the gate

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan was one of the Attorneys General who entered into an agreement last November with craigslist to get them to change how they operated their erotic services section. She wasn’t playin’ when she said she wanted things to change.

According to this post on the LATimesBlog, she’s made her list and she’s checkin’ it twice. She says there’s been no real change, and comes pretty close to saying, “We gave you your chance to change. Let’s shut ‘er down, boys.”

Here are some highlights from her letter to craigslist:

“More than 400 ads are posted daily in Chicago alone, and the vast majority of ads blatantly violate even the most basic terms of use.”

“My office’s review of craigslist’s flagging system demonstrates it is completely ineffective in ensuring that the postings in the erotic services section comply with the site’s Terms of Use.”   [“completely ineffective” — is that the same as totally worthless?]

O my goodness, look at this next paragraph. Can you say “B U S T E D!”

“On January 12, 2009, my office coordinated an effort involving more than fifty advocates and law enforcement personnel in Chicago to flag postings that violated cragslist’s Terms of Use. During that day, we flagged hundreds of ads in Chicago’s erotic services section because their content or images clearly violated craigslist Terms of Use. In response to the flags, no ad was removed or subject to ‘speedy removal’ as represented by craigslist.”

“Finally, pursuant to the agreement, craigslist committed to contribute to charity all fees collected for erotic services postings. Since November, there have been more than 74,000 erotic services postings in Chicago alone. If the fee per posting is $5.00, craigslist has received more than $370,000 from these postings. Pursuant to the agreement, I request an affidavit from craigslist’s public accounting firm to verify the revenues generated by the erotic services sections in Illinois and the resulting donations.”

$370,000 since November in Chicago alone!! No wonder they don’t want to quit advertising human trafficking and exploitation. I wonder if any other Attorneys General are holding craigslist accountable?

You can read the whole letter at the LATimesBlog.   [PDF version]

I think we ought to all send Attorney General Madigan a thank you note, don’t you?

Keep it short and simple. Here’s what I said.

[Description of Issue] Thank You
Dear Madam Attorney General:
Thank you for holding craigslist accountable. I really appreciate what you’re doing.
Sincerely,

Email her here (click link).

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In response to my previous post, “Harlowe” says prostitution should be legalized. Rather than burying my response in the comments, I am responding here.

Prostitution is slavery and pimps are slave masters. Everybody knows what happens to a prostitute who tries to leave her pimp. It is naïve to think of prostitution as anything but slavery. Yet that has not always been as clear to me as it is now. It’s amazing what knowledge and thinking will do for us.

Before I show why his reasoning is radically flawed, I want to address one statement “Harlowe” makes. He says, “You cannot magically make the whole world act like Christians.” I TOTALLY AGREE. Nothing in my post suggests that is my aim. Let me assure you, “Harlowe,” that is not my goal. I am not even trying to force Christian morals on anyone. First, I am simply advocating for the exploited victims of pimps and “johns.” Second, I am simply saying this should not be on Craigslist. There are websites and other sources for advertising the buying and selling of women and girls. The sex businesses can advertise there, for now. Instead of campaigning against all “erotic advertising,” there are better ways to stand against the abuse, torture, and exploitation of women and children. Just as I and most other Americans don’t want MacDonald’s or Home Depot going into the prostitution and trafficking business, and would not buy from them if they did, Craigslist should not be advertising sex-for-hire.

Prostitution involves coercion and exploitation. Prostitutes are forced into prostitution by another person or by their economic situation. As Dr. Melissa Farley has revealed, virtually every prostitute would choose another means of earning a living if she could; those that wouldn’t at the moment will within a short time, if they live that long. (Click here to learn more about Dr. Farley’s organization, Prostitution Research and Education.)

Professor Janice G. Raymond gives us ten proven reasons for not legalizing prostitution. I will list them here. For her unassailable evidence, I encourage you to read her paper (linked below). Remember, these are not mental arguments against prostitution — this is what real life tells us.

1. Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution is a gift to pimps, traffickers and the sex industry.
2. Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution and the sex industry promotes sex trafficking.
3. Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution does not control the sex industry. It expands it.
4. Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution increases clandestine, illegal and street prostitution.
5. Legalization of prostitution and decriminalization of the sex industry increases child prostitution.
6. Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution does not protect the women in prostitution.
7. Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution increases the demand for prostitution.  It encourages men to buy women for sex in a wider and more permissible range of socially acceptable settings.
8. Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution does not promote women’s health.
9. Legalization/decriminalization of prostitution does not enhance women’s choice.
10. Women in systems of prostitution do not want the sex industry legalized or decriminalized.

See “Ten Reasons for Not Legalizing Prostitution And a Legal Response to the Demand for Prostitution,” by Janice G. Raymond (click here)

I also recommend Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada: Making the Connections, by Dr. Melissa Farley, and New Slavery, by Kevin Bales. Their independent research findings are in line with Professor Raymond’s.

“Harlowe,” you, and others whose comments were not published because they are inappropriate for this blog, talk as if you want to lighten the load of law enforcement. Legalization of prostitution increases crime, and increases their workload. As I have been doing for a while, I encourage you and everyone to educate themselves about these issues.

I will not approve general comments arguing in favor of prostitution, nor will I approve general comments attacking Professor Raymond’s findings. If solid evidence is presented that disproves her findings, I will approve such comments.

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Craigslist facilitates slavery and other crimes . . . brazenly!!

Craigslist founder, Craig Newmark, refuses to close the erotic section despite the fact that it is one of the primary U.S. hubs of slavery, pedophilia, trafficking and prostitution.

Greg Collier, CEO of craigslist alternative Geebo.com, says:

On a daily basis “erotic services” posts are published and responded to via Craigslist. Posts go live on Craigslist within 15 minutes, leaving zero room for Craigslist management to review and revoke possible illegal or dangerous postings. This oversight, or rather laziness, is largely to blame for gross amounts of child pornography, prostitution, human trafficking, drug sales, stolen merchandise, identity theft, real estate scams and murder taking place across the United States.

Craigslist lacks a system of checks and balances that provides users with the degree of safety they deserve. Flagging, Craigslist’s joke of content monitoring, is nothing more than a feel-good tool for the site’s management to claim that they are taking precautionary measures. Obviously, they have failed. More times than not user complaints are answered by an auto-responder, not a staff member. Conversely, those posts truly in need of flagging and removal go undisturbed. (link)

Thursday, April 23, a major East Coast newspaper quoted Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster (pictured here) as saying:

“I would not describe any section of our site as ‘sex related,’” Buckmaster wrote in response to a series of e-mailed questions from the [newspaper].

He acknowledged that Craigslist offers an “erotic services” section that should not include more than “legitimate escort services, sensual massage, exotic dancers, etc.,” but said that offers to exchange sexual favors for money are “strictly prohibited” and removed from the site.

No section sex related?!?! What? The article reports that, “There is no official monitoring of the site other than peer reviewers who can flag posts for illegal or improper content.” Moreover, in that city, the day before the article was published there were more than 150 erotic ads, many of which made openly sex-related offers. I’m not giving the link to the article because of the content of some of those ads that were reported — I refuse to give the link for you to read the smut taken from Craigslist.

The article goes on to state:

Complaints about the site and how it is used for criminal activity had been growing even before the arrest of Markoff. Organizations dedicated to combating child trafficking - selling children for sex - and prostitution, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, had contacted Craigslist with their concerns. The Polaris Project, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating child trafficking and enslavement, said it viewed Craigslist as one of the largest purveyors of such illegal activities worldwide.

Police efforts to stop illegal activity on Craigslist are “outweighed by the enabling environment,” said Mark P. Lagon, executive director of the Polaris Project and a former ambassador to combat human trafficking for the US State Department.

“We follow people who have been victimized in sex trafficking, and one of the major platforms for sex traffickers these days is Craigslist,” he said.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is calling for the company to take stronger actions to combat pornography, prostitution, and child trafficking in its online classifieds.

In response to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster denying that the site offers anything sex-related, Blumenthal said:

“The fact is, there are prostitution ads and some very flagrant and blatant pornography on that site. I have trouble believing they can say there are no sex-for-hire ads,” he said.

For years, newspapers across the country have been documenting how Craigslist is a hub of slavery, pedophilia, trafficking and prostitution.

For example, Underage Prostitutes Marketed On Internet - The Sacramento Bee (link)

From an article in the Los Angeles Daily News:

The approach comes as pimps are getting increasingly sophisticated and harder to bust. They run loose networks across states lines that distribute girls like drugs and set up Internet sex operations that are tough to infiltrate. The result: Teen prostitution has spread to towns across the country, said Michael Langeman, who heads the FBI’s Crimes Against Children unit.

[. . .]

The boyfriend took her to Arizona, made her pose for photos in lingerie and have sex with men who responded to Craigslist ads.

[. . .]

Gladys, a 17-year-old from a Miami suburb, found herself there after she ran away from home to be with a boyfriend. The boyfriend advertised her as a prostitute on Craigslist and threatened to kill her if she didn’t comply. She was shuffled around motels over a two-month period until one of his other “girlfriends” got arrested.

Check out the Craigslist Crime Blotter (click here).

_____________________________________________________________________
Tonight

(CBS) 48 Hours Mystery will broadcast “Craigslist: Classified for Murder?,” a primetime special devoted to the Craigslist murder investigation on Saturday, April 25 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. In addition to examining the crimes and evidence, the program will probe the psyche of accused killer, Philip Markoff.
_____________________________________________________________________

(click the green tab)

_____________________________________________________________________

UPDATE (4/27/09): Should YOU boycott Craigslist? I don’t know. How else do you suggest we fight against the slavery, trafficking, child abuse, rape, and other sex crime that is facilitated there? Do you want to give your time to “policing” the ads placed there? Should you have to?

And . . . if you say you’ll police Craigslist, what about the women and children that are bought and sold, raped, abused, and tortured because you didn’t catch all the adds? You can’t cover all the cities Craigslist covers. All the law enforcement personnel plus all the staff and volunteers working for all the anti-trafficking organizations can’t stop it as long as Craigslist keeps advertising women and children for sale.

Regarding the community policing policy of Craigslist, Trench Reynolds says,

“As far as I’m concerned, that’s like the inmates running the asylum . . . People who are going into Craigslist for illegal activity are not gonna flag ads, because that’s what they are going into there for. And the people looking at Craigslist to, say, buy a couch aren’t going into the erotic services section so they can flag illegal ads.”

I think he’s right. I also think Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster know that.

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Related posts:
Pray Against Sex Trafficking/Slavery
sex + money
Wow . . . Just, Wow!
Freedom Day 2009
Sex Trafficking In America
Human Trafficking: Modern-Day Slavery

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In an interview with Marcia Segelstein, Tim Keller said this about moralism:

“If you believe God accepts you because you believe the right things and refrain from the wrong things, you’re a moralist. If, on the other hand, you believe and refrain from the wrong things because you’ve been saved by sheer grace having nothing to do with your works at all, then you’re not a moralist. At the behavioral level, moralists and Christians tend to live pretty much alike. But their attitude, their voice, their approach to people who differ with them is radically different.”

The article continues:

In Jesus’s day, the Pharisees were moralists. They believed their behavior made them right with God, which led to feelings of superiority. Believing that God’s acceptance and love are based purely on grace is, as Dr. Keller puts it, “profoundly humbling.”

(click here to read the rest of the article)

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So can I.

Is it really such a big deal that we not moralize the Old Testament stories? Jesus thought it was. In John 5:39, he rebukes the Pharisees because although they knew the Scriptures inside and out, they did not understand that all of the Scriptures (the Old Testament was all they had at the time) spoke of him. They completely missed the gospel because they were moralizing (looking for rules and trying to use will-power to obey).

Do we think it’s not as serious a problem if we do it — misread the Bible; use the Bible to teach moralism instead of the gospel?

Look, I’ve done it myself! I grew up winning silly awards for perfect Sunday School attendance. Week in and week out I was taught to fight giants like David and sacrifice my children like Abraham. Doh! They never told me to sacrifice my future children, but even that should help us see that the Old Testament characters are not there so we will do what they did. Abraham lied about his wife and gave her to other men . . . twice. David was an adulterer and murderer. Solomon was a lust-driven playboy. Rahab was a harlot.

All of the Bible characters are there to show us that every human needs Jesus. All of us are sinful and in need of a Savior. I get it now. I don’t want to read the Bible like a Pharisee. I certainly don’t want to teach it like a Pharisee!

We cannot ignore Satan’s role in the Pharisees’ blindness and hardness of heart (John 8:43-44). Using the Bible to teach moralism rather than the gospel is satanic.

Yeah, I’d say that’s a big deal.

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Related posts: Old Testament Fables, The Bible Is About Jesus

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As a followup to Pablo’s post yesterday, I want to give these suggestions for prayer.

Pray for the rescue and restoration of the countless number of people who have become victims of sexual trafficking, including the following:

• for an end to their captivity and sexual abuse,
• for as many safe and secure shelters as are needed to provide for their material needs,
• for loving care takers to provide comfort, solace, and a sense of family,
• for training and education to provide these children with meaningful and productive livelihoods,
• for medical treatment to meet their many health concerns;
• for the gospel to reach their ears and be received in their hearts.

On Sunday, one person involved in a ministry that rescues prostitutes from slavery said that many of the brothel owners in the area where he works want to get out of the business. Pray that these brothel owners would release their slaves and walk away from the business.

Pray that more people will speak out against this atrocity, and that law enforcement personnel will enforce the laws against it.

- adapted from the Salvation Army Global Sex Trafficking Prayer Guide

1 Comment »

some of us attended the “one voice to end slavery” event that steve wrote about recently.  i missed most of it myself, but i attended a workshop regarding gender issues as related to human trafficking.  pretty eye opening, but just the tip of the iceberg.

did you know that over 14,000 humans are trafficked into the U.S. each year into lives of sexual or domestic slavery, servile marriages or other forms of slavery?  just last week, a woman in my own city was arrested for running a prostitution house in another nearby city.  last year, 39 humans in the O.C. were freed from slavery.  and from affluent communities mind you, not the ghettos. 

i think about my city.  MY city.  endless rows of $15 massage joints, cash only businesses as far as the eye can see.  how many of those faces are here against their will?  granted, a large part of our immigrant community is here by choice, no doubt.  but perhaps there are some of the 14K peppered in those massage parlors and nail salons.

it’s amazing what you see when your eyes are open.

open your eyes…

www.photogenx.net/sexandmoney (Sex + Money - A Global Search For Human Worth)
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2008/ (Trafficking in Persons Report - 2008)
www.freetheslaves.net
http://www.photogenx.net/sexandmoney/getinvolved.php  (a list of other interesting sites)
http://lahumantrafficking.org/  (l.a. county unity coalition)

6 Comments »

That’s what you might as well call them if you’re going to teach them like Aesop’s Fables . . . you know, stories with a moral. Like David, ask God to help you defeat your giants; like Gideon, be a valiant warrior in this evil world; like Jacob, wrestle in prayer until God gives you what you ask for. Need I give you more examples of this nonsense?

If you read The Bible Is About Jesus on Tuesday, you know who all those Old Testament stories are really about. Please don’t read the Old Testament and draw moral lessons for your life from the accounts of the various Old Testament characters’ lives. AND PARENTS, please don’t do that with your children. Sadly, most Sunday School curriculum writers and publishers, it would seem, don’t understand who the Bible is really about either. Sunday School curriculum can be the worst when it comes to moralizing the Old Testament stories.

Here’s how Michael Horton describes it in his book, Christless Christianity:

I never knew growing up in evangelicalism that the Old Testament was about Christ. I thought it was about Bible heroes whose character I was to emulate. Be faithful like Abraham, devoted like Moses, and so on. Joshua’s life could be mined for leadership principles, and we all dared to be a Daniel. What were the five smooth stones I could find in my bag to slay the Goliaths of my life as did David? (p. 148-149)

All of the Old Testament stories are about God’s work, God’s promises, God’s faithfulness, God’s justice, God’s grace, etc. They are not about what we are supposed to do; they are about what God has said and done, and who he is. And they all point to Jesus, the Messiah, who was yet to come (at the time).

Regarding the life and experiences of David, Horton explains: “God, not David, was the hero, and Christ as the royal Son of David, not my imitation of David, is the point.” (p. 149) Let me emphasize that — THE POINT!   PERIOD.

As he read the Bible, Augustine said he met Christ on every page. Is that your experience? If you’re a parent or Sunday School teacher, is that what you are teaching your children to do? Are you teaching your children to see and hear the gospel from Genesis to Revelation? That’s how Jesus teaches us to read the whole Bible.

Please, parents, don’t teach your children to moralize the stories of sinful people in the Old and New Testaments. You’ll raise your children to be Pharisees if you do. We all become Pharisees when we turn the drama of God’s redemption into a Christian version of Aesop’s Fables.

If you haven’t read The Bible Is About Jesus, you should do that now (click here).

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i saw this article in the l.a. times this week:  ’spirituality for kids’ class draws fire
 
you can skim the article and get the big picture.  several l.a. PUBLIC schools are offering a class called ’spirituality for kids’ (SFK) to teach kids about ‘inner light’ and other bogus spiritual teachings.  it is run by kabbalah spiritual leaders, teaches kabbalah theology (if you can even call it that) but doesn’t mention it explicitly.  for those that don’t know, kabbalah is a mystical form of judaism that most certainly left the reservation long ago.
 
as long as people don’t mention God or mention any one religion, such as SFK, apparently it’s acceptable to l.a. unified.
 
riddle me this:  what would happen if we had an after school program that taught kids that there was a being outside of themselves that was greater than them, and that they had all committed, hmm let’s say, ‘offenses’ against that being?  and what if we taught them that beyond this life there is an after-life, and that in that after-life we pay for our ‘offenses’ unless that same being feels like giving us a break?  how long do you think it would take the ACLU to file a law suit and have security escorting someone off of the premises?

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Sunday, we examined Luke 24:13-35. Verse 27 says, “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”

On Monday, I read the following quote by Tim Keller on Darryl Dash’s blog. It explains so clearly how the Bible is about Jesus.

• Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us (1 Corinthians 15).
• Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out for our acquittal, not our condemnation (Hebrews 12:24).
• Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void “not knowing wither he went!” to create a new people of God.
• Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. While God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love, from me,” now we can say to God, “Now we know that you love me, because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love, from me.”
• Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.
• Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.
• Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant (Hebrews 3).
• Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.
• Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends (Job 42).
• Jesus is the true and better David, whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.
• Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk losing an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.
• Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb — innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He is the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the Lamb, the Light, the Bread.

The Bible is not about you — it is about him.

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Related posts: Christ In All The Scriptures, Old Testament Fables

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