little3wing

On October 6, a bill introduced by Sen. Al Franken which would bar the U.S. from doing business with contractors that include a "rape-clause" in their employee contracts was passed. It's pretty much a no-brainer, but why would we have to have this bill in the first place?

In 2005, a 20 year-old female employee of Halliburton/KBR was allegedly drugged and gang-raped by seven of her co-workers. The legal papers include this information:
"When she awoke the next morning still affected by the drug, she found her body naked and severely bruised, with lacerations to her vagina and anus, blood running down her leg, her breast implants ruptured and her pectoral muscles torn‚ which would later require reconstructive surgery. Upon walking to the rest room, she passed out again."

She was treated by a US army doctor "who gave forensic evidence to company officials. She says the firm placed her under guard in a shipping container and she was released only after her father asked the US embassy to intervene." (That's right; she "was detained 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.'") "When the forensic evidence was handed to investigators two years later, crucial photographs and notes were missing."

Let me point out that one of her rapists actually confessed.

When she returned home to the United States, she was told that she could not file charges against either her rapists (even the one who had already confessed) nor the company. Apparently, it said so in the fine print of her contract.

Even more disturbing, this is not an isolated case. More allegations have recently come out. One woman claims she was fired after making complaints of sexual assault. Some I won't even write here because they are even more graphic (one woman remembers exactly what happened when she was raped by two co-workers).

So, when Al Franken introduced his bill and it passed, one would imagine this would be the end of my blog. However, there are a couple very important points left to talk about. Yes, the bill passed, but it passed 68-30. Thirty people in our Senate think that it's okay to have contracts with companies who contractually give immunity to rapists. Who are these thirty senators? Well, they were all Republicans. (On the Senate floor, Jeff Sessions (R-AL) called Franken's bill “a political attack directed at Halliburton.”) Because I think it's important that you all know who supports companies that legally protect rape, here are all of the senators who voted nay:

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)