Ho, Canada: 'Bondage Bungalow' Madam Wins Court Challenge

Enough legal maneuvering and Canada may soon become famous for activities involving things other than beer, hockey and curling.

An Ontario court struck down key provisions of Canada’s prostitution laws on Tuesday after finding that they endanger women by forcing them to work on the streets rather than from their homes. While prostitution is legal in Canada, federal criminal law bans almost every activity that makes it possible. The decision, by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, overturns laws prohibiting “the keeping of a bawdy house, communicating for the purposes of prostitution and living on the avails of the trade.” The constitutional challenge was brought by two prostitutes and a dominatrix who was convicted under the bawdy-house law for running what she called the “Bondage Bungalow.”

That dominatrix pictured above looks eerily familiar. Well, at least her hair does.

In case you're now planning a trip north to get your freak on, just make sure you're up on provincial laws.

'The World Cup Has Been Devastating'

Now that the World Cup is warpping up today, who's been the biggest loser? Why prostitutes, it appears. Guess there just weren't enough politicians down there to keep them busy.

The influx of thousands of soccer fans would increase demand on South African sex workers; at least that was the belief of a leading expert prior to the start of the 2010 World Cup.

But it seems fans of the beautiful game that traveled to the Rainbow Nation have created a flop in sex-worker business -- leaving prostitutes out-of-pocket and out of work -- in favor of more high-brow pursuits.

"The World Cup has been devastating. We thought it was going to be a cash cow but it's chased a lot of the business away. It's been the worst month in my company's history," the owner and founder of one of Johannesburg's most exclusive escort companies told CNN.

"No one is interested in sex at the moment. I think we've had three customers who traveled here for the World Cup which has seen my group's business drop by 80 percent. I enjoyed watching the games, but I can't wait for everyone to just go home now!" the madam, who works under the alias of "Tori," added.

Sign of the Times

Well, this sure is an attention grabber. Probably very helpful if you're looking for a hooker.

The experienced motorist will have seen a multitude of road signs warning of children crossing, elderly pedestrians and wildlife.

But the one to the right would surely prompt a second glance.

Some might say that the image of a well-endowed woman in mini-skirt and high heels is, in itself, a hazard.

Giovanni Azzolini, mayor of Mogliano in the Italian province of Treviso, however is determined to use every means to fight the growing number of prostitutes – often transsexuals – who line the streets at night.

‘I will not leave any citizen alone to combat this phenomenon, which has by now surpassed any level of tolerability,’ he said.

He added that some motorists were having accidents after being distracted by scantily-dressed hookers.

A Good Reason for Going Green: Bordello Discounts!

Personally, I find this "going green" drivel a bunch of PC nonsense. But finally we see one reason it may be worth it.

Part of Berlin's red-light scene is going green. One bordello, hoping to stave off falling demand in the economic crisis, has begun offering discounts to customers who pedal bicycles to the door.

"It's very difficult to find parking around here, and this option is better for our environment," said Thomas Goetz, who owns the brothel Maison d'Envie, or House of Desire.

Local residents in Prenzlauer Berg — a part of former East Berlin now home to scores of trendy boutiques, restaurants and clubs — had staunchly supported the Green party in recent elections and have welcomed the bordello's offer to emphasize the environment.

The bordellos in the capital of Germany, where prostitution is legal, have seen business suffer with the global financial crisis. Patrons have become more frugal, and there are fewer potential customers coming to the city for business trips and conferences.

But Maison d'Envie has seen its business begin to return since it began offering the euro5 ($7.50) discount in July, Goetz said.

To qualify, customers must show the receptionist either a bicycle padlock key or proof they used public transit to get to the neighborhood. That knocks the price for 45 minutes in a room, for example, to euro65 from euro70.

Every euro saved counts, I guess. Maybe they should consider frequent visitor discounts as well.

'We Are Looking Out For You'

Gee, those nice folks at ACORN are just so helpful.

One day after two ACORN officials in Baltimore were fired for offering to help a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute to engage in child prostitution and a series of tax crimes, another secretly shot videotape has surfaced that shows the same couple getting similar advice from ACORN officers in Washington.

The newly released videotape, shot on July 25, shows ACORN staffers explaining to the pair how they can hide the woman's professed work — prostitution — and get a loan that will help them establish a brothel.

James O'Keefe, a 25-year-old independent filmmaker, posed as the pimp while visiting the ACORN office, accompanied by 20-year-old Hannah Giles, who posed as the prostitute. On a videotape provided to FOXNews.com, they are seen receiving guidance to establish the woman as the sole proprietor of a bogus company to mask the nature of her business.

"She's not going to put on (the loan application) that she's doing prostitution ... she doesn't have to," the ACORN staffer says. "You don't have to sit back and tell people what you do."

The ACORN staffer is heard suggesting that O'Keefe can purchase a house, and as the landlord, if he is ever questioned by authorities, he can say he was unaware of the illegal business going on inside.

The ACORN employee later suggests that O'Keefe, who said he had a budding political career, not linger at the house in case people "put the dots together" and leave him "smeared and tarnished" by his association with his prostitute girlfriend. She should keep her business "low key," the employee said.

An ACORN spokesman told FOX News the group would need to look at the full tape and transcript before commenting.

ACORN is a criminal enterprise and needs to be shut down. Problem is they're so closely linked with the President of the United States that nothing will happen. After all, they helped teach Obama how to organize communities. The left will just accuse Fox News of setting them up and will look the other way.

WaPo Publisher: Hey, Sorry About Our Political Prostitution

What does a newspaper do after being caught in bed with Democrats? Why, pretend it was all a misunderstanding and beg your dwindling readership to not abandon you because of your integrity.

You can't make this stuff up.

Dear Reader:

I want to apologize for a planned new venture that went off track and for any cause we may have given you to doubt our independence and integrity. A flier distributed last week suggested that we were selling access to power brokers in Washington through dinners that were to take place at my home. The flier was not approved by me or newsroom editors, and it did not accurately reflect what we had in mind. But let me be clear: The flier was not the only problem. Our mistake was to suggest that we would hold and participate in an off-the-record dinner with journalists and power brokers paid for by a sponsor. We will not organize such events. As publisher it is my job to ensure that we adhere to standards that are consistent with our integrity as a news organization. Last week, I let you, and the organization, down. The Washington Post remains committed, now and always, to the highest standards of journalistic integrity. Nothing is more important to us than that, and nothing will shake that commitment.

Just pathetic. I guess this dunce figures if you repeatedly infer some long-ago abandoned integrity we're to believe you're little money-making scheme didn't leave a massive black eye.

Read the rest of this letter if you need a good laugh, but we'll leave you with this parting gift.

We remain committed to you, our readers. We remain committed to the highest standards of integrity. And while we will continue to pursue new lines of business, we will never allow those new avenues to compromise our integrity.

In the meantime, I hope that we can continue to count you as a reader while we promise to continue to bring you the news as it develops, unbiased and with the best reporting and editing we can offer.

Unbiased.

Heh. What a cut-up.

'We Have To Be a Lot More Aggressive Now'

Another victim class of the economic downturn.

Just heartbreaking.

It's past midnight in downtown Berlin, and the prostitutes pace in front of the Hackescher Markt's stores. Signs of a slow economy are everywhere — a sportswear store offers 40 percent markdowns, and bars advertise discounted drinks.

Like so many other businesses, Europe's largest legalized prostitution industry is having to adapt to the economic downturn. Customers are fewer or more frugal, competition has increased, and more clubs and brothels are offering discounts to drum up business.

Since late 2008, the number of English and American tourists has dropped and the street dynamic has changed, according to one prostitute in her mid-20s who requested anonymity because she did not want her family to know her profession. She still gets customers, she said, but they no longer pay for the extras.

"We have to be a lot more aggressive now," said the woman, wearing pink jeans and a black corset, who has worked the area for three years. "The customers used to come straight to you. Now they don't ask you as much."

Nevertheless, she said, the prostitutes in the area have been sticking to a set minimum price — about euro80 ($110) for sex.

"If he doesn't pay our prices then he can't go home with me," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "That simple."

If money's tight, you can always go the smorgasbord route.

At the other end of the spectrum is Berlin's Pussy Club bordello, which has branches in Heidelberg and Wuppertal.

It opened in mid-2008 with a focus on the discount-minded customer, offering an "all you can sex" flat-rate. For between euro70 and euro100, depending upon the time of day, customers can enjoy any sexual services with an unlimited number of women. For their work, the women are also paid a flat-rate wage.

"All the girls get a daily wage of euro100 to euro250 ($140 to $347), so they don't have to worry about money, which is good in this working atmosphere," manager Patricia Floreiou said in an e-mailed reply to questions. She noted a steady increase in applications since the Pussy Club's opening, attributing this in part to the bordello's flat-rate salary. "Many women in other clubs aren't earning enough anymore, and we offer steady, secure money."

Virgin Tax?

And you thought being taxed on cigarettes and soda was bad. I have joked before about how if we ever got around to taxing prostitution we could probably wipe out the debt in no time, but in Germany they do. They tax it at 50%. That nice girl who sold her virginity on line may be on the hook to pay German taxes even though she is from Romania but living in Germany on a student visa.

The teenage student who sold her virginity for $13,827 could have to hand over half of her earnings to the taxman.

German inland revenue investigators are studying reports that Alina Percea, 18, was paid in cash for a weekend of sex with a middle-aged Italian businessman after auctioning her virginity online.

Prostitution is legal in Germany — where Alina studies — but hookers are taxed at 50 percent of their earnings.

Can't wait until CA and NY implement this plan. CA may have a problem when it comes to figuring out how to tax the Hollywood crowd though.

Spitzer Rules Out Norway as Vacation Destination

I always thought those Scandinavian countries were a little more free-wheeling.

Guess not.

The Norwegian government proposed on Friday to fine or jail clients of prostitutes for up to six months in a bid to stamp out human trafficking, and said the law would also apply to its citizens abroad.

Norway signalled in mid-2007 that it would make it a criminal offence to buy services from prostitutes, following the example of Scandinavian neighbour Sweden which introduced a similar ban in 1999.

The amendment will now be put to parliament for approval and if passed will take effect in January 2008, officials said.

"People are not merchandise, and criminalising the purchase of sexual services will make it less attractive for human traffickers to look to Norway," Justice Minister Knut Storberget said in a statement.

Prostitution is allowed in Norway although procuring, or "pimping," is illegal. A rise in street prostitution in the capital, Oslo, in recent years has triggered calls for a ban.

Proponents of the measure say it makes sense to try to stop prostitution by punishing those who use the service rather than the women themselves, who are often poor, young immigrants.

Good News: World's Oldest Profession Recession-Proof

Thanks to certain politicians (hello, Eliot Spitzer!) and others with plenty of disposable cash, there's at least one area of the U.S. economy that isn't hurt by the weakened dollar and soaring prices.

Despite the nation's sagging economy, a new report says the "escort" business is doing quite well.

According to Portfolio magazine, the average escort experience is valued at about $1,364, and the total US "escort economy" is more than $109.6 million.

Although former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a k a "Client-9," is the most infamous escort enthusiast, he is hardly alone.

About 700,000 men in the United States, or 0.65 percent, pay prostitutes for carnal relations each year, according to a survey quoted by the magazine.

Portfolio divided the escort economy into three types of experiences: the "regular," at about $540; the "Spitzer," at about $4,300; and the "platinum," a $64,000 "weekend-long encounter for the globetrotting billionaire" that includes the cost of a private jet and an extra $5,000 to distract the wife with a spa weekend.

Speaking of Spitzer, he's apparently soon to be subpoenaed, as is his predecessor, George Pataki.

Apostate Gone Wild

How a child prodigy at Oxford became a £130-an-hour prostitute


With the intellect to win a place at Oxford at the age of 13, Sufiah Yusof should, by now, be carving out a high-flying career for herself.

But a decade after hitting the headlines thanks to her remarkable aptitude for mathematics - and days after her father was jailed for sexually assaulting two teenagers - Miss Yusof has been exposed as a £130-an-hour prostitute.

The revelation completes a sad fall from grace for the family who were hailed the brightest in Britain after Miss Yusof and two of her siblings won university places by the time they were 16.

Calling herself Shilpa Lee, 23-year-old Miss Yusof advertises her body on an internet sex site and operates out of a back street flat in Salford. Yesterday, a friend of the former child prodigy said of her downfall: "It is all desperately heartbreaking.

"With her amazing brain she should be able to make money any way she wants. But instead her life spiralled completely out of control.

"Sufiah has suffered so many knocks in her life. I just hope she can drag herself out of this life she has got herself into.

"She is such a good person and deserves a much better life than this. Her gift really has been a curse."

On the website, she describes herself as a '"very pretty size 8, 32D bust and 5ft 5in tall - available for booking every day from 11am to 8pm".

She adds that she is a "sexy, smart student" who prefers "older gentlemen". When an undercover reporter visited her at the flat, Miss Yusof stripped naked and gyrated on a bed as she reeled off her list of services.

Miss Yusof was pictured as a child smiling innocently outside St Hilda's College, Oxford, after winning her place to study maths in 1997. But she ran away three years later, aged 15, claiming her parents had placed her under intolerable pressure to succeed.

She was found by police 12 days later working as a waitress at a Bournemouth internet cafe but refused to return to her parents, who had given up their jobs to educate their five children at home.

Miss Yusof was taken in by a foster family and shortly afterwards sent a searing email to her parents, documenting the "living hell" she said her father - a private tutor - had created.

She wrote: "I've finally had enough of 15 years of physical and emotional abuse."

She accused her "controlling and bullying" father of forcing her to work in the cold to aid concentration and added that she never wanted to see him again.

In 2004, she married trainee lawyer Jonathan Marshall, but the couple divorced 13 months later.

In January, the Daily Mail revealed that her father Farooq had been remanded in custody after admitting sexually assaulting two girls, both aged 15.

Appearing under his real surname of Khan, he was jailed for 18 months at Coventry Crown Court last week after a judge heard how he had groped the two girls when he was home tutoring them at maths.

He had previously been jailed for three years in 1992 for his part in a £1.5million mortgage swindle involving several family members.

Yesterday the News of the World described how Miss Yusof was armed with three mobile phones as she welcomed an undercover reporter who was posing as a client at her flat.

The once strict Muslim stripped out of her tiny skirt, leather boots, tight T- shirt and red matching underwear as she detailed her £130-an-hour rate.

She claimed to be studying for a masters degree in economics on a part-time two-year course in London and added: "I've got exams coming up and I'm thinking, 'Oh my God!'."

Yesterday, her mother, Halimahton, 51, a scientist, said she had no idea her daughter was working as a prostitute.

Speaking from her home in Coventry, Mrs Yusof said: "I didn't know anything about that. I am not in touch with Sufiah any more. I have got no comment."

Miss Yusof's brother, Iskander, aged 12, and sister Aisha, 16, started at Warwick University in 1998, making them the youngest brother and sister to study together at university at the time.

Sounds like an 'honor killing' in the making.

Via The Daily Mail.

UPDATE: Don Surber links. Thanks!