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September 16, 2008

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Sarah Palin, petro-governor, ought to be encouraged to bring her energy expertise to all the states where the "drill here, drill now" battle-cry is meeting any resistance. If Floridians could get the same deal Alaskans get (essentially, a 90% royalty on every barrel of oil pumped out of their waters) they would invite Exxon to drill in their swimming pools. Not clear that Exxon would go for it, though.

Sarah Palin, champion of and for women, is not even a bad joke. At the risk of sounding sexist, there are stupid women in this country, as well as stupid men. McCain is definitely trying for the stupid woman vote.

--TP

At least while mayor of Wasilla she did what she could to make sure that those rapes are harder to prosecute by requiring victims to pay for the privilege of having forensic evidence gathered. So she's got that going for her...
But the myriad awful problems with Palin are not (for those of us in the other 49 states) chiefly about Palin. They are about the man at the top of the ticket being so ham-handed and impulsive that he attempted to inflict her upon us without checking any of this out.

At least while mayor of Wasilla she did what she could to make sure that those rapes are harder to prosecute by requiring victims to pay for the privilege of having forensic evidence gathered. So she's got that going for her...
But the myriad awful problems with Palin are not (for those of us in the other 49 states) chiefly about Palin. They are about the man at the top of the ticket being so ham-handed and impulsive that he attempted to inflict her upon us without checking any of this out.

At least while mayor of Wasilla she did what she could to make sure that those rapes are harder to prosecute by requiring victims to pay for the privilege of having forensic evidence gathered. So she's got that going for her...
But the myriad awful problems with Palin are not (for those of us in the other 49 states) chiefly about Palin. They are about the man at the top of the ticket being so ham-handed and impulsive that he attempted to inflict her upon us without checking any of this out.

dunno what happened there. sorry for the comment-splosion.

If Alaska has held this unhappy distinction "for many years", I don't see how you pin it on Sarah Palin. Why is she more at fault for not solving the problem than Murkowski was?

mdl,

It's not so much that she failed to solve the problem, more that she took no interest in it and made no attempt to improve the situation. In firing Monegan she may have made it worse. Put together with the charging-rape-victims-for-evidence-gathering she presided over as mayor of Wasilla, and it adds up to someone who doesn't care about preventing or prosecuting rape.

mdl,

Read what Jiminy Jilliker wrote - Palin not only didn't improve the situation, but as mayor she actively made it much worse (at least for the women of her town).
But even if Palin didn't have her horrible Wasilla record and merely continued her predecessor's bad policies, she would still be a bad governor because her predecessor was considered a bad governor. Being "just as bad" is hardly a defense, particularly because rape is such an important issue.

However, you're ignoring the most important point of this post - a plan was already being prepared to deal with this problem, but first she put it on hold and then killed the plan by firing Monegan! This is why hilzoy "pins it on" Palin: Murkowski didn't fire Monegan and he didn't force rape victims to pay for their own medical exams - Palin did.

At least while mayor of Wasilla she did what she could to make sure that those rapes are harder to prosecute by requiring victims to pay for the privilege of having forensic evidence gathered.

What small-town Alaskan woman doesn't have an extra $1000 lying around to prove they were raped?

[/snark]

mdl: I am not focussed on Murkowski's record just now, since he is not running for Vice President. I'd also have to check and see whether he tried to fix it.

In general, I'm not wild about arguments of the form: X has been a problem forever, so the fact that someone not only didn't succeed in fixing it, but seems not to have tried, is not a valid criticism.

I've heard about women in Wasilla having to pay for their own rape kits, but I'd really like a source to back me up on it before I stoke some outrage with the family/friends fence-sitters. Any links?

Tony- I think that it would be more correct to say McCain is going after the stupid person vote. Not that I think you were originally sexist. ^.^

Any links?

here

With the 4 link limit, I tried to put up some links at TiO for you, MeDrew

Kere's the link that MeDrewNotYou asked for (backup details about women in Wasilla having to pay for their own rape kits), an article by Jacob Alperin in the HuffingtonPost "New Evidence: Palin Had Direct Role In Charging Rape Victims For Exams":

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-alperinsheriff/sarah-palin-instituted-ra_b_125833.html

This goes further than the original charges, which assumed she'd simply left in place a longstanding policy. However, Wasilla City budget records show that the policy changed under the regime of the police chief Palin appointed (after she fired the previous incumbent when she was first elected in 1996), and that it's clear from the budget documents that Palin signed off on that she would have known about it.

You can probably also find some info from the National Organization for Women, which will be endorsing Barack Obama today. On NPR, a spokesman cited Palin's attitude about rape kits as one of the things that made them decide to make an endorsement, rather than remain neutral.

She not only made women pay for their own rape kits, she opposes abortion even in the case of rape. The contradiction is HUGE. It shows unbelievable recklessness with other women's lives. If you think abortion should be unavailable to rape survivors, you have a tremendous responsibility to drive down the incidence of rape to the absolute minimum.

If I were Obama, I'd be making an ad putting those two facts together.

If I were Obama, I would ALSO send an oppo researcher to Wasilla to find out if she opposed giving the morning after pill to rape survivors.

This has me so mad that I'm spitting nails, despite the fact that I'm pro-life myself.

PS Unless Mayor Palin made people whose homes had been burgled pay for the police investigation, there's something creepily hateful about this. We charge practitioners of extreme sports for the cost of rescuing them, because they are responsible for the situation they have to be rescued from. We don't charge crime victims. Singling out women who have been raped strongly suggests a presumption that raped women bring it on themselves.

She not only made women pay for their own rape kits, she opposes abortion even in the case of rape. The contradiction is HUGE. It shows unbelievable recklessness with other women's lives. If you think abortion should be unavailable to rape survivors, you have a tremendous responsibility to drive down the incidence of rape to the absolute minimum.

If I were Obama, I'd be making an ad putting those two facts together.

If she were at the top of the ticket, I'd agree with you. As it is, I think it's the perfect thing Biden should hit her on during the VP debate.

Thanks all.

Anne- I didn't really connect the two, but the combination is way worse than the opposition to abortion or the rape kit thing.

Singling out women who have been raped strongly suggests a presumption that raped women bring it on themselves.
I was discussing this with my sister, trying to think of a reason for her position, but this was honestly all we could come up with. If there's a side in this election being sexist, I get the feeling that it ain't the Dems.

Two comments about this. First, looking at the budget numbers listed in the HuffPo piece confirms there were a lot of rapes in such a small town. (Unfortunately, the exact amount expended is only listed for two years, any way of checking this out for the other years?)

Second, on a related topic, I have read a couple of comments that she either closed or severly cut funding for a battered women's shelter in Wasilla, but haven't seen this confirmed or seen details. Does anyone know about this? (Significant if true, but it is vitally important in attacking a reflexive liar like Palin that we have every claim solidly backed up. You don't beat liars with anything but the strict truth.)

Look at her priorities as mayor of Wasilla. Her priority was to build that hockey rink. No matter that she left the small town with $20 million in long-term debt. No matter that she started construction on land the town didn't yet own, incurring an additional $1.3 million (so far) in expenses. No matter that the property ownership issue is still in litigation, hence is STILL costing the town money.

Nope, she's a "can do" kinda' gal.

Look at it this way:

When the Alaskan pipeline was being built, I remember reading that women from all over the country headed for Alaska for the big-money prostitution trade.

It's the history of America.

First came the men to work. Then came the women to work. Then the men came repeatedly, but that's another story. Then came the holy rollers so the hookers had even more business. Then came the EPA to clean up the mess. Then came the Republican Party, on behalf of the men and the hookers and the holy rollers, to cut the effing budget of the EPA and abolish the condom landfill by abolishing condoms.

Then came sex at the MMS, which may just be another coincidence.

Given the nature of incentives and disincentives, Palin would have been better advised to charge women $1000 bucks for being raped in the first place.

Nip it in the bud.

John- First came the men to work. Then came the women to work. Then the men came repeatedly, but that's another story.

I'd groan, but it would be taken totally out of context.

I almost don't dare to ask, but what's the MMS? I google it and I get Minerals Management Service, M&Ms, etc. etc. .....

??

Some from that MMS had sex and drugs parties with energy company employees
http://www.truthout.org/article/tawdry-tale-oil-drillers-and-mms-chicks>link

Speaking of prostitution, well, there's this.

OT- re: the link LJ posted at 2:40- What the hell does a $1500 cell phone look like? Is it gold plated and diamond encrusted or something?

God, LJ, I wanna see Schwartz's mug in every Democratic ad from now until November and for good measure in every Homeland Security alert for the next eight years.

Of course, I have a skeleton in my closet. I've played for and batted leadoff for the MMS softball team in Denver for the past 15 years. I don't work for them and the folks I know are wonderful, honest folks.

Clearly, mine is the bigger scandal. Or it would be if the McCain campaign got hold of video of me rounding first.

Given the way things work these days in what used to be America before brain cancer spared Lee Atwater long enough to allow him to spew sewage into the body politic's water supply.

In Republican eyes, I would be the corrupt one (Thullen hit a triple that drove in an MMS employee who worked down the hall from an individual who submitted to anal sex by Chevron geologists), while Schwartz would become an icon of sexual abstinence, falling asleep limply and underendowed while his luggage is rifled and his bling removed.

Now, I'm going to look up Schwartz in the phone book and see where he lives and works.

His plight requires that he suffer.

I've played for and batted leadoff for the MMS softball team

Thank god you aren't batting cleanup...

More on Palin, Monegan and (lack of) effort to address the high numbers of rapes:
http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/2008/09/whoa.html
Seems Monegan was fired because he was trying to improve the situation...

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