Ask Dr. Helen Coping with therapists who are unsympathetic to men, and creating intimacy in ways other than sex are among the issues on the minds of those who wrote in to Dr. Helen following her debut column.

PJM’s advice columnist extraordinaire responds to their questions and invites your feedback.

More Bureaucrats, Please Think you can’t hate anyone more than you hate those government clerks? Think again.

Max Sawicky says that contrary to what one might think, fewer civil servants aren’t neccessarily the answer to more efficient public spending.

Why the London Bombs Failed: Threatswatch discusses the point of failure described by ABC News and finds the plotters came closer to success than the newspaper accounts suggest.

Jogging is "Right Wing": “President Sarkozy has fallen foul of intellectuals and critics who see his passion for jogging as un-French, right-wing and even a ploy to brainwash his citizens,” says the Times Online.

Talking Out of Our Ears: Medgadget describes how sensors emplaced in our ears can detect motions of the tongue, which when played over the teeth like a pointing device can operate devices such as computers or wheelchairs.

"May Allah Pluck Your Eye Out!": Al-Qaeda’s No. 2 leader Ayman Al-Zawahri has issued a new video telling Muslims that if they are not ready for jihad “may Allah pluck your eye out.” (Boston Herald)

Exotic Dancing in a Mosque: No, really. Canadian-Iranian Kamangir has video of an anti-Sunni spoof held in Iran. “The title of the video in YouTube reads “Iran, the enemy of Islam and Muslims”, in Arabic. Somewhere at the middle, the voice sarcastically says “this girl does not have shame!”. But the “girl” is a man.

The French Watergate: This bilingual blog is following the investigation of former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin for framing current President Nicolas Sarkozy. A British politician says on his blog that it is now difficult to convince “people that not all politicians are irredeemably corrupt.”

Domenici: Red State, Hot Air and the Moderate Voice comment on Senator Pete Domenici’s (R-New Mexico) desire to change course in Iraq. Hot Air wonders whether there may soon be enough votes to override a veto.

Islamic Rage Boy Speaks! (Hot Air)

Reclaiming Islam: Sarfraz Manzoor reacts to last week’s terror scare in the UK. “If the problems lie within the Muslim community so do the answers but the seeds of the solutions lie inside the hearts of law-abiding moderate Muslims. The religion I was raised in has been hijacked; it is high time that those of us who recall when being Muslim was about personal conduct not politics challenge those who think what they are doing is in the name of Islam. This requires nothing less than a new articulation of British Muslim identity, a passionately argued and persuasive and optimistic version of what it means to be British and Muslim. It is a version of identity that reflects the way that British Islam is being practised peacefully and quietly every day rather than the poisonous political strain that has intoxicated a small minority.” (Comment is Free)

Re-Starting the Fire: Daniel Finkelstein wants your suggestions for updating the lyrics of Billy Joel’s hit, We Didn’t Start The Fire; names and events in it now end in 1989 with Tiananmen Square.

Canada's Disappearing Nuclear Devices: Of the 76 missing devices, 35 have been confirmed as stolen, and the rest have just disappeared from the system. (Ed Morrissey @ Captain’s Quarters)

Three stories from Africa: “All horrible.” A roundup by Michael Stickings (The Reaction)

A Sign of Desperation: That’s what AJ Strata sees in Zawahiri’s newest tape. “The tape reeks of faux bravado trying to cover up a desperate last ditch call to save al-Qaeda from the anger of the Iraqi Muslim street. But there is no saving al-Qaeda from the justice the muslim street wants from al-Qaeda for all the kiling and torture they committed on Muslims.” (Strata-Sphere)

An Interstate State of Mind: Shaun Mullen marks this week’s anniversary of the Interstate system by reminiscing on his tour across 48 states in the 70s, driving through with a customized Volkswagen bus. (Kiko’s House)

HotAir, MEMRI, Jihad Watch blocked by the Feds? (Robert Spencer @ RWN)

The Summer of Love... For Drugs: “The 1960s, a generation that wanted to hold hands, give peace a chance, smoke dope and change the world, changed it all right: for the worse. America is still suffering the horrible consequences of hippies who thought utopia could be found in joints and intentional disconnect.” (Ted Nugent @ OpinionJournal)

Clinton, Thompson Tied: Hillary Clinton is tied with Fred Thompson in an Election 2008 match-up. Both candidates attract support from 45% of voters. Given a Clinton-Thompson match-up, 5% of voters say they’d pull the lever for some other candidate and 4% are not sure.

Clinton holds a four-point advantage over Mitt Romney (46% to 42%). In that match-up, 9% would prefer some other candidate and 3% are not sure.

Compared to our previous survey of these matchups, conducted early in June, Clinton has lost a net five points against both Thompson and Romney. In May, Clinton led both of these GOP hopefuls by three points. (Rasmussen)

Gephardt endorses Hillary: “Former House Majority Leader and 2004 presidential contender Dick Gephardt (D-MO) will endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) this afternoon in her bid for the presidency, according a senior campaign aide.” (Raw Story)

Wanna Hack the iPhone? If you’re a Windows user you can: renowned hacker ‘DVD Jon’ has developed a way to enable iPhones to be used as an iPod with WiFi connectivity yet without the need for AT&T’s 2-year compulsory service deal. (Techlogg)

Fundraising's Future: “THE past and the future dueled with one another over the past six months as the Obama and Clinton campaigns each worked to raise funds for the coming election - and the future won.” (Dick Morris @ NY Post)

A Cuban Death Rehearsal: “With Fidel Castro apparently on the verge of death, I returned to Cuba to visit old friends. Little has changed over recent years and life for most Cubans remains harsh. Yet western visitors continue to romanticize the place.” (Bella Thomas @ Prospect)

Novak Dishes Out: In his memoir, The Prince of Darkness, 50 Years Reporting in Washington, he writes on Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame, and several of his colleagues like Bill Kristol and David Corn. (Washington Whispers)

Bloggerebrity: How and why does a humble blogger cross that magic line into becoming a celebrity? Walking Tall contemplates the burning question.

Why The London Bombs Failed: A medical syringe used as part of the firing mechanism caused a malfunction. (ABC News)

It's Not the Kid's Fault: Roger Simon has sympathy for Al Gore III. Al Gore Jr. is another story.

“The fact that his son was arrested with a pharmacy’s worth of painkillers in his car (plus a little grass) is no surprise. If the Gores were my parents, I’d want to medicate myself too.”

Because Visiting Cuba is So Last Decade: Michael Moore is going to take his latest film to… Iran. (ISNA)

Splitting Hairs: John Edward’s stylist tells all, including the story one haircut that cost the Democratic hopeful a whopping $1250, due to the hair artist’s travel expenses and missed days of work. (Hot Air)

Not Just Fireworks and Barbecues: Neo-neocon spent her Independence Day contemplating the true meaning of liberty.

'For God's sake please stop!' -- Africans to Bono: “Africa has never loomed as large in the popular imagination of the West as it does today, thanks to the Jeffrey Sachs-Bono ambition to Make Poverty History, and of course to Angelina Jolie and Madonna’s commitment to adopting African babies.

Their message of hope is one that seems to deny Africans a role as agents of their own transformation. We can save Darfur. We can save Africans from disease. We can even save Africans from themselves. Africa can be saved if we just try hard enough.

It is true that from the villages of Darfur to the slums of Soweto, thousands of people on this continent die unnecessary deaths each day, but Africa is home to 900 million. Tragedy is a small part of a much larger and more complex story.” (American.com)

Surrender or Escape: That’s what arrested leader Abdul Aziz of the besieged Lal Masjid mosque is advising his student followers still holed up in the Islamabad building. Another 150 students of the madrassas run by the mosque gave themselves up after the Pakistani soldiers surrounding the building detonated a series of loud explosives. Continuing updates here.

Abdul Aziz tried to unsuccessfully escape himself, disguised in a woman’s burqa. Maybe it was the beard that gave him away?

The Headline Of the Year: Glenn Reynolds has found it.