For those of you sweltering in the East, here's Martha and the Vandellas and Heat Wave:

Below the fold is the Who performing "Heat Wave" in Germany in the 60's.

The war in Lebanon is escalating. Israel has captured 7 Hezbollah soldiers in Baalbek, Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold, and taken them to Israel.

The BBC's Bethany Bell in Jerusalem says many in Israel expect the fighting to intensify over the next few days. Israel launched the current offensive after Hezbollah militants seized two of its soldiers in a cross-border raid.

Another BBC analyst says despite what Condoleezza Rice said today about a cease-fire by the end of the week, it's not likely.

Did Ms Rice misread the Israeli mood, which seems to be more committed than perhaps some optimistic outsiders have realised? ....Much depends on what the US does, but Condoleezza Rice herself is in a difficult position. She has in effect promised but delivery is uncertain. Will she be sidelined by a President Bush unwavering in his support for Israel?

by TChris

The conflict between reporters who want to protect their sources and prosecutors searching for leakers is in the news again. So is Judith Miller, and again the reporters are losing in court.

Someone told Miller and another reporter, Philip Shenon, that the government was poised to seize the assets of two Islamic charities. The charities were allegedly tipped to the government's plan when the reporters contacted them to get their reactions to the upcoming raid. Prosecutors want to know who tipped the reporters.

In a 2-1 decision, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the government's interest in learning the identity of the leaker outweighs the interest of a free press in protecting its sources.

A few weeks ago Lewis "Scooter" Libby notified the court it would seek to introduce the testimony of a memory expert at trial. In March, Harvard psychology professor Daniel L. Schacter told NBC News he was Libby's expert, which a member of Team Libby confirmed.

Yesterday, Libby filed his "Rule 702" advisement of the proposed expert's testimony and the bases and reasons for it. The expert is not Dr. Schacter but Robert Bjork from UCLA. The New York Sun has more.

Surely this should have been the final blow to Katherine Harris' senate campaign.

The state Republican Party bluntly told Rep. Katherine Harris that she couldn't win this fall's Senate election and that the party wouldn't support her campaign, a letter obtained Monday by The Associated Press shows.....The letter said: "Katherine, though it causes us much anguish, we have determined that your campaign faces irreparable damage. We feel that we have no other choice but to revoke our support.

"The polls tell us that no matter how you run this race, you will not be successful in beating Bill Nelson, who would otherwise be a vulnerable incumbent if forced to face a stronger candidate," it said.

But no, Harris could care less. The day after receiving the letter in May she placed her name on the September primary ballot. She says those that signed the letter were pressured into doing so.

Received by e-mail:

The Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review is publishing its first ever article written by a prison inmate, Thomas C. O'Bryant, who is a jailhouse lawyer serving two consecutive life sentences in prison without hope of release. Having taught himself the law from prison, O'Bryant has represented himself and other inmates in numerous criminal and civil lawsuits in state and federal courts over the past ten years.

In his law review article, O'Bryant describes the difficult process that he and other indigent inmates must endure to challenge their state convictions. O'Bryant argues that the combination of federal laws and stringent prison conditions make it impossible to challenges wrongful convictions effectively. O'Bryant describes his own case, in which his lawyer assured him that if he pled guilty, he would be eligible for release after ten years, even though he discovered from prison that he would never be eligible for release.

The entire summer issue of the Journal, including O'Bryants article, is available here.

Mel Gibson has entered rehab for alcoholism treatment. He has also issued a statement denying he is an anti-semite and asking to meet with Jewish leaders of the community.

Please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.

I'm not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

Unlike his apology of the other day, this one directly acknowledges his hateful comments towards Jews:

An era may be coming to an end. Cuban leader Fidel Castro handed over the reins of power Monday to his brother Raoul Castro following surgery. Apparently, the 79 year old Fidel, who has outasted nine U.S. Presidents, developed complications.

White House reaction:

White House spokesman Peter Watkins said: ''We are monitoring the situation. We can't speculate on Castro's health, but we continue to work for the day of Cuba's freedom.'' The State Department declined to comment Monday night.

Major General Geoffrey Miller, former commander of Guantanamo, has resigned. You can read his letter here. (pdf.)

Miller chose to retire without seeking promotion and a third star, in large part because his legacy has been tarnished by allegations of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, according to military officials and congressional sources. Miller had hoped to retire in February, but his departure was delayed because members of the Senate Armed Services Committee wanted to question him while he was still in uniform about his role in implementing harsh interrogation techniques at the two prisons.

Miller was allowed to retire only after he assured members of the Senate panel in writing that he would make himself available to testify if called. Congressional sources from both political parties said yesterday that they were not satisfied with several investigations into Miller's actions while he was commander at Guantanamo Bay and are still skeptical of his truthfulness in Senate testimony after the Abu Ghraib abuse surfaced in spring 2004.

When is a website liable for posting nasty stuff about other people? Take a look at Don't Date Him Girl, a website that allows women to post trashy stuff about men they think have cheated on them, as a warning to other women. (You can search their site here to see if you are listed.)

Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney Todd Hollis wasn't amused when he was listed. He sued Tasha Joseph, the website owner, two other women, one of whom he alleges wrote the initial post, another he says wrote a follow-up post, and five unnamed "Does" who posted or commented about him on the site. The complaint is here (pdf). How Appealing has been following the case and posted links to the website owner's Motion to Dismiss (pdf) and accompanying affidavit (pdf).

Now, according to How Appealing,

Bump and Update: More tales from the Twilight Zone about the TalkLeft content that disappeared down the rabbit hole. I've been working all day getting TalkLeft back on track (a big thanks to TChris for all his posting). Here's what happened. The hosting company moved TalkLeft on July 26 to a different server and didn't notify me. They left TalkLeft on both servers, so the only way I had of figuring out something was wrong was when I uploaded some pictures and pdf files to the server and they didn't show up on the site.

They moved the server because for the past two weeks I had been telling them that TalkLeft was running really slow and inexplicably would go down for 15 minute periods. Alexa says TalkLeft loads slower than 90% of other sites on the internet. So I asked them to check into it. They did and told me nothing was wrong on their end and I should have someone check the applications and Movable Type templates on TalkLeft. I hired someone to do this at $100 an hour. After three days, he told me nothing was wrong with the templates or applications and made some suggestions for speeding up the site, and said he believed it was a problem with the server.

All of the trial exhibits in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui are now online at the court's website. You can access them here. (hat tip How Appealing.)