Aspiring clown Rita Reardon performs during a clowning workshop at an open call for new clowns held at the Ringling Bros. Clown College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On Sunday Maureen Dowd lifted a passage from a blog post by TPM's Josh Marshall and used it in her Times column without attribution, something she claimed was accidental. Finally, Marshall has addressed the matter.

Well here's a sort of amazing story—-Fox News' Greta Van Susteren recently saved the life of Wonkette founding editor Ana Marie Cox on a train!

You know how every so often Gawker chides all of you into filling out a survey so that the advertising department can have a clear snapshot of the site's readership? Well, the results are in!

Remember Ted Haggard, the defrocked, gay-hating evangelical pastor who was busted having meth-fueled sex with a male prostitute, then allegedly cured himself of gayness? These days he's Twittering up a storm about American Idol!

At least the Twitterati's woes were entertaining today: The mayor of San Francisco talked about butts; Paul Carr named Julia Allison's new scandal and a newspaper editor swore oddly at the difficulty of blogging.

Today Michael Steele laid out his vision for a teabaggy Republican future. MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell covered the speech and either found something extremely funny about Steele's words, or someone on the set, ugh, broke wind.

• Mayor Bloomberg will be joined at City Hall tomorrow by Anna Wintour, Vera Wang, and Macy's chief Terry Lundgren to announce an event called Fashion's Night Out. As part of the Sept. 10 extravaganza, stores across town will stay open until midnight and host parties that will—gasp!—be open to the public. [NYT]
• Anna has a busy day tomorrow. In addition to the City Hall thing, she'll also be at Columbia to attend Bee Shaffer's graduation. [Fashionologie]
• The fashion, parties, and sheer stupidity you're missing at the Cannes Film Festival at the moment. [NYT, WWD]
• Michelle wore an Alaïa dress and Thakoon jacket to last night's ABT gala. [AP]
• You may want to try haggling the next time you're at Lord & Taylor. [NYM]
• Burberry backed away from its signature plaid a few years ago over concerns it was way too overexposed. But now they're bringing it back. [WSJ]
• Victoria Beckham is a big fan of the Birkin bag. She has 100 of them. [P6]

Aneesh Chopra might have been embarrassed by a medical-records breach in Virginia, but his nomination to White House Chief Technology Officer has been better secured. He can thank the senator on whom he lavished donations.

Twitter has started bombarding users with unwanted text messages. First it happened to us; then we got an email tip; now there are reports on the microblogging platform itself. How costly will this get?

• Water Taxi Beach opens at the South Street Seaport this weekend. [GS]
• Danny Meyer has decided against bidding on Tavern on the Green's lease. But Seth Greenberg and Dean Poll are still in the running. [NYP]
• Alan Richman's list of "the 25 best pizzas you'll ever eat" is online. [GQ]
• A drug racket that served up Ecstasy, Special K, and GHB to clubgoers at places like Pacha and Mansion has been broken up by the cops. [NYDN]
• A look around The Brooklyn Star, Joaquin Baca's new restaurant. [Eater]
• An amusing chat with Chris Santos, chef/owner of Stanton Social. [Decider]
• Be on alert: Starbucks biggest marketing campaign ever is underway. [NYT]

Julia Allison sounds so excited: The professional "lifecaster" is headed for "an adventure" at Sea World. As it happens, she's also showing other bloggers how not to make money in a recession.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today that Ted Kennedy's cancer is in remission and he will return to work in the Senate in short order.

[The new fountain at Washington Square Park is finally open, after 18 months of construction. The new fountain, 23 feet from the original, now aligns with Fifth Avenue and the arch. Image via j_bary's Flickr]

NYC's "Fashion's Night Out" stimulus plan: "[Stores] are being asked to stay open, as late as midnight, and to throw parties that will be open to the public." Will they also give out money? [NYT]

Radio host Michael Savage was banned from England on account of his vileness, and now he's calling Rush Limbaugh a "fraud" and a "phony" for not coming to his defense.

An army of A-listers showed to last night's 69th annual American Ballet Theatre spring gala (and, if they were lucky, got a glimpse of Michelle Obama dressed in a black Alaia dress and Thakoon jacket). Among those in attendance: Anna Wintour, Carolina and Reinaldo Herrera, Chuck Schumer, Christine and Steve Schwarzman, David and Julia Koch, Caroline Kennedy and Ed Schlossberg, Calvin Klein, Francisco Costa, Ivanka Trump, Caryn and Jeff Zucker, Annette and Matt Lauer, Al Roker and Deborah Roberts, Lorne Michaels, Desiree Rogers, Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy, Renee Zellweger, Sigourney Weaver, Tory Burch, Iman, Grace Hightower, Rachel Roy, Robbie Myers, Hamish Bowles, Renee Fleming, Lisa Perry, Muffie Potter Aston, Amanda Brooks, Peter and Jamee Gregory, Yvonne Force Villareal, Marina Rust Connor, Marjorie Gubelmann, Nina Griscom and Leonel Piraino, Karen and Richard LeFrak, Blaine Trump, Harry Evans, Hilary Rhoda, Coco Rocha, Mariska Hargitay, Lindsay Price, Kim Raver, Ruben Toledo and Isabel Toledo, Dree Hemingway, Gillian and Sylvester Miniter, and Kelly Ripa and husband Mark Consuelos (left), a former dancer himself. [PMc, Wireimage, Style.com]

Black. Hipsters. Blipsters. Is your brain leaking out of your ears, socioculturally speaking, at the very idea? Who are they? Why are they? Fortunately there's a new article that tries—and fails—to provide answers:

Ha. Brad Grey, the forever-head of Paramount Pictures, is divorcing his wife of 25 years, Jill. The ex-missus just signed the papers and, out of either amity or cruel spite, she added a smiley face.

The Observer reports today that embattled and failed Lehman Brothers exec Dick Fuld is selling his massive Park Avenue home for around $32 million. On the market for a mansion? Let's take a look inside.