Author: The Electric Messiah

All this talk of the rape kit testing has entered the conversation, of course, because of reports about Sarah Palin wanting rape victims to pay for their own exams.  With that in mind, maybe we should look into it.
paraphrasing Aravosis from AmericaBlog. . . can somebody just ask Palin why she favored victims paying for the rape kit costs?  Seems pretty simple to me.  I don’t recall any major news sites asking her this question.  “Gov. Palin did you or did you not favor requiring rape victims to pay for their own forensic exam?”

Now I realize that charging citizens for gov’t services has been going on for a long time. People are charged for gov’t services all the time.

Two of my uncles and one of my aunts got stranded on an impassable cliff while deer hunting in California’s Lost Coast.  The Coast Guard came and rescued them, fortunately, but because of the geography, they were dropped out of the rescue basket onto the beach.  After 2 days on a cliff with limited water and no food, they had to hike 5 miles back to the car.

But they were sent a bill for some of the costs of the rescue operations.  I can understand that.  They were out doing something voluntary and got themselves into a situation with no return.  Thankfully, my Dad was able to call in the rescue.

So how is the above situation different from a rape victim?

When was the last time you went on a vacation, had a crime committed against you, and got charged for it?  Let’s say you went to some vacation spot, say Cabo or NOLA or Key West or Hilton Head; had a crime committed against you and got charged for the investigation?

When was the last time you were out having a couple drinks, or a couple of dances, or a couple of karaoke songs in your favorite watering hole?  Let’s say you were mugged; let’s say you had your car stolen; let’s say you were raped.  Did you get charged for it?  Probably not.  If you were charged, what did you say to yourself?  This isn’t you going to the doctor and getting billed for slicing your finger while cutting onions.  This is you getting billed for going out on the town and living your life.

That is the question here.  

A taxpayer pays taxes for a reason.  Public safety seems to me to be one of the most important results of citizen-taxpayer-funded programs. Firefighters, policemen, all those things we take for granted.

First watch this:

I’ll give you a moment to vomit in the toilet of politics, wipe your mouth with the towel of common decency, and then go hug your kids and loved ones.

And then understand that common decency has just been spit out the window.

What the ad is referring to is legislation that Obama wrote to help elementary-age kids identify Stranger Danger; and to help parents teach their children about Stranger Danger.  Never mind the overtones of “the scary black man is coming to steal your children,” (watch the photos of Obama they chose and his facial expressions.  They picked the “scariest black man” photos they could.  I mean, they even went so far as to make Obama’s head move around like he’s some “shifty uppity negro.”) Never mind the complete lie about the so-called “monopoly of public education.”  Public school is the most successful government program in U.S. history.  More successful than Medicare/Medicaid; more successful than Social Security.  It affects every American child.  If you want to get my 62 year old Dad (who, except for two years, was a public school teacher his entire professional life and just retired last year) going on a 2-hour rant, just degrade public schools.

What this really shows is McCain selling out his campaign to Karl Rove.  Rove beat McCain – I mean Rove helped Dubya beat McCain – in 2000 by starting a phone poll accusing McCain of fathering an illegimate black child.  Rove did it in South Carolina.  

McCain has hired the same Rove team for his own campaign.

Update [2008-9-10 8:25:49 by Steven D]: Here’s the Obama campaign’s response to McCain’s lying ad:

“It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls – a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds. Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn’t define what honor was. Now we know why.”

Senator Obama,

Your name first came to my attention during the 2004 election.  I saw your speech at the Democratic National Convention.  I listened to that speech without knowing who the heck you were.  After I watched it, I queued it up on my DVR, sat my girlfriend down on the couch and played it back.  I told her, “that man will be President someday”.

Please make that dream a reality.  Please continue with the themes you introduced in that speech.  

You have the power and the will to take our country back to the basic freedoms that have been lost in this “Post 9/11 World”

Iraq?  Yes, it’s very important.  But you know, as do I, (even though nobody in the media cares to address that position) that the USA will be in Iraq for a very long time.  In the meantime, why not concentrate on issues that resonate at home?  Let the Bush Administration stumble and falter over every foreign-policy failure.  They broke it; they own it.

Veteran’s health care seems pretty straight-forward. . . The heroes that return from Iraq may need care.  Give it to them!  Introduce a bill in the Senate to provide full healthcare for veterans AND their families.  And this includes Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome and psychological treatment.  Veterans Health Care. . . Lots of stories about Walter Reed lately; take the lead!

And while Veteran’s healthcare is paramount for many families, standard healthcare for every family in this great country should be a no-brainer.  How about this frame? “Every person in America deserves the best health-care in the world.  We are the greatest country in the world, so why shouldn’t we have the best health-care?  I propose that every man, woman, and child will have access to the best medical care in the world. And if you disagree, then you intentionally degrade the rights of every American.”

Iraq will be an issue from now until somebody with the poltical will makes it stop.  In my opinion, no Democrat can stop the nightmare until they are elected President.  However, you can take the lead on this and demand that the troops ALL come home within the year.  The Republican Party enabled this war, and you can stop it.  Again, over 60% of the American Public supports bringing our troops home  within the year.  No mainstream candidate has embraced this position.  Grasp it, make it yours, and you will have the electorate.

Dick Cheney says we’re doing great in Iraq, while the rest of the country lives in a land called realism.  When 60%+ of the country says “bring our troops home,” isn’t that a winning position?

Please point out Dick Cheney’s foreign policy failures every chance you get.  This will be an issue in the news for the next couple of weeks, as he is tied in to the Scooter Libby trial.  Yes, he will come on TV and accuse the rest of the country of “validating Al-Qaeda’s” strategy, but honestly. . . the man has been wrong on every single foreign policy position he has ever taken.  It is not that difficult to point this fact out.  Challenge him to champion a foreign policy success. . .and then hit his deep-voiced fantasy with cold hard facts.

Signed,
A Progressive Realist