Last night, Sean Penn won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as Harvey Milk, a dead gay politician, in the film Milk. GOOD FOR HIM. In his acceptance speech, Penn said, “I think it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect, and anticipate their great shame, and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone.” Immediately after hearing this, your Wonkette thought, Holy Poo, the conservative blog Big Hollywood is probably writing hilarious things, ha. Well, it was. MORE »

Sean Penn is expected to formally endorsed Dennis Kucinich at a press conference at San Francisco State University today, joinging the ranks of Larry Flynt and Shirley MacLaine. But whatever may happen or not happen there, it might be totally eclipsed by the actor/director’s latest rant: “It’s been an odd week,” Penn wrote in today on HuffPo. “For me, a particularly odd week. But that’s another story. So, wait a minute. Iran DOESN’T have nuclear weapon capability??? So, who are we gonna bomb? I want to bomb somebody!” Hey, me too!

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San Francisco mayoral politics are bad. So bad, in fact, that actor and director Sean Penn once offered hunky-hipster attorney Matt Gonzalez $5 million to fund his war chest if he were to run as a Democrat against Mayor Gavin Newsom. MORE »

* Reliable Source: Marion Barry plays an angel, sings “Stormy Weather” in musical at Lincoln Theatre… Laura Bush’s cancer was “no big deal” … K-Fed was here for some wrestling thing. Also, we’re not supposed to call him “K-Fed.” [WP]
* Yeas and Nays: “Draft Obama” group buys some tv ads in DC… Fatcat cigar smokers will find their way around the smoking ban. You’re shit outta luck… Danny Bonaduce does not believe in 9/11 conspiracies… New Ethics Committee chair Stephanie Tubbs Jones “has taken the third most privately paid trips of any member of Congress since 2000.” [Examiner]
* Page Six: “Lisa Belzberg doesn’t like being called the “girlfriend” of Harold Ford Jr.” [NYP]
* Rush & Mollor: Sean Penn “shocked” people by calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney in filthy language while accepting a free speech award. [NYDN]

• Yesterday was godless Hollywood elite day on cable, as Clooney and Penn battled each other in depth of sincerity contest. [Think Progress; Newbusters]

• The Nancy Grace award for “savage sadism” still searching for a recipient as vicious as the woman herself. [Andrew Sullivan]
• Angelina Jolie’s time is up and the UN needs a new pair of spokestitties for its High Council on Refugees. [Impeccableliberalcredentials]
• Chuck Colson, as clueless about gays as he is about breaking into office buildings. [Good As You]
• Meeting of the Non-Aligned Nations in Cuba this week bears no resemblance to the final scene of Team America: World Police, really. All photos courtesy of the CIA. [LGF]
• Mayor of Gallatin, TN rents city hall out for porno film shoot that’s not really porno, more like late night Spike TV. [Tennessean]
• Unsurprisingly, the new “Night of Bush Capturing” terrorism simulation video game is pretty fun. [The Jawa Report]

• Reliable Source: Tipper Gore at the premiere of “An Inconvenient Truth”: “It ends with a message of ‘we can do it.’ [Al] doesn’t want people to go from denial to despair.” Moby, Lynda Carter, and Queen Noor were in the audience. . . Euan Blair is reportedly deciding between Yale and Harvard graduate programs. . . Ted Kennedy, Mary Cheney, Barack Obama, Tim Russert, Gary Hart, Pat Buchanan, Ariana Huffington, Karenna Gore Schiff, Cindy Sheehan, and Jim McGreevey are all making appearances at BookExpo 2006. . . Sean Penn to play Richard Clarke in upcoming film. [WP]

• Rush & Molloy: Halle Berry on Barack Obama: “I so love what he stands for and respect him so much that when I met him, I was a bit shaky.” [NYDN]
• Cindy Adams: Chelsea Clinton was seen paying for her dinner with a “tall, lean dude.” [NYP]

Everyone once in a while — very rarely, mind you — we get jealous of our friends in the “real” media. MORE »

Last week, we admitted that we were desperate for sightings. You responded with desperate sightings: Andrew Sullivan, Matt Cooper, Ted Koppel… they’re all here, Washington’s most recognizable non-famous people. We applaud, we thank, we’ll buy the next round. Please keep sending your sightings of D.C. “celebrities” to . All Gang of 500 members eligible. Sightings after the jump.

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• Reliable Source: “Blond beauty queen-businesswoman” Marsha Ralls and D.C. Council member Jack Evans say they are just close friends, despite rumors of something more. . . Dennis Kucinich lunches with Sean Penn. . . Bono lunches with Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats. [WP]
• Inside Politics: Media Research Center study finds network news was “overwhelmingly negative in their portrayal of the Iraq war.” [WT]
• Rush & Molloy: Judith Miller reportedly screamed at Bill Keller to soften the Times‘ Sunday critique of her work. . . Sandy Berger, Ron Klain join ABC’s “Commander in Chief” as advisors. [NYDN]
• Page Six: Reporters in Albany joke that the Pirro campaign is “really a pilot for a Fox sitcom.” [NYP]

• Washington Whispers: RNC distributed daily talking points to about 80 pundits and hosts to ensure message discipline about Roberts. . . Rumsfeld signed a “severe weather execution order” two weeks before Katrina that authorized the quick deployment of military personnel. . . Frist gets folksy, brags about practicing surgery on his teddy bear. . . Campbell Brown’s reports from the Gulf Coast have raised her chances of replacing Katie, Peter, or Dan. . . Don Evans broke his collarbone while biking with Bush. . . Michael Brown is looking for a job in public relations. [USN&WR]
• Inside the Beltway: Friedman, McCullough top lawmakers’ reading lists. [WT]
• Page Six: Michael Moore, Sean Penn helping Katrina relief. [NYP]

The Daily Briefing is on vacation. MORE »