Well Rabbi, you are batting 2 for 2, another brilliant misguided post. I'm sure your defense of Mr. Spitzer is sure to cause a hail storm of comments.

Hello Rabbi and Everyone,

Rabbi you ask,"Why are Sexual Crimes the only ones Americans Really Seem to Care About?"

I think what American's really care about in these situations, is this....When one is and ex-Attorney General of New York State and now Govenor of that State, who has gone after prostitution rings by day, but solicits them at night it is WRONG. Period. You can't have your cake and eat it to in this type of situation. When one is a Senator who deems homosexuals "sinners" by day and solitics them in restrooms it WRONG. Period.

Now, both of these men, and others too, one with law enforcement experience and the other with years of political experience could have used their positions to help evolve our society to being more open sexually instead of helping to keep it closed. They could have put themselves "out there" talking the talk and walking the walk but they didn't. They acted out and did one thing in public to better their "positions" by day while sticking their middle finger up at society's position at night...

That is what this is all about. And, yes, I personally think prostitution should be legalized in this Nation. I think people need to have sex and sometimes they do not have partners and prostituion fills that need. An honest hours work for an honest hours pay. It would be the grownup thing to do, imo.

Rabbi you write,"that there is no moral outrage at the entire system that produces this impact, is America's ethical perversity."

I think outrage at the entire system is a "huge" mouthfull to chew by any society and I think that American's ethical perversity is on tract with pretty much every other Nation's. One perversity at a time is about all we or any other Nation seems to be able to take on at any given time...if the problem isn't technical then we humans are pretty much stumped.

have a great day ruth

Apparently Rabbi if you did any research you will perhaps see the great hypocracy in Spitzer and according to his own legislation he should go to jail for up to a year as punishment for paying for sex and let's see what about the allegation that he used campaign funds to pay for his reported $80,000 hooker fees?

BTW in your diatribe in support of poor Mr. Spizer you failed to mention ANYTHING about family's suffering because of this. You do victim real good.

New York news report:

"For eight years Eliot Spitzer was New York attorney general, the state's top law enforcement official. He was known nationally as "the Sheriff of Wall Street." He fought corruption in the financial industry. He also brought two major cases against prostitution operators.

The Democrat became governor in January of last year, elected with sixty-nine percent of the vote. Early in his term, he signed a law that increased the punishment for paying for sex. It rose from a possible three months in jail to up to a year. "

In Lerner's leftist worldview, the "plight" of the people take precedence over the individual, so of course it makes sense that Mrs. Spizter and his daughters are not mentioned or shown compassion as Elliot Spitzer is being crushed by evil American "ethical perversity".

I wonder if Lerner is buds with Rev.Wright?

Rabbi,

Why haven't mentioned the plight of the Tibetans in their struggle for freedom and liberation against Chinese Communists? I never see this in your posts, is it because you find it difficult to condem fellow communists? Just wondering? In case you haven't heard Rabbi here is the latest news from Tibet:

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Saturday gave Tibetan independence protesters an ultimatum to surrender after riots in Lhasa which killed at least 10 people in the worst unrest in the region for two decades.

The tough response by the Chinese authorities came after fierce protests on Friday which contradicted China's claims of stability and tarnished a carefully-nurtured image of national harmony as it readies to stage the Olympic Games in August.

The official Tibetan judicial authorities gave protesters until Monday night to turn themselves in and benefit from leniency.

"Criminals who do not surrender themselves by the deadline will be sternly punished according to the law," said a notice on the Tibetan government Web site (www.tibet.gov.cn).

International pressure mounted on Beijing to show restraint. Australia, the United States and Europe urged the Chinese authorities to find a peaceful outcome, while Taiwan, which China claims as its own, predictably condemned Beijing for launching a crackdown.

Xinhua news agency said 10 "innocent civilians" had been shot or burnt to death in the street clashes in the remote, mountain capital which has been sealed off. The dead included two people killed by shotguns.

A source close to the Tibetan government-in-exile, however, questioned the official death toll of 10. He said at least five Tibetan protesters had been shot dead by troops.

Some Tibet monitoring organizations outside the country put the death toll at up to 32.

A Western tourist said that Lhasa itself was like a ghost town on Saturday, though it was packed with Chinese soldiers. Many Tibetans had tied white prayer scarves to their doors in a gesture of protest.

DALA LAMA ACCUSED

China has accused followers of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of engineering the unrest in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. The Olympic torch relay will pass through Tibet in a few weeks time.

The riots emerged from a volatile mix of pre-Olympics protests, diplomatic friction over Tibet and local discontent with the harsh ways of the region's Communist Party leadership.

The protests, the worst since 1989 in the disputed region, have thrust China's role as Olympic host and its policy towards Tibet back into the international spotlight.

A rash of angry blog posts appeared after the deaths were confirmed. Hollywood actor Richard Gere, a Buddhist and an activist for Tibetan causes, suggested an Olympic boycott.

Official statements suggested the government reaction in coming days would be tough, with Tibetan Buddhist monasteries -- traditional focal point of opposition to Beijing's rule -- and nunneries being brought under tighter control.

The regional communist-controlled government said those who harbored protesters would be punished and it offered rewards and protection to informers.

An announcement on Tibet television urged residents to denounce the "malicious intent" of the Dalai Lama.

Tibetan crowds in the remote mountain city attacked government offices, burnt vehicles and shops and threw stones at police in Friday's confrontations. Many people were injured.

Chinese television showed footage of rioters trashing shops and trying to break down the entrance of a bank, and plumes of smoke floating above the city.

A Reuters picture showed a protester setting afire a Chinese national flag. Another depicted security personnel shielding themselves against rocks hurled by protesters.

Qiangba Puncog, the top government official in Tibet, told reporters in Beijing that Tibetan authorities had not fired any shots to quell the violence.

PRAYER SCARVES

John Ackerly, of the International Campaign for Tibet, said in an e-mailed statement he feared "hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested and are being interrogated and tortured."

The Free Tibet Campaign organization cited eyewitnesses as saying that thousands marched on government buildings in Xiahe, an ethnic Tibetan area of China, and raised a Tibetan national flag at a school.

In Lhasa, Danish tourist Bente Walle, 58, said: "Today Lhasa is completely closed and there is Chinese military all over."

Adding that many people were tying white prayer scarves on doors, she said: "The Tibetans put them on their doors to tell everybody: here is a Tibetan."

"We are fully capable of maintaining the social stability of Tibet," Xinhua quoted an official as saying in a statement repeated across Chinese state media on Saturday.

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Some good points Rabbi,

It is all about division and mind fluff.

THE THIRD PARTY

The aim, by those few that benefit to the detriment of the many, would be to have a hidden unity in government allowing centralized control, a unity that would obfuscated by the appearance of division creating the illusion of choice and the will of the people.

In other words at the top the two parties are really unified as one, unified by The hidden third party with it’s special interests, and finite self serving agenda. The third party’s agenda is to secure for itself disproportionate advantage and benefits, and create, maintain, and preserve various profit centers in the current system of things. Fictional conservatism which is often linked to maintaining the ways of the past, is all about impeding the evolution and enhanced efficiency of the systems that would eliminate high value profit centers.

Fictional issues are used to keep the people divided and power-less. This gives the few acting in unity more power than all the people who are engaged in ideological conflict with each other in a bath of mind fluff.

Liberalism = Freedom

Conservatism = Wisdom

There is no conflict between the two; they compliment each other, we have only the appearance of conflict born of the fictions and story lines attached to each label.

One would expect a successful representation of the people to provide personal and economic freedom that benefits the many. Yet the citizens have the loss of both to the benefit of a few resulting from the ability to divide the people amongst themselves with fictional issues.

So we have “The Third Party” cloaked and hidden by the other two, a single unified group using the two parties as it’s hands but for sure they are one body and one mind bound together by shared ego intention.

The reality is the Democrats and Republicans are not opposed to each other but are two hands controlled by the same body and egoic mind.

Yet this third party is not totally hidden, it can be seen wearing a mask of lobbyists, and only the discerning and aware mind can see the face behind the mask.

One can only hope to chop off the head of this political beast, the hidden third party with the dissemination of intelligence, insight and wisdom. So that a new head forms, one born from the measured and authenticated voice of an informed people, guided by compassion, collective intent, wisdom and effort, preserving the freedom of the individual to spur the evolution of mankind and it’s systems.

Yes, the hypocrisy is the real issue one measure and standard for the third party, the elite at the pyramidal apex, and another for the indentured servitude at the base.

Mrs. Spitzer is the only person on the planet who should be overwrought or concerned by this incident...and, for all anybody else knows, she could be openminded about such things.

With all the real problems facing this country, focusing on this soap opera seems like a waste of time and energy that could be better spent on just about anything else.

Maybe it's easier to rant about this than contemplate unnecessary death/disease/global warming?
Plus, there is personal satisfaction for those who get a kick out of feeling morally superior...especially to someone, in a position of power, who professed to be that same way.

Sincerely, I wish everybody focused on this would just join hands and sing *Let There Be Peace On Earth And Let It Begin With Me*.

Wow...another post on intentblog asking the readership to feel bad for poor Spitzer. Oh boo-hoo. Puh-leaze.
And rabbi, I love how contradict yourself by first praising the potential of prostitution by writing that prosititution is the "oftentimes very arrangement that saves families whose sexual energies have dried up" and then immediately after condemn it citing a biblical quote condemning the objectification of others. Which one is it? Or is it both? As a spiritual leader, how can you praise something you condemn? I disagree with your article.