Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Oldest Profession Meets Third...

2 professors ran prostitution site for esteemed members, police say

ALBUQUERQUE — Two aging professors accused of running a sophisticated prostitution website appeared to have one goal, police say: They wanted to create a place where respected men like themselves could go for sex without having to worry about getting caught up in street stings.

“They have a lot to lose, and they tried to build an organization to protect themselves,’’ Albuquerque police Lieutenant William Roseman said.
Things that should not be illegal:

1. Cramming your body full of mind-altering substances that are not alcohol;
2. Carrying a firearm, openly or concealed, without a permission slip; and
3. Selling something that people have paid for since the dawn of time.

Here's the core of the libertarian philosophy right here: If you're not hurting anyone other than yourself, the state needs to stay the hell out of it. You want to smoke dope all day long and waste your life away? Not a problem. Get behind the wheel while stoned and we'll treat you just like a OUI - and you'll be a lot easier to catch ambling down the road at 8 MPH with Fritos falling out the window...

Here you have intelligent, educated people engaging in the oldest profession known to man. These are folks who, by any reasonable metric, should know better - getting caught using those services is a one-way ticket to jail, unemployment, and loss of professional esteem. That alone should be more than enough to keep any thinking man about as far away from prostitutes as humanly possible. Yet it was not - not only were these two professors using those services, they devoted their spare time and effort into starting a website that helped other professionals utilize those same services.

Why is this illegal? Sure, if there's evidence that anyone in the operation is doing this against their will, shut it down hard and make those responsible do hard time. But if everyone is a willing participant? It's hard to see what driving it all underground does in any sort of positive aspect. There's no regulation, there's no protection for either the workers or the customers - and worst of all (from a .gov perspective), no tax base!

Of course, it would have been nice if the professors involved had chosen to work within the system rather than around it to enact change...

That is all.

6 comments:

libertyman said...

Well, there goes that idea for our next faculty meeting.

Tim Covington said...

What's the difference between a woman who has sex for $200 and one you pick up in a bar after buying her a drink?


Price

IMO, if the entire country went to the Nevada style of prostitution we would all be better off.
1. Women who choose the oldest profession would have better legal and health protection.
2. STDs from the oldest profession would go down.
3. More taxes would be collected.

Ruth said...

Pretty much what Tim said.

Legalize it, give the workers the same protection and rights workers in other fields have. Would you still have people trying to get away with evading taxes? Sure, just like in every other profession, but the number would drop immensely.

We had a "prostitution sting" here not that long ago. Of all the people arrested, one of the customers had a small amount of drugs on him (and they charged him with dealing, if the news had it right he had enough for one person to dose up once or twice *eyeroll*). No one else arrested had done anything wrong except be a prostitute or visit a prostitute. Heck, the women were even giving the men what was paid for and not cheating them! (and not one woman was tested positive for STDs)

Ruth said...

Have to add:

the funny part about the sting, the comments on the news articles were almost entirely what we're all saying here. There were a few religious people having fits, the rest pointed out what a massive waste of money the whole thing had been!

ParatrooperJJ said...

If it was legal most women could not collect unemployment....

Anonymous said...

I wanna know what algorithm picked the word verification for this comment: menco. There must be a connection: men company... Oh I crack me up and I'm sober! BTW, I'm anonymous cuz google won't let me use my google ID to comment unless I create a blog...