On rape kits and Sarah Palin

I caught wind of the 'Mayor Palin charging women for their own rape kits' story on Feministing a couple days ago, but wasn't entirely convinced by the 2000 article in question that Palin was involved in the passage of the statute forcing rape victims to cover the cost of a forensic kit or even had it brought to her attention during her tenure as governor.

So I figured I'd hold my tongue since the evidence wasn't all there - you know, the whole "the difference between us and our enemies is how we treat our enemies" principle that keeps leading Democrats to noble defeat? But (former Alaska Gov.) Tony Knowles is out there on the press circuit now and happy to make the association, and since he's the guy that actually overturned the abhorrent law, I'm going to follow his lead and say, at least, the following:

How blessed is Sarah Palin's life that every single woman and girl in her life has remained untouched by sexual violence? To my mind, there is no other possible explanation for how Mayor Palin could have countenced this sort of victim-blaming travesty of a law. No woman (and, I'd hope, no man) who counted a survivor among their relatives, friends, or even aquaintances could allow this to stand.

When I used to give sexual assault awareness presentations in college, we'd describe the process of a rape kit to our skeptical peers who believed in the myth of the regretful girl who woke up the next morning and called consensual sex rape. No "faker" would endure the evidence collection, we'd explain, because there exists no forensic procedure more invasive or humiliating to a crime victim, who is stripped, photographed, inspected, and subjected to the swabbing, scraping, and plucking of her most intimate areas - all this after she's survived the most violating crime imaginable. The idea that a woman could survive a rape, survive a rape kit, and then be slapped with the bill for the privilege makes me ill.

I can't begin to fathom how Sarah Palin could have lived with this law. I afford her the courtesy of my initial assumption of her ignorance for no reason other than I can't stomach the alternate possibility.

The Pentagon Memorial

Officially dedicated this morning, open to the public starting this evening.

The Washington Post has a nice microsite with stories, video, and a virtual tour of the memorial. My impression is of a thoughtful and understated tribute; a lot of the concepts behind the design of the space and the spare-looking benches are elegant and very, very moving. I look forward to seeing it for myself.

I was startled to read "seven years ago" in describing today's anniversary. Not to indulge the 'how quickly time passes' cliché, especially given how much has transpired since 2001, but the memory does seem fresh enough that I'm floored to realize that three of the Pentagon memorial's youngest honorees, the eleven-year-old passengers on Flight 77, would have just started college.

I know not how I was wrong, only how wrong I was

Most disappointing revelation of the political season?
It seems I've been laboring under a delusion (for years!) about the true identity of my favorite rhetorical apparatus! Chiasmus, I hardly knew ye.

Costofwar.com + Vanity Snark =

I love it.

goodness knows when Vanity Fair started carrying water for the Daily Kos set, but those rascals over at VF's "Politics and Power" blog took the now-infamous tab of Cindy's convention look and ran with it, resulting in this fun little balance sheet:

"That got us thinking: what does $300,000 mean to Americans who don't have the luxury of inheriting a gargantuan beer fortune?

To Cindy McCain, $300,000 is the price of an outfit.

To most Americans, $300,000 buys ...

... one and a half houses, given the national median home price of $206,500.

... a year's worth of health care for 750 people.

... the full array of back-to-school supplies and clothes for 500 kids.

... enough gas to drive cross-country 543 times.

... 365 round-trip flights from Washington, D.C., to Anchorage, Alaska. (John McCain should have splurged on at least one.)

... a three-course steak dinner (at Mat-su Resort) and a movie ticket (for the Mat-su Cinema) for every man, woman, and child in Wasilla, Alaska.

... enough money for three Troopergate investigations."