palin is whack as shit and doesnt give a shit about women --
Eight years ago, complaints about charging rape victims for medical exams in Wasilla prompted the Alaska Legislature to pass a bill -- signed into law by Knowles -- that banned the practice statewide.
"There was one town in Alaska that was charging victims for this, and that was Wasilla," [Former Governor Tony] Knowles said. [source --
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/52266.html ]
The McCain campaign's surrogates have sucked up a lot of air time this past week shouting "Palin is a victim of sexism!" every time her credentials for the second highest office in the land are questioned. Yet so far they've managed to avoid hard questioning about Palin's role as mayor of Wasilla in overseeing policy that charged REAL victims, rape victims, for the expensive medical and forensic test necessary for prosecuting rapists.
A policy, mind you, that may have been illegal as well as heartless.
First, some background from 2000, when the Alaska State Legislature had just outlawed the practice of charging victims for the cost of processing the rape kits for their cases:
While the Alaska State Troopers and most municipal police agencies have covered the cost of exams, which cost between $300 to $1,200 apiece, the Wasilla police department does charge the victims of sexual assault for the tests.
Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon does not agree with the new legislation, saying the law will require the city and communities to come up with more funds to cover the costs of the forensic exams.
"In the past we've charged the cost of exams to the victims insurance company when possible. I just don't want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer," Fannon said.
According to Fannon, the new law will cost the Wasilla Police Department approximately $5,000 to $14,000 a year to collect evidence for sexual assault cases.
Got that? Between $5,000 to $14,000 a year--less than Sarah Palin as governor billed the state of Alaska for sleeping in her own home[source --
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/9/ ... /51/591837]. And yet, her hand-picked Police Chief says that investigating rape cases would be too much of a burden for taxpayers.
As the Frontiersman article indicates, the Alaskan Legislature eventually overruled Palin and Wasilla, making it illegal to charge victims for rape kits. But... was it illegal all along? Michelle Andrews of U.S. News & World Report mulls the question[source --
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-health-a ... stion.html ]:
In all too many instances, women are still being stuck with the bill for rape kits. This despite the fact that in order to qualify for federal grants under the Violence Against Women Act, states are supposed to pick up the entire tab.
If on her watch Sarah Palin allowed women to be charged for rape kits, she has some serious explaining to do.
She certainly does have some explaining to do. In a state with the highest sexual assault rate in the nation, nearly three times the national average, she allowed sexual assaulted victims the opportunity be victimized twice: once by their attacker and again by the cold concept of justice (or lack thereof) that Wasilla offered.
Also, it was Joe Biden who wrote the Violence Against Women Act:
"I consider the Violence Against Women Act the single most significant legislation that I've crafted during my 35-year tenure in the Senate. Indeed, the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 was the beginning of a historic commitment to women and children victimized by domestic violence and sexual assault. Our nation has been rewarded for this commitment. Since the Act's passage in 1994, domestic violence has dropped by almost 50%, incidents of rape are down by 60%, and the number of women killed by an abusive husband or boyfriend is down by 22%. Today, more than half of all rape victims are stepping forward to report the crime. And since we passed the Act in 1994 over a million women have found justice in our courtrooms and obtained domestic violence protective orders." – Senator Joe Biden
Yeah... Palin is way pro-women! AWESOME! GET RAPED! YEAH! THAT 14K BECAUSE U GOT ATTACKED AND IT WAS YOUR FAULT! SUPER!
In 1994, John McCain voted against [source -
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/r ... vote=00295 ] legislation -- pushed through Congress by Joe Biden -- that helped put an end to the practice of charging rape victims for sexual assault exams.
McCain not only opposed Biden's legislation, but also has voted against federal funding as recently as October 2007. [source -
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/r ... vote=00372 ]
