From Huffington Post's Sam Stein:

A comically absurd Barack Obama smear email is making the rounds right now involving a fabricated column by famed New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. The email, presented as a June 29 op-ed (replete with Time's font, layout, and Dowd byline) presents the "shocking" revelation that Obama's famed Internet fundraising apparatus is really driven by wealthy financiers from -- you guessed it -- "Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries."

Read the rest here.

(Previously: Helen Thomas, Chris Mincher, White House journos, Bob Deans, Adam Nagourney, Christina Bellantoni, washingtonpost.com, M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Jonathan Allen, Greg Giroux, Joe Mathieu, Michelle Levi)

Send us yours...or better yet, your neighbors.

But anyway, here's his latest Fuego/Frio:

Two internal Washington Post staff notices, obtained by FishbowlDC:

We are pleased to announce that Paul Duggan will turn his reporting and writing talents to the District law enforcement and public safety beat, replacing Allison Klein, who will be taking a maternity leave. Paul's new assignment is one of the most demanding beats in the city. In addition to reporting on the D.C. police department, he will cover breaking news involving the Park Police, Capitol Police, FBI, and U.S. Secret Service. As a general assignment and regional reporter based on the City Desk, Paul has tackled numerous high-profile assignments, delivering memorable stories about the aftermath of the Virginia Tech murders; the life, trial and suicide of the D.C. Madam; dog fighting following the arrest of Michael Vick; and the arrest of Zhenli Ye Gon, an accused drug smuggler visiting Maryland after authorities removed $207 million in cash from his Mexico City home. Paul moves easily from writing about complicated issues such as the District's gun law to reporting on wacky characters and events. His new beat will give him numerous opportunities to do both. Since joining the Post in 1987, Paul also has been an editor in Metro and a national correspondent. He will begin his new assignment later this month.

And:

We are delighted to announce that Keith Alexander, who has been on temporary assignment covering D.C. Superior Court for nearly a year, will take over the beat from Henri Cauvin, who has moved to the Prince George's County bureau to cover federal and Maryland state courts. Keith's enthusiasm, aggressive source building and strong community-based reporting already have given us gripping trial coverage and narratives. His story about the fate of the 49 bystanders injured when Tonya Bell drove through a festival crowd was powerful, and his exclusive interview with the father of 14-year-old DeOnte Rawlings, who was killed by police, gave readers a rare look at a troubled teen's home life. Keith's recent work included a scoop about the controversy over releasing the bodies of four girls allegedly killed by their mother, and a piece about nine hours of violence that left seven people dead. After joining The Post in 2001, Keith covered the airline and business travel industries and wrote "Business Class," a popular column in Financial. Previously, he was a financial reporter at USA Today covering airlines, business travel and the media.

From Howard Kurtz's profile of CBS's Lara Logan in today's Washington Post:

Now, having just moved to Washington with an expanded portfolio for the network, Logan finds her romantic life reduced to tabloid fodder. And there is a new complication: She recently discovered that she is pregnant. "Nobody likes to read about themselves like that, especially the way it's been sensationalized," Logan says of the coverage that spread to the front page of the New York Post, which called her a "sexy CBS siren" and "in-bedded reporter." "I hated it. But I'm just going to rise above it and keep going." The baby is due in January, she says, and she is "looking forward to being a mom." ... The pregnancy was unplanned. Logan says she lost one of her fallopian tubes during an ectopic pregnancy years ago and believed at her age it was highly unlikely that she could get pregnant. The news came at a time when she was looking to change her life. At CBS, Logan says, "they let me run around the world doing everything I want to do. It's a dream job, but it comes at a cost. "Since 9/11, I've spent 95 percent of my time on the road, and I do need to have a home at some point. I do need to settle down. I've been living like a refugee."

The father is Joseph Burkett, a federal contractor whom Logan met in Iraq.

Wonkette

NYTimes

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Associated Press

Variety

WSJ

E&P

Gawker

Slate

Financial Times

The Guardian

Washington Post

Denver Post

Click on the papers below to see full images.

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Could it be a slight goof in the Washington Post's recent article, "New iPhone Can Decouple From AT&T, for a Price"?

Mike Musgrove says that you can pay extra for an iPhone and use it with a different non-AT&T carrier. "For those looking to use another carrier, the 16-gigabyte version will cost $699."

But other papers report that you cannot use a different carrier.

Put this in the "Dead Senator Fails to Return Call Seeking Comment" category...

A Sunday New York Times Business section -- "American Energy Policy, Asleep at the Spigot" -- noted that Sen. Jesse Helms did not return calls seeking comment.

Of course, Mr. Helms passed away on Friday. The story was later corrected.

Today, The Wall Street Journal finally gets around to discussing who will replace Len Downie at the Washington Post.

Some highlights (the full article is not available free online):

Whoever gets the job -- Marcus Brauchli, who recently stepped down as managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, is believed by people familiar with the search to be the leading candidate -- will be taking over the Post at a time when the harsh economic conditions that have ravaged newspapers have begun to exact a heavy toll on the paper. Furthermore, current and former staffers expect one of the new editor's first tasks may be further downsizing the newsroom and reorienting Post staffers to a paper with a narrower editorial mission and a greater focus on the Web.

And:

The change at the top of the Post is being closely watched in the newspaper industry. The Post is one of just a few survivors of a dying breed of local newspapers with national and international ambitions. And the paper, whose parent company is controlled by the Graham family, has been a model of stability in a turbulent industry. The last two executive editors both had long stints: Ben Bradlee, who oversaw coverage of the Watergate scandal during his 26-year stint that ended in 1991, and Mr. Downie, his successor, who said recently he would step down in September.

And:

During the last 24 months, the paper's weekday circulation has dropped 7.1% to 673,180 while print ad revenue declined 13.4% in 2007. In response, the Post recently shed more than 100 newsroom jobs through voluntary buyouts. It was the third buyout at the Post in five years, bringing the total newsroom count down to about 700 from its peak of over 900 in 2003. "There's that fear [of more cuts] because that's what we've gotten used to," said Frank Ahrens, a business reporter and editor at the Post. The new editor is to be appointed by the Post's new publisher, Katherine Weymouth, a member of the Graham family, who assumed oversight of the paper earlier this year from Boisfeuillet Jones Jr. Donald Graham, Ms. Weymouth's uncle and the Post Co. chairman and chief executive, cited her digital expertise as a key reason she was ready for the job. Ms. Weymouth declined to comment.

As we noted this morning, "Word on the street is that the Washington Post will name Marcus Brauchli as Len Downie's replacement (with up to three managing editors) tomorrow."