franken kicks de bernardo’s ass

 

 

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*a big thank you to jamie leigh jones who fought for four years to make this public and change the outcome for for future sisters daughters and mothers

 

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*this has given new meaning to the :::arbitration my ass::: t-shirt on :::celluloid dog:::

 

nobel peace wtf?

 

President Obama was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

This is really cool considering President Obama just oversaw Congress pass the largest war budget ever in US history: $626 billion dollars to kick the shit out of other countries.

Good job President Obama.

What are we spending on universal healthcare again?

 

meet the senators who voted pro gang rape

 

In 2005 —

Twenty year old American Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged and gang-raped by KBR co-workers in Iraq. [That attack was so violent, her breasts are permanently disfigured.] After her attack she was locked in a shipping container without food or water, and after release warned not to leave her post. Jamie was a long way from anywhere with no help in sight. She stuck it out. [Jones is not an isolated case.] And, after Jamie made it back to U.S. soil, where there should have been help in sight, she was prevented from bringing charges in court. Her KBR contract stipulated sexual assault allegations could not be made in court. Sexual assault allegations could only be heard in arbitration.

In response to abuses of the “arbitration” contract clause used by military contractors like KBR, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) recently proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies that contractually block employees from taking workplace sexual assault and battery cases to court. The Amendment passed. You would think something like this would pass unanimously too. Surely our Senators in Congress do not want to employ and protect companies that sanction gang rape? But it did not pass unanimously.

Thirty Senators voted against the Franken amendment. They all have four things in common. They are all Republicans. They are all white. They are all male. And judging by their votes, they all think gang rape is just a little horseplay among friends. Here are their names. And if you didn’t vote McCain/Palin be glad. McCain is on the list.

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)

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce lobbied against the Franken amendment as well. I guess being opposed to co-worker gang rape is not good for business?

 

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*see your senator on that list contact him and :::tell him he sucks:::

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*sources :
:::think progress:::
:::huffington post:::
:::minnesota idependent:::
:::npr:::

 

where the art work comes from:
that is from yves

those pesky immigrants

 

We need —

To stop telling other governments how to rule their people. I mean, this seems like a really stupid policy to me when we could just say, Hey, if your government sucks, come over here.

Oh, wait. We hate immigrants. They are so freaking expensive.

Okay, let me ask you this. Is taking in a few immigrants MAYBE A LITTLE LESS FUCKING EXPENSIVE THEN MILITARILY DESTROYING AND REBUILDING A FOREIGN COUNTRY?

I thought so.

Also, no American soldiers die when you take in an immigrant.

A whole lot of American soldiers die when you occupy another country for nine years.

 

nine years

 

 

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One year of war is war.

Nine years of war is a business plan.

 

 

where i nabbed that photo :
i nabbed that from alex ryking

support our troops bring them home

 

 

war

 

 

where i nabbed that photo :
i nabbed that from alex ryking

shame of eden : part i

 

I have been —

Watching the news. This is almost always a mistake. Watching the news too much makes me near suicidal and definitely over the edge disgusted with and appalled by human beings. Unclean. Ashamed — of what I am and whom and what I come from. It makes me want to disown my own species. Scrub my skin off.

 

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I know the shame of Eden. And it is not the shame of Eve or Adam. It is a shame of now.

 

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*hu⋅man⋅i⋅ty /hyuˈmænɪti –noun, plural -ties.
1. all human beings collectively; the human race; humankind.
2. the quality or condition of being human; human nature.
3. the quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence.

 

where the art work comes from :
that is from sunny_drunk

speaking of salt water crocs

 

I heard this salt water crocs story in a marine science class. It really helps get this story if you have seen a photo of salt water crocs converging on an island at night. All these prehistoric crocs, what looks like a hundred of them, all with their eyes glowing in moonlight coming up the beach at night. That is the sort of image you do not forget. Anyway —

Salt water crocs hunt at night and in packs. Big packs. And they have heat sensors in their noses. [Which is almost as cool as sharks having electricity signal sensors in their noses.] And this is a World War II story, these two American pilots got shot down over the Pacific Islands. And there are a lot of those little islands out there in the Pacific. Half of them no one has ever seen or even heard of or explored half of them are not even on maps. So the American soldiers make it to one of these little islands and have no idea if anyone can even find them there but they are ready to shout, Yay! Saved! Because at least they are out of the sea and on land. Except this particular island a group of Japanese soldiers is hiding out on. So the American soldiers are in so much trouble, they made land, but hello, enemy occupied territory. So they hide. And that night they climb into a tree to avoid detection. And it gets very very dark.

The machine gun fire starts when it is very very dark. And the grenades. And the yelling.

In the morning they come out of their tree.

All the Japanese soldiers are gone. They were armed. With machine guns. With grenades. There were a lot of them. But the salt water crocs came out of the sea that night and took them all.

Luckily for the American soldiers salt water crocs are not real interested in radios. The American soldiers borrowed one of the left behind radios and called home.

And got out of there before dark.

 

one out of a hundred

 

You know —

One out of every hundred adult Americans is behind bars?

I am not making that up. I came across that on Woeful’s blog and here is the article : Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations’

The U.S. is not a shining bastion of civil rights and freedom. Every other country on the planet pretty much loathes and fears us and we are taking on a mantel before only worn proudly by types like Stalin and Hitler — who tended to shove people in prison just a little too often to be considered human rights activists or safe companions for a refreshing game of croquet.

Kinda makes you wonder what sort of democracy we are importing overseas on the backs of nineteen year olds stuffed into uniforms and handed guns.

 

where the art work comes from :
that is from vlijtig liesje