A few days ago, the Portland contingent of TNA Board (.com) was aghast that a particular provider had been running her mouth to the media.  A few even predicted that her treasonous attention-mongering might prompt a renewed round of scrutiny and persecution, pointing to a similar turn of events several years ago that resulted in a rough spot for the online pooners of Portland.

So, is another wave of unwanted attention on the way?  The early indication is: maybe.  I note with dismay that the Oregonian has suddenly taken an interest.

Prostitution plagues every city, yes. But what perpetuates it is indifference — a callous disregard for children. The Prostitution Advisory Council is right to try to put a stop, at long last, to the yawn and the shrug.

(Note that, as with so many things the government does, it’s ‘for the children’.)

It appears that America’s ginned-up human trafficking “crisis” has finally begun to reach the Native American tribes.  Federal dollars are sure to follow, which is, of course, the real reason they are suddenly sounding the alarm.

Back during the Clinton years, various special interest groups breathlessly told us that there were upwards of 50,000 “sex slaves” being held against their will within the borders of the United States.  Smelling money, lawn force mint agencies were only too happy to agree.  But nearly ten years (and a few billion dollars) later, federal authorities have only 419 convictions to show for the their efforts.

Normally, a major international convention, like the Copenhagen Climate Conference currently underway in Denmark, would be a bonanza for local sex workers.  But the city of Copenhagen decided to take a swipe at local hookers by discouraging visitors from partaking.  Nobody should be surprised that the hookers are fighting back, but their methods are surprising:

Now, Copenhagen prostitutes are up in arms, saying that the council has no business meddling in their affairs. They have now offered free sex to anyone who can produce one of the offending postcards and their COP15 identity card, according to the Web site avisen.dk.

I’m pretty sure this would never happen in Seattle.  Just sayin’.

Barack Obama’s minions are preparing to unleash a jobs bill to follow-up this year’s failed economic stimulus program.  What will be in it?  Nobody knows.  But we do know one thing: it won’t include legalized prostitution.  Obama fielded the question on Monday, from a college student in Pennsylvania.

‘Tis a pity.  He could have claimed to be targeting economic benefits towards single mothers, while capturing a new revenue stream to reduce the deficit.  So much for “change”.

When the law concerns itself with sex, all too often logic and reason are tossed out the window.  Here’s a perfect example: KATU-TV in Portland, OR is in a tizzy because of “sex for rent” ads on Craigslist (and the authorities are soon to follow, prone as they are to being led by the nose in matters such as this).  They claim the ads constitute a form of prostitution.

But is it really?

Let’s think this through.  Anybody can place an ad on Craigslist seeking a romantic partner or even NSA sex.  If such a thing were to lead to a cohabitation arrangement, nobody would have a fit about it.  A guy can meet a lady, invite her to move in, and provide housing, free of charge, in exchange for sex and/or companionship — and this would be perfectly legal.

But somehow, if the free housing provided happens to be down the block or across town, this is an act of prostitition?  Please.

The real message being sent by KATU is that all live-in relationships are a form of prostitution, when one of the parties foots all or most of the bills.

When company is coming in from out of town, a good host will stock up on extra supplies and try their best to make their guests as comfortable as possible.  In Vancouver, B.C., where preparations are underway for the 2010 Winter Olympics, officials are doing exactly that, and they’ve tried to think of everything.  And I do mean everything.  Today it was announced that the Olympic Organizing Committee has arranged for 100, 000 condoms to be distributed free-of-charge to athletes and officials.

That pencils out to about 14 apiece for the 7000 participants that are expected.  Seems optimistic to me.

Anybody who has used Craigslist for any length of time — particularly those who have been “ghosted” — can tell you that Craigslist is run by a bunch of devious, lying bastards.  So it strikes me as pretty humorous that some smart people who should know better are finding out the hard way about what kind of people they are dealing with.

First up, we have Romy Maxwell, a software developer working for a  start-up venture called Flippity, which uses Craigslist’s RSS feed to plot ads on a map.  Maxwell had invested two months in the project, with the knowledge and (what seemed to be) the consent of Craig Newmark himself.  What happened next will come as no surprise to anyone who has dealt with Craigslist’s customer service folks:

A couple weeks later, Maxwell sent Newmark a link to a working alpha version of Flippity. Newmark went silent, Craigslist pulled the plug on Flippity and every other Yahoo Pipes project soon thereafter. From Maxwell’s blog:I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw what Craigslist had done. They literally added a check for “pipes.yahoo.com” in the referrer header of any HTTP request, which was then redirected to the home page. In essence, they blocked them. Really, Craig ? This is your response ?

Evidently, Newmark’s running email exchange with Maxwell amounted to little more than espionage.  Once he had the information he wanted, he trashed the project and stopped responding.

Even uglier than this behavior, though, is Craigslist’s treatment of a major investor, eBay, which purchased a minority stake in 2004.  The two parties have been on a collision course for some time, and now appear to be heading for a Delaware court.  At issue: eBay claims that Craigslist has cooked the books in order to reduce eBay’s holdings below the threshold for a seat on the board.  Craigslist, in turn, is absurdly claiming that eBay is stealing traffic and has misused it’s ownership position to advance it’s own competing venture into online classified ads (as if Craigslist’s website contained any measure of high-tech innovation).

Say what you will about site reliability, quality of moderation (or lack thereof), or what-have-you… when it comes to figuring out where to advertise, one factor rises above all others: traffic.  Let’s have a look at how the major Seattle sites stack up.

As you can see, there really is no comparison — TNA Board (.com) stands head-and-shoulders above the rest.  And I note with interest that as recently as 18 months ago, just the opposite was true.

I also think it’s worth pointing out that TNA’s numbers really started taking off around the time that the site owner finally fixed the crappy hosting situation, about 4-5 months ago.

Once upon a time, men who viewed pornography were considered perverts.  But according to a recent Canadian study, ALL men are perverts:

“We started our research seeking men in their 20s who had never consumed pornography,” said Professor Simon Louis Lajeunesse. “We couldn’t find any.”

Although hampered in its original aim, the study did examined the habits of those young men who used pornography – which would appear to be all of them.

Is anybody truly surprised by this?

Now, if scientists want a real challenge, I propose that they search next for men in their 20s who haven’t played video games.

It seems like just about every day, I see something that makes me think, “Gee, it’s a great time to be alive.”  Today is no different.

Modern science has given us everything from Blue-Ray DVDs to microwavable pork rinds, but there’s never been anything better than baby powder to address the age-old problem of rot-crotch.  Until now, that is.

Meet Fresh Balls™, a new grooming product that promises to keep your gonads “fresh like a cool summer breeze”.  Available in 3 oz. tubes and sold only on the web, Fresh Balls is an easy-to-apply cream antiperspirant that is sure to enhance your hobbying experience.  Just be sure not to get any on your favorite provider’s chin.