Friday, October 16, 2009

30 Republicans Come Out In Support of Rape

I just needed to post on this because it was so disgusting and, even for a cynical person like me who so often assumes the worst, it was still surprising. Apparently, 3/4 of the Senate Republicans are, to put it blankly, in favor of U.S. contractors writing fine print into their own contracts preventing rape victims from suing them.

These august Senators, in their wisdom, think that arbitration is probably the better way to go.

From the article I linked below:

Makes sense — after all, it's really important for rape victims and the companies that hold them in locked shipping containers while disposing of evidence come to an amicable settlement in a friendly, non-litigious atmosphere. Bonus points if that atmosphere is controlled by the company, as opposed to an impartial court. Because since outsourcing the Iraq war to Halliburton worked so well, we might as well outsource the settlement of rape claims to them too.

Read the story for yourself.


In case you are a voter, here are the names of the Republican Senators who voted against legal rights for a woman who was gang-raped and then locked in a shipping container by employees of a U.S. contractor who is receiving billions of dollars of tax money.

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)

I wonder if any of these...people...have daughters? Or children at all?

I wonder, if their daughter (or son) was gang-raped and locked in a shipping container while evidence was destroyed, whether they would feel that arbitration would be the right way to go.

Well done, Senate Republicans. I didn't think I could still be desensitized.

6 comments:

Alan said...

Surprising? Not even.

If Bush were still in office he's be handing out Medals of Honor to the US contractors.

The Republicans say they are the party of values. They're right, it's just that their values are sickening.

Aric Clark said...

Wow, I... God this is horrible.

John Shuck said...

Both my senators made the list.

Douglas Underhill said...

I'm just glad someone is willing to go out on the line to make sure that military contractors are safe from rape victims.

::teeth grinding::

Anonymous said...

"in favor of U.S. contractors writing fine print into their own contracts preventing rape victims from suing them."

Not saying I support this, BUT the rape victims can still sue the individuals who raped them, right? They just can't sue the company for the actions of individual/group company members. Maybe that is wrong, but is gross hyperbole to say supporting such legislation is tantamount to supporting rape.

Douglas Underhill said...

@ Anon

As I understand it, no. In the contracts in question, the employees had to agree to binding arbitration - arbitration which the company would provide - instead of legal recourse. So it is not gross hyperbole, as far as I understand the case.