I don't think anyone is going to argue that the one who shoulders the entirety of the blame for what happened to this young woman is the man who raped her. But It is also hard to argue with the fact that by her actions, this young woman put herself in an extremely dangerous situation where the chances of her being attacked in some way were drastically increased.

Anyone with two functioning braincells to rub together knows how dangerous it can be in the world. There are plenty of predetors of all sorts that will look for any opportunity, any vulnerability in order to get the upper hand with a possible victim. There is no way That you can completely immunize yourself from being a crime victim, but there are certainly things you can do to decrease the chances of it happening.

This is why we teach pre-school children the difference between good touch/bad touch. We teach schoolkids what to do if someone approaches them on the street, or tries to abduct them. We have public education programs about not being a victim of crime.

Still, people make mistakes and there are those out there who are just waiting for the opportunity. If you are "lucky", you might just be robbed. You might have your car stolen. You might lose something materials and a bit of your personal security. At worst, you may end up raped, or killed, or vanished.

Women and children are especially vulnerable. Most of these crimes (but not all) are committed by adult men who are physically stronger. If someone is determined to overpower you, there is a limit to what you can do after the fact. Once the assailant has the upper hand, the best you can hope for is to minimize the damage.

I know that a lot of women chafe at the idea of having to curtail their actions in any way to help protect themselves. No one likes the idea that we can't go where we want and do whatever we'd like to at any time out of fear that you might be assaulted. But look at some of the more notorious cases in NYC in the past few years. A college student is out drinking by herself into the early morning and is raped and murdered by the bouncer who escorts her out while she's intoxicated. A teenaged girl who was out drinking with friends (all underaged) wanders off by herself after their car is towed away and her friend gets sick at the impound yard from drinking. This girl was later found raped and murdered. Or look at what happened to Nancy Holloway in Aruba - she goes out drinking (again underaged), goes off with some young men that she just met and has been missing ever since.

The best way to protect yourself is by being alert and showing a modicum of common sense. That doesn't mean that you might never be the victim of a crim, but you can drastically reduce the chances of that happening. That's what it's all about folks, reducing the odds in your favor.

"He fears God," said Scott Bailey, from just outside Otley, Iowa, where he's president of a network of conservative Christian home-schoolers. "Apart from that, nothing else matters to me in a candidate."

It these simple words don't send shivers up your spine, I don't know what will. The political discussion for many candidates hinges not on what their positions on specific issues are, or where they stand on issues like econonic fairness, protecting individual rights and dealing with a foreign policy crisis left behind by the Bush administration. In the minds of many sincerely religious but politically ignorant people that make up a significent base for the Republican party. For them, a candidate's religious views are paramount because in their minds, if a candidate is a good Christian, he will automatically make the right decisions based on his religious views. This is a naive and dangerous view and rather than opening up political debate, tends to shut it down.

Many of these relgious voters selected Bush because they liked how he had beated booze by finding God, and how he spoke about restoring integrety to the office and a humble foreign policy. What we ended up with was a president who did little of what he promised, fostered great devision along our nation's fault lines and critically damaged US foreign policy for years to come. They did not ask the critical questions that any candidate should be confronted with.

No candidate should ever be given a free pass on explaining his position because he is a religious person. Huckabee should have to explain why he pressured his parole board in Arkensas to release a convicted rapist who then went on to rape and murder two other women. He should have to explain how he plans to help rejumpstart the Middle East peace process that has been at a complete standstill for the past seven years. He needs to explain how he would protect the rights of individual citizens and exactly where he stands on issues like Roe vs Wade, gay rights and illegal immigration. He needs to explain if his religious views will influence his acceptace of science in regards to education and medical research. He must answer how he plans to deal with issues like the human tragedy of Darfur and the growing global warming crisis.

Sorry, but being a Christian is not an automatic qualifier for being president.