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ALBANY — Eight months after a federal investigation into a prostitution ring brought about the downfall of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the question still persists in some circles: Was the federal government out to get Mr. Spitzer? No evidence has surfaced to support such an assertion, and investigators have said that politics played no role in their pursuit of Mr. Spitzer. But that has not put to rest suspicions, expressed on left wing blogs, that Mr. Spitzer, a zealous pursuer of Wall Street wrongdoing who some thought could one day be president, had been singled out. Now, a congressional committee has...

In an interview with Diane Sawyer, Ashley Dupre insists on ABC News' "20/20" that she's not a prostitute, saying that being an escort involves much more than just sex.

A woman who had just scored a precious high-paying job in the midst of a disastrous economy was willing to fly in from out of town to take it.Her new boss, Susan Austin, had spared no expense and the woman was quickly whisked into a waiting limo at the Reno, Nev., airport. For the sake of privacy, we're calling the woman "Kimberly," and the coveted job she got was as a prostitute at one of the few places in America where it's legal -- the self-proclaimed "world famous" Mustang Ranch. "I'm nervous, you know," said Kimberly, who would be working...

On any night of the week if you look hard enough on The Alameda, Santa Clara and Monterey Road, main streets of commerce in San Jose you might find Cindy*. Cindy, aged 40, is a prostitute: selling sexual services for as low as ...............

"SEX WORKERS"--JUST ANOTHER JOB I’m happy to say that I never had to engage the services of a “sex worker,” as “lemondrop” characterizes the white/black/yellow sex slave trade, http://www.lemondrop.com/2008/11/12/prostitution-empowering-or-victimizing/?icid=200100397×1213532886x1200820697. It used to be termed prostitution but that lemondrop article prefers to call the purveyors of sex for sale “sex workers” and asks the eternal question on the minds of all Americans, “Is it all that bad?” I guess that depends on one’s perspective. There’s the point of view of the johns who pay for the pleasure, the pimps who pocket most of the profits, and the “sex worker” herself who...

Former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer who resigned in the midst of an interstate prostitution scandal, will not face criminal charges. The announcement came from U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia. “Even though our investigation has shown that on multiple occasions, Mr. Spitzer arranged for women to travel from one state to another state to engage in illegal acts of prostitution, in the opinion of this Office this does not constitute misuse of public or campaign funds,” Garcia said. “Screwing around with the voters’ money is a common practice for elected officials. If everyone who did it had to go to jail,...

U.S. Attorney Says Former N.Y. Governor Did Not Misuse Campaign Funds As A Client Of 'Emperors Club VIP' NEW YORK (CBS) ― Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer will not face criminal charges following his role as a client in a high-profile prostution ring that led to his resignation in March. U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia announced his decision Thursday afternoon. "Eliot Spitzer has acknowledged to this Office that he was a client of, and made payments to, the Emperors Club VIP. Our investigation has shown that on multiple occasions, Mr. Spitzer arranged for women to travel from one state to...

The first post-election Dem coverup? AG claims "no sign of any financial wrong-doing" despite evidence Spitzer used campaign funds for his hookers.

NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors said Thursday that they will not bring criminal charges against Eliot Spitzer for his role in a prostitution scandal, removing a legal cloud that has surrounded the former New York governor since his epic downfall eight months ago. U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said investigators found no evidence that Spitzer or his office misused public or campaign funds for prostitution. Investigators found that Spitzer solicited high-priced call girls, but federal prosecutors typically do not prosecute clients of prostitution rings. "In light of the policy of the Department of Justice with respect to prostitution offenses and the...

As if San Francisco wasn't loopy enough, voters will be asked Tuesday to pass a ballot initiative, endorsed by the Democratic Party, that would bar police enforcing California's prostitution laws. The goal is to free up $11 million a year now spent collaring hookers so police can go after the real criminals: people who cook with trans fats; tote groceries in plastic bags, think bad thoughts about homosexuals, etc. If voters approve, hookers would enjoy the same special rights Frisco has bestowed upon illegal aliens, porn peddlers and medical-marijuana potheads. Among other things, a yes vote would increase prostitution, sex...

WASHINGTON – More than 600 adults have been arrested and 47 children were rescued in a three-day roundup targeting people who force children into prostitution. The FBI said the roundup by federal, state and local law enforcement took place in 29 cities, adding that the raids dismantled 12 large-scale prostitution operations run through call services, truck stops casinos and Web sites. At a news conference announcing the results of Operation Cross Country II, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said the arrests were made possible by intelligence gathered during a similar series of raids in June. “Sex trafficking of children remains...

Finding a pro-deregulation stance in the media is often tough, but when if it suits some far out cause against societal norms, don't rule it out. Sunny Hostin, CNN "American Morning" legal analyst, examined the pros and cons of a San Francisco ballot measure to be voted on next month called Proposition K. The measure would decriminalize prostitution. But Hostin said there was a case, not for decriminalized prostitution - which reportedly will save $11 million in municipal police spending - but for legalization, which she claimed would "boost the economy in these economic times." "I think the more valid...

"He regards it as a local issue and we'll just leave that for San Francisco to decide," Perino said. "He doesn't oppose this?" Kinoslving asked. "I'm not going to comment on it," Perino said. Deputy district attorney Sharmin Eshraghi Bock in Alameda County said there could be no good that would come from the proposal. "If passed, [it] would codify the exploitation of women and create a greater demand for human-trafficking victims," Bock said in a report in the San Mateo County Times. The ballot plan, Proposition K, could

Finding a pro-deregulation stance in the media is often tough, but when if it suits some far out cause against societal norms, don't rule it out. Sunny Hostin, CNN "American Morning" legal analyst, examined the pros and cons of a San Francisco ballot measure to be voted on next month called Proposition K. The measure would decriminalize prostitution. But Hostin said there was a case, not for decriminalized prostitution - which reportedly will save $11 million in municipal police spending - but for legalization, which she claimed would "boost the economy in these economic times." ..more (w/video)..

SAN FRANCISCO -- In this live-and-let-live town, where medical marijuana clubs do business next to grocery stores and an annual fair celebrates sadomasochism, prostitutes could soon walk the streets without fear of arrest. San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K -- a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex. The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes. Proponents say...

There may be truth to the cliché "sex sells," but when it comes to the sale of sex, everyone pays. This is the central argument by both opponents and supporters of Proposition K, which would make San Francisco the first U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution.Many sex workers say there's a cost to their line of work that goes beyond dollars and cents: Routinely exposing themselves to dangerous, sometimes violent situations, prostitutes are unable to seek the protection of the law without simultaneously exposing themselves to prosecution."What a horrible thing it is that sex workers are sitting ducks," said Carol Leigh,...

In this live-and-let-live town, where medical marijuana clubs do business next to grocery stores and an annual fair celebrates sadomasochism, prostitutes could soon walk the streets without fear of arrest. San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K — a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex. The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In this live-and-let-live town, where medical marijuana clubs do business next to grocery stores and an annual fair celebrates sadomasochism, prostitutes could soon walk the streets without fear of arrest. San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K — a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex. The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes.

I read today where Philadelphia talk show host Michael Smerconish has endorsed Obama. Michael also worked in the Bush Administration and has been a frequent guest host for Glenn Beck. He will be paraded about as another "conservative" who is voting for Obama by the MSM. This is not like voting for Bill Clinton in 96 or voting for a local Democrat for governor or Congress. Any national "conservative" who supports a Marxist like Obama and thinks it would be best for America to elect him along with a Congress controlled by Pelosi and Reid has either lost their mind...

New York's dominatrixes have been getting spanked by the economy recently - and now, they're lashing back. Already reeling from a series of local prostitution raids, dommes have also had to grapple with disobedient clients who can't afford to pay for their punishments. To address the double-whammy hitting their industry, many of them want to form a political-action committee and union to represent their interests.

A Philadelphia mother-daughter pair are accused of providing sex for clients they met on the Craigslist Web site, police say. WCAU-TV's Monique Braxton reports.

<p>William Halby, a Brooklyn tax lawyer, owes back taxes for wrongly deducting more than $300,000 in prostitutes, porn, sex toys and erotic massages, a state tax judge ruled. Halby is divorced, semi-retired and living alone in a Bay Ridge apartment......"I have no social life. I needed that release." Halby said he found his "sex surrogates" - preferably brunettes - through ads in The Village Voice. All told, Halby spent about $322,000 to satisfy his desires....deducting $111,364 for "therapeutic sex" and massages "to relieve osteoarthritis and enhance erectile function through frequent orgasm." He claimed another $2,173 on porn "to enhance sexual performance in lieu of taking Viagra." In 2003, his $101,930 in deductions included $162 for "sexual performance aids" such as lubes, condoms and nipple clamps........... "It must be noted that portions of [Halby's] 'sex therapy' were, in fact, sex for a fee, in violation of penal law," Administrative Law Judge Brian Friedman wrote. Halby recorded each liaison in a "Tax Journal" ......he produced books and articles demonstrating the health benefits of sex, including a 2001 NY Post article about sex workers in Danish nursing homes. Halby is "of counsel" with the Larchmont law firm McMillan, Constabile, Maker & Perone.</p>

"Quite a few of your English students are prostitutes," a friend told me today as she recounted a conversation that she had with her hair stylist recently. "The guy who cut my hair told me that many of your training center's female students come to him two or three times a week to get their hair done before they go to work." She went on to explain that according to the hair stylist, some of my students sell their bodies at night in local hotels where there might be as many as 200 prostitutes gathered in one establishment. Other students...

A quick reading of the measure that will go before San Francisco voters in November to decriminalize prostitution easily could leave you with the misimpression that the measure is an exercise in fairness that demands that prosecutors go after men who abuse prostitutes and implement policies "to reduce institutional violence and discrimination against prostitutes." A careful reading of the initiative, "Enforcement of Laws Related to Prostitution and Sex Workers," however, shows a measure that shields child prostitution and traffickers of human beings. "If I had just heard from the proponents, I would probably vote for it myself," said the Rev....

A quick reading of the measure that will go before San Francisco voters in November to decriminalize prostitution easily could leave you with the misimpression that the measure is an exercise in fairness that demands that prosecutors go after men who abuse prostitutes and implement policies "to reduce institutional violence and discrimination against prostitutes." A careful reading of the initiative, "Enforcement of Laws Related to Prostitution and Sex Workers," however, shows a measure that shields child prostitution and traffickers of human beings. "If I had just heard from the proponents, I would probably vote for it myself," said the Rev....

Prostitution To Rise With DNC, Group SaysHelp Offered To Women Wanting Off Streets Lane Lyon, 7NEWS Reporter UPDATED: 5:04 pm MDT August 9, 2008 DENVER -- In addition to politics and protests, one nonprofit group said Denver will see an increase in prostitution during the Democratic National Convention. "It's kind of a no brainer, it's going to be here,” said Carol Lease, executive director of The Empowerment Program. The 22-year-old Denver-based group is dedicated to helping woman struggling with life issues such as arrests drugs and HIV/AIDS. Lease said she's worried area police might be overly aggressive in targeting some...

The lure of a $30 trick with a Lowell hooker ended up nearly costing one man more than $60,000 in cash, police said. Jessica Garcia, 30, was released on personal recognizance yesterday after allegations that she agreed to perform oral sex on the drunken john for $30, but then tied him up and ran off with $62,000 in cash he kept in a duffel bag. The man had been drinking cognac for several hours on Saturday night when he hopped on his bicycle, cash in tow, to search for a street walker, police said.....

An interesting article appeared in TheSmokingGun.com chronicling an interesting trend among men soliciting prostitutes in the good ol' US of A. Supporters of Obammesiah have been arrested in his hometown of Chicago for soliciting sex from undercover cops. The one thing these gentleman callers seem to have in common is their candidate of choice: Obama. This outstanding members of society were arrested wearing "Obama for Change" or "Barrack for Change" shirts...

This November, while California voters will consider several important ballot initiatives – among them one protecting marriage and another requiring family notification before a minor gets an abortion – San Francisco voters will be asked whether they want to legalize prostitution and rename a sewage treatment facility after the outgoing president. “Enforcement of Laws Related to Prostitution and Sex Workers” is the title of a local San Francisco measure. The text of the proposed ordinance notes that, last year, the city of San Francisco allocated $11.4 million to the city’s Task Force on Prostitution – nearly $4 million more than...

The assistant principal of San Francisco's Galileo High School and a Milpitas woman have been arrested on pimping and prostitution charges by San Jose Police. Gerald Courtney, 57, the assistant principal, and Hsiu Hwa Chou, 41, were arrested for allegedly running brothels at 1550 Technology Drive and 80 Descanso Drive in San Jose. The arrests came after search warrants were served at the homes of the suspects in Milpitas and San Francisco. "The San Jose vice unit served several search warrants, one in Milpitas and one in San Francisco, regarding an ongoing investigation of the past four months," said San...

Peter Hong, a longtime Republican operative in Minnesota, was arrested Wednesday afternoon on a charge of soliciting prostitution in St. Paul. Police spokesman Peter Panos said that the arrest came during the first day of a two-day sting operation during which "johns" and prostitutes responded to ads placed on the Internet and in print. Thirty-five people were arrested Wednesday and Thursday, Panos said today. He declined to say where the undercover operation was based. According to city and county records, Hong, 41, of Minneapolis, was arrested at about 3:40 p.m. on Wednesday and arrived at the Ramsey County jail just...

Prostitution Raid links Communist Tax Lawyer, leftist voter project, and 9/11 Truther Movement You just can't make this stuff up. Louis Posner, a National Lawyers Guild affiliated Tax Attorney, is arrested for running a Strip Club, which was a front for prostitution. What makes this case unique is that the funds were laundered through Voter March, a leftist election reform organization. ABOUT VOTER MARCHBackground: Voter March began on November 14, 2000, as four founding members organizing people who wanted to express their opposition to the irregularities and egregious conduct of Election 2000 and the direction in which an illegitimate administration...

Petitioners have succeeded in moving a measure that would effectively decriminalize prostitution in the city of San Francisco to the Nov. 4 ballot. While prostitution is unlawful under the California Penal Code, the measure – if passed by voters – would ban the San Francisco Police Department from allocating any financial resources for the investigation and prosecution of sex workers on prostitution charges. Section four of the ballot measure – under the heading "Prostitution Shall Be Decriminalized" – further states that the city, county, and district attorney "shall not subject sex-workers to life long economic discrimination associated with having a...

(Porn star Alexia Moore performs on stage ... ... and hurries out of court Friday night.) (Louis Posner) Teams of vice cops swooped down and busted a posh midtown strip club that catered to stockbrokers and bankers - and featured porn stars who charged $5,000 for private trysts. Prominent tax lawyer Louis Posner; his wife, Betty; and 19 others were arrested on a variety of prostitution and money-laundering charges at The Hot Lap Dance Club, which the couple ran out of a velvet-heavy loft, police said. Cops said Posner raked in $1 million over the last 10 months from the...

After spending $5 million on its five automated public toilets, Seattle is calling it quits. In the end, the restrooms, installed in early 2004, had become so filthy, so overrun with drug abusers and prostitutes, that although use was free of charge, even some of the city’s most destitute people refused to step inside them. The units were put up for sale Wednesday afternoon on eBay, with a starting bid set by the city at $89,000 apiece. The dismal outcome coincides with plans by New York, Los Angeles and Boston, among other cities, to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars...

BRADENTON - A 94-year-old man whose arrest in a prostitution sting here caused an international buzz will not be prosecuted. A judge ruled Tuesday that Frank Milio was a victim of entrapment. Milio, who has dementia, was unable to get into a care facility while his case was pending. The undercover Manatee County Sheriff's Office detective on the street corner that afternoon in November took 30 steps to go chat with Milio, who authorities say had honked his car horn at the woman to get her attention. Milio, who turned 94 this month, stopped his car in a parking lot...

John McCain's campaign is using their campaign website to encourage supporters to post supportive comments on political blogs, including the most well-known liberal site in the blogosphere. And to make things easier, they're including talking points with which sympathizers can use to get out the McCain message. "Select from the numerous web, blog and news sites listed here, go there, and make your opinions supporting John McCain known," instructs the page. McCain supporters are asked to send the details of their comment to the campaign, which in turn will verify it and then reward the supporter with "points" (assumedly to...

Nanny-State Anyone? by: Daniel Smith, July 08, 2008 The August/September edition of Reason, a libertarian publication dedicated to Free Minds and Free Markets, ranks the 35 “worst nanny-state cities in America.” After the analysis was complete, Chicago remained the worst and Las Vegas the best. Scrutiny was based on a cities’ “exercising [for] personal freedom.” Under this broad umbrella of freedom, Reason researched eight categories: alcohol, tobacco, sex, guns, gambling, drugs, movement, and a “catch-all” of food and “other.” According to the article, “the higher a city’s score, the more restrictive it is.” Scoring for six of the categories were...

Slavery's new Mecca In a new book documenting the modern slave trade, E. Benjamin Skinner travels to Dubai, known in the sex trade as 'Disneyland for men' E. Benjamin Skinner, National Post Published: Friday, July 04, 2008 Charles Crowell/Bloomberg News To enter Dubai's most notorious brothel, the Cyclone, I paid $16 for a ticket that the bursar stamped with the official seal of the Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing. Prostitution is illegal in Dubai, whose laws are rooted in Islam, with penalties ranging up to death. But the stamp was only the first of several contradictions in a place...

The Townswomen's Guild are meeting to debate a radical reform in the law on prostitution. Their template? The Swedish model. (edit) The debate comes as the Government here is drawing up proposals for law reform that could de-criminalise prostitutes who would, instead, be offered help to get out of the vice trade or given anti-social behaviour orders, in favour of a crackdown on men who trawl for sex.The approach, championed by women ministers such as Harriet Harman, has met with fierce resistance from the Home Office. While Diane Abbot has tabled an Early Day Motion, to date it has...

It was 2000 and I was at a dinner party in Cairo. I was sitting with *Malak, a belly dancer, and we were eyeing up a young woman who had large oval eyes thickly lined with black kohl and a wide mouth painted salmon. It was the first time Malak and I had seen her at Haroun’s house. After she’d been introduced around to the group of friends—dancers, actresses, businessmen, and me, an American anthropologist—that met every Thursday night for drinks and dinner, Malak looked her up and down skeptically, and then she said to me in a low voice,...

Team rescued 120 women from grim conditions when it dismantled the operation in Houston The farewell party was in full swing at midnight when police came for Maximino "El Chimino" Mondragon, his accomplices and his victims — scantily dressed women and girls he forced to sell beers and sexual favors under the flashing lights of a revolving crystalline disco ball inside his strip mall bar off Hempstead Highway. Mondragon was celebrating his retirement at El Potrero de Chimino bar, also known as the Wagon Wheel. He had a one-way ticket back to his native El Salvador and blueprints in the...

As pointed out by this representative of the Florida Attorney General's office, it is impossible to separate national security issues from illegal immigration, and one of the most important illegal immigration issues in Florida is the issue of human trafficking. And as Jake at Freedom Folks notes (thanks for the tip), this story doesn't appear to have been covered by the news wires. Here, a horrifying story is described of a little girl who, after being taken to the Florida panhandle from Mexico, resisted while being raped, and was subsequently made an example of by being beheaded in front of...

Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire friend of Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton, has admitted soliciting prostitution from underage girls in South Florida. The 55-year-old financier has been sentenced to 18 months in jail followed by a year of house arrest. He will also be designated a sex offender. Epstein was arrested two years ago after he allegedly paid several girls under the age of 18 between $200 (£100) and $300 (£150) each in return for naked massages at his Palm Beach home that sometimes led to sex. He also faces multi-million pound lawsuits in state and federal courts filed by several...

A High Point pastor faces misdemeanor charges after being accused of soliciting sex online. Randleman police said they arrested Otis Durham outside the Wal-Mart here at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Durham, 55, is pastor of the Sandy Ridge United Methodist Church in High Point. He was charged with solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of crimes against nature and is free on a $1,000 bond. Det. R.K. Hardy said today that a Randleman woman contacted police Friday after getting an unwanted sexual solicitation online. Hardy said he posed online as the woman and arranged for a time and place to meet the...

In the Nevada desert, where it is legal to run brothels, truck drivers make up a significant proportion of the men who like to pay to stay awhile. But with bowser prices making filling the tank of the big rigs which ply their trade on America's highways almost prohibitively expensive, something has had to give. The Nevada Brothel Owners Association claim they are bearing the brunt, with revenue in some establishments dropping by up to 45 per cent since the oil crisis began. "Old George or Jimmy out there, he's got to take care of momma and the groceries first,...

A Maryland judge sentenced an illegal immigrant to more than seven years in prison for coercing a 14-year-old girl into prostitution and forcing her to engage in sex with more than 25 men a day, according to federal prosecutors in Maryland. Javier Miguel Ramirez, 35, a Mexican national living in Hyattsville, was sentenced Monday to 87 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for sex trafficking of a minor girl. He had pleaded guilty in March. U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said the case was one of the most shameful human trafficking cases he’s seen. “Javier Miguel...

MIAMI BEACH -- The normal bus fare in Miami Beach is a buck and a half. But a massive limo bus tooling through South Beach during the weekend charged a lot more -- and offered a lot more, as well. Undercover Miami Beach detectives Sunday busted a brothel-on-wheels, which charged $40 admission and offered sex for sale inside. On board: prostitutes, fully stocked bars and the bus' madame -- Christine Morteh, 29, of Miramar. Cops have charged Morteh with engaging in, directing others to and deriving support from prostitution, as well as operating a business without license. She was held...

"Nevada Brothels Hit Hard by Gas Prices," ABCNews.com trumpets in a teaser headline in the top headlines slideshow on its front page. The editors showed a bit more leg in the photo caption: "Owners fight back: free $50 gas cards for high-spending customers."

The husband of U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow was not ordered to testify in the pretrial hearing of a woman charged in a prostitution sting. Defense attorney Frank A. Cusumano Jr. says Troy District Court Judge William Bolle ruled Tuesday that Thomas Athans' testimony was not needed at a hearing to decide if Alycia Martin could challenge a police search of her hotel room.