Tulsa World: Letter to the editor: Shame on Inhofe, Coburn

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Letter to the editor: Shame on Inhofe, Coburn

By Dennis Weese, Broken Arrow
Published: 11/12/2009 3:27 AM
Last Modified: 11/12/2009 3:27 AM

As a Navy veteran, American Legion member, and president of the Oklahoma Democratic Party Veterans Committee, I am appalled Sen. Tom Coburn and Sen. Jim Inhofe voted against Sen. Al Franken's amendment to a defense appropriations bill that would prevent the government from working with contractors who denied victims of assault the right to bring their cases to court.

This amendment basically states that defense contracts should not be given to companies who prevent their employees from suing in court if they have been raped or discriminated against.

Four years ago a 21-year-old female contractor in Iraq with KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, was drugged and gang raped by fellow employees. The company locked her in a shipping container with armed guards outside until she was able to call her father on a cell phone to get help. After four years, she still has not been allowed to go to court because of company policies. No one at this company has been held responsible or prosecuted in any way.

Why are our senators protecting corporations over the rights of the individual, a woman who was serving her country during war time? Why are the rights of the corporation being held above the rights of the victim? Where are her rights? Women are an important part of our military's activities, whether in service or with military contractors.

Senators, shame on you! Would you feel the same way if it was your wife or daughter? I think not.

This letter was published exclusively online.

The Tulsa World publishes as many letters as possible within its standards and space limitations. The newspaper receives many more letters than it can publish. To help accommodate that surplus some letters are published online only. Letters that can't be edited below the 250-word limit on printed letters or that are written by an author who has published a letter in the past 30 days are often used online only. The newspaper also emphasizes local topics in printed letters. Letters addressing national or international events are often used online. By Dennis Weese, Broken Arrow

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	Report Comment Alan Shore, (11/12/2009 6:21:21 AM) Pro-rape AND Pro-adultery?
	Report Comment peelumba, (11/12/2009 6:56:02 AM) sshh someone may be looking and listening!
	Report Comment TheChef, Tulsa (11/12/2009 7:13:19 AM) You nailed it Dennis. As far as the conservatives are concerned we shouldn;t have any rights. People are only pawns in the conservatives game of corporate chess. I wonder when the people of Oklahoma are going to stop listening to the lofty rhetoric from these two and look at the actions. This is an example of their support for the troops along with Coburn holding up the VA bill. This is what people should be looking at and realize it's the complete opposite of what they are saying. Time & time again they have lead their constuents down a path completely against their self interests to serve the only constituents they really serve, the K St. Gang & Wall St. The conservative movement can be defined by the wealth that is moved to the top 1% and the lives lost & ruined in the process of them gaining more wealth.
	Report Comment TheChef, Tulsa (11/12/2009 7:24:08 AM) This along with many other things shows clearly that the conservatives actions are not based on Christian moral, ethics but on how it will affect the bottom line. That's a far cry from their lofty rhetoric. We are only a pawn in their game of the efficient accumulation of wealth and lives lost and ruined are just the collatoral damage that part of doing business. If you think the indivdual has any more value to them than the paper clip on their desk, you better think again.
	Report Comment Check It out, Tulsa (11/12/2009 7:27:52 AM) Yuck! The party of values has lousy principles.
	Report Comment droopy, wagoner (11/12/2009 7:52:37 AM) The libs are out in force. The dear leader must have burped.
	Report Comment 2ndjoyce, BA (11/12/2009 8:03:33 AM) But what's your stance on the letter, droopy? You never comment on them, just leave little piles around libs who do.
	Report Comment D R Sparks, Yukon (11/12/2009 8:18:26 AM) Coburn and Inhofe were elected by voters of Oklahoma. They are what they are. The question remains: What are these voters that they would want such derelicts as these representing them? SHAME ON THE VOTERS THAT PUT THESE ETHICALLY CHALLENGED, ANTI-OKLAHOMA WOMEN IN OFFICE! If this woman was their wife, daughter, mother, the results would be the same. These men have no respect for nor would they support this poor lady unless their wallets could be enlarged by doing so!!! We all know that KBR's contribution$ are more important to them than the gang rape of a woman. They are SCUM.
	Report Comment Ignatz, A nice place where Democrats hold every office in the County. (11/12/2009 8:43:42 AM) no surprise here,for years Coburn/Inhofe have been letting the corporations do to them (without the force) what corporate employees did to that poor girl.droopy, so finally, we know you have no moral compass whatsoever. Only mildly surprised at that.
	Report Comment Bullhead, - (11/12/2009 8:47:52 AM) Dennis Weese, You think wrong. If it would benefit these two in some way, they'd probably let their wives and daughters go down.
	Report Comment Polar Bear, (11/12/2009 8:48:12 AM) "Democracy Now" reported a Harvard study that said in 2008 200 Veterans died because of no health Insurance.Inhofe/Coburn helped kill them by not supporting Universal health care.Middle income Veterans fall thru the cracks..All could be covered.Corporate overhead ,waste fraud and abuse cannot be stopped by the so called "Free" market..
	Report Comment Bullhead, - (11/12/2009 8:49:38 AM) D R Sparks, you're so right. All of this is the fault of the voters in this state.
	Report Comment Carl, Henryetta (11/12/2009 8:57:11 AM) Someone please correct me if I'm wrong - but I didn't think it was LEGAL for a company to have you sign away your RIGHT to sue. What with the majority of US legislators being LAWYERS, after all, I can't imagine they would ever allow ANYTHING to "impair access" to the legal system.
	Report Comment Billo, (11/12/2009 9:04:55 AM) Mr. Weese -- You're exactly right. If the 21-year-old who volunteered to work in a war zone was his daughter, do you suppose the dirtbag Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) would deny her the right to prosecute her rapists and kidnappers in a court of law? Probably. More Oklahoma children die from child abuse injuries than children in 49 other states, yet Inhofe's only goal in life is to make sure that polluters can continue polluting our water and our air. Thanks, Okie Republicans. Your family values stand out like a plastic halo on a streetwalker. You must be blind, stupid, or just too ugly to care who you vote for, as long as the goon you elect promises a tax cut for someone.
	Report Comment Ignatz, A nice place where Democrats hold every office in the County. (11/12/2009 9:05:34 AM) Carl, eight years of partisan Bush appointed federal judges have managed to usurp most, if not all, Constitutional "rights" when it comes to a mere citizen trying to act against corporate America. Patriot Act protects the executive branch and those who contract with it (no union involvement, no arbitration, no nothing). Democrats fought these provisions in the Senate to no avail.
	Report Comment Corvetteguy, Tulsa (11/12/2009 9:10:29 AM) "This letter was published exclusively online." another words,....this letter was not worthy of print publication....
	Report Comment Ayo, T-Town (11/12/2009 9:19:28 AM) Surprise, surprise, Droopy supports the rights of gang rapists since Inhofe and Coburn support them. Compassionate conservatism? Any man who rapes deserves the death penalty. That is if the legal system would actually run the lab tests on the rape kits (most don't), and gets a legitimate conviction. Any company who won't support the woman raped, as in this case, should be annihilated. A rapist is about the lowest form of man on the planet. Vile, and despicable. Bullhead, you're probably right about Inhofe and Coburn.
	Report Comment TonyQ, Tulsa (11/12/2009 9:46:40 AM) KBR doesn't register minority voters, so as a contractor they're not as much of a concern to the GOP.
	Report Comment psychedelikrelik, Tulsa (11/12/2009 9:55:47 AM) "Why are our senators protecting corporations over the rights of the individual...?" Ooh, ooh, I know this one! It's the money, honey!
	Report Comment Carl, Henryetta (11/12/2009 10:23:15 AM) Ignatz - well, now that the Democrats have both the Executive and Legislative branches, there's really no excuse to keep all those things on the books - is there? Just re-legislate, should be a slam dunk. I still don't believe that one can sign away their right to sue...
	Report Comment Hobbs, Loveland, Co (11/12/2009 10:26:22 AM) 2nd Joyce...LOL...All droopy does is leave little piles of dog doo, which serve no purpose at all.
	Report Comment Hobbs, Loveland, Co (11/12/2009 10:28:03 AM) Dusty...what's the link you found regarding the ranking of states on their ignorance. LOL, I loved the cause and effect remark.
	Report Comment redstatefeminist, Broken Arrow (11/12/2009 10:48:24 AM) They simply don't think of their wives or daughters ever being in this situation, probably because it's extremely unlikely that any of them, or either of these two Senators, for that matter, would have EVER volunteered for military service. Many Republicans, such as Dick Cheney, think military service is beneath them. His explanation for getting five deferments,to avoid service, was that he "was too busy with other things," while GHW Bush & Robert Dole, served honorably, with distinction. They, along with all our other veteran's should be honored and taken care of when needed, but,our very own paragon of fiscal conservatism, Senator Coburn, has put a personal stop on the bill which would provide the funding for the services needed to take care of our veteran's who have served their country. What a guy. Of course, he's never hesitated to vote to fund the wars, but he won't vote to fund the services necessary to care for the veteran''s of those wars.
	Report Comment redbeard, Stillwater (11/12/2009 11:08:14 AM) Maybe Inhofe and Coburn think this case is one of those "frivolous lawsuits" I keep hearing about? I wonder what either of these gentlemen would think if it was THEM getting gang raped and then locked in a shipping container,and then told there was nothing to be done about it? I hope that at the very least the rapists are in jail where they can't victimize other women. This is one of those cases that makes people think about taking justice into their own hands.
	Report Comment Ignatz, A nice place where Democrats hold every office in the County. (11/12/2009 11:10:44 AM) Carl/dusty, once upon a time a person couldn't "waive" such a fundamental legal right. In OK once upon a time you couldn't. As I said, "conservative" judges and state legislatures have chipped away so that it varies state to state. The Patriot Act, among many odious provisions,and other Iraq War related laws and regulations pushed through by Bush and the Republicans left this poor girl in the situation she found herself. Franken was attempting to amend that law.

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