I’m weak.  My willpower is minus ten.  Six weeks ago I gave up caffeine.  You’re thinking no biggie, right? WRONG! I was up to two pots of coffee and 3 liters of Diet Coke a day.  Yes, you read that right - every day.  I went cold turkey and had the three day headache to prove it.  But, following the advice of the nutritionist, I bit the bullet and awakened to 42 caffeine free mornings.  They all sucked.  Worse, without the mother’s milk of french roast, I was nearly comatose by 4:30 every day.  I would occasionally stroke my DeLonghi coffee maker and tearfully glance at my favorite coffee mugs.  Today I caved.  Folded like a cheap suit.  I haven’t been this happy in weeks.  I’m allowing the taste to linger on my long-deprived tongue and loving every minute of it.  Guess I’ll have to lie to the ‘no caramel colored beverages’ nutritionist on Monday.  I’m okay with that.  Anything is better than caffeine free.

Barring a successful appeal, looks like OJ Simpson is finally going to jail.  I’m sure it’s no comfort for the families of his murder victims but there is something poetic about his robbery and kidnapping convictions coming 13 years to the day after his bogus acquittal for killing his ex wife and Ron Goldman.  I hope he gets the full sentence - life.  Grab your ankles OJ and enjoy the prison life you so richly deserve.

I can’t avoid commenting on Sarah Palin.  If you don’t like politics, stop reading now.  I love the political process here.  Okay, not so much on the ads.  It isn’t that I don’t like them per se, it’s that I don’t like them running every 5 minutes.  And I loathe negative ads.  Don’t tell me you don’t like your opponent, I got that when you ran against him.  Tell me what you’ll do, not what your counterpart didn’t do.  And then there’s Sarah Palin - the anti-woman.  I’ve spent the last 8 years cringing at our less-than-intelligent president.  He basically hung his hat on whining about his opponent being an academic elitist.  Guess what?  I want a smart person to serve as president.  So just a Bush is packing up to leave the White House, who do the Republicans toss out there?  John McCain and Sarah Palin.  John McCain deserves respect and kudos for his service in Vietnam and the terrible ordeal of being a POW.  But now he’s 72 and apparently feeble.  Who but a feeble person would pick Sarah Palin as a running mate?  Let’s review . . . McCain is a 4 time cancer survivor - a little Cheneyesque.  I wish him years of health but c’mon, he’s hardly a healthy guy.  And speaking of guy - in any other arena, a 72 year old cancer survivor would not be offered a new job, he’d be in HR filling out his mandatory retirement papers.  I’m sure he thought Sarah Palin would add youth to his campaign and drawn in women.  I’ll give him the youth part - she’s 44.  But draw in women?  Would that be because of her stellar grasp of foreign policy?  Opps, doesn’t have it.  Her sharp insights on global issues?  Opps, doesn’t have that.  Hell, she’s only had a passport for a year.  Maybe it’s her executive experience.  After all, she was Mayor of Wasilla, population 9,780.  Or maybe her stint as Governor of Alaska, population 3.1 million.  Hummm, that’s less than the population of New Orleans. 

Or maybe it’s her commitment to women.  Well, she doesn’t think we should have control over our own reproductive organs - this is the most offensive Sarah Palin thing to me.  As much as I loathe old white politicians telling me what to do with my reproductive health, it’s somehow more offensive coming from a woman.  Not to mention hypocritical.  When news broke of her teenage daughter’s pregnancy, she stated, “We’re proud of our daughter’s choice to keep her baby.”   Hey lady, your kid had a choice but you don’t want other women to have the same choice?   And before anyone smacks me for my own beliefs, this is my position - I am the mother of an adoptive mother so obviously I believe in adoption.  I was never in a position of having to contemplate an abortion, but that’s because I believe in birth control.  Yes, it is offensive to me when people use abortion as a method of birth control.  In this day and age, only a careless idiot gets pregnant other than in the situation of rape or incest.  FYI, Sarah Palin doesn’t believe victims of rape or incest should be allowed to have abortions.  But her daughter had a choice and if she gets into power, I’m sure she’ll work hard to make sure my daughter doesn’t have that same choice.

Then there’s the most egregious Sarah thing - she’s not very bright.  I’d bet that if someone put a map of the world in front of her, she couldn’t fill in the names of the countries.  Hell, I’d bet my 11 year old could whip her butt answering 10 general knowledge questions.  Haven’t we had enough stupid in the White House?  Sarah Palin said she believes the Vice President should have more power.  In fact, she thinks it’s the Constitutional duty.  Me?  I don’t think the founding fathers ever envisioned having a woman whose greatest claim to fame is the ability to field dress a moose.  Oh, yeah, and she’s a former pageant contestant.  She loves Joe six-pack  and hockey moms.  If I happened to be a hockey mom, I’d be offended.  As for Joe six-pack, I’d prefer voters not be tipsy when choosing a world leader.

So Sarah - please go back to your live in Alaska where you can kill animals for sport and oversee the miniscule population of Alaska.

I feel better now J

My critique partners and I were discussing Sarah Palin as a fictional character. If I were to come up with a former beauty queen who clawed and bit her way into a governer's job, is married to a skimobiling stud muffin, has a bunch of kids with bizarre names, with politics slightly to the right of Mussolini, who runs for VP at the side of a slightly doddering ex-POW, my editor would say, "No way, too unrealistic." :P

I hate Palin too........

Welcome back to the dark side, Rhon. Starbucks won't have to declare bankruptcy now.

I jumped for joy at the verdict on OJ. Finally, the Goldman's and Browns can have some justice, albeit round about. Love the irony of the date! Ya know... what goes around comes around. Always does.
I'm waiting for that to happen on a several levels.=)

Palin.... A woman who does not fight for the rights of women everywhere is, imo, not worthy of any political office. She didn't get into office without the millions of women who fought for rights before her... and to slap it down is a slap to us all.

Wow, this is the first time I have read one of your blogs...I am surprised by your tone. I am from Alaska, and you should know, being an highly sucessful writer, that you should not always believe what is written about people in the papers. Everyone has the right to their own political views, but I don't think I can support someone that badmouths my state, or my Governor, the way you do. Sorry, won't be reading any more of your books. Now, I know you will write something snotty about my comments and post it for all the world to see, make fun of me for being "a stupid Republican" or something of that nature. Well, go ahead. I still won't read any more of your books. Maybe if it starts effecting your pocket book, you will tone down your reteric....Great stimulas package by the way....

Sorry to disappoint Nancy but I believe in the First Amendment, I'll pay for this blog space and you can feel free to slap me at will. That's the point of having this blog - I like differing oinions and don't need to change people's minds - as if I had that much power. The world would be a pretty dull place if we all shared one brain. Have a great day. Rhonda