Editor's Note: We're running a press release from Rep. Jackie Speier's website.  You may remember the Representative was wounded during  a stunning situation from the past, a story I edited photographs for Time Magazine in 1978: 

" In 1978, as a staff member to then-Congressman Leo J. Ryan, she was shot five times while trying to rescue constituents from the People’s Temple compound in Jonestown, Guyana — an attack that left Congressman Ryan and six others dead and was followed by the mass murder-suicide of more than 900 Temple followers. Jackie tenaciously hung onto life for 23 hours on a dusty airstrip before aid arrived. It is this fighting spirit that defines her to her constituents at home."

Rep Jackie Speier Exposes Disturbing "F'N Wook" Marine Facebook Page, Calls for Hagel and Marine Calls for Hagel and Marine Leadership to Respond

 After being made aware of a disgusting and offensive Facebook page called “F’N Wook” that included hundreds of comments denigrating women in the Marine Corps, Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Marine Commandant James Amos, and Inspector General Lynne Halbrooks to express concern and call for a response. (Editor's Note: Facebook voluntarily took down these pages, according to Rep. Speier on MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry's Saturday Show, May 11th, 2013)

In the letter Congresswoman Speier writes, “The “humor” expressed on this page and similar pages like “Just the Tip, of the Spear,” “U Suckers Missed Christmas — USMC,” and “POG Boot Fucks” contribute to a culture that permits and seems to encourage sexual assault and abuse.”

The PDF includes images that some readers may find offensive.

Congresswoman Speier is committed to ending the epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the military and believes that systemic changes are necessary to increase the prosecutions of sexual crimes. She is the author of three pieces of legislation to change the military justice system’s treatment of cases of rape and sexual assault.

The STOP Act (HR 1593) will take all cases of rape and sexual assault outside of the chain of command by creating an independent office within the military to handle the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of these crimes. The bipartisan bill has 122 cosponors.

The Military Judicial Reform Act  (HR 1079) is a bipartisan bill that will strip commanders of the authority to overturn convictions or lessen sentences handed down by judge or jury at a military court martial.

The Protect Our Military Trainees Act (HR 430) is a bipartisan bill that requires the military justice system to acknowledge the power imbalance between trainer and trainee and strictly penalizes any instructor who engages in sexual acts with a trainee during the time of instruction and for 30 days afterward.

The Congresswoman delivered a passionate floor speech about the arrest of the Air Force’s head of Sexual Assault Prevention and the startling increase in the number of rapes and sexual assaults in the military as reported by the DOD.

Transcript of Rep. Speier's speech on the floor of the House of Representatives:

Pages: 1 · 2

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