Free Republic

Pimp (pimp) n. One who provides means and opportunities for unlawful sexual intercourse; a panderer, v. to act as a pimp or pander; to pander, to scrounge off; to take advantage of. — Oxford English Dictionary ST. LOUIS — As Halloween revelers head into this weekend of festivities, they can expect to see lots of pimps, or at least people pretending to be pimps. Dressed in colorful, often-garish costumes will be teenage pimps, adult pimps, female pimps, even children dressed as pimps, thanks to a Los Angeles-based firm that has been selling thousands of the outfits for the past two...

Ten weeks before San Francisco shocked the nation by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the city quietly took another step in America's cultural revolution by liberalizing its massage permit laws to the point where some critics call it de facto legalization of prostitution. Addressing the issue of sex workers in the massage industry, outgoing Mayor Willie Brown, with the nearly unanimous support of the Board of Supervisors, signed a new law Dec. 5 that redefines it as a public health issue rather than a matter of law enforcement. The law went into effect July 1. By removing a requirement...