Law & Ethics - February 2007

I find it odd that anyone who believes in God or calls themselves a follower of Jesus, also believe that a woman shall have the right to terminate her pregnancy thus ending a life which was granted by that very same God. Let's hear from you who will contradict your beliefs, non-believers, we all know what you think so don't bother responding...

2007-02-18 09:51:04 · 17 answers · asked by St.Jeb 4

What legal steps can I take now?

2007-02-18 09:49:07 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous

I have just received a letter from occupational health saying "my employer has requested them (occ health) to provide them with advice regarding my health in relation to my employment..." and that
I am required to attend an appointment. This letter has made me even more anxious than I was previously. Am I legally obliged to attend this appointment? If so where can I find information on my legal obligations? (I can't find anything in my contract). If I am required to attend am I expected to attend it at my workplace? My main reason for not wanting to attend is because it means I would have to go there. If anyone can help I would be really greatful.

2007-02-18 09:45:52 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous

I am living in California right now, but I am not from here. My wallet was stolen The DMV here is telling me I need my birth certificate to get one. Where I was born told me it would take 6 to 8 weeks, before I get it. This is too long what do I do, please???????? some-one H E L P ME

2007-02-18 09:43:57 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous

If a CITIZEN speaks out against his/her country, i.e. wants to stir up civil/racial/social un-rest.....

Does this constitute to treason?

Qualify for a ticket to meet their maker?

2007-02-18 09:38:43 · 9 answers · asked by bluecow 5

I bought a car last week. The EED called my work and spoke w/ the manager and asked them if i work there, how much I work, the times I work and how much I get paid. My stupid manger told them everything. Isn't it illegal for my manger to give out all that information to the EED. My car salesman called me yesterday and left me a voicemail telling me that all my manager has to tell them is that I'm emplyed and she shouldn't give out any other information. Does EED have the right to ask my boss how much I make and what days I work? Isn't that supposed to be confidential?

2007-02-18 09:36:35 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous

2 years ago, me and 4 of my friends (we were all 13 at the time) were playin on a school field when the ball hit a window in the nursery, the window pane fell out so i decided to climb in, i opened a bigger window from the inside and let 3 of my friends climb inside aswel, we had a look around and i found a tin of paint, one of my friends was still outside so i handed it to him through the window, then we all climbed back outside, just as we were about to leave school grounds we were surrounded by police, they asked us what we had been doing and we told them the truth, we were just about to be let go when one of the officers changed his mind and arrested us ( all 5 of us ), we were taken home and told we had to go to the police station another time to make statements, after wed all made our statements, the three friends who had been inside of the nursery wer alowed to go home but ME and the friend who who was outside had our fingerprints taken and i was charged with burglary.

2007-02-18 09:36:32 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous

I'd appreciate it if answerers of this question also answered this one:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArTT630cae4vwhLEpzOXmdHsy6IX?qid=20070218103841AARZQci
Thank you so much!!

2007-02-18 09:29:46 · 8 answers · asked by Neferiel 3

bringing my running total to 12 YAHOO VIOLATIONS in a 7 day period, can you beat my score.

2007-02-18 09:21:59 · 15 answers · asked by jardon 3

Or does society have the right to enforce vaccinations to protect the general public or does this infringe on free will? (just a thought, you have the right to drive your car but not exceed 60 miles per hour for public safety on the highway)???

2007-02-18 09:17:34 · 10 answers · asked by laura n 3

2007-02-18 08:54:24 · 16 answers · asked by Andrew P 1

2007-02-18 08:47:03 · 4 answers · asked by kafenadict 1

2007-02-18 08:40:15 · 15 answers · asked by slm 1

I know that a pregnant woman can use a policemans hat if shes needs to wee ! I heard about this years ago and was just wondering was there any truth behind it ? Thanks

2007-02-18 08:36:48 · 24 answers · asked by Ben H 3

The Governments of the World are supposed to protect the children. What makes you think that your children or your children's children won't be the next victim of child sex slavery?

*Perilous Times Latin America's secret slave trade* Oliver Balch reports from the triple frontier of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, where humans have become the most sought-after contraband. Wednesday December 20, 2006

Guardian Unlimited Sit by the swimming pool of the exclusive Iguazú Jungle hotel and you can watch the "contrabandistas" emerging from the undergrowth. All day, an army of smugglers can be seen passing along the mountainous path that separates Argentina from Brazil. Locals know it as the "pique". It is just one of a dozen or more unofficial crossing points on the so-called triple frontier, the name given to the porous border area where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet. Article continues Everything from fake branded clothing to Class A drugs are ferried back and forth along these clandestine routes. The list of contraband goods now also extends to human beings. The human-trafficking business is estimated to be worth over £10bn a year, making it the world's third most profitable criminal activity after drug-smuggling and gun-running. Many of those trafficked through the triple frontier are destined for the illegal labour market in Brazil or Argentina. The trade in babies for adoption is also widely reported. But a large proportion end up as sex workers. Many end up in brothels across the region, although a high number are destined for the triple frontier's own thriving sex industry. Children are particularly vulnerable to human traffickers. Charities working with at-risk children in the border region estimate that as many as 3,500 young people could be involved. "Many girls are trafficked via the pique. It's all highly organised", explains Marcelina Antunez, director of Luz de Infancia, a children's care centre in the Argentine town of Puerto Iguazú. Driving the trade is the flood of foreign tourists who come to visit the world famous Iguazú waterfalls. Much of the demand for prostitution is casual. Yet the region also attracts a hardened group of sex tourists. The region's reputation for prostitution is not new. In the late 1970s, around 40,000 workers flooded into the triple frontier to help build the colossal Itaipú hydroelectric dam. Around 97% of the new workforce were men. As the dam went up, so too did the demand for paid-for sex. "The triple frontera is the Bangkok of Latin America...after the tsunami, many sex tourists started coming here instead of Asia," notes Cynthia Bendlin, director of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for the triple frontier area. IOM runs a number of awareness programmes to highlight the dangers of the trafficking trade. But it is an uphill struggle. Many of the children most at risk either live on the street or come from very impoverished families, Ms Bendlin explains. In some cases of extreme destitution, children are even contracted out by their parents. There is a blind beggar in Puerto Igazú, for example, who walks the streets hand-in-hand with a seven year-old girl. He makes his living by renting her out for sex. She is his neighbour's daughter. The situation is complicated further by the "recruiters". Often known to the victims, they promise the opportunity of work across the border. When the fictitious jobs never materialise, the victims finds themselves trapped and unable to return home. IOM also works with local government agencies and the police in an attempt to develop coordinated strategies to stop the traffickers. Again, prgress is slow. In Argentina alone, there are at least five separate security agencies operating in the border zone. Between the three countries, the problem of coordination becomes triply complicated, Ms Bendlin admits. At a national level, there are some signs of encouragement. This week, Argentina's lower house is scheduled to discuss a bill that would officially recognise underage human trafficking in the criminal code. Victim organisations welcome such measures, but remain sceptical about how much difference they will make on the ground. Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay all have separate laws and legal processes. Add to that the variety of municipal, provincial and national legislation and you have a complex legal web to navigate. It is a journey that many victims would rather not undertake. In addition to the psychological and financial implications of pursuing a court case, many fear the threat of reprisals. "Although we know about more than 700 cases of child trafficking, we have only reported 40 in the last three years", confesses Benigno Cáceres, a lawyer with CEAPRA, a children's charity in the Paraguayan border town of Ciudad del Este. Only one of these complaints resulted in a guilty verdict. The relative impunity for sex-related crimes is in keeping with cultural attitudes in the triple frontier. The region's strong culture of machismo holds that sex with underage girls is safer and a sign of male virility, says Norma Pereira, a child psychologist in Ciudad del Este. In addition, the mothers of trafficked children are frequently themselves the victims of abuse or involved in prostitution, she explains: "Families often refuse to recognise the problem. It's as if this new form of slavery has become natural." · Oliver Balch is a freelance journalist based in Argentina.

2007-02-18 08:33:13 · 1 answers · asked by Anonymous

*Perilous Times and Decaying Morality
Prostitution in Britain: The sordid society*
By David Harrison, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 2:36am GMT 18/12/2006

The killings in Ipswich have shone a dismal light on the extent of
prostitution in Britain today. The figures are horrifying: more than
100,000 girls working in brothels, massage parlours and on the streets,
while the number of men using their services, particularly in younger
age groups, has doubled. As David Harrison reports, the stark truth
behind the sex trade is abuse, violence, exploitation and addiction
The Evening Star in Ipswich summed it up succinctly: "Things like this
are not supposed to happen in our part of the world." Serial killers are
meant to strike in big, edgy cities, not in an unassuming agricultural
town whose last claim to national fame was the fleeting success of the
local football team 25 years ago.
The murders of the five prostitutes have shone a disturbing light on
Britain's dark underbelly, a seedy world of desperate, drug-addicted
women who sell their bodies for their, or their pimps', next fix of
heroin or crack cocaine. And they have highlighted an explosion in the
availability of – and demand for – "sexual services" in 21st-century
Britain.
If it goes on in Ipswich, with a population of 140,000, number 38 on the
list of Britain's biggest urban centres, then, you might think, it must
be happening everywhere. You would be right. There are an estimated
30,000 street prostitutes in Britain, and police and drugs charities say
they can be found in every city and town. "Where there are hard drugs,
there are pimps and street prostitutes, and there are hard drugs all
over the country," says a senior Scotland Yard officer.
Ninety-five per cent of street girls are addicted to drugs or alcohol or
both, according to the Home Office. Most have been violently or sexually
abused as children and groomed for prostitution by boyfriends, members
of their own families or predatory pimps they meet when they run away
from their miserable homes.
The drugs come early too: most are offered heroin by their abusers (many
of whom are also addicts) in their early teens. Once hooked, the girls
have a choice: steal, deal, or go on to the streets to make money to
feed their habit and pay their pimps. For some, the forced prostitution
comes first but the drugs always follow. "On the game, they call it,"
said one outreach worker. "But this is certainly no game."
The girls are usually "launched" as streetwalkers at about the age of
14, though some are as young as 12, says Wendy Shepherd who runs a
Barnardo's project in Middlesbrough. Some will already have been abused
by family members and "hired out" to paedophile friends from the age of
eight.
Street prostitution is highly dangerous. The girls have to make instant
judgments about complete strangers before deciding whether to get into
their cars. The craving for drugs drives them to take enormous risks.
About 90 prostitutes are known to have been murdered in England and
Wales in the past decade but the real figure is almost certainly much
higher. Street girls are easy prey for violent psychopaths because
anonymity is part of the commercial pact and the girls' disconnected
lives mean they can go missing for days, even weeks, before anybody notices.
Murder is a risk prostitutes face, but violent assault is almost a
guaranteed part of their lives. More than half of all UK prostitutes
have been raped or seriously sexually assaulted, and three-quarters have
been physically attacked, according to government research. The figures
for streetwalkers are even higher. "Nearly every woman I have dealt with
has suffered some form of abuse from punters," says Ms Shepherd. "I've
dealt with girls who have been punched, kicked, raped, kidnapped and
dumped on the motorway. It's a grim, seedy life." A study by The British
Journal of Psychiatry found that nearly seven out of 10 prostitutes met
the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, the same as victims of
torture and war veterans undergoing treatment.
The street girls are the most desperate and vulnerable "workers" in
Britain's expanding sex industry. In 2004 the number of prostitutes in
the UK was officially estimated at 80,000 but the real figure has
increased significantly since then and is now believed to be over
100,000. The rise has been fuelled by an influx of thousands of women
from eastern Europe, most of them trafficked into this country and
forced into sexual slavery. Brothels, thinly disguised as "massage
parlours" and "saunas", have sprouted up in even the smallest market
towns, while a bewildering array of sexual services, as prostitution is
euphemistically known, is offered on the internet.
Demand, almost entirely from men, has risen sharply too. There are male
prostitutes and "escorts" who cater for female clients, but the
overwhelming majority of punters are male. A typical male user of street
girls is white, often middle class, in his 30s or 40s, frequently
married with children, and in search of anonymous and untraceable
encounters, according to a study by researchers at Sunderland
university. The punters come from all walks of life. "You get factory
workers and labourers but also doctors, judges, policemen — and they can
all be violent," says Ms Shepherd.
n a recent survey of 11,000 men, the British Medical Association found
that the proportion of men who have had sex with prostitutes has nearly
doubled in 10 years from just under one in 20 of the male population to
one in 10, with single university graduates more likely to have paid for
sex than married men and non-graduates.
The figures reflect a recent trend for younger men, in their late teens
and twenties, to use prostitutes, albeit mainly those in massage
parlours and other brothels rather than street girls. "Sex without
strings" is seen as part of their night's entertainment. Diana Marshall,
who runs the Poppy Project in south London, Britain's only
government-funded refuge for trafficked women, blames society's
"normalisation" of the sex industry.
"It used to be taboo to go with a prostitute, something to be done
furtively, something that brought shame if you were found out," she
said. "But now it has become something to do on a stag night or a night
out with the boys. It's considered a bit of a laugh to go to a
lap-dancing club or a brothel and pay for sex."
Other indicators, she says, include the rapid spread of lap-dancing
clubs, "lads' mags", internet pornography and "punters' websites" on
which hundreds of prostitutes are "reviewed" in graphic detail in the
manner of a mock theatre or restaurant review. "It's disgraceful that
this has been allowed to happen," says Ms Marshall. "This is basically
society saying it's okay to exploit women in the 21st century."
Pole-dancing is a sensitive topic. "It is inextricably linked to
prostitution and the exploitation of women," she says. The BBC scrapped
plans for a programme called Strictly Come Pole-Dancing in July after
objections from women's groups, and Ms Marshall complained
unsuccessfully to Tesco when the supermarket chain began selling a
"pole-dancing kit", complete with pole and fake dollars to put into the
dancer's garter. Tesco says it is for "people who want to improve their
fitness".
No woman chooses to be a prostitute, the charities say, least of all a
streetwalker, and there is always coercion. The world's oldest
profession is really the world's oldest oppression. "A job in which drug
addiction, homelessness, rape and murder are occupational hazards is
hardly a career choice," says a spokesman for Women for Justice. The
reality is a brutally far cry from the romantic film Pretty Woman, in
which Julia Roberts plays an implausibly beautiful street hooker
"rescued" by a millionaire businessman played by Richard Gere.
Most groups say more must be done to target the men who use prostitutes.
They want the law to be changed to make it a criminal offence to use a
prostitute - though not to be a prostitute — a reform that in Sweden has
helped to cut the number of street girls by two-thirds. British police
carry out occasional undercover operations to arrest kerb-crawlers but
admit they have limited resources and "competing priorities".
This situation is not helped by the UK's muddled laws. Prostitution is
not illegal but soliciting for purposes of prostitution, keeping a
brothel and kerb-crawling are. Prostitutes fined for soliciting simply
return to the streets to make money to pay the fine, while still, of
course, having to feed drug habits costing hundreds of pounds a week. As
a result, they will take even more risks. A woman can "work" from home
or visit a client in a hotel room, but a flat or house where two or more
women are so working is deemed an illegal brothel. In a review published
last January, the Government announced its intention to allow up to
three women or men (two prostitutes and a "maid") to work in
"mini-brothels" to give them better protection, though the plan has met
with fierce opposition and there is no sign of it being implemented.
Ministers are more likely to push through a less controversial proposal
to send kerb-crawlers on "education courses" rather than fine them up to
£1,000 as at present.
The search for solutions has produced bitter divisions between advocates
of "zero-tolerance" and supporters of "tolerance zones", similar to
those in Continental cities such as Amsterdam. Middlesbrough has led the
way with a "zero-tolerance" approach allied to attempts to get
prostitutes into drug rehabilitation. The scheme has reduced the number
of girls on the streets from 250 (including 14-year-olds) in 1999, to
about 15 today, and there has not been a murder of a prostitute for
three years.
Opponents say that zero-tolerance simply displaces women to neighbouring
towns. Bolton has taken the opposite view and has created a de facto
tolerance zone between 7pm and 7am, when prostitutes are given condoms,
clean needles and advice on getting off drugs. Officials say the scheme
has helped some women to leave the trade. Brian Iddon, the MP for Bolton
South East and chairman of the parliamentary Misuse of Drugs group, said
the women should be given free drugs to get them off the streets and, in
the meantime, brothels should be legalised. "Criminalising these women
will drive them underground and make them even more desperate," he says.
The Association of Chief Police Officers recognises prostitutes as
"victims" but is opposed to "decriminalisation" and "tolerance zones".
Ann Lucas, the chairman of the Local Government Association's
prostitution task group, said: "We don't tolerate murder or paedophilia.
As a local authority we don't want to manage prostitution. We want to
eradicate it."
A growing body of doctors, drugs charities, social workers and some
senior police officers, however, agrees with Dr Iddon and wants all
addicts to be given hard drugs free on prescription. A "maintenance
dose" taken under supervision, along with counselling and safe houses,
would help addicts start to lead a normal life and, they say, wipe out
much of the crime linked to hard drugs. Such a radical initiative would
cost much more than the £597 million the Government has allocated for
drug treatment this year but proponents say the extra funding would be
more than recovered in savings made by the criminal justice system as
the drug-related crime rate tumbled.
For some there is a more immediate solution: keep men off the streets.
"It makes me furious that the police are telling women to stay in
because of what happened in Ipswich," says Diane Marshall. "Women are
not the problem. It's men who should be under curfew."

2007-02-18 08:19:48 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous

I subscribe and I am trying to find out the legal issues involved by them replacing regular programming with paid advertising (infomercials) during late night hours.
Stations such as Comedy Central will go to Paid Programming at 1:00am every night along with about 80% of my other channels.

Since I am paying for the channels that are on the air 24/7, I should be able to view that channel when I choose to. By them replacing it with Paid Programming, isn't that double dipping on thier part?

Shouldn't I and all other customers be able to get credit for these channels during those times?

I smell a class action lawsuit here and will be checking with my lawyer this week.

My question is, is this typical nationwide or only in certain areas like mine? Please look into this on your service and let me know here. If I file suit, I will post it here and list how you can get in on it.

2007-02-18 08:14:26 · 7 answers · asked by Tyrone S 2

There's nothing wrong with the stuff at all.
The goverments have spent millions TRYING to find something they can use as a deterant, and the best they can come up with is 'It might make you paranoid and MIGHT make to slightly scitzo later in life'.
Weigh up the cons with drink and try applying the same to the weed, you cant.
When was the last time you heard of someone getting wasted on weed, going out and starting a fight, throwing up and then falling asleep in there own vomit, which i have seen NUMEROUS times with drunk people.
Weed is the love drug.
If everyone smoked a J a day there would be no wars and everyone would get on better.

2007-02-18 08:06:57 · 24 answers · asked by trickyrick32 4

2007-02-18 07:58:16 · 36 answers · asked by Durden 1

i only want people with intent of telling me the truth please-police-law people-and lagite lawyers.this is vary important for me to find out so please responde with truthfulness thankyou.

2007-02-18 07:55:59 · 8 answers · asked by rick 2

My grandmother is in the nursing home for a broken hip and has been declared mentally incapacitated. My aunt can't get control of her money through becoming executor of her estate because my grandmother can't sign over her accounts so that she can keep her in the nursing home. Medicaid won't pay for anything to my grandmother's assets are gone so how does my aunt get control of the money with granma not being able to sign?

2007-02-18 07:51:08 · 11 answers · asked by Angela F 5

2007-02-18 07:38:19 · 2 answers · asked by Destiny T 1

that bush is "prolife" and yet he has no objection with the death penalty killing innocent people?
i'm interested: why should there not be a choice? to me, it makes so sence that this should be a matter decided by anyone other than the people that it directly concerns (is mother and father of the fetus)

2007-02-18 07:36:31 · 9 answers · asked by sita c 1

Bush making a joke out of the fact that he couldn't find any WMD, at a Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner?

or

Bush saying: "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face, It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

2007-02-18 07:28:08 · 10 answers · asked by Its Hero Dictatorship 5

2007-02-18 07:18:26 · 8 answers · asked by NQS 5

I always find myself doodling on money, someone told me that it is a very bad thing to do, even illegal, is that true? What do you think?

2007-02-18 07:15:04 · 10 answers · asked by L'via Vismund Zavala III 2

At what point do you feel this happens? Global or US examples would be wonderful, perhaps specific legislation or court decisions.

This is from an argument at a bar last night that ended when we were kicked out because we ran out of money, at which time we were far too drunk to remember what we had already said.

2007-02-18 07:14:15 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous

A. Stores have more money in their cash registers.

B. Most convicts get released between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

C. It's colder, so there's more incentive to commit crime.

D. The rate of robberies in the fall drops dromatically.

2007-02-18 06:49:22 · 5 answers · asked by BBman 1

I'm 18 and planning to start college next summer. It would help me a ton if I could somehow track down my dad for the child support he has NEVER paid. My mom has always been too afraid to go after him for it because she thinks that will cost her lots of money and we've lived fairly poor my whole life. So, now that I'm accepted into college, I want this child support more than anything! Is it possible now and how can I do it?

2007-02-18 06:46:16 · 8 answers · asked by paranoia 1

My husband or I have never had any court situations, and this is new to us. He recieved this 103 Civil Citation yesterday by someone delivering it to my house. It says I am being sued by an appliance company that we do owe. But what we do not understand is, it says if my husband or his attorney does not file a written answer with the clerk who issued this citation by 10am on the monday next following the expiration of 10 days after you were servied this citation a default judgement may be taken against you. The due date sounds crazy, so when is it due, and what do I write? The amount they are sueing us for is the amount of the original loan and not with the payments we made for the first 1 1/2 yrs. I don't want to sign something agreeing to this unknowingly, and we do not want to go to court, we are so broke!! Will it still go to court if I send a written settlement letter, and whatever small payment I can send? Please help us.

2007-02-18 06:38:33 · 3 answers · asked by ccrash 1