I refuse to give up on the Strauss-Kahn Case

     Let's get something straight: the charges aren't dropped until someone drops them.
     No matter how many news sources bludgeon us with the purported likelihood of their being dropped, no matter how oppressive the incessant construction of the case's being "in tatters" or "teetering" or "likely to fail," no matter how overwhelming the voices who refer to the prosecution as if it's already collapsed, it's not over until it's biGod over.
     Therefore, with respect to the standing allegation of sexual assault against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, I'd like to champion two encouraging moves.
     One, Keven Thompson, the plaintiff's attorney, has called upon District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. to step aside. Mr. Thompson is quoted as saying "District Attorney Vance, we ask in earnest that your office voluntarily recuse itself from the Strauss-Kahn case and that you appoint a special prosecutor."  Seeing as Mr. Vance has in fact been prognosticating the failure of the case even more loudly than Strauss-Kahn's defense team, this seems a more than fair demand.
     Second, the maid is seeking damages for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the New York Post for calling her a prostitute. According her suit: "All of these statements are false, have subjected the plaintiff to humiliation, scorn and ridicule throughout the world by falsely portraying her as a prostitute or as a woman who trades her body for money and they constitute defamation and libel per se."  Speaking as one who, reading the article, wanted to blast the Post's headquarters with sheep excrement, I can only say amen.   
     It bears mentioning that the Post has already dropped at least one other bucket of slime on the plaintiff: its privacy-breaching revelation in May that she lived in housing reserved for individuals with HIV. HousingWorks.org rallied people across the country to contact the Post and condemn its decision. Not content to play the AIDS card on her, the Post went on to call her a whore.
      For that matter, Mr. Vance Jr's counter-productive behavior toward the plaintiff's case has some precedents of its own. Indeed, authorities in New York City have a less than impressive track record where rape is concerned: it took a Change.org campaign to get NYC to look into counting sexual assaults properly.
      It's been said before, but I'll say it again: this a case of critical importance for rape and assault victims all over the city, the country, and the world.
      I, for one, refuse to lose faith.