I in turn, present to you the case of Jaime Leigh Jones & ask the question: What do you feel is worse?
1- All: Halliburton/KBR (it's subsidiary at the time of these allegations) or Acorn?
&
2- Conservatives: If you feel that these 5 Acorn workers are truly indicative of an atmosphere of defrauding the government within the Acorn organization, with no proof thus far that the higher ups in the organization approve of these methods, what do the facts in the case of Jaime Leigh Jones say about Halliburton/KBR?
There were new developments in the case yesterday, which I'll get too, but here are the facts, & link, from Fox News for you:
Fox News wrote:
Jones began working for KBR as an administrative assistant in 2004 when she was 19, but later transferred to Iraq with another Halliburton subsidiary, according to her lawsuit.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Beaumont, claims Jones lived in a coed barracks and, after enduring harassment from some of the men in the quarters, was drugged and raped July 28, 2005. Her attackers were Halliburton and KBR firefighters, the suit claims.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Beaumont, claims Jones lived in a coed barracks and, after enduring harassment from some of the men in the quarters, was drugged and raped July 28, 2005. Her attackers were Halliburton and KBR firefighters, the suit claims.
Now, that doesn't really go into detail, so let me expand on this a bit from the wiki:
Wiki wrote:
According to Jones, on July 28, 2005, several KBR offered her a drink containing a date rape drug, which she took two sips of. The men then engaged in unprotected **** and vaginal gang-rape with her while she was unconscious. She was able to name one of her attackers based on his confession to her, but was unable to identify the others due to her unconsciousness. Further, the lawsuit filed by Jones' attorneys cites the following: "When she awoke the next morning still affected by the drug, she found her body naked and severely bruised, with lacerations to her ****** and ****, 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."[4] Jones' account was confirmed by U.S. Army physician Jodi Schultz.[5] Schultz gave the rape kit she used to gather evidence from Jones to KBR/Halliburton security forces, after which the rape kit disappeared for a while.[6]
Jones was confined by armed guards to a shipping container containing only a bed, under the orders of her employer, KBR. She says she was denied food, water, and medical treatment. After about one day, says Jones, a sympathetic guard gave her a cell phone and she called her father, Tom, who in turn contacted Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) who contacted the State Department. Agents were dispatched from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and removed Jones from KBR custody.
In May 2007, a State Department diplomat recovered the rape kit from Halliburton/KBR. However, notes and photographs taken by Schultz (of Jones the morning following her rape) were missing, undermining any chances of bringing the case through the criminal courts
Jones was confined by armed guards to a shipping container containing only a bed, under the orders of her employer, KBR. She says she was denied food, water, and medical treatment. After about one day, says Jones, a sympathetic guard gave her a cell phone and she called her father, Tom, who in turn contacted Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) who contacted the State Department. Agents were dispatched from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and removed Jones from KBR custody.
In May 2007, a State Department diplomat recovered the rape kit from Halliburton/KBR. However, notes and photographs taken by Schultz (of Jones the morning following her rape) were missing, undermining any chances of bringing the case through the criminal courts
Now, I think we can admit this is a horrible thing to happen to her & that it's a travesty that none of these people will face justice. Also, because of the horrible wounds she received, we can rule out any sort of "it may have been consensual" argument.
This women was brutally raped, that is a fact.
It is also a fact that she was subsequently locked in a shipping container by Halliburton/KBR, that a rape kit was administered that further proved she was raped, it was subsequently lost, & later it found missing a lot of the evidence that had been collected.
So she attempted to sue Halliburton/KBR.
Link.
Article wrote:
Her legal saga started after Halliburton failed to take any action against her alleged attackers, and the Justice Department and military also failed to prosecute. Jones then tried to sue the company for failing to protect her. But thanks to an employment contract created during the tenure of former Halliburton CEO **** Cheney, Jones was forced into mandatory binding arbitration, a private forum where Halliburton would hire the arbitrator, all the proceedings would be secret, and she'd have no right to appeal if she lost.
Data from the American Arbitration Association showed that Halliburton won more than 80 percent of its cases in arbitration, and when I looked at the data two years ago, it showed that out of 119 cases Halliburton arbitrated over a four-year period, only three resulted in the employee actually winning any money.
Data from the American Arbitration Association showed that Halliburton won more than 80 percent of its cases in arbitration, and when I looked at the data two years ago, it showed that out of 119 cases Halliburton arbitrated over a four-year period, only three resulted in the employee actually winning any money.
So the deck was stacked against her.
Here's the new developement:
Same Article wrote:
After 15 months in arbitration, Jones and her lawyer realized the same thing (about the deck being stacked against her given Halliburton's arbitration history) and went to court to fight the arbitration agreement in the hopes of bringing her case before a jury. Jones argued that the alleged gang rape was not related to her employment and thus, wasn't covered by the arbitration agreement. Finally, two years later, a federal court has sensibly agreed with her. Tuesday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2 to 1 ruling, found her alleged injuries were not, in fact, in any way related to her employment and thus, not covered by the contract.
One of the judges who ruled in her favor, Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale, is a West Point grad, Vietnam vet, and one of the court's most conservative members, a sign, perhaps, of just how bad the facts are in this case. It's a big victory, but a bitter one that shows just how insidious mandatory arbitration is. It's taken Jones three years of litigation just to get to the point where she can finally sue the people who allegedly wronged her. It will be many more years before she has a shot at any real justice.
One of the judges who ruled in her favor, Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale, is a West Point grad, Vietnam vet, and one of the court's most conservative members, a sign, perhaps, of just how bad the facts are in this case. It's a big victory, but a bitter one that shows just how insidious mandatory arbitration is. It's taken Jones three years of litigation just to get to the point where she can finally sue the people who allegedly wronged her. It will be many more years before she has a shot at any real justice.
It pissed me off that not only has it taken this long to conclude that getting raped wasn't related to her employment & further pisses me off that 1 of 3 judges thought that it was.
Now, given the evidence, I ask again:
What do you feel is worse?
1- All: Halliburton/KBR (it's subsidiary at the time of these allegations) or Acorn?
&
2- Conservatives: If you feel that these 5 Acorn workers are truly indicative of an atmosphere of defrauding the government within the Acorn organization, with no proof thus far that the higher ups in the organization approve of these methods, what do the facts in the case of Jaime Leigh Jones say about Halliburton/KBR?
