gdp's Comments

GazetteOnline.com : Prostitution bust - LOL!!!

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 02:08:38 +0000

I don't know if you are still following this thread, Jennifer, but I saw this story recently in response to the news about craigslist shelving their "adult services" section and it addresses many of the misperceptions (or simply out-dated data) you may have about the realities of the sex trade, who enters it, and why. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti...

GazetteOnline.com : Is sentence too severe for counselor who kissed teen?

Sat, 4 Sep 2010 16:01:36 +0000

Too severe? Probably. But, then again, given the fact the female teachers, counsellors, etc, who have full-fledged sex with male students are routinely charged with minor offenses and receive kid-glove, slap-on-the-wrist sentences that - when male teachers engage in the same acts with female students the males are charged with much more serious crimes are receive HEFTY prison sentences - I'm hard pressed to be too terribly sympathetic to one woman who the legal system treated just as harshly as they would have a man who had done the same exact thing. Reverse the sexes here and the guilty party would be facing at least a decade behind bars . . .

GazetteOnline.com : Prostitution bust - LOL!!!

Thu, 2 Sep 2010 15:32:24 +0000

I read Levitt's book (and his newer one "Superfreakonomics") and I recall that the street prostitutes he interviewed reported that nearly a quarter of the sex acts they performed were on police officers who demanded them in exchange for not arresting them. One more way, I think, that the very illegality of the act creates more social and legal problems than were it legalized, regulated, etc. That aside, 27.00 an hour is better than nearly anybody is making these days, let alone the uneducated, etc. Do some research on Rhode Island's (only recently changed) prostitution laws that allowed it as long as it was indoors and didn't involve actual street walking. Admittedly, such a policy may still have allowed certain vulnerable women to be exploited but, then again, what low income, poorly regulated job doesn't allow for this? If it is legal for men to pursue athletics or other careers that may involve serious physical risk or injury, so too should women be allowed to be prostitutes if they wish. As George Carlin said "Selling is legal. Sex is legal. Why isn't selling sex legal?"

GazetteOnline.com : Prostitution bust - LOL!!!

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 22:57:14 +0000

"There’s no single reason, [prostitution is illegal] but here’s a compelling one: It’s incredibly dangerous." That's only where (and BECAUSE) prostitution is illegal. In countries (or even states here in the U.S. like Nevada) where it is legal and highly regulated it is safer than just about any other legal profession. Making prostitution illegal - just as making drugs illegal - has caused far more problems than it has solved, created many new problems, is based entirely on moralistic grounds rather than rational or legal ones and has done absolutely nothing to stem the demand for it. It may well be the "world's oldest profession." How and why lawmakers think they can override males' desire for sex sans commitment and women's desire to provide it to them for money is beyond me.

GazetteOnline.com : Prostitution bust - LOL!!!

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 22:56:48 +0000

"Poor women with few options have turned to prostitution for survival since the beginning of time." Are you suggesting that NO women enter this trade willingly and voluntarily simply because A) they can make exceptionally good (tax free) money doing so and/or B) they enjoy sex? Granted, streetwalkers like the ones in the original article likely do not fit this description (the ones I'm referring to a usually called "escorts" but paint all prostitutes with the same brush is both a great disservice to prostitutes as well as borderline misogynistic/patriarchal as it presupposes that women will only engage in sex under duress or may not have any interest in it whatsoever.) "Never mind that about two out of three women who have sex for money were victims of childhood sexual abuse" Care to cite some sources for this?

GazetteOnline.com : Johnson County candidate likely off ballot if petition challenged

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:19:20 +0000

Translation: "Since this guy is not a political insider and is not a lock-step follower of the Johnson County Democratic Machine we WILL find a way to keep him off the ballot."

GazetteOnline.com : Iowa City anti-21 law group launches Web sites

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:12:23 +0000

Do you think the University will be suing them for using their colors on the website? Are we even allowed to type the words "University of Iowa" without permission anymore?

GazetteOnline.com : Cedar Rapids man charged after firing shots at unoccupied car

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:06:17 +0000

Do you think the University will be suing them for using their colors on the website? Are we even allowed to type the words "University of Iowa" without permission anymore?

GazetteOnline.com : Iowa City anti-21 law group launches Web sites

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:46:56 +0000

How long until the University sues them to take it down for "unauthorized use" of their color scheme or some such nonsense?

GazetteOnline.com : Is southeast Iowa City's negative image overblown?

Mon, 2 Aug 2010 04:02:26 +0000

Holy cow. 439 folks moved from Chicago to Johnson County in 2008. With an average income well under 12 thousand a year. Welfare cases all. They HAVE to be with that level of "income." Facts trump head-in-the-sand naive leftist propaganda yet again . . .

GazetteOnline.com : Coins add up in Iowa City panhandling meters

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:49:09 +0000

"Since [their installation], each of the nine meters has collected an average of nearly $1 per day." http://www.dailyiowan.com/2010/07/02/Metro/17810.... A whole dollar! Whoo hoo! This is such great news! What percentage of the monies collected will go towards paying the folks tasked with counting it? What an embarrassing time to live in Iowa City . . . . .

KCRG : Caught on Camera: Teens Spray Paint Iowa City Library | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports,

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:56:40 +0000

You do realize that this occur ed almost 3 months ago, right? Well before the graffiti incident in Cedar Rapids. It says so right in the article - and it's even printed in a time-stamp on the video itself if reading isn't your strong suit. If you believe that they're "copycats" that must mean they have a time machine and I'd be more worried about the implications of that sort of technology being in the hands of some teenagers than I would be about their graffiti.

KCRG : Woman Loses Job as County Prosecutor After Confrontation with Police | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:56:28 +0000

You can't so much as say "your shoe is untied" to a black person without being accused of "racism" these days. Had he arrested her it would have been national news.

KCRG : Woman Loses Job as County Prosecutor After Confrontation with Police | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:37:11 +0000

I'm pleased beyond words that the "race card" she tried to use has no value in Marion. They're good cops there and have enough problems dealing with the slow and steady creep of thugs trickling in from Cedar Rapids by way of Chicago to have to deal with nonsense like this. Kinda' goes to show you that no matter how high up the career ladder folks get they'll still fall back on the "you're only___________because I'm black" cop out when they break a law or are chastised for some sort of improper action or behavior. Ms. Jones-Hall is the LAST sort of person who needs to be receiving a paycheck from the state of Iowa.

GazetteOnline.com : Woman loses job as a Linn County prosecutor after confrontation with police (WITH VIDEO)

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:14:06 +0000

GazetteOnline.com : Police believe remains found at Dubuque home are small child's

Sun, 4 Jul 2010 02:08:14 +0000

Her Facebook page lists "Playing with my kids" as her favorite "activity." How ghastly. Can I go out on a limb and guess that she's not originally from Iowa?

GazetteOnline.com : Iowa City just says no to nuclear weapons

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:25:48 +0000

Let me be the first to congratulate the council on having solved all other problems facing this city. Clearly, they wouldn't waste even a moment discussing such foolishness or waste one thin nickle on the signage if this were not the case, right? What, they haven't? This is just further proof of how epically out of touch they are with the real issues the city is facing and how not a one of them brings to the table anything even remotely resembling "leadership." Sadly, this is pretty much par for the course for a group of elitist, pie-in-the-sky, head-in-the-sand amateur politicians who view Iowa City as little more than their own personal ant farm where they can try out their ideas about social engineering while ignoring the real problems and issues Iowa City is facing. If I had any faith at all that new blood on the council would make a difference (the last election has thus-far proved otherwise) I'd start a recall petition for all of them tomorrow.

GazetteOnline.com : Iowa City accused of housing discrimination

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:31:36 +0000

And so it begins. For so long the city has capitulated to every whim of the welfare-industrial complex "diversity mongers" that they have become just as emboldened and achieved a level of entitlement equal to that of the very folks they import and house. It's not enough, apparently, that entire swaths of the S.E. side now resemble big-city ghettos and have a commensurate amount of crime, disorder and social and civic decay. Now they wish to establish a new beachhead from which to establish new ghettos rife with violence, drugs, chaos, etc, and when the city - for the first time in a decade - has the courage to say "no" (having seen what their previous misbegotten laissez faire policies have wrought elsewhere) they threaten to sue. Let's hope the city has the courage to stand by its convictions - and stem this destructive influx of other bigger city's worst criminal elements - and fight this threatened lawsuit. This may well be Iowa City's "Waterloo" moment.

GazetteOnline.com : Teens arrested in Iowa City, face gang recruiting charges

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 18:02:34 +0000

One of those arrested was one of the teens interviewed prior to the curfew ordinance being passed saying they were "good kids" and that the curfew was "unnecessary." Another of those arrested was one of the same thugs who attacked a librarian at the ICPL a few months back. Time and time and time again these folks have proven themselves to be nothing but trouble . . . One of them even fought with and tried to disarm an officer during his arrest according to the ICPD's press release about the incident: http://www.icgov.org/default/apps/GEN/news.asp?ne... Why are you allowing this, Iowa City, why? Is "diversity" really worth it?

GazetteOnline.com : Anamosa band instructor arrested for sexual exploitation

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:06:32 +0000

Also, even if the "victim" was 17 and he could have then been charged with "statutory rape" the "victim" should have been charged with "accessory to statutory rape" or some such as if she knew it was wrong or illegal but was a willing participant she should be held legally liable as much as if she had helped an older person rob a bank or commit any other crime. Teenage girls are not all the "innocent delicate flowers" you might like to imagine they are and a lot of them are sexually active, enjoy sex and "throw themselves" at older men.