When I was little, my mama always taught me that actions speak louder than words. Co-opting a phrase from the most widely owned and read book in the world, she told me that I would be able to discern a tree by the fruit it bore.

In other words, talk is cheap.

I’ve been reminded of this so often over the past couple of years while watching the Obama administration. Barack Obama claimed to be forbetter education, and then he ended the DC voucher program. He said he wouldn’t hire lobbyists, and then he hired lobbyists. He said he wanted make sure every American had health insurance, then he gavewaivers to businesses so they wouldn’t have to provide health insurance for their employees. Anyone else notice a trend?

The latest round of hypocrisy has to do with energy. In 2008, then-Senator Obama vowed to implement a cap and trade law that would limit carbon emissions and ‘necessarily skyrocket’ energy costs. Unable to pass cap & tax through congress, President Obama has decided to do whatever he wants anyway by expanding EPA regulation. Since I’m remembering phrases from my childhood, ‘more than one way to skin a cat’ comes to mind.

For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency will regulate greenhouse gases from power plants and other major polluters — which will stifle growth, kill jobs, and raise the cost of electricity. But if you’re lucky, a polar bear will come hug you. Polar bear hugs are far superior to being able to turn on your heat in the middle of a snowpocalypse.

Read the rest at The Stir

In a move that’s crazy even for California, the land of fruits and nuts isbanning 100-watt incandescent light bulbs. We have to save Santa from global warming, after all. Starting January 1, 2011, California will begin a yearlong phase-out of the offensive bulbs, emptying store shelves of them by 2012.

The other forty-nine states will follow next year. In 2007, the Energy Independence and Security Act was enacted to ‘Save the Earth.’ It bans the production, sale, or use of 100-watt incandescent bulbs across the country by the year 2014. Because people aren’t smart enough to make their own decisions about how to light their homes.

Many people will choose to replace their evil incandescent light bulbs with those curly compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). According to the government, it’s better to potentially expose your children to mercury than to use a tiny bit of extra energy. CFLs contain mercury, and most be disposed of at a toxic waste facility.

Read the rest at The Stir

It’s been over two weeks since an explosion on an oil rig killed eleven people and started spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 210,000 gallons per day.

Two weeks.

The information has been spotty, to say the least. First the fallen rig wasn’t leaking. Then it was.

Then safety procedures in place since 1994 to burn off the crude oil in its earlier, containable stages were not followed.

Then some terrorist guy that graduated terrorism school in Pakistan before moving to the United States and becoming a citizen tried to blow up an SUV in Times Square in New York City. He almost got away too, after purchasing an airplane ticket and boarding the plane despite being on the on No Fly List. I seem to remember that panty bomber being on that list too. Don’t worry, I’m sure the system is working just fine. Solid B+, I say.

President Obama has been very busy. Attending Nerd Prom. That’s in-the-know way to refer to the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. I’ll spare you the embarrassment of having to ask like I did last week,”What the heck is Nerd Prom???”

Oh yeah, and Nashville’s quickly becoming the next Atlantis.

It’s time to do something, people.

Contact your Congressmen in Washington and tell them the answer to this slick disaster is not to bankrupt us by shutting off even more of our fuel.

Contact the FTA and let them know that if they’re going to have a no fly list, they might as well start actually enforcing it.

If you have the means, donate your time or money to help the mer-people of Nashville.

At least that’s what I’ll be doing. I refuse to feel helpless and sit back and twiddle my thumbs and hope everything turns out ok. Sometimes life throws you curve balls. Sometimes those stray balls smack you in the face. I’d rather be someone that gets back up to the plate, black eye and all, than someone that fears ball games for the rest of her life. Because if you never get back up to that plate, there’s no chance you’ll ever hit that home run.

Sorry for the baseball analogy. It was either that or American Idol, as both topics are dominating my tweet-stream at the moment…