By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I've lost interest in Sarah Palin—a woman who has proven herself time and again to be not ready for prime time. But when she starts to exhibit signs of true lunacy, she gets a bit more interesting. She's done so once more in her upcoming and widely touted interview with Oprah Winfrey. My favorite part of the chat is when Palin talks about having the infamous father of her grandson, Levi Johnston, over for Thanksgiving. According to People (via MSNBC):

If Levi Johnston would like a piece of the Palin family turkey, Sarah Palin will save him a seat at her Thanksgiving table.

"It's lovely to think that he would ever even consider such a thing," the former Alaska governor, 45, tells Oprah Winfrey in an interview to air Nov. 16, the day before the publication of Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue."

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

I'm conflicted about Google's announcement today that it will subsidize free wireless network access in 47 airports from now until January 15—and indefinitely in the airports of Burbank, Calif., and Seattle.

The promotion, in cooperation with Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, and Airport Marketing Income, is the latest effort to use free Wi-Fi to boost a brand. Among others: Yahoo is sponsoring Wi-Fi in Times Square in New York, and Google is sponsoring Internet access on Virgin America flights during the holidays.

It's a great holiday gift, don't get me wrong. I'm one of those frequent travelers who hates long layovers with my laptop. I'm stuck killing time between flights only to encounter the deal-breaker of a $5.00 or $10.00 charge when I try to logon at an airport.

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Now here's a study the results of which make me jump up and yell, "huzzah!"

According to the Academy of Management:

Bosses mistakenly believe female workers have more family-work conflict than men do, and that misconception stymies women's careers.

Just last week, I was seething over a different study that seemed to show the opposite. The second study showed that women were increasing, not decreasing, their share of household chores and child care, and that kids are being raised believing Mom does (and therefore should do) more work around the house than Dad.

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

According to the Associated Press, two high-profile women running for California offices have spotty voting records. They are U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, who is challenging longtime incumbent Barbara Boxer, and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who is running for governor. I don't know about you, but I'd have a hard time voting for someone who didn't have the time to participate in the voting process at an earlier stage of their career: 

The former head of Hewlett-Packard, who is running for the seat now held by Democrat Barbara Boxer, said she has no excuse for not voting more often when people have died for that right.

"I'm a lifelong registered Republican but I haven't always voted," she said Thursday during an event in Sacramento. "And I will provide no excuse for it. You know, people die for the right to vote. And there are many, many Californians and Americans who exercise that civic duty on a regular basis. I didn't. Shame on me."

Fiorina's frank assessment of her inconsistent past appears to be a campaign strategy to blunt potential criticism after Whitman found herself in the middle of a political firestorm over her poor voting record.

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

It's not new, but it's newsy. There's a North Carolina program for younger sisters of teen mothers that pays these girls a dollar each day NOT to get pregnant. What a brilliant idea! And why aren't we doing that nationwide?

College Bound Sisters was launched to help protect teen girls in the highest-risk category from getting pregnant and dropping out of school. There are strict eligibility criteria as follows:

• Is between the ages of 12-16
• Has a sister who had a baby before age 18
• Has never been pregnant
• Wants to attend college
• Is willing to attend a 1.5 hour meeting each week at [the University of North Carolina-Greensboro]

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Tomorrow, two states, including my own, will elect governors. President Obama has campaigned for both Democratic candidates, and the question is whether his efforts will pay off for them. At least in Virginia, there's not much hope for Creigh Deeds. According to the Associated Press, even GOP experts agree that Tuesday's elections are hardly an Obama bellwether:

"It's a great overstatement to say this is a referendum on President Obama, but his policies have had a lot of effect on people's thinking," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governor's Association, told CNN on Sunday. "People are worried about jobs. ... Most Americans can't understand why the government keeps spending so much money. They don't see much effect from it."

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Health centers and clinics across the country began turning away people this week who came in search of the H1N1 or swine flu vaccine. A report from Bloomberg states:

From New York, where October deliveries fell short by 400,000 doses, to Dallas and Phoenix, which have postponed mass vaccinations, to San Francisco, where one family clinic is fielding 400 calls a day, local officials are being pressured by parents for swine flu vaccine as the death toll for children in the United States reached 95.

The flu threatened to blossom into an epidemic, as the government reported 95 deaths from H1N1 and 351 schools closed down nationwide, shutting out 126,000 students in 19 states—to prevent spread of the flu.

How the Obama administration handles this public health emergency could be key to its healthcare reform proposal. In a major blunder, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted that of the 80 million to 120 million doses it was promised this summer, just more than 23 million doses have been delivered.