| 20th July |
Charity Tits... |
|
| |
Model's donation to breast cancer charities turned down for fear ofoffending supporters
Permalink |
See
article
from
timesonline.co.uk
by Brenda Power
|
The
very suggestion that something, be it a mildly tasteless advert, a
nativity scene in a hospital foyer or a trenchant newspaper column,
might conceivably offend somebody is now enough to justify censorship of
legitimate expression. Worryingly, this now includes self-censorship.
Advertisers, companies, politicians, even charities must anticipate the
most extreme sensitivities or riskcondemnation, controversy or ruin.
Take, for example, the case of the topless model and the breast cancer
charities. Claire Tully is a beautiful, intelligent young woman who has
the distinction of being the first Irish girl to appear on The Sun
newspaper's iconic page 3 slot. She has been invited to take part in a
reality television programme that will raise funds for a charity of her
choice.
Because her mother and grandmother both suffered from breast cancer,
which means she is also at risk, she wanted to give her money to one of
the charities that provide support for patients and research.
She approached the Marie Keating Foundation and offered the proceeds of
her efforts, with a guaranteed minimum of ¤5,000. She was turned down. A
second breast cancer charity also said no. A third said yes, and then
rang her on Thursday evening to say they had changed their minds.
The chances are that if they had accepted this charity offer, the
Foundation and the other charities would have been criticised and
suffered a loss of support.
...Read
full article
from
timesonline.co.uk
|
| 31st March |
Pixellated Thinking... |
|
|
Censor indicted for not censoring enough
Permalink |
See
full article from X
Biz
|
Head
of the screening department of the Nihon Ethics of Video Association
(NEVA) Katsumi Ono was indicted last week on charges involving
failure to screen two DVDs that did not comply with obscenity
standards.
NEVA’s panel of scholars, former journalists and film experts
screens adult videos produced by 90 Japanese production companies to
determine if they comply with standards and regulations.
Ono was arrested, in the beginning of March, on suspicion of
assisting the sale of the explicit DVDs after approving the videos.
The movies, which were released in June 2006, were allegedly
approved for sale without proper screening for potentially obscene
content.
The two videos contained scenes showing genitalia which were
pixellated, but according to authorities, viewers could still make
out body parts.
Reportedly, three other men have also been indicted in the incident.
|
| 31st March |
Shameful Blemish... |
|
|
Report reveals Britain's shameful treatment of asylum seekers
Permalink |
See
full article
from the
BBC
|
The
UK's treatment of asylum seekers falls seriously below the standards
of a civilised society, a report says.
The Independent Asylum Commission, led by a ex-senior judge, said the
system denied sanctuary to some in need and failed to remove others who
should go.
It said the treatment of some asylum seekers was a shameful blemish on
the UK's international reputation.
It spent a year researching the report and spoke to former home
secretaries, policy makers and asylum seekers.
The commission was established after calls from community organisations
and charities for an authoritative examination of asylum after a decade
of political battles over immigration.
The report praised immigration officials for recent reforms to how they
manage asylum applications - but it warned that a culture of
disbelief was leading to perverse and unjust decisions.
The commissioners said policymakers were at times using "indefensible"
threats of destitution to try to force some asylum seekers to leave the
UK.
See
full article
from the Scotsman
Meanwhile
pressure is mounting on the UK Government to reverse its decision to
deport a gay Syrian teenager from Scotland to his homeland, where he
faces almost certain imprisonment and torture.
Scotland on Sunday revealed last week that 19-year-old Jojo Jako Yakob
was being held in Polmont Young Offenders' Institution awaiting
deportation, despite evidence he had been tortured almost to death in
Syria, where homosexuality is illegal.
Shirley-Anne Somerville, a Nationalist MSP for the Lothians, has lodged
a parliamentary motion in support of our campaign to let Yakob stay in
the country. It has already been supported by several MSPs.
Pete Wishart MP, the SNP's home affairs spokesman, has taken up the case
at Westminster and has vowed to make representations to the Home Office.
He said: After Mr Yakob's terrible ordeal in Syria, it is
unacceptable that the Home Office would consider sending him back. There
is a very real risk that he would suffer further ill treatment or even
possibly death. He has sought asylum in Scotland and I will make an
immediate representation to the Home Office in an effort to overturn
their ruling before his final hearing in May.
Yakob has appealed against the Home Office deportation order and has
instructed top Scottish QC Mungo Bovey to fight his case. Yakob will
appear before a full immigration hearing in Glasgow on May 7, when his
fate will be determined.
Jojo fled his homeland two years ago after surviving a harrowing ordeal
at the hands of Syrian police and prison guards, when he was arrested
for distributing anti-government leaflets. Following his transfer from
police interrogation, prison guards soon discovered that Jojo, a member
of the repressed Kurdish minority in the Arab state, was homosexual. He
then suffered horrific beatings and was assaulted so badly that he fell
into a coma.
|
| 30th March |
Alistair Darkling... |
|
|
UK minister for taxes barred from British pubs
Permalink |
See
full article
from
Google News
|
An
Internet campaign to ban Britain's treasury chief from the
country's pubs seems to be striking a chord.
Earlier this month, treasury chief Alistair Darling raised taxes
on cars and cigarettes.
But it is his new alcohol duties - which raised the price of a
pint of beer - that have Britons' backs up.
So when a pub landlord in Darling's home town of Edinburgh
barred the chancellor from his establishment, drinking holes
across the country followed suit.
Many are posting pictures of the white-haired, bespectacled
treasurer above the big red word "barred."
Bar manger Andrew Little at the Utopia pub, which kicked off the
campaign, says the poster is "tongue-in-cheek." But, he says, it
seems to have "touched a nerve."
Hundreds have joined Internet groups devoted to running Darling
out of every pub in the country, and establishments from the Tap
And Spile in the north England town of Lincoln to the Plough Inn
in Finstock, near Oxford, said Darling would not allowed to
partake of their booze.
The government has raised taxes on alcohol by 6% above the rate
of inflation, which translates to an extra 4p for a pint of
beer, 13p for a bottle of wine and 55p a bottle for spirits such
as whisky.
The duties are scheduled to rise by another 2% above inflation
in each of the next four years.
|
| 30th March |
Australia Shows the Way... |
|
|
Safety benefits of in a legalised sexual services industry
Permalink |
See
full article
from
The West
|
A
detailed manual overseeing the world's oldest profession is to be
introduced in Western Australia soon and will explain how to run a
brothel and the safest way to work as a prostitute.
The 50-page draft policy, titled Code of Practice: Occupational
Health and Safety in the Sexual Services Industry, will be completed
soon after long-awaited prostitution laws pass through Parliament,
expected to be early next month.
The code of practice, the first of its kind for WA's sex industry,
covers issues that prostitutes, brothels and escort workers encounter on
a regular basis, including regular health checks and safe sex practices.
The guidelines recommend prostitutes not be on duty for more than 12
hours, have three-monthly health checks for sexually transmitted
infections and be vaccinated against hepatitis A and B.
New sex workers should be given induction training on how to handle
difficult clients, how to refuse services, deal with workplace violence,
sexism and harassment, how to put on a condom properly and what to do if
a condom breaks during sex.
Unclean or faulty equipment such as spas and sex toys, condom breakage,
escort work to unknown or unsafe locations and unchanged linen are
identified as industry hazards.
Industry insiders have welcomed the imminent introduction of the code,
saying it is long overdue.
The draft code was developed last year by a group consisting of sex
workers, medical experts, local government and Health Department
representatives. Ms Forrester said the group would meet again soon after
the laws were passed to finalise the code.
|
| 29th March |
Waisting Away... |
|
|
Japan's fat police set maximum waistline at 85cm (34in)
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Independent
|
 |
|
Push kid...
I've got to get it into 34inches |
The sight of men sucking in their bellies to hide expanding waistlines
just got a lot more serious in Japan, where the government has
introduced mandatory "fat checks" for the over-40s.
Aimed at trimming bulging annual health costs of more than $3bn, the
Health Ministry says from next month 56 million people must start
keeping waistlines tucked in or be asked to change diet, see a doctor
and possibly pay higher insurance costs.
But critics say the plan for the potbelly police, which sets a waist
limit of 85cm (34in) for men and 90cm for women, will do more harm than
good. It's a comedy, Professor Yoichi Ogushi told The Japan
Times. If you follow the government's logic, you can do whatever you
want as long as you have a slim waist.
The fight-the-flab campaign has already claimed at least one victim.
Last year, a 74-year-old local government official in rural Mie
Prefecture collapsed while jogging in an effort to cut his 100cm waist.
He was in the government's weight-loss programme.
We have to bring medical costs down, said Toshi-yuki Sato, a
spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, who denied the
plan would encourage crash-dieting and pill-popping. Dieting badly
will eventually cause medical costs to rise even more, so we hope the
metabolic tests will be properly supervised.
|
| 27th March |
Thumbs Down to Terminal 5... |
|
|
Fingerprint plans suspended on fears of illegality
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Telegraph
|
Plans
to fingerprint millions of passengers a year at Heathrow's new fifth
terminal have been put on hold hours before it opens for business.
BAA, the airport operator, took the decision after being warned by the
Government's Information Commissioner that the move could breach the
Data Protection Act.
It has left BAA is facing huge embarrassment at a time when it was
hoping that public attention would be fixed on the long-awaited £4.3
billion terminal when it handles its first passengers tomorrow.
The controversial scheme meant that, for the first time ever, travellers
would be fingerprinted before being allowed to board a plane. It would
have affected about four million domestic passengers a year who use the
terminal, which will become the British Airways base at the airport.
A BAA spokesman said that it will hold further talks with both the
Information Commissioner and the Border and Immigration Agency before
deciding its next move.
For the time being instead of leaving a fingerprint before passing
through security - which is verified at the departure gate - passengers
will be photographed.
Although BAA is keen to press ahead with the plans, no date has been
fixed for when it will be able to do so. The decision to fingerprint all
domestic passengers at the terminal was triggered by the demands for
heightened security by the Home Office. With domestic and international
passengers sharing the departure lounge at the terminal, it was feared
that this would make it possible to bypass border controls.
The scheme hit the buffers late last week when David Smith, the Deputy
Information Commissioner, questioned its necessity. He said
photographing – the option now being adopted – would be far less
intrusive.
Even the Home Office, which had put pressure on BAA to tighten security,
distanced itself from the move. This was despite officials previously
demanding some form of biometric tests in addition to photographs – and
having approved the fingerprint scheme during months of negotiations.
|
| 27th March |
Watching the TV Watching You... |
|
|
Cable TV company experiments with watching who's viewing
Permalink |
See
full article
from
New Tee Vee
|
At
the Digital Living Room conference, Gerard Kunkel, Comcast’s senior VP
of user experience, told me the cable company is experimenting with
different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in
your living room.
The idea being that if you turn on your cable box, it recognizes you and
pulls up shows already in your profile or makes recommendations. If
parents are watching TV with their children, for example, parental
controls could appear to block certain content from appearing on the
screen. Kunkel also said this type of monitoring is the “holy grail”
because it could help serve up specifically tailored ads.
Kunkel said the system wouldn’t be based on facial recognition, so there
wouldn’t be a picture of you on file (we hope). Instead, it would
distinguish between different members of your household by recognizing
body forms. He stressed that the system is still in the experimental
phase, that there hasn’t been consumer testing, and that any rollout
“must add value” to the viewing experience beyond serving ads.
I can’t trust Comcast with BitTorrent, so why should I trust them with
my must-be-kept-secrets...
|
| 26th March |
Scotland Goes Sharia... |
|
|
Adults to face alcohol ban?
Permalink |
See
full article from the Scotsman
|
The
legal age for buying alcohol could be raised to 21 under proposals being
examined by the Scottish Government.
Ministers are considering raising the minimum age from 18.
Shona Robison, the public health minister, is due to present a number of
proposals later in the year. Robison yesterday said nothing had
yet been ruled in or out: The Scottish Government is currently in the
process of developing a long-term alcohol strategy and as part of this
we have been looking at a range of issues including availability,
accessibility and age of purchase.
People in Scotland are twice as likely to die from alcohol-related
deaths than elsewhere in the UK.
|
| 26th March |
Customary Abuse... |
|
|
You don't have any privacy rights at the border anyway, so what's theproblem?
Permalink |
See
full article from
The Register
|
It
is clear that people traveling into and out of the US have a lower
expectation of privacy at the border. Perhaps more accurately, a
governmental search at the border is more likely to be considered
"reasonable."
The agents get to do things they can't do if, for example, they simply
stop you on the street. They can question you, they can rifle through
your unmentionables, and even examine documents you are bringing with
you. The agents can even disassemble your gas tank, looking for hidden
compartments that you could be using to smuggle things. In the Arnold
case, the government argued that its search authority at the border is
"plenary" or unrestricted, except that to do an invasive body cavity
search, it would have to have some kind of suspicion.
But searches of things? Well, they can do whatever they want it would
seem.
The customs agents' job is to protect the nation from "anything
harmful," to gather intelligence, prevent terrorism, and to enforce all
of the laws, including child pornography and copyright laws. The
computer is no different from any other "closed container" that the
agent may search. Just as the agent needs no probable cause to search
your underwear, they need no probable cause to rummage through your
laptop. And besides, they are doing it to protect the country and
enforce the laws and prevent terrorist attacks. You don't have any
privacy rights at the border anyway, so what's the problem?
...Read
full article
|
| 23rd March |
Licensing a Miserable Life... |
|
|
Labour look to more powers for councils to ban lap dancing
Permalink |
Based on an
article
from
The Argus
|
|
 |
|
If ever you
hear of British people
enjoying themselves,
let us know, and we will put a stop to it |
The politician in charge of Britain's licensing regime has announced
he will review legislation which has opened the door to a string of
fully nude lap-dancing clubs in Brighton and Hove.
Gerry Sutcliffe, the Minister responsible for licensing, told parliament
he was concerned about the situation in the city and promised to consult
with ministerial colleagues over a permanent change to the law.
He made the comments following a meeting with Hove MP Celia Barlow and
city councillor Gill Mitchell to discuss supposed problems with the
licensing act which has left nutters of Brighton and Hove City Council
virtually powerless to stop clubs opening.
He said: We continue to review what can be done. We have made the
right move in delegating the matter to local government, because it is
right that local councillors and local government have the right to
determine what goes on in their area. It is important that we look at
the planning process and its objectives, and I am particularly concerned
to hear that in Brighton, six lap-dancing clubs have been established in
a very short time.
That problem will start to spread throughout the country, so I
appreciate my honourable friend raising the matter. I will be happy to
meet colleagues again to consider what can be done to ensure that
[SOME!] local
people get what they want in their local area.
Since the new licensing regime was introduced in November 2005, six
clubs have been granted licenses for fully-nude dancing, although only
four currently put on lap-dancing. Until that point only two operated in
the city and nudity was not allowed.
Spearmint Rhino added to its international empire by opening the first
fully nude club on East Street last year. The licence was approved by
magistrates on appeal, overturning the council's initial rejection.
Magistrates ruled that police could not establish the link between strip
clubs and disorder and threw out the council's decision not to grant the
East Street venue a licence.
Ms Barlow and the mean minded David Lepper, MP for Brighton Pavilion,
both raised the supposed problem during a parliamentary debate on
Wednesday.
She said: I am extremely encouraged by the minister's announcement.
The current licensing act is wholly ineffective when it comes to
regulating lap dancing clubs. These clubs have sprung up in the hearts
of our communities, and I also welcome the announcement to contact local
authorities over what more can be done under the current law to prevent
these clubs from opening.
|
| 20th March |
Moral Turpitude... |
|
|
US invaders and torturers deny entry to British author on the grounds ofimmorality
Permalink |
See
full article from
Reuters
The book is available at
UK Amazon
|
Controversial
British author Sebastian Horsley was denied entrance into the United
States as he arrived to promote his memoir of drug addiction, sex and
his dysfunctional family, his publisher has said.
Seale Ballenger, spokesman for HarperCollins Publishers, said Horsley
was stopped by immigration officials at New York's Newark airport after
flying in from London to promote his latest book Dandy in the
Underworld.
He said the flamboyant writer was accused of "moral turpitude" in
connection with his former drug use, pro-prostitution stance, and
controversial self-crucifixion in the Philippines in 2000.
Horsley claims to have slept with more than 1,000 prostitutes, worked as
a male escort, and been in and out of rehab to treat drug addiction,
with video interviews of him talking about his drug use and sex life
posted on the Internet.
Ballenger said after several hours of questioning by immigration
officials, Horsley was put on a plane and returned to London.
The New York Times quoted a customs spokeswoman, Lucille Cirillo, saying
she could not comment on individual cases. But in an e-mail to the
newspaper she explained that under a waiver program that allows British
citizens to enter the United States without a visa, travellers who
have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude (which includes
controlled-substance violations) or admit to previously having a drug
addiction are not admissible.
Publisher Carrie Kania, from the HarperCollins' unit Harper Perennial
that published the book in the United States, said she found it hard to
understand why Horsley would be denied entrance into the U.S. for "his
notoriety."
Horsley's memoir was published last September in Britain with reviewers
calling it both amusing and revolting.
|
| 20th March |
State Oppression... |
|
|
Labour look well set to criminalise men for getting laid
Permalink |
Thanks to Donald
See the Solicitor General's
Prostitution Policy: New Directions
|
|
 |
|
If British men
persist in enjoying life...
we're gonna cut off their bollocks |
On the 7th March all the usual Fem Nazis got together in a
conference to finalise their plans to criminalise the purchase of
sex
It was a radical feminist only cast list with many of the usual
suspects:
- Vera Baird QC, MP, Solicitor General
- Professor Jalna Hanmer - Professor of Women’s Studies, University
of Sunderland Conference Chair
- Professor
Liz Kelly - Director of CWASU, Roddick Chair in Violence
Against Women
- Julie Bindel - POPPY Project Consultant and Guardian Journalist
- Marianne Eriksson - Swedish MEP
- Ann Hamilton - General Manager, Policy & Development, Glasgow
Community & Safety Services
- Professor
Roger Matthews - Professor of Criminology, London South Bank
University
- Hannah-Jo Besley - Community Safety Officer, Ipswich CDRP
The Government were represented by Solicitor General, Vera Baird and
she certainly spoke giving the impression that the criminalisation of
buying sex is a done deal. From her
presentation:
Tackling The Demand For Prostitution And
Trafficking For Sexual Exploitation
To understand the government’s developing approach to prostitution we
have to look, largely, through the prism of people trafficking. I don’t
call it developing because it is new, recently the Home Office held a
consultation under the direction of then Minister Fiona Mactaggart,
which produced “Paying the Price” – a forward policy document.
Since then we have decided to look again at some aspects only largely
because of the advent of trafficking and, for me, because of new
research from Liz Kelly and others causing a refocus onto the issue of
demand for prostitution.
...
Our measures on trafficking will be futile if
we do not tackle the demand for sexually exploited women and children.
Otherwise in reality once we have closed one trafficking network,
another may move in and take its place; once we have rescued one victim
another one is put in her place.
I know that some may argue that there is an element of choice, where
those that have worked in the sex industry in their home countries come
here to make more money. Though personally I have reservations about
accepting the concept of choosing to be a prostitute at all. No doubt
this may occur.
However let me be clear; for trafficked women there is no real informed
choice. How many of them have a realistic impression of the situation
they will end up in? How many are told just how many men they will have
to have sex with? Or that they will be sold from one exploiter to
another; moved around the country; be subject to never-ending debt
bondage or that they will be kept isolated and forced to live in squalid
conditions?
This cannot continue to happen. So what are we doing about it?
At the end of 2007 we announced a six month review to explore what more
we can do to tackle the demand for prostitution. The review began
earlier this year with a visit to Sweden and will include a review of
the approach taken by a range of other countries, including the
Netherlands.
On 10 January, I visited Sweden with Home Office Minister, Vernon Coaker,
and the Deputy Minister for Women and Equality, Barbara Follett, and a
small team of officials.
The trip was set up so we could talk to the Swedish authorities
specifically about their legislation which criminalises those who pay
for sexual services – including the debate in Sweden that led up to the
change in their legislation in 1999 and its implementation.
...
We are also intending to visit the Netherlands soon to meet with their
Ministers and law enforcement agencies. The Dutch legislation is in
direct contrast to Sweden - prostitution was legalised in the
Netherlands in 2000. Controlled “tolerance zones” have been set up away
from residential areas and there are licensed brothels.
However, it is increasingly clear that prostitution has not been
restricted to the policed areas and rendered safe but these arrangements
have, if anything, increased demand and there is a “twilight” sex
industry too. The Dutch Government has recently announced that they are
to review their legislation this year and we are very interested in
talking to the Dutch authorities about their experiences and the issues
they are facing.
As part of our Tackling Demand Review, we will research the legislation
in other jurisdictions, particularly those with contrasting approaches
to prostitution, including New Zealand. In New Zealand, the Prostitution
Reform Act 2003 decriminalised prostitution. The Act requires every
operator of a prostitution business to hold a certificate and removed
the requirement for massage parlours to be licensed. It is not illegal
for a person under the age of 18 to be a prostitute but it is illegal
for anyone to have sex with them.
...
So, as you can see, there is a diverse approach
to prostitution from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and it is right that
on behalf of the public we consider these various approaches, and the
impact they have had, very carefully, so that we can learn from them and
use their experience to inform our own policy.
In particular, we are looking at how our current policy can be
strengthened to ensure we robustly tackle the demand for prostitution –
and this includes considering the impact that it will have on sex
trafficking.
We will consult with stakeholders as part of the review. We also intend
to conduct an audit of enforcement, prosecution, and sentencing
practice, and in particular we will be interested in identifying any
regional variations. We will also be looking at the options for using
existing legislation to tackle those who pay for sex.
...
As many of you will be aware the clauses concerned with prostitution in
the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill have just been removed from
the Bill. They were firstly to end use of the term “common prostitute”
and secondly to introduce a sentence for someone convicted of
soliciting, which required her to attend three sessions with a
counsellor or crisis worker to seek to assist her to exit prostitution.
This is unfortunate but was necessary in order to help the passage of
the Bill through the House in the available Parliamentary time. However,
the removal of these clauses from the Bill in no way indicates a lack of
commitment from the Government to tackle prostitution.
As soon as parliamentary time allows, we will look to reintroduce the
legislative changes that have now been withdrawn, along with any new
proposals for legislative change we feel to be necessary following the
review into tackling demand.
...
I can see the argument that it is unpleasant to criminalise people we
see, generally, as victims. However, there is something to be said for
the leverage that retaining the offence can offer, in the context of
these policies and the availability of diversion and so I would suggest
that this is not entirely oppression by the state.
Further, we also have a responsibility to local communities and the
wider public, and I believe that decriminalising prostitution altogether
would send out the wrong message. It would imply that street
prostitution is acceptable and in doing so remove an important
safeguard.
So our overall aim must be to reduce street prostitution and all forms
of commercial sexual exploitation, including trafficking.
Tackling demand is one of the areas where we think we can have the
greatest impact. However, experience in Sweden appears to show that it
is not just legislation that can tackle the demand for prostitution. It
is also about challenging social attitudes and raising awareness about
the realities of prostitution and trafficking. And specifically it is
about changing the attitudes of men.
In the context of the review, we are considering a small scale targeted
marketing campaign to raise awareness among sex buyers about the levels
of exploitation in prostitution, including trafficking, violence, and
the involvement of people under 18. The aim will be better to understand
how to change attitudes towards buying sexual services.
By penalising those who organise prostitutes and make a living from
their earnings and by targeting those who are persistent kerb crawlers,
with the aim of preventing repeat offending, we are already deterring
those who create the demand for prostitution. The penalties being
applied in some parts of the country to persistent kerb crawlers include
disqualification from driving, kerb crawler re-education schemes and
fines, and the naming and shaming of those convicted in the local media.
We will be examining the effectiveness of these approaches, and seeking
to share “best practice”.
As part of the wider set of actions to tackle demand and trafficking, we
felt it was important to address the issue of small advertisements in
the back of newspapers which can fuel the demand for trafficked women.
In November, with other ministerial colleagues, I met with
representatives from the newspaper and advertising industry and
discussed with them how they could support our work to tackle the demand
side of the problem of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. As a
result, the Newspaper Society are updating their guidance to editors of
local papers, which can help them avoid accepting personal
advertisements which are, in effect, advertising this despicable trade
in women.
Work is also under way on call-barring schemes aimed at eradicating
prostitute carding. This will involve negotiations with the Mobile
Broadband Group, British Telecom and OFCOM.
...
Returning to demand, I want to stress the importance of ensuring we
drive home to the users and potential users of those exploited in the
sex industry the real consequences of their actions. If they are
knowingly buying sex from a trafficked woman, someone who they know has
been forced to do something against their will - they should be under no
illusions that they are committing rape.
And even if they do not know that the woman is trafficked, just by
paying for sex they are contributing to organised criminality and their
actions are keeping particularly vulnerable women trapped in
exploitation.
And, of course, the pursuit of an end to the evils of trafficking is
raising the issue whether in the 21st century a government, totally
committed to gender equality with all the concomitant mutual respect and
dignity that connotes, ought in any way to be permitting or sanctioning
women being bought and sold for sex.
We look forward to working with some of the people present at this
conference on our stakeholder group as we continue our review into
demand and it is cheering to see that this event on prostitution is a
sell out. I am sure that if we work together we can come to clear
conclusions and start to make a difference.
Comment:
Wimmin
Thanks to Alan, 21st March 2008
Interesting to see that Julie Bindel was among those consulted by the
government for the punter-bashing proposal. I have often been tempted to
think (hope?) that "Julie Bindel" was the invention of a comic genius,
since the column appearing in the Grauniad under that name was so
reminiscent of the lamented "Wimmin" column in Private Eye.
Her lack of self-awareness is extraordinary: she is happy to accept
the benefits of society's current positive attitude towards her own
lesbianism, but takes the attitude of a Victorian prude towards the
sexual peccadilloes of men.
|
| 19th March |
Safety Kerbed... |
|
|
More dangerous for working girls in Scotland
Permalink |
Thanks to Donald
From
SCOT-PEP
|
Since
the kerb-crawling legislation came in, nobody’s drug dependency or rent
arrears or benefit delays have magically cleared up overnight.
Women are still working on the streets, but with many of their regular
clients avoiding the scene for fear of legal repercussions, they are
seeing a greater proportion of unpleasant and violent clients, with a
rise in requests for sex without a condom and services at insultingly
low prices.
Some are resigned to being out all night, since business is slow, they
still need to make money, and in some cases they haven’t a hope of
meeting their curfews in homeless accommodation.
Clients want them to leave their traditional areas and meet them
elsewhere, so that the clients won’t be targeted by police; as a
consequence sex workers are working in greater isolation with a
significant threat to their personal safety.
|
| 19th March |
Chile Warms to the Dollar... |
|
|
Night club accepts US dollars at pre-slump rate
Permalink |
Thanks to Phil. Perhaps a good idea for any country currently suffering
a lack of US visitors
See
full article
from
Bloomberg
|
Bikini-clad
pole dancers, mini-skirted hostesses and a deal on foreign exchange
await customers at Passapoga, a Santiago nightclub, who pay with U.S.
dollars.
At banks and foreign-exchange bureaus, $1 fetches less than 430 pesos.
Passapoga pays 600 pesos.
This campaign has had considerable success, said Jaime Retamal
the club's manager: Customers come from all over, but a lot from the
U.S.
The dollar has lost a quarter of its value against the peso in the past
three years. Passapoga is discounting the exchange rate to discourage
Americans from cutting back on nightclub visits.
Drinks and exotic dances cost customers the same price in dollars as in
2004, when the demand for copper, Chile's biggest export, surged.
Passapoga's special exchange rate means a 14,000-peso drink with one of
the club's 50 hostesses costs $23, instead of $32 at the market rate.
Patricia Kart, a Passapoga hostess for 2 1/2 years, said workers agreed
to the plan even though it reduces their commissions. The promotion is
bringing in more customers, she said.
We have to take what the house gives us, and our job is to do what it
takes to make the clients happy, Kart, 28, said in a telephone
interview from the club: They are very content.
|
| 19th March |
Reeperbahn in Decline... |
|
|
Long established brothel to close in Hamburg
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Guardian
See
also background article from Spiegel
|
Internet
pornography, foreign prostitutes and a growing number of cheap dance
clubs have been blamed for the closure of the oldest brothel in one of
the world's most famous red-light districts.
Hotel Luxor, a family-run establishment set up in 1948 in the port-side
district of St Pauli, will shut next month, its owner, Waltraud Mehrer,
told the German press yesterday.
It's no longer possible to make much money from real sex here in St
Pauli, said Mehrer, who has run the business for 21 years. The
table-dance clubs are still in operation, but otherwise there's not much
business to be done here any more. I blame it on the rise of internet
porn, the popularity of call-girl services and the noisy discos and
dance clubs, she said.
Customers were no longer willing to pay high prices for sex, and an
influx of eastern European prostitutes had also caused prices to fall,
she said.
n the 1970s demand was so high that Hotel Luxor stayed open 24 hours a
day, seven days a week and employed 12 prostitutes. Now it has four
prostitutes and is open four nights a week.
|
| 18th March |
Fun in the Park... |
|
|
Amsterdam to allow public sex in Vondelpark
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Telegraph
|
Dutch
council officials will permit gay sex in public areas but fine dog
owners who let their pets off the leash in Amsterdam's Vondelpark.
Paul van Grieken, an Alderman in the Oud-Zuid district of the city, has
startled many Amsterdammers, despite their famously liberal attitudes,
with plans to allow public sex as part of this summer's new rules of
conduct for the country's best-known park.
Why should we try to impose something that is actually impossible to
impose, which also causes little bother for others and for a certain
group actually means much pleasure?, he said.
The park's rose garden has become famous as a trysting spot for gay men
looking for uncomplicated sexual encounters. Mr van Grieken stresses
that tolerance to "cruising" gays, aimed at protecting homosexuals from
violence, will have "strict rules attached".
Thus, condoms must always be cleared away, it must never take place
in the neighbourhood of children's playgrounds and the sex must be
restricted to the evening and night-time, he said.
The new park rules have the blessing of the Dutch police, who have urged
all Dutch parks to follow Amsterdam's lead.
|
| 17th March |
Glasgow Council... |
|
|
Ensuring that Scots who enjoy life are securely imprisoned
Permalink |
Based on an article from
Evening Times
|
Glasgow
city leaders want Scotland to introduce some of the world's strictest
prostitution laws. Council nutters have launched a campaign urging the
Scottish Government to turn the spotlight on punters by introducing
legislation banning the "purchase of sex".
Street prostitution is already illegal and new laws introduced last year
targeted men by making kerb crawling and loitering for prostitution a
crime. But Glasgow City Council says brothels are still not adequately
covered by legislation as it's not illegal to visit a prostitute and pay
for sex.
Deputy council leader Jim Coleman says the solution is to bring in an
across-the-board ban on paying for sex. A similar system has been in
place in Sweden since 1999 and is said to have led to huge falls in
prostitution. This approach has also now being adopted by neighbouring
Norway.
A delegation of Swedish law enforcement officials visited Glasgow to
explain how similarly nasty legislation might work here. They met with
nutter Coleman and officials and volunteers who work in support services
for prostitution, trafficking and addiction.
Coleman says the council will now try to pull in support from as many
different bodies as possible and lobby the Scottish Government. He said:
A new law would send a clear message to men that it is wrong to buy
sex. It would also directly target brothels.
Coleman said the laws which came into force last October and outlawed
kerb crawlers, was a step in the right direction: For the first time
we have a law that targets the men who fuel the demand for prostitution.
There can be no question that prostitution is exploitative and abusive
of the women involved
|
| 16th March |
Thrown Off a Plane... |
|
|
Cabin crews re-branding themselves as cabin screws?
Permalink |
See
full article
from the
Times
|
Do
you mind answering a few questions? Splendid. Are you dressed
revealingly? Is there a large toy crocodile in your hand luggage? While
on this flight, do you intend to read pornography, emit offensive body
odour or perhaps sing a topical football-based ditty?
If so, the chances are you’re going to get slung off. All the above
offences have recently resulted in passengers being escorted from the
plane by stony-faced airport-security bods. In fact, over the past few
years, cabin crew have taken to turfing us out of planes in
unprecedented numbers.
Only a few days ago, the otherwise blameless Dr Paolo Tomasi from London
was unceremoniously dumped off a Ryanair flight for the heinous crime of
talking to his eight-year-old son during the safety briefing.
Here is our guide to involuntary deplaning, all based on real and recent
episodes.
- SING ABOUT FOOTBALLERS’ UNDERWEAR
After a fine win over Cardiff last year, fans of Sunderland AFC
boarded an EasyJet flight in buoyant mood and sang the praises of
their chairman in time-honoured terrace fashion. In case you’re not a
regular at the Stadium of Light, the lyrics, to the tune of ’Ere We
Go, ’Ere We Go, ’Ere We Go, are as follows: “Niall Quinn’s disco pants
are the best.
They go up from his arse to his chest. They’re better than Adam and
the Ants, Niall Quinn’s disco pants.” EasyJet staff, unused to
Wearside poetry, called the police and had all 100 fans thrown off.
Quinn himself shelled out £8,000 for taxis to get them home.
- PAY INSUFFICIENT ATTENTION TO PERSONAL HYGIENE
A German man was chucked off a plane in Honolulu in 2006 for being
excessively whiffy. After two hours’ chasing around a hot airport with
heavy luggage, he took his seat, only to be asked to leave it when
fellow passengers complained. He tried to sue the airline in a
Düsseldorf court, and lost.
- BLOCK THE EMERGENCY EXIT WITH A HUGE STUFFED CROCODILE
Last November, a woman on a Ryanair flight from Rome to Milan refused
to move her metre-long cuddly toy crocodile, which the crew said was
blocking the emergency exit. Both were removed.
- WEAR THE WRONG CLOTHES
American Lorrie Heasley took her seat sporting a T-shirt that featured
pictures of George Bush and friends, with a slogan based on the hit
film Meet the Fockers – but with one crucial vowel altered. Airline
staff were not amused, and she was dumped halfway through her journey
at Reno, Nevada.
- DON’T WEAR ENOUGH CLOTHES
That was the crime of Kyla Ebbert, a 23-year-old waitress at the
subtly named Hooters chain of restaurants. She was removed from a
Southwest Airlines plane in San Diego for being dressed too
provocatively, in micro miniskirt and tight T-shirt – though she was
let back on when she rearranged them to cover as much as possible. (It
took a while. She’s a big girl.) “I was embarrassed and humiliated,”
she said. To regain her dignity, she took everything off again for
Playboy.
- ATTEMPT SEX
A flight made an unplanned landing last November to eject a couple who
were intent on joining the mile-high club. After “fooling around” in
front of other passengers in their economy seats, the pair made for
the lavatories. Instead of ending up in Las Vegas, as planned, they
were dumped in Portland, Oregon. It is not known whether their love
was consummated.
- SAY ‘BYE-BYE, PLANE’
Last July, 19-month-old Garren Penland – who’d just endured an 11-hour
delay at Houston airport – said those words repeatedly (as children
will) during the safety briefing on a Continental flight. “The flight
attendant said, ‘Okay, it’s not funny any more. You need to shut your
baby up,’ ” claimed his mum, Kate. Unfazed, Garren kept going, and
mother and son soon ended up on the tarmac.
- READ PORN
In 2005, South African carrier Nationwide Airlines called a taxiing
flight back to the terminal to eject AC Hoffman, a Cape Town
businessman. He’d been perusing Loslyf, a local publication of
liberated bent. “The air hostess snatched it off me, I told her she
was f ***in’ rude, and they chucked me off,” he said. “This will not
be the end of the matter. My hand luggage has not even been returned.”
We think he meant the periodical. The airline’s chief executive,
Vernon Bricknell, commented helpfully: “If you want to look at this
kind of stuff, go and do so in the toilet.”
|
| 12th March |
Britishness is... |
|
|
Destroying liberty, banning fun, then expecting people to pledgeallegiance to Britain
Permalink |
Me?...I'm out of here
Based on an article from the
Telegraph
See also
Citizenship: a British farce
from the
Times
|
 |
|
Britishness
is...
Emigrating to somewhere
better |
Young people leaving school would take part in ceremonies to mark their
move from students of citizenship to active citizenship, says a
Government review by Lord Goldsmith.
The former attorney general said the events would involve swearing an
oath either to the Queen as head of state, or to the nation: The
ceremony should be seen as a key stage in engaging a young person in the
life of the community and the responsibilities of citizenship.
As an incentive to making this transition, students would be encouraged
to join a National Citizens' Corps and take part in civil activity.
There is also a suggestion to add an additional public holiday to
celebrate Britishness.
Although the United Kingdom's constituent nations each has a saint's
day, only St Patrick's Day (March 17) is a public holiday, in Northern
Ireland.
But Lord Goldsmith does not want a date laden with historical
significance. His preferred model is Australia Day, which is used to
celebrate what it means to be an Australian, the achievements of the
country and…to identify the improvements that can be made.
|
| 11th March |
Come in No 9, Your Time is Up... |
|
|
Even state governors just want to get laid
Permalink |
See
full article
from the
Times
|
Eliot
Spitzer, the crusading New York Governor often tipped as a future
American president, suffered a spectacular fall from grace yesterday
when he was implicated in a prostitution ring.
Mr Spitzer, whose eight years as New York State’s Attorney-General
earned him a reputation as “the sheriff of Wall Street”, reportedly told
senior aides that he was a client of an international escort service
that charged up to $5,500 (£2,750) an hour. Court papers hinted at risky
sexual practices. He cancelled all his public appearances and met
officials in his Fifth Avenue apartment before making a public apology
to his family and the public.
I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and
in a way that violates my or any sense of right and wrong, he said,
with his wife Silda at his side. I apologise first and most
importantly to my family. I apologise to the public, whom I have
promised better. I am disappointed I have not lived up to the standards
I have set for myself.
He did not immediately step down, but said that he needed to dedicate
some time to regaining the trust of his family.
A source told The New York Times that Spitzer was one of the men
identified in court papers as a client of the prostitution ring. Court
papers say that the man identified as Client 9 had arranged to meet a
prostitute in Washington on the night of February 13. An affidavit lists
six conversations between Client 9 and a booking agent for the Emperors
Club.
Client 9 was captured by a telephone tap setting up an appointment with
a prostitute called “Kristen”, who travelled by train from New York to
Washington to meet him.
In 2004 Spitzer voiced revulsion as he announced the arrests of 16
people for running a prostitution ring out of Staten Island.
See
full article
from Game Politics
Update:
Resigned
13th March 2008
Eliot Spitzer, confirmed what had seemed all but inevitable since the
news exploded of his illicit dalliances with high-price prostitutes: he
is resigning his post and leaving politics.
I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me.
To every New Yorker and to all those who believed in what I tried to
stand for, I deeply apologise, he said in a brief statement. He
added: The remorse I feel will always be with me... For those to whom
much is given, much is expected.
|
| 11th March |
Environmental Impact... |
|
|
UK bans all fun and then whinges when people travel abroad to get laid
Permalink |
I wonder if it is the Government's 'Environmental Impact Report' that
when people are not allowed to pay for sex in the UK, that many will
simply travel abroad for fun.
See
full article from the
Independent
|
Holidaymakers
are ignoring environmentalists' calls to limit their air travel and are
taking more "indulgent" long-haul mini-breaks than ever before.
Despite recommendations that they holiday closer to home, the number of
Britons flying thousands of miles to spend less than a week in far-flung
destinations was 3.7 million last year, according to a survey by
Halifax.
The travel insurer is predicting that the number of what it has dubbed
"breakneck breaks" will increase by more than a third this year, and
expects 4.9 million British tourists to travel in 2008 to destinations
including Thailand, Hong Kong, New York, and Rio de Janeiro for just a
few days.
The Far East was the second-most popular destination, followed by the
Indian subcontinent. Biggest takers of breakneck breaks last year were
those living in South-east England, while those in Wales and South-west
England were least likely to go off on such a trip.
However, Friends of the Earth was quick to criticise what it believes is
an "indulgent" trend. Its aviation campaigner, Richard Dyer, said:
These kinds of habits are going in exactly the wrong direction from what
we need.
Exotic locations for stag and hen parties were cited as one factor for
increasing travel.
|
| 10th March |
Sexual Chemistry... |
|
|
Swedish chemists to sell sex toys
Permalink |
See
full article from Fox News
|
Sweden's
state-owned pharmacy chain Apoteket said it plans to help satisfy Swedes
by adding sex toys to its shelves.
The one-year sales trial will start in June at 50 selected Apoteket
stores around the country. It was not clear what type of products would
be available.
Apoteket said customer surveys had showed that many Swedes found
Apoteket a natural vendor for sex-related products. We want to
de-dramatize the use of sex help tools, and help people to a better sex
life, with or without a partner, Apoteket spokeswoman Eva Fernvall
said in a statement.
The selection of sex toys has been developed in cooperation with the
Swedish Association for Sexuality Education.
|
| 10th March |
Thumbs Down... |
|
|
Heathrow to fingerprint domestic travellers for little apparent reason
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Telegraph
|
Millions
of British airline passengers face mandatory fingerprinting before being
allowed to board domestic flights when Heathrow’s Terminal 5 opens later
this month. For the first time at any airport, the biometric checks will
apply to all domestic passengers leaving the terminal, which will handle
all British Airways flights to and from Heathrow.
The controversial security measure is also set to be introduced at
Gatwick, Manchester and Heathrow’s Terminal 1, and many airline industry
insiders believe fingerprinting could become universal at all UK
airports within a few years.
All four million domestic passengers who will pass through Terminal 5
annually after it opens on March 27 will have four fingerprints taken,
as well as being photographed, when they check in.
To ensure the passenger boarding the aircraft is the same person, the
fingerprinting process will be repeated just before they board the
aircraft and the photograph will be compared with their face.
BAA, the company which owns Heathrow, insists the biometric information
will be destroyed after 24 hours and will not be passed on to the
police. It says the move is necessary to prevent criminals, terrorists
and illegal immigrants trying to bypass border controls. The company
said the move had been necessitated by the design of Terminal 5, where
international and domestic passengers share the same lounges and public
areas after they have checked in.
Without the biometric checks, the company says, potential criminals and
illegal immigrants arriving on international flights or in transit to
another country could bypass border controls by swapping boarding passes
with a domestic passenger who has already checked in.
They could then board the domestic flight, where proof of identity is
not currently required, fly on to another UK airport and leave without
having to go through passport control.
Most other airports avoid the problem by keeping international and
domestic passengers separate at all times, but the mixed lounges exist
at Gatwick, Manchester and Heathrow’s Terminal 1.
Civil liberties campaigners have raised concerns about the possibility
of security agencies trying to access the treasure trove of personal
data in the future.
There are also fears that fingerprinting will add to the infamous
"Heathrow hassle" which has led to some business travellers holding
meetings in other countries because they want to avoid the sprawling,
scruffy airport at any cost.
Dr Gus Hosein, of the London School of Economics, an expert on the
impact on technology on civil liberties, is one of the scheme’s
strongest critics. He said: There is no other country in the world
that requires passengers travelling on internal flights to be
fingerprinted. BAA says the fingerprint data will be destroyed, but the
records of who has travelled within the country will not be, and it will
provide a rich source of data for the police and intelligence agencies.
Simon Davies, of campaign group Privacy International, suggested the
photograph alone would be a perfectly adequate - and much cheaper - way
of identifying passengers.
|
| 9th March |
Blue Laws... |
|
|
Massachusetts to repeal blasphemy laws
Permalink |
Based on an article
from
Boston.com
|
Massachusetts
residents could spit on the sidewalk, give a tattoo, even commit
blasphemy or adultery without fear of a fine or jail time under a bill
being considered.
The bill would repeal nearly two dozen so-called "blue laws", laws that
often deal with moral or religious issues. The laws are often considered
outdated or even unconstitutional, but have remained on the books.
One of the laws mandates a $300 fine or year in jail for anyone who
wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or
contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final
judging of the world.
Another sets a $20 fine for spitting. And even though tattooing is now
legal in Massachusetts, there's still a law on the books mandating a
$300 fine for anyone giving a tattoo who's not a doctor.
The bill also would eliminate laws declaring the Communist Party a
subversive organization, making adultery a criminal offense punishable
by three years in jail or a $500 fine, and barring anyone from acting
in a suspicious manner around any steamboat landing, railroad depot, or
any electric railway station.
The bill's sponsor, state Representative Byron Rushing, said there's
more than just legal house-cleaning behind the legislation: There was
a feeling that we shouldn't have laws that we never use. And there were
a few laws that could be used and shouldn't.
Kris Mineau, a nutter of the Massachusetts Family Institute, said his
group opposes removing the laws banning adultery and fornication, saying
it sends the wrong message: If we remove these laws we are telling
young people that adultery and fornication are acceptable.
|
| 9th March |
Promoting ExtremeLiberalisation... |
|
|
Philippines authorities raid sex gadget shop
Permalink |
Based on an article
from
Visayan Daily Star
|
Four
days after a sex gadget shop that promised “guaranteed satisfaction”
opened at a new Bacolod City mall, Philippines authorities raided the
establishment.
Vibrators, condoms, sex dolls, and other paraphernalia were seized by
police and City Legal Office personnel.
Police commander, Senior Inspector Luisito Acebuche, said they
coordinated with the CLO to stop the sale of the sex gadgets after
receiving complaints.
The police bought a gadget for P500 from Luigi Tan before they moved in
and confiscated the shop’s merchandise, Acebuche said.
The display and sale of the sex gadgets are in violation of the Article
201 of the Revised Penal Code, prohibiting the show, sale, and
distribution of pornographic materials, Acebuche said. Penalty for the
offense ranges from a prison term of six years or a fine of P6,000 to
P12,000, or both, he added.
Lawyer Vicente Petierre of the CLO said that aside from violating
national laws, the shop was also operating without the necessary permits
from the city’s permits and licensing division. Petierre said the mall
management could not be held liable for the offense because it did not
know of the actual products that the shop owners would sell when they
rented them space since they did not declare them in their application.
Father Aniceto Buenafe, head of the Social Action Center of the Diocese
of Bacolod, said business proprietors must be sensitive enough
and respect the highly conservative and religious culture of most
Filipinos.
Such commercial ventures promote extreme liberalization and they
could send the wrong message to consumers, especially the youth, and
contribute to moral degradation, he spouted.
Buenafe also called on parents to inculcate the right and correct
moral values in their children.
|
| 9th March |
Touched by Repression... |
|
|
Ludicrous fine for a sexy lap dance in Blackpool
Permalink |
Based on an article
from Blackpool Gazette
|
A
Blackpool lap-dancing club has been fined £14,000 after admitting
breaching its licence by allowing supposedly indecent acts between
performers.
One dancer who performed at Wildcats on Clifton Street told a police
officer that there were "no limits" to what went on.
Blackpool Magistrates Court was told that when police visited the club
they saw extensive physical touching between two female dancers, one of
whom they later talked to.
Vicki Cartmell, prosecuting on behalf of Blackpool Council, said the
dancer told an officer: No, there are no limits about what we can do,
we can do what we want.
The club's owner Provocative Leisure of King Street, Leeds, admitted the
offence. It was fined £14,000 and ordered to pay £415 costs.
Solicitor Tracy Langfield said: The club faces the suspension of its
licence for four weeks and that could lose £40,000 in revenue and affect
the jobs of 40 dancers and 13 door and bar staff. This club has a new
manager and the police and council say there are no problems now.
A council licensing panel suspended the venue's licence for four weeks
last month but it has appealed meaning it can remain open until the
appeal is decided.
|
| 8th March |
Light Touch Policing?... |
|
|
Man arrested for simulating sex with a lamp-post
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Telegraph
|
A
32-year-old man has been arrested in Wiltshire for allegedly simulating
a sex act with a lamp-post.
A police spokesman said officers were called to a road in the town of
Westbury on February 16 after they received a report of a man acting
indecently outside a block of flats "occupied by several young women".
When they arrived they arrested him on suspicion of outraging public
decency.
The man was released on bail, but following an investigation into the
incident and several interviews with witnesses - including children - he
was recalled for questioning. He has since been re-released pending
further inquiries.
The Wiltshire police spokesman said: We are awaiting a decision as to
whether there should be a prosecution.
Comment:
Social Engineering?
Thanks to Steve
Note that the Boys in Blue questioned children about the event, no doubt
concerned that the lamppost may have been under 16 years old.
I seem to have missed the sex with a Henry Hoover vacuum cleaner
incident also mentioned in the article. This is probably a result of the
government policy to stop people using prostitutes. Perhaps regular sex
with domestic appliances will soon become the norm for men.
They are putting something in the bread, and it isn't folic acid.
|
| 8th March |
Advertising the Mean Minded... |
|
|
Israeli proposal to ban all forms of advertising for prostitution
Permalink |
See
full article
from Jerusalem Post
|
Meretz
MK Zehava Gal-On is set to unveil legislation that will potentially ban
all media - including promotional pamphlets and "business cards" - from
advertising prostitution services and providing possible clients with
access to the sex industry.
Gal-On's introduction of the bill coincides with International Women's
Day on March 8th.
The current law [on prostitution] gives legitimization to the
advertising of sex clubs and prostitution in all variety of media,
commented Gal-On, who heads the Knesset subcommittee on Trafficking in
Women. Her bill has the backing of more than 20 other lawmakers from
across the political spectrum: Such promotion in newspapers or with
pamphlets and business cards are an inseparable part of the trafficking
in women chain.
She continued: Allowing potential clients to receive information
about the sex industry only increases women's suffering and generates
millions of shekels a year for criminals.
Drafted by the Hotline for Migrant Workers legal adviser Nomi Levenkron,
the legislation is intended to widen the existing scope of punishment
for those who advertise and promote prostitution; increase jail time
from six months to three years for those found guilty of advertising sex
services; and up fines meted out.
These new restrictions have been created in order to protect the
public sentiment on the basis of moral justice and not to eradicate
prostitution completely, said Gal-On: The law will not ban
prostitution but only makes it criminal to... promote the services."
Gal-On noted that despite a 2004 ruling against the country's three
largest newspapers for advertising sex services, such ads were still
regularly published: Ten years have passed since the original law
banning the advertisement of sex services was implemented and nothing
has changed.
|
| 7th March |
An Assault on Justice... |
|
|
Nutters propose impossible to know extension to rape definition
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Scotsman
|
The campaign group Rape Crisis Scotland is urging the Scottish
Government to create a new definition of rape that includes having sex
with trafficked prostitutes who work for pimps or in licensed saunas.
The SNP government is expected to publish a new bill this spring which
will propose one of the biggest reforms of sexual offences laws in
Scotland. The bill will be based on proposals drawn up the Scottish Law
Commission. They include, for the first time, a clear definition of
consent, which will require there to be "free agreement" to sex.
The proposals are currently out to consultation. In its response to the
consultation, Rape Crisis Scotland has effectively called for a widening
of the definition of rape. It claims that if rape is to be defined as
the absence of "free agreement" to sex, this should include women forced
to work in the sex industry. Circumstances in which the complainer
had been trafficked for prostitution should be included as a situation
where consent is absent, and intercourse constitutes rape, the
submission states.
Sandy Brindlay, the national co-ordinator of Rape Crisis Scotland, said:
Men who use trafficked women for sex are sometimes aware the women
doesn't want to go through with it. In those circumstances, it's obvious
the woman isn't consenting to sex. Men who have sex with women who have
been trafficked are committing rape.
Last night, however, legal experts expressed concerns that such a law
would be unworkable and would offer no protection for British
prostitutes who were suffering the same kind of violence and
intimidation.
John Scott, a human rights lawyer, said: (The new law] would mean the
men could be guilty even if they didn't realise the women had been
trafficked. It is unworkable.
Margo MacDonald, the Independent MSP for Lothian, who has campaigned for
changes to prostitution laws, described the proposals as "impossible".
She said: (The women] may have been trafficked and have paid to come
to Britain, and some know they are going to work as prostitutes. You
could hardly bring a (rape] charge if the woman has come to work in the
sex industry in this country.
Extending the definition of rape to include sex with trafficked
prostitutes would be controversial, as some men would claim they were
unaware the women were working against their will.
|
| 6th March |
Singing for Supper... |
|
|
Karaoke bar scene in Burma
Permalink |
See
full article from Asian Sex Gazette
|
The
karaoke bar scene may not be uncommon in many parts of Asia, but was until
recently rare here in isolated Burma, where economic desperation is
increasingly pushing young women into a sex trade that hides behind the
facade of karaoke bars and massage parlours.
At the bars, known locally as KTVs for "karaoke television," young women in
their late teens and early 20s entertain clients in private air-conditioned
rooms furnished with sofas and karaoke equipment.
Waiters enter only when customers order food and drinks, or if the women
ring a bell to alert the management that a client is getting out of hand.
Workers at KTVs say sex is not necessarily on offer, but they add that in
the private rooms boundaries can be vague. It's hard to control men in
this kind of room, 22-year-old Kay Kay says: They are so wild when
they get drunk. I need to hold both his hands to protect myself. Sometimes I
need to ring the bell to call for help from the waiters.
Customers vary from teenagers to adults. Sometimes they come with friends,
occasionally even with family, to venues that blur the line between casual
entertainment and brothels.
Ostensibly hostesses are paid to keep customers company, encourage them to
buy drinks, and to sing for them.
Prostitution is illegal in Burma, but it began to take root underground
after the ruling junta abandoned socialism for a market economy in 1996.
Myanmar is one of the world's poorest countries, where even urban
professionals scrape out a living on less than a dollar a day. Salaries for
civil servants, for example, start at about 20,000 kyats (about $17.50) a
month. Many industries have been decimated by decades of economic
mismanagement by the military, coupled with the effects of Western sanctions
imposed over the regime's failure to make good on promises of democratic
reforms.
KTV girl, Cherry, says she decided to work in the karaoke bar after quitting
her low-wage job at a garment factory. Girls can earn more in tips in one
night at the karaoke bar than they earn in a month in factory jobs.
Many of the girls working in Rangoon's KTV bars have come from Burma's
impoverished countryside in search of better opportunities in the city.
The bar that employs Cherry and Kay Kay provides them with free room and
board, and a base salary of 20,000 kyats, or about $17.50. The basic
salary is similar to what I earned at the factory, but here we get tips from
customers. Sometimes we earn 30,000 kyats ($27.00) in one night just from
the tips.
The women are not allowed to leave the bar before its 2 am closing time, and
then they are driven back to the hostel.
The stigma attached to the bar girls remains strong, and many parents would
rather see their children join the millions of Myanmar migrants heading
overseas to search for work.
I can support my family well. One of my brothers will graduate from
university very soon, says Cherry: I don't need to work very hard
like I did in the factory but you know customers treat us just as bar girls,
they look down on us. The reputation of a bar girl is not so good in this
community.
|
| 5th March |
AIDS Aid... |
|
|
US AIDs aid tones down the abstinence rhetoric
Permalink |
See
full article from
Boston.com
|
House
leaders from both parties and the White House reached agreement
yesterday on a bill that would more than triple in size the Bush
administration's global AIDS program, already the largest
foreign aid initiative aimed at fighting a single disease in US
history.
The bill loosens the requirement for abstinence messages in AIDS
prevention strategies, a source of constant criticism of the
program since it was unveiled by President Bush in 2003.
The bill authorizes $50 billion over five years to prevent
infection, treat people already ill from HIV, and care for
children orphaned by the epidemic. The program, known as the
President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), provided
$15 billion over its first five years.
This historic agreement will save millions of lives, said
Paul Zeitz, a physician who heads the Global AIDS Alliance, a
vocal critic of some original PEPFAR provisions. With
bipartisan support, Congress is beginning to fix aspects of the
AIDS program that were clearly not working.
The original PEPFAR law's requirement that one-third of
prevention dollars be used to promote abstinence set off a
rhetorical war between the program's State Department leaders
and much of the rest of the AIDS community. The new bill appears
to signal a truce.
The reauthorized bill requires PEPFAR's chief to provide
"balanced funding" for prevention and to ensure that abstinence
and faithfulness activities are implemented and funded in a
meaningful and equitable way. If a country spends less than
50 percent of its sexual-transmission prevention funding on the
promotion of abstinence and faithfulness, the program must
justify that decision to Congress.
However, a requirement that every organization receiving PEPFAR
money adopt a specific policy against "prostitution and human
trafficking" - which many activist groups also find rankling -
remains in the new bill.
The bill now goes to the Senate.
|
| 4th March |
Gutter Policing... |
|
|
Mean minded Scottish police arrest 80 for kerb crawling
Permalink |
Based on an article from the Scotsman
|
A
total of 21 men, mostly white collar workers, have been arrested and
charged with kerb crawling in Edinburgh since new legislation was
introduced.
Across Scotland, as many as 80 men have been charged since kerb-crawling
became a criminal offence in October last year.
Many of the men lived with wives or partners, were in their mid-40s to
late-50s, and were caught during the week.
Most were professionals, and worked as teachers, salesmen, doctors and
accountants. A retired clergyman, a naval officer and a tourist from
Kazakhstan were also caught.
Police and support agencies are studying the details of the men charged
across the country to build up a more detailed picture of the people
involved.
Those charged under the new Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act
2007 face a criminal record, a fine of up to £1000 and exposure to
family, friends and colleagues.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: Kerb-crawlers should be clear
of the potential legal and social costs of their actions.
|
| 3rd March |
Talk About Nasty... |
|
|
Ryanair eject passenger for talking through safety demonstration
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Telegraph
|
A
doctor is threatening to take Ryanair to court after he claims he was
thrown off a flight for chatting during the pre-flight safety briefing.
Dr Paolo Tomasi was travelling with his eight-year-old son from Alghero
in Sardinia to London Stansted after a holiday.
He said he was talking to a friend while the plane was preparing for
take-off and the cabin crew were giving the safety demonstration.
advertisement
I was talking normally, and a steward asked me to be quiet, in a
brusque manner, he said: After five minutes, when the
announcements came to an end, another stewardess came up and said that I
had been warned and I should have shut up. She asked if I wanted to get
off the plane.
Dr Tomasi, who is based in London, continued: I was astonished. She
said: 'Yes, I am warning you, and I will not warn you again'.
The stewardess then informed the captain about Dr Tomasi and the plane
was stopped to allow airport security to remove him and his son.
Dr Tomasi said he has complained to Ryanair and demanded compensation
for spending £500 to fly out the following day. He said he had informed
his solicitor and is preparing to take legal action: I was talking in
a calm and measured way, and I have a list of a number of passengers who
are prepared to give evidence supporting me. One of them could not hear
a word I said and was sitting just a metre and a half away.
A Ryanair spokesman said: He refused to stop talking during the
safety demonstration and was disturbing other passengers. He clearly was
not listening even though he was asked to pay attention.
|
| 1st March |
MacShameful... |
|
|
Denis MacShane wants the DNA of UK buyers of sex
Permalink |
Labour MPs should also be forced to give DNA samples on the grounds of
their predilection for being human rights abusers
See
full article
from the BBC
|
Men
using brothels and massage parlours should be made to give DNA samples
in an effort to reduce the number of prostitute murders, an MP has said.
Labour MP Denis MacShane told the House of Commons that such tests would
also be a way of getting men to face up to their responsibilities.
The suggestion comes a week after Steve Wright was convicted of the
murder of five prostitutes in Ipswich.
The Association of Chief Police Officers is calling for a debate on
whether to expand the current database - of DNA details taken from crime
suspects - to cover all people in the UK.
But the government has rejected plans for this. Currently, only the DNA
of those suspected of crimes is stored.
MacShane, MP for Rotherham, asked Commons leader Harriet Harman:
Would she agree that taking DNA samples from men who go to massage
parlours and brothels would be a way of getting men to face up to their
responsibilities in this regard? Because almost all the horrible murders
of prostituted women are by men who have frequented them beforehand.
Harman, who is also women's minister, gave no commitment but said that
many rapes as well as murders are able to be solved using DNA.
|
| 29th February |
A Corruption of the Word Justice... |
|
|
Shame on Scotland as Naked Rambler jailed again
Permalink |
Based on an
article from the Scotsman
|
A
sheriff conducted a hearing in the holding cells at court when the Naked
Rambler refused to put his clothes on – again.
Stephen Gough – who has now spent 20 months in jail – was found guilty
of another breach of the peace and now faces a further four months
behind bars.
Earlier, the court heard Gough was taken into custody in January after
walking free from court naked after a sheriff gave him the chance to end
his "vicious circle".
The ex-marine took just six steps of freedom before police took him into
the back of a van and re-arrested him.
Yesterday's sentencing was his 13th straight breach of the peace – all
for appearing nude in public.
|
| 29th February |
Asda Kicks Our Kids... |
|
|
Shits at Asda to prosecute youngsters buying alcohol
Permalink |
See
full article from the Daily Mail
|
 |
|
Enjoying a pint.
So setting a bad example for the kids.
They should be locked up.
Just like everyone else in Britain. |
Children caught trying to buy alcohol from Asda, one of the UK's major
supermarkets will face prosecution, it has been announced.
The company says its will urge officers to take the offender to court.
If they refuse, Asda says it will consider bringing a private
prosecution.
The chance of an under-age drinker being punished for trying to buy
alcohol was only one in 300,000 last year, when nearly 3million offences
resulted in ten prosecutions.
The current system is clearly not effective enough, said an Asda
spokesman. When anyone under-age is found trying to buy alcohol in
one of our stores we will call the police and urge and expect the police
to take action themselves. If no action is taken we will on some
occasions bring our own prosecution. In most cases this will target
repeat offenders."
The offence carries a maximum fine of £1,000, but Asda said its main aim
in bringing a court case would be to act as a deterrent: We are
giving offenders a clear message that we have the right to prosecute
them ourselves even if the police decide not to prosecute.
|
| 27th February |
Enabling Pass Laws... |
|
|
Britain calls for personal data and profiling for travel in EU
Permalink |
Won't be long before football fans are banned from travel followed by
anyone owing a fine...followed by...See
full article from the
Guardian
|
Passengers
travelling between EU countries or taking domestic flights would
have to hand over a mass of personal information, including
their mobile phone numbers and credit card details, as part of a
new package of security measures being demanded by the British
government. The data would be stored for 13 years and used to
"profile" suspects.
Brussels officials are already considering controversial
anti-terror plans that would collect up to 19 pieces of
information on every air passenger entering or leaving the EU.
Under a controversial agreement reached last summer with the US
department of homeland security, the EU already supplies the
same information [19 pieces] to Washington for all passengers
flying between Europe and the US.
But Britain wants the system extended to sea and rail travel, to
be applied to domestic flights and those between EU countries.
According to a questionnaire circulated to all EU capitals by
the European commission, the UK is the only country of 27 EU
member states that wants the system used for "more general
public policy purposes" besides fighting terrorism and organised
crime.
The so-called passenger name record system, proposed by the
commission and supported by most EU governments, has been
denounced by civil libertarians and data protection officials as
draconian and probably ineffective.
The scheme would work through national agencies collecting and
processing the passenger data and then sharing it with other EU
states. Britain also wants to be able to exchange the
information with third parties outside the EU.
Officials in Brussels and in European capitals admit the
proposed system represents a massive intrusion into European
civil liberties, but insist it is a necessary part of a battery
of new electronic surveillance measures being mooted in the
interests of European security.
The Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said: Where is this
going to stop? There's no mature discussion of risk. As soon as
you question something like this, you're soft on terrorism in
the UK and in the EU.
Britain is pushing for a more comprehensive system based on the
experience of a UK pilot scheme that has been running for the
past three years. Officials say Operation Semaphore, monitoring
flights from Pakistan and the Middle East, has been highly
successful and has resulted in hundreds of arrests.
The scheme has seen one in every 2,200 passengers warranting
further investigation, with a tenth of those "being of
interest". British officials say rapists, drug smugglers and
child traffickers have been arrested and want the EU scheme to
cover all fugitives from crown court justice.
|
| 26th February |
Bride Tax... |
|
|
UK ups the ante for your Thai bride
Permalink |
See
full article
from the
Times
|
Thousands
of foreigners who want to marry a British person and move to Britain
will have to take an English language test, the Prime Minister announced
yesterday.
Gordon Brown said that the test would help to prevent foreign brides
being exploited. He made his surprise announcement only five hours after
a Home Office Green Paper on overhauling citizenship rules said that
consultations on English tests for foreigners were continuing.
The Prime Minister said in a speech in North London: We will
introduce a new English language requirement for those applying for a
marriage visa and planning to settle in the UK — both as part of our
determination that everyone who comes here to live should be able to
speak English and to make sure that they cannot be exploited.
The English language test will apply to tens of thousands of spouses. A
total of 47,000 spouses and fiancées, including 17,000 from the Indian
sub-continent, were admitted to the UK in 2006. Ministers have for some
time been concerned that some of those arriving from the sub-continent
have no knowledge of English, are vulnerable to exploitation and cannot
get access to the job market. It was unclear last night whether failure
to pass the English language test would lead to outright refusal to come
to Britain or whether a temporary visa would be granted.
Brown’s announcement came after proposals to reform citizenship rules
under which migrants who want a British passport or to settle
permanently in the country will have to undergo a probationary period of
up to three years.
Foreigners will be expected to leave the country if they fail to take
citizenship or apply to settle permanently, as the Government seeks to
end the situation where migrants “languish in limbo” having been allowed
to stay.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, made clear that she expected the
number of new citizens — more than 1.1 million since Labour came to
power 1997 — to increase as a result of the overhaul of citizenship
rules. She said: I would want to see a larger proportion of those
that are here moving to full British citizenship. You will not be able
to languish in limbo. Once your period of temporary residence comes to
an end you will need to apply for the next stage or leave.
Gaining citizenship will take at least six years from arrival in the UK
instead of the current five years, and could take as long as eight
years.
The probation period will last a year if the foreigner takes part in
community activities such as charity fundraising, running a sports group
or other voluntary work. Migrants who undertake no community or
voluntary work will have to wait the existing five years plus a minimum
three years on probation.
Full access to non-contributory benefits will not be granted after a
person has been in the UK for five years, but only after an applicant
has completed the probationary period.
A fund financed by a surcharge on immigration applications will be set
up to give cash to areas that experience problems because of
immigration, such as oversubscribed schools. The fund is expected to
raise tens of millions of pounds a year.
Migrants who have served a prison sentence will be barred from
citizenship and minor offenders given a non-custodial sentence may have
to serve three years on probation.
A draft Bill based on the proposals is due this summer, and full
legislation is expected in November.
|
| 25th February |
Don't Fly to or via Dubai... |
|
|
They are using sensitive scanners detecting minute amounts of drugs
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Independent
|
A
London-based television executive is facing four years in jail after an
amount of cannabis weighing less than a grain of sugar was found in his
bag at Dubai airport.
Cat Le-Huy, a German national and head of technology at the television
production company Endemol, has been held for three weeks without charge
after flying to the United Arab Emirates on 26 January.
Friends and family have been told he can expect to face the minimum jail
sentence for drug possession in the tiny Arab emirate. Mr Le-Huy had
been on a two-day visit to look into investing in the region. Recently,
the Radio 1 DJ Grooverider, whose real name is Raymond Bingham, was
jailed in Dubai for four years for possession of 2.16g of cannabis with
a street value of about £10.
The Foreign Office says nine British nationals have been detained in
Dubai over drugs offences this year, including Keith Brown, from the
West Midlands, who was also jailed this month for four years after a
speck of cannabis was found stuck to the bottom of a shoe.
Le-Huy, of Belsize Park, north London, said he was first reprimanded for
possession of jet-lag pills. When these were shown to be melatonin,
which can be bought over the counter in Dubai and in the US, and in
herbal stores in Britain, he was asked to provide a urine sample. He
said when this also proved negative, his bag was searched. Airport
officials found 0.03 grams of hashish, an amount not visible to the
naked eye.
Customs authorities have successfully applied to hold Le-Huy in Dubai
until at least the end of March. A 5,000-signature appeal has been sent
to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and the Prime
Minister of the United Arab Emirates.
Update:
Freed
6th September 2008
A Radio 1 DJ who was jailed for possessing cannabis in the United Arab
Emirates has flown back to Britain after being released in an amnesty to
mark the start of Ramadan.
Raymond Bingham, who hosted a music show under the moniker Grooverider
and is often credited as a godfather of the drum and bass movement, was
jailed for four years after being arrested at Dubai airport last
November on his way to playing a club set. He was found to be in
possession of 2.16g of cannabis, worth around £10, which he said he
forgot was in his trouser pocket and had not intended to take into the
country. Bingham served 10 months of his sentence before his release.
|
| 25th February |
Unbelievable... |
|
|
Two Thirds of Britons have no Religion
Permalink |
See
full article
from the
Times
|
Freedom
from religion in Britain is becoming as important as freedom of
religion, according to a United Nations investigation.
A report by Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of
religion or belief, says that the 2001 census findings that nearly 72%
of the population is Christian can no longer be regarded as accurate.
The report claims that two thirds of British people do not admit to any
religious affiliation.
The report calls for the disestablishment of the Church of England. It
says that the role and privileges of the Church do not reflect the
religious demography of the country and the rising proportion of other
Christian denominations.
The report says that there is an overall respect for human rights and
their value but it gives warning of discrimination against Muslims.
Citing research that 80% of Muslims in Britain feel that they have been
discriminated against, the report singles out the Terrorism Act 2000 for
particular criticism. Under the Act police in some areas can stop and
search people without having to show reasonable suspicion.
The report’s author also criticises terms in the Terrorism Act 2006 for
being overly broad and vaguely worded.
|
| 24th February |
Going Abroad with Intent to Get Laid... |
|
|
US proposed criminalising paying for sex abroad
Permalink |
From Pattaya Pages
See also
|
Remember
the USA Protect Act made it a Federal Felony to have sex with under
18s overseas even if legal in that country; now, in predictable
fashion, the US Senate proposed the expansion of that to include ANY
"commercial sex". Next will be a prohibition on all sex outside
wedlock. Scary times indeed.
House Bill 3887 sponsored by Tom Lantos of San Mateo, California,
(who died on 11 February 2008).
§
2423A. Sex tourism
TRAVEL WITH INTENT TO ENGAGE IN ILLICIT SEXUAL CONDUCT:
A person who travels in interstate commerce or
travels into the United States, or a United States citizen or an
alien admitted for permanent residence in the United States who
travels in foreign commerce, for the purpose of engaging in any
illicit sexual conduct with another person shall be fined under this
title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
ENGAGING IN ILLICIT SEXUAL CONDUCT IN FOREIGN
PLACES:
Any United States citizen or alien admitted
for permanent residence who travels in foreign commerce, and engages
in any illicit sexual conduct with another person shall be fined
under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
However as far as I can see the clauses did not get into the
final bill passed by the Senate
|
| 24th February |
Trendy... |
|
|
Madrid red light area being sold off
Permalink |
See
full article
from
Google News
|
A
Madrid group is bent on transforming the Spanish capital's red-light
district, moving prostitutes and drug dealers out and trendy clothing
shops and restaurants in.
The business association set up last year, called AcTriball, has bought
or leased property in the central district that was used for brothels or
had been abandoned. It rents the sites at affordable rates to modern
outlets willing to set up shop in this historic but run-down area.
AcTriball charges only around 20 euros per square metre for rent,
compared to the 200 euros per square metre demanded on the nearby
Fuencarral, whose funky stores draw youths from across the capital.
The old red-light district, a broad stretch of narrow streets with
buildings not more than five storeys tall, is now plastered with white
signs with bright green lettering making the retail spaces for rent
under the scheme.
Most of the stores now house either sex-shops, small food stalls or
boutiques offering cheap long-distance telephone calls aimed at
immigrants.
The scheme has the blessing of Madrid's conservative mayor, Alberto
Ruiz-Gallardon, who has boosted police patrols and spent 500,000 euros
to have video surveillance cameras installed in the area.
|
| 24th February |
Giving Our Kids a Kick Start... |
|
|
A kick in the head that is, with a criminal record for drinking a beer
Permalink |
Drinking is at the centre of most of Britain's social life. Then we
go and punish the kids for aspiring to our own life style. What a bunch
of shits we have in the Home Office.
See
full article from the
Telegraph
|
 |
|
Enjoying a pint.
So setting a bad example for the kids.
They should be locked up.
Just like everyone else in Britain. |
Thousands of children face having a criminal record if they are caught
holding a can of beer, under plans being considered by ministers.
The proposals would mean that any under-18s found by police with alcohol
would receive a criminal conviction, which would have to be declared to
future employers.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said earlier this month that ministers
were looking at tightening confiscation rules which allow police
officers to remove alcohol from teenagers.
However, yesterday Vernon Coaker, the Home Office minister, took the
move further by saying that officials were examining whether to make
possession of alcohol by someone under 18 a criminal offence. Coaker
revealed that a review of how police deal with problem drinking would
consider whether children caught with alcohol should get criminal
records.
It's something we are not saying we are going to do, but it is
something that has been raised with us, he said.
Under the Confiscation of Alcohol (Young Persons) Act 1997, police can
confiscate cans of lager or bottles of wine if they reasonably believe
that teenagers are drinking, or are about to drink, the alcohol.
The most likely sanction is a fine but officials are also deciding
whether these fines should become part of a criminal record.
Campaigners warned against criminalising teenagers just for having one
can of lager or bottle of wine on their way to a party.
Frank Soodeen, from Alcohol Concern, said: We are concerned about the
unnecessary criminalisation of young people for drinking. The fact is
that large numbers of kids are getting their alcohol from older friends
and relations.
|
| 24th February |
Unsafe Sex in the Philippines... |
|
|
Check the marital status of your Filipino girl
Permalink |
See
full article from the Daily Mail
|
When
David Scott fell in love with a beautiful Filipino woman, he embraced
the opportunity to escape his humdrum existence as a machine operator in
Swindon and begin a new life in an exotic land.
But within weeks of leaving his friends and family to join his
girlfriend in her native country, his dream of happiness has vanished -
to be replaced by a nightmare he could never have anticipated.
After fathering a child with Cynthia Delfino, whose separation from her
estranged husband was not complete, the 35-year-old became an unwitting
victim of the Philippines' harsh legal system.
He and 29-year-old Cynthia were charged with adultery and thrown into a
rat-infested prison for four days.
They have now skipped bail and have gone into hiding as the country's
police search for them. If they are caught, David faces seven years in
jail and having his daughter taken away from him permanently.
David's ordeal began when Cynthia became pregnant with his child before
she had officially separated. Adultery is illegal in the Philippines,
where it can incur a seven-year jail sentence. Now, just weeks after the
birth of baby Janina, Cynthia's estranged husband - who is considered
the child's legal father in the Philippines - is determined to see the
pair imprisoned if they do not pay him £7,000 compensation.
Now only cash, which David and Cynthia do not have, or diplomatic
pressure, can save them from jail. However, the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office say they cannot interfere with Philippine law.
Philippines lawyer and women's and children's rights activist Katrina
Legarda warned: I have to tell you the worst first. David Scott is in
great danger if he stays here. The fact that he has a baby proves the
adultery. The baby is not legally his. A child born in a marriage is
considered legitimate to the marriage only. Legally the baby belongs to
her Filipino husband. Frankly put, he does not have a child. He should
go home.
Legarda continued: I know this sounds unfair but this is the law and
whenever we try to change it there is an outcry from the religious
groups.
This should not really be happening. We tried over 20 years ago to
introduce a divorce law, but those who supported it were condemned in
the pulpits of Catholic churches all over the country as people who
would go to Hell.
|
| 23rd February |
Serving up a Bad Attitude... |
|
|
British ISPs monitor browsing to target adverts
Permalink |
Ignoring the nasty side of the policy it will be interesting to see
what they can work out from browsing history. I think they will target
me with adverts for religion and nutter campaigns.
See
full article from
Techdirt
|
For
years now, ISPs have been searching for alternative revenue streams to
avoid just being "dumb pipes."
A few years ago, they picked up on the fact that they have a tremendous
amount of data about what you do online. A bunch of ISPs then started
selling your clickstream data to companies that could do something
useful with it (though, those ISPs probably neglected to tell you they
were doing this).
Late last year, we heard about a company that was trying to work with
ISPs to make use of that data themselves to insert their own ads based
on your surfing history -- and now we've got the first report of some
big ISPs moving into this realm.
Over in the UK three big ISPs, BT, Carphone Warehouse and Virgin Media
have announced plans to use your clickstream data to insert relevant ads
as you surf through a new startup called Phorm.
While Phorm claims that it keeps your data private by tracking
individual users with an assigned number only, that's hardly
assuring. After all, remember that both AOL and Netflix have released
similar anonymized data where identifying info was replaced with an
assigned number... and it didn't take long for both sets of data to be
de-anonymized.
While it's no surprise that ISPs would want to get into the advertising
business it's going to freak some people out (and potentially cause some
serious privacy problems).
All the more reason to figure out how encrypt your traffic and hide your
activities from your ISP.
|
| 23rd February |
Concentration Camp US... |
|
|
What is the US Government up to?
Permalink |
See
full article from
RINF.com
by Lewis Seiler
|
Beginning
in 1999, the US government has entered into a series of single-bid
contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to
build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States.
The government has also contracted with several companies to build
thousands of railcars, some reportedly equipped with shackles,
ostensibly to transport detainees.
According to diplomat and author Peter Dale Scott, the KBR contract is
part of a Homeland Security plan titled ENDGAME, which sets as its goal
the removal of “all removable aliens” and “potential terrorists.”
Fraud-busters such as Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, have complained
about these contracts, saying that more taxpayer dollars should not go
to taxpayer-gouging Halliburton. But the real question is: What kind of
“new programs” require the construction and refurbishment of detention
facilities in nearly every state of the union with the capacity to house
perhaps millions of people?
What could the government be contemplating that leads it to make
contingency plans to detain without recourse millions of its own
citizens?
|
| 22nd February |
Wright Effect... |
|
|
Ipswich killer convicted
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Guardian
|
Campaigners
with widely diverging beliefs last night called on the government to
re-examine the law on prostitution following the murder convictions of
Steve Wright.
Both those calling for the liberalisation of prostitution laws and those
advocating increased sanctions argued that the laws as they stand are
inadequate, but they suggested very different solutions.
The present position in British law is complicated: though strictly
speaking it is not illegal to buy or sell sex, soliciting and
kerb-crawling are both against the law.
Niki Adams, a spokeswoman for the English Collective of Prostitutes,
said the Ipswich verdicts emphasised the need for the government to
follow the example of New Zealand, where the laws against prostitution
were repealed in 2003: The impact that people have found there ... is
that it's improved the health and safety of women in the industry, which
we consider the absolute priority in policy-making in this area.
Mark Wakeling, director of the National Christian Alliance on
Prostitution, said that there was no "human right" for men to buy sex,
and advocated instead the adoption of a model derived from Sweden, where
buying sex became a criminal offence in 1999: Prostitution brings out
the worst in men. The sad thing is that there are attacks and violence,
even murders, against these women ... regularly. It's only when five are
murdered in one place that all of a sudden it starts to provoke debate.
The government has been conducting a review into the laws for the past
four years. In January 2006, it published a consultation document that
advocated steering a middle ground between the two opposing camps,
arguing for a more liberal view of small brothels combined with
increased restraints on kerb-crawling.
Last month the Home Office minister Vernon Coaker announced a fresh
six-month review, visiting Sweden to examine its policy. The position of
the government, which at one point appeared to favour a more liberal
regime, is thought to be hardening in favour of the Swedish approach.
We are clear that street-based prostitution and all forms of commercial
sexual exploitation must be challenged, a Home Office spokesman said
yesterday. They are not inevitable; they are not here to stay.
|
| 22nd February |
A Better Life... |
|
|
Brits flee Britain in record numbers
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Telegraph
|
Record
numbers of Britons are leaving - many of them doctors, teachers and
engineers - in the biggest exodus for almost 50 years.
There are now 3.247 million British-born people living abroad, of whom
more than 1.1 million are highly-skilled university graduates, say the
researchers.
More than three quarters of these professionals have settled abroad for
more than 10 years, according to the study by the Organisation of
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
No other nation is losing so many qualified people, it points out.
Britain has now lost more than one in 10 of its most skilled citizens,
while overall only Mexico has had more people emigrate.
The figures, based on official records from more than 220 countries,
will alarm Gordon Brown as tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers'
money is spent on educating graduates. The cost of training a junior
doctor, for example, is £250,000.
The most popular destinations are English-speaking countries such as
Australia, America, Canada and New Zealand and holiday areas including
France and Spain.
Almost 60% of those leaving take jobs, although hundreds of thousands of
retired people live abroad.
The report is a statistical analysis which does not study the motivation
for leaving Britain. However, high house prices and taxes and poor
climate are frequently cited.
A spokesman for the Paris-based OECD said last night: British people
have lots of opportunities to move and work abroad so very
highly-skilled people are travelling around. It is seen by many British
people as part of their personal development to have some experience
abroad."
Britain's exodus is far higher than any of the OECD's other 29 members.
Germany has lost only 860,000 highly-skilled workers, America 410,000
and France 370,000.
Damian Green, the shadow immigration minister, said: Ten years of
Labour has re-created the brain drain. High taxes and Government
interference are driving people away.
Comment:
I'll Tell You Why
22nd November 2008
See
full article from the
Telegraph
by Dave H
The Britain of 1997 almost seems like a dream now. Can you remember what
it was like to feel free? To be treated without suspicion and contempt,
to not be spied upon relentlessly, to live life without an avalanche of
bans, fines and little Hitlers bearing down on you? When the council
provided services rather than circling the community like a pack of
hyenas waiting for you to make the tiniest mistake?
Remember when our values were common sense, level headedness and fair
play? How could we have allowed ourselves to be hijacked by this ghastly
bunch of sociopaths, authoritarians and constitutional vandals with
their malevolent desire to destroy liberty?
The last 10 years has seen a country butchered beyond recognition. And
we barely raised a whimper. Shame on us all.
|
| 21st February |
Olympic Bedroom Sports... |
|
|
Just popping down the Co-op dear
Permalink |
See
full article
from
Google News
|
A
group of Vancouver sex-trade workers has incorporated the country's
first sex industry co-operative with the goal of setting up a legal
brothel.
The official documents incorporating the West Coast Cooperative of Sex
Industry Professionals arrived in the mail this week. So far, the co-op
has 13 directors, including prostitutes, porn stars and exotic dancers.
Susan Davis said: We're just looking for an opportunity to
demonstrate what we believe will be the impact on the health and safety
of the entire community by bringing it indoors.
Ultimately, the co-op would be like a safe place for prostitutes to
conduct business, as well as a place to offer education and skills
training to sex-industry workers.
The group will be lobbying the federal government for an exemption to
federal laws against prostitution in order to open the brothel,
preferably near the Port of Vancouver. Co-op directors are in the
process of drafting a proposal for the federal government that would
exempt the co-op from the Criminal Code prohibition on prostitution.
Davis admits the group has an uphill battle convincing the federal
Conservative government to approve a brothel but she is confident. Davis
believes there is support for the project, even within the political
community. Ideally, the brothel would be in place by the 2010 Olympic
Games, she said.
See
full article
from
Focus on the Family
The federal government has effectively dashed the hopes of some MPs that
it will decriminalize prostitution and allow Vancouver “sex-trade
workers” to open a brothel to coincide with the 2010 Winter Olympics,
the Ottawa Citizen reported.
We are not in the business of legalizing brothels, and we have no
intention of changing any of the laws relating to prostitution in this
country, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson told the Commons status of
women committee.
A majority on the committee had urged the government to amend the
Criminal Code so that only those who exploit or buy sex from prostitutes
would face prosecution. But Nicholson refused.
|
| 20th February |
Potentially Lethal... |
|
|
UK police to use Taser guns against children
Permalink |
Based on an article from the Daily Mail
|
Police
have been given the go-ahead to use potentially lethal Taser stun guns
against children.
The relaxing of restrictions on the use of the weapons comes despite
warnings that they could trigger a heart attack in youngsters.
Until now, Tasers, which emit a 50,000-volt electric shock, have been
used only by specialist officers as a "non lethal" alternative to
firearms. Tasers work by firing metal barbs into the skin which then
discharge an electrical charge.
However, they can now be used against all potentially violent offenders
even if they are unarmed. It is the decision not to ban their use
against minors that is likely to raise serious concerns.
Home Office Police Minister Tony McNulty said medical assessments had
confirmed the risk of death or serious injury from Tasers was "low". But
he failed to mention Government advisers had also warned of a potential
risk to children.
The Defence Scientific Advisory Council medical committee told the Home
Office that not enough was known about the health risks of using the
weapons against children. The committee, which is made up of independent
scientists and doctors, said that limited research suggested there was a
risk children could suffer "a serious cardiac event".
It recommended that officers should be "particularly vigilant" for any
Taser-induced adverse response and said guidance should be amended to
identify children and adults of small stature as being at
potentially greater risk from the cardiac effects of Tasers.
The Government scientists were also asked to test whether the weapons
could cause a miscarriage if used on a pregnant woman. While not saying
whether police would be allowed to Taser an expectant mother, the Home
Office said the DSAC committee had "specifically asked" for computer
simulations to be carried out to analyse the effect on "a pregnant
female".
Amnesty International claims Tasers have been responsible for 220 deaths
in America since 2001. Many cities and police forces there have banned
their use against minors. Two years ago in Chicago a 14-year-old boy
went into cardiac arrest after being shot with one. Medics had to use a
defibrillator four times to resuscitate him.
|
| 19th February |
Licensed to Repress... |
|
|
Amsterdam continues campaign against sex industry
Permalink |
Based on an
article
from
Google News
|
Amsterdam,
previously famed for its red light prostitution district, on Wednesday
gave escort services six weeks to apply for official city licenses.
The order is part of a campaign against the sex industry, which was
legalized in the Netherlands in 2000.
To obtain a license, escort agencies must have a fixed address and
telephone number, and must guarantee that prostitutes are healthy and
work in safe conditions, the city said.
Escort agencies have six weeks to comply — or face being shut down.
Council spokesman Edwin Oppedijk said the city estimates that 120 escort
agencies, which until now have escaped monitoring, will be affected by
the licensing order. Around 1,200 prostitutes who operate solo won't be
affected.
So far only a handful of the estimated 60 escort services have requested
a license. It was unclear how the new ordinance would be enforced.
|
| 19th February |
Detention Record?... |
|
|
School kids records to be made available online
Permalink |
Based on an article
from the
Times
|
 |
|
Entry Denied!
It says here that you were caught taking
a drag on a spliff behind the bike sheds |
All 14-year-old children in England will have their personal details
and exam results placed on an electronic database for life.
Colleges and prospective employers will be able to access students’
records online to check on their qualifications. Under the terms of the
scheme all children will keep their individual number throughout their
adult lives. The database will include details of exclusions and
expulsions.
The introduction of the unique learner number (ULN) will be seen
as the latest step in the Government’s efforts to computerise personal
records.
Last night teachers’ leaders, parents’ organisations, opposition MPs and
human rights campaigners questioned whether this Big Brother approach
was necessary and said that it could compromise the personal security of
millions of teenagers.
The new database — which will store a “tamper-proof CV” — will be known
as MIAP (managing Information Across Partners). To be registered on the
new database every 14-year-old will be issued with a unique learner
number. Unlike the current unique pupil number now given to children in
school but destroyed when they leave, the ULN will be used by government
agencies to track individuals until they retire. Ultimately, it will
create a numbered database for every citizen aged 14-plus in the UK.
The MIAP is part of a push for more government departments to share
information on ordinary citizens with each other.
Margaret Morrisey, of the National Association of Parent Teacher
Associations, said that plans for MIAP, which will be compulsory for all
14-year-olds throughout the UK, would fill parents with horror: I
suspect there will not be more than two parents in the land who would
have faith in the Government that this information will be secure.
Original plans for MIAP drawn up by the Government in 2003 suggested
that the database could be linked to identity cards, raising the
prospect that once pupils were in the system they might be forced into
accepting an ID card.
|
| 18th February |
Labour to Dismantle Democracy... |
|
|
UK to ban parliamentary candidates by the colour of their skin?
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Guardian
|
White
candidates should be barred from standing for Parliament in up
to eight constituencies in order to get more black and Asian MPs
elected, says a controversial report commissioned by Labour's
deputy leader, Harriet Harman.
Positive discrimination is illegal in the UK, but the report
concludes that, without a change in the law allowing parties to
impose all-black shortlists, it would take more than 75 years
for Britain's ethnic make-up to be fairly reflected at
Westminster.
Harman is understood to be still considering the report's
findings in detail, but has expressed personal support for a
change.
Simon Woolley of Operation Black Vote and the author of the
review, said talented candidates were not 'getting past go' at
the moment.
His report is understood to conclude that all-black shortlists
would be needed for two decades, after which talented candidates
could be expected to make it on their own. It identifies 100
constituencies with large ethnic minority communities as prime
targets for shortlists, but concludes that positive
discrimination would be needed in only four to eight of those
seats for four elections in a row to ensure that the proportion
of ethnic minority MPs matches the proportion in the population.
Woolley's findings are likely to be controversial, with any
proposal to change the law risking a rough ride in the Commons.
Last week, former minister Keith Vaz introduced a backbench bill
proposing all-black shortlists, which was instantly condemned by
Tory backbencher Philip Davies as 'politically correct' and
divisive.
However, Vaz is lobbying Harman for the measure to be included
in a bill on equality issues later this year - meaning it could
be on the statute book by 2009. She is the person who has a
huge history of supporting these issues, he added.
Woolley's report was commissioned by Harman last autumn to
examine the merits of positive discrimination. Only 2% of MPs
are black or Asian, compared with more than 7% of the general
population.
|
| 17th February |
Thailand Murder Warning... |
|
|
Calling to warn Canadians of the dangers of Thailand
Permalink |
See
full article
from the
The Globe and Mail
|
The
father of a Canadian killed in Thailand last month wants stronger
warnings issued about the Southeast Asian country in the wake of another
violent attack this week.
Ottawa should "red flag" Thailand to try to prevent more Canadians from
getting hurt or killed in the country, Ernie Del Pinto said.
His son, Leo, was shot in the head and chest in the northern town of Pai
during an altercation with an off-duty Thai police officer in early
January. Leo's friend, Carly Reisig of Victoria, was also wounded.
Earlier this week, Ontario physician Erik Griffioen was shot in the back
while riding in an open-sided taxi with his wife in the tourist city of
Chiang Mai.
And last week, 48-year-old Dale Henry was shot to death at close range
in his house in Ranong as he slept in front of his television. His
27-year-old wife, her lover and an alleged hit man have been arrested in
the killing.
|
| 17th February |
Police in the Lime Light... |
|
|
Hong Kong police up the ante for possession of celebrity sex pictures
Permalink |
See
full article
from Global Voices
See the pictures at
article from Hollywood Grind
|
Eight
people have now been arrested and two charged in Hong Kong in
what many netizens are calling the “white terror,” police
response to the Edison Chen sex photo scandal, explained by
Police Commissioner Tang King Shing last weekend when he said
possession of the photos alone is now illegal.
On 4 February 2008, A 29-year-old man became the eighth person
to be detained in connection with the internet posting of nude
photos. The man arrested is being detained at Ma On Shan police
station. On the same day, the 23-year-old man, Sze Ho-Chun,
arrested in Central on 2 February 2008 was charged with the
dishonest use of computers with criminal intent, which has a
maximum penalty of five years of imprisonment. The man appeared
in Eastern Court on 5 February 2008. He denied the charge and
was released on HK$50,000 bail. The case has been adjourned to
22 February 2008.
Pornography is openly sold by many street newspaper vendors in
Hong Kong and versions of the photographs have been seen on the
covers of most Chinese-language dailies every day since the
first batch of photos appeared online two weeks ago, despite
that under the city’s Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance,
distribution is prohibited.
Hundreds of netizens came out to protest [zh] the arrests today,
calling for Tang’s resignation and accusing Hong Kong police of
inconsistency in their arrests.
With the League of Social Democrats in the lead, a group of
several hundred netizens marched this afternoon from Victoria
Park to police headquarters, protesting police double standards
in assigning large numbers to investigate the celebrity obscene
photos as well as launching criticisms at Police Commissioner
Tang King Sing, shouting in unison slogans calling for his
resignation. Organizers say more than 500 people took part, but
the police count was at 230.
|
| 16th February |
Fag End Britain... |
|
|
Last vestiges of personal freedom up in smoke
Permalink |
See
full article from the Daily Mail
|
UK
Smokers could be forced to pay for a Government tobacco licence in order to
carry on buying cigarettes under draconian proposals being considered by
ministers.
Government advisers have drawn up plans for a smoking permit - similar to
the one needed to watch TV - which all smokers would have to carry.
Health experts have welcomed the move, pointing out that Britons are more
likely to die from smoking-related diseases than those in any other European
country. But the idea has triggered a furious backlash from smokers' groups,
who claim it is evidence of a "bully state".
Under the plans, anyone who refused to pay for a permit would be banned from
buying cigarettes from any outlet.
Although a licence could cost as little as £10 a year, forms would be made
deliberately complex to deter people from applying.
Smokers could also be forced to obtain a doctor's signature, declaring their
health was not at "massive risk" from their habit.
The scheme is the brainchild of Julian Le Grand, a professor at the London
School of Economics, who heads the ministerial advisory board, Health
England. He claimed the idea would help many smokers break the habit if they
had to make a decision whether to "opt in".
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, GP representative on the British Medical Association"s
public health committee, said asking doctors to police the permits would be
"unworkable". For each smoker to see their GP to renew a licence would mean
25million extra appointments a year, he claimed.
|
| 15th February |
Britain Goes Rotten to the Core... |
|
|
Trumped up charges for apple core litter
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Guardian
by Lionel Shriver
See article from the Daily Mail
by Richard Littlejohn
|
A
case is heading for a jury trial at a crown court: the notorious mother
of three Kate Badger of Wolverhampton is charged with throwing an apple
core out the window of her car.
Rather, the malefactor is charged with nothing so minor, but with
knowingly causing the deposit of controlled waste, namely an apple core,
on land which did not have a waste management licence. If convicted,
the evildoer could be fined a paltry £20,000 or be imprisoned for a
scant six months.
The defiant Badger maintains her innocence. By the lady's account, she
went shopping and left a friend in her car - a casual friend, she says,
with whom she has since lost touch. She noticed a council worker nearby,
who must have been the intrepid champion of the public good who took
down her registration number and reported the vile crime to
Wolverhampton council.
The 26-year-old subsequently received a lenient £60 fine by post. Our
unrepentant reprobate refused to pay it. Displaying shameless disrespect
for the hallowed rule of law, Badger has scoffed to reporters, I
think it is a ridiculous charge because apples are biodegradable, and
it's not as if we are talking about a huge bag of rubbish.
The case has already been running for 11 months and has consumed
thousands of pounds in legal fees. Instead of telling everyone to grow
up, go home and stop wasting the court's time and the taxpayers' money,
magistrates agreed to send the matter to a higher court.
In an indictment which could have come straight from the wildest
Beachcomber flight of fancy, she is accused of knowingly causing the
deposit of controlled waste, namely an apple core, on land which did not
have a waste management licence and of failing to provide
information" as to who did throw said apple core, contrary to
Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
This whole case is a complete fiasco.
But this isn't about litter, it's about the exercise of power. There's
been a lot of talk about the surveillance state this week and the usual
the innocent have nothing to fear platitudes. These are the same
people sifting through your refuse for the "wrong kind" or rubbish and
planting microchips in wheelie bins.
Now we've even got the use of cameras and numberplate recognition
software to track down someone who may or may not have dropped a
half-eaten apple.
This hasn't got anything to do with keeping the streets clean, otherwise
they'd employ a few more road-sweepers and dustmen. They'd rather spend
the money on inspectors, enforcers and elaborate spy technology.
As I've said time and again, it's about punishment, control and showing
us who's boss.
They'll resort to any justification. Thus, Miss Badger isn't merely a
suspected litter lout, she's an Enemy of the Earth, single-handedly
slaughtering polar bears, and must be charged as if she were fly-tipping
asbestos.
Update:
Wolverhampton Council Rotten to the Core
20th April 2008, Based on article
from the Daily Mail
A woman charged with illegally dumping an apple core has had her case
thrown out of court.
Kate Badger refused to pay a £60 fine for littering, saying she was not
responsible. She instead asked to stand trial before a jury at Crown
Court - risking a maximum sentence of a £20,000 fine or six months in
prison for a trumped up commercial offence.
But the case was dropped less than a week before it was due to go to
trial, because the prosecution offered no evidence.
Last night Wolverhampton City Council faced angry criticism for wasting
taxpayers' money.
A council spokesman said the charge was withdrawn after Miss Badger
finally provided her legal team with the name of the friend. He said:
This matter could have been easily resolved if Ms Badger had either paid
the fixed penalty notice or told us who was responsible for dropping the
litter. We make no apology for taking action against those who break the
law.
Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers Alliance, said: This is an appalling
use of power and a complete waste of money.
|
| 15th February |
Big Brother Sam... |
|
|
US border authorities seize laptops and copy all the data for analysis
Permalink |
See
full article from the Washington Post
|
Maria
Udy, a marketing executive with a global travel management firm in
Bethesda, said her company laptop was seized by a federal agent as she
was flying from Dulles International Airport to London in December 2006.
Udy, a British citizen, said the agent told her he had "a security
concern" with her. I was basically given the option of handing over
my laptop or not getting on that flight, she said.
The seizure of electronics at U.S. borders has prompted protests from
travelers who say they now weigh the risk of traveling with sensitive or
personal information on their laptops, cameras or cellphones. In some
cases, companies have altered their policies to require employees to
safeguard corporate secrets by clearing laptop hard drives before
international travel.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Asian Law Caucus, two civil
liberties groups in San Francisco, plan to file a lawsuit to force the
government to disclose its policies on border searches, including which
rules govern the seizing and copying of the contents of electronic
devices. They also want to know the boundaries for asking travelers
about their political views, religious practices and other activities
potentially protected by the First Amendment. The question of whether
border agents have a right to search electronic devices at all without
suspicion of a crime is already under review in the federal courts.
The lawsuit was inspired by two dozen cases, 15 of which involved
searches of cellphones, laptops, MP3 players and other electronics.
Almost all involved travelers of Muslim, Middle Eastern or South Asian
background, many of whom, including Mango and the tech engineer, said
they are concerned they were singled out because of racial or religious
profiling.
...Read
full article
|
| 14th February |
Going Down the Tube... |
|
|
London Underground ban historical nude
Permalink |
Thanks to Nick
See
full article from the
Guardian
|
Venus
has been delighting connoisseurs for almost 500 years - but she has been
banned from London Underground, as they decided she is likely to offend
rather than enchant the capital's weary commuters.
She was intended as the main poster for the Royal Academy's show on the
German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder, noted for his sensuous nudes.
Millions of people travel on the London Underground each day and they
have no choice but to view whatever adverts are posted there. We have to
take account of the full range of travellers and endeavour not to cause
offence in the advertising we display, a spokesman said.
[You just have to know
who they are alluding to!]
London Underground advertising is vetted by a firm called CBS Outdoor,
and Venus seems to have fallen foul of the guideline that advertising
should not depict men, women or children in a sexual manner, or
display nude or semi-nude figures in an overtly sexual context.
|
| 14th February |
Texas Dildos... |
|
|
Sex toy ban overturned
Permalink |
See
full article
from
Google News
|
A
federal appeals court has overturned a statute outlawing sex toy sales
in Texas, one of the last of the southern states to retain such a ban.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Texas law making it
illegal to sell or promote obscene devices, punishable by as many as two
years in jail, violated the right to privacy guaranteed by the 14th
Amendment.
Companies that own Dreamer's and Le Rouge Boutique, which sell the
devices in its Austin stores, and the retail distributor Adam & Eve sued
in federal court in Austin in 2004 over the constitutionality of the
law. They appealed after a federal judge dismissed the suit and said the
Constitution did not protect their right to publicly promote such
devices.
In its decision, the appeals court cited Lawrence and Garner v. Texas,
the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 opinion that struck down bans on
consensual sex between same-sex couples.
Just as in Lawrence, the state here wants to use its laws to enforce
a public moral code by restricting private intimate conduct, the
appeals judges wrote. The case is not about public sex. It is not
about controlling commerce in sex. It is about controlling what people
do in the privacy of their own homes because the state is morally
opposed to a certain type of consensual private intimate conduct. This
is an insufficient justification after Lawrence.
The Texas attorney general's office, which represented the Travis County
district attorney in the case, has not decided whether to appeal, said
agency spokesman Tom Kelley.
Phil Harvey, president of Adam & Eve Inc., said: I think it's
wonderful, but it does seem to me that since Texas was one of three
states in the country — along with Mississippi and Alabama — that
continued to outlaw the sale of sex toys and vibrators, that it was
probably past time.
Alabama is in the 11th Circuit. But now it's unlikely that the law in
Mississippi, which also is in the 5th Circuit, will be prosecuted, some
legal experts said. Louisiana, Kansas, Colorado and Georgia had laws
barring obscene devices, but courts have since struck them down. The
11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Georgia law banning the
advertising of sex toys, which can be sold under some approved
circumstances.
Update:
Mississippi Shaken
25th February 2008
It is also speculated that the Mississippi sex toy ban is now also in
jeopardy as it is on the same circuit of appeal courts as Texas
|
| 13th February |
Police Butt Cracks... |
|
|
Police make an arse of themselves in Virginia Beach
Permalink |
See
full article
from the BBC
|
Posters
of scantily clad youths that were seized by police at an Abercrombie &
Fitch store in a Virginia mall this weekend may be inappropriate for
young children, but they are not obscene, according to legal experts.
Virginia Beach police apparently have agreed. They have dropped charges
against the clothing company that markets to chic teens.
The window displays went up in 363 stores across the country in
mid-January, including the Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach.
One
of the posters showed three shirtless young men, one with his upper
buttocks revealed. The second one revealed a woman's breast — with all
but the nipples.
Was the police response to the store an overreaction? Yes, according to
legal experts. Though local laws can vary, courts require that the image
show sexual activity or a "lewd display" of genitals, says Lawrence
Walters, an Orlando lawyer and First Amendment specialist: There is
not a chance any jury in America would find the photo obscene under
these standards.
Virginia police had referred to City Code Section 22.31, which says it
is a crime to display obscene materials in a business that is open to
juveniles, said police spokesman Adam Bernstein.
The manager of the store could have faced a fine of up to $2,000 and a
year in jail.
Walters said police may have misread the standards for obscenity, as is
often the case. He also said they improperly seized the posters without
a search warrant, which constitutes prior restraint, which is barred by
the Constitution.
|
| 11th February |
New Olympic Sport of Gagging... |
|
|
Rewording of gagging contract promised
Permalink |
Based on an
article from the Daily Mail
|
The
decision to ban UK competitors at this year's Games in Beijing from
commenting on "politically sensitive issues" triggered protests from
human rights groups.
Former sports minister David Mellor said the gagging clause amounted to
"sucking up to dictators".
In the face of such criticism, the British Olympic Association agreed to
look again at the wording of the contract handed out to all prospective
competitors.
It had previously demanded that athletes not make political comments or
engage in "political propaganda" at Olympic venues.
Mellor called the contract a timely wake-up call for all of us who
thought sucking up to dictators was something we had left behind in the
Thirties.
Tory culture spokesman Jeremy Hunt accused the British Olympic
Association of being "heavy-handed". He added: "I think that given
America, Canada and Australia are explicitly saying that their athletes
can say what they want when they go to Beijing, I think it is
inappropriate to put this restriction on our athletes.
Amnesty International campaigns director Tim Hancock said: People in
China can't speak out about human rights without fear of reprisals -
people in Britain can.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said the move would be effectively
"kowtowing" to China's authoritarian regime: We have to be very clear
with the Chinese - they now play a significant role in the world economy
and international affairs. That brings certain domestic responsibilities
with it and I think for us to sort of gag ourselves is a real abdication
of our moral responsibility.
British Olympic Association chief executive Simon Clegg said: I
accept that the interpretation of one part of the draft BOA's
Team-Members Agreement appears to have gone beyond the provision of the
Olympic Charter. This is not our intention nor is it our desire to
restrict athletes' freedom of speech and the final agreement will
reflect this.
|
| 10th February |
Winston Who?... |
|
|
1 in 4 Britons Think Winston Churchill Never Existed
Permalink |
Thanks to jj
|
One
in four Britons don't believe wartime Prime Minister Winston
Churchill existed, according to a recent survey. Churchill is
compared to Florence Nightingale and Sir Walter Raleigh, seen by
many survey respondents as a mythical person, the London Daily
Mail reported.
The survey, conducted with 3,000 respondents to test their
general knowledge, reported other historical figures such as
Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, Cleopatra and the Duke of
Wellington were made up for books and films, the Mail reported.
The survey, by UKTV Gold, also found that Sherlock Holmes was a
real person.
Young Britons under 20 lack a basic historical education
according to the survey results, historian Correlli Barnett told
the Daily Mail.
[Perhaps more likely that the Britons asked in the survey
haven't had a long history in the country. All the Brits who
know about Churchill have emigrated]
|
| 10th February |
Saluting Chinese Repression... |
|
|
British Olympic athletes forced to sign contractual gag
Permalink |
See
full article from the Daily Mail
|
British
Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to
speak out about China's appalling human rights record – or face being
banned from travelling to Beijing.
The move – which raises the spectre of the order given to the England
football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 – immediately
provoked a storm of protest.
The controversial clause has been inserted into athletes' contracts for
the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about
countries staging the Olympic Games.
It is contained in a 32-page document that will be presented to all
those who reach the qualifying standard and are chosen for the team.
From the moment they sign up, the competitors will be effectively gagged
from commenting on China's politics, human rights abuses or illegal
occupation of Tibet.
Prince Charles has already let it be known that he will not be going to
China, even if he is invited by Games organisers. His views on the
Communist dictatorship are well known, after this newspaper revealed how
he described China's leaders as “appalling old waxworks” in a journal
written after he attended the handover of Hong Kong. The Prince is also
a long-time supporter of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader.
Yesterday the British Olympic Association (BOA) confirmed to The Mail on
Sunday that any athlete who refuses to sign the agreements will not be
allowed to travel to Beijing. Should a competitor agree to the clause
but then speak their mind about China, they will be put on the next
plane home.
The clause, in section 4 of the contract, simply states: [Athletes]
are not to comment on any politically sensitive issues. It then
refers competitors to Section 51 of the International Olympic Committee
charter, which provides for no kind of demonstration, or political,
religious or racial propaganda in the Olympic sites, venues or other
areas.
The BOA took the decision even though other countries – including the
United States, Canada, Finland, and Australia – have pledged that their
athletes would be free to speak about any issue concerning China.
To date, only New Zealand and Belgium have banned their athletes from
giving political opinions while competing at the Games.
|
| 10th February |
Safety in Numbers... |
|
|
Mean minded Labour to bar sex worker's phone numbers
Permalink |
Based on an
article
from the
Times
|
Mean
minded ministers want to block the phone numbers of prostitutes who
advertise their services in newspapers and telephone booths in an
attempt to stifle the illegal sex trade.
Police forces would identify suspected prostitutes to the telephone
companies, which would be required to cut off their numbers.
The proposal has emerged in a six-month review of prostitution laws
by ministers from three government departments. They are also
considering making it illegal to pay for sex.
Vera Baird, the solicitor-general, spewed bollox that it was
important to curb “the industry of prostitution” and the demand for
call girls if the stream of trafficked women into Britain was to be
stemmed.
Critics warned that blocking telephones could drive the trade
underground, making it harder to police, and would force more women
to walk the streets in the search for business. They also warned
that it could criminalise legitimate escorts.
It is 10 times more dangerous to work on the streets than in a
flat. It will drive it underground, said Cari Mitchell of the
English Collective of Prostitutes.
Last month Baird, Vernon Coaker, a Home Office minister, and Barbara
Follett, the women’s minister, visited Sweden where it is a criminal
offence to pay for sex. All the main Swedish telephone companies
have a voluntary agreement with the phone regulator to cut off the
lines of brothels and prostitutes.
The ministers have already spoken to local and regional newspaper
representatives about withdrawing advertisements for prostitutes —
often promoted under the guise of massage services.
Baird also wants more local newspapers to publicly name and shame
men convicted of kerb-crawling as a deterrent to others. She praised
local papers in Middlesbrough for identifying men who have been
convicted of using prostitutes.
Other MPs fear that the measures could backfire. Lynne Featherstone,
the Liberal Democrat equalities spokeswoman, said: It is a very
good thing that the government is looking at this, but there is a
danger that it could drive prostitution underground. Any moves to
try to eradicate the client side would have to be incredibly
carefully handled. In an ideal world prostitution shouldn’t exist,
but we don’t live in an ideal world.
|
| 9th February |
Christian Freedom Thieves... |
|
|
Philippines bans porn, sex shows and the words 'christian' or 'muslim'
Permalink |
See
full article from Broadcasting & Cable
|
The
Philippines House of Representatives has approved a bill that seeks
to prohibit both print and broadcast media from using the words
"Muslim" and "Christian" as a means of describing a person suspected
of committing a crime.
The bill’s main authors said the measure’s objective is to penalize
media practitioners by imposing a fine of at least P50,000 whenever
the words Muslim and Christian are used: It is hereby declared
unlawful for any person to use in mass media, the words Muslim or
Christian or any other words that would denote religious or ethnic
affiliation to describe any person suspected of or convicted for
having committed criminal or unlawful acts."
Hataman, a human rights advocate, said the bill would go a long way
as this would reduce connotations of discrimination in the practice
of religion.
The bill provides, however, that only editors of newspapers and
broadcast stations will be penalized.
Four other measures were approved on third and final reading at the
House, including House Bill 2420 amending the Family Code of the
Philippines, HB 2811 penalizing those exploiting women and
glorifying sexual violence in advertisements, HB 3305 banning
obscene porn materials and live sex shows.
|
| 9th February |
Coerced to Get Voluntary ID Card... |
|
|
Government plot how to make ID Cards mandatory
Permalink |
See
full article from RINF.com
See also
leaked government document [PDF]
|
Young
drivers are to be FORCED to get ID cards when they apply for their
first licences.
The People has seen sensational leaked Home Office documents
revealing the secret plan.
It says newdrivers and those applying for fresh passports will be
“coerced” into getting the controversial identity cards.
PM Gordon Brown has always said the scheme will be voluntary unless
Parliament decides otherwise.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis stormed: “This is an outrageous
plan. The Government has seen their ID card proposals stagger from
shambles to shambles: Now they plan to use coercion in a
desperate attempt to bolster a failed policy.
Civil rights group Liberty said: This memo confirms that
compulsion is the ultimate ambition of this scheme.And it can be
achieved by stealth even without the need for further parliamentary
debate.
The secret document from the Identity and Passport Service is
headed: Options analysis - outcome.
It says: Various forms of coercion, such as designation of the
application process for identity documents issued by UK ministers (eg
passports) are an option to stimulate applications in a manageable
way.
There are advantages to designation of documents associated with
particular target groups, eg young people who may be applying for
their first driving licence. The report says: universal
compulsion should not be used unless absolutely necessary
because of the ID controversy.
|
| 9th February |
Thinking of the Matriculants... |
|
|
Legalising of prostitution unlikely for the South Africa World Cup
Permalink |
See
full article from the Citizen
|
The
proposal on prostitution being legalised during the 2010 Soccer World
Cup in South Africa was described as “immoral” by several political
parties.
This after an ANC MP George Lekgetho suggested that this is one of the
things that would make the tournament a success during a meeting of the
Portfolio Committee on Arts and Culture in Parliament.
Speaking to The Citizen yesterday, leader of the African Christian
Democratic Party (ACDP) Reverend Kenneth Meshoe described the proposal
as a joke and that it was upsetting to promote something of that nature.
“There is no way we as the ACDP can support this.
The main opposition party DA’s MP Sydney Opperman echoed Meshoe’s
sentiments saying the legalisation of prostitution would be totally
unAfrican. We can’t use sex tax because of bankruptcy. We oppose the
proposal because it is immoral and we are faced with major challenges
such as HIV and Aids as well as teenage pregnancy. What kind of a
message is this to jobless matriculants, Opperman said.
|
| 9th February |
What A Burkha... |
|
|
Archbishop William's UK sharia suggestion is not well received
Permalink |
See
full article from the
Telegraph
|
The
Archnutter of Canterbury faced calls for his resignation today as
bishops joined politicians in criticising his remarks supporting the
adoption of sharia law in Britain.
Dr Rowan Williams was urged to quit by angry members of the General
Synod, the Church's "parliament", who claimed he was undermining the
Christian faith.
To add to his woes, Lord Carey, his predecessor at Canterbury, and the
Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, challenged his view
that aspects of Islamic law could be incorporated into the English legal
system.
The strength of the backlash represents one of the most serious blows to
the Archbishop's authority since his appointment five years ago, and he
faces more turbulence when the Synod convenes for a five-day meeting in
London on Monday.
Last night friends of the Archbishop said he was "completely
overwhelmed" by the hostility of the response and in a "state of shock"
at the barrage of criticism he has received.
Lord Carey said that he was wrong to believe that sharia could be
accommodated into the English system because there were so many
conflicting versions of it, many of which discriminated against women.
Bishop Nazir-Ali, who holds dual British and Pakistani citizenship, said
sharia would be "in tension" with fundamental aspects of our current
legal system, such as the rights of women.
Offsite Comment:
What he wishes on us is an abomination
See
article from the
Independent
by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
What Rowan Williams wishes upon us is an abomination and I write here as
a modern Muslim woman. He lectures the nation on the benefits of sharia
law – made by bearded men, for men – and wants the alternative legal
system to be accommodated within our democracy in the spirit of
inclusion and cohesion.
Pray tell me sir, how do separate and impenetrable courts and schools
and extreme female segregation promote commonalities and deep bonds
between citizens of these small isles?
What he did on Thursday was to convince other Britons, white, black and
brown, that Muslims want not equality but exceptionalism and their own
domains. Enlightened British Muslims quail. Friends like this churchman
do us more harm than our many enemies. He passes round what he believes
to be the benign libation of tolerance. It is laced with arsenic.
He would not want his own girls and women, I am sure, to "choose" to be
governed by these laws he breezily endorses. And he is naive to the
point of folly if he imagines it is possible to pick and choose the bits
that are relatively nice to the girls or ones that seem to dictate
honourable financial transactions.
Look around the Islamic world where sharia rules and, in every single
country, these ordinances reduce our human value to less than half that
is accorded a male; homosexuals are imprisoned or killed, children have
no free voice or autonomy, authoritarianism rules and infantilises
populations.
Offsite Comment:
Williams is dangerous. He must be resisted
See
article
from the
Times
by Matthew Parris
...Properly understood, the effect of devolving national law and
national morality to local and group level is profoundly conservative.
Dr Williams's ideas really represent the wilder fringes of a bigger
idea: communitarianism...
There is absolutely nothing “left-wing” or woolly-liberal about
empowering it. A Britain in which Muslim communities policed themselves
would be more ruthlessly policed, and probably more law-abiding than
today. But it would be a Britain in which the individual Muslim - maybe
female, maybe ambitious, maybe gay, maybe a religious doubter - would
lose their chances of rescue from his or her family or community by the
State.
The State, not family, faith or community, is the guarantor of personal
liberty and intellectual freedom, and it will always be to the State,
not the Church, synagogue or mosque, that the oppressed individual needs
look. Some two centuries ago Nonconformism in Britain, by offering the
individual an unmediated approach to a personal God, started to liberate
Christians from the Church. Dr Williams seems not to understand this. Or
perhaps he does, and is on the other side.
Update:
Unclear & Clumsily Deployed
12th February
See
full article from the
Independent
The Archbishop of Canterbury has sought to defuse the bitter row over
what he appeared to claim was the unavoidable adoption of sharia law in
the UK by conceding that his controversial comments may have been
unclear and "clumsily deployed".
He insisted that the Church of England had a "considerable"
responsibility to other faith groups and asserted that it was not
"inappropriate" to raise issues surrounding Islam or other religions –
comments that were immediately welcomed by Muslim leaders.
|
| 8th February |
It's a Boy's World... |
|
|
India petitioned to block website selling pre-natal gender identification
Permalink |
Culturally dictated gender imbalance is surely a danger for some
societies. Maybe it even justifies censorship. Preference for boys may
be good for Thailand's Asian sex tourist business though.
See
full article
from
FACT Thai
|
The
Indian Supreme Court will hear on February 15 an application seeking
directions to the Union of India for blocking access to a website
promoting pre-natal gender identification kits from abroad.
The Voluntary Health Association of Punjab is petitioning to seek strict
implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques
(Prohibition on Sex Selection) Act, 1994.
The application said that a website promoting sale of gender
identification kits was reported in the media.
The website, according to the applicant, says the test seeks to
identify the presence of male or female foetal genetic materials in the
mother’s blood. The website provided the methods by which the
test was conducted, the process of ordering the test kit, safeguards to
be taken, etc.
Since the website was accessible anywhere in the country, a blanket
blocking of this website was essential to prevent the misuse of
technology and violation of the law, the application said and sought a
direction in this regard.
|
| 8th February |
Divorced from Reality... |
|
|
Archnutter Williams suggests some Sharia could be included in UK law
Permalink |
Without actually knowing anything about shariah divorce law one has to
suspect that it gives the wife absolutely no say in the matter, nor any
fair share in the assets. Surely this would be totally impossible to
accept in Britain.
See
full article from the
Telegraph
see also
full interview
|
Rowan
Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has sparked a political storm by
calling for aspects of Sharia law to be adopted in Britain.
Williams said it seems inevitable" that elements of Islamic law, such
as divorce proceedings, would be incorporated into British law.
Williams said the UK had to face up to the fact that some
citizens do not relate to the British legal system, and argued that
officially sanctioning Sharia law would improve community relations.
Nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind
of inhumanity that has sometimes been associated with the practice of
the law in some Islamic states, he told the BBC's World at One
programme: But there are ways of looking at marital disputes, for
example, which provide an alternative to the divorce courts as we
understand them.
But his intervention put him at odds with Gordon Brown, who has
repeatedly encouraged ethnic communities to integrate.
The Prime Minister's spokesman said that while certain allowances had
been made for Muslims, British law would be based on British values and
Sharia law was no justification for acting against national law.
Williams said people needed to look at Islamic law with a clear eye
and not imagine, either, that we know exactly what we mean by Sharia and
just associate it with... Saudi Arabia, or whatever....I do not think we
should instantly spring to the conclusion that the whole of that world
of jurisprudence and practice is somehow monstrously incompatible with
human rights just because it doesn't immediately fit with how we
understand it.
Sharia law was originally more enlightened in its attitude to women than
other legal systems, Williams pointed out, but did now have to be
brought up to date.
Williams's comments were welcomed by Mohammed Shafiq, the director of
the Ramadhan Foundation, who said: Sharia law for civil matters is
something which has been introduced in some western countries with much
success.
|
| 7th February |
Mean Minded in Wales... |
|
|
Criminalising buyers of sex at the Welsh Assembly
Permalink |
See
full article
from the BBC
|
A
debate on prostitution has been called in the Welsh assembly by Cynon
Valley AM Christine Chapman.
She explains why she supports calls for a law change to make it illegal
to pay for sex and help prevent the "oldest exploitation in the world".
Statements like this seek only to stifle the
debate and provide excuses. My fundamental
argument is one of principle. Do we think that it is right in an age
when we have made some progress with equality for women that women
continue to be degraded and exploited though prostitution?
I do think that public opinion towards prostitution is changing and we
should therefore grasp the opportunity to have a debate.
Most women I have talked to find it abhorrent; it is discordant with how
they view themselves in the world.
I fully acknowledge that there is an argument that it would be better to
legalise brothels in order to make it safer for women, but I'm not sure
that that is the answer.
Prostitution is not a devolved matter: nevertheless, the Welsh Assembly
Government has a responsibility to ensure that there are adequate
support services. I would ask that the Welsh Assembly Government works
with their Westminster colleagues such as Harriet Harman and Vernon
Coaker as they seek to change the law.
|
| 7th February |
Age Old Repression... |
|
|
Netherlands considers increasing minimum age for prostitutes
Permalink |
See
full article
from NIS News
|
The
minimum age for legal prostitution may go up from 18 to 21. Netherlands
Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin will have the desirability of this
measure investigated.
In The Hague, sex bosses themselves have raised the prostitution age to
21 to prevent young girls running into problems. Party for Freedom (PVV)
MP Fleur Agema praised that initiative and asked the minister last
November to raise the legal age.
PVV's plan was earlier rejected by the Lower House. But prostitution
'capital' Amsterdam has meanwhile supported raising the minimum age.
The nature of the profession demands a certain degree of maturity and a
higher age goes with this, the city council executive believes.
Christian democratic (CDA) Minister Hirsch Ballin announced he would
consider the measure as part of a "package of measures" whereby the
cabinet wants to tackle prostitution more stringently.
Youth and Family Minister Andre Rouvoet is also positive on the PVV
proposal. Prostitution has been a legal profession in the Netherlands
since 2000.
|
| 6th February |
Contemptible Judge... |
|
|
Suspended jail sentence for reading Maxim in US court
Permalink |
See
full article
from Wall Street Journal
|
North
Carolina judge, Kevin Eddinger, held lawyer Todd Paris in contempt
after he saw him reading Maxim magazine with “a female
topless model” on the cover, according to the court order.
When Eddinger gave Paris a chance to respond he apologized and
stated in his view the magazine was not pornography, was available
at local stores and that he did not intend contempt, the order
said. Eddinger fined Paris $300, gave him a 15 day suspended jail
sentence that remains in effect for a year and placed him on
unsupervised probation, according to the order.
Eddinger wrote in the order that The contemnor’s (Paris) conduct
interrupted the proceedings of the court and impaired the respect
due its authority. In addition, the contemnor’s actions were grossly
inappropriate, patently offensive, and violative of Rule 12 of the
General Rules of Practice. Courtroom staff, law enforcement, members
of the Bar and the general public shall be able to conduct courtroom
business in an atmosphere free of the display of offensive material
as demonstrated by the contemnor, thus necessitating this action.
|
| 5th February |
Dixon of In the Dock Britain... |
|
|
Police chipping away at their public respect
Permalink |
Anyone that has ever been stopped by traffic police will surely doubt
their case. And anyone who has seen the statistics of courts backing the
police over complainants will surely doubt the magistrate too.
See
full article from the
Telegraph
by Simon Heffer
|
Sometimes,
though, the bobby on the beat acts in a way that only feeds the
growing belief that the police are the enemy.
At Christmas 2006, Frank Gibson was driving back from midnight mass
to his home in Gravesend in Kent. He claimed he took his car, within
the speed limit, into the middle of the road to avoid parked cars,
as one does. A police car behind started to flash its lights. Since
Mr Gibson believed he was doing nothing wrong, he assumed the
officers were not trying to stop him. However, they were.
He stopped as soon as he safely could and turned off his engine. He
has since told friends that he tried to wind down his window but, it
being electric and his engine being off, it would not open.
The prosecution claimed he refused to get out of the car and was
"persistently confrontational and argumentative". The officer opened
his door, removed his car keys and hauled him out. The hauling out
is important. For, you see, Mr Gibson was 81 and, having just had an
operation on his ankle, he walked with a stick.
If you remain to be convinced of how small a threat Mr Gibson is to
society, and indeed to the burly officer about a third of his age
who hoiked him out of his car, let me also state the following for
the record.
As well as being in his eighties and frail, Mr Gibson is the
governor of two schools, a trustee of two charities, has a fine war
record, worked as a district officer and magistrate in Africa, has
been a borough and county councillor for many years and Mayor of
Gravesham, and received the OBE for service to his community. As his
barrister told a court, he is a man of "previous exceptional
character".
None of this would have been known to Pc Steven Cole and Pc Thomas
McGregor of the Kent Constabulary when he was dragged out of his
car.
Mr Gibson, who was convinced he had been doing nothing wrong, who
was bemused at being treated in this fashion and no doubt rather
alarmed, is then alleged to have assaulted these two brave officers.
This arthritic old man allegedly twisted Pc Cole's thumb so hard
that it made him "yelp". Possibly even worse, Pc McGregor was shoved
in the chest.
Who can blame them, subjected as they were to such a vicious attack,
for bundling Mr Gibson into their car, handcuffing him and locking
him in a cell for five hours? The public - and police officers -
manifestly have to be protected from savages such as Mr Gibson.
Mr Gibson claimed he was driving slowly in the middle of the road
because it was the middle of the night, and he was trying to avoid
hitting any of the parked cars. He passed a breathalyser. He could
have been bound over to keep the peace, but refused, for it would
have meant admitting guilt.
So the case went to court to, I hear, the embarrassment of the Kent
police and the chagrin of the county's police authority. Still
protesting his innocence and after two hearings spread out over many
months, Mr Gibson was fined £910 and given a six-month conditional
discharge last week.
The bench said he had "allowed his temper to get the better of him".
Kent crown prosecution service said that the officers' behaviour was
''not unreasonable, but proportionate".
I would submit that no story about the apparent insensitivity of the
police should cause us to hate them as a class, not even this one,
though my God it comes close.
I know there will be many decent officers as outraged, shocked and
appalled as I am by Pc Cole's and Pc McGregor's treatment of Mr
Gibson. Is this how they train them in Kent? Do they bother to tell
them that elderly people are often slow, easily confused, easily
frightened, above all vulnerable?
I don't care what wonderful careers Pcs Cole and McGregor might have
had. By this one act of heavy-handedness, they have raised
disturbing questions about how officers are trained to exercise
discretion. This case has made it that little bit easier for the
respectable classes to withdraw their support from the police in
general.
|
| 4th February |
Bali Bollox... |
|
|
Urging prostitutes to change jobs and find religion
Permalink |
Based on an article from
adnkronosinternational
|
The
Indonesian tourist island of Bali is stepping up moves to against
prostitution.
The deputy-governor of the province, Alit Kesuma Kelakan, claims to have
been ostracised since he raised the problem of AIDs and prostitution in
Bali.
Kelakan said he had initially considered the idea of legalising
prostitution on Bali - one of the most popular destinations for tourists
from all over the world.
But the local community's opposition to legalising prostitution forced
him to reconsider his plan and to focus on monitoring the main red light
districts instead.
We have opened clinics and are offering medical checks and help for
those who have contracted AIDS/HIV, he said: We have also begun
to distribute condoms and are trying to teach prostitutes about the
risks of sexually transmitted diseases.
We are encouraging prostitutes to change jobs and to find religion,
he added.
Unlike other parts of Indonesia, where brothels are legal, prostitution
is illegal on the island. Despite this, there are well known red light
districts on the island, most of which are in the main tourist spots.
A study carried out in Bali last year by the Kerti Praja Foundation
found that there are at least 8,800 prostitutes with some 85,000
customers.
|
| 3rd February |
Addicted to Repression... |
|
|
Colorado proposal to tax adult hotel room movies
Permalink |
Based upon an
article from AVN
|
A
Colorado Representative, Amy Stephens, is sponsoring a state bill to tax
adult movies ordered in hotel rooms as a means of funding child
sex-abuse programs.
House Bill 1086 currently calls for a 99-cent fee on all in-room
pay-per-view movies, but Stephens seeks to narrow the targeted material
down to adult movies only.
Stephens said that taxing adult movies for this cause only stands to
reason, as most of our sexual predators in prison are addicted to
pornography.
Cathryn Hazouri, executive director of the American Civil Liberties
Union of Colorado, countered Stephens' argument, saying that her
proposal would violate the First Amendment.
|
| 2nd February |
An Obsession with Trafficking... |
|
|
Why are trafficking estimates so ludicrous?
Permalink |
Because America contends that 95% of ALL prostitutes are counted as
sex slaves
Thanks to Donald
See
full article
from
sacbee.com
by Joel Brinkley
|
During
the waning days of the Clinton administration, the Central
Intelligence Agency published a groundbreaking study that said
at least 700,000 men, women and children around the world are
trafficked into slavery each year. New estimates since then have
gradually increased the count. But if the Bush administration is
to be believed, the actual number is closer to 7 million.
Slave trafficking victims are usually promised a good job in a
distant country. But once they arrive, they are held against
their will and suborned into sweatshop or agriculture labor,
domestic servitude or forced prostitution. It is that last
category, sex slaves, that the Bush administration has distorted
to the point of absurdity.
Put simply, the administration has concocted the view that every
prostitute, worldwide, is actually a slave; the very nature of
the work amounts to slavery. That nonsensical position is a
favorite of the Christian right, and a few years ago the
administration enshrined it in law and began cutting off funding
to aid groups that refused to make opposition to prostitution an
official part of their charters.
Ambassador John Miller headed the federal Trafficking in Persons
office when the prostitution policy was first enforced in 2003.
Before he left office last year, I once asked him if he believed
every prostitute is, de facto, a slave.
No, he said, drawing out the word. If you take the
Melissa Farley study, in eight or nine countries including the
U.S., 89% of prostitutes say they want to leave the job.
So I guess you can say 11% are not slaves. Even then, he
added, 50% of those are under 18. The law says they are
slaves. So that means the vast majority of them are slaves.
...Read
full article
|
| 1st February |
Background of Repression... |
|
|
Workers in adult businesses require registration in Memphis
Permalink |
From the
YNOT.com see
full article
|
All
Memphis Sex Workers Must be Licensed. An ordinance that took effect
January 1st requires workers at adult-oriented businesses and the
owners of those businesses to be licensed annually before they’re
allowed to work in Shelby County.
Bartenders, waitresses, dancers, bouncers, store clerks, movie-theater
employees, and others at the county’s more than two dozen adult
establishments must undergo criminal background checks and complete
county license applications or change careers.
Background checks will be conducted by sheriff’s deputies and the
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A history of prostitution, rape
(including statutory rape), sexual battery, public indecency,
pandering, sale or distribution of obscene materials, or other
illegal activities can keep a worker or business owner from being
licensed by the five-member Shelby County Adult Oriented
Establishment Board.
|
| 31st January |
There Can Be No Question of a Ban... |
|
|
Dutch Media Minister on TV showing of Deep Throat
Permalink |
From NIS News see
full article
|
Dutch
Media Minister Ronald Plasterk sees no possibilities nor desire
for banning public broadcasters BNN and VPRO from showing the
explicit porn film Deep Throat.
Christian government party ChristenUnie appears to be accepting
this decision.
On 23 February, shortly after midnight, BNN and VPRO plan to
show the explicit film. ChristenUnie considers this disgusting.
Opposition party SGP, a more conservative Christian party than
ChristenUnie, asked Plasterk to prohibit the broadcast - it has
been the only Lower House party to ask for a ban.
According to Plasterk the public broadcasters have 100%
editorial freedom. There can be no question of a ban, and no
investigation of this will be mounted either. The government
also has no views on any programme, moral or otherwise, said
the Labour (PvdA) minister via his spokesman.
Radio programme Standpunt.nl yesterday presented a poll with the
statement: The public broadcasters must drop the showing of
Deep Throat. A minority of 42% of listeners agreed.
|
| 30th January |
Making Nutter Politicians Gag... |
|
|
Public TV broadcaster to air Deep Throat in the Netherlands
Permalink |
Based on an article from AVN see
full article
|
Nutter
politicians in Netherlands are up in arms over an upcoming
public television broadcast of the 1972 porn classic Deep
Throat.
It is a historical symbol of unashamed sexual exploitation
and of perverse greed, Christian Union party leader Arie
Slob told Radio Netherlands. The film brought 600 million
dollars into the box office, but it also ruined a human being.
The so-called star, [Linda Lovelace], later declared that she
was pressured into her acting.
Public broadcasting corporations BNN and VPRO plan to air the
Gerard Damiano feature Feb. 23 on Dutch TV channel Nederland 3
as part of a late-night block of programming about the history
of adult films. The movie will be shown along with a documentary
about the movie and a discussion panel with director Pieter
Kuijpers, porn actress Kim Holland and German academic Ingo
Schiweck, a historian specializing in adult movies.
Robert Interlandi, marketing director for Deep Throat rights
holder Arrow Productions said: I know that everyone was very
surprised when HBO aired the NC-17 version of Inside Deep
Throat, the documentary about Deep Throat…but screening the full
movie on television…wow!
Online discussion groups have suggested that the Christian
Union’s efforts might be better focused on the excessive amount
of violence shown on television.
BNN television director Maarten van Dijk told Radio Netherlands
that he thinks young people should be able to see the Linda
Lovelace classic, particularly if the film is properly
introduced by a special edition of our lifestyle program, plus a
documentary on Deep Throat.
|
| 30th January |
Pissing on the ASA... |
|
|
Ryanair ignore the advert censors
Permalink |
From All Headline News see
full article
|
Irish
airline Ryanair announced its decision to defy the orders of the
UK advertising watchdog, and continue to run a controversial ad
that was told to be taken out of circulation.
The airline called the order "absurd." The ad, showing a woman
dressed in a provocative schoolgirl outfit, was deemed as
"irresponsible" by the Advertising Standards Authority.
Underneath the photo was the tagline about the airline's
hottest back to school fares.
The ad appeared in the Herald, Daily Mail, and the Scottish
Daily Mail, obtaining a 3.5-million circulation, according to
The Press Association.
A total of 13 complains from readers cried out that the ad
linked teenage girls to illicit and sexual behaviours. The ASA
recently catered to the outcry, ordering the three newspapers to
take down the ad and never run it again.
We considered that her appearance and pose, in conjunction
with the heading 'hottest' appeared to link teenage girls with
sexually provocative behavior and was irresponsible and likely
to cause serious or widespread offence, the ASA was quoted
as saying.
The airline responded by saying that 13 complaints out of a more
than 3 million readership was an "insignificant" proportion.
It is remarkable that a fully clothed model is now claimed to
cause 'serious or widespread offence', said Ryanair head of
communications Peter Sherrard, when many of the UK's leading
daily newspapers regularly run pictures of topless or partially
dressed females without causing any serious or widespread
offence. Sherrard continued by calling the ASA demanding
orders for censorship's sake, and not advertising regulations.
Update:
What Can They Do?
12th February 2008
See
full article from Brand Republic
The ASAs decision not to invoke its ultimate sanction and refer
Ryanair to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), despite repeated
breaches of ASA regulations, has raised questions about whether
self-regulation in advertising is really working.
The ASA claims that advertisers who persistently breach its
non-broadcast advertising codes are referred to the OFT, but
only after a 'longlist' of other sanctions have been considered.
A spokesman for the ASA said a referral would be made only under
the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations, while
offensive ads are governed by rules on breaches of taste and
decency: Only when other sanctions have been exhausted, such
as refusing an advertiser media space, invoking compulsory
pre-vetting, or taking away trading privileges, do we consider a
referral. In most cases, sanctions are effective in bringing
advertisers into line.'
Ryanair's latest breach was of the taste and decency rules, and
the sanction the ASA imposed was to issue an alert to newspapers
instructing them not to run the ad.
|
| 30th January |
A Snapshot of Bollox Britain... |
|
|
Police seize photographers film for nothing
Permalink |
From the BBC see
full article
|
An
amateur photographer has told how police seized his film as he
was out taking snaps in a Hull shopping centre.
Steve Carroll, of Kent, was visiting relatives in Hull in
December when he decided to do some "street photography" in the
city's Prospect Centre.
Shoppers reported him to the police, who took his film because
he seemed to be operating in "a covert manner".
Carroll lodged a complaint against Humberside Police but an
investigation concluded its officers acted correctly. Officers
have common law powers of seizure, a force spokeswoman said.
Having developed Mr Carroll's pictures, the force conceded that
none of the material was out of the ordinary.
Carroll, from Sittingbourne, said all the pictures were taken
quite openly and were of people engaged in everyday activities.
He stressed that none of the images was of children.
A Humberside Police spokeswoman said: Camera film was seized
by Humberside Police following complaints from members of the
public about photos being taken in the area of the Prospect
Centre. Any person who appears to be taking photos in a covert
manner should expect to be stopped and spoken to by police to
enquire into what their business is. Humberside Police would
expect other officers within the force to act in the same manner
if given a similar situation.
|
| 29th January |
Trafficking Band Wagon... |
|
|
Nutters call for Ireland to follow the Swedish model
Permalink |
Based on an article from
Google News see
full article
|
New
legislation should criminalise those who buy sex and not the victims of
sexual exploitation, the Irish Government has been told.
Feminist nutters of Ruhama called on the Government to learn from laws
passed in Sweden nine years ago. The organisation said politicians
needed to examine Swedish rulings before passing the Criminal Law (Human
Trafficking) Bill, which is due before the Oireachtas.
Geraldine Rowley, of Ruhama, said campaigners still had concerns about
the emerging legislation: We believe that Ireland needs to send out a
clear message that the purchasing of women for sexual services is a
crime. After drugs and arms, human trafficking is the third largest area
of criminal activity in the world. Ireland needs to take a stand against
organised crime and having the correct legislation in place is crucial
to achieving this. [But
nobody seems to be able to find the evidence that sex trafficking is as
extensive as stated]
Update:
Further Reading
Thanks to Donald
This article about Ireland is more detailed than
the one you have linked to, once again a Swedish feminist spreading lies
See
Govt urged to criminalise paying for sex
This is a good example here she says - Ms Bucknell, who has worked with
victims of prostitution and trafficking, said the move to criminalise
the buyer has also resulted in a significant drop in organised crime in
her home country.
While in reality it is
booming like never before: A new report has concluded that organized
crime is putting the brakes on growth in the Stockholm region. And one
of the most lucrative divisions focuses on human trafficking
|
| 29th January |
Seeing Red Channel... |
|
|
Customs find Brown in possession of obscene bullshit
Permalink |
From the
Telegraph see
full article
|
Those
keen on popping over to the Continent for a spot of shopping may
remember the 2005 (pre-election) budget, and the resulting gushing
newspaper headlines when Gordon Brown declared: I have today written
to the European Commission proposing that a tax free limit on goods
brought into the UK should rise from £145 to £1,000.
The proposal was so good – and popular – that Mr Brown kindly repeated
the proposal in his 2006 budget, and many Britons are already thought to
have begun filling their boots. However, alarm bells may have rung when
no mention was made of the scheme in the 2007 budget.
Today, we learnt why. There will actually be no increase to £1,000 but
actually a more modest rise to 430 euros (about £320) agreed by EU
finance ministers. And, the increased limit will only apply from this
December – almost four years after Brown’s fanfare announcement.
In the House of Lords, Labour are trying to defend the climb-down by
claiming that budgets merely set out "aspirations". Nonsense, say former
Tory Chancellors. Lord Lawson of Blaby said: Statements made by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer in a budget statement are not just any old
aspiration. They have a much more important standing constitutionally
and always have done.
Many are now calling for hapless travellers pulled up at customs who may
have been misled by the "aspirations" of the 2005 and 2006 budget to be
shown leniency.
|
| 28th January |
Debased Sunday Times Opinion... |
|
|
Video Nasties return to the gutter press
Permalink |
From a leader in the
Sunday Times see
full article
See also the
Express with
same story rehashed
The uncut region 0 DVD is available at UK
Amazon
|
There
have been many changes in our censorship laws over the years that
are to be welcomed. Allowing directors’ greater freedom, whether
with sexual imagery and language, has hardly been shown to have
damaged society, despite some of the fierce battles fought at the
time and which rumble on today. Out of this liberalism has emerged a
more creative environment and a more realistic depiction of modern
life. What is challenging the boundaries now is the scale and reach
of pornography on the internet. Just by the sheer ease with which it
can be accessed, it is beginning to enter the cultural mainstream
and impinge on the lives of children. This is clearly a development
that should be abhorred and stopped as far as possible, but in the
end it may simply come down to parents being evermore vigilant.
Whether this has influenced the attitudes of censors remains
unclear. Asked about the film SS Experiment Camp, which is on
sale in the high street alongside U classified movies, the BBFC said
there is nothing in this film that anybody should have any
concerns about. The film depicts women being raped,
electrocuted, hung upside down, having their ovaries cut out and
burnt alive in incineration chambers by guards dressed in Nazi
uniforms. That does sound “concerning”.
While censorship should have to make its case, there must be a
sensitivity towards survivors of the death camps and their
relatives. Depicting the Holocaust as a Jewish invention rightly
causes vilification. Why should depicting concentration camps as
movie backdrops for sexual violence suddenly be acceptable? This
film was banned 20 years ago and there seems no strong argument to
have it lifted. Gordon Brown will meet a delegation of MPs to
discuss toughening the laws on video nasties amid worries about the
influence they have on young people. These arguments may be
inconclusive but Mr Brown would be wise to restrict the market in
violent pornography.
Comment:
We've Heard it All Before...25 Years Ago
Thanks to Julian
Time is running backwards. This is all part of Nutter Brazier's
campaign, and we can expect more of this nonsense in the press in
the run-up to his Bill.
And, of course, it was the Sunday Times which sparked off the video
nasty furore in the first place with articles about ... SS
Experiment Camp.
|
| 28th January |
No Debate No Sweat... |
|
|
Buying sex is a crime in South Africa
Permalink |
From
IOL see
full article
|
Pretoria's
metro police have arrested 40 people in a crackdown on brothels, sex
workers and their clients. They seized heroin, crack cocaine and a
variety of drug paraphernalia.
They are using the recently promulgated Sexual Offences Act, which
allows the police to charge clients of sex workers.
In the past, clients of sex workers were released without charge as
there was no offence to charge them with, said the unit's head,
Superintendent Mark Newham. Their latest raid was on a brothel in
Monument Park, in which an alleged pimp, three sex workers and two
clients were arrested. The men were released on bail of R1 000 each,
bringing to six the number of clients being charged after raids on
brothels by the unit.
Meanwhile in Joburg, metro police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said there
were no plans to raid brothels. It is just not on our list of
priorities at the moment, he says.
Nicole Fick, a researcher for the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy
Taskforce (Sweat), saids the organisation had objected strongly to the
amended Sexual Offences Act because there was very little public
participation about it.
|
| 28th January |
A Ripping Yarn Brings Tears to the Eyes... |
|
|
A woman spurned
Permalink |
Thanks to Jay
From the BBC see
full article
|
A
woman who ripped off her ex-boyfriend's testicle with her bare hands has
been sent to prison. Amanda Monti, 24, flew into a rage when Geoffrey
Jones, 37, rejected her advances at the end of a house party, Liverpool
Crown Court heard.
She pulled off his left testicle and tried to swallow it, before
spitting it out. A friend handed it back to Jones saying: That's
yours.
Monti admitted wounding and was jailed for two-and-a-half years.
Sentencing Monti, Judge Charles James said it was "a very serious
injury" and that Monti was not acting in self-defence.
The court heard that Jones had ended his long-term but "open
relationship" with Monti towards the end of May last year. The pair
remained on good terms and on 30 May she picked him up from a party in
Crosby and went back for drinks with friends at Jones's house.
An argument ensued and Jones said there was a struggle between them. In
his statement, Jones said she grabbed his genitals and "pulled hard". He
added: That caused my underpants to come off and I found I was
completely naked and in excruciating pain.
The court heard that a friend saw Monti put Mr Jones's testicle into her
mouth and try to swallow it. She choked and spat it back into her hand
before the friend grabbed it and gave it back to Jones. Doctors were
unable to re-attach the organ.
|
| 27th January |
By Design... |
|
|
Further repression of Amsterdam's red light area
Permalink |
Based on an article from
Google News see
full article
|
Amsterdam
has unveiled its "Red Light Fashion" project, having converted 16
buildings that used to house prostitutes in the city's ancient red light
district into studios for young fashion designers.
But many neighbors are displeased with the high-class newcomers in an
area that thrives on its seedy reputation, and even the designers say
they are taking a risk.
Amsterdam politicians are convinced that radical change is needed in the
red light district, and are spending lavishly to bring it about.
The city paid $40 million to buy the 16 buildings from a businessman
last year. Altogether they housed about a third of the windows where
prostitutes beckon to customers and take them into a small adjoining
room for sex. The designers are living rent-free in the studios for the
first year.
Jan Broers, who owns Royal Taste hotel and pub directly across the
street, and operates several of the remaining prostitution windows, said
it was unfair to force some businesses to undergo heavy financial
vetting while others are given space rent-free.
|
| 26th January |
Unpopular Swedish Model... |
|
|
6/10 of Swedes think criminalisation of clients should be scrapped
Permalink |
Thanks to Donald
From Swedish TV station
SVT
|
The
issue is still keenly debated in Sweden and public support is not as
high as UK prohibitionist politicians would like us to believe.
In yesterday’s (January 24th) Debatt (Debate) Swedish celebrity
interviewer Stina Lundberg Dabrowski lead a debate about prostitution on
SVT (Swedish equivalent to BBC) with guests including; former prostitute
Isabella Lund, researcher Petra Östergren as well as various social
workers, politicians and others who are for/against “Sexköpslagen” (the
law against purchase of sexual services) viewers could give their
opinion and vote on SVT's site on the internet.
This weeks question:
Should Sexköpslagen be scrapped?
62% Voted YES (before the debate the figure was 60%)
38% Voted NO
From the BBC see
full article
Since Sweden criminalised paying for sex in 1999, the number of
prostitutes has dropped from 2,500 to 1,500 in 2002, according to
government estimates. But the figures are disputed.
Social anthropologist Petra Ostergren has studied Swedish prostitutes
over a 10-year period: No-one knows if there are fewer prostitutes.
According to her studies, prostitutes feel more vulnerable because they
now have to operate secretly.
Other figures suggest that the number of women trafficked to Sweden has
more than doubled, according to Kajsa Wahlberg, a detective inspector
and Sweden's national rapporteur on trafficking.
While the sex law has intensified and widened the debate about
prostitution, it is not clear whether it has helped women who sell sex.
Former prostitute Isabella Lund, 45, has gone public to speak on behalf
of her former colleagues. She argues that the Sexkopslagen might have
led to fewer women working on the streets, but more women now have to
work underground to avoid their customers being caught in the crime.
On her website, Ms Lund writes: Sex workers in Sweden advocate
decriminalisation and better working conditions, because underground
profiteers, pimps and traffickers flourish and we would rather avoid
them.
She argues that the strict sex law has made trafficked women even more
vulnerable, as the trade has been driven underground. Paradoxically,
these are precisely the women the UK government wants to help, as it
examines Sweden's experience.
|
| 26th January |
Seeing Red... |
|
|
Amsterdam to close more iconic adult entertainment
Permalink |
Based on an article from
Reuters see
full article
|
Amsterdam's
Casa Rosso theatre, one of the most famous landmarks of the "red light"
district, has become the latest sex club to be threatened with closure
as part of a drive to stamp out criminal activity.
Amsterdam's city council intends to withdraw Casa Rosso's licence just
weeks after it forced the Yab Yum brothel, another famous sex industry
stalwart, to close.
In December, the council announced plans to repress Amsterdam's historic
red light district which draws thousands of tourists. It has withdrawn
permits from dozens of sex businesses it accuses of links with organised
crime.
Update:
Bananas
16th February 2008
The iconic Banana Bar has also become a casualty of the supposed
concerns of criminal activity
|
| 25th January |
A Load of Bull or a Load of Balls... |
|
|
Virginia lawmaker proposes to outlaw bulls balls
Permalink |
From X
Biz see
full article
See also
www.bullsballs.com
|
State
Delegate Lionell Spruill has proposed a bill to the Virginia State
Assembly that would outlaw replications of genitalia being displayed on
motor vehicles. If the bill were signed into law, any violation would be
subjected to a fine of $250.
The idea for the bill came to Spruill after his young daughter saw
rubber testicles hanging from the trailer hitch of a pick-up truck and
asked he father to explain.
I didn't know what to tell her,' Spruill said.
The rubber testicles are marketed on BullsBalls.com.
Update:
Died
4th May 2008
A bill in Virginia, aimed at rubber trailer hitch replicas of human
genitalia, died in committee this year.
|
| 23rd January |
Fat Pipes... |
|
|
More on US plans to tap the entire internet
Permalink |
From Raw Story see
full article
|
National
Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is drawing up plans for cyberspace
spying that would make the current debate on warrantless wiretaps look
like a "walk in the park," according to an interview published in the
New Yorker.
McConnell is developing a Cyber-Security Policy, still in the draft
stage, which will closely police Internet activity.
Ed Giorgio, who is working with McConnell on the plan, said that would
mean giving the government the authority to examine the content of any
e-mail, file transfer or Web search. Google has records that could help
in a cyber-investigation, he said: We have a saying in this business:
‘Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.'
The infrastructure to tap into Americans' email and web search history
may already be in place. In November, a former technician at AT&T
alleged that the telecom forwarded virtually all of its Internet traffic
into a secret room" to facilitate government spying.
Whistleblower Mark Klein said that a copy of all Internet traffic
passing over AT&T lines was copied into a locked room at the company's
San Francisco office -- to which only employees with National Security
Agency clearance had access -- via a cable splitting device.
According to Klein, that information included Internet activity about
Americans: We're talking about domestic traffic as well as
international traffic. Previous Bush administration claims that only
international communications were being intercepted aren't accurate, he
added.
|
| 22nd January |
Ignore the Swedes... |
|
|
Nothing wrong with paid sex between consenting adults
Permalink |
From the
Times see
full article
by David Aaronovitch
|
In
January 1999 the Swedes made it illegal to pay for sex (but not to sell
it). The punishment for the crime of obtaining casual sex for
compensation could be as high as six months in Scando-clink, though a
fine would be more usual. The sex can be any kind of sexual act
involving contact and encompasses homosexual as well as heterosexual
encounters. To prosecute the (usually) male clients successfully, the
Swedish police must produce evidence of a prior agreement for
compensation - which need not be financial. The word “casual” here
leaves open the intriguing possibility that men or women who pay their
spouses for sex are deliberately exempted.
A number of Labour MPs have been so seduced by the imagined Swedish
experience that they have co-sponsored an amendment to the Criminal
Justice Bill that would allow councils and police chiefs to set up zones
in which persons buying sex could be prosecuted. And Labour's deputy
leader and Minister for Women, Harriet Harman, has launched a
consultation suggesting that an adoption of the Swedish system could
“tackle the demand” that lies behind the sex trade. Their belief seems
to be that there is something inherently bad and socially unacceptable
about the purchase of sex, quite beyond the issues of trafficking and
safety.
I don't buy it. We should have, and do have, laws already to stop
trafficking, punish sexual abuse and to stop the sale of illegal drugs.
Despite the rhetoric, it is of no use whatsoever to a woman who has been
sexually abused in childhood to tell her that years later she may not
offer hand-jobs for a living. And it is a fair guess that any
Swedification of the law in Britain will drive the street prostitutes
and low-income clients from their familiar haunts to God knows where,
while leaving
Search my conscience as hard as I can, I cannot think of anything in
principle wrong with a man or a woman choosing to pay for sexual
contact, or to charge for it. As long as there is no coercion and no
harm to others, I cannot see why I would be entitled to replace their
judgment with mine. Experience - and the internet - suggests to me that
there is enormous variation in human sexual appetites and interests, and
that, yes, there are women who much prefer sex work to cleaning, and men
who keep themselves afloat on the fantasies that they buy. I may not
know why, any more than I understand why this gal is married to that
loser, or why some women think running 13 sweaty miles in lace is
attractive.
Oh, and Harriet. What do you think happens to that “tackled demand” once
you've tackled it?
Read the
full article
|
| 21st January |
Today is National Fetish Day... |
|
|
Perverts are wearing purple on 21st January
Permalink |
From Sunday Sun see
full article
|
Organisers
of National Fetish Day had revealed that MP Ronnie Campbell had promised
to wear purple to support a day of awareness.
 |
Ronnie Campbell
Is he? Isn't he? |
But the MP for Blyth Valley, Northumberland, withdrew his backing after
the Sunday Sun explained the kinky connotations of the word “fetish”
which he was supposedly not aware of.
Campbell revealed he thought “fetish” was just another word for “worry”
instead of a description of people who get their kicks in unusual ways.
When we told him, Campbell said: Oh my God almighty, my God, is that
what a fetish is? I thought a fetish was a worry, like worrying about
backing the right horse.
When we first spoke to Campbell about National Fetish Day he said: I
think my secretary must have mentioned this. I have no problem with it
and I am happy to show my support. I have a purple tie and a purple
shirt so I will be able to wear their colours.
 |
|
Are they? Aren't they? |
National Fetish Day is on the 21st January.
Using the tag line of “Perverts Wear Purple those that support
this day will be wearing about their person something that is purple,
like a shirt, a tie, a skirt, a hair band.
The colour purple was chosen because of its heavy use in BDSM (bondage,
discipline, sadism, and masochism) circles.
Today's National Fetish Day is part of a campaign against a law to
criminalise the possession of extreme pornography which threatens the
BDSM community.
|
| 20th January |
Clipping the Wings of Angels City... |
|
|
Accusations of white slavery in the Philippines
Permalink |
Thanks to jj
From
ABS-CBN News see
full article
|
Two American nationals and a Briton were accused of white slavery and
bribery by the police after authorities raided their night clubs on
Fields Avenue. The raids resulted in the arrest of 57 hospitality girls,
all working without permits.
DMZ Bar owner Norvel Delbert Bostick, a retired US Marine and a native
of California, a certain "Daddy" Kelly of Honey Pot Bar and former UK
policeman Richard Agnew have been slapped with criminal charges in court
after the simultaneous raids.
Except for Bostick, who was detained at the city district jail for a
direct bribery offense, police said Kelly and Agnew remain at large.
They will still be facing a jail term if found in violation of Article
341 of the Revised Penal Code or the white slave trade.
Police said Bostick allegedly offered P9,000 to a member of the raiding
team in exchange for the release of seven women arrested inside his bar.
The policeman turned the offer and immediately handcuffed the American.
On Tuesday, police at the tourist belt area raided the Blue Nile Club,
the biggest girlie bar on Fields Avenue. The bar employs more than 500
guest relations officers (GRO) including waitresses and dancers.
Complaints said most of the workers there do not have permits.
Later, policemen raided the Honey Pot Bar and arrested five women, all
working without the necessary permits from the city hall.
Night clubs owners employing women without the necessary working permits
is violation under a city ordinance, an official said.
Police said the campaign against prostitution will continue.
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| 20th January |
Kerb Crawling - It's Criminal... |
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Mean minded in Scotland
Permalink |
Based on an article from The Sunday
Herald see
full article
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A
campaign aimed at clamping down on kerb crawling has been launched by
the Scottish government. Police in four Scottish cities will enforce new
prostitution legislation, backed by a high-profile publicity campaign
under the slogan Kerb crawling - it's criminal.
The posters will raise awareness of the trumped ip offences and
penalties under the Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act 2007,
which criminalises the kerb crawler.
Injustice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: The Scottish parliament and
government have acted to tackle this invidious practice and we will
support the police and other local agencies in enforcing the law, in
providing women with routes out of prostitution and in making our
communities safer and stronger. The campaign we are launching tomorrow
aims to highlight the new law and the consequences of breaking it - to
kerb crawlers, and to the wider community who we seek to protect.
The new offence of kerb crawling carries a fine of up to £1000. The
Scottish government is also working with Westminster for new legislation
which will allow the courts to have the power to disqualify offenders
from driving.
The campaign will run for four weeks, involving outdoor and indoor
washroom advertising, centred around the four key cities in which street
prostitution is a significant problem, a government spokesman said.
Posters will be distributed around Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and
Aberdeen. The Scottish government last year gave them a total of £1
million to help tackle street prostitution.
But experts raised concerns about the legislation, suggesting that
prostitution should be legalised instead.
Dr Nicoletta Policek, senior lecturer in criminology at Lincoln
University, carried out research from 1993 to 2003 on outdoor sex
workers in Edinburgh: To criminalise sex work, I think, is immoral.
Sex work should be legalised and decriminalised. The way to solve this
is to give sex workers safer areas as well as improved legislation. They
also need social and health support, for example needle exchanges.
Too often the public view sex workers as responsible for the spread
of disease and as the catalysts for the decline and degeneration of
society, but Scotland should be at the forefront of developing
legislation so sex workers can work safely and in a healthy environment.
Then Scotland would finally be a civilised society.
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| 20th January |
Sex Offenders to be Chipped... |
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One way to keep people out of red light areas?
Permalink |
From the
Independent see
full article
See also
www.wethepeoplewillnotbechipped.com
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Ministers
are planning to implant "machine-readable" microchips under the skin of
thousands of offenders as part of an expansion of the electronic tagging
scheme.
Amid concerns about the security of existing tagging systems and prison
overcrowding, the Ministry of Justice is investigating the use of
satellite and radio-wave technology to monitor criminals.
But, instead of being contained in bracelets worn around the ankle, the
tiny chips would be surgically inserted under the skin of offenders in
the community, to help enforce home curfews. The radio frequency
identification (RFID) tags, as long as two grains of rice, are able to
carry scanable personal information about individuals, including their
identities, address and offending record.
The tags, labelled "spychips" by privacy campaigners, are already used
around the world to keep track of dogs, cats, cattle and airport
luggage, but there is no record of the technology being used to monitor
offenders in the community. The chips are also being considered as a
method of helping to keep order within prisons.
A senior Ministry of Justice official last night confirmed that the
department hoped to go even further, by extending the geographical range
of the internal chips through a link-up with satellite-tracking similar
to the system used to trace stolen vehicles. All the options are on
the table, and this is one we would like to pursue, the source
added.
The move is in line with a proposal from Ken Jones, the president of the
Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), that electronic chips
should be surgically implanted into convicted paedophiles and sex
offenders in order to track them more easily. Global Positioning System
(GPS) technology is seen as the favoured method of monitoring such
offenders to prevent them going near "forbidden" zones such as primary
schools.
More than 17,000 individuals, including criminals and suspects released
on bail, are subject to electronic monitoring at any one time, under
curfews requiring them to stay at home up to 12 hours a day. But
official figures reveal that almost 2,000 offenders a year escape
monitoring by tampering with ankle tags or tearing them off.
The tags, injected into the back of the arm with a hypodermic needle,
consist of a toughened glass capsule holding a computer chip, a copper
antenna and a "capacitor" that transmits data stored on the chip when
prompted by an electromagnetic reader.
But details of the dramatic option for tightening controls over
Britain's criminals provoked an angry response from probation officers
and civil-rights groups. Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said:
If the Home Office doesn't understand why implanting a chip in
someone is worse than an ankle bracelet, they don't need a human-rights
lawyer; they need a common-sense bypass.
Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association
of Probation Officers, said the proposal would not make his members'
lives easier and would degrade their clients. He added: This is the
sort of daft idea that comes up from the department every now and then,
but tagging people in the same way we tag our pets cannot be the way
ahead. Treating people like pieces of meat does not seem to represent an
improvement in the system to me.
The US market leader VeriChip Corp, whose parent company has been
selling radio tags for animals for more than a decade, has sold 7,000
RFID microchips worldwide, of which about 2,000 have been implanted in
humans.
Consumer privacy expert Liz McIntyre said that one company plans deeper
implants that could vibrate, electroshock the implantee, broadcast a
message, or serve as a microphone to transmit conversations: Some
folks might foolishly discount all of these downsides and futuristic
nightmares since the tagging is proposed for criminals like rapists and
murderers. The rest of us could be next.
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| 20th January |
Scottish Bollox... |
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Naked Rambler jailed for 20 months and still inside
Permalink |
From the
Times
see
full article
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Stephen
Gough, a former Marine who has been dubbed the Naked Rambler for his
insistence on his right to walk naked across Britain, enjoyed six steps
of freedom yesterday.
Gough was freed after 20 months in prison by a sheriff who gave him the
chance to end his “vicious circle” of release and rearrest, but was
given warning that he would be rearrested if he failed to cover up when
let out of the back door of Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Gough emerged into the rain wearing only a rucksack and an untidy beard.
After he had taken only six steps in the nude, police took Gough into
the back of a van and rearrested him. He will appear in court on Monday.
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