...Spitzer was "simply" exploiting women for his own enjoyment. Isn't that better than having consensual sex with a woman he might actually care about?

Uh, no.

Mary Jacob at the United Methodist Reporter Blog responds:

Affairs are immoral; prostitutes are immoral AND illegal.  And given that Spitzer is an elected official, I think "illegal" adds another layer of moral culpability here.

And - in my book, there's something that ain't right about a man who can order up a woman like a pair of pants. Did it ever occur to him that each of these women he "purchased" was somebody's daughter?  That tells me he's able, at some level, to dehumanize women. What does that say about his ability to govern 50% of the population he's vowed to serve?

While I disagree with the implication that being "somebody's daughter" is what gives women value, the rest of her critique is right on target.

Spitzer resigned yesterday.

Ferraro defends racist comments

In other resignation news, Geraldine Ferraro has stepped down from her position on Hillary Clinton's finance committee -- but not from her assertion that Barack Obama's campaign has only been successful because he is African American. In her exact words, Barack Obama is "very lucky" to be an African American man running for president. CNN reports:

Obama responded Wednesday to Ferraro's comments, saying "I think that her comments were ... ridiculous. ... I think they were wrong-headed. I think they are not borne out by our history or by the facts."

"The notion that it is a great advantage to me, an African-American named Barack Obama, in pursuit of the presidency I think is not a view that has been commonly shared by the general public," he said during a campaign event at the Chicago History Museum.

Ferraro has also threatened that she will not solicit donations for Barack Obama in the future if he doesn't cease his "horrendous attacks." In the following quotation addressed to the former vice-presidential nominee," Marry in Massachusetts offers a sharp analysis:

You're saying — in full context — this Black man got where he was because people cut him slack for his race. Then you pile it on telling him he'd better know his place because you have so much power.

A Hopeful Sign

On Tuesday, Andre Carson, a Democrat from Indiana, became the second Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress. Hat tip to Melissa Rogers. Amad covered the story in a front-page Street Prophets post yesterday, so visit his post for more discussion.

Very "Alias"

Jean Friedman-Rudovsky at In These Times discloses that the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia encouraged Peace Corps and Fulbright program participants to spy for the U.S. government. Members of both programs showed integrity in refusing. Friedman-Rudovsky reports on a visit to Peace Corps volunteers by Assistant Regional Security Adviser Vincent Cooper, who encouraged them in some way to report on the activities of Bolivians:

“We were immediately alarmed by the request,” said Peace Corps Bolivia Deputy Director Doreen Salazar in an interview during the initial investigation. “We stopped the meeting and made clear to our group that they had no obligation to report anything to the embassy.”