Editor, The Transcript:

Last week, Senator Al Franken proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill (Franken Amendment No. 2588) that would prohibit the Pentagon from contracting with firms that force women employees to agree not to sue companies if they are raped as a result of their employment.

The amendment resulted from a Halliburton/KBR employee who was gang raped and temporarily imprisoned by fellow employees in Iraq and then went public. Halliburton/KBR had a no-sue-if-raped clause in her contract.

Thirty Senators voted in favor of denying recourse to rape victims.

It is beyond belief in a civilized society that 30 Senators voted in favor of gang rape.

Senator Inhofe and Senator Coburn voted against the amendment. The amendment passed 68-30. I'll leave it up to Transcript readers to decide if this is the kind of representation we want in the Senate.

DELL HEWEY

Norman