Republican senators approve of rape
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I was appalled recently at the number of people making JOKES about Mackenzie Phillips' claim that her father, musician John Phillips, began raping her when she was ten years old. I am disgusted by the people who make excuses for Roman Polanski's rape of a 13 year old girl in the 1970s. And that includes the writers of Saturday Night LIve. I don't care who you are. I don't care how long ago it happened. Rape is never acceptable. Rape is never funny.
In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was an employee of KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton and a US government contractor in Iraq. The details are too horrible to recount here, but Ms. Jones was drugged, gang raped, threatened, harassed, and imprisoned by her colleagues and her employer. She was not alone. Several American women reported similar situations. KBR responded by waving the women’s employment contracts in their faces. According to Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), “That contract contained a clause which required her to arbitrate any future dispute against her employer. This means it forced her to give up her right to seek redress in court if she was wronged. At the time, Ms. Jones had no idea what implications this seemingly innocuous, fine-print clause would have.” The rest of the details are too horrible to recount here, but you can read them at Franken’s website. He’s a member of the Employment and Workplace Safety subcommittee of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.
On October 1, Franken offered an
amendment (SA 2588) to
HR 3326, a Defense Department appropriations bill. The amendment prohibits federal funds to Halliburton, KBR, or any other contractor that requires employees or subcontractors to sign mandatory arbitration clauses giving up their rights to sue the company for civil rights and sexual assault offenses. Franken made an
eloquent statement explaining the reason for the amendment on the floor of the
Senate.
In the end, the
amendment passed by a vote of 68 – 30*. That’s right.
Thirty United States Senators voted to protect rapists and the government-paid companies that employ them. Those senators are all Republicans, and they are all men. They are:
Yesterday, I sent email messages to all thirty of the men on this list. The message said:
“I'm writing an article for my online column, "Community Matters" for Examiner.com about the Franken Amendment. Tell me why you approve of rape. Tell me why your parents didn't care enough about you to teach you right from wrong. Tell me how you explained this vote to your mother, your sisters, your wife, your daughters, and your granddaughters. The article will be published at noon on Friday, October 16, 2009.”
I’ve also notified Franken of this article.
So far, I’ve received four form replies:
· James Risch thanked me for my message and said my input is important to him.
· Johnny Isakson thanked me.
· Lindsey Graham thanked me and said he only replies to South Carolina residents.
· John Cornyn said he will reply as quickly as possible.
Yes, I emailed them. I did not spend several hours making phone calls. They’ll get the messages and they can call me if they have anything to say. I’ll let you know if I get any real responses.
So. Do we want these people making life and death decisions for us? Will we continue to reward these pigs for their behavior? When will we demand accountability from our employees?
These hypocrites claim to honor women and family values. They claim to be “tough on crime”. They peddle “personal responsibility”. So let’s ask them about their family values. Force their hands on crime. Hold them personally responsible.
I'm sending this link to the ten Republican senators who voted for the
Franken Amendment. I'll ask them to hold their colleagues accountable for their actions. You can do the same.
They are:
- Robert Bennett, Utah
- Susan Collins, Maine
- Charles Grassley, Iowa
- Orrin Hatch, Utah
- Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas
- George LeMieux, Florida
- Richard Lugar, Indiana
- Lisa Murkowski, Alaska
- Olympia Snowe, Maine
- George Voinovich, Ohio
Please help. Publicize this list of senators. Contact them. Ask them the three questions. Forward this column to the people that you know in their states. And don’t stop until we get answers.
* Pennsylvania Senator Robert Casey (D) voted for the amendment. Senator Arlen Specter (pretending to be a D) did not vote. I’ve asked his office why he didn’t vote, but they haven’t replied yet.
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