watch it: “Sarah Palin: The rape kit controversy”

totally false
http://www.lifenews.com/nat4391.html

The claim that she knew about it may indeed be false, though don't you think that 'lifenews.com' may have vested interests in her campaign?

Ooooh, right...you're the founder and editor of lifenews.com, and indeed wrote the piece.

It's journalism, Jim, but not as we know it.

The National Review also debunks the claim and cites chapter and verse in doing so: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODA1YWM5ZjM2ZTU5ODliZTY2NTczMGUwZWYwNTVlMTQ=&w=MA==

Obama isn't a moslem terrorist, Palin isn't Jack The Ripper. I'm still waiting to see if Serge can prove that Scarlett is a clone.

MaryAnn, I followed your link and got the Huffington Report, I then clicked onto the link provided as proof of the accusation and got a website that seemed to have every document in the city history. I clicked on to the 'docs requested by Sarah Palin' section and found only doc (which I shall try to paste below) which directly contradicts the Huffington assertion, repeated by you.
I am willing to believe such proof exists but I am not willing to spend a whole day searching for it. if someone has it I hope they will post it.

Huffington goes on at some length about something else and I note that you switch over to a general admonition of how Palin says mean things about rape victems. Could be true, I don't know, but lets stick for the moment to the accusation of her forcing rape victems to pay for rape kits.

The doc below states that no such thing happened and that if it did it would have been in violation of Alaska State law.

QED if it happened as you say then you have a criminal charge against the current Guv of Alaska. Given all of her highly financed enemies I ask the obvious: where is the proof and where is the criminal charge?

CITY OF WASILLA •Office of the Mayor• 290 East Herning Avenue • Wasilla • Alaska • 99654 ·7091 • Telephone 907·373·9055 • Fax 907·373·9096 • RE: Billing of sexual assault victims for forensic exams The Finance Department searched all financial records on our system for fiscal year 2000, 2001 and 2002. There are no records of billings to or collections from rape victims or their insurance companies in our system. The financial computer system goes back to the beginning of fiscal year 2000, and accounts receivable backup documentation goes back six (6) years per our records retention schedule. A review of files and case reports within the Wasilla Police Department has found no record of sexual assault victims billed for forensic exams. State law AS 18.68.040, which was effective 8/14/2000, would have prohibited any such billings after that date. Statistics for sexual assaults reported can be found in the police section of the City of Wasilla website at http://www.cityofwasilla.com/index.aspx?page=103. Thank you, Mayor Dianne M. Keller

Who's voting Obama?

Who's voting Obama?

Well, my guess is a majority in every state that Kerry won plus a majority of the voters in Iowa,
New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia and
Florida.

Was that a trick question?

Who's voting Nader?

My wife and I are. It's probably our last chance to honor this man before he kicks the bucket; a man who has created more positive change for our country than Obama, McCain, both Bushes, and both Clintons combined. I encourage people to watch the documentary about Mr. Nader, An Unreasonable Man.

Well, it looks like Americans have paid almost a trillion dollars to elect our champion of change. I'm not an emotional person, but that's so ludicrous it almost makes me cry. I hope we get our money's worth, if such a thing is even possible.

"Was that a trick question?"

No, Drew. It was a hyperlink to a video.

Well, it looks like Americans have paid almost a trillion dollars to elect our champion of change

You're off by a factor of 1000. It's about a billion. Or as George Will put it, less than Americans spend each year on potato chips.

*prays not to be smited for being so far off topic*

amanohyo

I thought you were a big Palin fan... what happened?

"Was that a trick question?"
"No, Drew. It was a hyperlink to a video."

No question about it, irony simply is not recognised on this forum.

Sigh.

Okay, lets be literal. The same black, white, latin, asian, other, married, single, young, old, gay, straight, poor middle and rich, male and female people will vote in the millions for both major candidates.

More will vote for Obama, but that difference will likely be described as a single digit difference. Although, because of geography, that difference will most likely result in the biggest electoral victory for the Democrats since FDR.

If Obama proves in his first term to be half the president his supporters believe he will be, then he will be in position to run the table ala Reagan in his second term.

JoshB, the total includes the bailout plan. Neither candidate had the political cojones in an election year to fight it or even explore any alternatives. Politicians happily twiddle their thumbs for decades when it comes to our dependence on oil or the bloated debt, but the investment bankers and corporations who pull their political strings require salvation immeeeediately. But you're right, technically we have only spent a billion dollars on this wondrous contest. Just three dollars a person to change the world forever. Sounds like an ad for a shady charity.

Nathan, I didn't mention Palin, but if you're curious, I continue to respect her as a person and as a politician although I still disagree with her on most issues. It's McCain who has lost my respect. At this point, he's just a blob of putty in the GOP strategists' hands. It's sad, because the old McCain, pre-cheesy fake smile, pre-everyone is my friend, seemed like someone who could actually stand up to the political establishment on occasion. He willingly transformed into a gelatin puppet. I hope Palin avoids the same trap.

"the old McCain, pre-cheesy fake smile, pre-everyone is my friend, seemed like someone who could actually stand up to the political establishment on occasion."

There is a lot of truth in this assessment.
I was a McCain supporter in 2000. He was by far the best Republican candidate and would have made a better President than the man we wound up with.
This time around, I was perplexed and disappointed by some of his choices.

amanohyo

So you respect the proto-fascist airhead and are disappointed in the old, half-senile guy who was born into and married into everything he ever got, but you are suspicious of perhaps the most brilliant and popular politician we will see in our lifetimes so you are throwing your vote away on an ultra-liberal attention whore because he got us all to wear seat-belts back in the day?

Alrighty! Enjoy Election Day.

"[Obama] perhaps the most brilliant and popular politician we will see in our lifetimes"

Over statements like this are bad enough if they come from old fogeys like me. My lifetime includes Churchill, Kennedy and Ike. To be sure Obama shows a lot of potential. But he hasn't run a country during world war or pitched a 49 state election win.

It's even worse if the over statement comes from someone young. Rather like saying that a movie that hasn't played yet may be the best movie that will be made for the next 50 years. How can one possibly support such an assertion?

amanohyo is not "throwing away" his vote. He is using his vote for the express purpose of voting for the candidate he wishes to vote for. What else does one do with a vote?

As someone from far away from the USA, I wish you a good election day and a positive result.

Best of luck to you.

Nathan, please do thirty seconds of research on that attention whore. I'm tempted to list what Nader accomplished (with help from many dedicated people) by the time he was 47, but I'll just say that most attention whores I know don't choose to spend their time writing scientific studies. I wonder what kind of books an attention whore would write? A series of memoirs perhaps?

Anyway, if it makes you feel better I'm one of those people that has a strong bias against anythng popular. Be happy, Senator Obama is on his way to the White House.

I know who Nader is and the man stopped seeing the proverbial forest for the trees a long time ago. Thousands of people are out there every day checking corporate power without turning themselves into Quixotic spectacles.

As for Obama's memoirs, they were obviously an effort at self-vetting which rendered many weapons that could have been used against him useless.

I'm always suspicious of popular things when it comes to art or products, but I'm not so cynical that I can't see history being made right in front of me.

Well, okay, I'll try to suppress my cynicism for just one evening and enjoy this historic occasion (it was pretty cool to see the huge lines at the polls for a change). But you're not going to wring a drop of hope out of me until I see this rookie team in action (or inaction, as the case may be) for a few months. As for Quixotic spectacles, let's just say that different people are inspired by different things and leave it at that.

How long did you end up waiting to vote? I went early here in suburban Maryland and it still took a little over two hours. I thought the free donut line at Krispy Kreme might be longer than the line at the polls, but I was happily proven wrong.

I voted last week here in San Antonio, TX and even though the turnout was pretty heavy for early voting it only took about 20 minutes. I'm hoping TX pulls within 4 or 5% and we can start talking about it being a battleground state next time around, but right now I'll just be happy to hear the words "President-Elect Obama" tonight.

And I'm as interested as anyone else to see what an Obama Administration will look like in action. Perhaps to the disappointment of many on the far left, I think he'll be fairly pragmatic.

I voted here in Dallas and it took me a whole five minutes but then I went in the middle of the day.

I did see lines last week at some of the early voting places which surprised me. But then I was equally surprised to note that I spent more time today conversing with a friend about the respective virtues of McCain and Obama than I did at the actual polls.

For that matter, I was surprised to note the return of paper ballots. At least for this election.

There was a special electronic pad set up for handicapped voters and early voters allegedly got the electronic option as well but apart from that, everything else was done the old-fashioned way.

Ralph Nader on our next President:

"His choice, basically, is whether he's going to be Uncle Sam for the people of this country, or Uncle Tom for the giant corporations."
-- Ralph Nader on Obama, on election night
"What was that?...Are you kidding me?...I just wonder if in hindsight you wish you'd used a phrase other than 'Uncle Tom'."
-- Fox News' Shepard Smith, following up the next day

"Not at all."
-- Nader