Big Think

Saint Sarah Palin is Already Rising From the Dead!

Don't write off Saint Sarah all you political pundits, press smartypants, and Washington insiders. You're out of touch with the men and women who love Sarah Palin--always have been and clearly will be. In your mind--Mr. Rove, Mr. Steele, and Mr. Huckabee--Sarah Palin has thrown away her chance to take the White House by handing in her resignation as governor. That's not what presidential candidates are supposed to do. They're supposed to toil away for years--decades, even--as senators or governors--before announcing their candidacy on the long haul to The Big White House. Well guess what, boys--election rules are now made to be broken. Didn't you all just watch Barack Obama steal the White House right out from under the feet of the establishment-anointed Hillary Clinton? And he did it by forging a new path to the presidency based on an enormous grass roots movement that got its momentum from regular folks. Oh yeah. Sounds familiar. Well Sarah Palin, despite her Katie Couric missteps, is no dumb bunny. The lady from Wasilla didn't leapfrog from nowheresville to Alaska governor by accident. She is a canny operator in her own right, with the ability to understand and embody the opinions of her audience. And they already like her better than before! A new nationwide USA TODAY/Gallup Poll has found that two-thirds of Republicans want Palin to be "a major national political figure" in the future. In fact a whopping 71% of Republicans say they'd likely vote for her if she ran for president in 2012. And this poll was done after her resignation! In fact, announcing her resignation on the eve of Independence Day wasn't done so the deed could slide under the radar of a long holiday weekend. No way. She did it BECAUSE it WAS Independence Day and she wasn't really announcing a resignation. No, she was actually proclaiming "my independence...no more politics as usual." When Sarah Palin shared the presidential campaign trail with Mr. Maverick himself, John McCain, she quickly learned that The Maverick is still a path with enormous appeal to the conservative small government crowd. That crowd still gets teary-eyed over the belief that every man or woman can make it for him or herself with just spit, vinegar and hard work. No need for government intervention. And don't forget, Obama won the presidency because he was the Maverick Democrat. Now, the Lipstick Pitbull is banking on the fact that over the next 3.5 years there will be a behemoth of a backlash against Big Government, Big Spending, and Big Big Deficits--all the things that she and her supporters abhor. And you know what--she's probably right. No matter how successful Obama's policies for routing a recession, there will be a swing back to the ideal that less government is more. America is just like that--cycles happen. In the meantime, Saint Sarah can spend her time advancing her "higher calling" out of office. She made it very clear in her resignation speech that she has a mission and a missionary's fervor. In her own words, she is done with conventional "politics as usual." Big Government spending is "amoral." She needs to "BUILD UP" and "FIGHT" for our country. She will support others who "seek to serve for the RIGHT reasons." Sarah sees herself as the Joan of Arc for hardworking "average Americans." And like saints and missionaries of the past, when you have a calling that necessitates taking a bigger, more important road than regular roads, then you can't be bothered by accusations of "frivolous ethics violations," or by the typical "blood sport of the national political process." I don't agree with critics that claim Sarah was speaking gobeldy gook when she was announcing her resignation. No, she was saying exactly what she wants to do. And it's clever. No more time wasted on unproductive opposition that she would face in office. Instead, she'll take her message successfully on the road. And whether she's a new fox at Fox or reads speeches in front of sold-out auditoriums, Sarah Palin does know how to speak in a way that emotionally connects with her audience. So beware to all Republicans and Democrats who count her out of the 2012 presidential race. These are unprecedented times, and unprecedented approaches that are not politics as usual will work. Saint Sarah has years now to go grassroots and spread her gospel. And guess what? It could work! Photos: AP For more on Sarah Palin, follow Bonnie on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bonniefuller.

July 9, 2009, 8:24 AM

The Real Reason for Michael Jackson's Death? His Secret Fatal Illness

Was the King of pop really felled by prescription drug use and abuse ? Those who speculate on this theory could be dead wrong! Instead, Michael could very well be the victim of the lupus he suffered from. Did you know that Michael Jackson, was the victim of a rare auto-immune disease called lupus? Yes, he was according to his Wikipedia autobiography and as it turns out -- lupus sufferers frequently die in their 40s and 50's from sudden heart attacks, caused by atherosclerosis. Let me explain. Lupus causes inflammation in many of the body's organs including the arteries of the heart. The inflamed arteries then cause cholesterol to deposit on their walls.These deposits cause scarring, and the whole process primes lupus victims to have massive heart attacks, which are often asymptomatic beforehand. Mild lupus sufferers, like Jackson, are actually more at risk for having a fatal heart attack, according to Dr Michael Lockshin, a rheumatologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. The reason for this is because people who have a mild case of lupus are less likely to take any of the medications which would prevent inflammation of the organs. Now if you don't believe that Jackson had lupus consider this: vitiligo, which Jackson also suffered from, resulting in the famous pigment loss in his skin, is also an auto-immune disease. Coincidentally, vitiligo and lupus are often diagnosed in the same person, explains Dr. Lockshin. In other words, it would not have been unusual for Michael Jackson to have suffered from both ailments. Here's another key fact: African-Americans are four times more like to be lupus victims than Caucasians. However, lupus is far more common in women than men. Still men, do get it. So would prescription drug abuse have exasperated a case of lupus? Only if demerol was injected intravenously, would it also have damaged Jackson's heart, according to Dr. Lockshin. Demerol injected into his muscles would not have played a deadly role and neither would drugs like Xanax and Zoloft. Lupus also frequently causes inflammation and pain in the joints, which could explain why Jackson was sometimes seen in a wheel chair. This might also explain why Jackson had not performed in years. Maybe it wasn't just the stress of the child molestation charges and trials that forced him to put his performance career on hold. Maybe, he was simply unwilling to share his medical problems with the public. Until a possible lupus-induced heart attack felled him, the King of Pop may have preferred to preserve the illusion that he was still, at least in some ways, invincible!

June 27, 2009, 10:13 AM

Mark Sanford -- Resign Already and Marry the Woman You Love

Mark Sanford is no Eliot Spitzer, Bill Clinton or John Edwards for that matter. It's clear that the reason he's in hot water right now, isn't because of uncontrollable testosterone-fueled urges. No Mark is one of those rare politicians undone by something that's not actually salacious -- pure, romantic love. Yes, he's been a bad boy -- he has a wife of 20 years and four precious sons, plus he pulled a disappearing act, that's unforgivable for someone responsible for the well-being of an entire state. But you have to give him this -- he's not a creep. He's not been meeting leggy escorts in hotel rooms or funneling campaign money to make questionable movies to a lover, while his wife was battling cancer. Instead, this Mark Sanford has been moondogging over an "impossible situation of love". It's clear from his eloquently romantic emails to his "Maria" - I can almost hear the giddy strains of West Side Story -- "I've just Met a Girl Named Maria" -- that he's a lovelorn goner. He emails Maria, comparing himself to the Richard Chamberlain priest character in The Thornbirds mini-series. Chamberlain's character famously chose ambition over his true love for a young Australian woman, called Meggie, played by the beauteous Rachel Ward. He writes "I was always upset with Richard Chamberlain for not dropping his ambitions and running into Maggie's arms (real name Meggie) ... my heart wants to get on a plane tonight and be in your loving arms..." So do it Mark. That's exactly what you should do. If you are truly and passionately in love with the Argentinean Maria, why ruin several lives by denying it. You're not doing your wife, Jenny, any favors by resigning yourself to a marriage that's no longer working. People who deny love and stay in loveless marriages become sad and bitter. Jenny may be boiling mad right now because you have betrayed and embarrassed her, but in the long run, she'll have a chance to find a new love of her own. And as long as you don't abandon your boys -- are there for them as an involved dad and don't try to throw them and their mother out of the house in the divorce settlement -- you'll be able to maintain a close relationship. Repressing your feelings and forcing yourself to attempt to patch things up with Jenny will only end in disaster. You'll be angry at Jenny, yourself and the world. Now, I wouldn't say this if you were just a sex-crazed frat boy cheater. I always wonder why wives don't throw those guys out of the house. Why they think that because their husband's were with twinkies, that this was meaningless and they are deserving of forgiveness. But a man who writes his lover that "my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body... and an even deeper connection to your soul. I love you...sleep tight," is a man who needs to realize that he has only one life to live and he ought to do it with his true love. To heck with public opinion. Pull a King Edward the VIII, who defied convention and abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson, the woman he loved. But just one last point. I hope that this experience makes you a man who can now recognize that all people need to have the right to express their love -- including gays who want to marry. Think you might change your views on that! For more on Mark Sanford follow bonniefuller at twitter.com/bonniefuller

June 25, 2009, 2:41 PM

My Dead Mom Wants to Be Dug Up

I never realized that trying to get a headstone for my mother's grave would be a full-time job. At least, that's what it must require to be successful. Since I haven't been able to accomplish that yet, I can only guess that to actually get a gravestone selected, engraved and placed on a grave, must necessitate quitting whatever you do to earn a living, canceling out of all your children's assorted baseball and soccer games and giving up on sleeping and eating. I say this because despite my best efforts and hours spent leaving messages or being put on hold... forever, I have been unable to even order a grave marker from the specifically required headstone supplier that my mom's cemetery will accept. What's fascinating about this, is that Jewish tradition -- my family is Jewish -- requires that you hold a funeral and bury your deceased loved one superfast -- usually within two days of their passing. But once that milestone is accomplished, the whole urgency factor evaporates. Jewish tradition prescribes that you wait several months before holding a ceremony to "unveil" the headstone, which is then placed upon the grave. I'm not sure why, there is supposed to be this waiting period but now I'm beginning to see the "unveiling" in a whole new light. It isn't merely a sombre event of remembrance -- it's more like a relief ceremony. People have clearly overcome innumerable hurdles to get that gravestone on the grave -- they need to celebrate their success. I say that because I can't even get the Benjamin Landmark Memorial and yes, I'm naming names here, to return my phone calls to discuss my mom's headstone order. First of all, the place is never open. It's closed days like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and oh yes, Friday. I've heard rumors that it's open on Sundays. It's also closed on holidays I've never heard of and can't pronounce. If it is open, the only person that you apparently can talk to isn't in that day. After a a few months of my mounting frustration, my husband Michael agreed to give it a go. He thought I was kidding or inept. Now he's also shaking his head. He did after multiple phone calls -- we live in New York, the cemetery is in Toronto -- get through finally to some guy named Howard. Basically, Howard told him that NO, we couldn't do anything special, artistic, carved or sculptured on the headstone, that my mom would have loved. NO we couldn't have anything but the standard size of 2' by 2'. And NO, we couldn't have too many words carved on it either. If you wanted a short, squat, plain gray headstone with a giant Star of David and her name -- that they could do. I have to admit that I haven't spent a lot of time in graveyards particularly modern ones, but one of the most charming aspects of the older cemeteries I've walked through is the variety of the shape, size and inscribed effects on the tombstones. The fact that they are personalized has always seemed loving and beautiful to me. So why does the Holy Blossom Memorial Park in Toronto have so many rules? Who decided that gravestones that were all nondescript, one shape and size, the regulated way to go? Why is there cemetery dictatorship? It feels so Mao Tse-Tung to me. Apparently, one other poor family attempted to bend the headstone rules and they ended up with their "unique' tombstone, sitting in a shed... while they butted heads in litigation with the cemetery, FOR TWO YEARS! Now I can understand when you have a memorial park like Flanders Fields with its miles of simple, white crosses, that the conceptualizers were going for a striking effect. But rows of short, squat grey headstones doesn't say spiritual to me. I'm wondering though who are the strident advocates for dull, uniformity at my mother's cemetery. It's not like people are saying "I refuse to be buried there if you allow mixing of different tombstone styles... I'd rather die than be buried next to a taller one. Wait, no, it's I won't die, if I'm going to be buried next to some individualistic headstone." Now maybe I just hit the reason for the lack of responsiveness to my and Michael's attempts to order a tombstone. Cemeteries truly are a recession-proof business. No matter what the economy is doing, people keep on dying at the same rates. Dying is one thing most people can't cut back on, like their heating bill. So cemetery operators don't feel the need to compete. They can treat grieving relatives with callous disregard. It doesn't matter -- after all, what are you going to do to protest? Get cremated? In the meantime, we have finally thrown up our hands on trying to create a more beautiful sculpted headstone that reflects my mother's love of nature and art. We did the best we could with the standard choices, ticking off all the boxes on the headstone order form that we finally obtained. Michael faxed it in over a month ago. He's now left 45 messages trying to follow up with Howard to make sure that our order is underway. But no luck on a returned call. Since especially after this blog, my poor mom is probably going tombstone-less forever or until I get really rich and can have her dug up and moved somewhere more dead-friendly, we have decided on an alternative plan. Since we know my mother's spirit isn't hanging around that cemetery anyway -- it's in nosebleed country -- and we feel her presence in our home, we're commissioning a memorial sculpture in her memory to place in our garden, which she loved. Sorry Ma, that we've been headstone failures so far. We just hope you're laughing along with us at the ridiculousness of this situation. But if any of you who read this have had similar experiences and have advice on how to successfully overcome this headstone impasse, my husband and I, and I'm sure that my mom as well, are all ears! Please share! And when her new gorgeous marker is ready and planted in our garden, we'll toast her with a glass of chardonnay and chocolate, which she'll love! My husband and niece are raising money for cancer research in memory of my mom Tanya, with the Ride to Conquer Cancer. If you can, please donate! Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/bonniefuller.

June 10, 2009, 5:48 PM

Jon & Kate Plus 8: The Most Abusive Celebrity Parents Ever?

Have Jon and Kate Gosselin invented a new form of 21st century child abuse? I'd say so. Come on â

May 29, 2009, 10:08 AM