Gotta love those Republicans

I heard about this on the Daily Show. You can read about it here.Basically, a woman was gang-raped in 2005 by her Halliburton/KBR co-workers and locked in a container for a day to prevent her from reporting the attack. Because the attack occurred outside US criminal jurisdiction, she couldn't have charges brought before her attackers. But to add insult to injury, she couldn't sue KBR because her contract had a clause that stated that matters of this type could only be handled through private arbitration.So Senator Franken, along with Senator Landrieu, proposed an amendment, nicknamed the Rape Amendment, to House Bill, H.R. 3326, stating that money being appropriated by the Defense bill is not be used for any new or existing Federal contract if the contractor or subcontractor currently has any rule that mandates that employees or independent contractors must use arbitration to settle any disputes resulting from violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision, or retention.So the bill ensures that the Defense Department will not give contracts to any business that refuses to allow an employee legal recourse for certain crimes or actions, such as rape. Who could argue with that, right?Well, when it came time to vote, 30 Senators apparently found a way to say NO to the amendment. And, interestingly, all 30 Senators were Republicans.Even more interestingly is that four (Sen. Johanns, Sen. Shelby, Sen. Bond, Sen. Graham) of those 30 Republicans, perhaps more, were very vocal about defunding ACORN for supposed wrong-doing. So some ACORN employees advises some fake pimps and prostitutes and those Senators want to defund ACORN. Halliburton/KBR employees gang-rape a woman and those Senators are against an amendment that denies funding to organizations like Halliburton or KBR for denying legal recourse to their employees for certain actions.I have to say, this makes me think that many Republicans really are acting like poor losers or spoiled brats, saying NO to everything because they aren't in control.What do you think?

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It's just some things you never get over. That's just the way it is. You go on through... best as you can. - Matthew Scott
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Marge, just about everything is a sin. (holds up a Bible) Y'ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we're not supposed to go to the bathroom. - Reverend Lovejoy
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You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. - Marcus Cole

True, but there are a lot of lurkers out there, I imagine. I like to think by talking about topics like these, we inform people of what is going on. Just exposing hypocrisy like this gives people a more informed view of the world.

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It's just some things you never get over. That's just the way it is. You go on through... best as you can. - Matthew Scott
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Marge, just about everything is a sin. (holds up a Bible) Y'ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we're not supposed to go to the bathroom. - Reverend Lovejoy
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You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. - Marcus Cole

No, Republicans SHOULD be signaled out on this precisely because 30 Republicans voted NO on it. Thirty out of forty Republicans is 75% of Republicans in the Senate who voted NO. The fact that any person could vote NO for an amendment that forbids the US to give money to contractors who have their employees sign a private arbitration clause to prevent them from suing in cases of rape is ridiculous. Should the US fund organizations like those?And again, four of the Republicans who spoke out against cutting funding from those contractors were the ones who wanted to cut funding from ACORN because some college kid goes out pretending to be a pimp to solicit help from ACORN. So ACORN helps pimps and prostitutes file their taxes and find housing and Republicans want their funding cut, but Halliburton/KBR employees gangrape a woman and the woman has no legal options because of a private arbitration clause and those Republicans still want to give Halliburton/KBR our Federal tax dollars. Don't you think that's a bit hypocritical?There is not much spin I could put on this to make it seem even more atrocious than it already is.To see the actual text of the Senate Amendment 2588, click http://www.govtrack.us/congress/amendment.xpd?session=111&amdt=s2588 and then click on THOMAS for S.Amdt. 2588 or check out the PDF at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?position=all&page=S10069&dbname=2009_recordEdited by Izanagi, : No reason given.Edited by Izanagi, : No reason given.Edited by Izanagi, : No reason given.

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It's just some things you never get over. That's just the way it is. You go on through... best as you can. - Matthew Scott
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Marge, just about everything is a sin. (holds up a Bible) Y'ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we're not supposed to go to the bathroom. - Reverend Lovejoy
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You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. - Marcus Cole