Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Isaac appears likely to become a hurricane and, for now, is headed in New Orleans’ direction.
* President Obama has already declared an emergency in Louisiana, which releases federal aid to state response efforts.
* Afghanistan: “Two American soldiers were shot and killed by a member of the Afghan Army in eastern Afghanistan on Monday when a dispute broke out during a joint American and Afghan patrol, Afghan officials said.”
* Also in Afghanistan, Taliban insurgents “beheaded 17 Afghans in a rebel-controlled area of southern Afghanistan, officials said Monday.”
* Scary: “Four Army soldiers based in southeast Georgia killed a former comrade and his girlfriend to protect an anarchist militia group they formed that stockpiled assault weapons and plotted a range of anti-government attacks, prosecutors told a judge Monday.”
* The U.S. military has disciplined nine service members “in connection with two separate incidents that deeply strained relations with Afghanistan this year: the incineration of copies of the Koran and the videotaped desecration of enemy corpses.”
* Someone tell Inhofe: “The extent of Arctic sea ice reached a record low Monday, according to the University of Colorado National Snow and Ice Data Center, and is on track to decline further in the next two weeks.”
* The original version of Mitt Romney’s book — without the health care edits — is being included in the Republican National Convention swag bag. It’s very likely little more than an oversight, though as Greg Sargent explained, it speaks to a larger truth about “Romneycare.” * Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) isn’t done dishing details about his source on Romney’s alleged tax-free decade. * Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) quickly deleted a tweet on Friday intended for a 20-year-old woman with the Twitter handle @LuvMy_Kisses. His office insisted it was a staff error, and the senator doesn’t even use Twitter. Vitter is best known for being a “family-values” conservative who hired prostitutes. Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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