Once upon a time there was a Democrat named Ralph Hall. In 2004 he switched political parties and became a Republican. We can all thank the sweet Baby Jesus for that. Ralph Hall is not a man I want in my Party. Matter of fact, I'm not sure I want him in my species. Honestly, I'm not entirely comfortable sharing a genus with this guy. He's a real piece of shit, and he has no problem with a 15 year old girl being sold into sex slavery, especially when "she wanted it". Here's the straight dope...
Josh Marshall may well be the hardest working man in the blogosphere. He started up a muckraking site which specializes in exposing government corruption one year ago. I remember when it launched, I was in Iraq at the time, and I thought... why the hell hasn't someone done this before? Well, this is what Josh has worked so hard for. To expose a guy like
Ralph Hall for the worthless piece of shit he is.
A Texas congressman is denying charges he slandered a foreign sex slave at the behest of Jack Abramoff. But documents obtained by TPMmuckraker contradict the Republican's claims.
This is really quite simple. Ralph Hall is a despicable person. I'll just let the good folks at TPMmuckraker do the talking.
In November of 1997, Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) publicly questioned the credibility of a teenage girl's claims that she'd been the victim of the sex trade in the Northern Mariana Islands. The statement, which Rep. Hall entered into the Congressional Record, was prepared by Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist for the islands.
"[S]he wanted to do nude dancing," Hall's statement said of the fifteen-year-old girl. She had earlier told federal investigators that she'd been forced to work for a local nightclub in a nightly live sex show. You can read the entirety of Hall's statement here.
About that statement... let's have a look. What follows are the words of The Honorable Ralph Hall.
It is extremely important to note that the complaintant had been dancing in the nude in a Manila nightclub for several years before she came to Saipan. Her entry to the Northern Marianas was a fraud as her birth certificate and her passport were doctored....
During the interview with Katrina it was in fact learned that she wanted to do nude dancing, and her mother encouraged her to do so to support her family.
I have to believe that there is a special place in hell for men like Ralph Hall. But for now, we must be satisfied to help his challenger, Glenn Melancon confront Mr. Hall about his behavior. Mr. Melancon is distributing materials throughout the Texas fourth district similar to this flyer, which helped Republicans in Georgia rid themselves of Ralph Reed in a recent primary.
Make no mistake. Mr Hall was part of a broad effort to frustrate the Federal Government from stopping human rights abuses occuring on US soil. Naturally, his efforts were rewarded with cold hard cash.
By entering his statement into the Congressional Record, Hall made himself part of a public relations counter-offensive on behalf of CNMI, orchestrated by Abramoff and his lobbying team.
For months, activists and members of Congress pushed for labor reforms in the Northern Marianas, an American territory that was rife with cases of human rights abuses. The teenaged girl Hall attacked (referred to by lawyers and activists by her stage name, "Katrina," to protect her anonymity) was just one of those cases.
Just so we know what it is we're talking about here, let's review the relevant facts.
As detailed in the findings of a Department of Labor investigation, Katrina was taken away from her parents in the Philippines at the age of fifteen to work at a nightclub in the Northern Marianas. Once there, she was forced to sell drinks, dance naked, and perform videotaped "sex acts on stage with customers."
If there's anything good in this, there is a happy ending...
She and the other employees lived in barracks set up by the Philippino club owner until Katrina was able to run away and contact the Philippine Consulate. She was eventually given asylum in Hawaii, where she lives today.
I lived in Hawai'i for three years. I only hope the Islands give "Katrina" the piece of mind that they gave me.