There are bans that protect us from ourselves, and then there are those that impose regulations that far surpass the law’s jurisdiction. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood claims motorists are distracted by any use of mobile devices while driving, including hands-free calls, as the department begins discussion of a broader ban. This will only lead to unreasonable bans on in-car aid systems and unnecessary fines for drivers across the nation.

LaHood, who has already enforced tougher restriction in 30 states, said his concerns extend to entertainment systems and driver’s aides such as Ford’s Sync and General Motors’ OnStar, according to bloomberg.com. These system, however, have successfully aided drivers with their safety by making most functions hands-free. OnStar, for example, even alerts the authorities wirelessly of an accident that may have occurred with the driver. Rather than making driving more dangerous, theses systems provide the convenience of hands-free control of car electronics.

The fact of the matter is that the tools, which LaHood is trying to restrict these useful utilities, there are many other distractions that should be banned – or ones that are just as “dangerous” as hands-free talking on a phone. The radio is just one of many distractions that alter drivers’ capabilities. Singing along perhaps, should be banned as well. Talking to a passenger can be considered even more dangerous as the driver turns to look at the person or simply gets too involved in the conversation. There are simply too many other distractions – as the DOT calls them.

“I don’t want people talking on phones, having them up to their ear or texting while they’re driving,” LaHood said in an interview this week. “We need a lot better research on other distractions,” including Bluetooth-enabled hands-free calls and the in-car systems, he said.

LaHood simply doesn’t get it. Banning hands-free devices – let alone the ones that serve the driver more than they affect his ability to drive – does not solve the problems of bad drivers. Strengthening the process of receiving a driver’s license is only one of many other methods of decreasing accidents on the road. Navigation systems, for example, help drivers reach their destinations more safely instead of forcing them to swerve for an exit at the last second. The problem isn’t the devices we use – it is in the drivers we let on the road. LaHood should examine this problem rather than limiting trivial “distractions.”

The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office has subpoenaed Rutgers U. for e-mails regarding University first-year student Tyler Clementi’s complaint that his roommate, School of Arts and Sciences first-year student Dharun Ravi, used a webcam to spy on him and his sexual encounter with another male, according to The Star-Ledger.

Investigators believed the University was not fully cooperating with the investigation of 18-year-old Clementi – who committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge shortly after Ravi’s alleged actions – two officials unauthorized to speak because of the case’s ongoing nature told the Ledger.

“The investigation is continuing and we can’t comment further,” the prosecutor’s spokesman James O’Neill told the Ledger.

University spokesman E.J. Miranda said the Rutgers University Police Department and the University is working with the prosecutor’s office in the investigation.

A subpoena is required in some instances before the University can release certain confidential student records federally protected by FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, he said.

“Confidential student records covered under FERPA include student grades, student conduct records, and electronic communication between the student and University administrators,” Miranda said.

Never has a youth movement toward tomorrow looked so stale. Check the label on the 2010 season, expiration date: Oct. 9.

Are we headed back to the early 2000s, the dark ages, a futile program? Can’t say after just one game, especially with a patchwork defense. But you’re starting to see signs of real trouble, players’ faces puckering up, being forced to swallow the sour milk the coaching staff has refrigerated for years.

Predictable, conservative play-calling and an egregious offensive line that can’t knock anyone off the ball does not bode well for an offense. Soft zone with slow linebackers hung out to dry in pass coverage and a unit absent of playmakers won’t do an offense any favors.

Forget being out-schemed, out-manned, out-executed. Penn State is defeating itself, its staff losing its players that won’t believe the boring, outdated propaganda, that see the restrictions on their talent.

And it’s ruining the psyche of this young, fragile team. Players are discreetly questioning coaching, they feel the shackle and bolt of unimaginative play calls and they’re losing patience, desperately reaching for a reason to care when a coaching staff handicaps their potential.

Twice Illinois cornerback Jack Ramsey fumbled a punt, which Penn State recovered deep in Illini territory. On the first chance, creativity budded for a second with a shotgun pitch to Silas Redd that let him operate in space and pick up eight yards. On second down, running coordinator Galen Hall calls for Redd up the middle. No gain. Third down, passing coordinator Jay Paterno has Rob Bolden float one up to Brett Brackett in the back right corner of the end zone.

That wasn’t the worst of it.

On its next drive, after Penn State made one of its seven first downs on the day, Stephfon Green rushed for six yards, bringing up 2nd-and-4 at the Illinois 45. Bolden had his next pass batted down at the line of scrimmage. On third down, Bolden checked down to Devon Smith crossing over the middle one yard short of the first down marker. On fourth down, when rolling Bolden out gives you the option to throw or run, Green carries straight into a logjam of bodies for a turnover on downs.

Then, you knew. This is not getting turned around.

Players popped in a videotape of Penn State history Friday after squad meetings that highlighted a slew of its best players such as LaVar Arrington and Jack Ham to bookend a week of practice that started with a players-only meeting Monday.

Stephon Morris titled the video “Penn State swagger.”

I polled players on what they saw in those former players that they aren’t seeing in themselves.

The reviews are in.

Candid senior right guard Stefen Wisniewski: “They just got a little bit more desire than we have. Desire to just smack somebody, to make a play. With the ball carrier, just a desire to gotta refuse to get tackled. Fighting for everything you got to get in the end zone. For linemen, it’s fighting for everything you got to stay on blocks.

“It’s just this much on every play. Every guy, this much more. It adds up to be a lot.”

Senior linebacker Chris Colasanti, who has played the last two games with a broken hand: “I feel that those guys are no different. We have pride wearing the blue and white. We have heart, and we have the intensity of going out there and playing good defense and offense, and besides those small mistakes, those are the things we have to correct.”

Morris: “Lack of intensity. We gotta tackle. We have to tackle. We have to strip the ball out. We just need to help the offense out. Anything we can do just to help the offense, anything.”

What a young team needs is guidance, leaders. Penn State has none, including at the top, and cute little motivational videos can’t fix a program corroding from the core.

“We’re not making any progress,” said Paterno, slouched in his chair, legs crossed. “I thought by this stage we would be a pretty good football team. I didn’t think we would be great, but I thought we would be pretty good but we’re not. We’re not getting any better, and that’s the discouraging part.”

The admission was never clearer, and you’ve seen what a couple of 11-2 seasons masked.

Swagger and 83 years old don’t go well together.

As the Penn State Icers played their home opener against Drexel Friday night, some special guests were in attendance.

Penn State President Graham Spanier, Associate Athletic Director for Ice Arena Operations Joe Battista, and Terry and Kim Pegula — whose $88 million dollar donation made the future ice arena construction possible — were all in attendance to show their support.

While the Icers’ season has gotten off to a strong 3-0 start after an 11-0 rout of Drexel, those guests have been working to select the architect of the state-of-the-art arena set to open in Spring 2014.

Battista said the Request For Proposals (RFP) have been sent out to multiple architects and all have responded with their qualifications. He said the possible choices have worked with Penn State in the past, and all have experience with ice arena design.

“We’ve cast the nets very broadly to begin with,” Spanier said.

Spanier said the Board of Trustees Architectural Selection Committee will narrow the choices to 12 before selecting three-to-five finalists to visit State College and make a formal presentation. The committee is made up of Board of Trustees members, an architecture professor, a student and representation from the Office of the Physical Plant (OPP).

Battisa said the finalists will be notified by Oct. 18. They will make their presentations in mid-November and then the board will decide.

“They’ve given us their qualifications. Based on their past work, on their thoughts, and their philosophies, we’ll decide which one is the best fit for what we’re trying to do,” Battista said. “It’s exciting, I can tell you.”

A few weeks after the decision on the architect, the board will follow the same process again to decide on a construction team. Battista said they hope to break ground in the next 9-12 months, in either late-summer or early-fall 2011.

Once the architect is decided, Battista said they will receive a sheet of programs of features the university wants in the building. Battista, Spanier and the Pegulas have traveled to different hockey rinks around the United States to help decide what they want in the arena.

“We’ll go through this list with the architects to make sure they know exactly where we want to be,” Battista said. “How many club seats we want, how many suites we want, how many different locker rooms we want and so on.”

One feature Battista said he wants in the arena is the implementation of the USA Cross Ice youth hockey program, in which dividers come across the ice, dividing it into thirds. It would allow for an expanded youth hockey league, with six teams playing at one time.

While nothing has been officially decided, Battista said the most important thing to him is making sure it’s a multi-use facility.

“To me, we have to make this thing pay for itself,” Battista said. “So we have to have enough locker rooms to be able to host a lot of tournaments. We want to be able to have lockers for public use and areas for youth and high school area programs to store their equipment. We want the intramural players to have a place. That’s how you make money in a facility like this.”

The plan for the arena has been set in motion because of the Pegula’s Sept. 17 donation, the largest single donation in Penn State history. Spanier said the effect of the announcement has been felt with the near-capacity crowd at the Icers’ first game.

“I am always so impressed with the turnout that we have here for hockey at Penn State,” Spanier said. “The enthusiasm is unbelievable, and it’s really been elevated a lot with this new gift.”

To sophomore wide receiver Devon Smith, naming Penn State’s football stadium after his head coach seems like an easy decision.

“He’s a legend,” Smith said. “Why not?”

The Penn State football team currently plays in a stadium named after a Pennsylvania governor in the 1800s — not after head coach Joe Paterno, who helped establish a national football powerhouse in central Pennsylvania.

Heck, many people believe the university could be named after him, let alone the football stadium.

Paterno, in his 45th year as head coach, and his 61st year as a coach in Happy Valley, is the all-time winningest coach in the history of Division I football with 397 victories.

But the stadium where Paterno’s team competes on Saturday’s is named after James A. Beaver, the former president of the university’s board of trustees and former governor at the turn of the century.

His contribution to the area, however, came just years after football became a collegiate sport. Beaver is credited with being a great university leader, which is why the football cathedral bares his name, according to the school’s athletic website.

There’s no way the second biggest college football stadium in the country (by crowd capacity) should be named after Beaver. Penn State certainly went out of its way to honor Beaver, also naming one of the most prominent downtown streets and a popular residence hall after him.

Honoring our most historical campus figures is absolutely important, but Paterno ranks right up there with Beaver.

Sophomore cornerback Derrick Thomas, who has been at Penn State for only one full season, even understands Paterno’s historical imprint.

“He’s the winningest coach in college football,” Thomas said after last Saturday’s 24-0 victory over Kent State. “JoePa Stadium doesn’t sound too bad. I think the fans and definitely the players would love that.”

If Beaver was still alive, it’d be hard to imagine him opposing the re-naming of the stadium after Paterno. He couldn’t help but to be thrilled for the contributions the football coach has given back to the school.

Paterno and his wife, Susan, helped raise $13.5 million in donations for a new library, which now bares the name “Paterno” in their honor.

At a time when some of college football’s best coaches are being accused of recruiting scandals and corruption, with two prestigous programs, the University of Florida and the University of Michigan enduring strong violations and fines — it is hard to imagine any college football coach ever having as much academic influence as Paterno has had at Penn State.

Paterno is known for running a clean program, too. Florida State’s Bobby Bowden had to vacate 14 wins as a result of a recruiting violation.

There’s an argument to be made that Paterno wouldn’t want to be honored with the naming of the football stadium because his contribution to this university is so wide-ranging.

Nittany Lion quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno, son of the legendary coach, said he wouldn’t oppose it, but the decision was not up to his family.

“If somebody wants to do that, that’s up to somebody else,” the quarterbacks coach said. “If it happens, it’s great. If it doesn’t happen, you can’t be too worried about it.”

It wouldn’t be the first time a school decided to honor a coach, either.

Alabama’s Bryant-Denney Stadium is named after Paul “Bear” Bryant, one of the most legendary coaches in college football.

In 2005, Kansas State offered retiring head coach Bill Snyder the opportunity to have the football stadium named after him. Snyder had brought the Wildcats back to relevance in his 16 seasons.

When asked about it, Snyder wanted the stadium to be named after “the people he cared about the most.” The Wildcats now play in Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

The five most prominent college basketball programs — Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA — all play in arenas named after their most well-known coaches.

Legendary Bruins coach John Wooden, who won 10 national championships in a 12-year span, is the namesake of UCLA’s Paulie Pavilion floor. The floor was named after him in 2002, eight years before he passed away in June.

The floor at Oklahoma State’s Gallagher-Iba Arena was named after Eddie Sutton in a 2005 ceremony for leading the Cowboys to the NCAA Tournament 14 out of 16 years, after they had only been once in the previous 25 years.

“He was very proud of the fact that his alma mater named the court after him, especially since his mentor’s name is on the actual facility,” Oklahoma State Associate Athletic Director Kevin Klintworth said. “We had a big ceremony following a game and had his entire family here for it.”

Paterno is now one of the most recognizable coaches in sports for his resurrection of the football program.

Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, who has been alongside Paterno for 32 years, has had a great seat to watch Paterno’s accomplishments. Although he said he couldn’t speculate about what his boss would want, he supported the idea.

“[Paterno Stadium] would sound a whole lot better than Beaver Stadium, wouldn’t it?” Bradley said.

Yevette Nicole Brown stars as Shirley in the NBC sitcom, “Community.” Brown has had many different acting jobs working in anything from movies to family television shows. You may recognize her from her guest appearances in movies such as “The Ugly Truth” and “Little Black Book,” and television shows including “Entourage,” or her role as manager of The Premiere movie theater in “Drake and Josh.”

Once I saw her name, I was super excited to talk to her. As a television reporter, you can imagine that I have seen her in countless numbers of episodes of different shows.

Today we talked about her past roles as well as her experience working on “Community.”

Q: I am also a big fan of Drake and Josh, and Josh as well as yourself was the reason my first job was in a movie theater. What is the transition like, from a kids show to Community?

A: I am shocked because [Helen] is kind of crazy.

A: Moving from Drake and Josh to Community was an easy transition because both are comedy and I get to work with funny people. Coming from a set from where everything is PG to a more naughty set, was a little of a shock, but I can roll with the punches.

Q: How does working on this show compare to others you have been on in the past?

A: Every set is pretty much the same work with different people. The environment is the same. We still have trailers, make-up and the food station. The only difference between Community and other shows I’ve worked on is the style of sitcom.

The actual shoot day is different because Community is a one camera production; other shows have multi-cameras on set. The day is a lot longer because the shooting is slow and meticulous. We have to read our lines perfectly and get the angles right; while multi-camera productions shoot the scene from various angles all at the same time. Those sitcoms do the whole show like a play.

The good thing is that we don’t have to know all our lines at once, we only have to learn one or two scenes a day, which makes a longer day work wise.

I like to rate jobs based on how long the work day.

Q: Are there any characteristics that you have given Shirley to make her so hilarious?

A: The only thing that I have given to Shirley personally is calling people, ‘pumpkin’ or ‘sweetie.’

The stuff that makes Shirley, Shirley I take from my mom. The feeling of being a single mom, I took from my mother.

All high voices and low voices that Shirley speaks in, I just think is funny.

Q: What are the progressions the audience can expect to see from Shirley, from the first season to now?

A: Shirley was maybe not as involved in things last year. This season we are going to find out more about what makes her tick. The writers are getting her more involved so we can find out what is inside of Shirley.

We are going to see a big difference in Shirley between last season and this one.

Q: You went to the University of Akron. Are there any similarities between your experience there and what the cast participates in on Community?

A: Of course. Most college campuses are the same no matter if they are 4 year colleges or 2 years. Students still agonize over tests and normal things. I went to a community college over the summer while I was in high school. I got to see the mixture of races and ages and kind of got to experience that melting pot of people.

I think that what sets Community apart from other shows is the fact that all of the characters are hilarious and that all of these people can be found in a community college.

Q: What do you think sets it apart from other sitcoms?

A: I think that is the draw of people to the characters. You can see yourself or someone you know in each of the characters. They are accessible to everybody.

Then again it is not that much different than other sitcoms. Seinfeld had different people that all met in Jerry’s apartment or the coffee shop; the same thing as in Friends and the coffee shop. I think the only difference is that we have different races and people from different walks of life.

I think that what sitcoms are about are different types of people bumping heads and trying to figure out how to deal with it and each others differences.

Community airs at 8 p.m. Thursdays on NBC.

Pete Carroll had U. Southern California at or near the top of the college football universe during his nine-year tenure in Los Angeles.

For much of his stay, the sunny skies and celebrities donning maroon and gold on the sidelines embodied the level the program had attained. Everything was perfect in SoCal. The Trojans, a perennial contender, annually reloaded with five-star recruits and quarterbacks dating starlets.

Carroll, the cool, laid-back coach, was the ringleader of the circus. He led USC to a split national championship in 2003 and an outright title in 2004. The Trojans lost the title game to Texas in 2005.

But without worry, they’d infuse more talent into the roster and be back at it next year.

That is, until the utopian shine wore off.

With former star running back and Heisman trophy winner Reggie Bush under investigation for accepting money, a house and probably more, it appeared sanctions could be on the way.

They were.

Did Carroll want to remain part of a de-glorified program facing a postseason ban?

Suddenly, clouds covered the L.A. skyline; the NCAA was about to deliver a lightning strike, shocking the college football world.

So Carroll bolted.

From 2001-09, he won 97 games at USC (14 of which were vacated as part of the school’s punishment).

Carroll jumped ship before he could capture his 100th win at USC.

Jim Tressel reached the century mark at Ohio State with the Buckeyes’ win over Indiana on Saturday.

The milestone accounts for more than just the annual tally of 11 or 12 victories and a BCS bowl berth. It speaks volumes of Tressel’s imprint on the OSU brand, on a similarly elite status as USC was in its prime, but without the inhibiting baggage.

The OSU program hasn’t maintained a clean slate during the past decade. Troy Smith was suspended for the 2004 Alamo Bowl and the 2005 season-opener after breaking a team rule and accepting money from a booster.

But Tressel’s tenure in Columbus represents everything good about college athletics, which weasels like Carroll, Lane Kiffin, Rich Rodriguez and others couldn’t care less about.

Tressel always expresses his respect for opposing coaches and teams. Tressel believes the next opponent is always the most challenging, even if Michigan is on the schedule two weeks down the road.

He doesn’t run up scores, despite the perception that style of victory counts toward team rankings in the polls.

OSU’s 73 points against Eastern Michigan last month were certainly a break from the norm. The Buckeyes have scored half-a-hundred points only five times in Tressel’s nine-plus years at the helm.

Under Carroll, USC eclipsed the 50-point plateau on 17 occasions.

Kiffin, who took over for Carroll at USC, made headlines for a series of remarks he made about several SEC foes after being hired at Tennessee in November 2008.

First, he accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of a recruiting violation. Kiffin’s accusation actually broke NCAA rules, and he was forced to issue an apology.

Later, he reportedly told South Carolina receiving recruit Alshon Jeffery that “if he chose the Gamecocks, he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life like all the other players from that state who had gone to South Carolina.”

The common adage, “Nothing in life is impossible,” doesn’t apply here. There is zero possibility of Tressel ever duplicating such malicious remarks about an opposing player, coach or program.

Players leave OSU with the utmost respect for their coach, who hosts the players at his house during summer nights, having them bond by playing video games and grilling.

I find it difficult to picture Kiffin preaching team bonding over burgers and brats in his backyard.

At USC, Carroll routinely pumped in big-armed quarterbacks, shifty, big-play running backs and athletes on defense to run his system. It worked – he coached 14 first-round draft picks, 53 draft selections in all.

Tressel hasn’t had the same plethora of talent. He’s done more with less.

In 2002, he coached Craig Krenzel, a molecular genetics major with a weak arm, into a championship quarterback. Now, he’s trying to do the same with a hyperbolically hyped, major-doesn’t-matter, freak-of-nature athlete under center.

Tressel didn’t scrap his system when he landed Terrelle Pryor, the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country.

Instead, he stuck the dual-threat signal-caller into OSU’s pro-style offense to better prepare Pryor for the NFL and avoid making drastic changes to what was already in place.

Sure, the Buckeyes have made amendments to their style of attack with Pryor on the field, but now in his third year, the Heisman candidate quarterback has begun to master the nuances of Tressel’s playbook.

The Senator has stuck with his stubborn style of Tresselball, the traditional, grinding, special-teams-happy method of football that proved successful 30 years ago. But Tressel has tweaked his philosophy along the way, implementing techniques to modernize his plan of attack and adapt to changes in the way the game is played.

All in all, he’s a likeable guy. He doesn’t wear a Nike dry-fit polo or an oversized hoodie on the sideline.

He wears his sweater vest, each and every game.

He’s consistent and he has brought stability to a program that is once again familiar with being a perennial championship threat.

Tressel probably won’t coach long enough to turn the “100” into a “200.”

But when it’s time for him to go, he’ll sail off into the Columbus sunset, unlike his counterpart, who jetted his way out of the brewing L.A. storm.

I wish I could be optimistic.

I want to point to the fact that the last three national champions before Alabama last year finished the season with a blemish on their record. I want to reiterate that the winner of the Southeastern Conference has won the past four national championships.

But it is the rest of the country – not the Tide, not the SEC – that forces me to examine the Crimson Tide’s national championship chances without any buoyancy.

Alabama’s loss to South Carolina Saturday did not knock the Tide out of the national championship hunt, but chances are, the reward for winning the rest of its games will be no more than a bowl of sugar.

Not to say that wouldn’t still be a fantastic season. But any school who sees its team begin the season at No. 1 always expects to finish there.

There are 11 undefeated teams left in the FBS, which is high for this point in the season. Let’s take a look at the possibility of a one-loss Alabama team finishing in one of the nation’s top two spots.

If Alabama wins out, it will take care of two of those undefeated teams (LSU and Auburn), and if the voters have any sense – like they have in the past – a 12-1 Tide team who runs the table the rest of the way and wins the SEC would have priority over an undefeated Boise State, TCU, Utah or Nevada by the end of the season.

That leaves Ohio State, Oregon, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Michigan State.

It looks like the Big Ten Championship is coming a year too late for the Tide. Ohio State and Michigan State will not play each other this season, unless it’s for the national championship.

Penn State, which has lost its last two games by 20 points, now looks like a fraud. That means Michigan State’s only true test the rest of the way will be at No. 15 Iowa. Ohio State has a few more tests – Iowa, No. 18 Wisconsin and Michigan – but the Buckeyes are the new No. 1, and it would certainly not surprise anyone if they won out.

Nebraska and Oklahoma (Both in the Big 12) don’t play each other this year, either. But the two would play each other in their conference championship game, eliminating one.

Although Oklahoma has been on the edge of losing many times this year, the Sooners only two real tests left seem to be two road games against No. 21 Missouri and No. 20 Oklahoma State.

Nebraska’s next three games are against Texas, Oklahoma State and Missouri. If the Cornhuskers survive that stretch, 12-0 will likely be in their future.

That leaves No. 2 Oregon. The Ducks play two ranked teams to finish the season – No. 17 Arizona and No. 24 Oregon State – but I don’t expect a team with an average margin of victory of 38 points to lose either of those games.

Of course, it is highly possible that four of these five teams could lose. But then comes another problem; all of this is assuming Alabama wins the rest of its games, including the SEC Championship.

Although the Tide certainly has the talent to do so, Alabama is just not as good of a team as last year. The chances of Alabama winning out are even shaky before you throw on all the other help the Tide needs to finish at No. 1 or 2.

If it happens, I won’t be shocked. But it’s a long road ahead, and even perfection from here on out may not be enough.

By most estimations, “Glee” is one of the most popular shows on television. It cannot avoid being one of the most polarizing as a result.

This polarized nature does not just exist among different audience segments. It is, at its most frustrating level, an uneven experience for individual viewers as well.

The hype surrounding its premiere was astronomical, and for good reason. The pilot provided viewers with something unfamiliar and fresh for television audiences. The fact that its rendition of “Don’t Stop Believing” was a constant at the top of the iTunes chart list did nothing to hurt its cause.

Then came the rest of season one and, with it, numerous highs and lows. Whether is was an inconsistent stretch of episodes (the final three, which was one horrible one smacked in the middle of two of my favorites) or the unevenness that could accompany a singular episode — I’m looking at you, “Bad Reputation” — season one no doubt had its growing pains.

I think the biggest issue I have had with the show is the way the characters are handled. Characters have always been the most important part of any show I watch, and it was disappointing to watch the writers squander away numerous opportunities of development in order to cram more songs into an episode.

Also, some of these development moments for our characters felt too over-the-top even for a show like “Glee.” This is not so bad considering the tone of the show. However, since some of these were a little too contrived, it just feels empty most of the time.

Like most shows, I figured “Glee” would settle in and find its groove during season two. If the first three episodes are any indication, I am prepared for another roller coaster of a season.

The season two premiere was a thrill. The introduction of Dot-Marie Jones as the new football coach (aptly named Shannon Beiste) was a great move. She provides another rival for Sue Sylvester (played by the incomparable Jane Lynch) without being some caricature or cookie-cutter character. I am so glad they took care to humanize her character.

But then came the Britney Spears episode. The only redeeming factor for this episode has to be John Stamos. Without him, this episode is just another slushie to the face for its audience, specifically those who want the show to be as good as it can be.

“Grilled Cheesus” was the first PSA-themed episode of season two. Season one had its fair share, most of which were tolerable. This one was no different. Jane Lynch always does masterful work on this show, but she had her brightest moment in this one. Plus, we got our first season two appearance of my second favorite character, Burt Hummel (played by the second-best actor on the show, Mike O’Malley).

But the episode, despite its visceral appeal and strong acting, failed to produce “a total eclipse of the heart” for this viewer, and I am normally the one susceptible to such emotional episodes. The unevenness of the episode stemmed from the show’s inability to offer two conflicting worldviews in a convincing manner. If I wanted rival views unfairly conceptualized, I would turn to any cable news channel.

If I sound harsh or unfair, it is because I want this show to excel. There is nothing wrong with recognizing weaknesses of the shows we love. But this show can be so much better.

Maybe it starts with eliminating the themed shows. I admit some of them are guilty pleasures, but framing characters around the themes has often produced the contrived character development I mentioned above. (However, I will be a complete hypocrite and say there is no one more excited than me about the upcoming “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” episode; it’s a crying shame Tim Curry will not be a part of the magic.)

Maybe it starts with eliminating certain characters. Ensemble pieces are always tricky, since the balancing act never satisfies most people. But if “Lost” can pull it off, so can “Glee.”

“Glee” is on the cusp of something absolutely brilliant. But until the show can iron out its inconsistencies, then “Glee” will fall short of reaching the top spots both in hardware, like the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy, and in our hearts.

The military could become the biggest funder of Green Technology in America. The military is requesting bids for additional battle-tested renewable energy research.

On Oct. 4, 2010, the New York Times reported that the military, concerned by its dependence on foreign oil, is going to be deploying a unit of Marines who will survive off of renewable technology. They plan to use solar-chargers for the communications equipment; solar-shaded tents to provide shade and electricity; and energy-conserving light bulbs.

The reason this news is so fascinating is because it is ironic: The military, usually associated with Conservative Republican values, is hell-bent on using Green Energy, the symbol of Liberal Democratic progressivism, to wage its wars more efficiently.

If the military succeeds, the United States will be able to fight wars longer and with a lower carbon-footprint. They will also, as a side effect, create an entire industry of battle-tested, military-grade renewable energy technology…which I will probably be able to put on the roof of my house when the military is done with it.

The message: “Republican” entities can fund “Democratic” initiatives. And, equally, “Liberal” ideas can make “Conservative” ones work better.

This all speaks to a larger issue that America faces today: neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have any good ideas anymore. We see the stress this is causing our country in the polarization of politics that we are witnessing today.

Perhaps there is a solution: Synthesize both Republican and Democratic ideas. Instead of yelling at each other, maybe we could sit down and calmly discuss how the military could secretly subsidize the entire environmentalist cause of renewable energy. That way the Republicans will not get angry that we are subsidizing the renewable energy industry and the Democrats will not get angry that we are spending too much on the military.

The military is not the only organization catching on to this idea. It is everywhere. Last week Thursday, at a Spark M. Matsunaga Center for Peace Studies panel discussion on torture at the William S. Richardson School of Law, Col. Larry Wilkerson, a former Colin Powell aide and fierce critic of the Bush Administration’s Enhanced Interrogation policy (he called it torture) was asked this simple question:

“Why be a Republican at all? Why not just be a Democrat?”

It was a question that a lot of moderate Republicans–the kind who don’t understand how the Republican Party, the party of small government, personal liberty, and self-reliance, became the party of Big Government Conservatives, the Patriot Act and Medicare Part D– are asking themselves these days.

And Wilkerson had an answer.

“There isn’t a whisper of difference between the basic domestic and foreign policies of the presidents of either party for the last 60 years. I don’t think it matters anymore that you’re democratic or republican, because neither really has, or seems to have the answers, or if they have the answers, the courage to execute… .

“There’s a radical thought that the center is now radical. In fact there are a couple of think tanks in Washington that claim the radical center, because that is the radical thing to do these days; not be Rush Limbaugh and not be Nancy Pelosi,” said Wilkerson.

One week later I attended a talk on immigration put on by the Federalist Society at the WSRSL. The speaker, Dr. James Jay Carafano, identified himself as an independent and he worked for the Heritage Foundation, which is the official Conservative Think Tank of Washington, D.C.

I expected the speaker to be a radical, ranting conservative yelling about Mexicans taking their jobs and securing the border. What he turned out to be was a perfectly sensible independent who said that “securing the border” never works and that we really need to secure the Mexican economy if we want to reduce the amount of Mexican immigration to the United States.

Is it possible that centrism could be the new radicalism? Would the center be radical enough to suggest that the Military use Green Technology to more efficiently fight its wars? Would it be centrist to suggest that Teacher’s Unions are actually hindering education reform all across the country? Could it be centrist to that immigration is a more complex problem than just installing a border fense?

The time has come for a new wave in politics. Maybe it will be called the Radical Center. Whatever it’s called, I hope it’s smart enough to give our troops machines that can convert readily available plant life (read ‘Poppy Seeds’) life into bio-fuels.