BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment

Subject: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Voice Of Truth
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 04:56 PM

Eliot Spitzer, the self avowed defender of truth and justice, was initally nicknamed "Eliot Ness" when he first took office of Governor of New York State. As Attorney General he had a reputation, well earned it seemed at the time, of going after corrupt businesses and defending the common populace against exploitation by the higher powers. He has just admitted to being involved with a ring of prostitutes, call girls to the 'elite' who commanded approximately $5,000 an hour!!!! (It is hard to say which is more distressing, that the man who was supposed to clean up New York had to resort to this dirty little business, or that he was actually spending these outrageous sums!

This is not the first transgression or disappointment from the once super squeakly clean Spitzer. It seemed the minute he hit office, his more vindictive nature came to the fore, and more time was spent in preposterous suggestions and vicious attacks on his rivals than on doing anything for his citizens. This is the guy who was supposed to clean up Albany and balance the budget (by oft stringent proposals- many New Yorkers do not realize that there is a propoasal being floated right now to CUT OFF THE FUNDING for the SENIOR CENTERS that give MEALS to SENIORS and close the centers, these centers were created as a haven for seniors on a fixed income when it was discovered in the 70's many older citizens were eating cat food , which is all they could afford on their spartan budget.)

As I have said, it is only the test of time that can really reveal a person's character. It is an abysmal disappointment to many that Spitzer has, in one scant year, revealed himself at best to be a hypocritical clunker,and at worst, a scoundrel.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 04:58 PM

He was happily willing to throw law and order out the window when he wanted to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 05:08 PM

Which proves a historical truism---never trust the zealots. ALways holier than thou while they stand on their clay feet. He now joins the ranks of the likes of J Edgar Hoover and all those pious religious figures in all faiths who break their own faith's codes of conduct many times.

One bright thing though---Spitzer really wears nice suits.   Hoover's dresses were really tacky.

Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: irishenglish
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 05:14 PM

What a shame, I had such high hopes for him. Worst thing you could say about Corzine is that he didn't wear a seatbelt. I fear this may only be the beginning of some nasty stuff to come out.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: John O'L
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 05:39 PM

$5,000 an hour? I can't even begin to imagine what a girl must be able to do to command that kind of fee. New York, New York, eh? So good they named it twice.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 05:49 PM

What? A governor hired a prostitute? ... Is anybody as unshocked by this as I am?

Okay, I don't follow NY State politics too closely - what am I missing here?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 06:07 PM

I agree, the whole thing sounds really stupid. If it had been anyone but Spitzer it wouldn't be news at all.

             The first thing I saw about it was, he was involved in a "prostitution ring," like he was engaged in selling the women. I guess that's the only way they could get you to read the rest of the story.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 06:14 PM

What scandal? The human species is not monogamous, men are programmed to seek out females and have sex with them. Prostitution is a legal business in more civilized countries.

Calgary is only a little larger than 1 million, but the adds offering sex or dominatrix services in the Yellow Pages of the telephone book still take up 7 1/2 pages.

I was amused in Amsterdam by the older couples wandering through the district, joking about the girls. Too old too soon! The city sets the price, except for the high class call girls, who often have regular patrons. In Kiel, city-owned apartment blocks are provided for the girls. The profession should be legal everywhere.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 06:16 PM

Back to Zealots---let us never forget Mayor Giuliani. Holier than thou as he alienated his many families and children.

         Ah--such a list of wonderful people the Broom that will sweep Albany Clean joins---The Bakkers (Spelling?) of Evangelical fame--Jimmy Swaggert-- Mayor James of Newark (awaiting decision on that one)--and many more on this prestigious list. What think you of Torquemada---think he philandered while pillorying so many.

       Frankly---who really cares except for the fact that Spitzer made such a big deal of his "straight-arrowness". Just like Giuliani he hounded people to prison and then showed his own moral failings.

       Perhaps some expert on philosophy can answer the question---why if you are such a preacher of moral values do you disobey your own teaching? Why do you not either live up to your own image---or just shut up?   I know not. Can anyone communicate with Plato or Aristotle to, perhaps, come up with the answer.

Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Greg F.
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 06:22 PM

Shock Horror!

A man using prostitutes, and a politician into the bargain!

Who would ever have believed it.

As said above, anywhere else on earth other than the wildly hypocritical & faux-morality ridden Greatest Country On Earth, no-one would notice & this wouldn't be "news".

The real tragedy here is that this idiotic news frenzy may derail a lot of the good the man was trying to do to help New York State recover from a decade of Republican (mis)rule.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 07:10 PM

Sounds as if he could have helped balance expenditure patterns, with a little more care. Cutting "Senior centres" sounds like good old American capitalism in action. But I regret to say that buying a fuck would probably finish him as a politician in the UK too.

This does NOT mean that I deny that prostitutes are usually victims of circumstance, and usually not able to exercise free choice. But this sounds more like Xaviera Hollander territory.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 07:13 PM

There is no doubt in my mind that if it were Eliot Spitzer (R), Governor of New York, several of you, and some of those yet to post, would be demanding his immediate resignation or impeachment. But being (D) makes it bad, but not so bad.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 07:17 PM

If the lady concerned had been an intern rather than a professional would that have been better or worse?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: meself
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 07:36 PM

And if you can't drop a few grand on a hooker now and then, what exactly is the point of becoming filthy, stinking rich?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 07:45 PM

Only a few grand? Piker!

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 07:47 PM

The reason hotshots pay a premium price for commercial sex is that they're also buying discretion. That $5,000 breaks down to $500 for the actual sex and $4500 for the tacit understanding that the hooker will keep her mouth shut. Anyone can find commercial sex for a "reasonable" price, but if a $200 per hour whore recognizes some famous guy, she'll get way more than $200 from the tabloid press for the story.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 07:52 PM

Hubris? Arrogance? Stupidity? All of the above?

I, too, think prostitution should be legal -- to give sex workers better working conditions and keep crime and abusers out of the system.

I just can't stand hypocracy -- no matter what the party or religious affiliation.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: John O'L
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 08:05 PM

Such a topsy-turvy world. There's me thinking a prostitute was paid to open her mouth, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 08:17 PM

Stupid, hypocritical Democrats deserve to be embarrassed just like Republicans. He will get HIS time in Jay Leno's jokes....just like Bill Clinton has had for 6 years.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 08:25 PM

I am not an attorney but I have to question how bright SPitzer is. Forget all that hypocrisy, arrogance, and zealotry and ask why a prostitute flew from NY to DC (across state lines) instead of visiting a local call girl. Not being an attorney, as said, does that not put the sanctimonious governer in jeopardy under the Mann Act.

He probably was only doing his bit for NY by not outsourcing the work to DC hookers. He truly represents his home state. What a guy!

Bill Hahn

Subject: Lyr Add: THE ELIOT SPITZER TALKING BLUES
From: Peace
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 08:30 PM

This is too good NOT to post here, also (it's on another thread). Written by Mudcatters Stewart and Deckman, here it is, hot off the press:



The Eliot Spitzer Talking Blues
collaboration by Stewart and Deckman

If you want to get in trouble,
Let me tell you how to do it,
Just become a politician,
Then you're soon to be into it.

Don't run on a plank that's squeaky and clean,
If you can't stay away from a downtown queen,
'Cause people come a-lookin' ..
Causing trouble ... bastards all!
'Cause sooner or later
You'll take that fall
Down on your ass
Without any class.

Feet of clay and brains of hay
You'll soon regret that very day
You thought that you could get away
With what you want
Let the other guy pay.

Take a lesson from Larry
Whose stance was quite scary
In the airport john
He thought he was on
To a little thrill
He fell for the sting.

And now there is Spitzer
It wasn't his sister
He called on the phone
With the FBI list'ner
He got caught on the tap
Well how about that?


Cheers, S. in Seattle
who with Bob had too much time on his hands today

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 08:33 PM

Is that a rugburn, Eliot, or did you fall fast from a great height and get windburn?

You'd think someone in his position would know better. I thought it was a great idea to give illegal aliens drivers' licenses, and I was sorry he backed down. He did a lot of good work, but now, in one fell swoop, everything you say about Spitzer is going to have a sly or sexual innuendo.

Americans take sex way too seriously, and prostitution is one of those areas where some of it victimizes the prostitute but a lot of it is victimless. Serial murderers like the Green River Killer probably wouldn't have had so many to prey on if they hadn't been forced into the fringes to begin with. There are lots of good debates that can go on to do with prostitution. COYOTE has been around for a long time.

With Spitzer, the question is "how in hell does a fellow who made his name as a crime fighter think he's going to get away with participating in an activity that is criminalized in this country?" From several states away I could hear the satisfied "Snort!" as those he has prosecuted picked up the paper and read these headlines.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 08:35 PM

What a difference a month makes...On January 11th riding to Clinton's rescue...

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 08:41 PM

""how in hell does a fellow who made his name as a crime fighter think he's going to get away with participating in an activity that is criminalized in this country?"

Is prostitution as such illegal in the USA? Not that I'd imagine that makes much difference to the political fall out either way.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 08:45 PM

Yes, it is illegal. Isn't it illegal in the UK?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 08:45 PM

From the www:

'"You may have heard that Nevada is the only state in the USA where prostitution is legal. That is correct; but prostitution is not legal everywhere in Nevada, and it is not legal in Las Vegas. That's right! Prostitution is illegal in sin city. It is only legal in certain counties that have chosen to make it legal. Clark County Nevada and its principal city Las Vegas chose to not make prostitution legal. It is also illegal in Henderson, Laughlin and Boulder City.'

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 09:18 PM

Parts of Nevada may be the only places in the U.S. where prostitution is legal, but it's widely tolerated in many cities. The classifieds in some big city newspapers are loaded with ads for escort services and massage parlors, which are just euphymisms for brothels. The only type of prostitute many municipalities try to control is the common streetwalker. As long as it's kept behind closed doors many cities just turn a blind eye.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: kendall
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 09:19 PM

I can't abide a hypocrit.

Comparing him to Elliot Ness is closer to the truth than you might think. Ness was a total screwup, never caught anything but colds, and he died a drunk.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 09:22 PM

Hypocrits, especially the wholier-than-thou sort, generally do get some sort of comeuppance eventually.

What I want to know is, since when did public service jobs start paying well enough for Spitzer to buy those nice suits & expensive hookers?

Hmmmm....

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: number 6
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 09:43 PM

Guest .... Spitzer come from a very, very wealthy family. Inherited wealth probably buys those Brook Bros. suits and pays for 'the girls'.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 11:01 PM

"...since when did public service jobs start paying well enough for Spitzer to buy those nice suits & expensive hookers?"


               Since whoever was running Ronald Reagan tried to destroy America, public employment began to pay much better than real work, because private employees basically lost their right to organize. And, of course, after 1986 huge numbers of illegal aliens were let into the country for the purpose of driving down wages.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Ron Davies
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 11:27 PM

Rig--

Sorry to say that your "illegal alien" mantra really has nothing to do with this issue.

Among other things your criticism of Spitzer for his drivers license proposal, still, mirabile dictu, makes no more sense than it did before Spitzer's revelation about prostitutes. It is still better to have as many drivers have licenses as possible. Among other things, it's a powerful incentive to get insurance.

You can be hit by an uninsured driver, which your attitude makes more likely. But the problem is that your attitude makes it more likely that the rest of us, who disagree with you and your fellow giant intellects --that is, the sensible ones--are also more likely to be hit by an uninsured driver.

If you think that illegal immigrants, deprived of the opportunity for legal licenses, won't drive, you are charmingly naive.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: meself
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 11:35 PM

Better start deputizing the Boy Scouts ...

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Ron Davies
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 11:42 PM

It is interesting, I admit, that Mr. Spitzer is one of Hillary's sterling supporters--and superdelegates. Wonder if this means another one will be slipping away from her. Might be interesting to explore his fundraising for her--if by chance he was as careless with that as with this.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Mar 08 - 11:55 PM

Spitzer's family are successful real estate developers, owning at least one high rise on Fifth Avenue (where he usually lives, spending little time in the Governor's mansion in Albany). He also has a farm property upstate.
He is wealthy; his salary is pocket change.
This has nothin to do with the hypocrites howling round his door about something that is his private concern.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 01:28 AM

Now why am I NOT surprised that Ron Davies is intrigued by this development?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 01:30 AM

I don't know. Maybe he's into prostitutes.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 06:19 AM

>I>Yes, it is illegal. Isn't it illegal in the UK?

No, and never has been. Various stuff do do with prostitution is illegal - for example brothels, pimping, touting for trade in the street ("soliciting") and kerb-crawling by would-be customers. But the actual transaction isn't illegal on either side.

There's some talk about changing this set up - one possibility would be stuff like licensing brothels, another would be to keep the law as it is generally, but to make it a criminal offence for the customers.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:19 AM

This whole illegal immigrant driving thing is madness. They should be licensed, and every state should have an insurance pool to cover their driving mistakes.

We've just had a very tragic one here in MN. Apparently, there were two illegal immigrants in a car that ran a stop sign, slammed into a school bus, and killed four kids. The driver was drunk, and fled the scene, leaving his also drunk girlfriend on the scene. Neither of them was hurt badly, apparently.

And this was the morning bus ride to school.

Since it happened, there has been talk of seizing license plates of recidivist drivers who drive after their licenses have been suspended or revoked, who kill and injure a whole lot of people.

I'm far more worried about the latter outlaw group, though anyone driving who shouldn't be, for whatever reason, concerns me.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: SINSULL
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:23 AM

Sheer stupidity and arrogance. And apparently he flew her across state lines which makes his crime a federal offence.

Linn says:
I, too, think prostitution should be legal -- to give sex workers better working conditions and keep crime and abusers out of the system.


I don't know, Linn. $5000 per night plus free air fair sounds pretty good to me. Of course it would mean having to "do" Eliot Spitzer...

But in the back of my mind is a little voice saying "What are they trying to distract me from?" and "Why is this coming out in the middle of the primaries?" Is the other shoe about to drop? Is Obama involved? Is Hillary selling her services? Is McCain using veteran's funds for his ladies of the night?

And does anyone really care that Spitzer is paying to get laid?

GIANT SIGH

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:24 AM

Exactly! Illegal aliens shouldn't be here. Therefore, they shouldn't be driving. Therefore, they shouldn't have driver's licenses.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: SINSULL
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:30 AM

$5000 per hour - please tell me this was not taxpayer's money.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:03 AM

Illegal aliens shouldn't be here. Therefore, they shouldn't be driving. Therefore, they shouldn't have driver's licenses. And therefore they shouldn't be involved in road accidents in which other people are injured... And since this shouldn't happen, of course it wouldn't?

This set me wondering whether there is any compensation from the public purse in the US for victims of crimes? (For example where a driver is uninsured or in a hit-and-run?)

But maybe this is drifting the thread a bit too far.

.......................

From what I've seen it appears that Spitzer isn't getting the same kind of relatively sympathetic support from fellow Democrats as Clinton did when his little secret came out. Is that because this time it involved money changing hands? I'd have thought that would have made it less damaging rather than more.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:05 AM

"Is that because this time it involved money changing hands? I'd have thought that would have made it less damaging rather than more."

The poor guy just told the world he has to pay someone in order to get laid. Jeeze . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:17 AM

"This set me wondering whether there is any compensation from the public purse in the US for victims of crimes? (For example where a driver is uninsured or in a hit-and-run?)"


                That's a good point. The parents should bring a suit against the federal government for not properly patrolling the border.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:54 AM

That would cover all the cases where the drunk or hit-and-run driver was a citizen?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:58 AM

No. If the driver was a citizen, the victim would have to go after Elliot Spitzer.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 11:17 AM

But that query of mine was a real one, even if off-topic. Do you in the States have anything comparable to the Criminal Injuries Compensation we have in the UK?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 11:44 AM

Is anyone but me taken aback at the content of the first post? VoT bemoans Spitzer's fall from grace in the first paragraph but in the second paragraph details far more serious allegations. One would think the second ppg would have led.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 12:35 PM

Ebbie, here is an editorial from the New York Times, March 11, 2008.
Under the new welfare reform law, elderly immigrants are targeted.

"As of April 1, a minimum of 50,000 elderly immigrants in NYC will receive letters stating that they will lose their Supplemental Security Income and food stamps if they fail to learn enough English to pass a citizenship test. Another 20,000 to 30,000 elderly immigrants will have to endure a process to determine eligibility for certain exemptions under the same law."
"Senior centers are the places seniors will run to for help. The centers will be expected to absorb this responsibility with no additional resources for such services as English language and citizenship classes."
This looks to me like more of the ridiculous paranoia regarding immigrants.

I haven't looked to see if Gov. Spitzer has made any comments on the proposed law, or what his stand is.
Perhaps someone, other than hypocritical jackels, will post a reliable article stating his stand.

New York City Housing Authority maintains 138 Senior Centers, mostly overseen by NY Dept. for the Aging, 42 city operated, 96 operated by community associations. They provide entertainment, counceling, and most provide meals daily. I don't know if funding is entirely from the City, or partly State funded. A reliable posting would be appreciated.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F93AA35752C0A961958260

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: pdq
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 12:39 PM

from the first post...

"... his more vindictive nature came to the fore, and more time was spent in preposterous suggestions and vicious attacks on his rivals than on doing anything for his citizens."

Yes, Spitzer is one of the nastiest political attack dogs in the country. Throw the bum out for any reason, just throw him out.

A $5,000 prostitute is going to be offered by organized crime. This makes his ability to deal with such people compromised. As NY's attorney general, he was considered soft on organized crime already.

Throw the bum out of town. Now.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 12:44 PM

Not much, Kevin, we don't. You'll find something in some states. New York City has a fund a friend tapped into to help pay medical bills after he was hit by a bicyclist riding on a sidewalk.

Cross purposes in this thread, like commingling illegal aliens and drunk driving. And Katlaughing wonders why I get on my rhetorical high horse when people inject logical fallacies and straw men into discussions. . .

Social Darwinism and outright bigotry are in high gear here, disguised by flawed arguments to do with the unrelated issues of illegal aliens, drunk drivers, and driver's licenses.

The only reason I give a rat's ass about Spitzer's fall from grace is because he set himself above others and so assiduously pursued and prosecuted lawbreakers. Any kid who knows the zoo joke about taking gulls over the state lion for immoral porpoises knows about the Mann act. It's silly in consenting adult contexts, but it's on the books because it protects victims of predators and kidnapping and the like.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 12:45 PM

McGrath - To my knowledge, there is nothing like the act you describe in the states.


    "As of April 1, a minimum of 50,000 elderly immigrants in NYC will receive letters stating that they will lose their Supplemental Security Income and food stamps..."


                There is nothing in this post to indicate if the people referenced are legally in the country or not. If they are not legally in the country, a lot of tax payers might be wondering why we'd have 50,000 people drawing SSI in New York City.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 12:49 PM

The USA has no Motor Insurers Bureau? Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

THe reason we'd be howling if it were a Republican with his pant down it they take the high moral ground on Christian Values, and underage drinking and underage sex, and homosexuality and etc etc - and then they do it!

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 01:15 PM

Actually, motor vehicles in the US are regulated on a state by state basis. Nothing seems to be universal, including laws. You can make U-Turns in California; you get a ticket for making a U-Turn in Oregon. Oregon has commercial driver's licenses, but if you don't have one and they catch you driving an 80,000 pound truck, you get a warning. In California, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd go to jail. It's like that from state to state all over.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 01:26 PM

I could understand all the cries of 'hypocrisy' if this character's schtick was all about 'family values', but I don't see how someone going after white-colour crime then engaging a prostitute makes him any more of a hypocrite than most of the rest of us ... I mean, if an off-duty cop gets caught speeding, do we call him a hypocrite for trying to jail murderers?

No doubt I'm missing something - as I say, I haven't been following the politics of NY ...

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 01:32 PM

Shock Horror!

A man using prostitutes, and a politician into the bargain!
Who would ever have believed it.
As said above, anywhere else on earth other than the wildly hypocritical & faux-morality ridden Greatest Country On Earth, no-one would notice & this wouldn't be "news".

He was using a State Government slush fund to pay for the whores. That's taxpayer money. There are really no shades of gray in this situation.
Out with him.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 01:35 PM

Oops, sorry. In my haste, I failed to replace the prejudicial term "whores" with the more acceptable "sex workers."

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 02:56 PM

"Used State Government slush fund to pay.." Where is the verification for this allegation that taxpayer money was involved? According to ABC news, payments made from Spitzer's checking account was reported by someone at his bank and this set the whole thing spinning around.

Did the Emperor's Club (the group of call girls involved, headed by Temeka Lewis) have connections with organized crime? The charges are for running an online prostitution service. Charges for money laundering are pending, but seem dubious.

The website (now removed) offered services to clients of women ranked from one diamond ($1000) to seven diamonds ($5500 or more) for one hour. (Spitzer paid $2600 for his appointment at the Mayflower Hotel, paying a total of $4300 to Kirsten (ABC News) so he was not a top spender). This gossip from The Guardian (UK).
From their adv.- "Emperor's Club vip is the most preferred international social introduction service for those accustomed to excellence. Introducing the most impressive models to leading gentlemen of the world is our expertise. We specialize in introductions of fashion models, pageant winners and exquisite students, graduate and women of successful careers (finance, art, media etc.) to gentlemen of exceptional standards. When seeking an evening date, a weekend travel companion, or a friend to accompany you during your next business/social function our nodels are perfect preference. We act for a select group of educated, refined and successful international clients who give their best in all they do, and who, in return, only wish to receive the best." ....
Sounds like an offer of heaven to me! Quick, someone loan me a million or two.

Newsday offered a picture of Anais, one member of the club; she has an MA in Public Relations, which sounds like an useful qualification. I could find only a description of Kirsten, Spitzer's date (a petite brunette), but nothing on her other qualifications. ABC says she demanded Spitzer use a condom but he didn't want to. Was this the real crime?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 02:58 PM

All that and the guy ended up fu#king himself.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: SINSULL
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 03:02 PM

Well your post makes sense out of some news articles which claimed that the agency warned her about his "unusual, dangerous requests." Here I was hoping for details of his deviations and all he did was what half of all Americans do anyway. A few Brits too, I believe.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 03:04 PM

He made an appointment. So what. I heard that Hillary tapped her foot in the ladies room.

It seems that Americans hold politicians to a higher religious moral authority than their clergy. Yet on the other hand we all expect them to lie.

If anyone is a hypocrit it is the citizens who pretend to be outraged and the media TV whores who go "eucchh" every time some high profile guy has sex.

And thats another thing, I was client #10 and I got no attention whatsoever!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 03:07 PM

"It seems that Americans hold politicians to a higher religious moral authority than their clergy."

               Yeah, we don't expect much out of the clergy!

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 03:44 PM

Those are two groups that neither would benefit from a close examination.

Unless you go into office with a public reputation for liberal social/dating/sexual attitudes already in place, I suspect you're pretty well stuck with the typical expectation that you'll keep your nose clean while you're there. I don't think anyone held it against the then-single governor of California Jerry Brown that he dated and at times lived with women. It's when Giuliani trashed a marriage while in office that he got into trouble. I don't follow New York politics that closely, but I'd hazard a guess that it wasn't The War of the Roses on the day he went into office?

Not saying one or the other is a reasonable expectation, but they seem to be in place anyway.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: SINSULL
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 04:02 PM

Giuliani was in trouble long before his marital woes. He was known as King Rudy and he tried to rule like a despot. Look at the newspaper articles prior to September 11 to see how he was perceived. Anyone who got more attention (read spotlight) than he did was soon on the way out the door. Giuliani's confident handling of the disaster especially on the day and immediately following surprised most of us.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: number 6
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 04:25 PM

"how can a guy so smart be so stupid" ... former N.Y. mayor Ed Koch in reference to the disgraced Governor Elliot Spitzer.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 05:23 PM

natural bodily functions are neither stupid or intelligent.

The need to pay $4000 for one is really stupid.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 05:24 PM

"how can a guy so smart be so stupid"

Evidently the best quip in this whole thread.

I'm really disappointed. No puns, no plays on Spitzer's name or the Emperor's Club.

Maybe we could work up another parody of "She was Poor but She was Honest," something like "He was Rich but He was Sleezy." Ain't it a bleedin' shame!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, bottom feeding with the worst of 'em

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 05:33 PM

Charley, I made a crack about a rugburn vs windburn. Does that count?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 05:42 PM

"Newsday offered a picture of Anais, one member of the club"

And that's what they call 'news' ...

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 06:13 PM

meself, don't you read tabloid 'journalism'? We have one such in Calgary, called the "Sun." Each issue features a 'Sunshine Girl.' Ahhhhhh...... Excuse me, I was just thinking about the last one.
I have no idea of what "Newsday" is, but it could be something like that tabloid.

$4000 expensive? Setting up a mistress with apartment, clothes, etc. could cost considerably more than that. Quality costs! If ya got it, flaunt it!

Does anyone know what bank held his account? If they rat on their high flyers, they will go broke.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: MarkS
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 06:26 PM

Aw, Come'on. He just thought she was a taxpayer.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 06:55 PM

Oh - 'Newsday" - I was thinking 'Newsweek' -

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 07:11 PM

white-colour crime That's an interesting term.
...............................................

Just as well Bill Clinton wasn't Governor of New York or I suppose he'd have been in real trouble.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 07:12 PM

LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 07:14 PM

Okay, I was too quick in my judgement about the state government slush fund. This was reported on CNN, but now it is unclear where the money came from. If it was Spitzer's own cash, then he's only got to worry about the interstate prostitute trafficking charge (he flew her from LA to Washington for an overnighter). That's Federal and could be sticky. Should he resign? He is absolutely and completely washed up, in my opinion, and might as well get it over with.
How are the mighty fallen.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Big Mick
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 07:41 PM

The Republicans are laughable on this one. They need only look at the last 5 years to know how morally bankrupt they have been. They should pay Spitzer for taking the heat off them for a few days.

This comes down to one thing in my mind. Hypocrisy. He needs to go. Sooner, and not later. It isn't about his honor, it isn't about the party, it is about an electorate that needs to see something that sets a standard for conduct. And the conduct I refer to isn't his sexual proclivity. It is the conduct of passing yourself off as high minded, and ultimately moral crusader against corruption. And all the while you are corrupt. You prosecuted prostitution rings and used them at the same time.

Hypocrisy is the crime you are guilt of. Goodbye and good riddance.

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,harpgirl
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 07:43 PM

If he can only afford Brooks Brothers, he has no business paying that much for his prostitutes. Surely he wears custom Zegnas! And the flap is like reading The Scarlet Letter all over again. His wife should divorce him and take all his money! Oh wait, she likes being married to the Governor....

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 07:45 PM

The hypocrisy/double standard thing has nothing to do w/being prudish and of a judgmental, religious persuasion (though I'm quite certain the very Republican investigators think so).

It has to do, I believe, with Spitzer having prosecuted others for the same crime as he himself is alleged to have committed. From the LA Times:

"During his two terms as state attorney general, before becoming governor, Spitzer broke up at least two prostitution rings in New York City, including a 2004 case that led to the arrest of 18 people at an escort service."

Or does no one read the fine print?

I think the calls for resignation is partisan Republican posturing. He shouldn't step down, as it has not been shown he committed a crime at this point. Remember, the NYT broke the story but at this writing he hasn't been charged with anything. That said, a prosecutor as aggressive as he is has lots of enemies on both sides the fence.

As to the illegal immigration thing--I would just like to make it clear I am all for giving them drivers licenses, and don't share Rigingslinger's opinions regarding immigration. The recent example from MN is proof enough for me of why we need to bring illegal immigrants in from the cold, and give them legal status.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: pdq
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 07:52 PM

"During his two terms as state attorney general, before becoming governor, Spitzer broke up at least two prostitution rings in New York City, including a 2004 case that led to the arrest of 18 people at an escort service."

Perhaps he did such a good job that he was forced to have someone sent from LA.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,harpgirl
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 07:58 PM

Oh, and any woman who can make $5,000 an hour has my admiration! Just another bunch of men trying to control women and keep them from having power (sexual and financial in this case). If men had any buckeyes they'd make prostitution legal.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Big Mick
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:11 PM

That is another whole debate, harp, and I don't necessarily disagree, but I also don't think it is as cut and dried as some would have it. I don't like thinking of a woman's body (or anyone's for that matter) as a commodity. I think organized crime interests would dominate. In fact it really wasn't women that he was supposedly busting, but those that use women. But that is another thread. This thread is absolutely about a hypocrite who needs to forfeit his career and reputation for his hypocrisy.

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:15 PM

I don't know enough about Spitzer's record as a prosecutor or governor, not being a Noo Yawker, to give him a thumbs up or down on performance. It is unfortunate that his private life had to be exposed.
Some people are better than others at keeping their lives secret.

Eisenhower had a long time mistress, Kay Summersby, who was his driver-secretary, but the press didn't play it up until after he quit the spotlight.
Jesse Jackson fathered a child with his mistress.
Lucy Mercer was F. D. Roosevelt's long time mistress.
John Kennedy had a whole passel of them.
When Newt Gingrich was Speaker, Calista Bisek was his squeeze.
Etc., etc., and so forth.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,harpgirl
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:20 PM

This thread is now about women who are smart enough to get paid $5,000 an hour for sex and not about stupid male politicians who fear women and their power.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: meself
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:25 PM

I'm getting scared - and I'm not even a politician ...

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Big Mick
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:28 PM

Nope, harp, you don't have the right to change what the thread is about. If you want to start one on that subject, I think it would be great. This one's name says it all.

Q, don't minimize this. For this man to get on a pedestal and proclaim himself the moral keel of the working families, the beacon of integrity, and the prosecutor of the evil ones taking advantage of us all, and make it the center of his reason for running, all the while acting in the opposite way, ...... this is the absolute definition of hypocrisy. I could care less that he got laid. This ain't about his private life. Its about being an advocate for one thing and doing another.

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:36 PM

There is a thought 'out there' that says that what one concentrates on dictates the actions one will take. Perhaps - just perhaps - in the course of researching and prosecuting sex operations, Spitzer became enamored of it. Kind of like folowing what one knows best.

I have thought the same of those sleazy televangelists and 'reformers' who fall prey to what they consider forbidden.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: number 6
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:37 PM

I apologize for the cut and paste, but it pretty well says it all ... the demise of Spitzer's out of his act of hypocracy is pretty well sumed up in this Associated Press article by Samantha Gross ...

"As attorney general, he once broke up a call-girl ring and locked up 18 people on corruption, money-laundering and prostitution charges. He ruthlessly investigated the pay packages of Wall Street executives and was so familiar with shady financial maneuvers that he rose to become the top racketeering prosecutor in Manhattan.

But in the end, it appears that Spitzer may have been done in by the same behavior he built a career out of prosecuting.

In fact, it seems he was tripped up by some of the very financial accounting methods he used so successfully against multibillion-dollar Wall Street firms."

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:43 PM

Every politician takes that Puritan forefathers high stance. The opposition tries to knock him off the pedestal. Hypocrisy is the name of the game.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:49 PM

Lyndon Johnson was another high roader. His mistress was Alice Glass. The story is that she broke it off because she opposed the war.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:53 PM

It is a great disappointment though, because we need a million 'Spitzer the prosecutor' clones to go after government and corporate corruption the way he tried to do.

He had real promise as a prosecutor and a politician. He would have been an excellent US attorney general, IMO. Perhaps he can weather this, and still have a career. I truly hate to see a brilliant mind like that just get shut out because of his attraction to playing with fire.

I could give a shit about the call girls.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Charley Noble
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:54 PM

Well, I finally came up with a smartass remark. It's not my best but it should do for Spitzer:

If you're a member of the Emperor's Club, beware the ides of March!

I understand that Spitzer is working on his resignation speech. I wonder if there will be any rhymes.

Evidently some agent of the Internal Revenue Service was actually running the Emperor's Club, according to CNN earlier this evening. It wasn't clear from the story whether the agent had infiltrated the Club or was just moonlighting.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Big Mick
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 08:57 PM

Q, are you just ignoring the prime difference? This isn't about powerful men and their sexual appetites. Those men didn't rail about these things, those men didn't make their moral standing their prime reason for political existence. They had affairs. So has a pretty good percentage of the population. Having sex is their business. And if women choose to do the same, more power to their elbow. But to prosecute prostitution rings while you are using prostitution rings, or to run on a platform of squeeky clean reform and cleaning up the crooks, while you are doing the same thing is a far larger sin.

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 09:07 PM

any woman who can make $5,000 an hour has my admiration!

You really think she gets to keep much of that? That isn't how the business works, not even legal businesses. An employee keeping the money she earns? Shocking idea.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 09:13 PM

Yeah, I just read that he has his resignation letter written, he is negotiating a plea deal? Perhaps, it didn't seem clear at the ABC News website.

A damn shame the man couldn't control his appetites. What a waste.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: number 6
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 09:19 PM

GG ... I agree with your post, we do need the 'Elliot Nesses' to clean up the mess ... the tragedy of all this .. and we see more and more of it these days, is when the lawmakers (such as Spitzer) get caught breaking the law, it makes the 'run of the mill' bad guys look good.

The innocent lose faith, pay the price.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 09:41 PM

Yup, yet another case of arrogance and absolute corruption of power.

Makes you feel doomed, don't it?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:10 PM

Hey McGrath...what makes you think these women are controlled by men? Don't you think women can run their own profitable businesses and keep all the profits for themselves? cheez....so sexist....

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: meself
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:16 PM

Re-read McGrath's post - he doesn't suggest anywhere that "these women are controlled by men".   Cheez ... so sexist ...

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:25 PM

"But to prosecute prostitution rings while you are using prostitution rings, or to run on a platform of squeeky clean reform and cleaning up the crooks, while you are doing the same thing is a far larger sin."


                         Yeah, and to pay over $4,000.00 for a woman seems to indicate a really low sense of self esteem.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Big Mick
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:29 PM

leave it to harpy to turn a corrupt racket, dominated by men who pimp womens bodies, and keep large amounts of the profits, ..... and try to turn it into a womens rights issue. If it were just women using exercising control over their lives, that would be great. But it is naieve to try and characterize this that way........ or manipulative. This thread is not about that issue, and you won't be allowed to hijack it. But you can go HERE and let's have the discussion

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:32 PM

I feel bad for his daughters--teenagers, I guess. That is what turns my stomach more than anything else--that he would be so calloused and uncaring about what would fall on them when word got out. And he MUST have been playing chicken w/the investigators. How could a guy like that NOT know he was being investigated?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Big Mick
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:34 PM

Spot on, Gigi. You know he was touting his "values" to his kids. This must be horrid for them. It just makes him all the more vile, IMO. He needs to go.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:38 PM

I don't think he is vile. Just deeply flawed.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 08:07 AM

His wife looked more shell-shocked than loyal during his speech. I feel for her and her daughters. The sins of the father...

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 08:22 AM

According the reports I've been reading from AP & Reuters, his wife is the one urging him not to resign. I'm sure she is shell shocked, but it doesn't look to me like she is abandoning him. Reports seem quite to the contrary.

And why would she? Because he has an expensive hooker habit that will now be cured the hard way? No, there are much bigger things in a marriage to overcome than sexual peccadillos. Insiders say the marriage seems pretty solid. Of course this could derail it in the long run, but that is likely due to a betrayal of a different kind--the one Spitzer himself alluded to in his comments to the media.

I want him to ride this out. I don't want to see him resign, unless he is indicted. Then he will have to go. I just read his poll numbers were already at Bush levels--35%, and that in the polling done on him since the story broke, it had dropped to 30%. If everybody already hates him, he really doesn't have to resign. Look next door to see just how long one can hang onto the governor seat over a sex scandal.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:46 AM

They call him the Great Pretender --
Pretending that he's still around!

At least until he can make a deal with the prosecutor's office.

By the way some of us are having great fun working up a new parody of the train song "Wreck of Old Number Nine" on another thread above the line.

Gigi- Could I use your line "this could derail it in the long run" in a verse?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Bobert
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:57 AM

Ummmmmm, I think we are just looking at the tip of the iceburg here... I'f hate to see this guy's family hurt any more but deep down inside me I think there's alot more to this story...

May be time to play "Follow the money"...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 10:21 AM

You can bet that every media outlet is scanning every image they have of Spitzer to see if they have any more information that was originally understood. Like the photo of Bill Clinton greeting a crowd of followers, Lewinski's face stands out like a beacon, where it was once just part of a sea of faces.

Just announced: Spitzer has a press conference scheduled at 11:30am this morning.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: number 6
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 11:46 AM

In the interview I saw last evening with Ed Koch ... who considers himself a good friend of the Spitzers stated he saw Silda Spitzer age before his eyes while standing beside her husband ( in Spitzer's news conference concerning this affair).

Anyway ... Spitzer is on TV (as I type) declaring his resignation.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 12:23 PM

That's what I meant by shell shocked. She usually appears as a beautiful, vibrant woman much younger than her years. Yesterday she looked old and haggard and close to tears with a hint of "I'm going to cut your balls off, you idiot."

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 12:28 PM

$80,000 for a happy ending
jeez thats steep.

The irony is that when he was attorney general he put in the new banking snooping laws that got him caught.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 12:31 PM

Maybe he was just testing them to see if they worked.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 01:56 PM

I feel terrible for his wife and wouldn't fault her for any decisions or actions while she may be emotionally stunned, but if I were the wife here, with my wits about me, I would say to him "Even if I haven't made up my mind about staying with you (and maybe I have), you're not using my face at your press conference. You get out of this yourself, buster – don't use me." It makes me think less of him for using her at such at a time.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 01:59 PM

"I don't think he is vile. Just deeply flawed." Is there a procedure for calibrating that kind of thing? Where would "evil" and "nasty" fit in?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 02:05 PM

Oops!

heric, Spitzer's wife wasn't being used, you can be certain of that. The woman earned more than he did as a corporate lawyer (and was quite the shark, from what I've heard) before she took time off to raise her kids and be a political spouse.

IMO, she absolutely would not have been there had she not wanted to be.

Contrary to popular opinion, not everyone considers sexual wandering to be a capital offense.

That is an opinion usually held by holier-than-thou, harshly judgmental individuals.

I don't know very many people who would immediately end a long term, otherwise pretty stable marriage, over an issue like this.

The shame isn't hers, it is his. He took responsibility for it at his press conference, stepped down, and now everybody needs to butt out and MTOB. As I said, no charges have been filed, and he may well have plea bargained his way out of the governor's office. We'll find out eventually.

But the personal side of this should no longer fodder for gossips and media whores.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: pdq
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 02:09 PM

So, what would you like the Oprahfied people of America to talk about? Madonna?? Paris Hilton???

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 02:15 PM

Can't we just talk about Britney like everybody else?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 02:47 PM

Gigi-

Well, that's the high road and I applaud your use of it.

But the rest of us are bottom feeders having way too much fun.

And there is a puzzle to solve.

Cheerily,
Charley Ignoble

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 02:56 PM

Puzzle?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 02:59 PM

Maybe he's trying to puzzle out what the call girl looks like and when she will turn up in Playboy. You know that call went out already . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Amos
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 03:54 PM

"The New York Times says it's the code name for New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in court papers that link him to a prostitution ring, but now anyone can be "Client 9" with T-shirts available online just a day after the scandal broke.

From simply "Client 9" with a large lipstick smooch over the top to "Just Call Me CLIENT 9," designers on Web sites like www.cafepress.com and www.zazzle.com are cashing in on reports that Spitzer had hired a high-priced prostitute.

"Look like a governor in this stylish CLIENT 9 design," one designer advertises on www.cafepress.com.

The two online retail sites allow designers to upload their own graphics to print on products such as T-shirts and mugs."

---

I am glad to see that someone is still endowed with a sense of humor AND an entrepreneurial spirit...

A

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 04:28 PM

Oh alright, I'll be serious because once again nobody gets me!

For starters I suspect that accusing him of being a hypocrite is giving him too much credit for having conscience. He is more likely to be a psychopath, which explains why he can say one thing and do an entirely corrupt other thing at the taxpayers expense, and decimate the respect of his daughters with no thought to what it is doing to them. As for his wife, while I do agree that she appeared to die before our eyes during all this, I have to also believe she was complicit because of her own selfish needs. The saddest part to me is the damage that psychopathy does to the fabric of human society from the very edges of it to the core of this family's innocent children who must now make sense out of the decimation of their world and their father's evil and corrupt behavior.

Maybe someday someone will figure out that I use distracting responses in response to discussions like these about evil which really have no logical explanation and leave everyone the worse for their having witnessed or been a part of such evil.   

The issue of prostitution is in fact irrelevant. But don't preach to me Mick. You don't understand me and I doubt you ever will unless we meet.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: beardedbruce
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 04:32 PM

Washington Post:

What $5,500 an Hour Buys

By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, March 12, 2008; Page A19

Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace (and very soon, it seems, from power) raises a host of serious concerns, not least our ongoing and often ludicrous conflation of the personal and the political in matters of morals. But flawed mortal that I am, I confess I keep coming back to one detail as this gloomy tale unfolds: $5,500.

That's what Spitzer and his fellow numbered clients were shelling out per hour if they booked the Emperors Club VIP's top-of-the-line providers.

I've given serious thought to this over the past day, and I'm not sure that I've even had a sexual fantasy that, if actualized, would be worth $5,500 an hour. Of course, fantasies can involve particular, unattainable persons, and an economist might say that if the client has an obsession that only a certain provider could satisfy, that could drive the price way up.

But that doesn't seem to have been the case for Client 9. Of all the details in the transcript of the back-and-forth between Spitzer and the Emperors Club's traffic manager, the one I find most mind-boggling is when Spitzer, just before he hooks up with his hooker, asks to be reminded of what the lady looks like.

He's paying $4,300 for this experience and he needs a refresher on her looks? Four grand and change and he can't remember whether he booked tall or short, blond or brunette? We're not talking obsession here. We're talking positional goods.

Positional goods are those commodities that are more valuable than their run-of-the-mill counterparts because a special status attaches to them, since only a select few can have them. Since the Web sites on which prostitutes advertise indicate that the average hourly rate is around $300, the Emperors Club maximum rate, which is roughly 18 times higher, could be justified by the particular appeals and skills of its hookers. I haven't conducted empirical research on this one, but let me just say: I doubt it.

I suspect that what makes a prostitute worth $5,500 an hour is that she costs $5,500 an hour. The value here doesn't dictate the price. The price, rather, dictates the value. These women are available only to the wealthy; the ability to hire them, like the ability to live on Fifth Avenue overlooking Central Park, means that you've made it. And even if your hour turns out to be a bit disappointing, that's okay, because $5,500 doesn't really mean anything to you -- which just means you've really made it.

And there, I suppose, is the thrill. The power of being able to command the world's priciest hooker, like the power of owning the world's priciest real estate, could be a turn-on in itself. The power of dropping thousands and not even remembering what type of woman you've booked: Boy, are you ever something! Whether or not you're getting one terrific woman, the transaction alone confirms that you're one terrific dude.

In fairness, Spitzer clearly thought he was also buying one other valuable commodity: secrecy. At those rates, everyone could be trusted to keep quiet. Spitzer, however, clearly forgot what he'd learned in Prosecutions 101, which is that nothing intrigues a prosecutor more than unexplained silence. Federal investigators told the New York Times that they were looking into the governor's cash withdrawals on the suspicion that he might be paying off a blackmailer. (Of course, after the railroading that the Bush-Rove Justice Department gave to Don Siegelman, the Democratic former governor of Alabama, currently incarcerated for what look to be no more than misdemeanors, no such investigation is itself above suspicion.) Without Spitzer's "cover-up" -- which in this instance simply meant paying in cash -- the crime, such as it was, would have gone undetected.

Clients 1 through 8 were surely in need of some secrecy, too, if not quite so patently as New York's governor. Men don't usually print their patronage of prostitutes on their business cards. But $5,500 buys a lot more than secrecy, and a lot more than sex. It buys a confirmation of status and power. It has all the positional upside of conspicuous consumption, though it remains -- or is supposed to remain -- inconspicuous.

There are real tragedies in this case, of course. And, politically, I suppose, the whole affair is one more argument against continuing tax cuts to the rich, even if Spitzer did invest his money here rather than in China.

But I keep coming back to price, even though I know it purchased a positional good. $5,500, huh? I need to work on my fantasies.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 05:05 PM

There are real tragedies in this case, of course. And, politically, I suppose, the whole affair is one more argument against continuing tax cuts to the rich, even if Spitzer did invest his money here rather than in China.

Well put Bearded Bruce--as I said earlier---you might consider him patriotic for New York by not outsourcing to DC hookers.

Reminds me of a conversatin I recently had at Tiffany's where the sales clerk saw my zip-code ( I was buying a gift for a relative) and said "many young people in your area support us"--I said--"I doubt that--rather they are shopaholics" His reply--They are helpng the economy" --which, as I told him makes them patriotic.

I guess our hypocritical, politically evangalizing (not in the religious sense),arrogant, and now, hapilly, EX-governor falls into the patriotic category for buying locally. Gee, is that like only buying locally grown vegetables?

Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,heric
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 06:38 PM

>Contrary to popular opinion, not everyone considers sexual wandering to be a capital offense.<

True, but this is like wandering into a whole other state. Is one to carry on an intimate relationship with somebody who would like to be paying five grand to be somewhere else? Hard to picture. She could be magnanimous and say I forgive you for the first six, but seven and eight were just over the top and I'm out of here.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 06:40 PM

Fortunately I never knew enough about this guy Spitzer in the first place to be disappointed by the recent revelations. ;-)

Ignorance is bliss, they say. Have another grape, my dear.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 06:54 PM

Which is more disgraceful - a married man hiring a prostitute, or having an affair?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 07:38 PM

You would think the wife would rather him hire a prostitute, as long as he paid $5,500.00 and hour for her, so he was sure not to come home with disease. Unless, of course, she's paying the fifty-five-hundred.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Big Mick
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 08:10 PM

I've said it before, I'll say it again. I could care less that he was getting laid. But the hypocrisy of prosecuting prostitution rings, and running on the "I am a man of honor, let me restore your faith", and then this. Good riddance. Flawed, yeah, that's taking the high road. I have seen times when you weren't so charitable.

HG, bite me. I wasn't lecturing you, I just wasn't letting you hijack the thread. Nothing personal. And the same goes for you as to knowing me. Every time I disagree with you, you go off. Been that way for years. This thread isn't about me, you, or prostitution. It is about a man who's actions have been hypocritical, who violated the public's trust, and whose family is suffering for it. Kills me to think of those girls. But I suspect that they have such a strong role model in their Mother, that they will be OK. I think we should all watch her. Seems to me she is the one with something to teach us all about strength and class.

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:04 PM

Can this thread now go above the line?

'"The affidavit states "Client 9" paid $4,300 for 2½ hours with a call girl he arranged to meet at Washington's Mayflower Hotel, with some of that a deposit on a future session. Court papers state he also paid for train tickets, cab fare, mini-bar and room service charges for Kristen -- a 5-foot-5, 105-pound brunette he arranged to meet the night of February 13.

Kristen is a 22-year-old would-be singer from New Jersey, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The newspaper said Ashley Youmans -- now known as Ashley Alexandra Dupre -- was identified in court documents as Kristen.

Dupre has not been charged with a crime. She made a brief appearance Monday in U.S. Magistrate Court as a witness against four people charged with operating the Emperor's Club, the Times said.

In an entry on her MySpace page, Dupre says she left "a broken family" and "abuse" in 2004, eventually settling in Manhattan "to pursue my music career."

"I am all about my music, and my music is all about me," she writes on her MySpace page. "It flows from what I've been through, what I've seen and how I feel."'

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Stranger
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:13 PM

Spitzer shows the true colors of many left wing fanatics............................mental instability.

I am glad he got his. He deserves it!

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Riginslinger
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:24 PM

At the end of the day, Ashley seems to come away from the thing with a lot more integrity than Spitzer does.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:26 PM

GUEST,Stranger shows the true colors of many right wing fanatics: he's an asshole.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:43 PM

All prosecutors looking to get ahead will prosecute a 'prostitution ring.' The papers love stories that will titillate the public. Of course they never touch the real gangs with strings of cheap prossie slaves, that would be messy. Hence Heidi Fleisch or Temeka Lewis with their small band of good-looking part timers and similar groups that cater to the needs of the well-to-do are the ones favored as targets by rising prosecutors.

Look for Michael Garcia, the leading prosecutor for the southern district of New York, a Bush appointee, 45 years old, already with bios in Wackypedia and a number of websites, and frequent NY tabloid coverage, to lead the case if Spitzer is prosecuted. The Spitzer affair is the big one any ambitious prosecutor dreams of, and Garcia will milk it for all that it's worth!
In a couple of years look for Garcia to enter the political ring, first City of New York and then State. Don't be surprised if he ends up as Governor. Will he keep out of the mire? Or will his enemies cut him down too?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Stranger
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:56 PM

Gee, Peace. Can dish it out but can't take it, I guess.
I guess your hero Spitzer is the laughing stock of America and the world.
Maybe client 10 is Obama. I said "maybe." Wouldn't that be a hoot?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 09:57 PM

I wasn't dishing anything out until you showed up, asshole!

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Stranger
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 10:06 PM

I guess you just identify too much with the liberal mental disorder thing, Peace. Hit the ball smack in the middle I guess, because it got such a rise out of you. I sure didn't attack you personally Peace, but you sure did me. You should grow some skin, Peace.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 10:13 PM

Guests can be deleted even when they have a consistent name.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 10:16 PM

You come in slamming left-wing people as though they somehow like this idiot who got caught with his weewee where it shouldn't have been caught being, lay down some crap about lefties--"Spitzer shows the true colors of many left wing fanatics" when Spitzer is anything BUT left wing, then figure you're what, cute? Naw. For the personal attack on you I'll apologize. But maybe you too could pay a bit more attention to what you post. And, fer krissake, use your member name. No one is fooled by this Guest,stranger stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Stranger
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 10:20 PM

SRS, yes, that's true. But I haven't really broken any rules. Just made a point or two, that's all. And civilly, I might add.
My crime to you is that I am not a liberal, it seems.

Spitzer does not represent your faction well. This is fact.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: number 6
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 10:30 PM

I just want to make things clear here that yes my politics do lean to the left, but in no way does my handle indicate any relationship with with the Emperors Club ... in fact I have never ever had any contact with them nor have I ever with Elliot Spitzer.

In fact I'm actually not a number, I am a free man.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Stranger
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 10:31 PM

Peace, I am not a member, nor am I sure that I want to be. I am a "Stranger." Spitzer is known as one of the most fanatic left wingers there is. Remember, he is the one who wanted to give illegals drivers licenses. He is certainly not even close to being a moderate Democrat.

But I can understand why in the last few days liberals would want to distance themselves from him. He is an embarrassment to the Dems.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: number 6
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 11:09 PM

Yeah .... I guess Spitzer should have done the republican thing and cruised public washrooms in airports for free sex.

Ok


I'm outta here.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 11:42 PM

Couldn't help myself. I just posted the lyrics to Tammy Wynette, "Stand by Your Man."
(Snif)

Thread 8782: Stand by your man

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 07:09 AM

As an academic question, pertinent to whether it's "who he is" rather than "what he did," does anyone care about:

"Court documents that exposed Spitzer also identified nine other men who hired prostitutes from the online sex club. The Duke of Westminister, the richest man in England, also was identified as a customer of the Emperors Club, NBC News reported."

(I wouldn't think so.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Big Mick
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 07:11 AM

Actually, you are a long time troll here. But you are correct that you broke no rules, and Peace apologized for his personal attack so we will let the posts stand.

But please don't act as though you weren't trolling. Of course you were. Now back to the subject, please.

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 07:12 AM

Never as simple as it seems to simple minds, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 08:16 AM

What on earth is "left-wing" about wanting all people driving on the road to have licences and be insured against accidents? That doesn't sound "left-wing" or "right-wing", just a pragmatic middle-of-the-road proposal.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Greg F.
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 08:22 AM

Spitzer is known as one of the most fanatic left wingers there is.

Talk about simple minds... or possibly demented ones.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 09:31 AM

"Spitzer is known as one of the most fanatic left wingers there is." Known by whom?

Only to a Libertarian, but that is probably imputing "Libertarians."

Spitzer is certainly a hypocrite by almost anyone's criteria.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 11:02 AM

"GUEST,Stranger" is a classic troll in the rhetorical jumble here at Mudcat: jumping to a lot of conclusions and pointing a finger to accuse others of things that distract from his/her own bigotry.

[yawn]

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Stranger
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 09:08 PM

And you never could really deal with other people's opinions, SRS.

Mudcatters have always referred to those people as trolls. Those outside of the exclusive self-righteous club have always had to deal with that mentality here.

Almost as hypocritical as Spitzer, himself. Without the same obnoxious facial expressions.

I call it tolerance by convenience.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 09:14 PM

Well, Stranger (to quote John Wayne), it's a good thang you showed up to set us all right.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 09:16 PM

BTW, if that gal can be arsed, she'll take you apart before she has her morning coffee. SRS deals very well with the opinions of others. IMO, she has difficulty with idiots at times, not that that's a factor in this instance.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 09:38 PM

Looked into Ebay and thought I saw an add about Kirsten. Oh, goody, more dirt to enjoy, but it was for the TV series "Sex and the City" and the actress Kristin Davis.

Well, I won't tell her to lay her pistol down. Gee, haven't thought of that song for years.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Stranger
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 09:38 PM

I'm sure she pays you well to be her publicist, Peace. As far as John Wayne goes, I liked some of his movies.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: number 6
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 10:05 PM

Oh sh%t
I think he's caused enough trouble around here

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Peace
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 10:07 PM

You are sure of nothing. Including steamies.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Beer
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 10:18 PM

In looking at those shots 6, I can't help thinking that the expression on Silda face reminds me of Hillary.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: number 6
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 10:23 PM

I think she can hold her own, much the same as Hillary Beer ... as confident Spitzer is of himself (even during his resignation announcement), I'm sure Silda will slap him down a few notches.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Beer
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 10:28 PM

Yep, that's for sure.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: number 6
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 11:12 PM

"As far as John Wayne goes, I liked some of his movies."

The Searchers is an excellent movie.

sorry .... just had to comment on a John wayne movie.

now I'm outta here.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Bill Hahn//\\
Date: 14 Mar 08 - 04:54 PM

Given Nelson Rockefeller and Eliot Spitzer it may well be that the state song should be changed to "Back In The Saddle Again".


Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Mar 08 - 05:07 PM

Franklin D. Roosevelt as well, and he was from New York.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Amos
Date: 14 Mar 08 - 06:38 PM

Another One: Top Federal Judge Linked to Prostitution Ring
Officials: Edward Nottingham Was 'Implicated as a Customer' in an Investigation of the Denver Sugar/Denver Players

Chief Federal Judge Edward Nottingham has been linked to an investigation of the prostitution ring Denver Players, according to federal officials. (Denver Post)More Photos
By VIC WALTER
March 14, 2008

One of the country's top federal judges has been linked to an investigation of a Denver-based prostitution ring, according to federal officials.

Edward Nottingham, the chief federal judge in Denver, Colo., was "implicated as a customer" in an ongoing IRS and Denver police investigation of an alleged prostitution operation called Denver Sugar/Denver Players, according to officials.

The service advertised on the Internet as having "gorgeous adult Colorado companions."

According to a Denver television station, KUSA, Judge Nottingham's nickname among the prostitutes was "Naughty."

Several "professional athletes," lawyers and businessmen are also involved, officials said.

Unlike the prostitution investigation in New York that led to this week's resignation of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the Denver case has received little attention outside Colorado.


The chief judge of the 10th Federal Circuit Court, Robert Henry, is "taking under advisement a complaint about a judge's conduct," according to the Rocky Mountain News. The person who filed the complaint confirmed to the paper that the judge is Nottingham.

Judge Nottingham has remained on the bench since being publicly linked to the investigation last week. His office referred calls to his lawyer, Stephen Peters, who said Judge Nottingham "has no public comment at this time."

Based on the Web site of Denver Sugar/Denver Players, prostitution prices seem to be substantially lower than those in New York.

Pollitical Sex Scandals Redux

According to published reports, Judge Nottingham, appointed to the federal bench in 1989 by President George H.W. Bush, paid $300 to $400 for "all-inclusive" sex with prostitutes working for the Denver Sugar/Denver Players service.

...
Judge Nottingham's conduct has been in question twice before. Last year, the Denver Post reported that FBI agents questioned his ex-wife "after she revealed he spent thousands of dollars at the Diamond Cabaret strip club and subscribed to an Internet dating site that contains pornography."" (ABC News

A

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 14 Mar 08 - 06:41 PM

""professional athletes" - would this be a euphemism of some kind?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Amos
Date: 14 Mar 08 - 08:41 PM

And while we're on the subject, Trent Lott's brother in law is also heading for the pen this month.

My apologies for the thread drift, S. I thought there were certain parallels to be drawn between the several cases.


I too am disappointed in Spritzer. Especially because I KNOW how much Republican politicians jest HATE thinking about sex.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Amos
Date: 15 Mar 08 - 08:14 AM

According to "Hollywood Up Close.com":

Hustler boss LARRY FLYNT has offered the prostitute who brought down New York Governor Eliot Spitzer a $1 million (GBP500,000) deal to pose naked for his magazine.

Spitzer has announced his resignation and will officially step down as New York's Governor on Monday (17Mar08) after news of his dealings with $1,000 (GBP500)-an-hour call girl Ashley Alexandra Dupre went public via the New York Times newspaper.

And Flynt is convinced the high-class hooker, who works for prostitution and escort agency the Emperors Club VIP, would be a perfect fit for his men's magazine.

Flynt says, "We think this is an item that is going to stay in the news for some time.

"We think it's not bad for a 22-year-old to make $1 million for a few hours work. It beats what she was making at the escort service."

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 09:47 PM

Has this been posted here? The phone list of the "DC Madam." Maybe Spitzer's number is on there. Maybe lots of others, too. Look up the numbers for yourself:

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/DCmadam_db/

Deborah Palfrey, the "DC Madam." Her court case is about to begin. Could bring down lots of politicians. This would be in keeping with the continuing destruction of America (destroy what little remaining trust we have in our elected officials). The dollar's under attack from within, the constitution is under attack from within, the family, religion, and so on...so now they drop a political nuke on a large percentage of our elected officials, and then maybe a real nuke and we're ready for a "new" form of govt. That's the only reason I can see for this trial. People like this usually "suicide" themselves with six shots to the head. Apparently Deborah Palfrey is INTENDED to have her day in court.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Amos
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 11:09 PM

How scintilatin', Olive. Those phone calls were in 1999, I think...



A

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 02:30 AM

"This would be in keeping with the continuing destruction of America (destroy what little remaining trust we have in our elected officials)."

Two thoughts come to mind:

1: The implication is that we would be better off not knowing.

2: Just maybe we should grow up enough to make a distinction between private life and public life, between aspirations and shortcomings.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 02:41 AM

Amos -

Public knowledge that those phone numbers were given to anyone appeared ca. May of 2007. The site apparently had not been set up at that time, as AP claimed to be the only ones "in possession" of the list then. As things proceed in legal matters, they're quite "new and fresh."

Some of the "most popular" recent scandals were collected and summarized in a Washington Post article that appeared March 14, but it's been "removed" to members (signin required) storage. The title, for anyone who might want to look it up was:

Sex scandals scorch cyberspace:
In this Internet age, warp speed to infamy for politicians in scandal
By Paul Farhi
The Washington Post
updated 9:10 a.m. CT, Fri., March. 14, 2008

The list isn't particularly exhaustive, but might be worth digging out for anyone needing to refresh the memory.

Fortunately for those unable to work with text, or whose lips are just tired from reading all the source material on this subject prior to posting, a shorter but similar summary - all in pictures with very brief captions - is at:

Slide Show on Recent "transgressors"

John

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 02:24 PM

He burned up so quick in all of that revelation and publicity. Three days and he was gone. A week later and a new governor is being sworn in. He seems not to have taken anyone else down in the conflagration. Amazing.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Amos
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 03:09 PM

Actually, knowing about wick-dipping per se does not undermine my trust in an official. Knowing he is willing to break bonds of trust to which he agreed, covertly, does make me look more skeptically at his avowed intentions politically.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Stranger
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 03:49 PM

Is is Spitzer or Schpritzer?

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 03:51 PM

Spitzer is no disappointment.

I believe Mark won more olympic gold medals than any individual in the span of 1 week.

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: GUEST,Stranger
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 06:55 PM

That was Mark Spitz. Not Spitzer. Or Schpritzer

Subject: RE: BS: Spitzer - The Great Disappointment
From: Ron Davies
Date: 17 Mar 08 - 09:20 PM

Pretty sure I got this one from Mudcat--don't know who to acknowledge though.   But it sure fits Spitzer--and Bill Clinton, and who knows who else.

Mother washing her 4 year-old son in the bathtub. Son playing with his balls.

4 year old: Mommy, are these my brains?

Mother:   Not yet.