• More on the clothes and behind-the-scenes drama at Milan Fashion Week. [IHT, Reuters, Telegraph]
• Pop magazine has a new editor: Dasha Zhukova (left), Russian fashion/art "It" girl and girlfriend of billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich. The new editorial board includes the likes of Julia Restoin Roitfeld and Daphne Guinness. [Guardian]
• Oscar dress knockoffs are headed your way, naturally. [NYP]
• Pamela Anderson, who stars in Vivienne Westwood's new ad campaign, will walk the catwalk for her in Paris next week. [Vogue UK]
• McQueen for Target doesn't appear to be selling all that well. [Racked]
• The woman believed to be the highest-grossing saleswoman in Saks' history is now on trial and is facing up to 25 years in prison. [NYT]
• Anna Wintour smiled in Milan today. Really. [FWD]

White House general counsel Gregory Craig has seized control of Obama's vetting process after a series of nominees with unpaid taxes. But his wife's business may also have avoided taxes. Who vets the vetter?

Jim Berhle's Kartoon Kats present a message from the 37-year-old robotic overlord of Louisiana! Enjoy!

[An embattled, but still beloved!, President Obama deplanes Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base today. My opinion? Get over it, America! Image via AP]

Every week we get lots of comments, some of which we just can't let through. Because they're dumb or silly or, usually, crazy. Here are our favorite lost voices from this week.

We are happy with his magical budget, and some of his hires, but let's not kid ourselves: Obama's new Iraq plan is pretty McCain-ish, right? So maybe we'll go join the Enraged Liberal Blogger PAC!

Micro-celebrity Julia Allison doesn't want Gawker to know about the super-super secret birthday parties she and Randi Zuckerberg (of the Facebook Zuckerbergs) are throwing in San Francisco tonight and New York tomorrow. So she invited us.

The answering machine at the Water Mill home of billionaire Steve Schwarzman and his wife Christine.

Oh, Twitter! Even senators say the darnedest things on the dynamic compendium of Internet users' stupidest thoughts. "How does one manage a beaver?" asked John McCain mid-pork tirade. More tweets that left us speechless:

Jindal lied about a dead hero too, so it's extra fun! Sheriff Harry Lee of Jefferson Parish organized volunteers during Katrina to rescue residents trapped on rooftops. This was supposedly against some of that damned bureaucratic red tape or something, and in Jindal's telling he marched into Lee's office and said if the rowboats didn't go out NOW they could just arrest the governor, or something. Well, this was a lie, because Jindal wasn't even in Jefferson Parish when the flood waters were that high. His office admitted that the story was bullshit, then tried to cover for Bobby by claiming that they meant that the dramatic phone conversation happened days later.

• Masa is cutting prices. The set menu at Masa Takayama's sushi temple went from $450 to $400, but it has nothing to do with the recession, okay? [BN]
• Despite the economy, several pricey new venues are opening anyway. [WSJ]
• Speaking of pricey: Daniel will host a truffle-laden dinner on March 8. It's $1,000 per person, although the proceeds go to Citymeals-on-Wheels. [GS]
• Is Restaurant Week going to last forever? Probably. [NYT/City Room]
• A roundup of the eateries that closed this past week. [Eater]

Given the impact she's had on the fashion industry—"Our shining hope for the future!" says Isaac Mizrahi—you won't be surprised to hear a Michelle Obama style guide is coming out in a few weeks. Glamour has a few pages from Michelle Style: Celebrating the First Lady of Fashion, which comes out on May 5 and features "designer sketches, interviews, and style tips" by the likes of Carolina Herrera, Sonia Rykiel, Jason Wu, Catherine Malandrino, Tommy Hilfiger, Behnaz Sarafpour, Isabel Toledo, and Tory Burch. "Michelle Obama is a true independent. She isn't locked into wearing couture or super expensive clothes," explains Nicole Miller. (She is, however, locked into wearing whatever happens to be carried by Ikram Goldman's store in Chicago, but that's another story.) A few sample pages are below.

"A new study finds that people in red states consume more pornography than their blue-state peers." [TDB]

When did the New York Times Op-Ed page decide to revert to the loopy environmentalism of the 1970s? The latest commercial disguised as a broadside features an author who wants to change the way we wee.

The 85-year-old Tonight Show sidekick and enormous check courier has been laid up in serious condition with pneumonia and other ailments, his rep announced today. And just when he was having a Cash4Gold comeback.

It got a bit nasty at a pre-trial hearing yesterday for Anthony Marshall, the son of the late Brooke Astor, who stands accused of defrauding his socialite mother in her final years. Both an attorney for Marshall and the prosecutor "lobbed insults" and accused the other side of "playing to the press," a dust-up that concluded with assistant DA Joel Seidemann shouting "Don't touch me!" and "Get your hands off me" at Marshall's lawyer John Cuti. The two patched things up at the end of the session and shook hands, but if this is any indication of what the actual trial will be like when it begins in March 23, you may want to make sure you have some popcorn ready. [NYDN]

In this clip, Chris Matthews ignores everything Darrell Issa says except two words: "Democrat party." And Chris Matthews is sick of this shit. Chris's fuse seems to have gotten pretty short lately!

Sure, it's not quite as bold as stealing the statue next to his pool or wrapping his home in toilet paper, but lest you think residents of Palm Beach have forgotten about Bernie Madoff, well, they clearly haven't. [Page2Live]

The Rocky Mountain News has rolled the presses for the last time. Here's your Media Crack another-one-bites-the-dust edition:

Gwyneth Paltrow ducking into an SUV in the financial district ... Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany walking with their son and dog... Alec Baldwin and Steve Buscemi shooting scenes for 30 Rock in Long Island City ... Keri Russell shopping with her husband ... Matthew Broderick opening a car door for son James outside their Village townhouse ... Katie Holmes carrying a stack of fashion magazines ... Kevin Kline standing on the set of The Extra Man ... and Jeremy Piven leaving the Cort Theatre on West 48th Street after seeing Your Welcome America.