Polanski has French citizenship, so France has always declined to extradite him to the United States.  He also has a home in Switzerland and was known to travel pretty freely there.

So I really have to wonder why U.S. law enforcement chose now, as he was arriving for a film festival in Switzerland, to arrest him 32 years after he pled guilty to what was, in essence, statutory rape?  (The actual charge to which he pled guilty was unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, not rape.  A distinction without a difference?).

Officials claim that last Saturday was the first time they knew exactly where he would be and when, hence the arrest.

Really?  In three decades?  Polanski hasn’t exactly been hiding in caves like Osama bin Laden or in Saddam Hussein’s worm hole.

Of course, Polanski should be held accountable for what he did — if you have sex with a 13-year-old girl after you’ve plied her with champagne and Quaaludes there isn’t really a word for what kind of person you are.  It’s an act so unforgivable, in fact, that it should have been a priority in 1977 when Polanski skipped bail to have someone track him then until they found him.   We’ve had some pretty good technology for a long time, so a minimal amount of resources should have been needed to find him at his house in Switzerland, especially since the United States knew that Swiss officials would extradite.

So I have to keep asking, “Why now?”  Who decided their career was going to be made on the arrest of a 76-year-old man on a 32-year-old charge?

As the professors liked to remind us in law school,  justice delayed is justice denied.  Real justice could have happened if law enforcement had taken tracking down a child sex offender seriously in the 1970s.  They didn’t care much then about the impact their inaction could have on a young girl in the months and years immediately after the crime.  So one can only wonder what the impetus was to pretend that bringing Polanski in now is somehow justice for the victim or society.

The lukewarm attempt of our justice system to pursue a high profile case such as Polanski’s itself feels criminal in its attitude toward women and girls. It would be encouraging to see this effort as a step toward taking crimes against girls and women more seriously, but it just feels like just an attempt to break into the 24/7 news cycle to improve someone’s resume.

Womenomics, by Claire Shipman & Katty Kay — These two journalists have written an eye-opening book about getting us to recognize the power women have in the workplace to create the kind of work experience we want without sacrificing the time we want and need to spend with our families. I was really honored that both of these fantastic journalists agreed to have a book party at Chez PunditMom last week and inspired all of us in the room to rethink how we approach our work lives.

If They Only Listened to Us, by Melinda Henneberger — A great, quick read about women around the country who’ve taken control of their own political power that makes you think about what else we should be doing to make sure we’re not pigeonholed as “soccer moms.”

Have a Nice Day, by Justin Webb — Justin and his family are friends of ours and they are headed back to England later this summer after many years of living in the U.S. Justin has been the BBC’s North America editor and has a fresh perspective on how Europeans view us and our ideas on politics, religion, freedom and a variety of other topics, as well as our penchant for telling everyone to “Have a nice day!”

Life Happens, by Connie Schultz — Regular readers here know I’m a big fan of Connie’s column at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. This volume is a wonderful compilation of some of her best essays on life, love, and family. You won’t be sorry you packed this one in your beach bag!

Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters, by Nancy Pelosi — This little volume is an interesting read as a pep talk from the first woman Speaker of the House to encourage girls to stake a claim to their power, know opportunities when they see them and being active in their efforts to get a seat at the table of power. Who would know better on these things than Pelosi?

The Brethren, by Bob Woodward & Scott Armstrong — It’s an oldie but goodie about the real inner machinations of the Supreme Court. With the current makeup of the highest bench in the land and the upcoming confirmation hearings on Judge Sonia Sotomayor, this, along with The Nine by Jefrrey Toobin, would be entertaining and enlightening reads for the summertime, even if you’re not a “recovering” attorney like me!

So there you have it! PunditMom’s summer reading recommendations. If you’ve got some thoughts on non-traditional beach reading, let me know in the comments!

Remember when Paris Hilton decided to run for president? I still stand by my original thoughts at the time — there might be something to the idea of getting her to serve in some governmental role. Remember how conversant she was on an effective energy policy?

Plus, I still have to admire the way she seized that moment not only to reinforce her patented image that keeps her in the public eye, but she also planted the seed that maybe she’s something more.

Well, maybe she’s not, but there’s still a lesson for us in this video — own your message and don’t let it be co-opted by others. Granted, a Paris Hilton political video isn’t the thing she’s going to hang her hat on for keeping herself in the spotlight. But she found an effective and humorous way to turn a negative portrayal of herself into a huge positive. You’ve gotta like that in a girl!

Now, I’m not suggesting that I want to see Hillary Clinton in a tankini or that Nancy Pelosi should shoot a commercial sitting on a chaise by the pool and a tropical drink to talk about health care. But there is a valuable media lesson we can all learn from Paris.

What slots are still open in the Obama administration? I’m pretty sure she’s available to start ASAP!

So while we’re off visiting family this weekend, I wanted to share this news with you! Next March, the PunditMom family will be heading off to China to give PunditGirl her first chance to explore her birth country.

And, just as exciting, PunditGirl and I are going to start a new blog soon to keep track of our trip preparation, how we’re all feeling about this adventure and, ultimately, to share our trip with you as we experience it! I’m thinking there might be a book in this somewhere, too — maybe something like the one PunditGirl’s photo is already in!

We’ll sight see, visit her hometown and hopefully get to meet with the head nanny of the baby home who will be able to talk with PunditGirl a little bit about her time there, maybe filling in some of the holes about her first months that she asks about frequently. It’s scary and exciting all at the same time, so we figured what better way to document this than by sharing!

More to come soon. In the meantime, have a great holiday weekend.

Photo by PunditMom

But if you’d like something to read, I have a post that could be well worth your while! Think shampoo, free products and Visa gift card giveaway! Trust me, you’ll be happy you spent a little time at PunditMom Reviews!

I only occasionally buy Vanity Fair, but I’m stocking up on some vacation reading and thought the the July issue would be good on the airplane.

Angelina Jolie of the full lips and even fuller tummy is on the cover of July’s Vanity Fair with an accompanying article about her motherhood, her children and the impending arrival of twins.

I know Angelina gets a bad rap from a lot of people about her various adoptions, but as a mother by adoption, I don’t have a problem with her or her how she’s chosen to create her family. She’s opened her heart to children who needed families and, as far as I can tell, has done a pretty good job, even with all the celebrity stuff they have to deal with.

Until her critics have adopted a child themselves, I say keep your words to yourselves.

As for the author of the article, Rich Cohen, well, I’m hoping there’s a special place in hell for him. No one who has a profile high enough to write for Vanity Fair ought to be asking this kind of question:

“I asked [Jolie whether] there is a special bond between a mother and a child she has carried as opposed to a child she has adopted.”

Say WHAT!?!?

Jolie dismissed that ridiculous notion out of hand. But when people like Cohen continue to advance the stereotype so infamously put out in the media by Rebecca Walker last year — that one cannot love an adopted child as much as one created from one’s own flesh and blood — it serves only one purpose, which is to diminish families that look different than most, families like mine.

Why is it that many people still feel that the bonds of blood are stronger and more lasting than any other? I can tell you from a lot of different experiences I’ve had in life, that just ain’t so.

I realize that without sensational, ridiculous questions like the one Cohen asked Jolie, Vanity Fair probably wouldn’t sell as many magazines. But as long as editors and publishers allow questions like his to appear in stories that feature adoptive families, the message that all our children will get is this — creating a family by adoption is second best and love for a biological child will trump the love for adopted children any day.

PunditGirl is already struggling with the idea of whether love is permanent. I don’t need anyone else, even a Vanity Fair writer, feeding that worry.

What does bother me a lot, though, is the money shot we so often see of the wives of philandering politicians — standing by the side of their husbands, trying to show solidarity and the apparently elusive family values that so many of them talk about before they get caught doing something, well, not so family values-like.

Why do I care? Because sooner rather than later, my nine-year-old daughter is going to start watching more news and she’ll see these women who have decided that even though their husbands have done something terrible to them, and to their families, there is still an obligation to stick with them. Personal decisions aside, it just seems that visual is the rule rather than the exception, these days. And the message it sends to our kids is that it’s OK for husbands to wander and that wives will still stick around, regardless of how badly they’ve been betrayed.

That is, until Jenny Sanford.

You had to guess that there was something up with the story of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and his quick “decision” to change his trip from the Appalachian Trail to Buenos Aires! When the truth came out, as it always does, it was refreshing not to see his wife at his side, silently condoning what he’d done and the lies he had told.

That’s the example I want my daughter to see. Not that there isn’t a time and place for forgiveness, but I hate it when these Masters of the Universe get caught and we have to see their wives standing next to them, telling the world implicitly that what happened was OK.

Jenny Sanford is the example I want our children to learn from. She’s a strong woman in her own right, apparently gave her husband a chance to make things right when she learned about his affair and when he didn’t, there was no big scene — she just did what she knew she had to do for herself, her children and her own life.

Jenny Sanford was apparently instrumental in making Mark Sanford the political success he is today. According to the Washington Post, when asked about what the South Carolina governor was going to do now without her advice, she responded:

“His career is not a concern of mine. … He’s going to have to worry about that. I’m worried about my family and the character of my children.”

That’s a pretty refreshing response from a political spouse these days. It’s given me hope that in the future there will be space for the aggrieved spouse (’cause you know it’s going to happen again) to choose something other than the “standing by your man” photo op and sending a message that sometimes it’s better to do what’s right for your own life, regardless of the political consequences.

But today I really need to talk about the deadly crash of two Metro cars on the Red Line in Washington, D.C. and the outpouring of concern and caring I received from so many people online, those who I know in real life and those who I have never met in person.

I did something yesterday I almost never do — I took a cab to an event downtown for some friends of ours who are moving from the area. Usually I will drive or take the Metro Red Line (though I would not have been on the part that was involved in the crash), which is closest to our house. Because this event was a slightly fancier than the usual type of gathering we get invited to, I wore some heels that, shall we say, are really standing shoes, not walking shoes. Since Mr. PunditMom was already downtown and meeting me, I was going to ride home with him.

I went back and forth all afternoon about whether a cab was worth the expense vs. just hopping on the Metro. Then I thought of walking to and from the stations in these heels and I was convinced that a cab was the way to go.

About half way through the event, my cell phone rang. I glanced at the number to make sure it wasn’t the sitter calling from home and let it ring through to voicemail.

When we left the party at about 7:30 p.m. I got the phone message from my pal BeckyDMBR and saw the Twitter traffic with my name all over it – messages of concern and worry that I was OK. (Please forgive me for not linking your wonderful tweets — there were so many!!)

Lately I’ve had a hard time getting motivated to be out here in the bloggy space, even though I have lots of projects percolating in my head. But last night I was reminded in a major way that even though it can feel lonely sometimes tapping away at the computer with little human interaction during the day, there are so many people in my broader universe who care — not just about me, but about a larger community of people who we never would have “met” but for this world of social media. While it is a little funny that many of us “know” each other through our tweets, our blogs and our Facebook pages, there is something genuine about making these connections.

The only evidence I needed to prove that was the outpouring of concern about me last night.

My life is much richer for the relationships I have made online — there are so many people I would never gave gotten to know without it. Last night, I had a wonderful reminder that we’re all out here for each other. Sometimes we don’t always agree about politics or world events. But the level of sharing — sharing news we otherwise wouldn’t know about, sharing thoughts of concern for each other and sharing our life experiences — is what makes this space worth being in and worth sharing.

Thank you, to all of you, for that.

Love, PunditMom
xoxo

It’s probably no secret to some of you that one of my hot button topics lately has been the free ride the media often get when sexism tries to disguise itself as humor. Lots of people disagreed with my objection to the Spongebob Square butt commercial as inappropriately sexist and aimed at children. Now, just when I’ve cooled down over that one, I’ve got the whole David Letterman/Sarah Palin smack down to think about.

A few think I’ve lost my sense of humor and others have accused me of being a closet Republican because I believe that Letterman calling Palin’s clothes slutty and joking about her daughter’s sex life (I don’t think it matters which daughter he was talking about) were sexist, not harmless humor.

I can promise you I have not crossed over to the GOP and my sense of humor is intact.

My gut says that there’s not going to be much agreement between the humor vs. sexism camps on this one, but hear me out on why I think it’s important to object to what Letterman said, even for those of us who disagree with Palin’s politics. When a powerful entertainer with the media platform of David Letterman suggests that a woman governor is a slut and jokes about the sex life of one of her daughters, that sends a message to our children, especially our daughters, that it’s accepted in our society for men to make women’s appearances and their sexuality the brunt of their jokes. What’s worse is that it also says they get rewarded for it, big time.

Some on the political right have claimed that the lack of protest by progressives about the Letterman/Palin saga proves that conservative women bear the brunt of this type of treatment more than their liberal sisters. To prove the error in that argument, I only need two words — Hillary. Clinton. Not to mention the latest video from the Republican party that not-so-subtly compares Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi with that infamous James Bond character Pussy Galore.

It doesn’t matter who the political woman of the minute is — comedians and talking heads alike will continue to use sexist terms in their jokes and “analysis” because it gets attention and attention makes them money. The fact that we’re still talking about all this is proof of that. But if we don’t call them on it every time — even if the target is someone of the opposite political persuasion — they’ll keep doing it and the next generation of celebrities and TV personalities will continue that tradition when our children are having children.

Some seem to think that Letterman’s remarks were fair game because Palin somehow brought this on herself because she injected her sexuality and her views on abstinence only education into her political persona. But don’t we just perpetuate that sexism by adopting that view? Just because Palin made the mistake of trying to use her daughter Bristol as the poster child for her own political agenda, doesn’t justify the subsequent sexist jokes of Letterman, which impact all of us, not just the Palin family.

It just seems to me that it’s a societal slippery slope if we say that, in the name of humor, it’s OK for our kids to see shaking booties selling burgers and high profile comedians mocking women politicians for the way they dress and saying that it’s just all in good fun.

My nine-year-old daughter is already starting to doubt herself on a whole host of issues. I’ve spent plenty of time dealing with some of the Disney demons, so I don’t need any help from other entertainment sources when it comes to convincing her that news and entertainment outlets really do respect girls and women.

That’s why I feel so strongly that it’s important, regardless of our political persuasion, to step up and speak out when this type of sexism continues. We have plenty to debate when it comes to the views and politics of progressive and conservative women; their physical appearance and sex lives should be left out of it. And while we’re at it, we can ditch the sexist code words so many use as default, as well.

I’m hanging out over at my friend Linda Lowen’s place — About.com on Women’s Issues — where we are pondering the White House Council on Women & Girls and whether it’s going to do us any good.

What do you think — will this task force head us in the right direction on important issues or just be a place holder to keep topics of particular importance to working women and their daughters just enough in the public eye to make us think things are getting done?