I know I'm coming late to this

[trinityvixen]

Oh dear. The best as can be said right now is they changed the picture on the front page. It made Spitzer look like some kind of demented chimp. There's no call for that. Embarrassing pictures to coincide with embarrassing, potentially illegal doings are for blogs with a comical bent, not a serious newspaper. I shudder to think what fabulous pictures Fox News is parading around.

Not really sure what to think yet. Hiring a prostitute? Doesn't bother me. But they've got him dead to rights if they can prove that he arranged to get someone flown in from another state. In this case, I don't think prosecuting the charge under the Mann Act is worth it--that really seems a highly political means of just sticking it to Spitzer which trivializes the very real good a law against "white slavery" is meant to do. On the other hand, never, ever assume that just because they come with a high price tag that any prostitute is actually paid well or free. Dunno, we'll have to see. Should he step down? If he's indicted, yes. That's it, my $0.02. It's fine to fuck around so long as you have permission (and, in certain circumstances pay for it). Break the law, and you're stuck. That's why I don't give a shit what happens to someone like Larry Craig but you better believe I want to hang Mark Foley from a flagpole.

*

This, though, has had me worked up since I read it this weekend.

I remember when I watched Crash thinking that, surely, these things didn't happen for real. I admit that it seems like I was wrong. There's so very little that holds water here, I'm amazed the police aren't jumping all over themselves to try and cover their asses with the public opinion. Has Albany become so jaded about rampant corruption that this is just everyday? Fuck it, I will never drive within fifty miles of city limits again.

And a poster at Pandagon had a damned good point: suppose--it's incredible, but just suppose there had been anything like what the cops claimed they were on alert for on the woman they pulled over. The second they invaded her body and car without permission, even if they'd found crack up her vagina, they'd have lost the case in court. Seems self-defeating, but that would only be true if you assumed they actually were looking for anything except an excuse to finger a woman in public and get away with it. Fucking dicksmack bastards.

Comments

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

I'd say he should resign even if "all he did" was hiring a prostitute, since that's a felony in New York State. Maybe he could get away with it if he were an ordinary politician, but he ran on a promise to clean up the state and went on elaborate witch hunts as attorney general against both corporate criminals and ordinary criminals. There's no place for him in Albany, unless there's a prison with an empty cell.

As to the second story--if it holds up, the policeman should go to jail for sexual assault and the woman should get a few million from the City of Albany, period. They could have searched the car without permission if they could have constructed probably cause, but there's no circumstance where any form of strip search conducted by a man on a woman is justified outside of imminent serious danger, and I can't imagine what imminent danger that would be.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I don't deny that the clean-as-a-whistle, sharp-as-a-thistle nonsense leaves him prone to accusations of hypocrisy et al. However, prostitution patronage doesn't equal corruption. It's a personal choice (personal failing if you're so opposed to it), so as far as his being too "dirty" to clean up corruption in Albany, no, I don't think so.

Prostitution is illegal, true, and Spitzer did, as Attorney General, prosecute a prostitution ring with some unnerving vigor (perhaps we now know--we tend to be less tolerant of failings in others that we know of in ourselves). I just don't have any great interest in prosecuting anyone for prostitution for things unrelated to abuse of the prostitutes or corruption/blackmail rising from johns' visits. I don't whip myself into moral outrage over prostitution or people who visit them. I certainly dislike that someone with such a high profile and such power went, but I feel like if we really--and I mean really, really were serious about punishing every politician for this sort of thing, we'd have maybe one guy left in office. Ergo, I deduce we're not serious about it and such ousters on right or left are entirely politically motivated.

Which? Hey, that's fine. Whatever helps my side win, that kind of thinking? I get it, I just won't support it. The only way I'd say drum the guy out of office for just patronizing a sex worker is if there were a complete investigation of all our upper echelon in New York state. It won't be, so I'm not going to be DEMANDING Spitzer resign. I have my own personal misgivings, but, short of his being brought up on charges outside of paid sex, I'll just be chagrined and disappointed and waiting to see what else comes out. Not until all the facts are known, sorta thing.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

As for the second case, there's so much working against victims of sexual assault that it's hard to even play Devil's advocate and go "What if she's not telling the truth?" when she's gone through this much trouble to make a stink about it. Publicizing your sexual assault never leads to vindication. Not ever. Not even raped-by-stranger-was-a-white-virgin-teenager ever. The taint of being a publicly known sexual woman invites harassment and accusation even when the alleged perpetrator isn't a member of the authorities in power to determine whether any charge at all is ever leveled.

Are there some women who cry rape to get attention? Of course there are because those exceptions to the rule are trotted out every single goddamned time ANY woman claims she was assaulted. I just can't think of anyone who'd be so stupid as to invite the police--frequently populated by nastily loyal members--to have a problem with her. Unless it's a legit thing and she's brave enough to face the tide of slut-shaming, the bureaucratic and boys-club scare tactics, and the increased chances of police harassment of her and her friends (such as the one on the phone who can verify that the police officer took the phone and called her).

And, yeah, what dangerous thing was going to erupt from her vagina that they needed to diffuse it right there on the street, I'd like to know? We all know what it wasn't. It wasn't vagina dentata, or he'd have lost that wandering finger and we'd already be convicting the woman for assaulting a police officer (because, in all likelihood, even if women had such things for protection, their use would always be considered aggressive because you don't stand in the way of what the Man--the sex and the euphemism--wants).

[edgehopper.livejournal.com]

And, yeah, what dangerous thing was going to erupt from her vagina that they needed to diffuse it right there on the street, I'd like to know? We all know what it wasn't. It wasn't vagina dentata, or he'd have lost that wandering finger and we'd already be convicting the woman for assaulting a police officer (because, in all likelihood, even if women had such things for protection, their use would always be considered aggressive because you don't stand in the way of what the Man--the sex and the euphemism--wants).

I was just stating the letter of the law--I can't imagine any possible way to justify that search, but there are technically circumstances (extreme and ridiculous) under which it would be legal for a police officer to search a woman's vagina. I believe it would require something comparable to knowledge that a bomb detonator was hidden there.

As for the other; I'm inclined to believe the story, but I'll still keep the "if" caveat for the moment--there really are insane, nutty people out there. Sane women don't make false accusations of rape against police officers, but there are plenty of insane women out there too.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I wasn't yelling at you--you delivered a salient and informed point on the rule of law in this case--merely stating my incredulity that any would presume there is any merit to the defense and justification for the alleged incident. There really isn't one--legally, it's all dead ends. In the court of public opinion? Who knows? I'm hoping for common sense to prevail, but that's a long shot even in cases not so clear cut (and this one seems damn clear to me, but because it involves a) a woman and b) something sexual involving her, there always seems to be more wiggle room for doubt that there ought to be).

[arcane-the-sage.livejournal.com]

Not the way I would have preferred to see him go, but karmicly fitting given some crap he pulled in the past. I especially like the hypocrisy factor; being brought down by a prostitution ring when he himself went after one will such zealousness... classic. At least the guy to replace Spitzer looks promising.

Yeah, capital district police are..... "interesting" (for lack of a better word). I heard stories about how things were done when I was up there for school. Let's just say that ethics didn't come up much.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

It's funny that the more I read comments on the Albany story, the more people in the know are like "Doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

Perhaps, sufficiently removed from a news center, attention-whore city like New York, Albany just doesn't get the recognition it should when it does something wrong.

As for Spitzer, well, whatever. He's a hypocrite, sure, and that's irritating. If he didn't break any law except paying for sex, I don't care. But if he did, well, then he's got to go. I, for one, would support having the first legally blind and black governor in his replacement.