Sex worker rights debated at UNH conference

Sex worker rights debated at UNH conference

John Huff/Staff photographer University of New Hampshire students of the Woman's Studies program listen as Program Coordinator for the Red Umbrella Project in New York City Emma Caterine talks about her organizations campaigns to end the use of condoms as evidence of prostitution in the state of New York.

DURHAM — All Kitty Stryker wants is to not be arrested, beaten or raped.

“I think that sums it up,” she said. “Precisely.”

Stryker was speaking to a room full of University of New Hampshire students participating in a mini-conference on sex workers sponsored through the school's Women's Studies program on Tuesday.

She, along with two advocates for sex workers' rights from New York City participated in a discussion, “No bad women: Just bad laws,” after students watched the movie Scarlet Road. The film is a documentary on an Australian sex worker who works with people with disabilities.

People in this business are looking for rights, whether that means their work is legalized, decriminalized or just to be shed in a better light.

Stryker is a sex worker living in San Francisco. She has also worked with clients in Boston and London, England. After becoming somewhat of an expert at social media when having to market herself, she became a lover of the Internet and now does community management for two television stations as a day job — and pornography on the side.

John Huff/Staff photographer University of New Hampshire students of the Woman’s Studies program listen to Kitty Stryker, a sex worker, adult entertainment performer and sex worker rights activist from San Francisco, Calif., talks about legalizing and/or decriminalizing professional sex services.

“Porn is legal,” she said. “I don't have to worry about it.”

When she was providing sex to clients, which she still does, but not full-time, she said she would always make sure to receive two references before seeing the client.

She is not worried about getting arrested through advertisements she posts online, but is nervous that undercover police will try to book a session with her.

“They definitely can do that. They don't have to tell you they are a cop,” she said.

She said it is just a “matter of time” until she could possibly be taken to jail.

“I waive my privilege every day with every speaking engagement and activism that I do,” she said. “How much can I push my privilege and get away with things?”

Although prostitution laws differ from state to state, she said that generally states will arrest people who are willing to do certain acts for money and have that money exchanged.

In New Hampshire, a person is guilty of a misdemeanor if they solicit or agree to perform a sex act according to RSA 632-A: 1.

John Huff/Staff photographer University of New Hampshire students of the Woman’s Studies program watch the movie “Scarlet Road” a documentary that follows Australian sex worker Rachel Wotton who specializes in clientele with disabilities at the Hamilton Smith Hall in Durham Tuesday.

Stryker was not forced into this work. Neither were any of the people on the panel during the conference at UNH.

Stryker said she enjoys watching her clients grow and become people who have the confidence to stop paying for sex and start engaging with women and eventually have girlfriends. She said this work has taught her to love her body, how to set boundaries and gain a closer relationship with her family.

“Having my parents accept my sex work was really valuable,” she said during a panel discussion Tuesday night.

Jordan Rondinone, a UNH student who also dances at TENS in Salisbury, Mass., said her family knows about her work in the sex industry, as well.

She said the “umbrella term” of sex work encompasses anyone working within the sex industry and that because she dances sexually she is categorized under it.

Rondinone has also danced in Massachusetts at the Gold Club, Golden Banana and Centerfold.

“I have also done prostitution,” she said.

While she, too, has seen positives in her work. She included the feeling of empowerment, the compliments, the control of those watching and the ability to make fast cash. But she said she also feels vulnerable, is at a higher risk for sexual harassment and is in an industry that does live “a very different lifestyle.”


She said forming friendships has been difficult and she has not been in an intimate relationship since she started dancing.

“I don't think people completely understand,” she said of her work. “Maybe it is almost a jealousy thing?”

Because it has been hard finding a social group, she found another outlet.

“I was in rehab, I'm a lot better now,” she said. “But this industry gets you so open to that and for a long time, I didn't have anyone close and that was what was close to me and still can be,” she said.

Isabella Beaulieu, who also sat on the panel at UNH as a former student who dropped out and moved to Seattle, said she too had a hard time making friends in the sex industry.

When she got to the west coast, she had difficulty finding a job. She decided to start dancing and really enjoyed the profession.

“There are so many stereotypes of sex workers being victims of being forced, but everyone's experience is so unique and so amazing,” she said.

Stryker said most of the time her job is “nice” and that she enjoys it.


“But sometimes it's crappy and I don't want to get up and I don't want to get dressed in some fancy femme drag. I don't want to deal with it,” she said. “Sometimes I have clients who are really annoying or they are really boring, like, that happens.”

She said because she is a sex worker advocate, though, and because she is vocal, she is not allowed to say she had a bad day.

“Ever,” she said. “Because if I have a bad day, then I'm proof that sex work is evil.”

Stryker said there is a war on the sex worker community, but that it is not just on them.

“It starts with us, it starts with me, but it is going to come to you,” she said to the crowd at UNH. “This is a war on all of us.”

She said the United States is too big, with too many different state laws, to try to think of a solution that would work to give rights to sex workers across the board. But, she said, certain laws, such as No Condoms As Evidence, need to be passed to protect everyone, not just people in her field of work.

Emma Caterine, the program coordinator for the Red Umbrella Project in New York City, said No Condoms As Evidence, a New York state bill, will stop police and prosecutors from being able to use the possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution. Right now, they are able to use that as a fact that a person is involved in sex work, which can lead them to being arrested.


“It's not illegal to carry condoms anywhere in the United States,” she said. “When you bring these sort of cases forward ... They'll be found not guilty. It's going to happen.”

Caterine said that laws like this are preventing some people to even carry condoms, which means they are not using them.

“I hope this is passed soon,” Jared Ringer, coordinator for the Hate Violence and Sexual Violence Programs at the New York City Anti-Violence Project said. “I wish it was passed years ago.”

Maureen Bradley, a University of New Hampshire student in the Women's Studies program, helped bring the panel to the school on Tuesday. She said the reason for the mini-conference was to bring awareness to the issues the sex workers face and give them attention while teaching students about the lack of rights the workers have worldwide.    

Costs of an International Lunar Base | Center for Strategic and International Studies

Costs of an International Lunar Base | Center for Strategic and International Studies

Costs of an International Lunar Base

Following the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a presidentially appointed committee is preparing its final report reviewing U.S. plans for future space exploration. In its summary report, the commission has suggested an exploration option that drops the goal of returning to the moon and building a base there, something that has been a centerpiece of U.S. exploration plans for the past five years or more. The suggestion to drop a return to the moon is based in large part on budget projections that forecast just how much and how long it will take the United States to carry out its space exploration plans on its own. These scenarios do not factor in international collaboration. The development of a lunar base has been identified by the Beijing Declaration as the ideal next project for international collaboration on space exploration. CSIS Space Initiatives has made an estimate, based on available literature, that the likely costs of developing such a base would be about $35 billion, and operating the base would run about $7.35 billion per year. By comparison, the development cost for all but the Russian section of the International Space Station (ISS) is estimated at around $85 billion, including $35 billion for Space Shuttle missions. In the years after the Shuttle retires, the annual operation costs of the ISS will be $4.5 billion per year.1 The estimated operating costs for the lunar base assume no in-situ resource utilization. All supplies (O2, H2, food, etc.) would be supplied from Earth and recycled to the maximum extent possible. If useable water ice is found near the base, or oxygen-rich minerals can be utilized, operating costs will decrease significantly.

Development of the Base

Development of the lunar base is estimated at $35 billion for a base that can host a four-person crew and remain unmanned between missions. Our estimates for both development and operation of the lunar base assume that it is located at the south pole. This location offers areas of scientific interest—for example, craters with possible water ice deposits—and quasi-permanent sun exposure, as well as the most conservative assessment for transportation to the lunar surface. The costs do not include development of the heavy-lift Ares V or the Orion crew capsule. Although an Ares V or equivalent will be needed to transfer the lunar base from Earth to the Moon, it is capable of other exploration and scientific missions, including deploying third-generation space telescopes, robotic and human missions to near-Earth objects, as well as missions to the Lagrange Points and eventually to Mars. It will serve as the workhorse for the future exploration of the solar system and beyond. The four-person crew capsule, Orion, is developed for the Moon but will first be used to transport crew to the ISS in replacement of the Space Shuttle. Therefore, Orion development costs are not included in the lunar base project. However, a margin of $2 billion is calculated to account for unforeseen technological and budgetary problems. The development costs of the Altair lander flying aboard the Ares V or an equivalent, estimated to be about $12 billion, are part of the lunar base project. Furthermore, a universal lander, needed to deliver cargo to the lunar base using the medium launchers, has estimated development costs of $2 billion.

Although these cost estimates include some margins, NASA projects have typically run 50 percent over budget, according to recent estimates. With a goal of a first landing on the Moon 10 years from now, at the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, the development costs for the lunar base would average $3.5 billion per year, the equivalent of what is currently spent operating the Shuttle. The lunar base by itself is quite affordable; however, significant funding will also be needed during this time for the transformation to a post-Shuttle launch system and utilization of the ISS until 2020.

Operating Costs

Operating costs for the lunar base are estimated at about $7.35 billion per year, assuming year-round occupancy. Designing the lunar base to be left uninhabited between missions would offer the possibility of fewer or shorter missions and therefore reduced annual costs. In support of the lunar project, there will be three to four international medium-launch systems, for example Ares I, Ariane 5, Delta IV Heavy, Long March 5, and the H-IIC. These launchers will be interoperable to launch cargo to the lunar south pole and a four-person Orion capsule to low Earth orbit. Once in orbit, that capsule will meet up with the Earth Departure Stage and Altair lunar lander, which are launched by Ares V or an equivalent. Operating costs are based on two four-person crew rotations per year. The two Orion launches are estimated at $0.6 billion per year, with the corresponding Ares V launches costing $2 billion per year. Cargo needs are estimated at 17.6 metric tons (mt) per year—that is, 2.2 mt of supplies per person for a 180-day mission. An estimated 15 cargo launches (1.2 mt of cargo with a 0.5-mt lander) will be needed per year, at an annual cost of $3.75 billion.

Harvard Law School Offers 'Tax Planning For Marijuana Dealers'---No Joke

Harvard Law School Offers 'Tax Planning For Marijuana Dealers'---No Joke

I’m the last one to say this is a silly topic, because it is not. But you have to admit is sounds a little funny. Bizarrely–and there’s much in our tax law that’s downright bizarre–there’s actually a need for this kind of, er, down and dirty tax planning session. And someone should bring the Cheetos.

Perhaps Harvard’s Board of Trustees will get wind of it and get upset. But the ire should be directed at tax rules that need fixing. Now that we have legalized medical marijuana in 18 states and the District of Columbia can these businesses be run like businesses? Not really. Massachusetts was the most recent entrant, and its marijuana businesses, like those in all the other states, face legal and tax problems.

For that matter, Colorado and Washington have even legalized recreational use. Again, tax problems there too. Why? Because even legal dispensaries are drug traffickers to the feds. Section 280E of the tax code denies them tax deductions, even for legitimate business costs. Of all the federal enforcement efforts, taxes hurt most. “The federal tax situation is the biggest threat to businesses and could push the entire industry underground,” the leading trade publication for the marijuana industry reports.

One answer is for dispensaries to deduct other expenses distinct from dispensing marijuana. If a dispensary sells marijuana and is in the separate business of care-giving, the care-giving expenses are deductible. If only 10% of the premises are used to dispense marijuana, most of the rent is deductible. Good record-keeping is essential. See Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Persist Despite Tax Obstacles.

Another idea was presented April 24 at Harvard by Professor Benjamin Leff of American University’s Law School. Professor Leff’s paper carried an unvarnished title: Tax Planning for Marijuana Dealers. It was part of Harvard’s Tax Policy Seminar hosted by Harvard Prof. Stephen Shay. Mr. Leff correctly pointed out the 280E Catch 22 and came up with another end run.

Marijuana sellers could operate as nonprofit social welfare organizations, he suggested. See Growing the Business: How Legal Marijuana Sellers Can Beat a Draconian Tax. That way Section 280E shouldn’t apply. A social welfare organization must promote the common good and general welfare of people in its neighborhood or community. Operating businesses in distressed neighborhoods to provide jobs and job-training for residents? That could fit a dispensary nicely.

You don’t need a Harvard education to see that there’s something wrong with this picture. Meanwhile, Congressmen Jared Polis (D-CO) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) have introduced a bill to end the federal prohibition on marijuana and allow it to be taxed. This legislation would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act.

That way growers, sellers and users could no longer fear violating federal law. Their Marijuana Tax Equity Act would also impose an excise tax on cannabis sales and an annual occupational tax on workers dealing in the growing field of legal marijuana. Whatever happens, it’s at least good that someone is paying attention to this mess.

Robert W. Wood practices law with Wood LLP, in San Francisco. The author of more than 30 books, including Taxation of Damage Awards & Settlement Payments (4th Ed. 2009 with 2012 Supplement, Tax Institute), he can be reached at Wood@WoodLLP.com. This discussion is not intended as legal advice, and cannot be relied upon for any purpose without the services of a qualified professional.

About Operation Tinker Bell

it's a game, check it..

About Operation Tinker Bell

1964. The Cold War raged during the past decade. There's still no peace agreement in Korea, Soviet troops occupied Hungary, the U.S. invasion of Cuba ended in disaster, the newly built Berlin Wall splits Germany in half, the Cuban missile crisis almost resulted in nuclear war, John F. Kennedy has been assassinated last year, there's political unrest in Czechoslovakia and President Lyndon B. Johnson is preparing to enter the Vietnam conflict.

March 17, 1964. KGB Colonel Alexander Rogozin contacts the U.S. Embassy to Turkey. CIA officer Robert Novak from the Soviet and Eastern Europe Division is sent to Ankara to meet Rogozin. Novak’s assessment: Rogozin is disillusioned in the Soviet political system, his military carrier and his marriage. He wants to defect to the United States and his knowledge of communications technology and cryptology can be a valuable asset to U.S. intelligence.

Both CIA’s new Science & Technology Directorate and the National Security Agency (NSA) are most interested. Novak is assigned to Colonel Rogozin as his case officer and CIA Headquarter in Langley designates codename GYMNAST to the defector.

Novak persuades Rogozin to return to Moscow, assume his normal duties and collect additional intelligence before defecting in the near future. Rogozin’s contact person in Moscow is Roman Danilov, a CIA operative under the cover of UP journalist, attached to the U.S Embassy to Moscow. A first secret meeting between Danilov and Colonel Rogozin is scheduled on April 5.

On the day of the meeting, Danilov leaves his apartment at Povarskaya street at 1135 hours Moscow time. The next morning at 0815 hours (0015 hours in Langley) CIA station Moscow reports to its Headquarters in Langley over secure channels: Danilov failed to report after his meeting with Rogozin.

The subsequent investigation confirms that Roman Danilov has gone missing. There’s no word of KGB Colonel Rogozin. The defector turns out to be either a bait to identify CIA agents in Moscow or a false recruitment that went horrible wrong. The same morning, Danilov is officially reported missing.

Bill Hensley, Chief of CIA’s Soviet Division is furious about the loss of his operative. Robert Novak is ordered to track down Rogozin with all available means. Operation TINKER BELL, the search for the false KGB defector, has begun.

Your Task

You are assigned to OPERATION TINKER BELL as COMSEC Officer. It is your task to decrypt all message traffic, sent between Langley, it's stations abroad and agents in the field. This sounds harder than it actually is. All required crypto tools and keys are provided. If you can type on a keyboard, you can decrypt the messages. We advise you to keep a record of all decrypted messages in order to get a good view on the situation of the operation.

Start by reading the personal files to familiarized yourself with all persons involved. It is important to know their code names and agent ID's, which will be used in all communications. Next, you should visit the Communications Center (COMCEN) to update your knowledge about how Langley and it's stations abroad communicate with each other and with agents in the field, both by cable and radio. You will lean to work with 1960s state-of-the-art crypto equipment and use one-time pads to decrypt messages. Finally, you must visit the crypto room to retrieve the appropriate keys and one-time pads.

Heavy use of herbicide Roundup linked to health dangers-U.S. study

Heavy use of herbicide Roundup linked to health dangers-U.S. study

Heavy use of the world's most popular herbicide, Roundup, could be linked to a range of health problems and diseases, including Parkinson's, infertility and cancers, according to a new study.

The peer-reviewed report, published last week in the scientific journal Entropy, said evidence indicates that residues of "glyphosate," the chief ingredient in Roundup weed killer, which is sprayed over millions of acres of crops, has been found in food.

Those residues enhance the damaging effects of other food-borne chemical residues and toxins in the environment to disrupt normal body functions and induce disease, according to the report, authored by Stephanie Seneff, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Anthony Samsel, a retired science consultant from Arthur D. Little, Inc. Samsel is a former private environmental government contractor as well as a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body," the study says.

We "have hit upon something very important that needs to be taken seriously and further investigated," Seneff said.

Environmentalists, consumer groups and plant scientists from several countries have warned that heavy use of glyphosate is causing problems for plants, people and animals.
The EPA is conducting a standard registration review of glyphosate and has set a deadline of 2015 for determining if glyphosate use should be limited. The study is among many comments submitted to the agency.

Monsanto is the developer of both Roundup herbicide and a suite of crops that are genetically altered to withstand being sprayed with the Roundup weed killer.

These biotech crops, including corn, soybeans, canola and sugarbeets, are planted on millions of acres in the United States annually. Farmers like them because they can spray Roundup weed killer directly on the crops to kill weeds in the fields without harming the crops.

Roundup is also popularly used on lawns, gardens and golf courses.

Monsanto and other leading industry experts have said for years that glyphosate is proven safe, and has a less damaging impact on the environment than other commonly used chemicals.

Jerry Steiner, Monsanto's executive vice president of sustainability, reiterated that in a recent interview when questioned about the study.

"We are very confident in the long track record that glyphosate has. It has been very, very extensively studied," he said.

Of the more than two dozen top herbicides on the market, glyphosate is the most popular. In 2007, as much as 185 million pounds of glyphosate was used by U.S. farmers, double the amount used six years ago, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data.