" Gov. Eliot Spitzer's scandal may have involved prostitution, but your question of the week seems to attempt a diversion from what's really going on. This situation is about a man who has political enemies that he went after and ruined their lives as Attorney General of New York for nothing, just meaningless nonsense in order to "get them". He is a Niphong wannabe, and this is all abut payback for his complete lack of integrity. You can thank Bill Clinton for setting the standard for a lack of character. Character, by the way, is how you act when no one is watching. This guy is diabolical. Client nuber 9 used the aka of George Fox, a personal friend of Gov. Eliot Spitzer and a doner to his campaign. So he not only did the deed to the prostitutes, he did the deed to his friend. What a jerk. "

" Alcoholic beverages are legal but we still have drunk drivers. Why just punish to user when the source is the problem. "

" This is an easy one, did they break a law? If so of course they should be prosecuted if no of course they should not be prosecuted. I'm confused on why any one would ask if you should be prosecuted when you break a law???

Amy "

" Do the crime, you pay the time!
While you are doing your time, with your ex wife, or incarcerated, don't forget to read Dr. Laura Schlessingers book on "The care and feeding of your husband". "

" So much for the Democrats campaign to depict the Republicans as the "culture of corruption"... "

" At least he didn't try to re-invent the definition of "having sex" the way Bill Clinton did, remember? I have to give it to Gov. Spitzer for resigning before causing a bigger scandal. Now I wonder if his wife will file for divorce or stick by her man and try to run for president on 2016...I wonder. "

" What I find amusing is that the Honorable Mayor Spitzer lead the cause of Prostitution and the use of it as a crime when he was AG in New York.

By the way, Spitzer is a democrat. It would be no secret if he had been a republican. Democrats seem to believe they can live by a different standard; a lower standard.

It is altogether appropriate that Billy Blythe is on the home page video. "

" Prostitution is legal in Germany (I think in Holland and Finland as well, but I know for a fact it is in Germany). Prostitutes are required to submit to weekly medical examinations at their expense, and their income is taxed just like everyone else. There is no major problem with gangs controlling the trade, since it is all above board. We all have our vices, some are just more blatant than others. If you drink any kind of alcohol, you have a vice. If you smoke tobacco, you have a vice. During prohibition, the likes of Al Capone and others built their empires on prostitution and illegal liquor. When prohibition was repealed, some of that rug was pulled from underneath these clowns. But we still don’t get it. Making a vice illegal does not make it go away. It just forces the issue underground and into the shadows where the criminal element dwells. Make these things legal and regulate them in a reasonable manner, and you take lucrative revenue sources out of the hands of gangs and pimps. Should Johns be prosecuted, if someone is breaking the law, they should be prosecuted. The problem is that the law is out of touch with reality in many cases. "

" All of these wives of politicians make me sick. I feel for them on one hand, standing there being embarassed in front of the country. When will one of these women step up and say "My husband is a cheater,liar, and two-faced"...

Wait, if that happened most politicians would be divorced.... "

" Skip, Denmark is re-thinking their liberal laws regarding prostitution and drugs. They don't like the resulting decay it is producing in their society... "

" Prostitution itself should not be a crime.

Pimping, *forcing* women (and men) into prostitution, slavery, and drug addictions SHOULD be a crime, with heavy penalties.

In Venice of old, some of the most brilliant, powerful people were the Courtesans.

If a *John* isnt buying underage, slavish, or sadistic privledge, and both parties are fully consensual, then it should NOT be a crime, but if he is looking for the above.. well, hang him/her high.


"

" This is not about prostitution....

Many in the media refer to Eliot Spitzer as some moral hero who fell from grace. Spitzer was never a moral hero. He was an unscrupulous prosecutor who threw his power around to ruin people, even when he didn't have any case with which to convict them of anything.

Because he was using his overbearing power against businesses, the anti-business left idolized him, just as they idolized Ralph Nader before him as some sort of secular saint because he attacked General Motors.

What Eliot Spitzer did was not out of character. It was completely in character for someone with the hubris that comes with the ability to misuse his power to make or break innocent people.

After John Whitehead, former head of Goldman Sachs, wrote an op-ed column in the Wall Street Journal, criticizing Attorney General Spitzer's handling of a case involving Maurice Greenberg, Spitzer was quoted by Whitehead as saying: "I will be coming after you. You will pay the price. This is only the beginning and you will pay dearly for what you have done."

When you start thinking of yourself as a little tin god, able to throw your weight around to bully people into silence, it is a sign of a sense of being exempt from the laws and social rules that apply to other people. "

" Consensual sex acts done in privacy should not be a crime. It may be immoral and improper, especially for someone married to another, but that is a different baileywick. "

" I agree with 4GNapan, and I might add that we have a shameful problem of child prostitution in our country. But I'm always amazed at the folks who believe that legalizing vices will sanitize them, or make them less of a problem--it doesn't. Legalized vices have to be regulated, and there is always a black market for non-legalized, unregulated vice. And as the Spitzer case illustrates, politicians and regulators are involved in getting their grubby little hands dirty, either by being involved in illegal activities, or taking cuts of the profits--not all of which go directly to the person providing the services. Who would profit from legalized prostitution? Who suffers--whether by disease or low esteem? In theory I have no problem with consenting adults exchanging money for services, but in fact, it's a dangerous business. "

" The term "hooker' came from a Civil War Commander whose name was Hooker. He paid prostitutes to follow his troops so they could get some release. Guess it wasn't illegal back then.

To those of you trying to make this a political issue it is not. It clearly crosses all political lines. Remember the guy in the airport bathroom; a rebublican? It is always easier to point fingers than it is to talk about the issues.
"

" Yes. "

" I agree that money in exchange for *any* service between consenting adults should not be against the law. As long as no obvious danger is presented. A private transaction by free choice is the business of only those involved. "

" In this nation there exists a double standard. It always leaves the women involved in the loser position too. Why not prosecute the johns? Without their patronage there would be no prostitution operations. I equate this to the fossil fuel product pricing. Find another energy source for our vehicle and the gas pricing issues become a moot point. No demand, no market, no business. "

" It would appear that Mr. Spitzer is attempting to compensate for his feelings of inadequacy. That, and he had it coming all along, they call it karma baby. Sounds like he could have been set up by some of his many enemies but this incident and the latest judge bribing case demonstrates the corrupt nature of the system. It is merely more evidence of injustice within a government where the president and the judges he appoints never take the proper oath required to assure liberty and justice to the people. Spitzer is an example of what NOT to do as a federal government employee that has his eye on power. He got a little too cocky... "

" Democrat or Republican, they ALL stink and should be thrown out of office. Let's start over with some average Americans running the show.... "

" To musikluvr...once again. HUH??? "

" In the town where I grew up there was a house of prostitution on a Clinton Street run by the notorious madame - May Howard. Eighteen miles north of there was still another house of prostitution at Stone Bridge on the Silverado Trail run by the notorious madame Penny Parker.
Never having been in either place, I only know what I heard back then. To my knowledge, no one was ever busted for any activity that went on in either establishment (except for that time when May Howard was raped). Otherwise, life went on. "

" I am also with most of 4gnapan's opinion. A simple matter of "it's not what you do, it is the way that you do it." Sex will always be for sale, it is a valuable commodity. BUT if the sellers are liable, then why not the buyers? Why would they be found 'innocent?' "