Posted on 01/10/2006 8:25:43 AM PST by presidio9
The sex industry is big business, and getting bigger. World-wide profits from prostitution exceed $12 billion annually. Of course, the women generally see very little of this money. The sex traders, whether legal "sex entrepreneurs" or illegal pimps, are the biggest beneficiaries.
Many countries have tried different approaches to control or limit its growth, from legalization to regulation, with decidedly mixed results. But with the sex "business" spawning cross-border trafficking in women and children and boosting organized crime across Europe, we can no longer turn a blind eye to this problem.
* * * As prostitution becomes more prevalent, it's also becoming more accepted. During this summer's World Cup, the city of Bremen estimates an influx of 30,000 - 40,000 prostitutes to Germany for the four-week tournament. Taking a lead from the Athens Olympic Games, the authorities in Cologne put up a complex of custom-built cabins outside the city, so men can buy access to women's bodies without tarnishing the host's good reputation.
But where will Germany find those thousands of women? The growing demand for commercial sex in Germany and the rest of the Continent can't be met by women from within the European Union alone. According to a 2003 London Metropolitan University study, 60-90% of prostitutes in the EU are foreigners. Trafficking in women and children is a key element of the sex industry. In its newly released report on forced labor, the International Labor Organization estimates that there are more than 250,000 sex slaves in industrialized countries.
Some "progressive" campaigners have, especially over the past 15 years, argued that the legalization and regulation of prostitution could reduce trafficking and help combat organized crime and money laundering that usually come with it. By making
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
But enough about Bill Clinton...
The other day? You've been bringing this up for at least 2 and a half years on FR. You've also been spelling his first and last name wrong this whole time. It's Ozzy Osbourne.
Hope all is well. See ya on the Big Brother thread this summer.
ROTFLMAO!!!!
Prostitution has been largely tolerated, and even regulated in Europe for hundreds of years, even going back to Rome, and earlier cultures. Even the ancient Jews tolerated prostitution. From the classic 11th Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica:
The broad conclusion is that under special conditions, and when rigidly enforced, registration and medical examination do to a considerable extent fulfil the purpose of protecting health. Their failure to do so among the population at large and ,under the ordinary conditions of life is not surprising when we regard the amount of venereal disease which still occurs even among soldiers protected by the most rigorous measures and under the most favorable conditions.
A general view of the whole subject suggests no pleasant or hopeful conclusions. Prostitution appears to be inseparable from human society in large communities. In different countries and ages it has in turn been patronized and prohibited, ignored and recognized, tolerated and condemned, regulated and let alone, flaunted and concealed. Christianity, the greatest moral force in the history of mankind, has repeatedly and systematically attacked it with a scourge in one hand and balm in the other; but the effect has been trifling or transient. Nor have all the social and administrative resources of modern civilization availed to exercise aneffective control. The elementary laws on which prostitution rests are stronger than the artificial codes imposed by moral teaching, conventional standards or legislatures; and attempts at repression only lead to a change of form, not of substance. It survives all treatment; and though it may coexist with national vigour, its extravagant development is one of the signs of a rotten and decaying civilization. In Western communities the traffic is not carried on so openly as in the East, nor is it exploited for purposes of public revenue, as among the ancients and in the middle ages; a veil of reticence and secrecy, for the most part of a transparently flimsy character, is thrown over it; but whatever is gained in public decency is counterbalanced by other attendant evils. Two, in particular, are fostered by the policing of prostitutes. One is the system of blackmail levied by the executive. The scandal has been most notorious in the United States, but it exists everywhere, and is a constant source of profound corruption. The other is the growth of the most degraded class that ever disgraced the name of manthe creatures who live upon the earnings of individual prostitutes, with whom they cohabit. They are called souteneurs in France, louis in Germany, cadets in New York, and by various slang names in Great Britain. They are all criminals. They flourish chiefly on the continent of Europe, where they exist in large and ever-increasing numbers; but they find their way everywhere, and are a dangerous menace to society. They are not altogether new. The Elizabethan drama is full of references to men who took toll of prostitutes in return for protective services in the old days of persecution; but they have been greatly fostered by the modern system, under which women find it necessary or convenient to have the cover of a man, who can pass for a husband and baffle the police. Thus the law is evaded on the one hand by the corruption of those who administer it, and on the other by the appearance of a class of criminal idlers more degraded th,an any other both greater evils than the traffic which the law is intended, but fails, to control.
Jim is not completely libertarian himself, so no, he probably wouldn't. I personally don't care who f#$%s who so I don't care one way or the other about the issue, but I admit that I'm in the minority on this issue.
However, you must admit that the issues on which libertarians and conservatives agree far outnumber those with which we disagree. The vasty majority of libertarian freepers are pro-life, think welfare should be ended, oppose Roe v. Wade, support Samuel Alito, think the condition of our national borders are a joke, want to drastically cut taxes, think that the Bush administration has been a dismal failure on spending, and are absolutionists on and know the original intent of the 2nd Amendment.
I have dealt with several anti-libertarian freepers over the years who did not even agree with me on the issues I listed above. I'm not saying you are one of these, but my experience has shown me to be somewhat skeptical at first that these anti-libertarians are even conservative in the first place. A somewhat well-known but now banned freeper whos moniker referenced a holy war over culture comes to mind.
Looking forward to BB this summer. Now that we have high speed internet cable at home, I probably will be spending too many hours watching the video feed from the BB house. LOL
The point is not that Libertarians are all evil, or even that Jim Robinson or even Ron Reagan (Sr) in some confused moments does not agree with you. The point is that there are some libertarian positions that are categorically opposed to conservative ones. Legalized prostitution is one of them.
Anyone who thinks our laws against prostitution are effective need only take a look at the back pages of any "free" newspaper.
I'm with Nevada, Alaska, and British Columbia: Legalize it and regulate it. Keep the pimps out the the business and have regular health inspections.
Buckley: I don’t think access to vice is an endorsement of vice. I think that people who smoke cigarettes and drink too much whiskey are violating one of the primary commandments, the cardinal virtue against lust and the cardinal virtue against profligate consumption. But the fact that there is whiskey to buy does not in my judgement translate into an endorsement of alcoholism. The fact that marijuana is there to be smoked does not, in my judgment, transform into an endorsement of marijuana. I take a purely instrumental view of it, in fact I’m in favor of licensed brothels on the grounds, obviously not that I would endorse prostitution, but that I’m convinced by the data that one is better off under regulated vice than under unregulated vice in an age in which there is AIDS and other venereal diseases and today, in an age in which there are whole criminal subcultures and the corruption of minors as a result of the profit element of illegal drugs.
R&L: Your point on prostitution is somewhat akin to the early St. Augustine, who agreed with the legalization of prostitution and, for that matter, heresy.
Buckley: That’s correct. And of course prostitution was legal in France, as a Catholic country, for over a hundred years, and before that in Italy.
OK, fair enough. We can agree on this. Please realize that many libertarian freepers are automatically defensive as a result of some of the aforementioned anti-libertarian trolls in the past who themselves were liberal and were here to stir up $hit between the social conservatives and the libertarians for their own purposes. I suspect they will be re-emerging soon as a result of the Alito hearings. Conservatives and libertarians both think he is a terrific nomination and we must stay united in this fight.
????????????
They bring it upon themselves. You don't think I realized that this thread was going to attract the nutball element of the libertarian wing when I posted it. A good rule of thumb for libertarians on FR: If you are pro gay marriage, abortion, or legalized prostitution, this is just not the correct forum for you to bring it up. If you have an original point to make about legalizing drugs, let's hear it. But it better not be "Alcohol Prohibition failed." Your point about liberal trolls disguised as liberarians is correct, but honest libertarians create the enviornment for it by pinging six or seven friends into every WOD thread. Libertarians are big on ganging up.
"If the law of the land ignores the law of supply and demand, the law of supply and demand will win."...though I think he might squirm a bit if this were carried to its logical end and applied to vices such as prostitution or recreational narcotics.
Look: Enough with the celebrity cameos. I'm sure I can dig up any number of prominent conservatives who oppose legalized prostitution. If you are unable to accept the fact that conservatives oppose legalized prostitution, that's your problem, not mine.
FWIW, I disagree with conservatives on some points myself.
It is the immoral society that leads to DU and socialism or communism not the moral one. And by moral I do not mean preachy, but a man who can control his baser instincts on his own with out the need of a strong government forcing him to behave.
Whether you like it or not our society is strongly founded in Christianity and this is what our founders counted on us remaining, and knew when it was gone so would our freedoms go.
Libertarians would destroy the very basis that keeps us free they leave out the most important part of our founders (in their own words) equation .
If foreign girls terrorists are seen as a problem, simply enforce immigration laws. < insert some sort of sarcastic comment here related to the poor enforcement of immigration laws at present even after 9-11>
I would agree on gay marriage and abortion, but not prostitution. I'd estimate that less than 10% of freepers support gays marrying and killing babies, and therefore becoming involved in those threads could lead to nasty flamewars. I do think, however, that a significantly higher number of freepers are for legal hookers, and therefore, decent discussions could result.Your point about liberal trolls disguised as liberarians is correct, but honest libertarians create the enviornment for it by pinging six or seven friends into every WOD thread. Libertarians are big on ganging up.
I disagree with you here. Ping lists are a part of what makes FR a great tool and are used by every group on here.
Interestingly, I just noticed two comments of yours from several years ago in my "Comments from Fans" section of my FR profile page. It appears as if in the day or so between your two comments, we went from arguing pretty intensely to realizing we had some common ground and respectfully agreeing to disagree. I think we might be seeing history repeat itself.
My history is an indication of what I am talking about, and an argument against the type of ping lists you favor. If you can't defend your point on your own, why bother. When I start adressing the same point from multiple posters, I quickly lose patience. It becomes hard to seperate the respectful from the obnoxious.
I like threads like this. Reminds me why I keep a small arsenal locked and loaded in my home.
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