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18th December

Based on an article from SFGate

A Texas housewife is in big trouble with the law for selling a vibrator to a pair of undercover cops, and the Brisbane vibrator company she works for says Texas is an "antiquated place'' with more than its share of "prudes.''

Joanne Webb was in a county court in Cleburne, Texas, on Monday to answer ludicrous obscenity charges for selling the vibrator to undercover narcotics officers posing as a dysfunctional married couple in search of a sex aid.

Webb, a saleswoman for Passion Parties of Brisbane, faces a year in jail and a $4,000 fine if convicted. What I did was not obscene, Webb said. What's obscene is that the government is taking action about what we do in our bedrooms.'

The arrest of Webb in Cleburne, a small town 50 miles southwest of Dallas, was the first time that any of the company's 3,000 sales consultants have been busted, said Pat Davis, the president of Passion Parties. She said the company was outraged by the charges and stood behind Webb.

It makes you wonder what they're thinking out there in Texas, Davis said. They sound like prudes, with antiquated laws. They must have all their street crime under control in Texas if they're going to spend tax money arresting us.

For the past year, Webb has sold the company's line of vibrators, gels, lubricants, strawberry-flavored nipple cream and "edible passion puddings.'' The merchandise is offered for sale in private, Tupperware-style parties to women who may be reluctant to visit an adult novelty store.

Webb suspects she got in trouble because she ruffled feathers in town by daring to join the Chamber of Commerce with her sex toy business. She said her arrest had caused her husband of 20 years to suffer a nervous breakdown.

Webb said she was amazed that the town's narcotics squad would be put on the case. We have a real problem with drugs in our schools, she said, and they're using our narcotics officers to entrap me for selling a vibrator.

2nd December

From KSL

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected without comment a suburban sex shop owner's appeal of a state court's ruling. The Utah Supreme Court in May ruled against John Haltom, saying he could not challenge the constitutionality of a sexually oriented licensing law for which he hasn't applied. The record also indicates, however, that had Dr. John's applied for the correct license he would have received one, the opinion said.

When ruling against Haltom last spring, the justices said he failed to show that his business suffered more onerous treatment or adverse consequences than a regular commercial establishment. Haltom owns Doctor John's Lingerie and Novelty Boutique in the Salt Lake City suburb of Midvale, which sells adult videos, lingerie, and erotic toys.

The state Supreme Court's ruling also upheld a permanent injunction against Haltom from selling adult material. Haltom was ordered to register for a sexually oriented business license, which are traditionally more difficult to obtain than commercial business licenses. Third District Judge Leslie Lewis ruled two years ago that Haltom's business primarily sold items for sexual pleasure, qualifying it as a sexually oriented business. Sexually oriented businesses must pay for employees' fingerprinting and background checks, and the store must close at a certain hour. Midvale officials ordered Haltom to remove certain items from his shelves; he complied, but later restocked his shelves.

Haltom, a Nebraska resident, had called the state Supreme Court's ruling appalling. He has suggested that if Utah wanted to secede from the United States, he wouldn't object. He said two of his 16 stores are in Utah because Utah residents are sexually repressed. Haltom was jailed earlier this year in Omaha, Neb., on convictions for violating public decency. He also faces charges in Scottsbluff, Neb.

27th November

From Stuff

Every supermarket, pharmacy and video store in Auckland city is potentially an adult sex shop and could be closed down, according to a former senior council officer.

John Campbell said yesterday Auckland City Council's draft bylaws did not define a number of commercial sex premises, such as rap parlours and adult sex shops. As a result, supermarkets and pharmacies could be defined as adult sex shops for selling contraceptives and video stores could become adult sex shops for hiring R18 rated movies, he said. Under new rules to control the sex industry in Auckland city, commercial sex premises are restricted in the central city and banned from residential areas and at ground level.

Campbell was speaking on the first day of public hearings into the council's proposed brothel and commercial sex premises bylaws. Ema Lyon, a retailer of "romantic gifts", sex toys and lingerie, objected to her business being classified as a commercial sex premise when it did not stock pornographic material.

She said bookshops that sold erotica, dairies that sold pornographic magazines and gift shops that sold romantic novelties did not face the same restrictions as her business, which could be stopped from operating at ground level. Lyon was told that under the consolidated bylaw her business could apply for a dispensation.

Lawyer Mark Andrews told the hearing he had been instructed to start legal proceedings if the council proceeded with the draft bylaw for commercial sex premises on the basis it was unreasonable, repugnant to the general laws of New Zealand and a breach of natural justice. He was acting for former city councillor Jon Olsen, who owns a building occupied by the striptease club, Showgirls. A prostitute and brothel owner, Holly Ryan, threatened to sue the council if the draft bylaws forced her Sandringham business to move.

Other submitters strongly supported the council's tough stand towards the sex industry, including the social research organisation Maxim Institute and the Women's Health Action Trust. The trust is seeking changes to the bylaws, such as a ban on brothels in residential developments and apartments and stopping brothels setting up near foreign language schools to prevent the recruitment of prostitutes among this "vulnerable population".

4th November

You'd think the United States of Warmongers would have more important things to do than haranging people who were clearly enjoying themselves. They ought to be concentrating on sorting out the aftermath of an unjustified war.

From The New York Post

Gays, straights and wife-swappers got dressed in a flash and made for the exits when Suffolk cops raided a North Bay Shore pleasure palace.

Three table dancers and a manager were arrested after all the G-strings were sorted out. Among some of the no-holds-barred activities allegedly taking place at Fantasy Video, located in a warehouse on North Fehr Way, were:

• In the "Male Room," lonely men were getting very friendly with each other, police said
• In another area, several female dancers were on a stage - some fully naked.
• Lap dancers were letting guys know that for additional cash beyond the $20 dance, they would segue from hoofer to hooker in a heartbeat.
• Upstairs in the "Swingers Room," numerous couples were "engaged in sex acts with several partners."
• And the floor of the porn-video booths were "littered with used condoms."

When a team of 17 cops showed up at 11:30 p.m. Saturday with the cuffs - all in the name of the law, of course - the dozen or so swingers upstairs were having an orgy, law-enforcement officials said. They were shocked and dismayed, said an officer who took part in the raid. They got dressed and got lost. No arrest were made with the patrons.

Busted dancers were charged with prostitution after propositioning undercover cops. The Manager was charged with criminal mischief. Police ordered the building closed. And town officials cited Fantasy Video with lack of proper smoke detectors and sprinklers, padlocked fire doors and exposed wiring. The club was slapped with eight summonses.

28th October

From Yahoo News

The Taliban has been ousted from rule in Afghanistan and its hardline Islamic policies are a thing of the past, but many Afghans have been shocked and angered by an Afghan woman appearing in a bikini at a beauty pageant.

Twenty five-year-old Vida Samadzai - the first Afghan entrant in an international beauty contest for 30 years and the first since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 -- joined more than 50 other women at a hotel in Manila early this week for the Miss Earth competition.

She is not representing Afghan women. The way she appeared is not in our Afghan culture nor is endorsed by Islam, Habiba Surabi, women's affairs minister, told Reuters in Kabul.

The slim and dark-haired Samadzai was born and raised in Afghanistan, but left for the United States in 1996 to escape the civil war and the rise to power of the Taliban's religious movement.

Frishta, a 25 year-old nutter, said Samadzai should be stripped of her Afghan nationality. She could have participated in Afghan and Islamic traditional clothes rather than showing her body to people. As a woman I am shocked.

Samadzai, who may be unaware of the outrage she has caused at home, told Reuters this week that she wanted to dispel the notion that Afghan women were cloistered. I would like to make people aware that as Afghan women we are talented, intelligent and beautiful. We are one of the people who can make a difference in this world.

Officials at the women's ministry of President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government and several religious clerics also criticised Samadzai. Several other residents suggested that Karzai himself should condemn her.

Karzai was installed to power in 2001, after U.S.-led forces overthrew the radical Taliban regime, which had won notoriety for banning women from appearing in public without the all enveloping burqa and banned them from most outdoor jobs and education.

  Nutters Win in LA

So when was the last story that shows America to be respectful of peoples rights and freedoms either at home or abroad?

Based on an article from The BBC

Los Angeles' strip clubs have been told to keep their customers about two metres away from erotic dancers. It is a knee jerk response to trumped up complaints that the clubs contribute to prostitution and drug use.

For the dancers who earn a living by stripping, getting up close to their customers is an all-important part of the act. Most make their money from tips in the form of cash. The dollar notes are usually tucked into their skimpy bikinis, a practice that will be made impossible under the new law.

Aside from the two-metre rule, customers and dancers will no longer allowed to touch each other. Direct tipping and all bodily contact will be banned. Under the new law, state licence security guards must be on duty in the clubs at all times.

The clampdown follows a growing number of complaints from nutters living near adult clubs. They make the bollox claim that the clubs are to blame for prostitution, drugs use, excessive noise and streets littered with condoms.

Breaking the rules can result in a six-month jail sentence or a $2,500 fine.

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