Peeing in the Pool

For some reason, it seems that a lot of people imagine there is some sort of wall between the world of escorts and the world of streetwalkers. Clearly, the escorts think that way; they imagine themselves to be better than the SWs. They will say out loud that they would never stoop to that level of depravity. And — the biggest self-delusion of them all — they seem to think that they enjoy a greater level of insulation from the dangers of STD infection.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. The reason is obvious: it’s the clients.

Let’s use the the two ‘*reviewboard.org’ sites (swreviewboard.org and clreviewboard.org) as a convenient, and highly illustrative, example. If you look through enough of the posts on these two sister sites, you will begin to notice something: incest. Particularly in the early days, before a lot of the members became savvy to the realization that a lot of ‘escorts’ and ‘courtesans’ don’t care to see streetwalker aficionados, there was rampant crossover. Indeed, you will even find some of the supposedly extra-high class TRB guys posting there if you delve back into the first half of 2005.

And so, when we do just a little research, we find that a large percentage of senior members on the ‘escort board’ used to be (and in many cases, still are) very frequent visitors to the strolls and tracks, where they delight in finding runaways and I.V. drug users for around $40 a pop. These very same guys then step back ‘up’ to the escort world, where the $250 girls are living the hallucination that they are seeing a better class of client.

Whoever said that we all swim in the same pool had no idea how right they are. Don’t believe me? Pick a random sample of, oh, say 10 or 12 longtime TNA seniors and plug their handles into SWRB search. I’ll bet something like 25% of them — maybe more — are seniors on both boards.

I have to wonder how the ‘inside’ providers feel about this. Especially the ones providing uncovered services of various sorts.

Just a little something for you girls to think about next time you let some guy splooge in your mouth. Ask yourself… do you know where that penis has been? Is this upscale ‘client’ really just a street monger who came to see you because there weren’t any methers walking the track down at 125th and Aurora? Chances are much better than you think that this is precisely the case.

Time For a Reminder

Geezus Christ, some of you nit-wits out there are pretty fucking gullible. Let’s go over this again, shall we? Short version: you are being sold a bill of goods. Update: since the changeover, reliability has not improved… it has gone downhill.

If you truly feel the need to pay for a valuable service that is gladly offered for free, perhaps you should try this instead.

Every dollar that goes into Tek’s pocket (over and above the $25/month that TNA actually costs, that is) is nothing more than a reward for operating the extortion and free pussy vending machine that is already paying off rather nicely for him and his buddies.

When it comes right down to it, Tek should be paying you.

Palfrey Update

This afternoon’s follow-on hearing regarding Deborah Palfrey’s telephone records has been continued to Thursday, so in the absence of any fresh news on my new favorite cause, I decided to do a little checking up on the person at the controls.

I am not encouraged.

It turns out that the judge in Palfrey’s case is none other than U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, the same judge who recently handed down an opinion of no less than 1683 pages explaining why she felt the tobacco industry is organized crime. The actual ruling — the part of the document that explains the court’s orders — consisted of only 20 pages, and seems likely to be overturned on appeal as it reaches way beyond the scope of Kessler’s jurisdiction.

Great… juuust great. What we have here is a moral crusader willing to bend the law in order to superimpose her own values on to her court’s rulings. Swell.

On the upside, Kessler has also seen notoriety for standing up to the Bush administration on the detention of prisoners at Camp X-ray. Well… at least she was willing to deliver a tongue lashing, having fallen short of penning a ruling that might have the effect of actually preserving the Constitution.

I’m not feeling good about Palfrey’s chances of getting a fair shake.

End of An Era (but not a sad farewell)

Anybody who has any background doing streetwalkers around Tacoma undoubtedly remembers a little dive called the Kingdom Inn, which sits just across the Puyallup River from the Puyallup Avenue stroll. Myself, I can remember visiting the place as far back as 1985 when, as a young man with money to burn and time on my hands to match, I would occasionally grab a young hottie from an old stroll that is today a shiny new convention center/hotel complex and make the 5-minute drive over to Fife. The place eventually became a genuine cesspool of crack and meth addicts, unfit even for streetwalkers IMO, and today the inevitable was announced: the property now belongs to the Fife Police Department, which apparently has no future plans to engage in the hospitality industry.

With the Lakewood P.D. having taken down a couple of the Kingdom Inn’s more egregious counterparts down in Ponders, one can only wonder how much longer the notorious Calico Cat Motel can stay in business. Arguably, the stretch of Pacific Avenue just north of that motel has become Tacoma’s busiest stroll precisely because of the Calico’s handiness (and willingness to host hookers). I think that if I were the owner, I would be looking for a strip-mall developer to take the place off my hands. (I doubt if the police pay top-dollar when they yank someone’s real property.)

Gawd, I’m glad I don’t do SWs any more.

Serving Two Masters

Many of us have made the assertion that TNA Reviews is not really a “guy’s board” at all, because of the undue influence enjoyed there by providers. But perhaps that is not the entire story. Perhaps TNA is now run not only by the providers, but also by the police. Or, if not the police, then by lawyers.

How else could you explain this latest development, where it is now forbidden to discuss police activity… even police activity which is obviously public information that could be published in any newspaper?

What’s that, you say? There is another explanation? Of course there is… but that would involve admitting that I have been right all along, and y’all wouldn’t want to do that, now would you?

There’s a fly on the wall

Integrity. The word means lots things to lots of people, but to me it means how you act or what you do when nobody is looking… or, at least, when you think nobody is looking.

But of course, sometimes there is somebody looking. So it goes with TNA’s Ladies’ Room, where the “ladie’s” carry on just like they are in a… well, in an actual ladies’ room. (hat tip: IL)

#15 03-05-2007 06:42 pm
Antoinette
Established Provider
From: West of Portland on 99W
Registered: 03-03-2006
Posts: 123 E-mail Re: She’s threatening to take us all down…

…What we ladies need to do is to find a way to make his life a living hell just as he is doing to Roxy. Find out where he works, lives and goes to market etc. Or better yet get him to schedule a meeting with one of us or you Roxy if you are up for it. Then 4 or five us women and one willing male are waiting in the bathroom of the motel room with rope a ball gag, cameras, a large cucumber, and a diaper. after getting his photo in various positions, we will pay ourselves for our time from his wallet. Finally we can throw his clothes in the dumpster downstairs. In 3 or 4 hours we could call the hotel manager, his boss or his wife and tell them to check on him that he may be “tied” up somehow doing business. Oh how I want to be a part of this get even plan!!! Lets go! Anyone else tired of these types of creeps doing their power tripping bullshit on us!!??

Oh my… how very ironic to hear one of the Established Providers rag about ‘power tripping’.

By the way, the last thing I heard about making a post like this was that threatening to out someone — even in jest — was supposed to get you banned. Apparently, that is yet another rule that only applies to certain people (all of them hobbyists, incidentally).

Guys, there’s a reason that they don’t say this sort of thing out in the open: it’s bad for business. And there’s also a reason why they would say this sort of thing behind closed doors: they dislike men.

Choose your providers well, my friends. And take a moment to consider just exactly who you are giving your hard-earned money to.

One way or another…

Deborah Palfrey, the alleged madam who is fighting a federal prostitution rap with the gloves off, is determined to keep the pressure on her persecutors.

Following a judge’s ruling last Friday that Palfrey will be barred from selling her telephone records as planned, Palfrey’s attorney, Montgomery Sibley, let it be known that the records have already been given away, to an undisclosed (and undoubtedly, high-profile) news outlet.

Though not explicitly stated by Sibley, I suspect that the transfer of the records took place well in advance of Friday’s court order. Once in the hands of journalists, the records are all but out of the court’s reach save for a compelling national security argument (though don’t be surprised if such an argument were to materialize, given the government’s over-the-top tactics thus far), and not without further legal entanglements that would be sure to generate exactly the sort of ink that the government wishes to avoid.

Journalists (and more importantly, their publishers) do not like to be pushed around by the courts, and tend to fight back ferociously when 1st Amendment rights are threatened. Sibley knows this, and has probably made the best move possible by safeguarding the much-discussed and much-worried-about telephone records, while still keeping them very much in-play.

Just for you, Jim-Dandy

Ladies and gentlemen, meet your ‘classic American pimp‘ that some of you seem to think is so fucking kewl.

Yeppers, this guy is juuust like the strutting, ebonics speaking, feather-hatted roosters from those 70’s cop shows… driving fancy cars, wearing fancy clothes and diamond studded watches… and on his way to prison, in part, for turning out a 12-year-old girl.

I’ll say it one more time, Casey. You are a stupid fuck.

Better Him Than Me

Regular readers will recall that, a few weeks ago, I postulated that certain aspects of our local prostitution forums put them directly at odds with Washington’s ‘promoting prostitution’ statute (Chapter 9A.88 RCW). And, some of you might also recall the angry and rather defensive rebuffs meted out by a certain anonymous commenter(s?).

Well, anonymous one(s), I hope you’re still out there because I have a little something that you might want to take a look at.

Holmes and his detectives started investigating the first website titled “Utah’s Independent Escorts” in early 2005. They were finally able to introduce an undercover female officer to act as a prostitute this year. She met with Williams and scheduled several appointments with male clients of the website. That led to Williams’ arrest. In recent years, Holmes says the internet has become a common vehicle for sex solicitation.

“Twenty years ago we had the circuit girls – prostitutes that would travel from city to city on a circuit like Salt Lake City, Vegas and Boise,” says Holmes. “Now all the circuit girls are the internet girls. Over 90 percent of travelling girls on the internet have pimps.”

Holmes says Williams was not charged as a pimp because he did not appear to profit from the prostitutes on his website. The two-year investigation also led to the arrest of at least 18 women for sex solicitation.

Important take-home points just for you, anonymous: the man was arrested merely for operating a website that advanced prostitution; he was NOT arrested for pimping, because he hasn’t been taking in any money; but making money from prostitution doesn’t appear to be a legal requirement for being a principle participant.

Yes, yes… I realize this happened in Utah. Yes, yes… I suppose that their laws might be significantly different than those in this state. But then, I’m not the one betting my ass on the legality of the whole thing, so hey… c’est la vie. What Tek does is his business. And, word is that he finally talked to a lawyer, so I’m sure it’s all good.

Another point to note here… this happened in Salt Lake City, which just happens to be the very same city where one of Portland’s more mouthy vocal prostitutes has been collaborating with the media. But that’s purely a coincidence, I’m sure.

Craigslist Follies — If this really worked, we would ALL be doing it

I see these ads all the time on CL, and I just don’t understand the logic. Here is a guy, trying to get something for free in the very same place where it is being sold for cash. His sales pitch? Essentially, ‘you should do me for free because I have no clue what it’s all about.’

On a side note… it seems that prostitution is the last place left where racism is socially acceptable.

Virgin – m4w – 18

---

Reply to: pers-294623556@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-03-15, 2:24PM PDT

any white girl in puyallup. looks dont matter please be between 18 and 30. just want to lose my virginity. 5′10 black male athletic. pic for pic. got a myspace and stuff. get at me 253 241 8864. no fuckin dudes. im serious. i HATE gay guys tryin to get with me with a passion

• Location: Puyallup
• it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 294623556

They call this ‘prostitution’?

I’ve heard of some highly puritanical laws in this country of ours, but today’s news from New Hampshire puts that state squarely in the running to be the pre-eminent prude-haven nationwide. You see, in New Hampshire, not only is it illegal to pay someone to have sex with you — it’s even illegal to pay someone to have sex with somebody else.

In the news from Concord, NH, we have the case of a courthouse security officer, convicted on prostitution charges after offering a couple money to have sex while he videotaped the act.

Theriault, 49, who was convicted Tuesday, took the stand in his own defense and said he only offered the couple, whom he met in court, jobs in a restaurant. Theriault faces a maximum of two years in jail and a $4,000 fine when he is sentenced.

New Hampshire’s prostitution laws prohibit people from offering to pay for sex whether it involves themselves or other people.

(Emphasis added.)

Now, don’t get me wrong… this guy is clearly a deviant. But what he did would probably be perfectly legal in the other 49 states. And to my mind, that by itself should be grounds for a successful appeal. No, not because ignorance of the law is a valid defense; but rather because laws that are clearly this absurd should be struck down on general principles.

Tennessee Turncoat?

Discussions of LE tactics are pretty frequent on the pooner forums. When the topic comes up, it’s not uncommon to see somebody theorizing about how a provider could be ‘turned’ — coerced into working for vice detectives. I’ve always scoffed at the idea. Not anymore.

We all remember last November’s big sting in Seattle. Those who follow closely know that not only were the police using CLRB to gather intelligence, they even went so far as to post a phony shill review to smooth the way for their decoy. (Yes, that’s right… the woman in the photos is a police officer.) As intimidating as it was, at the time we all took comfort in the knowledge that we would be safe as long as we stuck with known providers.

But in Nashville, TN, it might have actually happened. Police are being coy about it, but they want hobbyists to at least think that they may have drafted a snitch. ‘Can’t happen here,’ you say? Don’t be so sure. And if it ever does, participation on a review forum will no longer be a tool; it will become a liability.

Room With a View

It really is too bad that B9Tumor’s blog is invite-only. He has some tasty stuff to draw on. Take, for example, this Yahoo IM exchange between TNA’s Trishah (hrhtoby) and TallBrunette (bobbidollisback), chit-chatting about having access to the (then) CLRB men-only Locker Room.

bobbidollisback (6:08:42 AM): i edited

hrhtoby (6:08:59 AM): Ahh, the privedges of being a senior!

bobbidollisback (6:09:08 AM): heheh

bobbidollisback (6:09:10 AM): yup

hrhtoby (6:09:29 AM): Sola’s pushing hard for that.

bobbidollisback (6:09:34 AM):

hrhtoby (6:09:46 AM): braggard!

bobbidollisback (6:09:53 AM): hehe

hrhtoby (6:09:57 AM): Who was second? I can’t even remember when in the line I was.

bobbidollisback (6:10:03 AM): i dunno

hrhtoby (6:10:03 AM): where

hrhtoby (6:10:13 AM): I should look.

bobbidollisback (6:10:20 AM): can you tell?

hrhtoby (6:10:30 AM): Just by going back that manyposts.

bobbidollisback (6:10:30 AM): oh see when yer first post was in there

hrhtoby (6:11:30 AM): I posted on your first Hi msg.

hrhtoby (6:11:37 AM): first reply to it.

hrhtoby (6:11:54 AM): Then Adrian

bobbidollisback (6:11:55 AM): musta been you then huh

Wisdom of the Ages

Abe Lincoln wasn’t talking about prostitution here, he was speaking out against the then nascent temperance movement. But I believe the general principles are the same.

“Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), U.S. President.
Speech, 18 Dec. 1840, to Illinois House of Representatives

Palfrey Strikes Back

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the Washingon, D.C. madam who has threatened to out her entire client list is said to be thinking of selling her telephone records, is fighting back. Following her arraignment in U.S. District Court today, Palfrey initiated some legal action of her own. She’s suing one of her former escorts for breach of contract (warning: PDF file).

It seems that Palfrey had all of her escorts sign a written agreement to refrain from “illegal activity” while on company time. It’s not clear at this point how or why Palfrey singled out the one escort that she named in her lawsuit — a one Dr. Paula Neble. An additional 15 ‘Jane Does’ were included in the suit, who Palfrey says she is unable to name because the government has seized her business records.

This comes one day after the government filed it’s own motion to suppress any public release of evidence that Palfrey might obtain in discovery — which, presumably, would include the very same business records that Palfrey says she needs to pursue the new lawsuit.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that Palfrey has been convicted of no crime, her assets have been seized under the color of being the proceeds of illegal activity. Not satisfied with stripping the accused of any possible means to defend herself, the government is also doubly anxious to suppress the sale of the telephone records. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Cowden was quoted as saying that the government was looking at seizing any funds so raised, in a move clearly designed to discourage Palfrey from the sale.

Straight From (or is it ‘to’?) the Horse’s Mouth

Gawd, I hate hypocrites. Especially the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ variety. Doubly so when it’s someone who fancies themselves an authority figure.

But, here it is… the Northwest’s very own Chief of Hobby Police, Alyssa Delora, bragging about bare-mouthing a fellow provider — after she told us all that she has sworn off of uncovered sex of any kind in Hobby-related activities.

Every inch of her skin that went into my mouth was delicious. She softly moans and uses encouraging language so you know you are licking her just the way she likes it. Her pussy began to rapidly quiver and then she spilled. I felt a shot of liquid enter my mouth. It was about a TBSP and had a musky scent to it. It was not at all unpleasant. Rachel’s cum is an aprodesiac!

Now, I’m not an M.D… and I’m far from being an expert on the topic of STDs… but when they’re talking about STDs and they mention ‘body fluids’, they don’t draw any distinction between fluids based on the gender of the person secreting said fluids, do they?

Don’t get me wrong, now… I’m not taking issue with the idea of a couple of providers getting together and have a nice time, be it for business or pleasure. That part is kewl. Where I have a disconnect on this is the part where Alyssa told us all that she’s all done having full-contact activity with people from the Hobby because of the infection risk. This next quote is from the TNA (nee CLRB) post linked above, where she is telling us all her story of angst and turmoil on discovering that another east side provider might be spreading genital herpes to clients that they had in common.

At first, I decided to go all covered. My specific fear was not giving uncovered french, it was just the opposite. Uncovered DATY was my greatest fear. I did not like the idea of a man performing DATY on a herpes & wart infested twat, then attempting to stick his tongue in mine. Fuck that noise. This didn’t last long because it just wasn’t much fun to be that covered. I was already offering FBSM so I decided to this exclusively. Once I did, I was set free. Before I made the decision, I was destroying myself inside. I am a natural pleaser and a very sensitive girl. If I don’t feel like I am giving my best, I self punish. Having a constant nagging fear in the back of my mind: “Does he have anything I can contract? Did he see THAT girl and just didn’t mention it? Am I being careful enough?” made me well aware that I could not possibly be giving my best. The realization I came to is that I can’t control what other people do.

Folks, this is a provider who would drink horse piss before she would allow your semen into her mouth. But for some reason, when the shoe is on the other foot, everything changes.
Seattlesgeishagirl alyssasplayground.com/Seattlesgeishagirl/ thegeishagirl@mac.com 425-214-2576 seattle bellevue escort alyssa delora alyssadelora@mac.com alyssasplayground geisha fbsm fbst psen puget sound escort network

TNA T.K.O.’d

It could only be one of just a few things… but my money is on a DoS attack.

UPDATE: Tek says the “server was down“. Well no shit, Sherlock. It might be interesting to see how (or if) he explains this once they get it back up. Perhaps he should call naked_valor for a good cover story.

UPDATE: Ok, Ok… so Tek says he didn’t pay his hosting bill on time. That makes as much sense as anything. One must admit, though, given the timing of this outage with respect to other goings-on out there, that while TNA was 404ing it seemed that any damn thing was possible.

As an aside… since TNA changed domains and (supposedly) moved to a new server, reliability has gone into the toilet.

Cop Fancies Spouse as Mushroom

Having been spurred to do a little checking by commenters, I have a humorous, yet sad, update to the story of a (former) Mesa, AZ police officer recently fired who recently resigned over allegations that he had had an inappropriate relationship with a prostitute.

It turns out that, while Jeffery Beaulieu resigned from the Mesa P.D. on January 11, his spouse didn’t learn of what had happened (and why) until she saw the details in news reports sometime after January 30.

…Leanne Beaulieu, said Friday that she has filed for divorce.

“My heart just breaks for my children … more than anything else,” she said as she stood alongside her attorney, Steve Ellsworth.

Married for 14 years, she filed for divorce Feb. 9. On Jan. 30, Jeffrey Beaulieu had left their home and told her there was an investigation involving the police department and a computer, Ellsworth said. But, in news reports she learned details about why he might have left, she said.

“This was quite shocking to me,” she said. “I had no knowledge of this at all,” she later added.

One can just imagine what went on in the Beaulieu household between January 12 and January 30. Newspaper subscriptions mysteriously canceled, TVs going on the blink…

The Beginning of the End

Mark those words — the demise of TNA Reviews has begun.

Tek wrote:
… When you first register. You will be a Lurker. You will be able to search and use the gallery, but you will not be able to post. After 15 or 30 days (we’re still deciding on how long), you will need to ask for an upgrade to be able to post.

This policy or anything similar will bring growth of the user base to a screeching halt, for hobbyists and providers alike, and from there it will be down hill due to routine turnover and attrition. Quite simply, with a policy like this people will retire from the Hobby faster than new users can replace them.

Damned few hobbists are going to return after 2-4 weeks and request anything. This is the age of instant gratification — people either get what they want on the spot or they won’t get it at all. They will either lose interest, forget about the board totally or join up someplace else where they feel welcome. And providers? Only a small fraction have the attention span for a two week waiting period. Again, and even more so than with the hobbyists, they will find a venue where they are wanted and gravitate in that direction.

Without an inflow of new talent, TNA Reviews is bound to finally become the ‘guys board’ that it has always claimed to be. Trouble is… hobbyists don’t want to play on a guys-only board.

It will take a long time, and any prediction as to the time frame would just be a wild-ass guess. But rest assured, the process has started. Actually, it started about four weeks ago… but now it’s started visibly.

Are You on Candid Camera?

I listen to AM radio a lot. What can I say? I’m a talk radio junkie. Today, during the drive home from work, I was cycling through the stations looking for something that would stick (because Michael Savage wasn’t as captivating as usual), and I caught a few words — a few phrases, really — that are resonating with me right now, two hours later. The speaker said, “… one thing that all rich people have in common is that they are always working. The people who make it in life are the people who work hard and work late, and they are almost always doing something to further their financial interests…”

Those words are playing over and over in my pate right now, as I ponder the prodigious work ethic of one particular prostitute down in Portland, known to many of you as Sexy Shayla.

What’s that you say? A hooker with a strong work ethic? Oh, yes… yes, indeed. You see, not only is Shayla a full service (and Greek-friendly) provider, and not only does she run her very own pooner forum, but she also has her very own porn site. And that’s where things get a little bit funny (read: blog-worthy). Here, I’ll throw out a couple bits of text from each site, and you can tell me if you see what I’m talking about.

From Shayla’s prostitution site, SexyShayla.com:

* Incall: 10am to 5pm Every Day

And now, from Shayla’s porn site, ShaylaSwallows.com:

I also have a voyeur cam in my house streaming 24/7…you can spy on me any time you like.

I dunno ’bout y’all, but if I were to see Shayla… it’s gonna be outcall.

"I could have been a brain surgeon, but I decided to be a prostitute instead because I LIKE it!"

OK, now how ridiculous is this: a discussion board to discuss postings on another discussion board to discuss postings on Craigslist. Using the very same bulletin board software and layout template, no less.

I’m not sure how long it lasted, but… alas, it’s gone now. The domain was registered last May, and there are indications that something was up and running on the domain between February 22 and March 4. There’s no telling if that was the aforementioned bulletin board or something else, though.

But, if you sniff around some, you can find out what it was that TallBrunette (Bobbi) had in mind for maryjanescloset.net:

Announcement
MARY JANE’S CLOSET IS IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH TNA REVIEWS (FORMERLY CLRB). WE ARE A BULLETIN BOARD THAT HAS DISCUSSIONS ABOUT POSTINGS AND REVIEWS ON TNA REVIEWS (FORMERLY CLRB). This forum is a repository for reviews and posts that appear on TNA REVIEWS (FORMERLY CLRB).. Other sources are welcome too (newspapers, classifieds, online classifieds, independents).

The Law of Unintended Consequences, Part 247

Meanwhile, across the pond, the nascent ‘United States of Europe’ (known officially as the European Union) continues to struggle with the ramifications of open borders and free trade. The latest casualty is Switzerland, where they are now wondering what to do with all of the newly arrived prostitutes who have come to take advantage of a new treaty that was originally designed to bring in (other types of) skilled professionals.

The lack of restrictions, combined with the country’s wealth, has pushed the number of prostitutes per capita in Zurich to the highest among industrialized countries, estimated Rolf Vieli, a city employee heading a project for improvement of the Langstrasse area, Zurich’s red-light district. Based on police figures, Zurich has about 11 prostitutes per 1,000 people, similar to the rate in Amsterdam, known for its sex trade.

I have no idea what the numbers might look like in other parts of the world, but I would wager that in the U.S. the proportion of prostitutes among the general population is nowhere close to 1%. Well, actively working prostitutes, that is.

Not mentioned in the news story — but clearly written between the lines — is that business must be pretty good in Switzerland. Otherwise the prostitutes would leave.

The Best Defense: A Good Offense

Today we have some superb follow-up to the recent discussions on escort services and their propensity to keep detailed records about their clients. (hat tip: mixmaster via The Petulant Pooner Tipline)

To recap, my own assertion is that such record keeping is harmless, as it doesn’t place a hobbyist in any significant legal jeopardy. Other voices, naturally, have voiced other opinions, using the current dust-up over Washington, D.C. madam Jean Palfrey’s announced intent to sell her records to raise money for legal fees as an example of why one should never deal with an escort service at all.

Hogwash, I say. I stand by my original remarks: for the average Joe, giving your information to an escort service is still less hazardous than crossing a busy street. If you are a politician, movie star or some other kind of public figure — fine, there are some risks. But then, if you have so much to lose, you should probably find another hobby anyway.

But, let’s get back to Palfrey. Normally, I would slam her for this kind of indiscretion or for dealing with the media at all when it is clearly going to be detrimental to the Hobby. But this case is truly different. Palfrey is facing a ruthless prosecution, with authorities moving to seize her assets and leaving her with few options.

Of course, there is another side to this beyond raising money for legal fees. As a defensive tactic, threatening to release the client list is pure genius when the list contains (or might contain) the names of powerful people who just might have the pull to make the whole thing go away. Early indications demonstrate, to my mind, that it just might work. How can I tell? Easy. The prosecution is screaming bloody murder:

In recent filings, Assistant U.S. Attorney William R. Cowden expressed concern about what he called Miss Palfrey’s “recent threat to harass potential witnesses whose identities remain secret . . . through calculated public disclosures of former customers’ and former co-workers’ identities.” Mr. Cowden also said authorities want to hold off on the pending civil seizure proceedings because it could affect the ongoing criminal investigation. He said Miss Palfrey’s attorney wants the government to turn over the names of cooperating witnesses. That could compromise the ability of criminal investigators to gather confidential information, he wrote.

This is pure posturing for the benefit of the media, I would have to say. Are we to believe that any of Palfrey’s clients are likely to testify? Think about it… those “potential witnesses whose identities remain secret” will have to be named if the case goes to trial, and they will have to be made known to the defense well before the last minute, too. If the prosecution had a legitimate legal gripe, they could have had an injunction. Instead, they are talking to the press. It could hardly be more clear that the prosecutor is worried.

So, what’s the lesson here? I see several. For clients, obviously, it is about rocks, glass houses, playing with fire, ‘can’t do the time, don’t do the crime’, and all of that. For escort services, the directive points towards keeping secure, off-site — and more thorough — client records. Prosecutors — who have entirely too much discretion to begin with — ought to think outside the box a bit when considering the overall viability of a case.

And, just as it has always been — for women, it’s not what you know, or who you know… it’s who you’ve been fucking that matters most.

And The Beat Goes On

It’s happening all over, from the big cities to the small towns: vice cops are wising up to Craigslist.

This time, it’s Aberdeen, WA. A classic, motel outcall sting. A complacent Craigslist hooker. Same-old, same-old.

Oh, the futility of it all.

The Blue Code

We have more details now on the police officer in Mesa, AZ who was the subject of an internal affairs investigation after he mistakenly put a fellow officer’s phone number on the Internet instead of a prostitute’s when he was updating the prostitute’s website. And I have to say it: this is the sort of thing that makes me sick. The police caught one of their own — red-handed — acting as a web pimp. Hell, the guy even admitted it:

Investigators asked Beaulieu if he thought he was facilitating her business, he replied, “I guess if you look at it like that. Looking at it back now. Yes.”

So, now that he’s accepted the invitation to resign, what’s going to happen to him? Nothing, that’s what. There appears to be ample evidence to support prosecution, but — once again — police officers are above the law. How else can you explain it?

Trading Places

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know that I am fascinated with web traffic statistics. After all, what’s the point of putting a site out there if not to have people visit it? There are lots of ways to measure traffic, lots of ways to slice and dice the numbers, and lots of companies out there offering to do it for you. My favorite is Google Analytics, but there’s a lot to be said for the ranking service offered by Alexa.

A while back, I offered my gut-level observation that Seattle’s thereviewboard.net is in decline and on it’s way towards sleeping with the fishes. Now I have some numbers from Alexa that show I wasn’t too far off the mark. Here’s the graph (clickable, opens in new tab or window):

The trend is pretty clear — TRB has gone steadily downhill since CLRB was founded. After roughly 6 years, and being the only game in town for much of that time, TRB is currently drawing traffic roughly equivalent to what CLRB was able to pull in 3 months after launch. If you go to Alexa and look at the 3-month view, the news is even more grim for TahoeTed and his merry men — the usurper, TNA, is drawing three to four times the number of page views.

What does it all mean? Well, that depends on who you are. If you are set in your ways and prefer $250-400/hour providers that come from a limit pool of talent, then TRB is for you and everything is fine. If you are a hobbyist interested in viewing the best available research, it should be pretty clear where you are going to find it.

And, if you are a provider who wants to put her advertising in front of the maximum number of eyeballs, you now know where to do that. Maybe you don’t need me to tell you this… maybe you already know that anything posted on TNA will be seen by far, far more potential clients than if it were on TRB. Here’s the data that demonstrates that it wasn’t just a hunch.