update on military contractor abuses

Update on Previous Post:

I received this reply today from Senator Durbin:

April 25, 2008


Ms. L___Z____
_____

Dear Ms. Z___:

Thank you for contacting me regarding alleged sexual assaults by military contractors working in Iraq. I appreciate hearing from you and share your concerns.

Private military contractors, including roughly 180,000 in Iraq, are involved in U.S. military operations ranging from security and logistics to transportation and the feeding of our troops. As you know, there have been reports of sexual violence by some employees of these contractors. Other reckless behavior also has been reported, including military contractor involvement in a large number of civilian deaths and injuries.

In the course of the war in Iraq, it has been difficult to bring
contractors who may have committed crimes to trial. The laws that govern contractors are not clear, and they are not bound by the United States Military's Code of Conduct. If our military is to rely so heavily on private companies, a much more credible system of oversight must be put in place. The U.S. government must be able to hold accountable any military contractor who commits a sexual assault or any other brutal crime, no matter where it occurs.

I am a cosponsor of S. 674, the Transparency and Accountability in
Military and Security Contracting Act of 2007, which was introduced by Senator Barack Obama. This measure would make it easier to bring contractor employees to justice if they are involved in wrongdoing. It also would direct the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to issue rules of engagement regarding the use of force by contractor personnel and require the FBI to establish Theater Investigative Units to investigate allegations of misconduct by contractor personnel. In addition, the bill would require much stricter reporting about federal military and security contracts being performed in Iraq and Afghanistan,
and it would set standards for the hiring, training and equipping of
contractors.

The Transparency and Accountability in Military and Security Contracting Act has been referred to the Senate Armed Services
Committee. Although I am not a member of this committee, I will keep your thoughts in minds as steps are taken to bring this legislation to the floor of the Senate for a vote.

Thank you for taking the time to contact me. Please feel free to stay in touch.

Sincerely,


Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

RJD/ds

Update on "Jane Doe" inquiry IDOC

Update on Previous Posts:

I received this email reply today from Roger Walker, the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections:

" Dear Ms. Z___:

Thank you very much for your correspondence regarding the newspaper articles you reference in your note. Please know that I share your concerns regarding the safety of inmates in our custody. I would like to make one thing very clear, I do not and will not condone the type of behavior that is claimed in the Tribune story. During my tenure as director we have been aggressive in following up on allegations of sexual misconduct, we have also been aggressive in prosecuting these cases as well. I wanted to respond to your note to let you know I will not tolerate this type of behavior.

Sincerely,
Roger E. Walker Jr.
Director
Illinois Department of Corrections
1301 Concordia Court
Springfield, IL 62794 "

Here is my email to him, sent March 18th:

Dear Mr. Walker :

I have contacted Gov. Blagojevich and my local state Rep. Sandra Pihos (House district #42) and Senator Durbin to express my deep dismay at the atrocities alleged to be committed by male guards against female inmates at Dwight. I hope that you will do everything possible to ensure that this never happens again. I hope that you will act immediately to institute policies to safeguard women who make future allegations, instead of putting them in seclusion/segregation where they are even more vulnerable to abuse! Those guards need to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. WHy do you want criminals working for you? This is a travesty and a shame upon our state. Please abide by the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, respect the taxpayers of Illinois and ensure that justice is carried out in a fair and humane manner.

Sincerely, L____ Z_____

forwarded
From: lz___

To: community@sandrapihos.comSubject: questionDate: Thu, 6 Mar 2008 11:22:25 -0600

Hi Sandy: I just sent this letter to the Governor, and a different email to Senator Durbin about an article I read in the Tribune on Tuesday:
" As chief executive law officer in our state I would like to bring this to your attention:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-prison-rape-04mar04,0,739400.story
Do you know this warden Mary Sigler, or Roger Walker the person who runs IDOC. Do you have confidence in their leadership? It appears that this tragic woman and perhaps many others are being illegally submitted to "cruel and unusual" punishment -- by that I mean, repeatedly gang-raped and impregnated (!) by state officers. Can you do anything about this?? This is beyond horrendous.... Please look into this and make sure that prisoners are not being tortured under the incarceration of the State of Illinois. This level of abuse IS torture, plain and simple. I beg you to clean up IDOC. I don't even know anyone in prison but there must be some basic level of sympathy and compassion for women who have had to endure this.
Sincerely,
L___Z____

Is there a committee in the IL House that has oversight on these kinds of issues? Can you please ask them to investigate this. It defies explanation. This topic is yucky to say the least, but I think as officials in our state you and your colleagues have a responsibility to ensure the safety of the citizen's in the State, ESPECIALLY if they are under the "lock & key" of the State! All of these guards need to be punished to the fullest extent of the law, not just the one whose DNA matches the baby. The management of these facilities needs to ensure that there is NO ABUSE. ( Follow the law, the EIGHTH Amendment!). If the wardens and IDOC managers can't do that, then they need to be removed from those positions of authority.

Thanks,

L____

Dwight Correctional Center - sexual abuse by guards

Update on previous posts

"For the second time in two weeks, a female former Dwight Correctional Center inmate has filed a lawsuit alleging prison officials failed to investigate sexual misconduct by male guards.

Shawntay Wright, 30, contends she was punished with six months in what she describes as solitary confinement after she reported a guard's sexual advances toward her in April 2006.

Prison officials apologized months later, after the same guard allegedly assaulted two other female inmates and was fired, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Chicago"

I hope there is justice with these cases soon!

Jane Doe at Dwight IL Correctional facility

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The Motherhood drive

Update on previous post about surrogate mothers and the motherhood "imperative" /drive:

Meghan Daum (in response to the Atlantic article by Lori Gottlieb):

".... I don't really blame Gottlieb for the premise; she's merely reflecting the values of her culture. And I don't mean the affluent, urban, progressive culture suggested by the details she provides about her romantic quandaries. I'm talking about the way baby hunger has become such a consumer force in this country that some women want a baby in the same way they want a Louis Vuitton bag because they've been told to want one.

Most people eventually want to become parents. But in the 21st Century, there is no good reason to see childbearing as an inevitable extension of a committed partnership or even as an ordained personal ambition. Instead, we need to view it for what it is: a profoundly important and difficult job that should be undertaken only by those who have the will and temperament to do it.

Because we're biologically programmed to take on that job -- or at least fill out the application -- it's unlikely we'll run out of humans. And by all means, if you're truly listening to yourself rather than buying society's relentless parenthood sales pitch, have a child, find a mate or both.

But when it comes to Gottlieb's case for "settling" -- for doing that at all costs -- I can't help but wonder if what's missing from the prototypical unhappy single woman's life isn't a man or a baby but an imagination. There are infinite ways to define a fulfilling life. Why enshrine the one whose accompanying illustration shows a marriage certificate and a baby stroller? Talk about settling."

So now I'm going to read the Gottlieb article after reading so much about it..... hmm. Well now that I've actually read it I agree with a lot of it. In fact I think I should send this to my single brother, who is 32, very handsome and has a job he loves (as a detective!). Knowing myself I really don't think that I would have accepted not becoming a mother -either biologically or by adoption. Even when I was in my early 20's I felt a really strong pull to be a Mom - I couldn't imagine then or now having a fulfilled life without becoming a Mother. I was settled in my career by that point and was sick of dating and tired of the never ending focus on SELF. ( I guess I wasn't in a voluteer/activist mode at that point). Anyone who knew me at the time could honestly say I settled for the wrong guy 'status-wise', but I was totally in love and quite naive. Even with the tears and drama of a divorce now in retrospect I can say I'm glad it happened this way. Its nice to point out now that women don't have to become mothers to have a fulfilling life, but I think that a very large majority of women desire this experience not just because of the social or status reasons - its certainly biological but also more than that. Its your investment in the future, a loving intimacy and history that you'll share with a child. Its about love. Its about experiencing childhood again. Its a herculian and yes, imaginative lifelong effort. A challenge that I would not personally choose to miss out on and have been blessed not to have faced that ticking-clock situation.

Hence - the compromises she discusses.

"They believe that part of the problem is that we grew up idealizing marriage—and that if we’d had a more realistic understanding of its cold, hard benefits, we might have done things differently. Instead, we grew up thinking that marriage meant feeling some kind of divine spark, and so we walked away from uninspiring relationships that might have made us happy in the context of a family.

All marriages, of course, involve compromise, but where’s the cutoff? Where’s the line between compromising and settling, and at what age does that line seem to fade away? "

Against Marriage?

Against marriage (since 1966!)

" Even when subjected to the enormous strains I have described, the habits, customs, traditions, and taboos that make up our courtship and marriage cycle are uncommonly resistant to change. Here and there creative and courageous individuals can and do work out their own unique solutions to the problem of marriage. Most of us simply suffer without understanding and thrash around blindly in an attempt to reduce the acute pain of a romance gone sour. In time, all of these individual actions will show up as a trend away from the old and toward the new, and the bulk of sluggish moderates in the populations will slowly come to accept this trend as part of social evolution.

I wish I had not rushed into being married. I wish that I had not been so naive at age 26. I don't necessarily think that the institution of marriage is doomed to failure I just think that people need to go into it with more REALISTIC expectations. I think marriage is the best institution in which to raise children, our beloved next generation. But you have to really know who that person is. Love and expectation about what it means to be an "adult" can blind you. I don't know that anyone could have stopped me from making a big mistake based on the info and societal expectations I felt at the time, but I wish someone would have told me the realities of marriage beforehand. I don't necessarily think living together first is the best option either. I just think no body prepares you for the hard times and unlimited compromises - especially if you come from a relatively happy two-parent household! I hope my worldview doesn't jade my daughter J from the benefits of finding "true love" - but she will know that it doesn't always work. And I will tell the same thing to my nieces. Go to college, find a career you really enjoy, be prepared to take care of yourself and your kid if it doesn't work out. Also I will tell them never underestimate the force of societal expectations that work against your personal happiness. That said, the outcome of my failed marriage, was a freedom from my previous definition of a failed marriage as personal failure,... and best of all, one very awesome kid! Yeah for J - I love her so much.

Finally, I can't believe this was written in 1966 !! ( a good year for bein' born) . Ahead of its time. (BTW Have I mentioned lately how much I love -platonically!- Mr. Sullivan - he always finds these cool topics!) My heart belongs to Mr. Shannon. And he doesn't want to marry me... but I know he loves me.
" many should be encouraged to carry out their own creative experiments in living together in a relationship that is wholly voluntary. If the demands of society to conform seem overwhelming, the couple should know that simply to be defined by others as married will elicit married-like behavior in themselves, and that is precisely what they want to avoid. How do you marry and yet live like gentle lovers, or at least like friendly roommates? " (especially if you aren't going to have kids together... I'm sure everyone at my church would disagree)

As my favorite songwriter sings, "spare parts and broken hearts keep the world turnin' ....around".

it was good for me, YES it was!

Oooh Andrew linked to a good one today - a poem! I'm not a big poetry reader but I like them. Credit to Sharon Brogan
http://www.sbpoet.com/2008/01/i-have-this-to.html

READ IT!

This hits at so many levels... its an inside wink and a nod to both the duplicity of women at hiding things from men, but also how its just so cool that women will vote their own conscience when push comes to shove, or push comes to pulling the lever on a voting machine or pulling the curtain in the voting booth to be in the privacy of their own opinions and vote for what they think is best for the country, state, county, town, school district etc etc.

It was good for me! ;~)

Let's say a prayer or a toast to the suffragettes who paved the way!

NH primary recap & the Press

Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com is a voice of sanity in this crazy election - and the year is still young! This post about pundits being wrong and self-analyzing themselves a bit is a very worthwhile read. I have to admit I was very happy, almost ecstatic when Obama won Iowa less than a week ago. Now Hillary has won NH ( by 2% points!). I agree that there should be a much thicker line between Journalist and Pundit.

Are Gloria Borger and Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman and Wolf Blitzer suddenly going to abandon their desire to impose shallow, melodramatic narratives on our elections and spend their time, instead, analyzing the candidates' responses to Charlie Savage's questionnaire on presidential power, or the dominant, corrosive role lobbyists and large corporations play in our political culture, or the widening rich-poor gap, or the strain and stain on our country from our imperial policies? The question is so absurd, so laughable, that to ask it is to answer it. None of them could remotely do that even if they wanted to, even if they were allowed to, and they don't and aren't.

I saw Chris Matthews and Tim Russert on TV briefly last night. My first reaction was just surprise at how animated they were... so surprised and maybe almost pumped up (in a happy way) that they were wrong about underestimating Hillary. In the end perhaps their underestimation is of the voters, and the viewers...?
...

and I just updated with this mea culpa post from my favorite blogger... bottom line... women don't want to be taken for granted.... (from one of his readers ...

....But, by Monday night, I was sputtering that "we are not electing Jesus here" and was appalled/furious at the undisguised and creepily malevolent glee that the talking heads (Fox bobbleheads/barbies and Chris Matthews deserve particular mention; and you, sir, do not come out unscathed) were throwing up as "analysis" of the "Hillary meltdown" and of their frankly undisguised loathing of her. I thought it was sexist and so did every woman I know.

You dismissed the Steinem editorial as "old-line lefty". Newsflash: there were twenty copies of that editorial in my in-box before breakfast yesterday morning – all of them from women who are ardent Obama supporters. We remain Obama supporters and will work "until the last dog dies" (thanks, Hillary!) for his nomination. However, we are just about done with a media that cannot report, analyze or provide information on candidates without first filtering it through its self-aggrandizing, inside-the-beltway-fantasy- filter about what would provide a better election narrative. Okay, so much of the media does not like Hillary? Neither do I. They just have to stop with the comments about tears, wrinkles, brittleness, legs and her alleged cackle. I may not want to vote for her—but I have always respected her.