I have said it in the past that one of our weaknesses as a country

[nadinbrzezinski]

is precisely the puritanical standards. Sex is icky...

That said, it gets worst than that... our standards are not applied equally.

You are expected to be a good boy and behave (women need not apply in this cultural marker, except as the means to an end) if you are a democrat, the more liberal the more you should keep your fly zipped.

Now if you are a Republican even BREAKING the law... see Vitter, and confessing to it... is ok, as long as you confess your sins and promise NOT to do it again.

I have my doubts Mr. Vitter is behaving but that is another matter.

This sex is icky is part of the problem and why we need to grow up as a culture. Yes, men (and women) cheat. Yet, it might be in the biology, see our closest cousins in the tree of life. (Bonobos are REALLY and I mean this REALLY promiscuous)

It is time that we realize that as long as it is legal, and between two consenting adults...

But this comedy of a sex scandal where NO sex happened... is the one to top all sex scandals and to show to me that we need sorely, to grow up.

No sex is not about morality... as much as we want to make it that way. There is much more going on... and yes men and women engage in it. Outside of Bonobos we seem to be the next most active species among the higher chimps. But we, as a culture, really need to grow the fuck up. Or... a system designed to titillate and yes DISTRACT, will continue to do so.

To be honest, as long as two adults know what they are doing and they are not violating any laws... it is none of my business... and it should be none of yours either. It is, quite frankly, between the parties involved.

In the meantime think what HAS NOT been covered by your lovely media... for this circus to happen... and chiefly why things are the way they are.

As long as we care about oh sex, instead of MAJOR issues that actually affect your life, we will continue to be manipulated the way we are.

And no, I don't expect the United States to grow up either... not until we have a crisis of such an extent that things like personal items will not matter any longer. And yes, I expect that to happen fairly soon... and it is partly OUR FAULT.

[villager]

1. And aren't we missing the way this recurs when a Dem is poised to go after the Financial Barons?

:shrug:

[DJ13]

3. +1

Its no coincidence.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Yep, like clockwork

also some of the prosecutions (see Edwards, Spitzer, and a certain governor) are political in nature.

Edwards, I could charge (well the DOJ) Ensign for that AND conspiracy to boot.

Seems people are incapable of seeing the dang patterns.

[DJ13]

2. A great many people are expressing their faux outrage

.... because they are centrists who see a chance to undermine (and eventually force out of office) one of the few remaining real progressives left in Congress.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Why I said the furhter to the "left" you are

the standards really go off the rails as it were.

[DURHAM D]

6. I knew that Weiner was going to have a hard time selling his confession -

because he couldn't call up the Baby Jesus and forgive himself like the faux-Christians always do.

[PeaceNikki]

7. Or in this case, one Congressman and 6 people he didn't know AT ALL. Hell, one of the "ladies" could

have been Brietbart himself. Boner move, Weiner.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. The point is that it should be none of our business

unless it was a MINOR... as in the legal standard of minor.

[HipChick]

11. Him being that naive is what I don't understand..

[Gregorian]

8. America is juvinile. And not in a good way.

I hang out on a puerile art forum, where discussion takes on a highly mature content even among the silly and childish. It's a place of childish expression, yet one where discussion takes on a level I've never seen anywhere else. Keenly thought out arguments on religion and politics. And it is based outside of the USA. It's the minds of Europeans who have educations in art, history, science, and a broad perspective on life. But what has lead this country to it's present state is the same pathetic behavior that had women being dunked into water to see if they were witches or not.

I'm thinking of Europe when I say this. We are pathetic. I'd like to hear ideas about why we've continued this stupid way of viewing life. You can't say "shit" on public airwaves. However, you can show people getting their brains blown out in HD slow motion.

I think there is a kernel to this subject that is of great importance for a country that is floundering. It's the same attitude that spawned the notion of "welfare queens". It's a kind of frowning on weakness. It's as though we're afraid of love.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Exactly, we revell in violence

now let's classify the violence. I can show that scene of somebody having his brains blown up to the four winds in SLOW MO, on the TV machine... as long as it is part of a script.

Try to show a body at a crime scene... or for that matter any of our troops injured, or worst, KILLED in the line of duty... good luck with the censors on that one.

My theory, from reading a lot of US history.... recently... we love the fantasy world, the good guys (always wearing white) taking out the black guys, (wearing black) but the shadows of gray that are reality are not there. This case combines all the bad things about that. plenty of gray... he had sex, well not really, but you know what I mean... with consenting adults and about that matter that we hate even more than showing real bodies from violence... sex.

A country that lives in fantasy will (is going) down the hole... we are incapable of talking like adults about sex, war, violence... but show all three on the screen, As long as they are part of a script they seem to be fine.

[CelticThunder]

10. Jesus fucking Christ. It's WEINER'S fault. He got caught with his stupid pants down.

He knows what the "rules" are, regardless of their absurdity. The absurdity is irrelevant. What's relevant is that the rules - which I accept NO responsibility for making - DO exist, Weiner took a chance he wouldn't get caught breaking them, but he got caught.

Too late to call foul now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. While you talk about his wiener, no pun, what are you ignoring

no, not because we cannot chew gum and walk at the same time... but because it is sex... and sex is icky.

Oh and while talking about standards... tell me why did the media NOT cover breathlessly mind you, the vitter matter?

[midnight]

12. Thank you.... Too many jobless, homeless, dying people

to get upset that Mr. Weiner is using technology to show off some of his other features we may or we may not be interested in knowing about... But for the sake of the dying people in the Gulf states... Let's grow up....

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Yep, we need to grow the fuck up

but watch as "centrists" and yes, republicans, go after this like a fly to shit.

[cali]

16. what nonsense.

freepers do the same whine about how if you're a dem you can get away with it and you're a repub you'll get crucified. Both are eqally stupid. Chris Lee: Resigned after sending a shirtless pic of himself: John Ensign: Resigned after it was revealed he had an affair with an employee and paid off the employee and her husband. Mark Foley: Resigned after sending emails to former House pages asking them for photographs of themselves. And yes, some survive scandal.

IN any case, it's not the sexual aspects of the Weiner case so much as the cover up and lying.

[Blue_In_AK]

18. But, come on, everybody lies about sex.

He had done something stupid, his wife probably didn't know about it, and he was caught. What was he going to do? He was going to lie, because Americans feel guilty about having sex -- or even vicarious sex -- in this Puritanical country. It's built into our history. We may think we're all liberal and liberated, but when it comes to sex, everybody lies. That's just a fact.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. K&R

[AuntPatsy]

19. Good post, but the real problem is not that some have not grown up but that far

Too many need to be told what to think and or say and how to act, they have lost the ability to think and act for themselves and that to me is more than scary for this countries future, we need to bring back the fairness doctrine asap if we are to have any hope for a future free of the corruption that our body of government has become

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Well what you are seeing is the process

of infantilizing a population. Sex is part of that process, relies on some old US Traditions, but it has also made the population a bunch of kids who NEED to be told what to think, as you have pointed out.