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Sept. 8, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : How far must one go to help somebody out of a contract?

Barry Rubin: Waiting For Something

Sept. 5, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: What does 'doing the right thing' entail?

Caroline B. Glick: The master strategist

Sept. 4, 2008

Ron Kampeas: Biden, Palin take lead in clash on Mideast issues

Bruce Dancis: With humor as their weapon, the Three Stooges took on Hitler

Sept. 3, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: Productive school years don't just happen

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Quick lamb stew serves up flavors of India

Sept. 2, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Costly Advice

Caroline B. Glick: Calling Israel's bluff

JWisdom: Wandering in Wonder by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

August 29, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: 20/20 sightlessness

Caroline B. Glick: When history is not repeated

JWisdom: Blessed or Cursed: It's Really Up to You by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 28, 2008

Steve Lipman: A Comeback for the 'Jewish Jordan'

Jeffrey Weiss: Researcher reports 'intriguing' diabetes breakthrough

August 27, 2008

Rabbi Zecharya Greenwald: Removing the perfectionist's mask

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Nunn: Summer harvest linguine

JWisdom:: The Missing Link in Spiritual Life by Rabbi David Aaron

August 26, 2008

Yaffa Ganz: Grandma gets lessons in staying cool

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: The Dems' 'soft' jihadist

JWisdom:: Today: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Plague of indifference

August 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: A friend is bearing a silly grudge from a supposed wrong. What recourse do I have?

Daniel Pipes: Barack Obama through Muslim Eyes

JWisdom:: The knowledge you need to overcome your insecurities by Malka Schulman

August 22, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: Life's essential ingredient

Caroline B. Glick: Dominos anyone?

JWisdom:: Actually, Do Sweat the Small Stuff! by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 21, 2008

Today in Biblical History by Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Popularization of Kabbalah: 20 Menachem-Av 1558 CE

Jonathan Rosenblum: Lessons from the Beyond

JWisdom: : The Olympian within is rooting for you -- yes, you! –- to go for the gold

August 20, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Misleading Platform Platitudes

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Chicken Salad with Asian Dressing

JWisdom: The Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith: America's Defense of the Jews --- Until WWII by Rabbi Nosson Scherman

August 19, 2008

Dennis Prager: If the Almighty doesn't exist

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Obama's Islamist problem has nothing to do with his upbringing

JWisdom: Think your life is messed up? by Rabbi David Aaron

August 18, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Business with Friends

Diana West: Roars About Russia, Bare Whispers About Islam

JWisdom: Relationship agony: The real cause by Malka Schulman

August 15, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: To love the Divine

Caroline B. Glick: Georgia, Israel, and the nature of man

JWisdom: The Truly Righteous Don't Demand Entitlements by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 14, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Confessions of broken spirit

Libby Lazewnik: The Numbers Game

JWisdom: Six Questions You'll Be Asked in Heaven? - Uh - Let's Just Take One for Now! by Gavriel Aryeh Sanders

August 13, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Georgia should be on their minds

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Go Greek: Pair flavorful lamb kebabs with a hearty salad

JWisdom: Human hybrids aren't science fiction by Rabbi David Aaron

August 12, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bless us

Daniel Pipes: The West's Islamist Infiltrators

JWisdom: From Sadness to Gladness: The Route from Tisha b'Av to Rosh Hashana by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

August 11, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: A Jewish view on fair pricing

Caroline B. Glick: Ignoring failure in Gaza

JWisdom: 'Communication' Is Not The Answer! by Malka Schulman

August 7, 2008

Rabbi David Gutterman: A Continuing Story With a Sustaining Goal

Rabbi Berel Wein: Mourning and morning

JWisdom: Yes, we are still in exile by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 6, 2008

David Ashenfelter: Government made military engineer's life a living hell because of his faith, Defense Department report documents

Jonathan Tobin: Speak the Truth; Defeat the Lies

JWisdom: Jewish Spirituality: Fusion or Confusion? by Rabbi David Aaron

August 5, 2008

Chris Leppek: Church/state wall beginning to crumble?

Paul Greenberg: Exit Olmert (no encore, please)

JWisdom: Serenity: Make the commitment by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin (Read by Gavriel Sanders)

August 4, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Am I taking advantage of another's psychological quirk?

Andrew Silow-Carroll: A black and a Jew walk into the White House…

JWisdom: The Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith: Edward R. Morrow visits the ‘living dead’ by Rabbi Nosson Scherman

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review March 17, 2008 / 17 Adar II 5768

The politician and the prostitute: A morality play gone wild

By Mitch Albom


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | We crucify the man who paid for sex.


The woman who charged him, we turn into a star.


Go figure. In America, it seems, we like our characters prepackaged. And the prepackaged version of the Eliot Spitzer saga is this: Powerful Man, undone by hubris; Vulnerable Girl, caught up in something bigger than her.


So he's gotta go.


She can get rich and famous.


Sorry. I don't buy it. If paying for sex is a crime, then it's a two-party crime, same as buying and using drugs. There is no reason that Spitzer, the now former governor of New York, should be in shambles, facing possible criminal charges, while the prostitute he hired, Ashley Alexandra Dupre, is a star-on-the-rise, reportedly being offered immunity while fielding big-money offers for everything from photo shoots to having her rear end used by a Vodka company.


Yes, that's right. Georgi vodka, last week, was negotiating with the hooker (sorry, but that's her job title, not "victim") to paste the image of her rear end on buses all over New York for around $100,000, according to AdAge.com. Georgi even considered naming a vodka "No. 9," the FBI's code name for Spitzer.


He's out on his butt.


She's selling hers.


You good with that?

A WORLD GONE WILD
You shouldn't be. It's amazing how selective we can be with our outrage. When Spitzer was caught in this prostitution ring, there was no end to the moralizing over what a terrible thing he'd done. Around the country, millions of citizens called for his head. At the same time, millions of citizens were clicking on Dupre's MySpace page, enlarging her pictures, downloading her music. We vilified Spitzer for having interest in this woman, but it's OK to check her out on our computers?


Don't we see how hypocritical this makes us? Sure, he went over the proverbial line, he did the deed, while all we did was leer. But making this woman some kind of tragic celebrity reduces our moral outrage to childish yelling.


Why should Dupre suddenly be endorsement-worthy? Why should she command interest from book publishers? Why should people want to buy magazines with her naked on the inside? She was a prostitute before that night. She was a prostitute after it. Why is she entitled to a payoff for behavior that was an equal half of an illegal act?


Perhaps because, in the American narrative, someone must be to blame and someone must be a victim. So when this scandal broke, Spitzer was the arrogant, egotistical bully.


Meanwhile, Dupre was cast as a sympathetic runaway, a product of abuse, a wannabe singer who somehow fell into this tragic line of work. Most of this information came from Dupre's own Web page. That's an objective source, huh?


Not surprisingly, we haven't heard as much "tragic-victim" stuff after last week's revelations that poor little Dupre did a "Girls Gone Wild" video when she was 17 years old, spending a week on a bus and dancing around peeling her clothes off in front of a camera.


Those videos surfaced, and suddenly she looked less like the prey of a bad, bully governor, and more like another party kid using sex for celebrity.

THE JOKE'S ON US
Larry Flynt, the Hustler publisher, who sadly may know more about American culture than many high-browed sociologists, offered Dupre $1 million to appear nude in his magazine — the same amount the "Girls Gone Wild" people offered her before realizing she already had stripped down for them five years ago (for a lot less).


Think about that. A million bucks. You're smart with that, you can be set for years. How many waitresses or cleaning women would have their worlds changed with a check like that? How many legitimate, hard-working women will never see that much money in their lives?


Yet a woman involved in an illegal activity could avoid charges, get this money and be saluted for her sudden empowerment. And why? Because we will buy the magazine. We will watch the videos. We will book her on the TV talk shows. We will willingly participate in making her a star.


Spitzer was dumb enough to pay this woman for sex. But if we pay to make her famous, you wonder who's the more pathetic customer.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

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