le_redacteur   |    Friday, der 26. March 2010

Sarah Palin is getting into the film business. The Republican Party’s fundamentalist Barbie doll has signed a TV project contract with Discovery Communications. “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is the name of an eight part reality show by the former Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate. The show is supposed to be about celebrating the wonders of Alaska’s natural world.

But Palin showed precious little respect for wildlife and nature as a politician. She led a campaign to exploit the oil reserves lying under Alaska’s stunning nature sanctuaries. Drilling for oil has disastrous and destructive consequences on the environment. Palin also was involved in a large scale project to hunt down wolves in the wilderness which permitted shooting at them from helicopters. She initiated a wolf head premium promising 150 dollars of state money to anyone who killed a wolf.

Typical of Palin and the industrial right lobby in general was her comment about the threatened species of polar bear. She argued that polar bears weren’t really endangered because there were more of now than there were 20 years ago. But scientists have proven the exact opposite to be true. She also espouses views on global warming that have nothing to do with science. Yes, there is global warming, but humans don’t have anything to do with it, she explains. She, the anti-abortionist who drives 50 miles every day to work, doing her part to steer the earth a bit more quickly towards a climate catastrophe.

And now she’s a cheerleader for nature? What’s with the 180 turn-around? Nature probably has nothing to do with it. As any number of politicians with showbiz experience have shown (from Reagan to Schwarzenegger), a career in entertainment is seductive to voters. They see showbiz folks as representatives of the people. Rumors have been around for a long time now that Palin would love to be America’s next Top Presidential Model.