It has been a rough week, which is to say, honestly, it has been a rough two weeks. We have been witness to an epic battle similar to a geek shout out about who is stronger between Superman or Batman, which company is better Marvel or DC, or to put it in sparkle geek talk, are you with Team Edward or Jacob? Like a comic book battle, this never ends, because if it ends that would be the end, so the 'bad' guys (and that depends on who's side your on) will be allowed to have a sliver of victory so that the next time the battle happens, that can be used against them. And no matter what you think of your side, which would be the 'good' side, time will allow one of your members to fall, to bring shame to your ranks and that one act will define your side, for the time being.

Yes the Anthony Weiner sexting incident has brought up the old ghosts, the old rivals, the same accusations and examples. In modern times you can go back to just before the Clinton Administration, when Gennifer Flowers was a lounge singer with a dream and a tape recorder, and when Paula Jones announced the former Governor had sexually harassed her. When Monica Lewinsky appeared, sides had been chosen and the war began. One side it was about the sex. The other side said it wasn't about the sex it was the cover up, and was the cover up that bad? It was a man lying about sex, not national security. In those naïve times the old cruel saying about as long as it's not about a dead woman or live boy you could ride out the storm. Even that would be tested in later years.

It's too easy to say all politicians lie, or all men lie about sex. That just gives enough room for people to act on inappropriate fantasies and claim later it was part of their nature and you should forgive them. It is also too much to claim it is a private matter between the husband and wife. Disputes between husbands and wives can end in messy divorces, with former couples even arguing who will keep the dog, when kids are used as emotional pawns, and more often than not, if things don't go well, ill feelings can fester for the rest of their lives. If that much emotion can be done between people who took a vow to love each other, how should we trust someone who breaks those vows.

That, my friends, is the rub of these incidents. When a sex scandal breaks out, there is no consistency, no set rule for what should be done in the instance. It's like having a discipline problem at a school and wondering if actions should be put on a case by case basis or should it be zero tolerance. Zero tolerance will mean people will lesser offenses, let's say bringing a plastic knife to school, will be treated the same as someone who brings a loaded gun and is bound and determined to use it on someone. If it's a case by case basis, you may have someone who does something small, then someone does something slightly bigger and punished, yet they will point to the previous person claiming they got away with something and so should they.

The flip flops really hurt in these sex cases, and that's not with the politicians. People who honestly have no stake in the matter will declare in one breath how the case is nothing yet in the other will bring up old issues and state how things would have been different if it were done by 'the other side.' Just the other day I heard a commentator on the conservative side complain how the Weiner scandal was being coddled and not reported enough by the liberal press. Their station had wall to wall coverage of the event since it started, yet a recent scandal by a Republican was given little airtime by them. In contrast, liberal stations were formulating excuses and declaring how the scandal was nobody's business, yet would bring up worse examples from the other side to show how this issue was nothing.

What is forgotten in these stories? Well the spouse of the person is one who is left by the wayside. No matter how accomplished they are, no matter how private they are, the person is dragged out for examination by both sides. She must have known what went on. She must have lacked something in the marriage. She wasn't a good wife. Those are things both said out loud and outspoken by the pundits and bloggers. While we would like to think if kids are involved they would be shielded from this, in the new media of social media, a Facebook post here or a tweet there will have the kids emotions out there and examined. How about the other person in the scandal? There lies a tricky issue because they may have been doing something illegal, maybe something some would consider immoral, they may have been consenting adults, manipulated adults or exploited children, but their lives are damaged. Unlike the family and friends of the politicians they can't directly effect him for money or comfort. They are left in the wind to face public scrutiny. In the Weiner case already you have had a 17 year old girl checked out, her life changed forever, a blackjack dealer from Vegas who has appeared on television and has had supposed co-workers and friends who have besmirched her. There is the other woman with the children who knew she was acting out a sexual fantasy with the Congressman who now is looked on as someone less than honest. You have the student who was over 21, the one who he set the picture to that started the whole incident, who first said there was nothing going on, had to change her story, and now, with her being a journalism student, probably will find it hard to get work in the industry because of this. And of course, because every good scandal should have one, a woman who claim to fame is being 'an adult actress' who undoubtedly will look at this as a way of bolstering her career.

We also have to look for the drip of other things coming out. Just this week we had the announcement of Weiner's wife being 3 months pregnant, the connection between Weiner and former President Clinton (oh to have wiretapped that conversation!) and a press countdown since Weiner said he did this to 6 women to see if it's actually more. Oh, and the big 'prize' of the naked and unencumbered private member being shown after the person who had it in his possession claimed he would never use it against Weiner 'even though I know he would against me' yet allowed it to get out because of it being passed around on a cellphone during a radio interview then claiming it wasn't his fault.

You know who loses in the end? We all do. We can blame the media for shoving this down out throats, but we want to see it. We want to get out panties in a bunch and declare our moral superiority to 'the other side.' Ratings are up on cable networks because of this. It's true, in my travels I haven't heard people talk about the issue, but they know the jokes and the sites are visited with the latest information. It's like claiming we are tired of the Kardashians but they consistently are top ranked on Google searches, they sell magazines when they are on the cover, and their reality show still draws in viewers.