Under Palin, Wasilla Charged Rape Victims for Rape Kits

By Eric on September 8, 2008

As if opposing birth control, insisting on abstinance-only sex “education”, and cutting programs to help teenage mothers wasn’t bad enough, Sarah Palin, as Mayor of Wasilla, forced rape victims to pay for the cost of rape kits:

Gov. Tony Knowles recently signed legislation protecting victims of sexual assault from being billed for tests to collect evidence of the crime, but one local police chief said the new law will further burden taxpayers.
…
We would never bill the victim of a burglary for fingerprinting and photographing the crime scene, or for the cost of gathering other evidence, Knowles said. Nor should we bill rape victims just because the crime scene happens to be their bodies.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. 

And how did someone like Fannon, who doesn’t think the people of Wasilla should be “burdened” with the costs of investigating violent crimes, become Chief of Police? 

“Wasilla got a new police chief Thursday, one who said he will bring to the job a philosophy of personal freedom that doesn’t include his predecessor’s support of limiting bar hours…’I don’t think the answer to crime is restricting people’s freedom more and more.’ Fannon is replacing Irl Stambaugh, whom the mayor fired in January. Palin said she did not think Stambaugh supported her administration…Stambaugh has sued the city, alleging Palin fired him because local bar owners and the National Rifle Association asked the mayor to do so. Stambaugh wanted the city to adopt earlier bar closings as a way to combat alcohol-related traffic accidents, according to the complaint.” [Anchorage Daily News, 3/28/97]

Palin didn’t mind letting Wasilla taxpayers foot the $1.3 million bill for a new hockey rink (including legal fees because she screwed up the deal), but bringing rapists to justice apparently was just too expensive.

This is the “executive experience” that makes Palin more qualified to run the country than Barack Obama or Joe Biden? I don’t think so.

Tags: 2008, rape, Sarah Palin, Wasilla

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The Problem With Honoring Phyllis Schlafly

By Eric on May 4, 2008

At this year’s commencement ceremony, my school will be honoring Phyllis Schlafly with an honorary doctorate. Schlafly earned two degrees–a BA and a JD–from Washington University before devoting herself to a life-long career of telling women to stay in the kitchen. Now, she’ll be back at WashU for her third degree.

Chancellor Mark Wrighton defended the decision to reward the “graduate and donor” (donor? Hmm… As it turns out, her family is fairly well-off) by claiming that “her contributions have inspired women.” Really? To do what? Inspired women to stay at home? Giving this woman an honorary degree at the same time as the first female surgeon at the med school (Dr. Jessie Ternberg) is like slapping the latter across the face.

Let’s take a look at some of the positions that Washington University will be endorsing and honoring:

“By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape.” — He wants to have sex but you don’t? Sorry ladies, if you wanted to say “No” you should have done it when he proposed. (Sun Journal, March 29, 2007)

“Sex education classes are like in-home sales parties for abortions.” — How many times do we have to tell her that abstinence-only sex ed doesn’t work? (Huffington Post, July 20, 2006)

“Many professors are Marxists or other varieties of radicals who hate America.” — Does that include former chemistry professors who go on to be university chancellors? Does fellow honoree Dr. Ternberg hate America? (Phyllis Schlafly Report, April 2005)

“The atomic bomb is a marvelous gift that was given to our country by a wise God.” — Thank God for making the world a safer place though nuclear proliferation. (New York Times, Sept. 9, 1982; R. Balmer, Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America, p. 193)

“I suspect that the picture of the woman soldier with a noose around the Iraqi man’s neck will soon show up on the bulletin boards of women’s studies centers and feminist college professors. That picture is the radical feminists’ ultimate fantasy of how they dream of treating men.” — Yes, since a woman tortured a man, feminists be just gushing with joy over the Abu Grahib prison scandal. That’s just the sort of rational thinking that this university encourages. (Human Events, May 18, 2004)

I don’t know about you, but I get sick every time I read just the first quote. I hope that she’s donating a lot of money to the school–I mean a lot of money, like enough to build a campus on the moon–because rewarding a woman who defends men who rape their wives will permanently tarnish this school’s reputation.

Update: Ah, and how could I forget that Schlafly blamed the Virginia Tech killings on the school’s English Department. And we’re supposed to honor her leadership and articulation on political issues?

Tags: anti-feminism, Mark Wrighton, Phyllis Schlafly, rape, Washington University

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