JOHN EDWARDS.

A member of my family dies, and someone sends me a check to defray the cost of the funeral expenses; but somehow, I use part of the money to do my food shopping; am I doing something wrong?

That will be how some people will look at the case of John Edwards. who has been charged with conspiracy and for breaking political contribution laws.

This seems to be a high profile case, and the consensus is likely to be that Edwards is a public figure and therefore he has to be held accountable for his "misdeeds"; and factually for misusing public funds, which political contributions tend to be.

His defence, so far, is that he has never anticipated in breaking the law, when part of his political war chest happens to be used for personal purposes; intrinsically, as far as this matter is concerned, to spend on a woman he is courting. Therefore, in his view, the intent of misuse cannot be proved.

Mr. Edwards is a very handsome man, and almost every lady in the world will be very happy to have him in her boudoir; and so, as a man, he cannot be blamed for exercising his natural, God given, personal right; to go after the opposite sex, whenever he has the chance.

He is a strong political figure, at least, in regard to the time frame of the case, and his attraction to women has to be enormously great, due to the mere fact that, he is about to become the Vice-President of the United States. Certainly, that alone will make him more attractive to anyone and everyone. He also has a large number of political organizers and aides, and he has to be pleasant to all those people around him.

In one aspect, he needs to be friendly with each one of them; yet, in another aspect, he has to give in at a certain point to the emotional attraction to himself, particularly, if it is coming from a female type working in adjacent proximity.

In an atmosphere such as that, there must surely be some kind of bonding between himself and, especially, his female colleagues, as any real man can tell. Imagine you being in that same situation; how will you handle it; or how will you be able to handle yourself? It is hard to say; isn't it? Controlling your emotions is one thing; but overcoming temptation is another.

To put it another way, as a man, he cannot refuse a good offer, especially when the emotional tendencies of a female has to be so close to him, during a political campaign; he will have the inclination to respond positively; of course. To many, he cannot resist the feelings of that female much longer; but that can result in infidelity, because he is a married man.

Yet, it all boils down to the fact that, part of the money that he is being accused of to have used illegally, is his, if not all of it; and therefore, to many people, it is not for the use of the money that the prosecution is going after him. It is for the dishonesty that he tends to cloak himself in, pretending to the public that he is a person without any similarity of social blemish or character flaw.

In a sense, he has deceived society.

Well, if that is the real reason, then other people will be forced to ask the question; is that really a crime? You be the judge.

However, a great number of people will surmise that, if the case continues and he is convicted, it will be a slap on the face of human nature; yet, if he is allowed to go freely, it will raise some eyebrows, for ethical reasons. Why? It is obvious that he has mistreated another female very badly, namely his real wife, and that will be considered a punishable act indeed; and for that he must be eternally ashamed of himself. A punishment that will be placed on himself by himself, and not by any judiciary court of law.