I wrote this several hours ago and did not see a response. Perhaps I am really off base, here, but wanted to post it one more time.

Self-Righteousness Abounds Here

Glenn hits most of the issues I have recognized about this particular case. What no one seems to be asking is: name Clients 1-8 and 10-n. If it is fair to identify one who committed a crime, then it is fair to name them all. It, no doubt, would create some international incidents. Since the customer base of the Emperor's Club probably includes some of the wealthiest men in the world, some of whom hold high political office, the repercussions would be resounding.

What is really at issue here is the global and universal nature of this issue. We are not talking about a single or serial exercise in one man's sexual and financial practices; this is a universal disclosure of human behavior and motivation. I recommend each one here pontificating on Mr. Spitzer's actions take a moment or 3 and consider how you may have violated one of your own values or virtues at some time in your life. I have and it is revelatory. This is not a religious or legal violation; it is a moral and spiritual one, and is personal. Laws are put in place to control behavior and maintain control of those with less power than those making the laws. When they are violated, it is an opportunity to review the purpose of the law and for whose benefit it was enacted. Please deeply examine your motivation for taking whatever side of this issue you have taken, and be honest with yourself. There is no one else who needs to know what you discover. Your own discovery may mediate how you cast stones upon another.

I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation

peace,

st john

Dworkin was not brilliant; she was off-the-wall. A person, male or femaile, who let's themselves -- contrives to -- come to look as she did for decades, has issues; that is reflected in her writing.

Dworkin's problem was heterosexual sex. She could not accept that het women who have sexual power can freely choose to use it, in pr0n or sex work. Ultimately, she became a feminist version of Anthony Comstock.

I think that the fact that you were abused is causing you to care so much that you miss the point that many of us are making.

I hesitated about saying that because I knew it could illegitimize anything I might subsequently say in the eyes of some. And here you are. I'm guessing that you've only read that one post of mine; I haven't advocated for keeping prostitution illegal as is. I don't think I'm "missing the point". I'm discussing.

Please tell me what you think the law should be and how it will be fair and equitable.

I think the Swedish model is worth trying, especially now that we've seen in it action and could address the problems that remained. I especially like the effect on trafficking there -- considered now to be in the hundreds, rather than thousands.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,516030,00.html

I don't see our laws changing any time soon, however. There's no collective will.

Utter bilgewater..

I believe you said earlier that there was an emotional, if not rational, difference to sucking your boss's dick or answering his phone. Forgetting your exact words, but I believe that was the gist.

Why the emotion differing from the rational? What emotion?

with 58 pages worth of posts, just about the only thing that hasn't been covered is the morality of sex with high-priced extra-dimensional string-theoried prostitutes.

What no one seems to be asking is: name Clients 1-8 and 10-n. If it is fair to identify one who committed a crime, then it is fair to name them all.

Dworkin was a radical thinker. I said I like radical thinkers. I like them to think but that's as far as it should go. Put it into practice and you can often end up with very impractical results.

Please deeply examine your motivation for taking whatever side of this issue you have taken, and be honest with yourself. There is no one else who needs to know what you discover. Your own discovery may mediate how you cast stones upon another.

I'm not sure what you are looking for but here goes..

I believe in the maximum freedom possible for the maximum number of people.

Rules which govern private, consensual adult behavior simply are anathema to me.

I rub practically everyone on this blog the wrong way by constantly harping on the drug war. But I see the drug war as the ultimate hypocrisy and the ultimate denial of individual freedom.

"Drugs" weren't made illegal because they are dangerous, they were made illegal because of who it is that is perceived to use those "drugs".

Opium.. Chinese immigrants..

Cocaine.. Blacks.

Cannabis.. First Mexicans and then Dirty F'in Hippies

LSD and the rest of the psychedelics.. Dirty F'in Hippies

It's the same thing with prostitution..

Buy a trophy wife with big money and all the perks that entails.. Moral

Get a quick BJ for a few bucks on the street.. Immoral.

From my perspective there really is no moral difference between the trophy wife and the street hooker. Both are paid for sex, just like Anna Nicole Smith. (although she probably never actually had to give it up)

The *only* significant difference is in who is buying the sex..

Big money exec or politician .. Buying sex is moral.(well most of the time anyway)

Poor bastard down on his luck.. Buying sex is immoral. (every time)

Ultimately, she became a feminist version of Anthony Comstock.

-- -Mona

He had numerous enemies, and in later years his health was affected by a severe blow to the head from an anonymous attacker. He lectured to college audiences and wrote newspaper articles to sustain his causes. Before his death, Comstock attracted the interest of a young law student, J. Edgar Hoover, interested in his causes and methods.

During his career, Comstock clashed with Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger. In her autobiography, Goldman referred to Comstock as the leader of America's "moral eunuchs". Through his various campaigns, he caused the arrest of more than 3,000 persons, destroyed 15 tons of books, 284,000 pounds of plates for printing 'objectionable' books, and nearly 4,000,000 pictures.

A biography of Comstock written in 1927, "Anthony Comstock: Roundsman Of The Lord" by Heywood Broun and Margaret Leech of the Algonquin Round Table examines his personal history and his investigative, surveillance and law enforcement techniques.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Comstock