One of Palin's first acts as governor: install a tanning bed in the official mansion

[bigworld]

Source: Narco News

The story is familiar: a politician emerges, we are told, from humble roots and pledges to restore America’s small town family values and represent the common man and woman. Late last month, the Republican Party offered the United States just such a leader in Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, or so they said. “Mother. Moose hunter. Maverick,” announced the video with which the GOP introduced this candidate so far unknown to the rest of the nation.


Governor and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has a darkening secret in the Alaska Governor’s Mansion.
It’s the same Cinderella story line that Democrat John Edwards had hoped to ride to the top: the son-of-a-mill-worker from the Carolinas, embodiment of and friend to the just-plain-folks, with all-American good looks and a postcard perfect family in tow. He was going to be a contender… until the smallest little fact began to claw at his authenticity: that he paid $400+ per haircut to his Hollywood stylist to maintain the shine in his bouncy mop.

The $400 haircut became emblematic of Edwards’ inauthenticity problem. It fueled suspicion and critique that he wasn’t quite the sincere man of the people that his campaign had projected, and added a “vanity vs. substance” narrative to everything he did and said. Sometimes it’s the small things that unravel the thread on big truths. But can you imagine the surprise had the public learned that Edwards had also installed an expensive tanning bed in his mansion?


Former Senator John Edwards’ $400 haircut began to raise issues of his authenticity as a populist.
Actually, he didn’t.

But guess who did? The Republican nominee for vice president, Governor Sarah Palin, it turns out, is a pioneer of the Great Indoors:

“The governor did have a tanning bed put in the Governor’s Mansion,” Roger Wetherell, chief communications officer of Alaska’s Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, confirmed to this newspaper. “It was done shortly after she took office and moved into the mansion.”

Read more: http://narconews.com/Issue54/article3191.html

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Would like to see this picked up by a more mainstream news source.... certainly sounds like a story worth pursuing!


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[tblue]

1. Trying to get melanoma like JMc? What a clown.

[bigworld]

2. Lots of discussion over at Daily Kos

http://openthread.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/15/05545/4176/902/599130

This is the kind of issue that people can grab a hold of and understand.

[kayell]

3. Self Delete - IMO this is seriously not worth our time

and not worth pursuing, but I'm not going to state why for their benefit.

[icnorth]

4. Many moons ago

when I was still a pup "tanning" was associated with a trip to the woodshed not a leisurely rest on a sunny bed in an executive suite. My how times have changed.

[rateyes]

5. Did the taxpayers pay for it?

Perhaps she bought it with the money from the sell of the airplane (at a $500,000 loss).

[medeak]

6. Juneau medical office requires employees to sit under light

friend in Juneau tells me they sit under light on breaks as per doc orders... you know...the serotonin levels. In Alaska tanning beds aren't necessarily used for tans...it's zee depression. Don't find this important imo. Now if it was paid by taxpayers (which don't see any proof of) then it may be relevant.

[ehrnst]

7. But wouldn't full spectrum flourescents do the same - and cost much, much less? (nt)

[medeak]

8. beats me. n/t

[merh]

9. Not true, they don't use the beds for that. Its called Seasonal Affective Disorder

The lights are more effective and are less costly than a tanning bed. A tanning bed is to get a tan.

A specially designed lamp, many times brighter than normal indoor lighting, is placed near the sufferer, and has proven to be effective at doses of 2500 - 10,000 lux.<10> Most treatments use 30-60 minute treatments, however this varies depending on the situation. The sufferer sits a prescribed distance, commonly 30-60 cm, in front of the box with her/his eyes open but not staring at the light source.<5> Many patients use the light box in the morning, however it has not been proven any more effective than any other time of day.<10>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder

[medeak]

11. via wikipedia as well

It is believed that indoor tanning beds are useful for the treatment of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder),<26><27> though this is disputed at present.<28> It is plausible that the benefit that many SAD patients experience are more due to tanning causing them to feel good in general, rather than treating the SAD itself.

doncha suspek an Alaska guv would think this? ;-)

[merh]

15. No, not when her running mate has battled skin cancer

and she promises " . . . we’re going to be pushing for innovative cures for diseases.” She'd be a fool to use that as an excuse.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7075598

However, that, too, is a matter of controversy in the medical community. The American Academy of Family Physicians, for example, warns: “Tanning beds shouldn’t be used to treat SAD. The light sources in tanning beds are high in ultraviolet (UV) rays, which harm your eyes and your skin.

(Governor Palin has not released her medical records for public view.)

[crazylikafox]

13. Well if she's using a tanning bed to treat her depression, I don't think that will fly either

[Sebastian Doyle]

10. Tanning bed?

Can't you go outside at night in the summer in Alaska and get a tan? Or does she only fake & bake in the winter?

Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense though.... you would think she wants to be pale as possible in the winter, so the moose don't see her when she's getting ready to kill them.

[Born_A_Truman]

12. Sarah Paler?

[Bippity Boo]

14. No wonder she hates Polar Bears

They aren't tan enough...