There is no doubt that a politician's personal life has become an integral component to their public life. Vetted means find out what skeletons are in the closet. But sometimes I wish the lines between news and entertainment, private and public, relevant and irrelevant were stronger. John Edwards is a an interesting politician. I have always been drawn to his views. If his family decided to forgive him in 2006, should we care now? Is it our business?

I'll leave it to the words of one of my favorite comedians, and a brilliant philosopher to boot. In regard to lying, Eddie Izzard says, "If you commit perjury, I don’t care. I don’t think you should because you grade murder. You have murder one, murder two. You realize that there can be a difference in the level of murder. So there must be a difference in the level of perjury. Perjury one is when you’re saying there's no Holocaust when 10 million people have died in it, and perjury nine, is when you said you shagged someone when you didn’t."

I think this is a very interesting idea. Would embracing China and bringing them further into the global community do more for making headway on the human rights issues than would protesting? The country has a very strange dichotomy when it comes to being accepted. China wants this summer's Olympics to be a highly successful aesthetic event. They want the country and its citizen to appear perfect. The measures they have taken approach bizarre. Attempting to control the weather and the pollution. I read that the women who will be handing out the medals during the medal ceremonies have been trained for six months...down to the detail of, for example, smiling so as to only show eight teeth. So the country is obsessed with good etiquette and aesthetics, and yet they seem unaffected by public pressure. They censor information rather than changing policies.

I have been thinking about this all day long. What does it mean to watch the opening ceremonies tonight? Will I watch? Part of me wants to watch just to see what sort of drama will unfold, but no doubt China's government has suppressed it and none will emerge.

We'll have to leave the drama to John Edwards. So sad.

Gene Simmons thinks so! He has written a book titled Ladies of the Night: a Historical Perspective of the Oldest Profession in the World. Simmons appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe to discuss the book. His research found that in many cultures, prostitutes exist/existed at the highest levels of society. They are/were respected political or religious figures. He feels that due to America's puritanical roots, our country fears sex and is unable to bring the subject into the light.

I am going to ditto the "My father" entry. My father is the most down-to-earth, salt-of-the-earth person in my life. These 'of the earth' descriptions mirror his profession; he is a geologist. From an early age, he instilled a love of learning. Mostly by example as he has a limitless fascination with the world around him, stopping the car in the middle of a road trip to analyze the local rock formations. Employing the Socratic method, he led us to our own knowledge. "Hey kids, why do you think that river bends there?" Now that we are adults, he does the same thing. Offering his own experiences as fodder but allowing us to develop our own conclusions, make our own mistakes. I strive to be as curious, joyful and honest as my father.

115 countries from a group called the Non-Aligned Movement have declared support of Iran's "basic and inalienable right...to develop research, production and use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes." This endorsement occurred on Wednesday, July 30th in the form of a three-page declaration, translated from Farsi by the Associated Press. The organization was founded in 1955, and according to statistics on Wikipedia, represents 55% of the world's population, mostly concentrated in developing or third-world countries. In a speech delivered to NAM, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, "The world is on the verge of entering a new, promising era."

In a 1979 speech to the UN, Fidel Castro described the purpose of NAM. "We are united by determination to defend cooperation among our countries, free national and social development, sovereignty, security, equality and self-determination. We are associated in the endeavor to change the current system of international relations based on injustice, inequality and oppression."

For proponents of fiscal conservation and like-minded organizations, these statistics won't sit well. In 2007, Tom Udall received a grade of F from the National Taxpayers Union, and the organization found that Udall supported their interests only 14% of the time in 2006. Similarly he was found to have supported the interests of Americans for Tax Reform only 5% of the time in 2006. Freedom works, an organization that claims to fight "for lower taxes, less government and more economic freedom for all Americans", listed Udall as supporting their interests 12% of the time in 2005 and 8% of the time in 2006. Follow the link below for a breakdown of Udall's voting record by issue as interpreted by interested organizations.

Tom Udall is not only fairing well with his own party, he is also enjoying strong support from independents and even some Republicans in New Mexico. According to recent data from Rasmussen Reports, Udall has a 27% lead among non-affiliated voters, and he has the support of 18% of the state's Republicans. That last statistic may go far in explaining Rasmussen's assessment that the Democratic candidate has an 80% change of winning the election and becoming a Senator come November.

This is footage of Steve Pearce arguing against H.R. 6515: Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands Act of 2008. The bill was introduced on 7/16/08. Pearce argued against it on 7/17/08, and it failed passage that same day. Pearce argues that the bill is redundant and inhibitory, doubling up on existing procedural rules and creating more red tape that will prevent drilling for domestic oil. Toward the end of his argument, Pearce states "I believe that this bill is not going to increase the amount of domestic energy one bit. I believe it is going to start new processes and delay even by months the process in place right now for the NPRA (National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska)."

Pearce has not only accepted Udall's challenge to hold three televised debates this fall, but he has additionally proposed to have a debate before summer's end. Pearce would like to discuss energy policy and feels the citizens of NM deserve to hear the two candidates debate this issue sooner rather than later. Brian Phillips, a campaign spokesman for Steve Pearce, stated "it really is a disservice to them [the people of NM] that now Congressman Udall refuses to debate us until sometime later in the fall, right before the election."

Due to issues surrounding that "oil field services company", Steve Pearce was determined to be one of the 22 most corrupt members of Congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Pearce failed to report the sale of the company on a financial disclosure form. Additionally Pearce advocated drilling in Otero Mesa while receiving massive campaign contributions from Yates Petroleum, the largest lease holder in Otero Mesa. New Mexico is well represented on CREW's corruption list. Outgoing Sen. Pete V. Domenici, the man whose seat Pearce is vying to fill, made the list, as did Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R).