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Some estimate that as many as 100,000 kids, mostly young girls are caught up in the U.S. sex trade right now.
And with the speed and ease of the Internet, that kind of criminal behavior is much harder to track.
Speier said Craigslist has become a conduit for illegal activity and it’s time for operators to shut the adult services section down.
She made that exact request in a letter sent to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster and he responded by saying the company has a zero tolerance policy for crime and would welcome suggestions to prevent misuse.
”I know that Mr. Buckmaster believes that they’re doing as much as can be done and I just don’t agree with them,” said Speier.
She said she will also ask U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello to help San Francisco’s Craigslist avoid the facilitation of prostitution and human trafficking.
See the full article from “KCBS”
… I was a barker and it was my job to try and get sailors’ sea pay from them,” he said. “There was a row of whorehouses and bars and strip-joints and they’d come out the gate and I’d yell insults at the command to try and endear myself to the sailors. Then we’d entice them to come in this little store and sell them over-priced civilian clothes or cars.”
Two months was all he needed of life as a “barker.” Shortly thereafter, he packed his belongings in a borrowed sea bag and headed south with a buddy from the Marine Corps.
“It was a tough world in some ways with a lot of drug use and unsettling things and unhappiness,” he said. “I had a few friends who were very nice people but they were prostitutes so it wasn’t like you were going to go on a date with them.”
Craigslist has always been the whipping boy of law-and-order politicians who say the site is facilitating a bustling sex trade.
But now, the Bay Area’s own Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, is calling for Craigslist to shut down it’s adult services listings where you can find ads like this.
And Speier wants the House Judiciary Committee to hold hearings on sites like Craigslist that “facilitate criminal activity,” the Chronicle reports.
This matters for two reasons: the Bay Area’s liberal pols haven’t gone after Craigslist before and this kind of political pressure is probably the only way to get Craig Newmark to change his site. That’s because he’s on pretty solid legal ground when it comes to flesh-peddling. Legally speaking, it appears that Craigslist is no more responsible for prostitution than a stretch of sidewalk in the Tenderloin.
Speier sent a letter Thursday to Craigslist Chief Executive Officer Jim Buckmaster urging the San Francisco company to eliminate the adult services section. She also said she will ask U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello to help San Francisco’s Craigslist in “identifying additional methods that you may use to avoid the facilitation of prostitution and human trafficking.”
“Now is a time to set a renewed example of zero tolerance and 100 percent vigilance,” the letter said.
Buckmaster quickly replied, saying in a letter to Speier that he is willing to discuss the issue with her.
“I’m confident you will soon realize shutting down portions of Craigslist is no answer, and in fact would be a big step in the wrong direction with respect to the very issues you have raised,” Buckmaster wrote. “Trafficking and child exploitation are despicable, and while exceedingly rare on Craigslist, any ad facilitating crime is utterly unacceptable, and we work tirelessly with law enforcement to ensure any such victim receives the assistance they deserve and anyone responsible is prosecuted.”
…
The ad, purchased by the Rebecca Project for Human Rights of Washington, D.C., described the experiences of two teenage prostitutes who claimed Craigslist was used to recruit their customers.
1. Even after he made his first millions, Steve Poizner still didn’t buy new furniture for his home. That came after his first billion.
2. Even though the family was wealthy, Meg Whitman’s mom made their five-person family stay in a rented tool shed. OK, so it was on the ritzy island of St. John, which Meg describes as “the Beverly Hills of the Caribbean.”
3. Even though she grew up the daughter of an attorney/college law professor who traveled the world, Carly Fiorina paid her own college tuition.
Even if she loses the Senate race, stuff that Carly Fiorina did that makes you want to go out for a beer with her on the day after the primary:
1. At a client’s insistence, went to a strip club, where the dancers refused to perform, saying, “Sorry, gentlemen. Not till the lady leaves.”
But what is not being mentioned by the managed sound bites and the spin in the media is that the oil that will eventually come from the coast or in Alaska will be sold by oil companies on the world market. Oil speculators can then drive up the prices for a barrel of the oil by reselling it over and over and over. The new American coastal oil, like our domestic oil does now, will likely end up all over the world because there is no rule on keeping the oil in this country. This is called capitalism and trade….(source: grant lawrence–bodhi thunder)
President Obama is in fact in bed with Big Oil. Obama and Palin represent a political establishment that is in bed with Big Oil. The whole dirty, oily political system that both Obama and Palin are a product of is destroying this country.
Both Obama and Palin are not only in bed with Big Oil, they are whores for Big Oil and any other corporate interests with enough money to make them turn a trick.
Sadly this is what passes for leadership in America.
Sadly we are now paying disastrous consequences for this political prostitution.
Speier also said she will ask U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello to help San Francisco’s Craigslist in “identifying additional methods that you may use to avoid the facilitation of prostitution and human trafficking.”
And Speier also said she was calling the House Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing on “how Web sites such as yours and others are being used to facilitate criminal activity.”
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Buckmaster has previously responded to similar criticism of the site by saying the online classifieds giant is already taking active steps to manually screen adult services ads for child prostitution and that it continues to help law enforcement efforts to combat these “utterly despicable and horrendous crimes.”
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The ad, purchased by the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, the Washington, D.C., described the experiences of two teenage prostitutes who claimed Craigslist was used to recruit their customers.
Martin added, “I think of all of the islands, Brooks Island, a half mile from the Richmond Marina, is my favorite in the book in terms of what I learned. I love the history of the Indians who lived out there and that it is a major nesting area for Caspian terns. Hundreds of them nest on the beach out in the open.”
He also loved discovering the ghost town of Drawbridge on Station Island in the southern end of the bay.
“I’d heard of Drawbridge, but you can’t get on the island,” Martin said. “The only way in and out is on the railroad tracks. Trains roar through there several times a day. But I found a way to get there by riding my bike on the levee. It’s really the Wild West ghost town of the Bay Area. There are 25 buildings there. During Prohibition, there were 500 people living out there. Everyone carried guns. There was a brothel, and the women who worked there were known around town as the ‘friendly ladies.’ “
Top Girls by feminist playwright Caryl Churchill recently opened, and is currently running, at Ross Valley Players. Set in 1980s London at the Top Girls Employment Agency, Top Girls tells the story of an ambitious and successful career woman, Marlene (Loring Williams) who has just been appointed head of the firm. Her story moves between fantasy and realism, time and space, poverty and affluence as it reveals family secrets and sacrifice.
When the play opens, Marlene has just beat out a male colleague to become Managing Director at the Top Girls Employment Agency, and she dreams up five women from history and legend to join her in celebration. Though successful in business, Marlene fails at finding female companionship. So she invents her own. The guests in attendance are legendary female Pope Joan (Carolyn Power), Lady Nijo (Lina Makdisi), 13th century Japanese-courtesan-turned-Buddhist-nun Dull Gret (Susan Donnelly), warrior subject of a Bruegel painting Isabella Bird (Michelle Darby), a Scottish traveler and the ever-patient Griselda (Theresa Miller) from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. They are all women who made it to the top whether by defiance or obedience, and each paid a terrible price, sacrificing their children in one way or another.
California: San Francisco representative asked Craigslist to delete adult service section, which, according to the critics, is used for child sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Though the CEO of Craigslist was not available for a comment, the company spokeswoman said that Craigslist is preparing a statement in response to the governor’s statement.
Maryland: A man was arrested on human trafficking charges after the undercover officer was offered sexual massage service from his massage parlor. The police also arrested a woman who lived in the building and offered him the sexual service. The woman was charged with two counts of prostitution and remained in jail in lieu of $15000 bail.
Guam: Two massage parlors voluntarily closed themselves after Attorney General performed inspections on eight massage parlors around the Island. Currently, the Island does not have any licensing regulation for massage parlors. She said that the inspection led administrative arrests and deportations of some individuals.
See the full article from “Examiner.com”
