We all know that the Republican Party is blessed in the sight of the Lord, and according to somebody named Mourdock, the Lord intendeth rape to occur so that women will become pregnant. Well, meet the recently deceased Greg Peterson. Peterson, a big wheel in the Utah Republican party, used his mountain cabin to host fundraisers attended by Orrin Hatch and the rest of the local wingnutariat.
Peterson also used the cabin as his Rapo HQ, with his m.o. being to meet women on Mormon dating websites, get them in his car, then tell them he had a gun in the console, whereupon he'd drive them up to the cabin to do what I guess Mourdock considers to be the Lord's work. According to Utah authorities, this occurred five times.
Peterson knew how to pick his victims, or at least thought he did. Here's a case which stands out because of his willingness to use the victim's (apparent) status as an undocumented immigrant against her: (From the Salt Lake Tribune, 10/23/12):
July 2011 » Peterson allegedly drives another woman to the Heber cabin and assaults her. The woman said he threatened to have her deported. The next day he forces her to go to his mother’s house in Lewiston, Utah, where he continues to sexually assault her over the next two days.
Our law permits an undocumented immigrant, who cooperates with police in connection with certain serious crimes, to obtain legal status by way of something called a
U visa. That clearly would have included Greg Peterson's victim.
But this year, it was the republicans who blocked legislation that would have lifted the limit on persons who could obtain U visa relief -- why? Because they don't trust crime victims, including victims of rape.
Is this starting to sound familiar? (Remember that uber-patriot Arizona sheriff and would-be R congressman Paul Babeu who resigned after it was revealed that he threatened to have his lover deported?)
Let's hear Chuck Grassley (R-Blame the Women) as quoted in Mother Jones earlier this year:
"We have caps for a reason. The US can't take everybody who comes to our shores, as much as many would like to," Grassley said. "Caps are a way to control the flow of people. They are a stop-gap measure against fraud." Grassley also wants more restrictions on U visas, which would, among other requirements, force victims to obtain doctor's notes documenting their abuse and mandate that the abuse be reported to law enforcement within two months of its taking place. US Citizenship and Immigration Services already has an anti-fraud unit, however, and law enforcement officials themselves sign off on U visas.
No doubt the late Mr. Peterson fully subscribed to this philosophy. Now that he is dead, I can only hope that some measure of justice may come the way of his victims.
