Sarah Palin's obsession with the term "Joe six-pack" is driving me crazy. So I did a little googling a little to see what other people's opinions were and whatever else I may stumble across. Miriam-Webster defines him as a common man or blue collar worker, taken from a 1975 saying in reference to a six pack of beer being a workingman's drink. He's also a beer columnist for the Philidelphia (PA) Daily News. There was also a disturbing link to a transgender website, but I digress. It seems to me that Palin is trying WAY too hard to get the American public to see her as an everyday, common person they can relate to. I like to think that everyday people don't wink multiple times on a nationally televised broadcast, but thats just my high hopes for this country. If she were your everyday woman, she would not be running for vice president of our country. She is supposed to be more well-informed, level-headed and experienced than your everyday woman. Do I think she can wink at a guy and get the "cute" vote, yes. You can tell that by entering her name into any search engine and pulling up images of her head photoshopped onto playmate's bodies. Do I think she is well informed enough to be given the power of the vice presidency, no. Newsweek discussed her Katie Couric interview in this week's issue and a McCain advisor (who wished to remain anonymous) said that Couric's questions were fair. However, he went on to say that it was acceptable that Palin could not cite specific court cases she disagreed with because the everyday woman would not be able to. However, the everyday woman isn't running for the vice presidency, is she? Palin has not convinced me she's the woman for the job yet, and for the record, she isn't going to do it by winking at me.

I'll go ahead and be the bold one who says that Palin's daughter's pregnancy actually DOES apply to the election. Now don't take that the wrong way. I do not think it should be a constant topic of discussion in the media until November (or longer if McCain wins), and I do believe Bristol has a right to privacy over the matter.

However, Palin is known to be a strong supporter of abstinence-only education. Let's just take a look at the statistics. Abstinence-only education is the only type permitted in school systems throughout Texas, and the state spent more than $17 million backing the program. Students are not educated on ways to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases but are only told not to have sex. Get real. While it is a very honorable decision to choose abstinence, it is not the choice many teenagers make.

So with all the money Texas invested in this program, federal studies report that 52.9 percent of Texas high school students have had sex compared to the national average of 47.8 percent.
Sounds like that plan really worked...it apparently did for Sarah Palin's daughter, too.

Seriously though, the abstinence-only programs teach the failure rates associated with contraceptives. People don't want to teach students about the positive aspects because they think it is giving them a nod of approval to have sex. Kids are going to have sex no matter what you teach them, so you might as well teach them how to be safer.