When Time.com contributor-of-something Ana Marie Cox told her husband, Congressional Quarterly editor Chris Lehmann, that she'd be reviewing the new book, Right Is Wrong, from Arianna Huffington – a regular on the same party circuit as Cox and with whom Cox had discussed potential contributing to the Huffington Post – "he asked if I thought that might have an impact on our friendship."

And not whether it might impact Cox's ability to write write an objective review of Arianna's book for The Observer.

STATUS CHANGE Time.com Washington editor Ana Marie Cox leaked that she was leaving her post, to become a "contractor" for the magazine, by updating her Facebook status. "It’s a change in status, not a change in affiliation," says a Time spokesperson, but Facebook doesn't know the difference. [Calderone]

Twenty-three-year-old Ezra Klein is a staff writer at The American Prospect, has written for a number of self-important publications, and also regularly appears on MSNBC's Hardball. Earlier this month, on his Twitter page, Klein added "mocking NBC News mainstay Tim Russert" to his superlatives: "Fuck Tim Russert. Fuck him with a spiky acid-tipped dick."

That didn't go over so well, and when the controversy bubbled up, he recanted his msg; it was just a joke, he insisted. He then removed his Twitter page.

Now it's Time.com's Ana Marie Cox, who also appears regularly on MSNBC, that's getting in a Twitter of trouble, also for making fun of Russert.

"Russert clearly taking C Matthew's medication," she types out, "resembles a manic-depressive jellybean."

So begs the question: With all this NBC-hating, when is their cable news network going to ban them from appearing? (Then again, we're still invited on, so, never?)

• Jessica Alba doesn't work out. Doesn't diet. Doesn't prevaricate. Ever.

• Don't bee afraid of using your cellphone at those fancy garden parties. It was actually a virus that was killing all the bumblebees.

• Breaking: Another conservative Republican candidate is formally opposed to same-sex marriage.

• Amy Winehouse's father generously offers to take control of her bank account.

• Former underwear model Antonio Sabato Jr. is looking for a lovely lady who doesn't mind getting up early, giving up alcohol and riding on the back of a Harley.

Apparently, not every sex writer has managed to equal the shoe-loving (and Dave Zinczenko tolerating) TONY columnist, Julia Allison. We're hearing reports that Jessica Cutler, best known for documenting her (frequent!) Senate sexploits in now-defunct blog Washingtonienne, hasn't a cent to her name.

Which is a shame, seeing as Jess (unlike Ana Marie Cox) also happens to be named as a defendant on a substantial—and rather high profile—lawsuit..

NY FindLaw has the scoop, as well as an informative recap:

Jessica Cutler, the former Senate aide whose online sex diary landed her a book deal and a Playboy photo spread but got her kicked off Capitol Hill, has filed for bankruptcy.

Cutler, a former aide to ex-Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, created the "Washingtonienne" blog in 2004 and began posting racy details about her sex life with six men, including a Senate colleague and "a few generous older gentlemen" who she said paid many of her living expenses.

But her story doesn't end there.

CONTINUED »

Well isn't today's New York Observer just cuuuute! The salmon weekly has given both members of media power couple Ana Marie Cox (Time) and Chris Lehmann (CQ Weekly) a byline this week. And they didn't even have to share an article!

Cox and Lehmann, of course, were most recently seen in the battle with Nation scribe and Media Matters blogger Eric Alterman — with Chris coming to Ana's defense in an open letter after Alterman dared accuse his wife (to simplify things) of not being worthy of a Time staff position. (She's Time.com's political editor. And a party crasher. And innocent party in a legal matter.)

So what are Ana and Chris using their column inches for? To hatchet job Alterman?

CONTINUED »

For those of you worried that former Wonkette (and current Time editrix) Ana Mare Cox would be silenced—or worse, fined—over the Jessica Cutler sex fiasco, you can rest easy tonight.

(Optional recap: Jessica Cutler is the slutty "Washintonienne" who chronicled her sexcapades with virtually every man in D.C., including—but by no means limited to—attorney Robert Steinbuch. However, the in-depth blog entries, featuring uncomfortably detailed records Steinbuch's sexual preferences, didn't really gain public notoriety until Cox—the then-editor of Wonkette—picked up the story, at which point Cutler and Steinbuch were promptly fired, and the latter proceeded to sue all the above.)

Which pretty much brings us up to the present day, when a judge was asked to decide whether or not Cox could be found liable for publishing reprinted content.

CONTINUED »

While Rick Stengel was making friends all over the place at Tuesday night's Time 100 party, Ana Marie Cox was not. The Time.com Washington editor, we're told, was not an invited guest at the dinner portion of the evening — and as you can imagine, she wasn't pleased. If they could make room for random execs from Time's stable of advertisers, surely they could accommodate Ms. Wonkette.

Even after pleading with Time Inc.'s own events team for a dinner seat, she wasn't given one. So how'd she end up at the dinner? By resorting to our favorite third-grade tactic: stealing someone else's chair.

And she wasn't going to let the miced-up in-house organizers forget it: Once inside, she fired off a text message to one particular staffer who denied her request, saying only, "Ha!"

But Ana wasn't alone: We also hear Julia Allison wasn't given a proper seat either, which would explain her table hopping athletics. Though, in all likelihood, she would've bounced around the room and sat in laps either way.

Following up her blog post on the subject, Ana Marie Cox writes a full article (read: proper punctuation) for Time about her decision to put up with Don Imus' behavior in order to become a regular guest on his show … and enter the gentlemen's club. Shocker: It had something to do with feeling important. But don't say she's vain!

CONTINUED »

• The $50 million Imus franchise is in peril. Quick, someone get Michael Richards.

• Inside Cable News v. Eat the Press: The biggest non-feud of the week.

• Larry Birkhead hasn't collected his $5 million tell-all story (complete with photoshoot!) because, well, he's an indecisive shit.

• LAT finally gets around to covering its own backyard.

• MySpace and Photobucket – the photo sharing service you use to keep porn from your wife – are feuding.

• WNYC fete its new home at a breakfast this morning. Which meant A.M. hours. Which meant there wasn't a chance in hell of us hitting that.

CONTINUED »

The Columbia Journalism Review Daily directs us to this lovely meta meta blogger-on-blogger chat fest that ran in the recent issue of Wired. Former Wonkette Anna Marie Cox interviews Markos Moulitsas aka "Kos" about the lovely topic of baseball.

Mind you, they use the word snarky in the first sentence, and the topic of "baseball" is more or less "Kos' new network of sports blogs" so … yeah, they are basically talking about blogs. The Daily concludes that this whole shpeal is just one over-exposed blogger interviewing another — something of which they thought 2006 would never see the light of.

And then Kos drops this lovely piece of info on us, in regards to how important while simultaneously detached and apathetic he is.

"Do you know how many interviews I turned down today?" Moulitsas tells Cox at one point. "ABC, NBC, Charlie Rose, McLaughlin Group, not to mention a bunch of radio. If I were into self-promotion, I would have said yes to all of them."

See, because obviously this Wired piece is not self-promotion. It's just chatting about baseball which just happens to be a topic of his new blog network. And the Daily just happened to drop a Romenesko mention and Romenesko just happened to pick up the story.

No self-promotion going on here folks. Just keep movin', nothing to see.

Wired's Tired Portrait of an Overly Familiar Blogger [CJR Daily]

Former Nick Denton employee, Wonkette editor Ana Marie Cox, has been named Washington Editor of Time.com. Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time, announced Cox will assume the position July 31, 2006 after contributing to the mag since March. (You remember — it was right after she was schmoozing it up at Jim Kelly's house.)

"Ana Marie is a sharp and witty observer of the Washington scene and has the ability to spot political angles in surprising places," says Stengel. "In her new role, she'll bring her great web instincts to covering the hot topics of the day."

Yes, Cox has uncovered angles in some very surprising places indeed — most notably, the limousines, bedrooms, and country houses of Washington's political players.

ANA MARIE COX NAMED WASHINGTON EDITOR, TIME.COM [Romensko Letters, Poynter]

Because product placement isn't prevalent enough in movies and novels, Svedka vodka is buying off some talent to help further blur the lines between literature and advertising. Nerve.com is sponsoring "a series of articles" that will pop up both online and in a book. Which book? We have no fucking clue.

The project is indicative of how the road between advertising and entertainment is increasingly becoming more of a two-way street. The campaign, from a New York agency named Amalgamated, carries the theme "the future of adult entertainment" and features a character known as the "Svedka_Grl," a female robot by the Stan Winston special-effects studio. The ads presents the fembot puckishly commenting on contemporary mores by positing outlandish outcomes for life in 2033, when cigarettes will cost $450 a pack, couples are parents to "stem cell baby boomers" and celebrity worship is "the fastest-growing religion."

The story of Svedka_Grl will be written by 16 writers, including Joel Stein, Jay McInerney, Will Self, and Ana Marie Cox. But, these folks feel totally justified taking part in this project. For one, it's not journalism, it's just fiction. And also, there is absolutely no mention of the product or the company. (Except, you know, when they mention Svedka_Grl.)

The photos on the site are all futuristic fembots with teeny waists and huge boobs covered with pasties … which is indicative of how there will still be sexism in advertising in 2033.

A little sneak peak at a portion of Joel Stein's story, after the jump.

CONTINUED »

• Heather Mills is considering doing an interview in which she'll spill her guts Princess Diana style. And yet, we are still completely uninterested in her. [London Daily Mail]

• Aww, isn't that sweet. Everyone should send Ana Marie Cox a little gift. We wonder what Jim Kelly's going to get her? [Blogebrity]

• For those of you who live in this little world, life can finally return to normal. Kos is back. [Daily Kos]

• Poor Ben Affleck. He was rushed to the ER because he got a headache. We're sure his still nursing wife was super sympathetic. [Defamer]

• Mira Sorvino is the next celebrity to birth a child we will never ever care about. But we bet her son and Gwen Stefani's baby could start a playgroup for kids who can't tan because Shiloh Jolie-Pitt soaks up all the sun. [AP]

The ongoing lawsuit against Jessica Cutler, brought by Robert Steinbuch (one of Cutler's many conquests) is gaining weight faster than Britney Spears. Steinbuch, who is suing for "invasion of privacy and emotional distress" has added former Wonkette Ana Marie Cox to the defendant list.

Cutler responded that she only shared her blog with four friends and did not perpetrate its broader airing. So Steinbuch is now seeking to add Cox and the as-yet-unnamed person who turned her on to Cutler's blog to the suit. Cox, now a columnist for Time, declined comment last night.

Look, if you don't want people to write about banging you on their sex blog, you have two options. Stay inside and never get laid, or make everyone you fuck sign a confidentiality agreement that they will never talk, write, or blog about it. Sure, maybe it kills the mood, but at least it will prevent innocent bearers of truth like Cox from getting sued for spreading the good word of gossip to a dreadfully boring city.

Steinbuch's Suit Has Room to Grow [Reliable Source, Washington Post]