For too long our country's version of an energy policy has consisted of Americans waking up every day and wondering how much it will cost to drive to work how much it will cost to keep their business running how much it will cost to heat or cool their homes.

Honestly I'm cool with everyone and people pick up on that. I'd say 'I'm not gay but it's all good.' It's kind of like going to Paris when you don't know the language some Americans get into trouble over there but I'm just like 'Sorry I don't speak French.'

My family moved - first to Washington D.C. and then in the spring of 1975 to Lebanon where my father worked as a diplomat at the American embassy. My parents were enthusiastic about the move so my older brother and I felt like we were off to some place kind of cool.

Americans are cool if you show just a chink of vulnerability they respond so much. They'll pat you on the arm and say 'Hey kid you're all right.' Brits will respond but they are much more cynical.

My problem was that I was blond. There were no heroes with blond hair. Robert Taylor and Henry Fonda they all had dark hair. The only one I found was Van Johnson who wasn't too cool. He was a nice homely American boy. So I created my own image. It worked.

Most Americans are very cool people.

I'm cute - and God I hate that. Because that's not cool. I'm like your niece and nobody wants to date their niece. It's the chubby cheeks. The whole reason people voted for me on American Idol is because I'm an everyday normal girl.

The simple truth is that balding African-American men look cool when they shave their heads whereas balding white men look like giant thumbs.

I think I was lucky to come of age in a place and time - the American South in the 1960s and '70s - when the machine hadn't completely taken over life. The natural world was still the world and machines - TV telephone cars - were still more or less ancillary and computers were unheard of in everyday life.

I am a huge supporter for cash for caulkers - which allows people to make improvement for energy efficient in their homes. We should do the same for Americans purchasing appliances and computers and for that matter new air-conditioner and heating units.