Palin: Get raped, pay for it

I’ve thought of another question; if, while it was required that victims of sexual assault pay for their own rape kits, a woman was raped and then murdered, who paid for her rape kit post mortem?  Her next of kin?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXG1VZVgRa0]

UPDATE September 15, 2008 FROM ABC News

Alaska leads the nation in reported forcible rapes per capita, according to the FBI, with a rate two and a half times the national average – a ranking it has held for many years. Children are no safer: Public safety experts believe that the prevalence of rape and sexual assault of minors in Alaska makes the state’s record one of the worst in the U.S. And while solid statistics on domestic violence are hard to come by, most – including Gov. Palin – agree it is an “epidemic.”

Despite the governor’s pro-family image, public safety experts and advocates for women and children struggled when asked to explain how Palin’s leadership has helped address the crisis. And current and former officials from Palin’s administration confirmed that an ambitious plan to tackle the crisis has apparently sunk into doldrums after arriving at the governor’s office.

“She’s really done a lot of work on oil and gas, but when it comes to violence against women and children. . . we haven’t been on her radar as a priority,” said Peggy Brown, executive director of the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. The Juneau-based group is an umbrella organization for shelters and anti-violence programs around the state.

State troopers respond to most domestic violence calls outside of Alaska’s major cities, but they’re too short-staffed and under-funded to do it well, according to Robert Claus, a recently retired trooper.

“The training says you always respond to domestic violence with two people, [but] for most of my career that hasn’t been possible,” said Claus, who lives on the remote island he patrolled for 15 years. “So how do you go down the list and do what you’re supposed to do – separate the people, transport one person while taking care of the kids and victim? You have to pick and choose. We haven’t seen the money to do that.”

Several victims’ advocates noted that Palin did agree to a two percent increase in funding for victim assistance this year. But a March study by a state task force found that level of funding only covered the cost of helping women and children hurt by the epidemic of sexual violence. It was not enough to try to prevent assaults from happening – or to ensure “accountability of offenders,” as the panel phrased it.

From:   http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=5804581&page=1

 

UPDATE September 12, 2008  FOR ALL THOSE WHO SAID IT COULDN’T BE TRUE:

From the Huff:

Despite denials by the Palin campaign, new evidence proves that as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Sarah Palin had a direct hand in imposing fees to pay for post-sexual assault medical exams conducted by the city to gather evidence.

Palin’s role is now confirmed by Wasilla City budget documents available online.

Under Sarah Palin’s administration, Wasilla cut funds that had previously paid for the medical exams and began charging victims or their health insurers the $500 to $1200 fees. Although Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella wrote USA Today earlier this week that the GOP vice presidential nominee “does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test…To suggest otherwise is a deliberate misrepresentation of her commitment to supporting victims and bringing violent criminals to justice,” Palin, as mayor, fired police chief Irl Stambaugh and replaced him with Charlie Fannon, who with Palin’s knowledge, slashed the budget for the exams and began charging the city’s victims of sexual assault. The city budget documents demonstrate Palin read and signed off on the new budget.

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

 

Sept. 11, 2008   Just when you think you cannot dislike this woman any more than you already do:

This is from the Huffington Post:

Two state leaders lashed out at the public record of Gov. Sarah Palin on Wednesday as witnesses in a new “Alaska Mythbusters” forum coordinated by supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Speaking to a teleconference audience of reporters around the nation, former Gov. Tony Knowles and current Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein — both Democrats — accused Palin of misleading the public in her new role as the vice presidential running mate of Arizona Sen. John McCain.

While some of their complaints have already been aired, Knowles broke new ground while answering a reporter’s question on whether Wasilla forced rape victims to pay for their own forensic tests when Palin was mayor.

In 1994, John McCain voted against legislation — pushed through Congress by Joe Biden — that helped put an end to the practice of charging rape victims for sexual assault exams.

Twisted as it may sound, charging victims for a forensic exam was a real problem. For example, as AMERICAblog has documented (and the media is now reporting), when Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, the town charged rape victims for the exams.

Biden’s legislation required that state, local, and Indian governments provide the rape exams to victims free of charge as a condition of receiving federal funds under the Violence Against Women Act. In 2000, Alaska finally passed state legislation in order to qualify for federal funding.

McCain not only opposed Biden’s legislation, but also has voted against funding it as recently as October 2007.

 

You must read the rest at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/11/post_156_n_125711.html

September 22, 2008: Mainstream media is staring to figure it out http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/21/palin.rape.exams/index.html