'DC Madam' found dead

The ugly side of trying to legislate morality

 On the one hand you have Palfrey, who was just succesful in the oldest known vocation and is roundly derided and ridiculed by our self appointed morality police, who when they aren't using her services are getting self rightgeously outraged by her plying her trade. The same people who feign outrage and disgust at Palfrey are also condemning the state of Texas for removing children from their whack job parents who were raping adolescent girls and beating underage boys. I can't speak for anyone else but I would much rather spend our resources prosecuting child rapists and abusers than a woman who was just trying to earn an honest living. The hypocrisy is overwhelming.

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by: Margaret @ Thu May 01, 2008 at 14:59:01 PM CDT

OMG

that she predicted this as a possibility...

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Thu May 01, 2008 at 15:20:45 PM CDT

she's not the first.

remember that one of her employees supposedly committed suicide a year or so ago.

Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Thu May 01, 2008 at 16:03:11 PM CDT

God.

I heard she was facing up to 55 years in prison. What the hell? For doing something that didn't harm anyone. What the hell?

We need to decriminalize sex work now.

"What do you mean you don't believe in homosexuality? It's not like the Easter Bunny, your belief isn't necessary." - Lea DeLaria

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by: MissNomered @ Thu May 01, 2008 at 16:50:25 PM CDT

She was looking at 4 to 8, and an

appeals process that would have gone past the November elections...

Remember what FDR said, "I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it." Have you written/called a congress-critter today? 8.25, 6.21

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by: Jacques @ Thu May 01, 2008 at 22:34:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

5 or 55

depends on the news source you read.  i don't understand the discrepancy in the numbers.

but in any case, your observation about the duration of the appeals process is interesting.  i was trying to decide who else was on her list - dick cheney or laura bush.  

Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Fri May 02, 2008 at 11:44:07 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

so suspicious!

And I'm confused... who has the list now? Did she have the list in her possession?  

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by: CathyG @ Thu May 01, 2008 at 17:38:51 PM CDT

Whether or not

the list is ever discovered/made public will, in my mind, determine whether or not she was murdered by the government.

Okay, so who "ordered the hit", if that was indeed the case? How high is up on that list? And who has enough pull to get this done?

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Fri May 02, 2008 at 05:04:19 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Rumor is

Cheney might be on it and even worse has a particularly not-for-the-public fetish.

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by: onthesea @ Fri May 02, 2008 at 05:17:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Pete Williams on NBC

(7:10 am; Today Show) just said "that she said she would rather be dead than go back to prison". No sources... he also said earlier that her death puts an end to it...

Is the media helping bury this? You betcha.

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Fri May 02, 2008 at 06:16:17 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

They have blood on their hands...

whether they did anything to cause her death or not. The hypocritic liars, and two faced back stabbers are responsible for her legal problems and her death, because they weren't man enough to stand up and admit they had a part in the business too. They scape-goated her and she took the fall for their folly. They got what they paid for so why pick on her and not the boys?  If they weren't there handing out the thousand$ the girl wouldn't have been in business. How is it different than bribery? They bribe these poor women for sex and they get off scot free. It's these fucking Johns who should be criminaly charged, and not the women. And why shouldn't Senator Vitter at least censored in Congress?
  You are one responsible David Vitter, for helping this woman stay in busines, and now her blood is on your hands.   I hope David Vitter finds himself in the middle of an investigation now.  

 

convicted April 15 by a federal jury of running a prostitution service that catered to members of Washington's political elite

I'd rather be a lion for one day, than a sheep for my entire life.

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by: PhyllisMs @ Thu May 01, 2008 at 20:50:25 PM CDT

Not A Suicide

Not.
A .
Suicide.

No way
No how

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by: TeddySanFran @ Thu May 01, 2008 at 21:05:34 PM CDT

Indeed

This doesn't pass the 'coincidence' test.

Doesn't even come close.

Kat

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Thu May 01, 2008 at 22:08:36 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

....I really don't know.

But isn't there a support group for ex sex-workers? There must be, even if it has to be headquarted in Nevada.

Why didn't her lawyer, mother, friends get her some help.  There ALWAYS is forewarning of suicide, but someone who cares needs to be paying attention. 

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.

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by: Orion45 @ Thu May 01, 2008 at 22:44:41 PM CDT

Suicide or murder?

Occam's Razor says murder. The government murders people who threaten it. Without hesitation. End of story.

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by: steerpike66 @ Fri May 02, 2008 at 01:22:53 AM CDT

Anybody that

thinks this was really a "suicide" is chugging a new order of "Kool-aid".  Come on people, don't dismiss questioning this as just "conspiracy theory".  

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by: onthesea @ Fri May 02, 2008 at 05:14:11 AM CDT

Vince Foster?

I've seen multiple bloggers bring up his name today...

"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more."

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by: Louise @ Fri May 02, 2008 at 17:48:11 PM CDT

I usually don't believe in conspiracy theories...

but,

I'm thinking that it's MORE than likely this woman was murdered. I don't agree with legalizing prostitution. The problem isn't that it's not legal.
The problem is how many people betray their families by patronizing prostitutes.
It's NOT a victimless crime.
The disconnection of sex from real feelings is what disturbs me. That people can conduct themselves with such close and invasive physical contact, yet try to portray it as nothing more than sitting on a toilet and without emotional consequences, if not physical ones. We shouldn't be so dispassionate about sex with a human being, any more than being dispassionate about violence.
Perhaps this is why straight people get in such a tizz about gay folks in some way. They get VERY obssessed with the sexual mechanics, but care nothing about whether or not gay people are making strong and deeply spiritual connections. In fact, straight people assume their AREN'T any among or between gay folks.
Prostitution is still saying something about us and how uncivilized we still can be about sex and love.
How we see women, or how the power elite exploits their position even in betraying their families to be slapped and tickled.

 All of the elected officials or ministers we've heard of busted for soliciting or some other sexual pecadillo were virtually ALL married men, right?
Does anyone ask their wives or daughters or sons how victimless prostitution is?

  If anyone spoke to the people of Children of the Night, or other advocate groups for those exploited by the sex industry, it's not as innocuous a situation some people would like to think.
Even if it only involved consenting adults. Like I said, at bottom there is a kind of dispassion about the worth of women or children especially who are prostitutes.

 Didn't the DC madame just lose her life over it?

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by: Regan DuCasse @ Fri May 02, 2008 at 20:32:07 PM CDT