Senator Franken Nails KBR Lawyer

Posted on 10/17/2009 at 8:09 pm by Bob Cesca

This is worth watching all the way through.

Franken used to do something similar on his radio show regarding “weasel words.” While sexual assault victims “prevail” more often than not in this twisted binding arbitration forced upon them by corporate fine print, KBR was clearly being sneaky about the definition of “prevail.” Weasel word. Round of applause for Senator Franken for nailing these crooks.

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  • http://toastie.st Toastie

    I don’t give a damn so much about Franken being “the 60th vote” as I do that Franken, for all the b.s. controversy about his comedian-past, is one of the most intelligent, thoughtful members of the Senate. (There really aren’t that many, from either party).

  • Olivia

    Oh my, I can see the big guns and corporate money being brought into line against Al’s future reelection campaign. He is so good!

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    Here’s the letter I sent to every major paper in the state of Alabama:To the Editor:In 2005, 19-year old Jamie Leigh Jones was working for Halliburton subsidiary KBR in Iraq when she was drugged and gang-raped by male employees.Her injuries were so severe, she required reconstructive surgery. But instead of flying her directly out of the country, KBR locked her in a metal container and made the company doctor’s records disappear.When Jones tried to sue, Halliburton invoked the fine print of her contract requiring mandatory arbitration. She has spent years trying to get her day in court, and thanks to an amendment in the Senate defense appropriations bill she may finally have it.Alabama’s own Jeff Sessions led the defense of Halliburton’s “right” to cover up gang rape by employees. He was joined in voting ‘no’ by Senator Shelby. Both men should be required to explain themselves to the voters of Alabama.

  • http://www.windonwater.net QueenTiye

    Good for you, Matt.Thank you for posting this, Bob.QT

  • http://mah.smugmug.com maheanuu

    Senator Franken, how very good it sounds and you make those of us who believed in you and waited all this time to see you seated, so very proud of you for being so very honest, ethical and moral. You may have been a comedian, but you have finally answered your calling…Senator Al Franken, You are a hero! Thank you for standing up for the common everyday working man and woman. Lets hope that you can bring down Kellog Brown and Root and in turn destroy Halliburton and possibly Shooter Cheney, and the Repigliklann Party…Just this old Chief’s 2 cents

  • Rogect8

    For anyone who’s interested in the legal aspects of these clauses, there’s an interesting lesson to be learned here. These “binding arbitration clauses” are struck down as “unconscionable” ALL THE TIME in a variety of settings.For example: if a company makes you sign a binding arbitration clause regarding workplace injuries when you sign up to work at a minimum wage job in Florida, the clause was buried in legalistic fine print in your employment contract (which you probably didn’t see, and wouldn’t have been able to understand anyway), it was a take-it-or-leave-it contract (you didn’t have the opportunity to bargain over this term), and the terms required you to travel to the company’s headquarters in California for arbitration (which, as a minimum wage employee who probably has medical bills piling up, would be pretty much impossible for you to do)….there is NO WAY a court would enforce that provision of the contract. They would invoke the doctrine of “unconsionability” – basically saying “Sorry guys, this whole thing is so fundamentally unfair at its core that, as a matter of fairness, we’re simply going to not enforce it.”Now, it seems that what happened to Mrs. Jones falls well within the doctrine of unconscionability… So why hasn’t that part of her contract simply been struck down? If you ask me, it’s a reaffirmation of what we all already know to be true – the same rules & laws that apply to you and I (and even to large corporations) simply do not apply to the military industrial complex.

  • Rogect8

    Oh, and I think the point the guy was trying to spit out was that in most of the cases from which they assembled their statistics, it will be more clear who wins/loses than in Mrs. Jones’ case.But he couldn’t get it out, because he was too busy having Franken hand him his own ass.

  • JackDanieL

    99 more like him

  • JackDanieL

    Jon Stewart weighs inhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/15/jon-stewart-takes-on-30-r_n_321985.html

  • likala

    Senator Franken….booyah!!The only thing that could have made it more beautiful was for him to name the 30 Repubs who voted against his amendment. When he hesitated a couple of times I swear I could see the wheels turning in that direction especially when he asked her what she thought about a comment the attorney made and she said she was livid to which Franken replied he was also.