These are my links for May 23rd from 15:58 to 16:38:

• Two patients died after waiting in ambulance outside ‘full’ Oldham hospital unit – Two patients died after being left waiting in ambulances outside an over-stretched hospital.

  The patients, believed to have been in their 80s, couldn’t get into the Royal Oldham Hospital for seven and 20 minutes respectively.

  They were assessed by ambulance crews as ‘very sick’ and were both suspected of having suffered heart attacks.

  The A&E department was so busy that all but the most urgent cases were being sent to other hospitals at the time. All five resuscitation beds at Oldham were full.

  The two patients were assessed and treated by a casualty doctor and senior nurse in the ambulances.

  It is understood neither actually had suffered a heart attack by the time they were admitted – although both later died at the hospital. One died in the resuscitation unit the following day and the other three days after being admitted to a ward.

  A probe has been launched after ambulance chiefs reported the incident to regional health authority NHS North West.

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  Read it all.

  Get ready for ObamaCare

• CA-36: What Went Wrong in the L.A. Special Election? – Hahn is expected to win the July run-off, but we expect turnout to be even lower. Huey can easily self-fund with another $500,000, and labor will have to expend its scarce resources to crank its turnout effort and put Hahn over the top. As blogger Marta Evry pointed out, Hahn will win the special election in July – but re-districting could change the demographics and make the district more Republican in 2012. Her complete analysis is well worth reading in full, but I’ll just quote one line from it: “Janice Hahn’s strategic choices, coupled with Marcy Winograd’s ego, may have created a perfect storm in which a to bring a previously unknown Tea Party candidate to national prominence.”

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  Read it all…..

  From the LEFT perspective…..

• Janice Hahn Won The Battle In 2011. Could She Lose The War In 2012? – From what I've heard and read, CA-36 is probably going to lose everything north of LAX, and potentially gain back Palos Verdes. Palos Verdes, connected to an Orange County district by a block-wide strip in Long Beach and a narrow strip of San Pedro, is profoundly gerrymandered. Those Republicans have to go somewhere.

  If this happens, it would significantly cut into Democrat's voter registration advantage, and create a district that more closely resembles the one in which Janice Hahn previously ran for congress in 1998.

  Hahn lost that race, to Republican Steve Kuykendall, 47% to 49%.

  Janice Hahn got the opponent she wanted. But by helping to advance Huey into the runoff, Hahn has elevated him from an unknown evangelical advertising consultant to a national figure in the Tea Party movement. The media isn't ignoring Craig Huey anymore. He has two months to build up his name recognition and base of support. And when he loses in July, he can turn right around and start stumping for the June 2012 primary race in a district likely to be far more receptive to his message.

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  Read it all.

  Craig Huey indeed could lose in July and still come out the winner.

• Jon Huntsman Jr., potential GOP candidate hits California for fundraising swing : – Former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr.is heading to California this week — just in time to pump up his fundraising base as the 2012 GOP presidential race shapes up.

  The former Utah Governor, who's been described as the possible GOP candidate "Democrats fear most," hits San Francisco Tuesday, Los Angeles Wednesday and Orange County on Thursday of this week. The Palo Alto native will be having private meetings with California donors and supporters, sources say.

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  Money will never be Huntsman's problem but his moderate position on the issues will be.

• President 2012: Not the whole truth in Pawlenty claims – Truth" was Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's buzzword Monday when he announced his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. He said he will tell the truth about hard choices facing the nation while others — President Barack Obama notably among them — do not.
  A parsing of Pawlenty's opening-day statements shows they were not the whole truth.
  Here is a sampling of his claims Monday and how they compare with the facts.
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  PAWLENTY: "The truth is, people getting paid by the taxpayers shouldn't get a better deal than the taxpayers themselves. That means freezing federal salaries, transitioning federal employee benefits, and downsizing the federal work force as it retires." — Campaign announcement.
  THE FACTS: A federal pay freeze is already in effect. Obama proposed and Congress approved a two-year freeze on the pay of federal employees, exempting the armed forces, Congress and federal courts.
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  PAWLENTY: "ObamaCare is unconstitutional." — USA Today column.
  THE FACTS: Obama's health care overhaul might be unconstitutional in Pawlenty's opinion, but it is not in fact unless the Supreme Court says so. Lower court rulings have been split.
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  PAWLENTY: "Barack Obama has consistently stood for higher taxes." — Campaign announcement.
  THE FACTS: Obama's record shows more tax cutting than tax raising. The stimulus plan early in his presidency cut taxes broadly for the middle class and business, and more recently he won a substantial cut in Social Security taxes for a year. He also campaigned in support of extending the Bush-era tax cuts for all except the wealthy, whose taxes he wanted to raise. In office, he accepted a deal from Republicans extending the tax cuts for all. As for tax increases, Obama won congressional approval to raise them on tobacco and tanning salons. The penalty for those who don't buy health insurance, once coverage is mandatory, is a form of taxation.
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  PAWLENTY: "For decades before I was elected, governors tried and failed to get Minnesota out of the top 10 highest-taxed states in the country. I actually did it." — Campaign announcement.
  THE FACTS: Minnesota remains among the 10 worst states in its overall tax climate, according to the Tax Foundation. In its 2011 State Business Tax Climate Index, the anti-tax organization ranks Minnesota 43rd, making it the eighth worst state. The ranking slipped from 41st two years earlier. The index considers corporate, individual, sales, unemployment insurance and property taxes.

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  Read them all.

  Tim Pawlenty will NOT be the GOP nominee.