Word of the Day: PRODIGAL (prod'-i-guhl), ADJECTIVE: Wasteful or recklessly extravagant.

Now that more details have come out about the Eliot Spitzer scandal, I am truly outraged. When I first saw the MySpace page of Spitzer's call girl, Ashley Dupre, I was all set to commend Governor Spitzer on his excellent taste (she is quite a comely woman). But then I read the numbers. He was with Ashley 8 times and spent a whopping $80,000 in total. The Government has often been criticized for overspending and running up huge deficits. The Government notoriously awards contracts to the highest bidder and ends up paying ridiculously high prices, like $4,000 for a custom-made hammer, or $150 for a screw. Now we find out that Spitzer was buying them for $10,000 each! The scariest part of the whole story is not that Spitzer is an immoral, licentious hypocrite, but that this prodigal Governor has been controlling New York State's budget for the past year. If he is willing to spend $10,000 for an hour of sex, how much has he been paying for new bridges or road repairs?

Don't get me wrong- I have no doubt that the lovely Ashley Dupre will use this notoriety to catapult herself into stardom. She will follow in the footsteps of other pop icons like Vanessa Williams, Pamela Anderson, and Paris Hilton, and will stand as a shining example of the American dream. She will show the world that even without any talent, one can succeed with just the right combination of a hot body and a complete lack of self respect. But even so, there is no way Ashley Dupre was worth $80,000. The first question the press should ask the new Governor David Paterson, is how much he would pay for an hour with Ashley Dupre. This would test his fiscal responsibility.  I have a feeling he would not pay very much, regardless of how good looking she may be. After all, to him, she is nothing more than just another fuzzy, gray blob.