The Marines have banned Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, subject to exceptions for "mission-critical need." Staying in touch with family back home while fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is not mission critical.

When Goldman Sachs' chief mouthpiece told us a couple of weeks ago that no one at the bank would be permitted to celebrate the firm's blockbuster second quarter, he wasn't kidding. The Post reports today that Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, has instructed all employees of the firm "to avoid making big-ticket, high-profile purchases."

Barack Obama was born on this day in 1961, to Stanley Ann Dunham and Barack Obama, Sr. and Malcolm X and a communist named Frank, in Kenya. Happy Birthday, Mr. President! Or, as your parents would say, عيد ميلاد سعيد

The trustee for Bernie Madoff's victims filed a $45 million suit against Ruth Madoff last week. He hasn't succeeded in getting any money yet, but he has succeeded in further humiliating Ruth Madoff! She is basically a grounded teenager now.

Sienna Miller stepping out of the Gramercy Park Hotel ... Jonah Hill leaving the Bowery Hotel ... Adam Brody and Jessica Szohr leaving dinner at Cafeteria in Chelsea ... Hilary Duff filming scenes for Gossip Girl in SoHo ... Rihanna arriving at the 34th Street Heliport ... Lou Reed eating breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien in the West Village ... Jennifer Aniston walking downtown ... Snoop Dogg arriving at the Trump International Hotel ... Julia Roberts shooting scenes for Eat, Pray, Love in the East Village ... Channing Tatum and wife Jenna Dewan posing for photographs outside their hotel ... Shia LaBeouf walking by himself in SoHo ... and Drew Barrymore hiding her face from photographers after eating lunch at the Bowery Hotel.

Last weekend, the White House made a subtle adjustment to the "issues" page of its web site, eliminating any claims of Barack Obama having accomplished anything and changing it to, basically, "we're working on it."

It's only been a week since Janice Min actually exited Us Weekly. So how's it going now that the magazine's longtime editor-in-chief has left the building and the tabloid's No. 2, Michael Steele, is in charge? Judging by the fact Us is now soliciting cover ideas from its Twitter followers, we're going to say things could be going better. [Twitter]

You probably don't even notice when you get into a cab and the driver is breezily chatting away with his wife in Queens or his cousin in Dhaka, but he could be putting your life in danger. According to a survey by the National Highway Transportation Board, drivers who talk on the phone are four times as likely to cause a car crash. But good luck trying to get your cell phone-happy driver to put down his phone and focus on getting you to your destination in one piece.

Michael Douglas' son Cameron—co-star of the unfortunately-named It Runs In The Family—was busted last night in the Gansevoort Hotel for trying to sell a shitload of crystal meth.

Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon said he was "abused worse than the [Guantanamo] detainees" by Miami Herald reporter Carol Rosenberg's "harsh invective" questioning his masculinity. But the Herald's investigation has cleared her. Suck it, Navy bitch! That's what she said. [MH]

If you walked down West 18th Street this morning and you saw a long line of women standing outside the Metropolitan Pavilion dressed in outfits from 1999 (or crouched on the ground applying makeup), it's because producers of the Sex and the City sequel are holding an open casting call for extras until 4pm today:

Today in celebrity mishandlings of proffered fame: A star singer who can't afford a car, and a sad brother who will wait, forever, for that apocryphal fan to come along for an autograph. He's still waiting.

Famed architect Charles Gwathmey died yesterday at the age of 71. The cause was esophageal cancer, according to his stepson. [NYT]

• Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Thani, a member of Qatar's royal family, appears to be turning bullish on the Manhattan real estate market: He just raised the price of his apartment at Trump Park Avenue by $4 million. The three-bedroom pad, which al-Thani bought for $6.1 million in 2005 and put on the market for $14 million in 2008, was reduced to $10 million in February. It's now priced at $14 million again with broker Carrie Chiang. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• Developer Alexandre Bosoni and his wife, Maria, have closed on a penthouse at 170 East End Avenue that they went into contract to purchase in 2006. The couple paid $11.6 million for the 4,900-square-foot pad. [Cityfile]
• Valerie Rozen, the daughter of former Goldman Sachs partner Bob Mnuchin, paid $4.8 million for a sixth-floor apartment at 433 East 74th Street. [Cityfile]
• Actress Tuesday Weld has dropped the price of her mansion in Montauk. The 1.2-acre waterfront estate, which went on the market for $9.9 million two years ago, is now priced at $7.75 million. [Newsday, T&C]

IRS authorities are after Nick Cage, Clooney shows off his new lady-friend, Jude Law met the mother of his latest child on the street at 4am, Britney Spears has a new do and a Sopranos movie is in the works.

Per a tipster: "Yesterday I was walking up Madison Ave and I saw Jay-Z and his bride. It appeared they just had lunch at Nello's. Armed with security... Beyoncé looked stunning!" Spot someone famous (or not-so-famous) yourself? Direct your pics to tips@cityfile.com.

The 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, turns 48 today. Judith Kaye, the first woman to serve as chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, is 71. Fashion designer Anna Sui is 57. Robert A.F. Thurman—Columbia professor, Buddhist scholar, and father of Uma—is turning 68. Robert Lieber, the city's deputy mayor for economic development, is 55. Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales turns 54. Legendary White House reporter Helen Thomas is 89. Retired pitcher Roger Clemens is turning 47. Actor Billy Bob Thornton is 54. NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon is turning 38. Law & Order's Richard Belzer is 65. Denim designer Scott Morrison is 37. Frank Vincent, the actor who played Phil Leotardo on The Sopranos, is 70. And '90s model Marcus Schenkenberg turns 41 today.

• Cameron Douglas, the son of Michael Douglas, was arrested at the Gansevoort Hotel last week. The crime? He had about $18,000 worth of meth with him, which he was planning to sell. [NYP]
• Mischa Barton's return to the party scene this past weekend wasn't entirely drama-free. She got upset and talked "frantically" as she recounted an episode with a stalker. Then she had a drink spilled on her when she went to a party at the Cooper Square Hotel. [P6]
• So much for Bethenny Frankel's plans to star in her own reality show. She says she'll be back for the third season of Real Housewives of NYC. [People]

Have you seen the videos of angry conservative activists disrupting the hell out of health care reform town hall meetings? Well, as the Daily Show points out, some of their material came from the folksy vegetables on Fox & Friends.

So you know how the newspaper industry has long been whining incessantly about the internet killing journalism? Well, this isn't the first time they've made such claims! They went nuts during the 1920s and 1930s over the threat from radio.