An Unapologetically Political Post

[snakebitcat]

The short version is that the Senators whose names are listed at the bottom of this post need to be defeated when they seek reelection. To any office at all.

Ok, so recently, Senator Al Franken introduced an amendment that will stop the government from awarding contracts to companies that bar their employees from seeking legal redress for sexual assault on the job. EDIT: The amendment passed, but the point remains that the Senators who voted against it need to never hold office again.

The reason he authored this amendment was because of the testimony of Jamie Leigh Jones, who while working in Iraq for KBR/Halliburton, was drugged and gang-raped by some of her coworkers, in an attack so brutal that she had to get reconstructive surgery to recovery from it.

She was confined by armed guards in a shipping container for over twenty-four hours without food or water, and told that if she sought medical care outside of Iraq, "Don't plan on working back in Iraq. There won't be a position here, and there won't be a position in Houston." It was only after she persuaded one of her guards to let her borrow a cell phone that she was able to get free - her father contacted Representative Ted Poe (R-Tx), who got the State Department to dispatch agents from the US Embassy in Baghdad to rescue her.

The rape kit used to gather evidence was given to KBR/Halliburton security forces, and when (nearly two years after the fact) it was finally turned over to the State Department, crucial evidence from it had gone missing.

Because of a number of excuses (and probably thanks at least in part to the loss or destruction of evidence from the rape kit), no criminal charges have been filed, leaving the civil courts the only realistic possibility within the court system of Jamie Leigh Jones getting any justice in the case.

Except that the contract she signed with KBR dictates that any civil claims against her employer have to go to arbitration instead.

So Senator Franken introduced his amendment to the defense spending bill, and thirty Senators voted against it.

They need to not be Senators any more.

So here's the list of the Senators who voted against the Franken amendment. If you live in their state, please work to ensure that they lose their next election:

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)

Comments

[txtriffidranch.livejournal.com]

We still have four years to get rid of John Cornhole, er, I mean Cornyn, but we still have plenty of opportunities to drive him out of office with a well-placed sex scandal. Knowing him, one involving a George W. Bush dummy, a rubber wetsuit, and lots of Gorilla Glue.

[solaas.livejournal.com]

Oh my God, that's disgusting on so many levels. And wrong. Fuck.

Oh, and, your post makes it look like the amendment wasn't passed. Which I believe it was, at least from reading a couple of articles I just googled up? Might want to get that very important point across, too, because it's an important victory. (That shouldn't be necessary in a developed country in 2009, but that's a wail for another day.)

[prodigal.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the confusion there. Fixed.

[stormfeather.livejournal.com]

At least it makes me feel slightly better that none of my state's Senators are on the list. But still, fuck.

[archangelbeth]

Never liked Gregg before, and certainly won't vote for him now.

[zenithblue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I send a weekly "love note" to Senator Cornyn anyway, and this was definitely the subject of the last one. I was appalled. I haven't heard back from him (or his intern, or whoever manages his mail) yet, but I can't wait to hear the euphemistic excuse they have for me...

[zephyrmev.livejournal.com]

KYL and MCCain are two for bigest jerks there are. But most of at least 90% of AZ is very right wing! BLEAH! :(

[ferretlightning.livejournal.com]

Yeah I let Cornyn know what I thought about that. I told him I didn't even want a response unless he was sending an apology. There are no excuses for how he voted.

There is also this handy petition going out to let folks know how the public feels about it: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/155116824