Oliver Willis finds Virginia Republicans funny. Me, I never point at the retarded, but I’ll make an exception for this one.

James L. has the latest response to the dirtiest political ad I’ve seen in my 55 years.

D-Cup gets upset at the media bias that promotes the folksy image of the Mayor of Mooseberry RFD. (I think ‘RFD’ means Rape-Filled District)

With just four months on the job for Palin, here’s what Amnesty International reported:

Alaska has the nation’s highest per-capita rate of forcible rape, with a disproportional number of rape and sexual assault victims being Native women, said Denise Morris, Alaska Native Justice Center executive director, who attended the press conference.

For example, Alaska Native people in Anchorage were 9.7 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than others living in the city between 2000 and 2003, according to one study cited in the report.

“My eyes fill with tears and my heart is often heavy when I think of all the individuals that I know personally who have been touched with brutal violence,” Morris said, including a family member who never reported being raped by two people because she thought it would do no good.

Alaska contends that statehood in 1959 extinguished the criminal jurisdiction of Native villages, according to the study. As a result, the state investigates sexual assaults and rapes in villages.

But police coverage is woeful, the study says. Some 65 villages have no local police.

In those villages, plus dozens of others with unarmed local officers and limited authority, sexual assaults can’t be investigated until troopers arrive from larger communities. That can take hours, sometimes days in stormy or foggy weather, allowing crucial evidence to disappear.

More than 200 Alaska villages lack sexual assault response teams to collect evidence and interview victims after a rape. As a result, some village victims may have to pay to fly to a hospital or clinic in a larger community, the study found.

During the press conference, Larry Cox, Amnesty’s executive director, recounted a brutal rape in a Western Alaska village in 2005, when a man beat his wife with a shotgun and barricaded himself in a house with four children. During the four hours it took troopers in Bethel to get to Nunam Iqua, 150 miles away, the man raped a 13-year-old girl on a bed with an infant crying beside her.

The slow responses, plus the lack of manpower, causes victims to underreport crimes. They have little hope attackers will be prosecuted, he said.

And what was the response from Alaskan officials?

Walt Monegan, public safety commissioner, acknowledged there’s not enough law enforcement in Alaska. He’s drafting plans to create a system that will encourage villagers to become local officers and, eventually, state troopers. It will require legislative approval and should be introduced in Juneau next year, he said.

Gov. Sarah Palin hadn’t seen the Amnesty report, said spokeswoman Sharon Leighow early Thursday afternoon.

Palin “has heard the message from the rural communities that they need more law enforcement” and is working with Monegan to increase law enforcement there, she said.

Yes, she’s ‘working with Monegan’ to bring down the epidemic of rape in her state.

That would be this guy, and all the contradictory claims she’s made about him.

And via AKMuckraker, we learn:

But perhaps the most disturbing thing to Alaskans on a local level are the new tactics coming from the McCain campaign which are directed squarely at Walt Monegan, former Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. Yesterday, McCain-Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton eviscerated him, saying he had a “rogue mentality” and accusing him of “insubordination,” “obstructionist conduct” and a “brazen refusal” to follow proper channels for requesting money.” Sounds like some good sound bites for those who have no idea what’s really going on.

Walt Monegan was, in a word, beloved. He was beloved by the troopers he lead, the people he served, and basically anyone who had the privilege of working with him. He cared about people, the important issues, and he was the real deal. There are many Alaskans today thinking, “Who do these people think they are to come here, and tear down the likes of Walt Monegan?” You have to remember, the rest of the country is “outside”. We are “inside”. That feeling defines Alaskans. We don’t like the government coming in here and telling us how to run things, dammit. And we don’t like outsiders ripping apart respected public servants in our town.

Palin has used every excuse in the book for dismissing Monegan, including (in roughly chronological order) - she just wanted someone to take the department in a “new direction”, Monegan wasn’t doing enough to address alcohol issues in bush Alaska, he wasn’t doing enough to recruit new troopers, he wanted too much money in the budget for frivolous things like domestic violence and sexual assault prevention. Through all of this flip-flopping and grasping at straws, Palin has never hit below the belt. Until now. When Monegan was employed, Palin praised him, and when he was dismissed, Palin adamantly insisted that this was not over personality issues. She knew how well-respected he was, and how it would affect Alaskans’ opinion of her if she slammed him. Now, she doesn’t have to worry about Alaskans anymore. We’re only 3 electoral votes. So now, she has stooped to the “rogue cop” defense.

And especially, don’t miss Shannyn Moore for the final word on the subject. Yes, that folksy governor is a regular hoot, I tell ya.

Unless you’re an Alaskan who’s been raped.