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The Newest Sarah Palin Attack: She Bought a Tanning Bed

Submitted by MichaelTurk on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 11:09

The left is all spun up today about the latest non-story regarding Sarah Palin - she had a tanning bed installed in the Governor's mansion.  To put this shocking abuse of government power into perspective consider the following facts:

Given the relative inability to lay out in the sun, and the relative cost efficiency over time of having a tanning bed in residence as opposed to paying a monthly membership to a tanning salon, this doesn't seem eggregious. 

If they have a receipt that shows they paid 10 or 20 times market value for the bed, maybe.  But $2,000 grand on a tanning bed so your Governor doesn't look pasty when she goes on TV is not a stretch.

Let's find something real, huh guys?

 

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Comments

Yeah....but

Submitted by jay on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 13:29.

Skin Cancer Awareness Month

 

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the world and its incidence is increasing at the highest rate of any type of cancer. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, more than 1.3 million new cases are diagnosed in the United States every year. Melanoma-the deadliest form of skin cancer-kills one person every hour in the United States and is the third most commonly diagnosed form of cancer among women ages 25-45 and second most commonly diagnosed form of cancer among men of this age group. Skin cancer is caused, overwhelmingly, by over-exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and from tanning beds. It is largely preventable. In fact, 95percent of skin cancers are preventable if we properly protect ourselves from UV rays. Eighty percent of one's lifetime sun damage occurs before age 18. It is imperative that we instill sun safety behavior among our children at an early age and thus incorporate sun safety education in our public educational system. The Cancer Crusaders Organization, an award-winning nonprofit skin cancer education facility and the proud home of the National Skin Cancer Awareness Symbol, strongly urges all Americans to become proactively engaged in efforts to protect children and young adults from this common, yet preventable, disease.

The Organization further asks for the enthusiastic and proactive support of our educators, health professionals and leaders to support initiatives and other such efforts to encourage sun-safe practices among our community, and thereby significantly reduce skin cancer incidence and mortality throughout the United States and thus improve the overall quality of life.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the State of Alaska, do hereby proclaim May 2007, as:

Skin Cancer Awareness Month

in Alaska, and urge all Alaskans to become proactively engaged in efforts to protect our children and young adults from this common, yet preventable disease.

Dated: May 4, 2007

Jay: Tanning beds can

Submitted by Gregoir on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 09:48.

Jay:

Tanning beds can actually be beneficial for one's health, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanning_bed#Benefits

Note the word "OVER-exposure" was used!

 

And is this really the best the Dems can come up with? This is supposed to make her seem "out of touch with the common folk"? A tanning bed? Perhaps they don't realize how popular these things are..

 

There might be a point to it if it turns out she used government funds to pay for an outrageously expensive one though

Just out of curiosity. . .

Submitted by Walt Gilbert on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 16:59.

. . .how much does it cost to get and maintain hair plugs?

He's not just the Vice President...

Submitted by lagomorph on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 20:06.

He's a Member!

Isn't There A Good Health Reason For Having One In That Climate?

Submitted by BradleyTank on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 20:06.

From what I understand, people who live in Nordic climates like Alaska have UV lighting because they get so little sunlight. People have issues with depression and lack of Vitamin D.

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

Maybe that's why Sarah Palin seems so well adjusted

Submitted by lagomorph on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 20:17.

She's glad, not SAD.  Valid point, Sir.  Valid point.

So Palin needs a tanning bed

Submitted by jay on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 09:07.

So Palin needs a tanning bed so she doesn't get depressed and she issues a proclamation for "Skin Cancer Awareness Month" and specifically calls out tanning beds as harmful?  Maybe McCain can use it for his melanoma.

Re: Isn't There A Good Health Reason For Having One In That Clim

Submitted by Leftie on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 09:46.

If you read the Wikipedia article carefully, you'd understand that tanning was listed as therapy for SKIN-related conditions, not Seasonal Affective Disorder.  Lightboxes, not tanning beds, are recommended by mental health professionals for SAD.  Lightboxes do not have ultraviolet radiation because it is potentially harmful for your skin... and tanning is caused by UVA and UVB (the "UV" standing for ultraviolet) radiation.  Wow, I am astounded by ignorance here.  Who knew that facts could be misinterpreted so easily?

You sort of have a point, but

Submitted by Gregoir on Tue, 09/16/2008 - 10:08.

You sort of have a point, but you shouldn't be such an ass about it. Especially since you obviously just skimmed one source and dismissed the others.

I'm by no means an expert on tanning beds and SAD (who is? :)), but if you go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanning_bed , and check sources 26, 27 and 28, you will find that many SAD-patients use trips to the tanning salon as a cheaper alternative to expensive light therapy, even though one of the sources claims it does indeed do nothing for them. So I honestly still don't know if tanning beds have a positive effect (other than a placebo-effect) on the symptoms of SAD or not, and I really don't want to waste time doing research to find out for sure, but I will go on a limb and call you an ass because I doubt you have done any more research, yet you still have the nerve to come on here and call people ignorant instead of calmly presenting your opinion.

clinical studies

Submitted by masos on Tue, 03/24/2009 - 04:38.

An enormous amount of medical research and clinical studies have taken place on the effects of the sun on our skin