it appears that the source of the problem is in kses somewhere.
if i comment out line 23 of functions post it properly inserts the img tag into the database as verified through phpmyadmin. however in the post, the tag appears as just <img/> with no src... in the db if i remove the trailing slash on the image tag it appears just fine in the post.
Anybody have any ideas about how to fix this? I've been combing over the source endlessly with no luck so far.