know it well! Many years ago, the career employee was know as an "FTE" or Full Time Employee. And as an FTE, I was very concerned with the retirement structure and the promises made that went along with it. At the time, with 10 years of service, I quit, out of those concerns, and found a better deal with Stanford (SLAC). In the Stanford system, employee contributions of 10% or more, was matched in kind up to the 1st 10%, by Stanford. This was an income reduction tax benefit, and was in real terms, a measurable entity. It was tangible, and real. Very different from some promise. Bottom line? With 28 years of service to...

Why LLNL THE TRUE STORY exist. Well...because this blog is for "real" information of LLNS that only "real" employees would pass on to employees...This is not about science, this is about grading the management of the LLNS in these present days. If there were no transition to LLNS, this blog would never be here. LLNL was a good place to work. The transition to LLNS was the mistake of the century in every sense. What this tells me is LLNL The True Story will go on until LLNL is no longer under a private contractor like LLNS and goes back to being a facility which offer a pension exactly like the OLD UC pension program. As long as it is an "at will" society you have seen the best years LLNL will ever be.

More defense cuts on the way http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/nuclear-arsenal-subject-pentagon-cuts-new-subs-may-escape-ax/

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/opinion/throwing-money-at-nukes.html?hp

Defined benefit retirement plans are relics of a bygone era Read this article, substituting in TCP 1 for the name of the plan at each instance, and it could be coming soon to a Lab near you. Kudos to Parney for fighting the fight as long as possible, but all should see the foregone conclusion that the program can not continue and must be drastically restructured in order to have any chance at providing for the future. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/low-interest-rates-are-the-final-straw-for-many-company-pensions/2013/05/23/a83bf23a-adbc-11e2-8bf6-e70cb6ae066e_story.html?hpid=z12

Why is a Budget that's different from a Budget Request considered short-fall? The programs are fine, for the most part they live within their budgets (except NIF). Overhead, in particular the support functions, will need to be adjusted. End of story. All the hubris reminds me of chicken little.

So...for those of us who remain who were too chicken or unable to take the SSVSP for whatever reason .....regrets?

UPF's cost may soar above $11B By Frank Munger From the Knoxville News Sentinel May 21, 2013 For the past couple of years, the government has stood behind a cost range of $4.2 billion to $6.5 billion for the Uranium Processing Facility, but that range may not be able to contain the giant project's growing costs as the schedule gets pushed into the future and funding gets stretched out. Todd Jacobson of Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor this week reported that, based on a Government Accountability Office briefing prepared for congressional committees, the cost of UPF could go beyond the $6.5 billion estimated cap and perhaps go well beyond it. According to information in the GAO's 27-page briefing package, the "space/fit" problem that forced the UPF team to re-do the building's design to accommodate more equipment is a big part of the cost escalation. The GAO cited NNSA documents that say the space problem will add $540 million to the project...

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/05/22/beam_us_up_national_ignition_facility_star_trek?page=0,1 Excerpts: While NIF has conducted more than 1,000 laser "shots" and set multiple records for laser power -- including a 500-terawatt shot on July 5, 2012 -- the latest goal of achieving ignition by October 1, 2012 (set in 2009) came and went. For reasons unknown, the laser's energy is only generating pressures in the target of 150 billion times the Earth's atmosphere -- about half of what is required for ignition. Moses told the San Francisco Chronicle earlier this month that he cannot predict when -- or if -- ignition will ever be achieved. "Our goal is of course ignition," he said. "The goal is to get there or understand why you don't." Moses estimates that total costs have reached $5 billion, although a local grassroots watchdog organization asserts costs are closer to $7.5 billion, because the laboratory has been allowed to ...

Developers pitch ideas for 78 acres of Livermore Valley Open Campus May 22, 2013 Blanca Torres San Francisco Business Times Nineteen entities responded to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s call for ideas on how to develop 78 acres of land at the lab. The land is part of the LLNL and Sandia National Laboratories' Livermore Valley Open Campus project to facilitate businesses to make use of the labs’ research and technology. Last month, LLNL issued a request for information from developers interested in building facilities such as office and lab space at the Open Campus. “It’s taken some time, but we’re really exicted that the Department of Energy approved our going forward to find developers,” said Buck Koonce, a senior University of California adviser at LLNL working on the Open Campus project. Respondents to the RFI were contractors, developers and consulants including Rudolf & Sletten Inc., Robinson Mills & Williams Inc., HDR Architecture, BKF Engin...

Age Discrimination Trial Date Set in Andrews vs. Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC by Gary Gwilliam on May 21, 2013 A trial date of September 9, 2013 has been set in the second phase of our case Andrews vs. Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman set the trial date at a May 16th hearing. In Phase One of the trial, an Alameda County Jury returned a verdict in favor of the first five plaintiffs in the case for breach of contract and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The award is $2.7 million for plaintiffs Elaine Andrews, Marian Barraza, Mario Jimenez, Greg Olsen, and James “Rocky” Torrice. The next phase involves age discrimination claims. Age Discrimination at Lawrence Livermore Lab The second phase of Andrews vs. Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC (LLNS) includes the first five test plaintiffs’ claims for age discrimination. All 130 plaintif...

A national search will soon be underway for a Sandia Director of Pulsed Power Sciences, as the current Director is taking a different position within Sandia. This may be an opportunity for someone taking the LLNL VSP who has a few remaining career years.

Furloughs, the word on the rumor front 40 million short fall. When? Who? How long ?

Feds: 3 scientists conspired to take Chinese bribes for their U.S. research http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/21/us/new-york-researchers-charged New York (CNN) -- Three university researchers working on medical technology are facing federal charges -- and up to 20 years in prison if convicted -- for allegedly taking Chinese money for their U.S.-funded research, according to federal authorities. Their research was partially funded by a multimillion dollar National Institutes of Health grant, according to a criminal complaint. The three -- Yudong Zhu, 44 of Scarsdale, and Xing Yang and Ye Li, both 31 of Hartsdale -- are each charged with one count of commercial bribery, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan. Zhu is also charged with one count lying about conflicts of interests in a federal research grant. The three are Chinese nationals, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office. It was not clear from the statement what their status was while ...

Classified data in the Jianyu Huang fraud case? Roughly one year ago, Jianyu Huang, a former employee of Sandia National Labs was charged with multiple counts of federal contract fraud allegedly committed during his employment by Sandia. The Albuquerque Journal reported on June 6, 2012: “The indictment says Huang on five separate occasions between January 2009 and this February sold at least $25,000 worth of “equipment, materials, the time and work product of (Sandia) staff, and intangible property, including the right to determine what work is performed at (Sandia,) and Sandia’s proprietary interest in intellectual property developed” at the labs.” “The sixth count in the indictment alleges Huang lied to a Sandia counterintelligence officer, whom he told he would not take a lab-owned laptop computer with him on a trip to China last July. The indictment says Huang took the Sandia laptop on that trip.” (http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/06/06/abqnewsseeker/updated-ex-sand...

Is NIF trying to catch a greased pig at the Rodeo? Simulations Uncover Obstacle to Harnessing Laser-Driven Fusion:  Under Realistic Conditions, Hollow Cones Fail to Guide Energetic Electrons to Fuel http://www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2013/03/130326162340. htm

So did you  SSVSP and why? Give details.

Don Cook named acting NNSA administrator: http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/2013/05/neile-miller-announces-her-dep.html#more

Feinstein and NIF... Kiss of Death!!! http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Feinstein-declines-to-halt-NIF-budget-cuts-4523794.php Feinstein declines to halt NIF budget cuts Congressional supporters of the multibillion-dollar National Ignition Facility in Livermore called on Sen. Dianne Feinstein this week to help save the huge laser experiment from $110 million in budget cuts proposed by the Obama administration. In a quick response Thursday, the California Democrat turned them down, saying that it's high time to "reassess" the project's experimental efforts to assure the safety of the nation's nuclear arsenal and create sustainable fusion energy that have proved unsuccessful so far. Feinstein is a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and chairs its subcommittee on energy and water development. She rejected their request to support NIF's request for $486.6 million for the coming year, saying it "is hard to justify" as t...

Is it true that LLNS is acquiring a subsidiary (Sandia across the street)?

  Heads up, LLNL and LANL employees. Do you suppose similar changes are headed our way, under the guise of "substantially equivalent"? [UC] Retiree health benefit changes coming in July http://ucrpfuture. universityofcalifornia.edu/ news-updates/retiree-health- benefit-changes-coming-in- july/

Budget Contraction, Implications to NIF http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/05/lawrence-livermore-lab-voluntary-redundancy-10-employees Gadzooks! From a 1.6B annual budget to 1.25B! Go any lower and they fall below the threshold of "too big to fail," meaning. Where is that 1.5B that NIF is supposed to bring in from investors?

Nuclear Energy Industry Congratulates Moniz on Confirmation as Secretary of Energy WASHINGTON, May 16, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The U.S. Senate today approved the nomination of Ernest J. Moniz, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Energy Initiative, as Secretary of Energy. The Nuclear Energy Institute's president and chief executive officer, Marvin Fertel, made the following comments in response to the confirmation. "We congratulate Dr. Moniz on his confirmation as Secretary of Energy and look forward to working with him to ensure that nuclear energy continues to play a vital role in our nation's energy and environmental policy. "Sustained economic growth requires affordable, reliable electricity supplies. Nuclear energy is uniquely capable of adding significant amounts of electricity to the grid around the clock without emitting any greenhouse gases. Dr. Moniz recognizes this reality, and we expect that nuclear energy technologies ...

I agree with the comment that the Managers who ran that illegal lay off should be fired - starting with the LIRC committee comprised of: Bruce Warner, Art Wong, Gaby Odell, Marina Gonzalez, Bob Perko, and Renee Breyer - high dollar folks of which at least one of them as been double dipping since October 2007. They are an embarrassment to the Lab posing as competent leaders -let them feel the pain of having your career stripped out from under them - they are all over 50 - let them see how quick they can find another job in this economy.

Does anyone have a link for the LLNS latest employee handbook? Specially interested in the latest layoff sections and disability layoff info.

Why is LLNS paying a time and material contractor to remove trees and level dirt for LVOC. They could not get a contractor out here to do it for one price? Seems like a very expensive way to get the work done.

Details about the age discrimination suit. This is only the beginning for LLNS http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jury-awards-27-m-against-lawrence-livermore-lab-for-wrongfully-terminating-long-time-employees-in-2008-207236961.html

NEWS FLASH: New NNSA office to plan budgets New Program Review and Analysis Office to Improve NNSA’s Budgeting and Planning Capabilities, Increase Accountability May 7, 2013 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today announced the creation of the Office of Program Review and Analysis (PR&A) to serve as an independent broker of strategic information and analysis across NNSA’s programs. PR&A will provide NNSA’s administrator and senior leadership with independent analytical advice regarding strategic and programmatic resource allocations. The creation of the office is designed to improve NNSA’s ability to budget and plan, and to increase accountability for programmatic goals and ideas. Dr. Steven Ho has been named director of the new Office of Program Review and Analysis (PR&A). Prior to joining NNSA, Ho served for more than eight years in the Office of the Secretary of Defense Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (OSD-CAPE) whe...

GAO Releases More Details on Contested Y-12/Pantex Contract Nuclear Street News Team Mon, May 13 2013 6:25 AM Questionable procurement decisions at the National Nuclear Security Administration have emerged with the release of a ruling on a contested contract awarded for management of the Y-12 and Pantex sites.

Babcock & Wilcox currently oversees the sites and was among the bidders that challenged the award to a Bechtel-led consortium called Consolidated Nuclear Security in January. The Government Accountability Office, which hears appeals of federal contract decisions, announced its recommendation to reopen the contract process earlier but only recently released its detailed reasoning for doing so.
 In its ruling, the GAO stated, "We sustain the protests based on the agency’s failure to reasonably evaluate the feasibility and size of the offerors’ proposed cost savings, as required by the terms of the solicitation."

It noted that the source selection author...

Tri-Valley Cares needs to be on this if they aren't already. We need to make sure that NNSA and LLNL does not make good on promises to pursue such stupid ideas as doing Plutonium experiments on NIF. The stupidity arises from the fact that a huge population is placed at risk in the short and long term. Why do this kind of experiment in a heavily populated area? Only a moron would push that kind of imbecile area. Do it somewhere else in the god forsaken hills of Los Alamos. Why should the communities in the Bay Area be subjected to such increased risk just because the lab's NIF has failed twice and is trying the Hail Mary pass of doing an SNM experiment just to justify their existence? Those Laser EoS techniques and the people analyzing the raw data are all just BAD anyways. You know what comes next after they do the experiment. They'll figure out that they need larger samples. More risk for the local population. Stop this imbecilic pursuit. They wan...

It seems like its taking a very long time to find a new head of NNSA. I wonder if the delay in confirming Moniz as DOE Secretary has held up the NNSA job or are they just having trouble finding someone to volunteer for this kamikaze mission. Here are some people I'd be okay with at the top of NNSA: Aston Carter (DOD Deputy Secretary) Steven Koonin (former DOE Undersecretary for Science, current Jason and LLNS Board member) Andrew Weber (DOD Asst Sec for Nuclear, Chemical, Biological Programs) Michele Flournoy (former DOD Undersecretary for Policy) Bruce Goodwin

Looks like the new Secretary of Energy will be in place soon... -------- Senate to vote on Energy secretary nomination By Ben Geman - 05/10/13 The Hill The Senate is slated to vote next week on Ernest Moniz, President Obama’s nominee to run the Energy Department. Lawmakers reached an agreement Thursday to proceed with the vote on Moniz, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist who served as undersecretary of Energy in the Clinton administration. It will occur as early as Tuesday. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had been holding up a vote over his concerns about federal management of a program in his state to transform weapons-grade plutonium into fuel. But the Senate’s “unanimous consent” agreement reached Thursday to allow the vote to proceed means Graham has lifted the procedural block on Moniz. Graham’s office did not comment Friday morning. Graham had suggested Thursday that a resolution was in the works. Moniz, once the Senate votes, is expected to win easy confirm...

The idea that ordinary people might contribute to verification of arms control treaties is not new, but powerful and portable electronic devices have spread so widely in recent years that societal verification now seems an imminent reality. Motivated individuals might, for instance, collect treaty-relevant data through onboard sensors that smartphones can carry and then transmit the information to multilateral verification bodies or, as is already happening, share it online  Our new roundtable explores the potential, and pitfalls, of societal verification. Three articles have just been posted, with more to come over the next few weeks. I hope you find it of interest. Best, Janice The potential and pitfalls of societal verification:  http://www. thebulletin.org/web-edition/ roundtables/the-potential-and- pitfalls-of-societal- verification   Janice Sinclair

The age discrimination law suit seems to have been decided in favor of the plaintiffs. Wonder if LLNS will follow the UC example of appealing judgements until the awards are doubled. http://www.contracostatimes.com/tri-valley-times/ci_23219268/lawrence-livermore-lab-must-pay-five-former-employees

I know that given l the recent news this qualifies as low priority. But what happened to the new gear drive lab bikes? They're all parked over by fleet services

I'm defending my phd next week and considering a staff job at llnl, for which I'm being courted. Good idea? Terrible idea? Better off at a university with a low paying post-doc? Why? I'm asking you because the blog makes it seems like the lab is literally falling apart at the seams. How much truth is there in that?

During the LLNL All Hands meeting, the Director briefly discussed employee contributions to TCP-1. He commented that he was encountering the argument "LANL and Sandia both did it (raised employee contributions to 7%, I think), why can't you?" Can some of you LANL and Sandia folks please comment on what your contribution rate is to your defined-benefit plans?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=us-nuclear-warheads-set-to-get-a-facelift

http://www.contracostatimes.com/contra-costa-times/ci_23201898/lawrence-livermore-lab-looking-voluntary-layoffs Lawrence Livermore lab looking for voluntary layoffs LIVERMORE -- To prepare for projected budget challenges in 2014, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is offering buyouts to as many as 600 workers willing to take a voluntary layoff. The Self-Select Voluntary Separation Program plan was announced by lab Director Parney Albright at an "all-hands" meeting with employees Wednesday. In that scenario, the lab would pay qualified employees a severance package of one week of salary per year of service for up to 26 weeks. The program began Wednesday and is being offered to all career full-time employees until May 23. "This is a Fiscal Year 2014 pre-emptive strike if you will," said lab spokeswoman Lynda Seaver. "We received the budget proposal, and even with the way it stands, we're going to have some challenges with our workforce." According to Seaver...

LLNL News Online 5/7/13 Director Parney Albright will hold an all hands meeting to update employees on the FY 13 and proposed FY 14 budgets, and how the Lab plans to respond. Albright's presentation, open to all employees, takes place Wednesday, May 8 at 1:30 p.m. in the Bldg. 123 auditorium. The talk also will be carried live on LAB TV Channel 2 and Webcast LLTN. Those who cannot attend the talk are encouraged to watch as groups from conference rooms to reduce the load on the LLTN servers and Laboratory network.

NNSA Hearing Prepared Statements to Rip Apart http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings/event.cfm?eventid=eb2dbb8bae5cb4473ed032dddec4ee1e

GOP Picks Former LANL, LLNL Director Anastasio For NNSA Panel Todd Jacobson – Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor May 3, 2013 Former Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Michael Anastasio has been picked by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as the 12th and final member of the Congressionally mandated panel on NNSA governance, though there remains no clear timetable for the panel to begin its work. The choice of Anastasio was outlined in a notice posted in the Congressional Record late last week. The governance panel was created by Congress in the Fiscal Year 2013 Defense Authorization Act as a bipartisan compromise to address controversial NNSA reform language passed by the House that would have increased the autonomy of the agency while streamlining directives and regulations, eliminating oversight from DOE’s Office of Health, Safety and Security and moving the agency toward performance based oversight. Due to opposition from labor unions, t...

Bloomberg Article on NIF http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-03/fusion-scientists-see-progress-as-obama-shows-no-ardor-correct-.html Excerpts: Moses, 63, wants to raise $1.5 billion, partially from utilities and suppliers, to get commercial fusion technology ready. In a possible prototype, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PCG) and others agreed in December to pay the Livermore lab $150 million to use its supercomputers for improving California’s electricity grid. Wealthy individuals may contribute, and some have expressed interest, Moses says, declining to name them. Detractors say cost estimates are meaningless because they involve technologies not yet invented. “Moses is destroying his credibility,” says Burton Richter, a retired Stanford University physics professor. The Energy Department itself has trimmed expectations: “Experience shows we didn’t have as good an understanding of the physics as we thought,” says David Crandall, who retired in March as the department’s senior...

MAP-21 Buried in a transportation bill called MAP-21 (passed last June by Congress) is the root of the confusion regarding pension valuation/liability. Link below is an analysis from vanguard explaining details. Key Points: - Congress changed the interest rate used to project pension liabilities from a 2-year avg to a 25-year average. - They required a significant increase in PBGC contributions. https://institutional.vanguard.com/iam/pdf/REGC21.pdf

Accused Chinese spy charged with downloading porn, not NASA secrets Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/3/4296096/bo-jiang-accused-chinese-spy-arrested-for-porn-not-espionage Bo Jiang, the Chinese national accused of spying on NASA, was formally charged in a Virginia court this week — not for conducting espionage, but for downloading porn and pirated movies to his computer. A former research contractor at NASA's Langely Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Jiang was originally indicted on March 20th, when federal investigators arrested him just before he departed on a one-way ticket from Washington, DC to Beijing. At the time, authorities accused Jiang of sharing sensitive information with the Chinese government — he had a NASA-issued laptop with him at the time of his in-flight arrest — but as Bloomberg Businessweek reports, it now appears that their fears were unfounded. On Thursday, Jiang plead guilty to misdemeanor charges for violating NASA's computer security rul...

Russia builds up nuclear forces as US builds down... ======================== * Inside the Ring: Russia builds up, U.S. down * Bill Gertz-The Washington Times Wednesday, May 1, 2013 As the Obama administration prepares to launch a new round of strategic nuclear missile cuts, Russia’s strategic nuclear forces are undergoing a major modernization, according to U.S. officials. Russia's military announced last month that as part of the nuclear buildup, Moscow later this year will deploy the first of its new intercontinental ballistic missiles called the Yars-M. Details of the missile are being kept secret, but it has been described as a fifth-generation strategic nuclear system that Russian officials say will be able to penetrate U.S. missile defenses using a new type of fuel that requires a shorter burn time for booster engines. ....By comparison, President Obama is expected to announced soon that he will seek a new round of talks with Russia aimed at cutting U.S. nuclear forces...

Who is LLNS, and who controls it? From llnsllc.com Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) is managed by a board of governors, a group of key scientific, academic, national security and business leaders from the LLNS partner companies. Chairman - Norman Pattiz. A UC Regent and chairs the Regents’ Committee on Oversight of the DOE Laboratories for LANL, LLNL, and LBNL. He is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Westwood One. Vice Chairman - Craig Alber. President of Bechtel Systems & Infrastructure, Inc. and Senior Vice President of Bechtel Group, Inc. Steven Beckwith is the UC’s vice president for research and graduate studies. William Frazer is senior vice president, emeritus of UC and professor of physics emeritus, UC Berkeley. John Gordon served as the first administrator of NNSA and undersecretary of the DOE, responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons program. John Howanitz is the general manager of Nuclear Security & Allied Governments for Bechtel Nation...

http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2013/05/01/120178/after_failed_attempts_at_nuclear_fusion_nif_shifts_priorities?category=bay+area LLNL, the employees, and the management are finally paying for their sins of the past. Even just hitting the alpha heating milestone would have been a victory, washing away all of those sins. Failure due to confirmation bias and self-delusion. Too bad.

NIF Reshuffle: Atherton In, Moses Out http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2013/04/new-director-and-mission-transition-at-nif.html I think some of you bloggers called this one (albeit for incorrect reasons). Doesn't look like a huge reshuffle anyways. Moses is still PAD for the directorate. Plus he's also been NIF director for SO LONG. April 29, 2013 at 5:52 PM Anonymous said... April 29, 2013 at 5:52 PM Isn't it amazing how in a time when all the worker bees are taking pay cuts, getting laid off and taking it in the shorts in almost anyway possible ULM finds a way to promote one of their own kind to a position giving due cause for a BIG pay raise and to get that salary up just prior to retirement. And they wonder why people hate them. April 29, 2013 at 7:09 PM Anonymous said... And they wonder why people hate them. April 29, 2013 at 7:09 PM Not everyone hates them. Hate is an emotion that negates thought and...