Spitzer gets crossed off my hero list

New York governor Eliot Spitzer, whom I admired for years when he was the courageous Attorney General of New York, has fallen from grace in a big way. With Spitzer's blessing the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets has asked a state judge to dismiss a lawsuit, filed in November, that claims ducks raised for foie gras production are so overfed as to be diseased and unfit for market.

Of course, the ducks are not only diseased, they are the victims of horrific torture. If consumers are so heartless that they are willing to let ducks undergo such cruel treatment, the consequences to their health are of no concern to me. But trying to ban an attempt to stop terrible institutionalized animal abuse concerns me a lot.