TODAY

OH OH
ABC didn't do well in the Nielson overnight tv ratings: the Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special was 19% lower than Ugly Betty’s last original episode in the time slot."

BAD HEADLINE
Calif. state Sen. Roy Ashburn, father of four, is a Republican Senator who represents parts of Kern, Tulare and San Bernardino Counties, areas that oppose gay rights. He was caught drunk driving leaving a gay nightclub with an unidentified male. (The headline is wrong. Obviously, HE is not anti-gay.)

WE WOULD HELP YOU OUT, BUT FIRST
Two German Parliamentarians want Greece to sell off government-owned stakes in companies and, well, those uninhabited islands. Or at the very least, provide collateral for any loans. (Like those uninhabited islands? or Maybe the Acropolis?)

GERMANY JAILS TERRORISTS
A judge sentenced four Islamic militants to between 5 and 12 years. The terrorists included two German converts. Police thwarted plot to attack US diplomats, soldiers and civilians. The trial took 10 months. Police "...caught three of the suspects red-handed, mixing chemicals to make some 410 kilogrammes (900 pounds) of explosives. This was 100 times the amount used in the 2005 London bombings that killed more than 50 people, prosecutors said."

DEMOCRATS WANT GAYS TO DONATE BLOOD
Led by John Kerry (D-MA), 16 senators signed the letter sent to the FDA to lift the ban on gays donating blood. (Don't miss the comments at the article at The Hill. Or the names of those who signed.)

a Sometimes you wonder if Clinton didn't destroy the Democrat party. The only ones left seem to be beyond-belief progressives who have lost touch with reality. Either that, or it is a cynical and selfish bid to raise campaign money (and the hopes) of wealthy gays and gay right donors and groups.

PETE STARK, ACKNOWLEDGED LOON BY HIS OWN PARTY
From the Hill, "For most Dems, Stark was a non-starter" to take over the House Ways and Means Committee.

a So they left the 78-year-old stark-raving Rep from California as chairman of -- The House Ways and Means Health subcommittee. Democrats think he's a loose cannon so they let him deal with funding sources for health care?? Our health care??? Does that beggar belief?

DUTCH "FAR-RIGHT" POLITICIAN
Geert Wilders made extraordinary gains in the regional elections this week. The Daily Telegraph (UK) says that if the gains were repeated in national elections on June 9, the Freedom Party could win 27 out of 150 seats, becoming the largest single party and putting him in line to become prime minister and form a new government. "Mr Wilders popularity has grown since he was banned from entering Britain last year. He was arrested and deported after being declared a threat to public safety."

a The threat? Wilders is against unrestricted immigration and multiculturalism, the superstate and high taxes, advocates integration for Muslims and a discussion of the merits of Islam. (God forbid, self-described Libertarian Wilders should express support for Israel and Judeo-Christian values.) and disagree with European socialists.)

DANA MILBANK, VOICE OF REASON??
Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank thinks he sees no sense in what the White House is doing and defends Rahlm Emmanuel's pragmatism. Big Journalism writer Michael Walsh asks the best question: Why is "President Obama is in such a desperate rush to ram through “health-care reform,” oblivious to the electoral consequences both for himself and his party, as if he were a kind of legislative suicide bomber?"

a I hate to agree with Milbank. But he is spot on, something that has infuriated the Left who see it as a knife in the back - from Emanuel. Jonah Goldberg isn't sure but concludes,

Bill Clinton initially governed as if he'd won a more left-leaning mandate than the voters intended. Clinton admitted, in a 1995 interview with the then-columnist Ben Wattenberg, that he'd gone astray philosophically. With the help of the Machiavellian pollster Dick Morris, Clinton recalibrated to the center and saved his presidency.

No surprise that Emanuel's most politically formative years were spent as a Clinton strategist. Yet Obama has indicated he never considered the Clinton model appropriate or appealing. He wants to be "transformative" like Ronald Reagan. But such a transformation requires an electorate capable of being transformed. Obama and his acolytes misread the public, thinking voters were as worshipful as they were.

Beyond the disloyalty and all that, the real reason the Milbank column has enraged so many left-wing bloggers and liberal columnists is that Emanuel's understanding of the political landscape puts him in the reality-based community. And that is a community the Obama cult refuses to join.

Which pretty much agrees with Milbank.