December 12th, 2007 by Manila Ryce
This is a follow-up to this post. Rape is bad enough, but a gang rape requires a certain level of planning and mutual silence amongst the rapist coworkers. One could draw the conclusion that this type of mentality must not have only been prevalent for this to occur, but even encouraged.
December 10th, 2007 by Manila Ryce
Jaime Leigh Jones, who worked for Halliburton/KBR in Iraq, says she was gang raped by several coworkers inside the Green Zone. Jones was told that is she left Iraq for treatment she’d be out of a job both in Iraq and America. According to her lawsuit against Halliburton and its then-subsidiary KBR, Jones was raped by “several attackers who first drugged her, then repeatedly raped and injured her, both physically and emotionally.” She was then placed under armed-watch by KBR inside a shipping container for 24 hours with no food, water, or bathroom.
“It felt like prison,” says Jones. “I was upset; I was curled up in a ball on the bed; I just could not believe what had happened.” Jones was finally able to convince a guard to loan her a cell phone so she could call her father in Texas. “I said, ‘Dad, I’ve been raped. I don’t know what to do. I’m in this container, and I’m not able to leave,’” Jones said. Her father contacted Republican Congressman Ted Poe of Texas. Poe’s office contacted the State Department, and told them that Jones needed to be rescued from her American employer. Agents were then dispatched from the US Embassy in Baghdad to rescue Jones from the container.
According to an examination from Army doctors, Jones was raped both anally and vaginally, but the rape kit disappeared after it was given to KBR security officers. A spokesperson for the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security declined to comment on the matter and over two years later, the Justice Department has brought no criminal charges forward. There is actually no sign that any federal agency is investigating the case at all.
Legal experts say Jones’ alleged assailants will likely never face a judge and jury, due to an enormous loophole that has effectively left contractors in Iraq beyond the reach of United States law.
“It’s very troubling,” said Dean John Hutson of the Franklin Pierce Law Center. “The way the law presently stands, I would say that they don’t have, at least in the criminal system, the opportunity for justice.”
Congressman Poe says neither the departments of State nor Justice will give him answers on the status of the Jones investigation.
The only option Jones seems to have is in civil court, but KBR claims that Jones’ employment contract requires that her claim be heard in private arbitration. This means that there will be no public record or transcript of the proceedings. A private arbitration would be decided by a private arbitrator rather than a judge and jury. Because of this, Halliburton has won over 80 percent of arbitration proceedings brought against it.
In a statement, KBR said it was “instructed to cease” its own investigation into the case by US government authorities “because they were assuming sole responsibility for the criminal investigations.” KBR continued, “The safety and security of all employees remains KBR’s top priority. Our commitment in this regard is unwavering.” Jaime Leigh Jones has since started a nonprofit foundation called the Jamie Leigh Foundation, to help women who were raped or sexually assaulted overseas while working for government contractors or other corporations.
December 1st, 2007 by deadissue
In 1997, Huckabee claimed that Jesus would have agreed with him on supporting the death penalty. Shortly before a triple execution in Arkansas in Jan. 1997, a caller called into Huckabee’s show on Arkansas Educational Television Network and asking how he squared his Christian teachings with his support for the death penalty. As the Arkansas Times reported on Jan. 22, 1997:
“Interestingly enough,” Huckabee allowed, “if there was ever an occasion for someone to have argued against the death penalty, I think Jesus could have done so on the cross and said, ‘This is an unjust punishment and I deserve clemency’.”
(Think Progress) Jesus, though, did not ask for clemency. Therefore, according to Huckabee’s logic, Jesus must have been in favor of capital punishment. (F Jackie!)
November 23rd, 2007 by Manila Ryce
Saudi women’s rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider talks with Al Jazeera about the corporal punishment sentence imposed on a rape victim being doubled after she spoke out about her case. The shocking punishment is supposedly for “illegal mingling”. A Saudi woman can only have a husband or male relative as an escort in public. The female victim says she met the male friend in his car so that he could return a photograph he had of her. It is then that both were gang raped by a group of seven men. She now faces a six month jail term and 200 lashes. The man was sentenced to 90 lashes, which is the original sentence the female victim had.
Four of the rapists were convicted of kidnapping. They were sentenced to between 1 and 5 years in prison with between 80 and 1,000 lashes. Abdul Rahman al-Lahem, the woman’s lawyer and a human rights campaigner, criticized the court’s decision publicly. He has subsequently had his license to practice law suspended, and is facing a hearing by a justice ministry disciplinary committee for regularly talking about the case on television.
The toxic effects of the herbicide Paraquat is also covered in the second half of the video. The discussion on Paraquat is continued in Part 2 of this episode, along with a ritual in the Indian city of Jodhpur where women dress up like men for one night of the year.
November 10th, 2007 by deadissue
(deadissue) This is one of my own creations, cliped out of what I consider to be far and away the best episode of Real Time w/ Bill Maher this season. Rahm Emanuel was also scheduled, but he didn’t show up. What a blessing! The result was honest, brilliant, alive and often hilarious. The video is all of the panel discussion, without any of the interviews or Bill’s solo segments at the beginning or end. Enjoy!
September 25th, 2007 by Manila Ryce
On Sunday, President Ahmadinejad said that the American people have been denied “correct information”. Unfortunately, Lee Bollinger’s introduction the next day proved just that. Before his speech at Columbia, Ahmadinejad said, “The US is a big and important country with a population of 300 million. Due to certain issues, the American people in the past years have been denied correct and clear information about global developments and are eager to hear different opinions.”
By passing Neocon and Zionist propaganda off as academically valid points of contention, President of Columbia University Lee Bollinger denounced the President of Iran with an introduction wrought with misinformation and character assassination. Perhaps he thought he was auditioning for Condi’s job. This incident was even more of an affront to free speech and free thought on college campuses than the incident with the tasered student at John Kerry’s speech simply due to the fact that this hostile attack came directly from the president of the university and not just a group of campus police, which you could argue do not represent the academic establishment.
Bollinger was more interested in hurling insults and getting the audience to join him against the speaker than in providing a forum for discussion. He attempted to shape the opinion of his audience by leaving out certain bits of information which ran contrary to his political agenda. Bollinger also stated outright lies, such as the mistranslation that the President of Iran called for Israel to be “wiped off the map”, and pretended it was a direct quote. It’s also rather telling that nearly all of the objections posed to Ahmadinejad were concerning Iran’s relationship with Israel, not its relationship with America.
It’s inexcusable for a professor like Bollinger to pepper unverifiable and utterly false information in with true offenses like public execution and the oppression of women and gays. Though there are valid human rights violations to be addressed, it’s safe to assume that the same level of disrespect would not have been delivered to Ahmadinejad had he been a greater criminal like Blair, Olmert, or even Bush. Judging by the applause the Iranian President received from the audience during his speech, it’s safe to say that a fair percentage of students were not swayed by his bias.
The rest of the videos are embedded below the fold. By the way, Ahmadinejad’s speech is pretty boring and uncomfortably religious in nature to our secular Western ears. He does start to raise some good points about sanctions and nuclear rights around video 5 or 6, but the beginning is fairly long and painful.
September 11th, 2007 by Manila Ryce
The Daily Show came back last night to deliver what their audience had been waiting two weeks for, jokes about anonymous gay sex. After being caught with his pants down, Senator Craig is just the latest to join the gay Republican conga line. Luckily, Stewart found a recent development in the story which allowed him to revive the scandal, even bringing “senior anonymous congressional gay public restroom sex correspondent” Rob Corddry back out of the closet for the bit. Hilarity ensues.
September 9th, 2007 by Manila Ryce
I remember the good ol’ days when naked pictures could kill a celebrity’s career. Now they launch careers. I had no idea who Vanessa Hudgens was until her cooter became front page news. Jackie and Dunlap give their always humorous take on this development. From Vanessa Hudgens to the equally sexy Fred Thompson, celebrities just continue to break Jackie’s heart.
Two professional buildings located in San Diego's Mission Valley!
Elegant office space and event hosting at the Rancho Bernard Courtyard
Cornerstone offers your retail of I.T. company the edge it needs through professional recruitment
