See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/ejnm
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Cartoon: Tea Party
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/ejni
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Female Pimp to Female Escort
Amplify’d from www.alternet.org
The Year My Girlfriend Was a Prostitute and I Was Her Pimp
My girlfriend decided to become an escort to pay the bills. When she got her first gig, I knew that she would need someone to do security and didn't hesitate to volunteer myself.
One time, she explained to me that the client was worried about her “and the dark, mysterious stranger who dropped her off and picked her up.” He wanted to save her from me, wished he could propose to her and get her out of this life. And without any sense of irony, less than half an hour later, he begged her to do bareback, complained about how expensive she was, and asked her to reduce her already incredibly low rates.
I laughed off the image of me as a pimp. She wasn’t about to disclose to him that the dark mysterious stranger was her girlfriend, nor point out that if she needed saving from anyone it would be guys like him. However, I later discovered that he wasn’t the only one who would label me with that image. What I was doing was legally considered pimping.
I knew that doing security could get me in trouble with the police, but I didn’t realize until after she’d stopped doing escort work that while prostitution is a misdemeanor, what I was doing was “promotion of prostitution,” the legal term for pimping, and it’s a felony. The law is written really broadly to cover “any conduct that institutes, aids, or facilitates an act or enterprise of prostitution.” Under that definition, even providing emotional support to a sex worker could be construed as a felony pimping by an overzealous District Attorney.
In fact, it was when she realized that I could be at risk -- and knowing the abuses I’d be likely to face as a trans woman in prison -- that she became determined to leave the profession. And almost exactly a year after she had begun escorting, she stopped. I know it was the right decision for her. But we were both resentful of the emotional blackmail the situation presented her with.
Read more at www.alternet.org
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/dgr3
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Zionist LIES of Continuing Economic Siege of Gaza
Gisha wants to remind people that the maritime blockade, long in effect, is an inseparable part of the land siege of Gaza and cannot be discussed separately. Gisha says it has official documents, based mainly on High Court of Justice responses to petitions, and the open statements of senior officials, showing the siege was not imposed merely out of security concerns "but also out of a desire to put pressure on the civilian population ... by hindering its progress, cutting its income, reducing its resources and harming its way of life, to bring pressure to bear on the Hamas government."
Paralyzing the economy of Gaza is part and parcel of "economic warfare," Gisha states in its letter to the Turkel Commission.
Amplify’d from www.haaretz.com
- 11.10.10
Otherwise Occupied / The palace lie on Gaza
The nine Turkish dead of the Gaza flotilla have left a legacy of finding out the truth about the blockade on the Strip
By
Amira Hass
The nine "Turkish" dead on the flotilla to Gaza have succeeded where other flotillas failed, including the "Jewish" flotilla of two weeks ago. Through their deaths, the nine bequeathed to us an ongoing debate over the policy of blockading the Gaza Strip.
Foreign Ministry: "Traffic has increased significantly. The number of trucks coordinated with the Palestinian Authority normally reaches the current maximum capacity of 250 trucks per day."
More correct, says Gisha: The goods that entered constitute only 38 percent of the demand. According to Oxfam, the number of trucks that were permitted to offload goods at the end of September (634 ) is 22 percent of the average number from before June 1997.
Foreign Ministry: "The International Monetary Fund estimates the GDP growth in the first half of 2010 (as compared with the first half of 2009 ) at 16 percent in the Gaza Strip."
More correct, according to Gisha: The growth data noted in the IMF report are connected with the fact that the comparative period of the previous year constitutes a very low base as a point of comparison, because of [Operation] Cast Lead attack. The per capita GDP in Gaza is still 40 percent lower than it was in 1994.
Foreign Ministry: "A number of projects have been implemented or are currently in different stages of implementation. [One of these is] the delivery of containers to serve as classrooms, a United Nations project."
More correct: Children in UNRWA schools have to study in these containers, which are boiling hot in the summer and freezing in the winter, because Israel has not permitted the entry of building materials for 100 new schools that UNRWA wishes to build in Gaza.
Foreign Ministry: "In July, 2,457 exit permits [from Gaza] were issued."
More correct: This number is less than 1 percent of the number of people who exited in September 2000. The "less than one 1 percent" means a lack of access to the West Bank from the Gaza Strip - the substance of the siege. A report by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights on the week of September 28 to October 6, sums up the situation: A total of 621 people left via the Erez crossing that week. Of these, 140 were patients receiving medical treatment in Israel or the West Bank and the 135 people who accompanied them. Fifty-seven were Palestinian merchants and another 26 were defined as businessmen, and 56 Palestinian residents of Israel (generally those who have first-degree relatives in the Gaza Strip ). There were also foreign residents who crossed over: 11 diplomats, 19 journalists. And there were 169 employees of international organizations (some of them foreigners, others Palestinian ). In addition, another eight lucky Gazans headed for abroad after receiving rare permission to cross over at Erez.
Read more at www.haaretz.com
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/cm4f
Breaking the Silence nominated for EU peace prize
Amplify’d from www.haaretz.com
- 12.10.10
Breaking the Silence nominated for EU peace prize
Breaking the Silence documents testimony of soldiers who served in the West Bank and Gaza; right-wing group calls on parliament members not to let it win award.
By
Nir Hasson
Photographs depicting humiliation of Palestinian detainees by soldiers. The photos were published Tuesday by Breaking the Silence.
Breaking the Silence, which documents testimony of soldiers who served in the West Bank and Gaza, has been nominated for a European Parliament prize for defenders of human rights.
Parliament member Daniel Cohn-Bendit, president of the European Greens-European Free Alliance and a leader of the 1968 student uprising in Paris, said Breaking the Silence was nominated because "the Greens/EFA group wants to recognize the bravery of all the individuals involved who work to shed light on the injustices of the Israeli occupation and ensure Israeli society does not simply turn a blind eye."
While "Israel is a democracy, it nonetheless takes enormous courage to speak out and break through the taboos and prejudices surrounding the Israeli occupation," he said.
Read more at www.haaretz.com
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/cl4v
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Rent-A-Crowd!!!
Amplify’d from www.independent.co.uk
North Korean soldiers attend festivities to congratulate North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on his re-election as general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea at the Jeonseung (Victory) Plaza in central Pyongyangin this picture released by the North's KCNA news agency. Slogans read "Hurray for the revolutionary ideology of the great leader comrade Kim Il-sung !" ( bottom L) and "Hurray for the great leader comrade Kim Jong-il !" (bottom R)
Read more at www.independent.co.uk
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/cd72
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Comments (125)