The background music helps to defuse the serious and almost frightening premise: that police officers are used to track down people who violate “green” laws.

I’ll be the first person to tell you that Americans need to prioritize research for alternative forms of energy: nuclear, wind, solar, hydroelectric, etc. We also need to continuously work to reduce the amount of waste we produce. I don’t think you’ll find anyone who believes that we should waste resources and deliberately produce tons of refuse.

But at what cost? Should we allow the market to produce innovative energy alternatives, or should government punish what it considers waste. And certainly in the wake of increasing doubt about the professional nature of the climate community, is our government looking to credible sources?

As more and more restaurants are forced to print the caloric content of its food items on menus and we phase out the use of incandescant lightbulbs, we should be wary of government encroachment. What seems like a government responsive to the health of its citizens is more likely bad public policy.

Rather than bore you with those details (read: expose the VRWC’s plan to take over the country – haha), I figure I would just post some pictures and brief commentary. Here, for your visual pleasure, is my trip in iPhone snapshots:

Above is the obligatory snapshot of the welcome lights in downtown Reno. If you take a look below, the same view (sort of, from my hotel room window) isn’t nearly as exciting.

You can see the sign in the center of the picture. This is from the 17th floor of the Harrah’s Casino, West Tower. While we’re checking out shots from my hotel room, how about this one:

So, there are mountains everywhere. Like, real mountains. Not, I-just-drove-through-East-Tennessee mountains. These things were huge! (I know, that’s what she said. I made the joke for you.) And so about these mountains, they also look like this:

And this:

Somewhere along my travels, I wound up here:

That’s somewhere in Northern Nevada. It’s all mountain.

The greatest part of the sight-seeing aspect of the trip was the drive to Lake Tahoe, which is indescribable in its beauty. Check these out:

I had a really great time meeting activists in Nevada and exploring the Mountain West. Everyone is fired up about local elections and a certain highly contested federal election in that state.

Good luck, guys!

An MTSU student has announced he will be running for a position on the Murfreesboro City Council this year, and if he succeeds, he would become the youngest member of the citywide board of representatives.

Thomas Connor Moss, junior political science major, said he wants to inject new blood into local politics by running for the city council in the upcoming April 20 election.

The city is set to elect a new mayor, three city council members and three school board members.

Moss said he is running for a city council seat because he believes there is a definite need for improvement in Murfreesboro, and that he can facilitate much of that improvement by offering a fresh perspective.

“It is crucial to have someone of my age and background involved in local government,” Moss said.

I’ll have more information when I get in touch with Moss. If you remember, I ran for County Commission in 2006 against Steve Sandlin, coming within ten points of unseating a 16-year incumbent.

Republican Senate hopeful Pat Toomey, three-term Pennsylvania Congressman, surged ahead of incumbent Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Democrat Senator Arlen Specter in the latest Daily News/Franklin & Marshall Poll.

According to the article:

… Toomey jumped out to a 14-point lead when the poll targeted “likely voters,” people who said they are certain to vote and are paying close attention to the race.

Among that group, Toomey led Specter 45-31 percent, with 20 percent undecided.

Pennsylvania voters remember that Arlen Specter only narrowly defeated Toomey in the Republican primay in 2004, by less than two percentage points or about 26,000 votes. As Pennsylvania voters react in the wake of a Scott Brown victory in Massachusetts, one can only expect Toomey’s poll numbers to increase over his Democratic opponent’s through the general election. Note: Specter himself is being challenged by Congressman Joe Sestak; however, the incumbent Senator holds a commanding lead over his challenger.

What are the issues that matter most to Pennsylvanians? According to the article, “The poll found health care, the economy and jobs to be the top issues in the race.” These are all issues which many Americans feel like the President is handling poorly. As Obama’s poll numbers continue to sink, expect him to drag Democratic incumbents down significantly.

Rasmussen Reports polled potential voters this month, revealing that voters would likely support the (R) label over the (D) label in any given Congressional race by 46 – 37. On a more striking note, among unaffiliated voters, “the GOP leads this week by a near two-to-one margin, 46% to 24%.”

Tonight’s State of the Union Address might allow President Obama to regroup and refocus his message on job creation and stimulating the economy. If he doesn’t make headway soon, it could spell certain doom for Congressional Democrats.

Columnist Michael Barone hypothesized a Democratic stumble in the same way Republicans were rebuked in the wake of the Watergate scandal. From today’s column: