So, apparently, if you want to work for certain government contractors (aka Halliburton or KBR), upon employment you must sign a contract which says rape allegations will be handled by private arbitration.
Oh. Ok, sure, I will sign that. Because I completely trust that a company who has bothered to include a rape clause in their employment contract will totally have my back should I say, be gang raped by fellow employees.
You read it right. If you wanna work for these guys, you have to essentially consent to rape while on the clock.
Small sacrifice for having a job, right?
Yeah. And as despicable as that is, it’s not even what this post is really about. This post is about politics, of course. Let’s get to Act 2..
Our fearless hero in this drama, Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota recently proposed an amendment that would deny defense contracts to companies that ask employees to sign away the right to sue.
Seems reasonable.
And it passed.
Yay for the USA! … the Senate did good!
But…
(Of course there is a but. Hello, it’s me! You know I wouldn’t waste good rant juice on a happy ending. Come on people!)
Thirty Senators actually voted against this amendment. Shockingly, they were all Republicans.(That last part was sarcasm, in case you missed it)
Not so shockingly, I am giving you their names (at the end of this post). All of them. And you should email them. A lot. And yell at them. A lot. Especially if you voted for them.
Unless you agree with their vote and then, well, you suck.
No, seriously. How do you argue that companies who receive government contracts will act responsibly on their own when their idea of private arbitration with Jamie Leigh Jones involved putting “her in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without food, water, or a bed, and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she’d be out of a job.”?
They locked her in a box. A BOX! And these senators essentially stood up for their right to do it. That’s not only un-American, it’s inhuman.
What the fuck are they thinking?
Anyone?
Seriously, please attempt to defend the idea that companies who behave like this should continue to be free to do whatever the fuck they please AND get my tax money. I want to see what that hot mess would look like, I really do.
–
The list from a Huffington Post article by Jason Linkins
Franken’s amendment ended up passing, 68-30. Here’s a list of the Senators who showed broad support for Roman Polanski by voting against it:
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)
fitc
Interesting. You should also post the list of all of the Hollywood Liberals who are behind Polanski and signed the petition.
Laurel
Well, first, I think it’s entirely unfair and inaccurate to assume that everyone or anyone who signed the Polanski petition is Liberal. If you want to track them all down and research their political registrations or public comments that show clearly their Liberal political ideology and get back to me, I will probably still tell you it doesn’t matter.
It’s not as if I haven’t already expressed my complete disgust with the idea that anyone would support Polanski.
Anyone, regardless of political affiliation.
Second and more importantly, Liberal or otherwise, the people who signed that petition are not accountable to the American public to act upon their behalf. The U.S. Senate, on the other hand, was hired by voters, to do a job and as such, I expect them to do it well and with integrity. That is why I published their names.
Americans have a responsibility to call out their elected officials when they are not doing their jobs. This list would have been published even if it were made up entirely of Liberals. But it wasn’t. It was made up entirely of Republicans. I didn’t choose for it to be that way. They did.
Rosey
I apologize for South Carolina. As a state… we suck.
Laurel
Hey. I feel your pain honey, I am from KS. Not only are both our Senators on the list, but we try take Evolution out of the the science curriculum and replace it with Creationism. We suck too.
Adriana
Wow. Part of me is glad I’ve never heard of such causes but now that I do just.. Really?! Seriously, people?
.-= Adriana´s last blog ..In The Name of October =-.
Sammi
I can’t imagine signing a contract like that to work for a company.
Not surprising at all to see who’s on that list of Senators.
.-= Sammi´s last blog ..Vibrating and Rotating on Camera =-.