On a whim I vegetated in front of CSPAN for part of the afternoon, moderately interested in the cabinet confirmation hearings that were being re-broadcast.  On the (moderately) hot/ pleasantly warmed seat: Steven Chu, Obama's pick for DoE sec'y.

He seems like a smart guy, articulate, and appropriately wonkish.  I was bothered, however, by his answers to a few questions.

On drilling in Alaska: it's a go, as a part of our new energy plan (or maybe he was just placating the Senator from Alaska)
On "clean coal": significant resources will be invested to make it cleaner (especially as all those other horrible dirty countries will be using coal anyway, we may as well make sure it's clean (and sell the technology while we're at it))
On ethanol: do you even have to ask