ANOTHER HOUSE OF ILL REPUTE NEAR DC-- AND ONE IN SRI LANKA

I doubt Senator David Vitter (R-LA) was packing his pampers up and driving all the way out to Dumfries, not with all the high end escort services he was used to dealing with. But according to today's Washington Post the former mayor of Dumfries was operating the kind of establishment Vitter thrives on.

Hiz Honor, Melvin Bray, is 72 and was charged with running a brothel out of a sports therapy clinic in a roadside strip mall. I don't know Bray and I don't know if he's a Democrat or a Republican, just that the former marine was charged with "keeping a bawdy place," something he vigorously denies.

"I positively swear on a stack of Bibles I would not do that," he said. "I would not stoop to that level and knowingly do something of that nature that would embarrass my family and those people who have supported me over the years."

If prostitution was taking place at his establishment, Bray continued, it was without his knowledge or consent. "I do not believe that it was going on," he said.

Bray, the town's first African American mayor, said he is not trained as a massage therapist. He said he opened Yorkshire Sports Therapy in April after undergoing back surgery because he thought it would be beneficial to others.

"I've never had a massage myself," Bray said. "I guess I should have gone into the bicycle repair business."

Five Korean women, all employees, were arrested, along with 3 male customers. The women were all in their 40s except for a 52 year old and a 23 year old. All of Bray's political colleagues expressed shock and disbelief. He said "I wouldn't dishonor myself by running a brothel house. It would be against my nature, period." Do you think he could be telling the truth? It's possible.

Barely out of my teens, I traveled to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and, ever since, I've been telling everyone I know how it was paradise on earth. Eventually my bud Roland talked me into going back. It's about as far from L.A. as anyplace on earth and it seems like we were flying for days before we finally arrived in Colombo around 2AM. The place looked a lot more run down and worse for the wear-- a long drawn out civil war will do that to a place-- than when I got there, by VW van and ferry, in 1970. We headed over to the grand old, historic Galle Face Hotel which I couldn't afford to get near in 1970 but remembered as the epitome of tropical luxury. Arriving this time it looked like it had seen better days-- in the 1800s. But I could barely wait to fall asleep. The problems began when I woke up in the morning. Sri Lankans are short-- and they were shorter when the hotel was built in 1864-- and when I went to use the sink in the room to brush my teeth, I bent over and, still stiff from the plane ride, pulled out my back... agonizingly.

Sri Lanka's bomb shell-pocked roads (and old cars with worn out suspension) was what I had to look forward to. I asked the hotel if there was someone in town who was known for doing great structural massage. There was no hesitation: "the blind masseur." They told me he works on both the president and prime minister (and mother and daughter). Perfect! The hotel booked a massage immediately and Roland and I drove over to his house. I went upstairs and he really was blind and he really was a great therapeutic masseur. In 90 minutes he fixed me right up. When I got downstairs there was something peculiar about Roland's big smile.

Apparently, like Mayor Bray, the blind masseur didn't know he was operating a house of ill repute. I can't imagine Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike or President Chandrika Kumaratanga knew either. But I know Roland and I know he hates massages and he, like Senator Vitter, loves... the other stuff non-therapeutical masseuses do. Just sayin'. Sometimes things aren't what they appear to be. Like last night... MSNBC's Alison Stewart (Countdown) admitted that Wendy Vitter "looks saucy" when Jeff Bercovici, her guest, mentioned she was "looking a little like a prostitute." I guess she's just doing what she has to do to hold on to her man. (I hope not that diaper fetish thing too... ugghhh.)


UPDATE: AND ONE WINGNUT WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING YOU'LL EVER NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PROSTITUTION, WEIGHS IN FOR VITTER

Jeff Gannon, the male hooker, who spent a lot of unaccounted for time in the White House, even when he wasn't in reporter drag and lobbing softball questions to Bush, has something to say about David Vitter, who never hired him, and his current prostitution problems.


UPDATE: C.R.E.W. WEIGHS IN TOO

But, unlike Gannon/Guckert, they're not on Vitter's side. "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a Senate Ethics complaint against Senator David Vitter (R-LA) asking for an investigation into whether he violated the Senate Rules of Conduct by soliciting for prostitution." Somehow I have a feeling that that's not going to get very far. As far right Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) said, more or less, it gets mighty lonely in DC and they're all out hunting for whatever they can get their hands on.


UPDATE: EVEN HANNITY THINKS VITTER SHOULD RESIGN!

Wow!