The Bill Cosby rape allegations. The story I don't want to blog about, but feel I must.

Just in case you have been living in a cave, with no access to any television or internet whatsoever, here is what is happening with Bill Cosby:

The rape-allegation maelstrom swirling around Bill Cosby rages: Three more women accused the comedian of sexual assault on Thursday, while producers behind The Cosby Show claimed ignorance. Actress Louisa Moritz, who played Rose in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, told TMZ that Cosby forced her to engage in oral sex before a 1971 Tonight Show appearance; Carla Ferrigno (Lou Ferrigno's wife) told Rumorfix he attacked and grabbed her at a party in 1967; and Therese Serignese, a Florida nurse, told the Huffington Post that he drugged and raped her in 1976. She is one of 13 women who were set to testify against Cosby in a 2005 lawsuit before the case was settled.

I have been purposefully avoiding this topic because, well because I fucking love Bill Cosby.

I remember like it was yesterday when my elementary school teacher allowed me to listen to a Bill Cosby album for the first time, once I had finished my work before all of the other kids.

She brought out one of those listening centers, which featured an adapter with eight headphone jacks on it, and the other end stuck into an old school phonograph that was playing the comedy album.

I don't remember which one it was, but holy crap was it funny.

I laughed so hard and so long that the teacher had to unplug me because I was disturbing the other children, though she promised I could finish it later in the day when the other students were not taking a test.

After that I listened to ALL of his comedy albums, and followed his career obsessively.

I of course was also a big fan of the Cosby Show, which I naively believed was a depiction of his actual life.

So to be honest, I just don't want to hear this. Not do I want to talk about it. I just don't want to.

However there is one name mentioned above that has changed my mind.

Carla Ferrigno.

Now she may not be well known to you, but in my teens I was an avid bodybuilder and a big fan of Lou Ferrigno. So I know all about his marriage to the incredibly sweet and supportive Carla.

So for some reason the fact that she has come forward with a story about being attacked by Cosby, kind of broke the emotional dam for me, and I feel that this is now something that simply cannot ignore.

It is NOT that I did not believe the other women, because I did. It is because until I felt a personal connection to the story I just felt it was something better left to others to cover.

It's not about Alaska, it's not about politics, it's not about religion, and it's not about Sarah Palin so I guess I thought I could give it a pass.

Not anymore.

And part of the reason I feel that way has to do with Sarah Palin.

You know how we are always bitching about reporters ignoring babygate because talking about it makes them uncomfortable, or they would really rather not know the truth? 

Well that was what I was doing with this story. I don't like the facts that I am hearing so I don't want to report on them.

Same thing. And that makes me a hypocrite.

Well not anymore.

Bill Cosby is now a 77 year old man, but that does not mean that what he did should be swept under the carpet. Nor should it mean that he can continue to pretend to be a person that has little resemblance to who he is in real life.

If this were one incident in his youth, perhaps this could be chalked up to a drunken episode that he never repeated again. But this is not that. If the evidence is true, and there is no reason at this time to doubt that it is, than Cosby is a serial rapist who used drugs, alcohol, and sometimes force to take sexual advantage of young women. And THAT makes him the worst possible kind of man.

Here is the AP interview that everybody is talking about.

Did you see that? He not only refused to discuss these allegations, but he then attempted to bully the reporter into not releasing the video.

Clearly this is a tactic that has worked well for him in the past, and he must believe he can continue to suppress these stories and live the lie that he has lived all of these years.

In my job I have worked with quite a few sexual predators in the past and this is how they operate.  They blame the victim, they minimize the actual assault, and then they attempt to bully people into silence.

Bill Cosby's accusers deserve justice. And Bill Cosby should not be above that justice.

After day of counting absentee ballots AP calls Alaska Senate race for Dan Sullivan.

Courtesy of Politico:  

Republican Dan Sullivan has won the Alaska Senate race, ousting Democratic incumbent Mark Begich, according to The Associated Press, which called the race for Sullivan late Tuesday night following the first day of counting early and absentee ballots. 

Sullivan leads Begich by 7,911 votes, according to the latest tally. Even though Begich gained some ground on Tuesday, and thousands of ballots are left to be counted, the AP said “the results indicated that Begich could not overcome Sullivan’s lead.” 

“I am deeply humbled and honored to be chosen by my fellow Alaskans to serve them in the United States Senate,” Sullivan said in a statement. “From day one we told our supporters that we would run a campaign that Alaskans could be proud of, and that’s what we did.” 

Begich’s campaign is not conceding, the AP reported. 

As I think some of you are aware I essentially determined that Mark Begich did not have a chance of  pulling out a victory here the day after the election.

In response I received a rather ugly e-mail accusing me of essentially being a traitor and of hurting his chances by writing him off before the ballots had been counted. I am not sure how my post could make ballots magically disappear but apparently I have incredible powers of which I remain blissfully unaware.

Look I doubt there are too many people up here that wanted Mark to win more than I did. Hell I even had the only Mark Begich sign for several blocks around.

But facts are facts, and as progressives we respect the facts.

This election was obviously for sale, and in the end the Democrats simply did not have the money to compete.

It is clear to everybody that Dan Sullivan is a Koch whore, and he is certainly not the only one representing us in Washington.

And look who finally came out to connect her name to Sullivan now that it is no longer a political liability.