A tanning bed for the White House

[groverat]

Sarah Palin used taxpayer dollars to install a tanning bed in the Alaska governor's mansion. (http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/09/16/ya-cant-make-this-up/)

P.O.W./Sexism '08 - One of us has skin cancer, the other is tryin' like hell to get it!

So what historic room in the White House is going to be "renovated" to include a tanning bed and massage throne for pedicures?

[tonton]

I heard it was her own money. Seriously. And if it was, then why is this a story? There are legitimate things to criticize Palin for. Don't be distracted from the real issues by the stupid stuff.

OTOH, if it was taxpayer money then that's pretty stupid of her. Not surprising though.

[shetline]

I heard it was her own money. Seriously. And if it was, then why is this a story? There are legitimate things to criticize Palin for. Don't be distracted from the real issues by the stupid stuff.
I agree with you, and I'd personally ignore this story too if it's her own money that she spent (which I think is the case).

The sad thing is that your attitude and mine might be part of the reason Democrats have a hard time winning. While there are plenty of sleazeballs and ignoramuses across the political spectrum, I'm left with a very strong impression that there are far more rightwingers than leftwingers who will either willingly spread what they know is false, who are unwilling to dig deeper once they hear what they want to hear, and who are blindly, petulantly resistant to the debunking of any juicy slander against their opponents.

[addabox]

I agree with you, and I'd personally ignore this story too if it's her own money that she spent (which I think is the case).

The sad thing is that your attitude and mine might be part of the reason Democrats have a hard time winning. While there are plenty of sleazeballs and ignoramuses across the political spectrum, I'm left with a very strong impression that there are far more rightwingers than leftwingers who will either willingly spread what they know is false, who are unwilling to dig deeper once they hear what they want to hear, and who are blindly, petulantly resistant to the debunking of any juicy slander against their opponents.

Yes, but the only reason you think that is that you're a filthy liberal fascist.

I hear a thugish gang of liberals beat a man to death in a bar, simply because he made the mistake of professing his faith. This kind of thing happens all the time. They will stop at nothing. They will use their media and their universities to erode the people's will.

Anyway, owning a tanning booth is something normal people can identify with, unlike expensive haircuts. I mean, it is Alaska-- and John Edwards is a faggot, so, you know, QED, probably.

[groverat]

Her own money is better. Either way, why the fuck do you install a tanning bed in the governor's mansion?

There are more important issues, sure, but this is worth laughing at. It's genuinely funny, because it's the perfect symbol for such a vacant candidate, it's the Onion-become-reality.

I can have multiple things in my head. I know there are real issues (I've been posting about them quite a bit). It's nice to have a laugh at just how ridiculous and embarrassing this woman is.

[trumptman]

A tanning bed in Alaska? That is about as dumb as installing air conditioning in Texas.

[FloorJack]

I read that Palin bakes the blood of muslim children into her christmas cookies.

[groverat]

A tanning bed in Alaska? That is about as dumb as installing air conditioning in Texas.

Are you asserting that it is normal for Alaskans to have tanning beds in their homes?

If so, why wasn't there already one there?

Next you'll be arguing that it's a medical necessity because she has Seasonal Affective Disorder.

[trumptman]

Are you asserting that it is normal for Alaskans to have tanning beds in their homes?

If so, why wasn't there already one there?

Next you'll be arguing that it's a medical necessity because she has Seasonal Affective Disorder.

What defines normal? I consider it normal to use technology advances to offset the effects of the climate where I live. When I grew up, air conditioning was a rarity even in most cars. Now it is common. Tanning is increasingly becoming common. My aunt owns a tanning salon in Indiana. Tanning is so rampant in places like L.A. and Jersey that it is like a running joke. Clearly Senator Biden indulges a bit in the ol'tanning himself as they make his veneers look even brighter. You'll have to ask him about whether the use of it in Delaware is for SAD.

http://s.wsj.net/media/biden_smile_H_20080827003450.jpg

[FloorJack]

This must be why she did it. Maybe she over did it?
https://www.smarttan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/2008-05-01-d-for-two-copy.jpg

[groverat]

One standard for normal would be the former chief executives of Alaska, or other candidates for the national executive.

You are attempting to equate going to a tanning salon with having one installed in an official state residence by that state's chief executive. She's an empty, vacuous beauty queen.

Also, a lack of air conditioning in Texas would kill hundreds or thousands every year. A lack of personal tanning beds in Alaska would kill somewhere around zero.

[trumptman]

One standard for normal would be the former chief executives of Alaska, or other candidates for the national executive.

You are attempting to equate going to a tanning salon with having one installed in an official state residence by that state's chief executive. She's an empty, vacuous beauty queen.

Also, a lack of air conditioning in Texas would kill hundreds or thousands every year. A lack of personal tanning beds in Alaska would kill somewhere around zero.

The science disagrees strongly with your last claim. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080107181600.htm)

"Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, above and beyond established cardiovascular risk factors," said Thomas J. Wang, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. "The higher risk associated with vitamin D deficiency was particularly evident among individuals with high blood pressure."

In a study of 1,739 offspring from Framingham Heart Study participants (average age 59, all Caucasian), researchers found that those with blood levels of vitamin D below15 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) had twice the risk of a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack, heart failure or stroke in the next five years compared to those with higher levels of vitamin D.

When researchers adjusted for traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure, the risk remained significant with a 62 percent higher risk of a cardiovascular event in participants with low levels of vitamin D compared to those with higher levels.

and....

"Low levels of vitamin D are highly prevalent in the United States, especially in areas without much sunshine," Wang said. "Twenty to 30 percent of the population in many areas has moderate to severe vitamin D deficiency."

Most of this is attributed to lack of sun exposure, pigmented skin that prevents penetration of the sun's rays and inadequate dietary intake of vitamin D enriched foods, researchers said.

"A growing body of evidence suggests that low levels of vitamin D may adversely affect the cardiovascular system," Wang said. "Vitamin D receptors have a broad tissue distribution that includes vascular smooth muscle and endothelium, the inner lining of the body's vessels. Our data raise the possibility that treating vitamin D deficiency, via supplementation or lifestyle measures, could reduce cardiovascular risk.

Twenty to thirty percent is not zero.

I fail to understand how where one uses a tanning bed determines some character trait about the person. Perhaps you can clarify that for me. If I drink a 12 pack of beer a night at home versus at the bar, am I less of a drunk? The reasoning appears to be that if I go to a salon to do my tanning versus my home then one would make me a beauty queen and the other would not. Can you clarify the beauty queen quotient for Joe Biden? Is he only a semi-empty, vacuous beauty queen? Also what about hair plugs and veneers. Can you explain especially how veneers, something Biden shares in common with Hillary Duff and Miley Cyrus somehow doesn't make someone a beauty queen?

[FormerLurker]

SEE?

It's not a "tanning bed" - it's a life-saving Medical Device!

I bet if you ask Palin reeeeel nice...(you know - properly "deferential"), she'll show you her Dr.'s Prescription for it!

[FloorJack]

AIG has been take over by the government and were here talking about a tanning bed:???:

[trumptman]

SEE?

It's not a "tanning bed" - it's a life-saving Medical Device!

I bet if you ask Palin reeeeel nice...(you know - properly "deferential"), she'll show you her Dr.'s Prescription for it!

I'm sure it will be there right next to the prescription for air conditioning.

[trumptman]

Can you explain how heat replenishes Vitamin D?

[Bergermeister]

A classmate of mine and his family from years ago live in Sweden in a small town above the Arctic Circle. They do not have any tanning beds and they are perfectly healthy.

[trumptman]

The exception doesn't prove the rule. There are many people who smoke daily and never get lung cancer. Many people do not have air conditioning and are not effected by the heat. Eitherway preventative medicine is a perfectly fine rationalization for tanning.

I would love a rationalization that explains how Palin is a vapid beauty queen for tanning and Biden is not.

[tonton]

Sorry guys I agree with Nick on this one, and disagree with Groverat. Well... to an extent. I'm not willing to claim Palin's motivation for having a tanning bed is mainly due to vitamin D concerns. I'm sure the reason she has a tanning bed is for cosmetic reasons.

But, as long as it's her money, so what? Who the fuck cares? If she chooses to buy a tanning bed instead of a third or fourth car, or instead of a trip to an exclusive beach resort, so the fuck what. People like things. She likes tanning in privacy (and they don't have "exclusive" health clubs in Anchorage, and certainly not in Wasilla).

Seriously. This is about as much of an issue as Edwards' haircut.

[Outsider]

Isn't it less expensive, less time consuming, and more convenient to take a vitamin D supplement?

http://www.daily-diabetic.com/50226711/Vitamin_D_1000_IU.jpg

So the tanning bed would be strictly a cosmetic thing. OK as long as that is sorted out.

[groverat]

Twenty to thirty percent is not zero.

How the hell can you conflate suffering from Vitamin D deficiency with death?

Your arguments in this thread are alarmingly dishonest.
- People do not die from Vitamin D deficiency. People die by the thousands for lack of air conditioning.
- You have no established that Joe Biden tans.
- You try to equate going to a tanning salon with installing a tanning bed in the official state home of a chief executive.
- You try to play it off as a medical necessity while providing absolutely no evidence that Palin needs it.


tonton:

But, as long as it's her money, so what? Who the fuck cares?

Not everything has to be a huge deal to talk about. It's not as if she's a tested and competent leader and this is all I can think of to attack her, it's just a funny sign of just how vacant she is. It's a symbol, not a piece of substance.

Seriously. This is about as much of an issue as Edwards' haircut.

I never liked John Edwards, he was a preening, prancing little pony. His behavior and self-absorption said a lot about his character, which is why I was never a supporter.

[trumptman]

If you kindly explain what the fuck that's supposed to mean.

Tanning beds aren't the northern equivalent of air conditioning. Air conditioning lowers the temperature. In Alaska, they don't need to lower the temperature because it's already so cold. They need to raise it. So heat is analogous to air conditioning in Texas. If you want to compare medical issues, air conditioning prevents heat stroke; heat prevents frostbite and hypothermia. A tanning bed for Vitamin D deficiency isn't even in the same analogy ballpark.

(Hint: Sunscreen works better in the tanning bed analogy)

When they raise the temperature the mechanism by which they do it does not completely replace all of what the sun provides. The reason Vitamin D has been studied more recently is because with all our wonderful air conditioning and heating we don't go outside as much as some people are actually developing health ailments due to lack of sun exposure. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder)

Note that the prevention for it specifically notes exposure to UV light as treatment. Also note this...

In Alaska it has been established that there is a SAD rate of 8.9%, and an even greater rate of 24.9%[22] for subsyndromal SAD.

Hmmm... sounds like it isn't made up shit.

Isn't it less expensive, less time consuming, and more convenient to take a vitamin D supplement?

http://www.daily-diabetic.com/50226711/Vitamin_D_1000_IU.jpg

So the tanning bed would be strictly a cosmetic thing. OK as long as that is sorted out.

First no one ever said there was only one way to address it. There are studies that question whether suppliments really can replace the natural vitamin D generated due to light exposure. However even then, if you use air conditioning and I use evaporative cooling or I bicycle and you jog, do either of these choices say something terrible about us? That is the claim here. It is also a strange one way claim where no one can address how tanning makes Palin a vapid beauty queen but makes Biden not a vapid beauty queen.

How the hell can you conflate suffering from Vitamin D deficiency with death?

Your arguments in this thread are alarmingly dishonest.
- People do not die from Vitamin D deficiency. People die by the thousands for lack of air conditioning.
- You have no established that Joe Biden tans.
- You try to equate going to a tanning salon with installing a tanning bed in the official state home of a chief executive.
- You try to play it off as a medical necessity while providing absolutely no evidence that Palin needs it.

Your counter-arguments in this thread are alarmingly dishonest. There is a strange one way reasoning that labels one party a vapid beauty queen but ignores the other who uses the same exact procedures for apparently the exact same reasons.

-People can die from this deficiency. The study I linked to noted up to double a cardiac risk. S.A.D has numerous risks as well including those associated with depression which includes suicide.

-Joe Biden tans. I could drop a dozen photographs of him and as someone who sees plenty of tanning, it is easy to recognize.

-I equate tanning with tanning. The location has not been shown to be determinative in any fashion. If you can to explain how it is then I will be happy to read.

-I have never said it is a medical necessity. Air conditioning isn't a medical necessity. Fans and water do just as well but people forget them. People have started to forget getting sunlight due to heating and air conditioning. It is a preventative measure for the most part but is also absolutely a treatment for certain conditions.

If you deny that it is a treatment for certain conditions, then please refute the claims for that it is a treatment for S.A.D.

[groverat]

You've not addressed the strange one way reasoning that labels one party a vapid beauty queen but ignores the other who uses the same exact procedures for apparently the exact same reasons.

She's a beauty queen because she's been in beauty pageants.
She's vapid because her experience is a corrupt joke and she has absolutely no expressed vision for the nation or world.

Hence: She's a vapid beauty queen.

The fact that she had a tanning bed installed in a governor's mansion is just a dunce hat on her head. The fact that she's actually a dunce is established by real things, not by this amusing symbolic trifle.

[Flounder]

.....

[Flounder]

I really don't give a rat's ass about Palin owning a tanning bed, but let's be realistic. She almost certainly does not own this for medical reasons, but cosmetic ones (which is silly, but fine with me).

There isn't any evidence she has vitamin D deficiency. Given that she tried to keep that failing dairy going, she probably drinks plenty of vitamin D fortified milk :)

I'm pretty sure there aren't any public health messages encouraging people to visit their local tanning salon to make sure they are getting enough vitamin D.

If she has SAD, we'd 1) probably would have heard about this already. It would make for good backstory. She could have showed the tanning bed to Charlie Gibson! "I was diagnosed with SAD, and this helps me get through those long winter nights here in Alaska...."

2) the proper therapy would be a light box, which she could probably get her health insurance coverage to pay for.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/seasonal-affective-disorder/MH00023

3) For light therapy, you need your eyes open, but not looking directly into the light. I don't know anything about tanning. Do people ever open their eyes in a tanning booth? My guess is no, but I honestly have no idea.

[trumptman]

I see. So I will now simply refer to Joe Biden as a sub-prime vapid plagiarizer. The hair plugs, veneers and tanning are just a dunce cap on his head. The fact that the man has a 100% debt to income ratio shows me he is a dunce and is established by real things like his 10 top quality gaffes.

[groverat]

Sure, you could try, but it would be difficult to sell given his decades of solid experience in the Senate and the wealth of information available out there regarding his policy stances on national and international issues.

It's a shit argument that relies entirely on making mountains out of molehills, distortions, or outright lies, but go ahead and make it.

[trumptman]

Sure, you could try, but it would be difficult to sell given his decades of solid experience in the Senate and the wealth of information available out there regarding his policy stances on national and international issues.

It's a shit argument that relies entirely on making mountains out of molehills, distortions, or outright lies, but go ahead and make it.

So the tanning bed is the mountain or the molehill. Help me out here.

[midwinter]

I take great offense at the repeated usage of the verb "installed" in this thread. It's not like there had to be a new wing added to the governor's mansion for it, for fuck's sake. And besides, as anyone considered whether she bought it on eBay? Maybe from another governor who saw it as a frivolous expense?

[Akumulator]

I don't have a problem with the tanning bed since she payed for it with her own money. I do have a problem with the tax payers paying for her anal bleaching.

[tonton]

I don't have a problem with the tanning bed since she payed for it with her own money. I do have a problem with the tax payers paying for her anal bleaching.

No, that would be her anal polishing by right wing political tongues.

[trumptman]

I don't have a problem with the tanning bed since she payed for it with her own money. I do have a problem with the tax payers paying for her anal bleaching.

Listen if the Obama health care plan pays for it, then you've gotta grab what you can get.

[groverat]

The tanning bed is a molehill; a damned funny one.

[@_@ Artman]

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g255/artman46/organizer.jpg

Palin/McCain 2008! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZKQDyL5gzc) :lol:

I vowed that I would stop talking (or even thinking) about Sarah Palin and start focusing on the issues. But this article (http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/state-of-race-is-mccain-in-trouble.html) brings up a great point:

"If voters come in not knowing very much about a candidate -- and the more they see of the candidate, the less they like of the candidate -- this is a major concern."

We've seen a lot about Sarah Palin and it's become obvious to most of the country that she's an unsuitable candidate for the second highest office in the land.

It's now a week later and I think the novelty has worn off.