Jon Stewart Lambastes 30 Republican Senators Who Voted to Sanction Rape

[HELLRAISER]

Watch video at

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/9610

Thu, 10/15/2009 - 8:17am. EditorBlog
BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

By Mark Karlin

Last week, Senator Al Franken proposed an amendment that would prohibit the Pentagon from contracting with firms that force women employees to agree not to sue companies if they are raped as a result of their employment.

"Kind of a slam dunk," Jon Stewart noted in another of his devastating commentaries on October 14.

The amendment resulted from a Halliburton/KBR employee who was gang raped and temporarily imprisoned by fellow employees in Iraq and then went public. Halliburton/KBR had a no-sue-if-raped clause in her contract.

So, as Stewart caustically noted, 30 Republican Senators -- 30 -- voted in favor of denying recourse to rape victims in order to protect corporate America.

It, simply put, is beyond belief in a civilized society that 30 Senators -- all Republicans -- voted in favor of rape, gang rape, in the precipitating case that caused Franken to try and end governmental sanctioning of this outrage.

As Stewart, once again, did the work that corporate media should be doing, he showed the hypocrisy of the Republican Senators, many of them who just the week before went on a successful partisan rampage to revoke government funding of ACORN, an organization that had been entrapped by a right wing wannabe pimp, but did not have any employees raped on the job.

As far as the Franken amendment is concerned for the 30 Republican Senators, the interests of corporate America superceded the rights of a woman not to be raped.

That is unspeakably horrifying, and yet the mainstream media was more absorbed with right wing attacks on Obama -- and with its own celebrity status -- than to highlight that 30 United States Senators sanctioned U.S. tax dollars going to companies that are not accountable for rape and force employees to agree not to hold them accountable.

There was gobs of coverage about ACORN, about which its only fault seems to be a couple of employees got taken in by a RWNJ attack dog -- and that it angers Republicans because it empowers poor people.

But when it comes to protecting women from rape, the corporate mainstream media didn't even blink when 30 Republican Senators voted in favor of sexual violation instead of holding companies to the most basic standard of civilized decency and prevention of a heinous crime.

That's 30 Republican Senators who voted for gang rape.

The Franken amendment passed because every Democrat voted for it and a few Republicans who haven't yet descended into Dante's Inferno.

But don't ever forget that 30 GOP Senators voted for rape and even gave floor speeches "defending" their vote.

It's beyond disgraceful. It's 30 U.S. Senators who are accessories to a brutal crime.

 

[Facial_King]

The excuses offered are as lame as excuses can get. There's no acceptable reason for voting as those Republicans did.

 

[SolidCobra]

Republicans never waste an opportunity to defend thieving corporations. In fact they are proud of it, and apparently this really resonates with their brain-dead constituents who elect them and re-elect them. You would think anyone like that would never get elected to a post of a dog catcher let alone the US Senate but you'd be wrong.

 

[SolidCobra]

Here's the list of 30 republicans (including John McCain) who voted against the bill:

Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

 

[SolidCobra]

Also, check out this website: Republicans for Rape and give our legislators a call or three...

 

[Namreg]

if you see them a high school dance, do not hesitate to inform the police.

 

[fastphil]

I read the summary of the bill, the term "not sue" isn't necessarily valid. It want to prevent funds to government contractors that requires the employee or subcontractor to enter "Mandatory arbitration."

Mandatory arbitration means that these employees/contractors have to go in front of an arbitrator and have the case heard there first, and possibly settled, before they enter a law suit in civil court. In any case these women can still seek and get damages from the arbitrator or a judge/jury.

I think the best way to handle this situation is pass a bill that requires all government contractors/employees be subject to the miliitary's Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Article 120 of the UCMJ pertains to rape and says the following:

(a) Any person subject to this chapter who commits an act of sexual intercourse with a female not his wife, by force and without consent, is guilty of rape and shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.

(b) Any person subject to this chapter who, under circumstances not amounting to rape, commits an act of sexual intercourse with a female not his wife who has not attained the age of sixteen years, is guilty of carnal knowledge and shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

(c) Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete either of these offenses.


So if these individual were found guilty of rape under the UCMJ, the maximum penalty is the death penalty.

 

[fastphil]

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:SP2588:

Here's the summary of the bill:

S.AMDT.2588
Amends: H.R.3326
Sponsor: Sen Franken, Al [MN] (submitted 10/1/2009) (proposed 10/1/2009)

AMENDMENT PURPOSE:
To prohibit the use of funds for any Federal contract with Halliburton Company, KBR, Inc., any of their subsidiaries or affiliates, or any other contracting party if such contractor or a subcontractor at any tier under such contract requires that employees or independent contractors sign mandatory arbitration clauses regarding certain claims.

TEXT OF AMENDMENT AS SUBMITTED: CR S10069-10070

STATUS:

10/1/2009:
Amendment SA 2588 proposed by Senator Franken. (consideration: CR S10027-10028; text: CR S10027)
10/6/2009:
Considered by Senate. (consideration: CR S10143, S10146-10148, S10149-10150)
10/6/2009:
Amendment SA 2588 agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 68 - 30. Record Vote Number: 308.

 

[titsrock]

The disgusting misogyny exhibited by Republicans is beyond comprehension. Why do Republicans hate women so much? Or, the GOP are such whores for corporations that it threatens their viability as a relevant political party.

 

[HELLRAISER]

this is just as terrible if not worse then those 20 or so witnesses who were aware of a girl being gang raped at a high school homecoming game in northern california and did nothing to help this girl's brutal assault

 

[D-rock]

Things like that happen when people take their philosophy of not putting any restrictions on business to be point of stupidity.

 

[Lethal]

misleading title. they didn't vote FOR rape to be legal or anything

 

[HELLRAISER]

Watch Republicans for Rape Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX-pJwseaPY

The Pap Attack: Republicans for Rape
30 GOP Senators vote against Franken's anti-rape bill

Friday October 30, 2009 3:30 p.m

http://airamerica.com/ringoffire/blog/10-30-2009/ringoffire1030/

Beware corporate fat cats, polluters and media spinmeisters - you're in the Ring of Fire
The Pap Attack: Republicans for Rape
30 GOP Senators vote against Franken's anti-rape bill

Friday October 30, 2009 3:30 p.m.

By Ring of Fire

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, 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 Republicans For Rape, and you can see the list of those 30 GOP leaders who voted against offering justice to 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 hearing where no one would hear 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, denying her food and medical treatment.

And 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 getting closed-door, corporate arbitration hearings where a 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 Jones story has again proved us wrong.

 

[Boothbabe]

misleading title. they didn't vote FOR rape to be legal or anything

They don't want women who are raped by employees of defence contractors to be able to sue them in a public court. Instead they want closed hearings where there's no chance of justice. What they are effectively saying is that the (bribe) money they're recieving is much more important than justice being served. You, the American people have the duty to make sure they're kicked out of Congress. These are not the kind of people that should hold any position of power.

 

[Supafly]

Here's the list of 30 republicans (including John McCain) who voted against the bill:

Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ) <--- If only for this reason, he is rightfully not elected president
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

Go to hell, guys. And rot there :2 cents:

 

[BlueBalls]

I wonder how many tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars those fine gentlemen received to go towards their next campaign for this act – that is of course it they weren’t already on the company "pay roll" already, which is highly likely. There's no ideology here, this is nothing more than the company paid lapdogs coming to the defence of their employers.

For a company or companies to have this clause within their contracts in the first place is disgusting.

 

[Neutron66]

Kind'a goes well with all of liberal Hollywood supporting a mans right to anally rape 13 year old girls.

Did Jon Stewart do a piece on them?

 

[turtle825]

I pity the fools.

 

[meesterperfect]

Kind'a goes well with all of liberal Hollywood supporting a mans right to anally rape 13 year old girls.

Did Jon Stewart do a piece on them?

yeah exactly nuetron, but these guys don't care about that.
In that polanski situation many of these guys defended him and much of hollywoods attitude.
Its called selective critism, hypocrisy and the good ol double standard
you wont see the media jumping on polanski because he's one of their own.

I, like most conservatives, am skeptical and judgemental over what I see as wrong regardless on what party it comes from, It just so happens most of the counter productive stuff I see comes from the democrats.
However most democrat/liberal types only find fault with one party, regardless.
It aint no football game, root root root for the home team is hypocritical in politics.
Example: For at least 6 out of 8 years during bushes presidency, the democrat politicians voted against almost everything that came from the republican side.
Clogged the system based on pure partisanship.
Obama puts forth the hugest spending bill ever and most dems vote yes while admittingly not even reading it!

 

[iv6789]

yeah exactly nuetron, but these guys don't care about that.
In that polanski situation many of these guys defended him and much of hollywoods attitude.
Its called selective critism, hypocrisy and the good ol double standard
you wont see the media jumping on polanski because he's one of their own.

I, like most conservatives, am skeptical and judgemental over what I see as wrong regardless on what party it comes from, It just so happens most of the counter productive stuff I see comes from the democrats.
However most democrat/liberal types only find fault with one party, regardless.
It aint no football game, root root root for the home team is hypocritical in politics.
Example: For at least 6 out of 8 years during bushes presidency, the democrat politicians voted against almost everything that came from the republican side.
Clogged the system based on pure partisanship.
Obama puts forth the hugest spending bill ever and most dems vote yes while admittingly not even reading it!

Maybe Jon Stewart didn't jump on Polanski, but the ultra-liberal Bill Maher went after the people in his season finale of Real Time, asking why any of them would support them. While the Daily Show certainly has a liberal bias, they do criticize ridiculous liberal nonsense at times too.