Earlier this year, Senator Al Franken proposed an amendment that would prohibit defense contracts going to companies that required employees to sign away their right to sue. The amendment stems from the case of Jamie Leigh Jones, who a group of men allegedly gang-raped in Iraq and then locked in a crate to prevent her from reporting the crime. The fine print in her employment contract prevented her from suing her employer (a former Halliburton subsidiary). Her alleged assailants will never face a judge or jury because of this loophole.
Now, to most civil, compassionate people, banning such a clause would be a slam-dunk. The right to sue in the case of a sexual assault should never be allowed to be "contracted away" from a person.
Yet, 30 Republicans voted against this amendment.
30.
Consequently, none of the 4 lady Republicans in the Senate were part of the "nays." Women, wise ones or not, sometimes vote differently than men when it comes to certain issues. I know, it's very difficult for some Republican doods to sympathize with rape victims, especially when More Important Things like business and freedom of contract are at stake. But, well, I think Jon Stewart sums it up nicely in this video:
"If to protect Halliburton, you have to side against rape victims, you might want to rethink your allegiances"
Keep on stumbling toward irrelevancy, boys.
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