If you're really interested go read my letters from yesterday in which I specifically mention male sex workers and explotation.

Please link or recapitulate. I missed it.

Well forgive me. Wait until they get big enough then.

But then, by all means; I mean you know a lot about computers, you could act as a useful intermediary for them and help them run the business side of things, you know--you having been a business owner and all.

I, for one, commend your confession of gender crime. We at S.C.U.M. (The Society for Cutting Up Men, and yes, there once was a feminist organization so referred to approvingly in a late 70s feminist essay) will leave you alone, since you admit your vileness.

Damn, that gave me a flashback..

I saw a very strange skiffy flick at the theater when I was about thirteen or fourteen.. It had to do with a female dominated society wherein men were brainwashed into being the subservient sex..

About all I can remember is the hero being tied up somehow and a tape repeating over a loudspeaker "men are weak, women are strong"..

Seriously..

Come to think of it there was a Star Trek TNG episode about a female dominated society that wasn't all that nice either..

The head father fu**er in chief had the hots for Riker of course.. :-)

"explain away personal responsibilty based on unfortunate history is one of the easiest targets that conservatives can use to legitimatly discredit liberals."

Bzzzz. Wrong answer!! The repugs are just as weasley and two-faced. Especially when caught stealing everything that isn't nailed down. Not to mention that Vitter got a standing ovation for doing the same thing.

If it's truly work like any other then let it be treated the same, you hypocrites.

Nobody said it was the same....you are the one that thinks it criminal and needs to remain that way.

What punishment should be done to these women? What about the stripper that will give a hand job to a client for a $20 tip?

What jail sentence will save these women from the evilness they are being subjected to? To punish them for using their sexuality for money?

She comes from a poor, abusive background. There is a reason why many sex workers have this in common - because prostitution is not a choice that most "healthy" people would make. Usually poverty, past abuse, or drug addiction are a big part of the equation. To deny that and pretend that the standard is "the happy hooker" is denying reality.

I hate to sound repetitive, but much the same can be said about alcoholism. In your words, to deny that and pretend that the standard is "the happy drunk" is denying reality.

Does this mean we should criminalize alcohol consumption?

Many pro-life advocates point to the psychological (and sometimes physiological) trauma suffered by women who have abortions, even in proper clinical settings. Also, studies have shown that women in poverty are far more likely to have abortions ("The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level ... is more than four times that of women above 300% of the poverty level" - http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html). I'm sure there's also some correlation to past abuse or drug addiction. There's probably even some correlation to rape or high-risk sexual activity. To deny that and pretend that the standard is "the happy abortion patient" is denying reality.

Does this mean we should (re)criminalize abortions?

http://www.democrats.com/bush-tied-to-child-prostitution

...I mean, sheesh.

But then, by all means; I mean you know a lot about computers, you could act as a useful intermediary for them and help them run the business side of things, you know--you having been a business owner and all.

LOL, If they of their own free will decided to do that and were to ask me, yeah I might do it.. For a piece of the action of course.

That would be an entirely different situation than the one you accused me of though..

You have a major problem when it comes to sex, why do you wish to control the sexual activities of adults you will never know?

Look, I've been around a bit, places where the entire point of many people's day was to get a rise out of someone, anyone.. People who were masters at needling and you haven't even reached probationary apprentice yet.

So far I've played nice with you. I'm about to stop playing nice.

I have been repeatedly very clear:

I support prosecution of pimps and johns but not prostitutes.

Prostitutes can be offered help to get out of that self-abusing lifestyle, but they cannot be compelled to take it any more than depressives can be compelled to take their meds.

It's a very clear, simple position.

The unwillingness of the thread to accept that, and the deliberate misrepresentation of the position, is the weak link in all the "arguments". Trying to smear me by saying I am out to persecute prostitutes, loaded up with righeous indignation and waving a Bible, is the only ball you've got in the cannon, it seems.

Now that you don't have that, what do you intend to do?

hey smart guy can the taxpayer afford $80,ooo for a titillating sex scandal

dude, did you think he spent his own money

caveman spitzers' ego screamed, "they owe me" it's the perks

baby now spitzer is on his way to rehab his drug of choice

POWER

NEVER FORGET THE RIPPLE EFFECT

> I don't see how this reasoning doesn't lead you to advocate the criminalization of adultery just the same.

Well, I don't know what the legal status of adultery is, but isn't it true that adultery is generally legal grounds for divorce, which may not be a criminal proceeding, but it certainly has very real civil implications. I think you are right that the social thinking behind it is much the same as that behind the disdain for prostitution, yes.

BTW, I don't particularly care about (except in a gossipy prurient way, heh), the private lives of the Spitzers. But we can still talk about the odds; and you and I both know that generally speaking, the spouse of someone who picks up prostitutes doesn't usually condone the behavior. No? Isn't your "we don't know what their private life is like" really just sweeping an important issue - perhaps the most important issue - under the rug?

Someone remarked that Silda delayed Elliot's resignation because she wanted him to retain his post; the implication being, I believe, that she loved power more than Elliot or something. Right now, I think that may very well be true. What else does she have from this man?

Yes, that is all just rampant speculation. Complete fiction, perhaps. Some intellectual exercises are like that, and that's o.k.