Spitzer's folly should cause Americans to review and abolish our outmoded and harmful laws against prostitution. These laws are relics of the Victorian Era and do far more harm than good. In many nations prostitution has been legal for decades and provides lucrative employment for women and men, and no one gives it a second thought.

Some critics grow shrill on the issue, claiming prostitution subjects women to slavery, brutality and other horrors. The safety of sex workers certainly is a valid concern and strong measures should be put in place to protect them, but the "sex slavery" stories are being used by the religious right and other extremists to derail the growing public acceptance of prostitution and should be viewed in that light.

Prostitution should be decriminalized and carefully regulated. Some good will come from this Spitzer flap if the ensuing public debate results in a wholesale overhaul of the nation's prostitution laws.

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Time to stop the hypocrisy or jealousy... I f he used public $ he got to pay them back, if he paid for himself that story is NONE of our business!
This kind of business will never go away, as long as there are humans with a sex life there will be sex for dough stuff happening.
Laws shall only be there to provide a safe working environnement for those who chose this activity.
Anything else is just plain irrational propaganda and a huge waste of time and precious $.
Let it go there are FAR MORE important issues at hand at the moment.
Our country is on the verge of BANKRUPCY... a guy got a hooker... SO WHAT?

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These women.......are they the young women who are kidnapped and taken from their countries? Are these the young ladies who are treated like slaves? I don't know. What I DO know is that these girls are VICTIMS. I haven't read anything on this story, probably won't, either. I need to get my country back. I will say that if this is an international prostitution ring there is probably some horrific treatment going on towards women. I don't have the answers about what the life of these women is like but Spitzer knows where they came from. Kidnapped, slave trade is NOT okay, it is MAJOR ABUSE. Perhaps this is another reason for electing a female president.

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About all I know about Spitzer is that when the Feds were giving Wall Street virtual carte blanch, he seemed to be the only public official going after the corporate crooks.

Since I consider legislation of "morality" a crime in itself, and I consider his marital situation to be between him and his wife (none of my business - or yours), I was inclined to give him a pass - until I heard that he has bragged about busting similar rings in the past.

If true, that puts him on the same scumsucking hypocrisy scale as the Repukes Craig and Vitter.

Of course, it's much too much to expect that our beloved "watchdogs" of the MSM pay more attention to the destruction of the US constitution by the fascists in the executive branch of the government, the destruction of the economy by the same thugs, and the destruction of our national security through pursuit of the unjust, expensive and stupid Iraq war, but sex sells.

They are gonna be sooo relieved that they can concentrate on this stupidity of a Democrat and brush aside the corrupt affair of the Republican presidential nominee.

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Anything coming out of the DOJ these days has to be analyzed for political motives. And this is one prosecution that stinks to high heaven.

Anyway at least we now know what they want all those wiretapping powers for.

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In a time when you can go on the internet and find real-life images of sex acts with underaged goats, the 1909 Mann Act prohibition on "transporting... for immoral purposes" seems a bit quaint.

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So Spitzer likes girls and paid for it.

This is news?

Meanwhile the nation goes into the toilet as a Washington-MSM axis (run by top industrial crime felons Spitzer was supposed to reign in) spirals into another empty distraction and election carnival that will mean as good as nothing no matter what corporate puppet is chosen.

And duping rubes and suckers at America for sham "war on terror" and every other organized corporate crime swindle on the public dime goes on with nary a hiccup.

Romans called this kind of serial buffoonery "Bread and Circuses" for placating the gullible masses. Virtually none of it's changed from when Rome was cheated out of the republic.

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I disagree with the premise of the article that Spitzer has "shit for brains." By all accounts, Spitzer is no moron; in fact, he is widely regarded as someone who was comfortably ensconced on the opposite end of the intelligence scale. And, herein may lie the problem. Spitzer is a super-high achiever who does not seem to have failed at anything he attempted. Yet, the human experience is extremely complex. People like Spitzer who have met with nothing but success often find that they have an unconscious need to experience utter failure. Freud called it Thanatos, or the death instinct. As the former NYS Attorney General, there is no way that Spitzer did not know the outrageous risks he took every time he contacted the Empress Club.

On another note, I agree with other posts that as a nation we need to stop being so self-righteous about sex. Sex for sale is a perfectly understandable alternative lifestyle for someone as busy as Spitzer and his high-powered attorney wife. For all we know, there may be an understanding between husband and wife that made Spitzer believe he had license to engage in this activity. So what?! Prostitution should be a legal occupation with excellent pay and healthcare benefits.

What I resent about Spitzer's actions is that as attorney general he aggressively prosecuted prostitution rings, and therefore publicly acknowledged that he deemed it a criminal activity worthy of using enormous resources to rid the world of it. As the father of three daughters, we can then assume that he would never want his children charging an hourly rate for their sexual favors. Yet, he apparently was fully prepared to avail himself of someone else's daughter's favors. It is this disregard for anyone else to gratify one's impulses that troubles me more than anything else. All of his actions -- even the good he did -- are suspect because he shows himself to be a man ruled by impulses to stroke his ego.

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If you read the post carefully, the author points out that as a former prosecutor, Spitzer was fully cognizant of the LAW. He prosecuted prostitution rings. And basically, I think he believed the law did not apply to him.Your headline reminds us of what Bill Clinton told someone from 60 Minutes: he did it because he thought he could get away with it.

I hope David Paterson's getting his good suit pressed, because New York is going to get a black governor before we get a black president. The question is, will he take on powerbrokers like Joe Bruno and Sheldon Silver and clean up Albany like Spitzer promised to do? Or will we go back to politics as usual?

You blew it, Eliot!

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How wonderful to open my AlterNet over morning tea and find such a witty writer. If we have to wallow in Spitzer's pathetic hypocrisy – while looking forward to 100 years of occupying Iraq, to a recession as deep as my cleavage and to the Democrats quibbling themselves into yet another loss – I am sincerely glad to have discovered for myself a journalist with his tongue so deeply in our cheeks. Thanks Chris.
www.suekatz.com

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Elliott Spitzer was one of the good guys--a crusading prosecutor who put away the bad guys. Like Thomas Dewey before him, he turned a prosecutor's job into the governorship of New York.

But now we find that the "straight arrow" was really bent. With an arrogance that defies description he knowingly broke a federal law--the Mann Act. Some may think the law outmoded, but if that is so, then it should be repealed. Governor Spitzer apparently couldn't wait. So that turned him into a big, fat hypocrite.

The more jaded among us might just shrug and say, "They all do it." That may very well be true, but when the super-smart governor of New York does it, that doesn't give the rest of us much hope for real leadership among our politicians.

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As chairman of the Caroline, NY Democratic Committee, on Thursday, 3/13/08, I will introduce for consideration a resolution to censure Governor Spitzer and to call for his resignation. I feel his admission of wrong-doing is sufficient grounds for this motion.

Eliot Spitzer is facing federal felony charges as a result of his actions. Further explanation or description of his actions may compromise his legal defense.

I am unwilling to force him into a potentially self-incriminating statement.

However, Spitzer's statement of wrongdoing and his admission that he has violated any moral standard indicates his moral and sexual turpitude.

Eliot Spitzer has betrayed our trust and confidence. Supporting him politically after yesterday's revelations would compromise our basic moral values.

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In his moral outrage about the lawyer who broke the law, Chris Kelly misses a few important points. Some of these have been noted by previous posters. Note especially UnEasyOne's reminder to scrutinize anything coming out of the Department of Justice these days.

Yes, the war on prostitution, like the war on drugs, is long overdue for reexamination. However, legalizing prostitution doesn't mean giving a carte blanche to the practices of kidnappers, enslavers, and exploiters. Here's an analogy: Manufacturing clothing is legal. Manufacturing clothing in sweatshops that ignore mandated safety standards for workers and quality standards for products isn't -- and when U.S. companies seek out conditions abroad that are illegal at home, they may not be breaking any laws but they are still behaving in a manner that is ethically dubious. Even if the product or service is legally delivered, anyone with pretensions to ethical and political responsibility should be devoting some consideration to the consumer "needs" that are driving the market.

What bothers me about Governor Spitzer isn't so much that he seems to have broken the law. (For the record, no, I'm not in favor of lawbreaking by elected officials who have sworn to uphold the constitution and laws of their jurisdiction. If there are some laws that they intend not to uphold, I think they should make this clear when they take the oath of office.) I'm 99.9% sure that he knew what the law was and knew that he was breaking it -- over and over again, so it seems. Is this arrogance? Maybe; maybe not; maybe yes and no both.

What bothers me is less that he broke the law or patronized prostitutes and more that he was willing to gamble his political career in order to do it. Like he didn't know that the private lives of public figures are subjected to continual scrutiny by reporters, bloggers, cops, and the political opposition? It suggests an out-of-controlness and obliviousness to possible consequences that I find really scary. Governor Spitzer, like President Clinton before him and a host of others from the right, left, and center, acted like an alcoholic who'll do anything for a drink or an addict who'll do anything for a fix. Does Spitzer have an alcohol problem? Don't know. Don't especially care. If he "needs" illicit sex to the extent that it obscures his awareness of his own self-interest (not to mention his political commitments), he's got a big problem, and so do the people of New York.

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Many of the previous commenters seem to think that morality has no place in public life or that there is a line between public and private morality.

Morality is our shared social values. If we agree that taking off the suit coat and tie ends our social obligations we are sociopaths.

We cannot live together without the trust and dependability that come from voluntary and constant adhesion to moral codes.

Cheating on one's wife, hiring prostitutes and hypocritically presenting an image of moral rectitude are not acceptable behavior.

Such behavior is intolerable in a public official.

To bring it home, what would you think about one of your kid's teachers engaging in the sort of behavior Spitzer has admitted?

One set of rules for the little man and another more lenient set for the high officials? That's liberatarianism all the way.

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What he did was really, really dumb. I think he's having a difficult go of it in Albany and the pressure is getting to him.
I don't think he should be just thrown away because of this mis-step. Maybe it will humble him and refocus him on the work he should be doing.

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The U.S. Government took over and operated Joe Conforte's Mustang Ranch outside of Reno several years ago after he removed himself to Sicily, allegedly to recoup the money Conforte owed in back taxes. While the feds weren't technically breaking any laws, since prostitution is legal in Nevada, there is still a miasma of hypocrisy about the operation. This seems to me to be one of the best examples of how Washington regards, at heart, the comparative value of money versus moral standards. It was widely reported that a good number of elected officials sweat a bit of blood when revelation of phone numbers in a certain black book was threatened not long back. Getting caught seems to be the real measure of "right and wrong" in our nation's capital.

The dichotomy between Spitzer's remarkabe intellect and his equally remarkable stupidity is not rare. Common horse sense cannot be measured by tests like the LSAT, which he is reported to have aced. It is that instinctive understanding of and appreciation for cause and effect relationships, not a capacity for cramming factual information into the brain and recovering it at will. The same seeming gap often occurs in the very religious, who manage somehow to compartmentalize their gray matter into neat discrete areas that do not function simultaneously. Thus, noted physical scientists can deal on the one hand with such evidence as the actual age of the earth and yet maintain a literal interpretation of the creation story in Genesis. I'm sure people like Spitzer are able to keep what they know to be true separate and apart from how they view their own behavior. Thus, in his case, he could keep one foot in the world of respectability and the other in what many would consider that of depravity.

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its like saying, "if she can still stand the sight of me, maybe you....". This is, however, why you do NOT politicize the DOJ (Siegelman, Martha Stewart as worst corporate criminal ever), every high profile bust is highly suspect to a Rove. The speed and efficiency with which the bloodhounds nailed Spitzer does make it suspect. Spitzer, however, destroyed everything he ever worked for and crushed his family in the process-what a shame. I expect that he will have the decency to resign-unlike David Vitter who got a round of applause when he returned to the senate and Larry Craig whose self-reflection is as delusional as W's. Please, please, please quit parading the wives out, though. It just accentuates what douchebags they are married to. And prostitution, yes, we will always find a way to step on and feed on the weak and the helpless. Let's call it empowerment and make it legal so we don't have to have any little twinges of guilt-not as though that is generally a problem.

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So this is what the "war on terror" spying and database collecting does. It catches liberals misbehaving with prostitutes. I wonder how much it cost us to do this, $5000 an hour? Another Rove, Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney project.

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isn't it great for McCain the good-goverment, antilobbyist maverick that he was only in bed having an orgy with lobbyist. When everyone realized there was no smoking blue dress they all got disappointed and turned away.

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....that's the preferred location for Repugnicans.

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A few posters a trying to implicate Republicans. That's ridiculous.
Spitzer's first year has been a train wreck of his own doing. His approval rating is as low as Bush's. Him being "in office" only helps the Republicans......as of late.

This has more to do with someone that he burned on Wall Street.


Allstar Cookie

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this "Sting" came from President Bushs Illegal Surveilence "Program"? Other Commentors have covered the Obvious areas about Sex, Slavery, Mistreatment and so forth, But what about HOW this "Information" GOT to the FBI? IF this WAS picked up with Bushs Bullshit Program, wouldn't it go a LONG way to showing the ABUSE of Power by the Bush Adminstration? It MIGHT also explain HOW Bush KEEPS "winning" everything He wants from a "Democratic" controlled Congress! Just a thought.

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Can anyone come up with the name of any Democrat since Bill Clinton who has been a bigger disappointment than Elliot Spitzer? If there is, so help me, Mitch Miller, I'm not aware of it.

I had so much hope for this governor when he was sworn in last year. What a let down.

As Jack Jacobs just said on Imus in the Morning with regard to his wife:

"How any woman can stand beside him in circumstances like these is beyond me."

The poor woman....Those poor girls....

How tragic. How utterly stupid

Tom Degan
Goshen, New York
CONTEMPTIBLE

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Apart from addiction to alcohol, gambling, and sex, which are equal opportunity addictors, there is a deeper addiction perpetrated by our society - the addiction to arousal that's programmed into boys and shows up in men.

It's a big part of the masculinization of boys in our culture....this focus on penile stimulation that starts with the "circle jerk" in early adolescence and ends up as a way to reduce stress, which may be what earlier posters inferred about Eliot Spitzer's busy job.

Among males, "scoring" is seen as a way to gain status with peers and feel like a man. It's not about the woman or girl.

Arousal gets sold through women and girls. Look at the ads for everything from chain saws to beer. They have parts of women, the breasts, the legs, the crotch. It's not about the woman or girl.

And our consumer culture feeds this addiction every time it sells media time with "crucifixion" stories like this one. Let the man take his punishment from the women in his clan and leave space in the news for the destruction of our civil rights and economic future.

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Granted he was wrong and it might cost him his marriage. That's up to his wife. But the government bugged his phone. If anyone can prove it was wrong, it's Spitzer. High priced prostitution rings are all round the world. I thought phone tapping was about terrorists. Given the opportunity Spitzer just might be able to prove a point here that would benefit everyone. He's a brilliant guy, knows he was wrong, but wouldn't it be nice if he won a round against Bush? Thanks, ANNA

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People in Europe must be laughing their butss off about this. Everyone except the closet queens in dresses at the Vatican (Pope Benedict their leader) knows that a politician's life is his own business. If he's not using public funds to pay for his indiscretions, then they are his. But we still have to make our politicians into movie stars of the 30s era, when Loretta Young had a baby with Clark Gable and no one could know about it. Eliot Spitzer is a brilliant human being, and the mean little shits of the world are now going to crucify him because he can't keep his pants zipper down. I'm sure that Pataki, his predecessor, had no problems with this, and we had 12 years of total mediocrity with that Republican ass.

Perry Brass, Bronx, NY

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Prostitution, drugs, and gambling should be legalized, regulated, and taxed. Spitzer's major crime is hypocrisy: if he hadn't 'busted' a prostitution ring in 2004 he wouldn't be guilty even of that.

Although some prostitutes are trafficked, the ones who make big bucks are volunteers. Regulating and licensing and inspecting prostitutes would eliminate trafficking, and protect the volunteers.

Meanwhile hypocrisy in public office should be punished by death (as long as there is a death penalty) or life at hard labor. In Spitzer's case there might even be DNA evidence!

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I have to say, I think we need to look at prostitution as none of the public's business unless public money is used. In this case in particular, I would like to know how many prostitutes, pimps, and pot smokers this man has locked up. If he did, then welcome to the gallows you built and enforced. If others are doing time and we are not going to open up the prison doors and free and reimburse the poor then my vote is justice demands the rich and powerful get the same treatment.

I hope we just come to our senses, open up the prison doors, and change these obsolete laws. Until then, how about the prosecuters stop enforcing the law. Oh well another rich hypocirte, if he prosecuted others for the same offense, gets the other side of the sword he once wielded. Too bad!

However, he will get off, rat out the owners of the Emperor's Club, resign, and write his memeoirs and make millions. He will probably go on the speaking circuit and tell us how we need to continue to prosecute these offenders.

Too funny!

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To achieve the success to be able to join the Emperor’s club, to be able to fork over that much money is way beyond sex. “I’m bad, I’m bad” it is about attitude. To be able to have what every man dreams of as a matter of conveyance, now that’s bad. Having said that, the SOB needs to be put in jail for busting us low life $100 hooker people.

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Most of us break laws on a regular basis. How many of you reading this did not exceed the speed limit at least once during the last week? How many of you exceeded the speed limit just about every time you went anywhere? How many of you tested yourselves before you drove home from the local pub to make absolutely certain that you didn't exceed the ridiculous satandard of 0.008? How many of you jaywalked during thelast week? Parked illegally-just for a minute? Recently checked all the tons of paperwork legally required to be up to date? How many of you do a bit of spurious accounting when you file your tax returns? I won't even ask how many of you decided a long time ago or yesterday that the drug laws don't count.

All of this is so silly. Spitzer is what used to be called an educated fool. And, of course, a hypocrit, which is to say a government official, terms which have become all but synonomous. He got caught committing a "crime" that is committed thousands of times a day in America. In fact, he got caught committing a "crime" that many do not view as a crime, like many do not view illegal drug use as a cirme. My take is this, however, all the prurient moralizing aside: if it had been you who had been caught doing something "against the law," would he have cut you any slack?

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Sptzer's all about power and control, and everyone is allowing him to continue in that effort. He likely won't suffer much in terms of consequences for his actions because of the purity of them.

Prosecuting hookers and prostitutes? Power and control. Sitting in a leather upholstered chair in a beautiful room while a gorgeous woman slurps on his wanker? Power and control. There's no inconsistency there at all, and the only reason anyone might hypothesize that there is, is because they bought into his phony crap about morality. Or more likely, their own.

You can ramble on about money and politics and what's right and wrong about it all until you're blue in the face, and it don't mean shit.

I'm just fascinated by people who can create this kind of human experience for themselves during the course of their time here on planet earth. Apparently a lot of people are. I wonder if he was at least polite enough to sit on a towel so he didn't stain that leather chair.

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spitzer was a great public servant, brought down by what, in europe, would be considered laughable.

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This event adds greatly to the world's respect for the US and greatly aids the conflict against therrorists. It is a clear example of the importance of wiretapping. We need chastity belts for all our politicians, locked each morning by their wives when they leave for work.

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I was SO disappointed to hear about this. Elliot was one politician I had some faith in. Turns out he's just another horny hypocrite. Damn!

I think prostitution should be legal. I do not care where he puts his woo-woo, what I can about is his hypocrisy and his being stupid enough to get caught. He knew better. Apparently, he blatantly used text messaging and email to communicate with his "dates". The same modes of communication that he used to prosecute cases like this.

Just like Bill Clinton, Eliot has allowed the other side to win by being a horny jerk.

VideoProductionTips = Learn Internet Video

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This event adds greatly to the world's respect for the US and greatly aids the conflict against therrorists. It is a clear example of the importance of wiretapping. We need chastity belts for all our politicians, locked each morning by their wives when they leave for work.

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Not that Spitzer didn't set himself up, but this has all the earmarks of a classic "Honey trap". It is eerily similar to the one that brought down former NJ governor McGreevey, and will likewise be successful in its objective. There is a lot more to this story than meets the eye.

Most amazing to me is that Spitzer was willing to drop $4K on a woman he apparently had never seen before, according to the case papers displayed on TheSmokingGun.com. Don't you get to pick the one you want at those prices?

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During the trial of Republican Rep Cunningham, the FBI was investigating a weekly poker game
that they believed involved prostituton. Never heard any more about that, but along comes a
Democrat. You might all want to take a look
at this story on Harpers......The Spitzer Sex Sting: A Few More Questions -http://harpers.org/archive/2008/03/hbc-90002589

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Goverrnor Spitzer has no reason to resign and I hope he doesn't. Sex with a consenting adult is NOT (or should not be)a crime, whether state lines are involved or not! His wife might have reason to kick him out or even divorce him, but NOT the state of New York. Surveys tell us that at lesat 50% of the people who voted for him (men AND women) have had, or are having, extra-marital affairs. It is human nature.

If Bill Clinton can do it in the oval office of the white house for FREE with an amateur, why the double-standard, just because Spitzer is dumb enough to pay $4800 for an hour with a pro.

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One standard for him, another for the rest of us.

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You don't go after the big boys like Spitzer did without suffering a little blowback (pardon the pun). I'm surprised he made it this long and far.

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Spitzer is an attorney and he knows that he broke the law. He's the governor of New York and the former Attorney General of New York and is a very public figure. Public figures are held to higher standards of conduct than regular citizens. He should in good conscience resign. I admired him for taking on corruption and I'm sure that he made a lot of powerful enemies. Regarding the prostitution charge, I think that prostitution should be legalized, for the protection of the sex workers and the clients. I don't care what a politician does in his/her personal sex life as long as the others involved willingly engaged with him or her. Was this a legal wiretap? I don't know. Law enforcement does use wiretaps to catch people engaging in law breaking behavior. Spitzer should have used his common sense and stayed within the law. As a public leader and an attorney he is supposed to uphold the law whether he agrees with it or not. This is such a shame. We the people lose a crusader because he needed that sexual excitement and acted illegally to obtain it.

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A lifetime of crafting the right, squeaky-clean image, living the so-called good life, complete with a well-paid job, a wife and children, all practically gone because he wasn't satisfied sexually.
Some men don't know how good they have it, sometimes. A woman who gave him three beautiful girls and who stood by his side has become undone. He's no Clinton.
We men have to be careful. This is about US guys. We have these positions of power and we use it wisely and misuse it.
Then, of course, is the larger issue of prostitution, whether it should be legalized. It seems to affect us all directly involved with it.
But when you have a family, we must ask ourselves is it worth the risk. Some may say it might be okay to hook up with another-maybe ONLY once, but couples must talk things through. If so, then this kind of behavior could be tolerated. Only in America.

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Please, folks, let us float back to the reality plane. These ladies would have to be classified as "sex entrepeneurs." At $1000, $2000, $3000, $4000, and $5000 an hour are we really taliking about the proletariat of the hooker class? Even at the discount rate of $31,000 for a day, these ladies, who were having scheduling conflicts with modeling dates during the day, are not your average streetwalking 'ho. All of which brings to mind several questions:

How much does the Governor of New York earn?

The NYT reported that the Feds had monitored 5,000 calls. That's a lot of folks, who by definition must belong to a very, very exclusive club, a club confined to those who can afford to pay that kind of money just to get laid. Who are these people? I have a feeling that if the names were known, or released, they would be quite familiar to, say, the readers of Forbes magazine or the Wall Street Journal.

Of the five thousand calls the Feds listened in on, Eliot Spitzer is the only perp that could be identified, and that despite Spitzer's code-talking messages?

From where did this investigation originate? Was it the Gonzalez or Mukasey DOJ? Has a selective filter been applied to those caught in a net cast for a specific species?

Evidently, the Federal government feels that prostitution is as much a danger to the American way of life as is terrorism. The efort expended here seems monumental. How many agents for how long were tied up in looking for al Qaida in case any of them got really horny? Since we can't find bin Laden in Pakistan, we might as well look for him in brothels, eh?

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So what....another trick bites the dust. Another unattractive man having to pay for it. The pisser is that his three daughters and his wife will suffer more for his transgressions then he will. I ask you, was the wife's face not the face of heart break? That womyn is going to deal with "what people think" of her until she gets some serious therapy. The reflection on her that she didn't "satisfy" numbnuts will devastate her femininity, womyn-spirit and personhood. Her daughters will have some trust issues about men at a depth that only hookers are privy to. We feminists can't save them all, but we'd better! When there's such amusement that $4300 was paid, which is more than an attorney can make, there should be no discussion of "comparable worth." I'm sure "Kristin" earned every damn cent!

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We thought the Governor set this up to show what this administration's wire taping was really about?

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mono a mono: What a typical rich schmuck, Spitzer is, even more so because of his own "bent" of personality. This seems like it's just exploitation of others by rich people because they have money. Makes me detest them all the more.

crimes and the Mann Act?! Oh puhleeze. The author needs a history lesson, or a lesson in how to do basic research. PBS has a whole thing on the Mann Act as it was used against Jack Johnson, even Wikipedia has basic nuts and bolts about the act. Harper's and the Nation have better coverage. Come on Alternets!

Anyone with a rudimentary eddication in class, race, gender and peoples' history knows the Mann Act is a product of racism, sex-prudery, sexism and prohibitionism. It was used to hammer away at artists and African Americans. For a progressive of Lefty to write an article hammering Spitzer on the basis of the Mann Act is even more stoopid than Spitzer's folly.

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Federal wiretap used to take down a Democratic governor. . .how odd when the amount of money involved was miniscule.

It makes you wonder if all of the illegal wiretapping that's been going on for years isn't designed to help the GOP accomplish its goal of one party rule. . .maybe this explains why Dems consistently capitulate to their Republican colleagues.

I'm not condoning Spitzer's behavior, but I do think I'm going to do a little more digging on the firing of certain U.S. attorneys. Hmmmmmm. . .

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Alternet, Huffington Post, stop covering this dumb story.

I did not read it at all, I just posted this comment in the hopes that the Democrats won't shoot themselves in the foot and make a mountain out of a molehill and do the Republicans job for them.

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Women have babies.
Men have war.

Women go shopping.
Men go to brothels.

Women have their hair done.
Men have porn.

Women love getting flowers.
Men love getting blow jobs.

Any questions?

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America has the highest know incarceration rate in the world, almost twice as high as Cuba which has a real problem with assassins. It also has the worlds largest number of people in prison, hundreds of thousands who are there for victimless crimes. Many posters have said the gov should get it because he broke the law. It the law is an ass you are going to put a lot of good people in jail and shoot yourself in the foot at the same time. To the tune of about $50 billion last year.

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He He He

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Sarkozy did it, so did many other European politicos. Thanks to the illegal telephone tapping policy they got their prey. If he used his own money for a bit of hooking, what is the big deal? Afterall that should be a private matter between him and his wife. Apparently God did not tell him what to do, as he does to Curius George with the doubtful past. Will it change the erection, sorry I meant election, outcome? I dont think so!

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New York Governor Spitzer is innocent because E.A. Blayre III is Client #9. Seriously though, all politicians are prostitutes. It is natural for them to be drawn to their own kind. Party makes no difference. The Democrats willingly went along with the War in Iraq, suspension of Habeas Corpus, banning books like America Deceived (book) from Amazon, warrant-less wiretapping and the Patriot Act. They are all prostitutes. New Yorkers, enjoy you astronomical taxes to pay for Eliot's rough, unprotected sex.

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Yep ! 2 WORDS came to mind when I heard this: Federal Wiretap. Okay, of course Spitzer can no longer be effective and should do what Republican senators David Vitter (soliciting prostitutes) and Larry Craig (soliciting an undercover officer for gay sex) didn't have the decency to do --- Resign. HOWEVER -- put this together with Keith Olbermann's report on all those amazing "coincidences" during the 2004 campaign (and beyond) when the Bush administration kept issuing Terror Alerts right before either 1) the Kerry campaign was about to have some big media event or 2) bad news about Bush or another Republican was about to be reported -- or how about all those tiny little anti-war protest groups that kept getting picked up by the FBI and whisked away just as Bush was about to give a campaign speech ? Get the picture ? Bush "needs" those telecom companies to eavesdrop on phone conversations because these are the kinds of "critical tools" that are necessary for Republicans to keep winning elections. Didn't W. say "if you wanna "win the War on (Democrats), you've got to use all the tools at yer disposal"? SOMETHING like that............and did ya notice how nobody found out about Republican senator David Vitter soliciting prostitutes until years after he stopped seeing them ? Bush's justice department didn't go after him. And nobody found out about Larry Craig until after he'd already settled his case in court. Congressional Democrats -- as Steve Martin used to say "You are so Nah-eeve." This is what W's wiretapping program is all about. And remember what Bush press secretary Dana Perino just said last week: the staff at the White House will do "whatever is asked of us" to help the McCain campaign. --- ORFF...........Oh, and by the way, How many more years before somebody in the press Finally outs South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham as gay ? It's OBVIOUS ! (and if he has a wife and kids, I apologize, but I've never heard a thing about them)

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I mean, unless the issue is that he used New Yorker's money to pay for his tricks, this is not a public issue. It really is naive and silly to believe politicians are above "all that." Like Clinton's b/j distracting from bombing Kosovo, this is just another ruse to distract from: Iraq, the recession, domestic spying, shallow elections, etc.

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Spitzer is not likely an alcholic, but a sex addict, like Bill Clinton. This is a true addiction and it means that his life has (obviously) become unmanageable because he cannot control the addiction. The addiction is ruling him. This brings out the fact and reminder of Bill Clinton's behavior and the obvious fact that Hillary is a codependent to a (non-recovered as far as I know) addict. This is not a good type of person to have as president,as we know from soon-to-be 8 years of another non-recovered addict as president in the person of George Bush. Perhaps instead of making prostitution legal we,as a country, can examine the many addictions which abound here and treat them, instead of demonizing them. Elliot Spitzer needs treatment and a woman president would not solve all our problems if she denies addictions,too.

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It was not a public issue when John F. Kennedy was president. It was not a public issue when Lyndon Johnson was president. Nixon did not have sex. He had bombs instead. Ford and Carter had their wives and that apparently was enough. I seriously do not know what would have happened in Reagan's case, but I also doubt he could get it up anymore, so the question is probably moot, though it wasn't moot when he was a second rate movie star and cheated on his then wife, Jane Wyman. Barbara Bush would have ripped George's nuts off with her bare hands if he had dared to embarrass her. Then along came (literally) Clinton-well, really Gary Hart was the first to be publicly crucified for infidelity. And since that time it has been one happy sleigh ride, now hasn't it?

Problem for Spitzer, besides the strain of 16th century puritanism that still revives itself every fifty years or so in America, is what he did also happens to be against the law, the law he is sworn to uphold, the law he has in the past enforced against "other" people. The British have a great term for this kind of dilemma--"a bit of a sticky wicket."

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Oh, man, c'mon with that sex addict stuff. Do you honestly believe that crap? Who isn't "habituated" to sex? Sex is goddam great, probably the greatest thing on earth. It feels wonderful, it can build up one's self-esteem-not sex for money, though, unless it's more about the money than the sex-massage one's ego.

Spitzer is 48 years old, and who I think has been married to the same woman for a long time, a high profile woman, stressed out, very busy, etc., just as he is, so the chance to jump into the club with the big boys, the high rollers who tip barmaids a hundred dollars, who play blackjack at the $500 dollar minimum tables (do you have any idea how much money you can lose at one of those tables in fifteen minutes?), and get a little sexual fantasy with no emotional strings-and therefore no guilt. Maybe he loves his wife but for whatever reason the sex has gone south. He could have an affair, but that implies emotional connection of some level-or manipulation. So he goes the hooker route. Do you know how many guys do not view hooker sex as cheating on their wives?

But sex addiction? C'mon, man, it's the same old middle-aged story. It's called I am not going to live forever. My old lady never sucks my dick anymore. I am bored. Jesus, I am so goddam horny! Only hooker sex is illegal, which in Spitzer's case of getting caught doing it is a much bigger problem than dealing with any so-called addiction.

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On PLEASE not another sex scandal on the front page
distracting us from what is really important! What a person does with their body is their own business. What a ridiculous waste of time!

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So let's get this straight. Eliot Spitzer graduated from Horace MANN high school in Riverdale, New York and now the talk is about the violation of the James MANN act. Wonder if there could be some kind of confusion. Also, his defense might be: "It wasn't a MAN it was a woman". (Just wanted to add a bit of levity to this tawdry story).

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If the moron Spitzer had done what he could to expose the truth about 9/11, instead of going along with it and aiding in the coverup, maybe he would have found himself a woman or two who would have done him for free!

By the way this is yet another example of how draconian laws meant to protect the country from terrorism are being used to spy on americans and bust them (or blackmail them) over petty crimes.

Meanwhile, how much has Dyncorp been punished for running child sex rings?

How much has Monsanto been fined for permanently poisoning our food supply with genetically modified garbage?

How many people have been arrested for dumping flouride in the drinking water?

How many people have been arrested for putting mercury in the vaccines?

bla bla bla. We are truly a nation of utter morons. Beware of Karma. It's coming for all of us.

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Yes, prostitution should be legal, and I have a small bit of sympathy for people who get busting doing something that should be legal. But only a small bit.

Let's not forget that prostitution is illegal, and generally run by thugs and lowlifes (and yes, if it were legal, this wouldn't be the case...but that's beside the point). Spitzer could have easily become prey to extortion or other threats. Our elected leaders should not be involved with any criminal element in such an, er, intimate manner.

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So, one politician spends $5000 on a hooker, and another spends a trillion on the war in Iraq.

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Changing because you were caught doesn't make you honest.
Changing because you were forced to confess, and now live under watchful eyes, doesn't make you fixed.

Change because you can no longer live with being who you are...
and change alone.

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Our Country is being turned into a fascist oligarchy in front of our eyes
The World is on the brink of ecological catastrophy
The profiteers of wars are preparing new "deals" in bright daylight
Trillionaires are building armored enclaves all over the world
Oil is at record prices and running out
The Right is throwing smear tactics at the most progressive candidate
Our president publicly acknowledges his support of torture
Your rights and privacy continue to be taken away and the perpetrators are retroactively authorized or pardoned
AND WE ARE WASTING PRECIOUS TIME AND ATTENTION ON THE GOVERNOR'S RENDESVOUZ WITH HOOKERS?
C'MON! NO WONDER THINGS HAVE COME TO THIS!

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Maybe Eliot was doing infiltration work to
find out who were clients #8 and #10?

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In the information age, why should the customer be prosecuted for nailing someone who came from another state to do him. Just because he gave her money??

As everyone knows, we give them money for the right to tell them when to leave.

However, as a citizen who witnesses prosecutorial excess and ruination of peoples lives on perhaps a weekly basis, I have to turn to my evil side and gloat at just revenge. May he be fucked harder than he ever had it with one of his hotties.

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Boy it sure is a good thing that the NSA is looking after our security by listening to our calls. Why this just demonstrates how effective the warrant less wire tapping program is. Without it our very lives may have been in dangered by this lust terrorist of a Governor who imported the weapon of domestic distruction right into our nation's financial heartland. But what the other lust terrorist who were not reviled - be afraid. Be very afraid.

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Powerlusting politicians also lust after sex.So what else is new?

It's the same psychodynamic drive for power added to- or fueled by- a testosterone dominated physiology that has toppled the mighty since antiquity?

Some say we should just accept that as the reality of the powerful? I hope not though.

It may be "human" but it is not moral or ethical. Hopefully we are still evolving?

Dr.Rick Lippin
Southampton,Pa

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Governor Spitzer(Dem) is accused of being using a prostitution ring and availing himself of the services of a prostitute. He resigned.

On the other hand,Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho.) is still in Congress, still doing his work and still fighting to overturn his guilty plea for soliciting gay sex in an airport washroom.

Why the double standard?

Why is it that when Republicans become involved in sex scandals, it's usually over gay sex. At least Governor Spitzer likes the opposite sex!!!

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Marriage is an invention seeking a good mechanic.

The EMPIRE will issue you GREEN PAPER to allow the OBEDIENT SLAVES to OWN a shelter.
The EMPIRE will issue you WHITE PAPER to allow the OBEDIENT SLAVES to OWN a spouse.
ALL other forms of Human Contact are Forbidden and punishable by an eternity in a flaming ''hell''.
.
While you are struggling to keep this INSANITY GOING, the EMPIRE will be raising your kids to become obedient slaves to the same evil empire that ruined your life.

A Chained Dog is a Mean Dog... good for a military economy based on competition... dog fighting dog.

When you forbid and outlaw NORMAL HUMAN CONTACT then you CREATE an endless variety of Abnormal Human Contacts.

Don't blame the Human for Being a HUMAN.
You only live ONCE.

Marriage is the EVIL SIN that DIVIDES Humanity from ITSELF and FORCES Humanity to live in FEAR of losing that ONE, and ONLY ONE, that you were given PERMISSION to OWN.
.
Marriage was invented by SATAN to control it's population of crusading slaves, willing to murder their own brothers and sisters for ''god and country''.

IE: Junk Yard Dogs.

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Makes one wonder why these prostitutes were so expensive. Were their butts painted gold? What made the girls so special? Just looking at some of the so called 'models' makes me wonder why they were worth $4300 an hour. What is the difference between the run of the mill $100 gal and the $4300 gal? Does anyone know?

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Suddenly the barrage of images and articles analyzing in extreme detail the debacle between the two Democratic front runners is kicked almost out of sight by the Spitzer sex scandal. The story, however, is not even about sex although that is what attracted our attention. This is about our own bewilderment.
---------------------------
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If you are going to brace Mr Greed, beware of the honey trap. Mr Spitzer found that out. If you are going to get in the way of the Project for the New American Century, beware of the honey trap. Bill Clinton found that out. If you are going to offend a bunch of racist fascists, beware of the honey trap. Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser found that out when he ran an international campaign against South Africa's Boer regime in the 1980s and a prostitute embarrassingly stole his trousers in a Memphis motel.

John Kennedy couldn't be caught in a honey trap because his adventures were well known and today's Calvinist revolution was not in its stride then. So they shot him instead.

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Spitzer hawked the financial institutions and Wall street. These folks are out of control, and use an ever-increasingly opaque and obscure economic system for their own personal benefit, at the expense of the inexperienced, unthinking masses.

Anybody can say what they please, but they are ONLY attacked when the start showing some effectiveness. There is no limit to where these folks will go to knock out anyone effective enough in curbing their unassailable fortresses.

Using Spitzer's use of prostitution is just another smoke screen to cloud the real issue. The motto is, make people watch and focus on this "scandal" and they will not pay attention to the real issues.

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Word is Spitzer was going after LARRY SILVERSTEIN, a BUSH cohort who bought WTC just before 911, and profited hugely from its DESTRUCTION and Spitzer was goin' after the CARLYLE GROUP, and goin' after WALL STREET, and was after BEAR STEARNS and lo and behold, the whole bunch of em all crash down on the same day. IF I WORKED ON WALL STREET? I would NEVER use the word BEAR in the NAME OF my FIRM! No wonder it was first Wall Street firm to bite the dust. BEAR MARKET means heading toward a DEPRESSION. Back to subject: I hear Spitzer was going after Bear Stearns,(BS ANOTHER set of initials I wouldn't use on wall street) For this reason he became an ENEMY OF THE STATE & Bush/ Carlyle SET HIM UP .....see:
http://www.masterjules.net/spitzercide.htm
and http://www.masterjules.net/enronwebpage.htm

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Already our favorite Dogs and favorite Cats are spayed and neutered into extinction...
... people are next.

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