Guys, we’ve got a problem. It’s not so much the philandering of Anthony Weiner, Arnold Schwartzenegger, John Edwards and Eliot Spitzer. It’s that we can’t have a serious conversation about it. We don’t try to understand the underlying issues.

Women have Oprah, Ellen, The View. Men? We chug a beer, we watch a ballgame. That doesn’t cut it. We can do better.

So, I’m bringing together three of the greatest male political minds in Iowa. Well, actually, they’re just regular dudes who don’t know when to shut-up.

There's Dr. Charles Goldman, cancer surgeon, divorced, now in a meaningful relationship.

We've got Jeffrey Weiss, college instructor, enjoying 15 years of marital . . . bliss?

There's Slacker Jack, radio personality, hoping to land a new girlfriend every time he gets an oil change.

And of course, myself, Ed Fallon, recovering politician, divorced twice, seeking female companion to share life of abject poverty.

Women have had their immensely popular Vagina Monologues. Guys, it’s time for . . . the P-e-n-i-s Dialogues. {Note I'm spelling the “P” word this way to outsmart spam filters, proving that people are still, for now at least, smarter than machines, and providing a modicum of hope for the future of humanity.}

So, for the next three weeks on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm, Slacker, Jeffrey, Charles and I will flap our lips, invite you (guys and gals alike) to join the conversation, and see if we can't solve at least one of the world's most vexing problems.

Monday, we talk with Dr. Charles Goldman about Mercy Medical Center's policy of refusing to hire smokers. Is this unfair to smokers? Why not place a hiring ban on obese people, too? Can a corporation's goal of encouraging personal accountability be achieved in other ways, or is this the inherent contradiction of all employer-based “free market” health insurance? At any rate, Mercy is one of an increasing number of companies nationally that are establishing such a policy toward smokers.

Tuesday, we talk with Angela Tedesco, Chaden Halfhill and Charles Durrett about a cohousing project being developed on Tedesco's farm near Granger. Cohousing is “a type of development that typically clusters homes and leaves jointly owned land for open spaces and a common house for neighborhood dining and gatherings,” as described in a Des Moines Register article today. Durrett joins us by phone but will be here in person on Thursday to speak on “Cohousing, Community and the Value of Custom Neighborhoods” at 7:00 pm, Thursday, July 14th at the Windsor Heights Community Center, 6900 School Street.

Wednesday, it's the “P-e-n-i-s Dialogues (see above).

Thursday, State Senator Rob Hogg joins us to talk about climate change. Rob recently generated a little controversy with a piece he wrote titled “The era of climate disasters has begun.” Is he overstating the problem? Or is the 2008 flood that devastated Rob's hometown of Cedar Rapids a case in point and just the tip of the iceberg?