LifeNews has a detailed examination of the urban legend that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin--when she was mayor of Wasilla--wanted to charge rape victims for rape kits used to collect evidence.
The Rabid Left has been foaming at the mouth about this accusation for several weeks now, supposedly as evidence that Sarah Palin is a sadistic, woman-hating woman who can't be trusted as Vice President of the United States.
The truth is, as usual, quite different than the Rabid Left and their accomplices in the "mainstream" media portray.
As the LifeNews article points out, the origin of this fallacy seems to stem from an article by the Wasilla paper, The Frontiersman in 2000.
In that story Police Chief Fannon was quoted as standing against legislation that would force local municipalities to pick up the costs of rape kits being performed. In the interview Fannon said that, upon conviction, he favored the criminals being charged for the costs.
The story mentions that Fannon claimed that at the time Wasilla did have a policy that rape victims' insurance would be charged for the kits being performed but there was no mention that victims themselves were charged and no claim that any ever were.
What the Left fails to mention, however, is that Wasilla isn't the only municipality with this policy--Juneau, for example.
There also seems to be only one rape in Wasilla recorded in the Uniform Crime Reports, and no record that this victim was charged for the rape kit--or that Palin even knew about this policy mentioned by the police chief. It also seems it was the hospitals in Alaska that typically pass along the cost of the rape kit to the victim's insurance company, not the police department.
For her part, Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella has said that the governor "does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test."
I would encourage you to read the entire piece at LifeNews; it's lengthy but worth it.
Does it even pass the smell-test to believe that a female mayor (or a male mayor, for that matter) would want to intentionally add an insult to an injury in such a terrible crime?
Perhaps if you're on the Rabid Left and believe that women who don't toe the radical feminist line are "Aunt Tom's," or that people of sincere Christian faith are the greatest evil our nation has ever seen.
11 comments:
You realize, of course, that Palin's spokeshole didn't actually say tht Palin did not believe in charging for rape kits. Comella was referring to paying for testing that sometime is and sometimes is not done on specimens collected with rape kits. Comella's well crafted little e-mail refers to "evidence-gathering tests".
You also ignore the fact that Comella would not say when Palin learned of that victims were being charged for rape kits and what did Palin do about it.
Thank god I dont live in South Dakota or near Bob Ellis and have to read this junk. I do not think I have ever read an articale that went on to say that liberals hate people who believe in god. After seeing your ad for the ugly hometown cd on the right side of the screen, I realized what kind of news orginazition this is. I love how professional christians make money off talking about god. He died for you, dont you think you should be doing his work for free??
"After seeing your ad for the ugly hometown cd on the right side of the screen, I realized what kind of news orginazition this is. I love how professional christians make money off talking about god. He died for you, dont you think you should be doing his work for free??"
NotinDakota, I have this funny feeling that you did some of that there "assuming". What does the CD or its ad have to do with anything such as you suggested? It's an ad for a music CD that was placed in a publication.
Let's see...
Bob Ellis posts about a rumor proven FALSE about Palin... and then notindakota writes about being glad of not living in South Dakota or near Bob Ellis, so he/she doesn't have to read this junk? Information that shows a rumor to be false is junk?
notindakota, while people who work in ministry also need and deserve to make a living, it might interest you to know that not a dime that Dakota Voice has earned has gone into my pocket (while quite a bit has come out of my pocket in support of Dakota Voice).
When liberals quit acting like they hate God, I'll quit talking about God-hating liberals.
"Juno" Alaska?
You do know it's Juneau, right?
Did you do any research on this at all? In all of the reading and analysis on Alaska you claim to have done, how did you miss the spelling of the capital?
I came across this entry when I entered: 'palin "rape kits"' into Google News. This came just after the New York Times' opinion piece. I think you'll understand if I just decide you're a fool and read the New York Times instead.
I'll own the mistake on Juneau.
Beyond that, only a fool believes everything they read in the New York Times, the nation's largest print liberal propaganda machine.
Palin owes it to the country to answer some questions for once, rather than let the press (left- or right-leaning) draw its own self-serving conclusions.
But the fact is that she categorically refuses to address any questions of any substance (including this rape kit ordeal), and Americans have every right to be concerned about such behavior.
That might be a valid point if we had an objective media--which we don't, and the ascendancy of Sarah Palin has proven that beyond and all shadow of a doubt.
So even if she did media press conferences and interviews 24/7, we would only have more of what we've already seen in the past month: twisting and torturing anything she says or doesn't say by the "mainstream" media.
Me? I don't blame her for telling that flock of vultures to take a hike.
Evidence collection is not health care. The chief of police under Palin (Fannon) was quoted in the local paper as having billed insurance for the evidence kits "when possible":
http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2000/05/23/news.txt
This is health insurance fraud, and it's not plausible that Palin was ignorant of procedures. This makes her guilty of conspiracy to commit health insurance fraud, even if she was oblivious to the criminal nature of the act.
Under HIPAA legislation, this is a federal felony, with a statute of limitations of 6 - 10 years, depending on circumstances. The penalty (for commission of the act, or for conspiracy) is up to 10 years in prison.
The FBI has jurisdiction to investigate health insurance fraud. The FBI should be asked to investigate these criminal acts by Palin's chief of police, and to determine whether she is guilty of conspiracy in the matter.
So, SteveMdfp, you are basing your allegations of Palin's guilt of insurance fraud upon a newspaper report that is quoting someone other than Palin saying that evidence kits were billed to insurance companies when possible? Has it ever occurred to you that it was a mis-wording? Has it ever occurred to you that it was "never possible"?
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