So, the Feds engage in an elaborate sting operation, with wiretapping, patience, tax dollars galore, and the only "john" whose name is released is - Spitzer?

I am no fan of Spitzer, pugnacious self-aggrandizing power-mad twit that he is. he served well as DA, and then radically moved beyond his areas of competence when he packed off to Albany. That said, why is Spitzer the only one whose information is released?

It will be interesting, as this proceeds, to see the gradual release of salacious details... spitzer likes spanking, for example, or engaged in three-ways. Whatever.

What will be more interesting is the subtext of what is released, and then, the subtext as to why.

The only reason why this matters is that Spitzer was a santimonious twerp who went after victimless crimes, and now is hoisted on his own pertard. To that end, he who lives by sanctimonious prattling dies by the sanctimonious prattling of others, and in some sense, to the degree that one cares about spitzer, there is a very nice symmetric sequence of events.

And of course, there is that reality of he who preaces too loud pracices in private - Larry Craig's blatant homophobia in public via his support of selected legislation whilst being utterly unwilling to confront his own bisexuality which, without legitimate expression, led to really, really pathetic tearoom sex in an airport potty. Spitzer's sanctimonious pratings concealed a deep desire to spend huge quantities of money to arrange elaborate sexual assignations....

But, unlike Craig, who was caught in a sting run by local police who were simply determined to render an anonymous airport men's toilet free of bizarre sucking sounds, Spitzer was brought down by an elaborate sting operation, and to date, the nature of the remaining miscreants remains - well - oddly silent. Who is being attacked, and who is being protected here?

I come from a household of rampant sexual abuse, from both male and female predators. So did my wife. Both of us had ample opportunities, combined with a significant lack of self-worth, to be paid for sexual favors from "johns' and not a few "janes"...... I can absolutely ascertain that the self-loathing that comes from having been abused prior to working through those issues with skilled therapy can certainly create an enviornment where one "might as well sell it"..... I certainly recognize that kind of flippant "well why not" seeping through the story of the lovely "Kristen" who undoubtedly garnered a complex response of feelings from commanding the attention of someone willing to pay huge bucks for an evening of slap and tickle.

as for the rather prim comments by some writers that 'she could get a college degree and build a normal life" betrays a sad understanding of the dynamics of childhood sexual abuse and its attack on one's sense of self. Read some basic literature on childhood sexual abuse and get a life.

That said, the issue of selling sex for money would be clarified on a number of levels were it legalized and systematized. Clearly nevada's system leads to not a happy solution, with workers entrapped in deadend circumstances that closely resemble indentured servitude. But, legalizing this will pose challenges of normalizing some set of feelings about the ethics of sex workers and those who turn to them.

LW is describing the current palliative use of pot as a device to cut anxiety down to size. Useful, decent intervention, but with the challenge that it is not, really, a decent long term intervention.

So, what happens when pot is eliminated? what lurks behind the absence of pot? Anxiety about one's self and one's competencies? Who knows? LW doesn't and the fear of discovery Keeps LW sucking weed.

I've never found that ceasing a habit or even an addiction without having an alternative does anything but white knuckle one into oblivion. So, I suggest that LW complete that thesis, and then seek a decent interventional therapist to be present, even an enlightened witness, to honor the complex emotions and beliefs that will emerge when pot ceases to be a solution.

I used booze, and when I stopped, without interventional 12-step programs, I discovered that "I needed help", got it, and did rather decently by myself, my wife and my stepson. And, I discovered that what lay behind my addictive behavior was far less scary, when I probed the material, than I might have assumed from the preventative smokescreen that alchohol was (and before that, working 90 hours a week......)