Our View
A few good ideas
If you have a chance to see Jim Carrey's "A Christmas Carol" this season, do, particularly if it's the 3-D version in an IMAX theater. Locally, it is showing at the Flagship Cinemas in Lewiston and Auburn.
The special effects are stunning, and the oft-told story still brings a tear to the eye.
Our bright idea would be to allow all Wall Street swindlers, particularly Bernard Madoff, out of jail for an afternoon to see the movie.
Perhaps they would recognize themselves in the frightening form of Ebeneezer Scrooge's deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, whose partially decomposed ghost shows up late at night in Scrooge's bedchamber.
You've probably forgotten how the giant chains, draped and locked around his body, are attached to heavy money boxes that he throws before him as he travels. "I wear the chain I forged in life," he thunders. "I made it link by link and yard by yard."
Finally, Marley leaves via an open window. Standing at the sill, Scrooge sees dozens of such tormented, wailing souls, all trying to rise toward heaven, but bound to the Earth by their weighty chains and cash boxes.
We can only hope some of our modern-day Marleys suffer a similar fate.
Yes, there is evil aplenty on the World Wide Web. At the same time, people keep finding useful, creative ways to use technology.
www.localchores.com is one such effort, a site that tries to connect local teens with chores and help them earn money. Decades ago, kids would roam neighborhoods looking for lawns to mow and sidewalks to shovel. Not so now.
Heather Peel, a Web designer from Fayette, thought she could use some dependable teenager help with her chores, according to a story in the Portland Press Herald. So, she created a Web site that allows people to post their chore, their location and the fee they are willing to pay.
Chore-seeking teens can browse the site and find work. It's an excellent idea. Although the new site is short on content at the moment, we hope it will grow.
One caution, however. While cleaning up brush and leaves might be great for teens, we would be wary of using the site to get help rewiring light fixtures or to find a baby-sitter, two of the "chores" recently advertised on localchores.com.
As we said in the beginning, the Web is rife with scammers and sickos. They will find this site eventually, so everyone involved should exercise a healthy sense of caution.
editorialboard@sunjournal.com
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verified on "PUC staff: No go for energy firms’ wind deal"
Enron's Bastard Son, First Wind, Caught!
Docket 2011-170, feb 2, 2012 (see it all at http://www.windtaskforce.org)
"By filing their coordinated “exceptions” and letter, First Wind and APUC attempted to subvert the intention and effect of this rule. Therefore, the Examiners correctly excluded APUC’s and First Wind’s filings.
The Petitioners’ actions give rise to particular and very serious concerns.
Petitioners have deliberately attempted to inject new evidence into the record “through the back door,” long after the record closed on December 9, 2011 and at that point in the proceeding where other parties are not afforded a chance to respond, test the evidence through cross examination, engage in discovery, present witnesses, or otherwise have the benefit of the procedural safeguards of an evidentiary record Their Exceptions, containing these new facts, were filed in blatant disregard of at least two of the Commission’s rules and in direct violation of the Examiners’ January 19 Scheduling Order, and in an obvious attempt to influence the outcome. The rules violated are rules of integrity, fundamental fairness and substance, not mere housekeeping rules designed to advance administrative efficiency"
GET THEM OUT OF MAINE!
Petitioners violated Chapter 110 section 760-A(a) and (d~ of the Commission’s Rules. The filing of “exceptions” by APUC and First Wind violated the Ex Parte rule under Section 760-A(a) Petitioners’ subornation of these filings, as evidenced by the references to the filings in Petitioners Exceptions, also violates Section 760-A(d) which reads
No party in a proceeding shall request, encourage, suggest, or provide any assistance to any other person to make a communication that would violate subsection (a) of this section.
8Petitioners chose to engage in coordinated, concerted action with First Wind and APUC to assist them in an improper attempt to have a non-party influence the Commission after the date for filing exceptions, and to inject non-record information into evidence, and to couple this with a direct violation by commingling the prejudicial material into Petitioners own Exceptions. Petitioners deliberately cited to, quoted from, and indeed made such filings a part of their own January 23, 2012 Exceptions. Their awareness of procedural issues is revealed by the first footnote in their Exceptions. Petitioners’ actions were willful, ~vith the expectation that opposing parties would have no opportunity to respond,7 and for the primary purpose of influencing this Commission’s decision.
verified on "PUC staff: No go for energy firms’ wind deal"
Enrons's Bastard Son Caught!
see Feb 2 , 2012 docket 2011-170!!!
ELECTRONICALLY FILED ON FEBRUARY 2,2012
STATE OF MAINE
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION
BANGOR HYDRO ELECTRIC & )
MAINE PUBLIC SERVICE COS. )
Re: Request for Exemptions and for )
Reorganization Approvals )
Docket No. 2011-170
MOTION FOR DISMISSAL
AND SANCTIONS WITH
INCORPORATED MEMORANDUM
February 2, 2012
Now come the Office of the Public Advocate, Houlton Water Company, the Industrial Energy Consumer Group (“I7ECG”), and Boralex, Inc. (“Boralex”)(collectively, the “intervenors”) by and through their respective attorneys and move to dismiss these proceedings or to enter judgment against Bangor Hydro Electric Company and Maine Public Service Company (“Petitioners”) based upon the recommended findings of the Examiners~ Report.
I. INTRODUCTION
Petitioners have intentionally and recklessly violated the Commission’s Rules of Practice and the Examiners’ January 19, 2011 Scheduling Order by filing Exceptions tainted by prejudicial non-record information and by assisting and/or encouraging First Wind Holdings, LLC (“First Wind”) and Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (“APUC”) to file unauthorized comments doing the same. According to the Examiners, these exceptions have been reviewed by the Commissioners. As described herein, further consideration of the case at this point would violate fundamental principles of due process and would be unduly prejudicial to the intervenors in this case. Of equal importance is the fact that the actions of the Petitioners, First Wind and Algonquin Power have damaged the integrity of the adjudicatory process by intentionally exposing the Commissioners and their advisors to information outside of the record that, even if the Commission can ignore, undermines public confidence in the process. Dismissal with prejudice orjudgment against Petitioners are the appropriate remedies and sanctions for Petitioners’ violations of the Commission’s Rules and the January 19 Schedul
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Well this was fun to read.
Well this was fun to read.
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