The NONexistence of American leadership
March 17, 2008 by Miki Saxon
In a post about the repercussions of sexual peccadilloes I said, “I’m also wondering how many other patrons of this current sting will be outed. If he’s [Eliot Spitzer] the only name made public then, to me, something else stinks a lot worse than his hiring a prostitute.”
Although I didn’t see the WSJ opinion piece until today, Alan M. Dershowitz, who teaches law at Harvard, provided thoughtful and cautionary commentary on the Spitzer happenings that go a long way to confirming that they do, indeed, stink.
“In this case, they wiretapped 5,000 phone conversations, intercepted 6,000 emails, used surveillance and undercover tactics that are more appropriate for trapping terrorists than entrapping johns. Unlike terrorism and other predatory crimes, prostitution is legal in many parts of the world and in some parts of the U.S. Even in places like New York, where it is technically illegal, johns are rarely prosecuted. Prostitution rings operate openly, advertising “massage” and “escort” services in the back pages of glossy magazines, local newspapers and television sex channels.”
There was a time when Americans had reasonable expectations of their privacy, but no more. European privacy laws run rings around ours, US laws are open to manipulation, and our leaders and courts condone actions here that they condemn in others.
Our infant mortality rates are sky-high, our poverty rate is the highest among developed nations, a new political or business scandal seems to erupt almost daily and the greed and creativity of US financial giants has shattered the global economy.
These are my opinions.
I’d like nothing better than for you to prove me wrong.
Your comments—priceless
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