PORKER, BUSTED: Ted Stevens has been indicted: “Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, has been indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home. Stevens, 84, has been dogged by a federal investigation into whether he pushed for fishing legislation that also benefited his son, an Alaska lobbyist.”

Hmm. Didn’t I suggest to the Republicans a while back that they needed to encourage him to resign? Now it’s a bit late.

UPDATE: Reader Jo Schroeder isn’t impressed:

Why can’t the Feds make real convictions on real crimes? Now it’s just False Statements. What a crock

Yes, as my colleague Peter Morgan noted in the Northwestern University Law Review some years ago (It’s not on the Web, alas), the False Statements Act is an overused weapon in the prosecutorial arsenal. Which isn’t to say that Stevens isn’t a sleaze . . . .

And reader Vic Havens comments:

Unlike Rep. Jefferson (D-LA), Sen. Stevens (R-AK) will be pressured to resign by his party fellow-members. Unlike Rep. Jefferson (D-LA), Sen. Stevens (R-AK) will resign.

Brendan Loy, meanwhile, predicts widespread blogger schadenfreude on both the left and right.

MORE: RedState: Ted Stevens Must Resign.

JOHN TIERNEY: Ten things to scratch from your worry list:

For most of the year, it is the duty of the press to scour the known universe looking for ways to ruin your day. The more fear, guilt or angst a news story induces, the better. But with August upon us, perhaps you’re in the mood for a break, so I’ve rounded up a list of 10 things not to worry about on your vacation.

Read the whole thing, which is indeed a welcome breath of fresh air.

ADDRESSING CONFUSION over eggs and health.

APTERA WILL START PRODUCTION:

Aptera Motors announced today that the company has raised more than $24 million at the close of its Series C round of venture funding. The new funds will be used to start initial production of its Aptera Typ-1, a radically different vehicle designed to marry advanced aerodynamics with light-weight composite technology creating an incredibly powerful, yet extremely safe vehicle that is a joy to drive. Additionally, the company plans to use the newly raised funds for a new manufacturing facility located in Vista, Calif., just a short distance from the company’s present headquarters in Carlsbad.

I’ve mentioned the Aptera before. More on the car here. I’d seriously consider buying one, but as of now they’re only selling them in California.

IN THE MAIL: Michael Walters’ The Shadow Walker. Murder in Ulan Bator.

UNVEILING THE FIRST PRACTICAL JETPACK: Looks a bit large for actual practicality, but maybe it’s progress.

HE COULD BE RIGHT: “The era of carbon craziness is almost over.”

ILYA SOMIN ON GUN RIGHTS, POST-HELLER. (Link is PDF, but the piece isn’t long.)

UPDATE: Heller files a followup lawsuit against DC’s “massive resistance” policy on firearms.

CLAIRE BERLINSKI: Reuters Whitewashes Terrorism in Turkey.

MAPPING DISEASE DATA, collaboratively.

REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.

OIL DRILLING: Reid Plan Splits Dems. “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has split the Democratic front opposed to drilling with a plan that would open new areas for exploration. Reid’s proposal was meant to insulate Senate Democratic candidates from public anger over gas prices. Instead, it has created a divide with liberal colleagues and drawn fire from senior House Democrats.”

AT TAXPROF: The Tax Foundation refutes all eight points of an anti-Obama tax screed that is circulating via the Internet and email.

THE HILL: Reid Plan Splits Dems: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has split the Democratic front opposed to drilling with a plan that would open new areas for exploration. Reid’s proposal was meant to insulate Senate Democratic candidates from public anger over gas prices. Instead, it has created a divide with liberal colleagues and drawn fire from senior House Democrats.”

Plus, more problems: Sen. Reid Thwarted On Bundle Of Bills. Reid hasn’t had a good year.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Why Do Europeans Love Obama?

POLLS: Now it’s McCain who’s ahead, though by an insignificant margin.

Yesterday the Gallup Tracking Poll showed Obama ahead by 9 points (49-40). Earlier today (Monday) that dropped to Obama ahead by 8 points (48-40). Both were of registered voters.

Now Gallup/USA Today released a new poll of LIKELY voters, showing a 4 point lead for McCain, his first lead in any major poll since early May.

The switch from registered to likely voters explains most of the difference.

Yet this jumping around does not inspire confidence in Gallup.

I suspect that polling this race is even iffier than polling in general.

IS ANYTHING SACRED?

Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv was lambasted for printing the note that Obama placed in the Western Wall, allegedly stolen by a Yeshiva student. “Notes which are placed in the Western Wall are between the person and his Maker; Heaven forbid that one should read them or use them in any way,” said the Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall. “This sacrilegious action deserves sharp condemnation and represents a desecration of the holy site.”

But according to a statement from Ma’ariv yesterday, the Obama campaign actually leaked the note to reporters before Obama even placed it in the wall. Yediot Aharonot, Israel’s most popular daily, apparently also received a copy of the note in advance but decided not to print it.

Sigh. Read the whole thing.

VIRGIN GALACTIC rolls out Mother Ship.

POLITICAL CLEANSING at Wikipedia. “This is disgraceful behavior on the part of Wikipedia, which is demonstrating bias that errs on the side of laughable. But we should be grateful. This censorship reminds us never to trust anyone.”

JACK LAIL: It’s not the camera, it’s the journalism.

They’re getting a lot of mileage out of an awfully cheap video camera this week, proving his point.

MICHAEL TOTTEN: The Bin Ladens of the Balkans, Part II.

TIGERHAWK: A Short Note on Casualties.

WHAT IS THE ARAB WORLD’S PROBLEM? Lee Smith review’s Ken Pollack’s new book, A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East, and comments:

In recent years, former CIA analyst and Clinton-administration National Security Council staffer Kenneth Pollack has found himself so close to Bush administration Middle East policies—like regime change in Iraq and Gen. David Petraeus’ surge strategy—that it’s hardly surprising he’d now like to put some distance between himself and an unpopular White House. Thus, in A Path out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East, Pollack adopts a countermeasure perfected over the last several years by Arab liberals concerned that any association with Bush is likely to lose them respect, if not their freedom or their lives: trash the White House pre-emptively and then restate the general principles of its Middle East policy.

I suspect we’ll see a lot of that in coming years, followed eventually by an “everyone knew this all along” conventional wisdom. On the other hand, it’s not working well enough to prevent lefties from posting angry screeds in the reader review section.

JACK LAIL on hateful comments on newspaper websites.