Thanks for your replies. I agree that the War on Drugs has some parallels to the War on Sex/Prostitution. My primary point is that none of us is in a position, including myself, to judge what another is doing from our own perspective. If you are willing to examine the motivation, the culture and the values of the "perpetrater", you may have a very different take on why they did what they did. That does not excuse behavior that harms another person or the environment. What often is discovered among both perpetrators and victims is that there is something in their early environment that predisposed them to the "bad or dysfunctional" behavior for which they are judged. This leads to the conclusion that education and social and healthcare services which are available to all, regardless of social or economic class, could make a significant difference to long term outcomes. Unfortunately, this country does not see that far into the future so does not recognized the benefits of long term planning. We live in a reactionary world which waits for the crisis to arise instead of pre-planning its prevention.

Perhaps this will change with enough people shifting their own consciousness and not collapsing into despair at the prospects of global economic and environmental degredation. That is my vision for the world.

I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation

peace,

st john

I am afraid to find out who clients 1-8 and 10-n are. I am terrified that some of them may be Democrats who hold high office. While I excuse nothing Spitzer did, I worry that this story is not over with his resignations.

I just hope Bill has kept his pants on.

Like Glenn, I think the pursuit of Spitzer is probably highly selective.

Democrats/"liberals" : Want to over-regulate public behavior

Republican/"conservatives :Want to over-regulate private behavior.

;)

Taylor Marsh @

http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=27198

… As many know, during the 1990s I did scads of research on sexuality, marriage and relationships. I came upon the subject quite by accident, but then was so intrigued by what I was uncovering I kept going further into it. I've talked to thousands of men, as well as women, couples, married people, prostitutes, strippers, you name it. I've done the front line work to find out what people think about sex, marriage and relationships, as well as why men stray. I can also say that this isn't a one gender phenomenon either, though women, obviously, have a shorter history because we were tied to men for financial security. We also, when straying, don't choose hookers, but often affairs. But it can happen to anyone these days, though men are still more likely to ensnare themselves in sexual ego.

… As for liberals v. conservatives on this one, just to get the political in, the nature of liberals is more forgiving of the human dynamic and our imperfections. Conservatives believe in perfection, which doesn't exist. The tally is heavily weighted on conservatives failing. Remember Bay Buchanan talking about infidelity when the New York Times story on John McCain broke? So indignant, even self-righteous, she stated that Republicans expect faithfulness. I could do a whole show on sexually conservative women who have men hanging out in strip joints, 900 lines, etc. But liberal women also miss the boat too, but usually because they think of the victimization associated with prostitution and the sex industry. Let's just say that the Emperors Club, where Spitzer evidently dabbled, is unlikely to be a place of victimization. The hardest thing for women to get is that some choose this lifestyle and live well off of it. No judgment here, just telling you what I've learned. These women also think of sex very differently, which turns on high powered men like Vitter and Spitzer and so many others.

Oh, and it's not a coincidence that so many affairs happen at midlife. The woman's body changes and she becomes disinterested in sex, while the man is having a midlife virile challenge, which he wants to fight. Powerful forces we've not yet figured out how to solve. The other challenge is that we're outliving our relationships. The good news is that hormone treatments for men and women, including impotency pills, have given some relationships new life. One thing is certain. Sex doesn't stop at midlife anymore; after children either. But in the modern era you have to be paying attention. Marriage and fidelity isn't the norm anymore. There's an adult playground out there where you can get whatever you want.

A question: does the thought of how the DOJ might have come upon this information and why they chose to pursue this Democratic governor while halting on similar investigations involving Republicans bother anyone more that what they found?

Scott Horton @

http://tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=c5005f31-237e-4f9d-bca1-891c7aa2b7b2

… the information now available raises unsettling issues about the conduct of the Justice Department. One close parallel involving a prostitution investigation is the case of the "D.C. Madam." In that case, federal prosecutors have proceeded against the prostitution ring and have shown little interest in the customer list, which is said to include a former high-ranking Bush Administration official (Randall Tobias, director of the U.S. Agency for International Development) and a U.S. Senator (David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana). The prosecutors' conduct in the "D.C. Madam" case has been remarkably deferential to the public figures involved. That case cannot be squared with the investigation into Governor Spitzer--it points to a double standard.

Politically abusive prosecutions are almost always marked by media-friendly prosecutors. The essence of political prosecution is less to bag the political prey than to make partisan propaganda by marking the target as "corrupt." And the accounts published in The New York Times, ABC News, and other media outlets reveal investigators and prosecutors eager to get the details out and on to the public record. (On Friday, a Times reporter received a tip that "Client 9" was "a New York official.") Indeed, there is an extremely revealing penchant for salacious detail in the complaint--insinuations about the sexual proclivities of "Client 9," for instance. This may have been included gratuitously to humiliate Spitzer and destroy any prospects for his future political career. If there is a legitimate prosecutorial purpose served, I can't fathom it.

(An important point that Horton has noted previously is that it is entirely possible to have the subject be guilty of the crime and the prosecution be politically-motivated. Furthermore, Horton has argued, the question of innocence or guilt should be ignored when evaluating whether or not it is a political prosecution.)

And, well put, sysprog @ We're the sixty minute newsmen.