n the PBS public-affairs show "To the Contrary" over the weekend, host Bonnie Erbe told panelist Linda Chavez that a woman of her age doesn't need to worry about being raped. The comment came during a segment on gun ownership.

Here's NR's transcription of the exchange:

Linda Chavez: "If you're someone like me, who lives out in a rural area — if someone breaks into my house and wants to murder or rape me or steal all of my property, it'll take half an hour for a policeman to get to me.... Thousands of lives are saved by people being able to protect themselves."

Bonnie Erbe: "And if you look at the statistics, I would bet that you have a greater chance being struck by lightning, Linda, living where you live and at your age being raped. Sorry."

Contacted on Monday, Erbe refused to back down. "A woman living in a rural area and at a post-menopausal age statistically is not likely to be a rape target," she said. "Women buying guns for their self protection have gone completely bonkers."

Asked if she knew Chavez's age, Erbe replied, "Somewhere over 55 and somewhere under 60." Chavez is 52.

Cari W. Stein, the executive producer of "To the Contrary," said, "Bonnie certainly is not insensitive to sexual assault. Her commitment to women's issues should be apparent from the program."

Foreign Affairs
From an interview with the Indigo Girls in Mother Jones's May/June issue:

What was the trip to Havana like?

[Amy Ray]: We're both against the economic sanctions, the embargo. And I think there're so many great parts of that system — women and men doing the same jobs for the same pay. I'm very pro-socialism. But there's a lot of repression there.

Notes & Asides
National Review founder and editor-at-large William F. Buckley, Jr., will discuss his new book, "Let Us Talk of Many Things: The Collected Speeches," at two Washington, D.C., events this week. On Tuesday at 1:00 pm, he'll appear at Crown Books in DuPont Circle (call 202-319-1374 for details), and at high noon on Wednesday he'll be at Borders in Tyson's Square (703-556-7766).