Free Republic

Never come between the "Godmother of Soul" and her luggage. That's the lesson a West Point cadet says he learned at Houston airport when he charges Patti LaBelle's security guards roughed him up. Richard King, 23, is suing LaBelle over the incident, captured on surveillance video last March 11 at Bush Intercontinental Airport. King, a Houston resident who is a senior at the military academy, had come home for spring break when he wandered close to LaBelle's limousine. He was talking to his brother on his cellphone when her bodyguards "sprang into action," according to the civil suit he filed...

PARIS, March 18, 2006 (AFP) - Dozens of prostitutes took to the streets of Paris Saturday not to ply their trade but to defend it in a demonstration of "hooker pride" and calls for recognizing their human rights. The French hookers are asking for the repeal of a 2003 law which makes soliciting subject to a fine of 3,750 euros (4,600 dollars) and two months in prison, as well as revoking the residency card of any foreigner. The prostitutes like Karima, who has sold "sexual services" for 18 years, refer to it as "Sarkozy's law" after the French Interior Minister...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The world's oldest profession should be decriminalized and treated like any other business, international activists at a Hong Kong conference on prostitution said Sunday. Prostitutes are abused by policemen who demand free sex and then arrest them for soliciting and they are victimized by politicians who launch crackdowns to woo voters, speakers at the conference said. Activists also demanded better health support for prostitutes to prevent the spread of diseases including HIV (news - web sites)/AIDS (news - web sites), especially in less developed parts of the world. "The criminalization and stigmatization of prostitutes is fundamentally...