Republicans for Rape

I checked to make sure that the 30 Republican Senators who voted against Jamie Leigh Jones' anti-rape bill two weeks ago had wives and daughters. Most of them did. But their love for defense contractor PAC money is obviously greater than their love even for their own daughters. The Senate bill was simple to follow. If a contractor like KBR has an employee who is sexually assaulted on the job, then that employee has a right to have a jury hear and decide the facts of the case. If the contractor denies the victim that right, then the U.S. government won't do business with that contractor. In 2005, Jones, a KBR employee, was gang-raped in Iraq by KBR workers. After she was gang-raped, KBR security held her prisoner inside a 5' x 6' shipping container to make sure she kept her mouth shut.

The vote to enact the bill was 68 to 30. Go to the website: www.republicansforrape.org, and you can see the list of those 30 GOP leaders who voted against victims like Jamie. They argued that it is too harsh to force a valued defense contractor like KBR or Haliburton to appear in front of a civil jury to face outraged and repulsed fathers, mothers, and sisters when stories like Jamie's are told. What those 30 all-male, all Republican Senators would prefer is that Jamie and victims like her would be raped again by KBR by appearing in a closed door, secretive, arbitration setting where no one hears the details of the assault. It's worth mentioning that Jamie was also drugged while she was held captive by KBR management employees in that shipping crate so no one would hear her cries to be allowed to simply go home to her family. The drugs were supposed to keep her quiet in the same way that the KBR good ol' boy corporate arbitration panel would keep the details of this disgusting story quiet.

The GOP Senate leaders were not in the dark about the details of Jamie's rape. They knew she had been repeatedly sodomized and that her body was so torn up that she needed reconstructive plastic surgery. They knew that KBR's own security force held Jamie as a prisoner after the rape where she was denied food and medical treatment. We are aware of how at least a couple of those 30 GOP leaders regard women. Louisiana Senator David Vitter had a "stable" of female prostitutes at his beck and call when he wanted female companionship. John Ensign had his wife and at least one girlfriend around when he wanted the company of a woman. Women were at the top of mind for those two GOP leaders mostly out of convenience. But stories like the Jamie Leigh story are never convenient. We have to hear them, and the people responsible for that evil need to be held accountable in courtrooms instead of closed door, corporate arbitration panels where the victim's chances to obtain justice are over at hello.

We want to believe that some corporate money is sometimes too expensive even for politicians, but the Jamie Leigh story has again proved us wrong.

 

 

Follow Mike Papantonio on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RingofFireRadio

Comments

[ECBA88]

So, I've been making an effort lately to get out of the progressive echo chamber and hear what right wing bloggers think of some of these issues in their own words. The Franken amendment seemed like a good place for this, so I just headed over to redstate.com to see what they said about it. Using the site's search engine, a search for "al franken" leads to pages and pages of articles about his "theft" of the senate election in Minnesota. A search for ["al franken" amendment] leads to articles complaining about Mr. Franken violating various parts of the Bill of Rights. A search for ["al franken" rape] leads to angry blogs about him, none mentioning this amendment. al franken rape amendment has no results, nor does al franken KBR. They're just ignoring this story entirely...

[mcthfg]

Your mistake is thinking that these men view women as women. They view them as meat, and beneath them.

[Eris23Skidoo]

Sent this to my Senator, he's sent no reply:

I understand you voted to make it easier for Halliburton and KBR to
cover up RAPE cases. What are you thinking? How much campaign
contributions is it worth for a US Senator to turn his eyes while a
government contractor gang-rapes its employees? Whatever happened to
the right of US citizens to seek redress in the courts to correct
wrongdoing? KBR wants forced arbitration, so you and 29 other cowards
buckled under pressure? Seriously. I suppose you're going to write
back and try to explain to me why you are in favor of rape. Wonderful.
I hope you are good at explaining things like this to your wife and
any other female relatives that you have or maybe any human beings
that you happen to know that might be offended by rape and your vote
that aids and abets rape. I used to think you were something like
Butch Otter; you know, the kind of politician who while belonging to a
party is in fact his own man. I see that you voted along with all the
others, cheering on the sidelines while KBR employees rape one
another.

[Eris23Skidoo]

(part 1.5)

I've read the argument that this amendment would have needlessly
caused the govt to interfere with business. Well, from now on, maybe
the govt SHOULD be interfering with business. Any business agreement
that provides for the raping of employees maybe ought to be regulated
a little. That's why we have regulation--some people are just born
cheaters who WON'T do the right thing and they need to have someone in
authority telling them that they can't get away with raping coworkers.

[Eris23Skidoo]

(part 2)

I'm not accusing KBR or Halliburton of raping their employees. This
whole mess is an absolute tragedy and the employees who were caught
raping their coworkers, I truly hope, were not enacting an official
business policy. I assume they were crooks who so-happened to work for
KBR. However, KBR should not have the right to cover up there cases,
nor should their employees who raped their coworkers NOT be facing
charges in the US court system. Arbitration, Halliburton's favored
solution, is all about compensating the injured party. But what of the
rapist? What of the MULTIPLE rapists who went after Jamie Leigh Jones?
What about future would-be rapists who would have kept their hands to
themselves up until they discovered that Mike Crapo and the GOP would
ensure that they can get away with rape? What then? Do you have a
conscience? Do you understand that your vote has emboldened a whole
new generation of rapists? They'll be filling out job applications at
Halliburton and KBR as soon as they hear that US Senators are giving
them comfort and encouragement.

[Eris23Skidoo]

Of course, he didn't reply to this one. There is no form letter that would fit the issue.

[cmvortex]

Well said. Your message made me tear up. It's completely rediculous that this is even a debate.

[cmvortex]

And this is the party of family values again, how?

[Eris23Skidoo]

They forgot to tell us that corruption is a family value.