President Obama turns 49 on Aug. 4.
(Getty Images)

$$$$$: Happy Birthday, buddy!

Sneed hears real estate mogul Neil Bluhm is tossing a private birthday party here for President Obama, who turns 49 on Aug. 4.

• The shocker: The dinner invite to the Barack bash at Bluhm's home requires a $30,000 donation to the Democratic National Committee!

• The stunner: Obama is also scheduled to be in town Aug. 5 for a fund-raiser at the Palmer House for U.S. Senate hopeful Alexi Giannoulias, who is hoping to capture Uncle Rocky's old seat.

Former Dem political powerhouse Dan Rostenkowski, the old lion of the House Ways and Means Committee -- and friend of former U.S. presidents on both sides of the aisle -- is struggling with cancer. Ah, Danny.

She stood by him: Barbara Amiel, the brilliant and beautiful wife of former media magnate Conrad Black -- who was just released on bail from federal prison -- parked herself in front of a computer/typewriter/trough of pens when her hubby went to prison two years ago . . . and furiously fought for his release by dispatching a flood of letters and petitions worldwide.

• The upshot: Amiel, a columnist for Macleans magazine who has endured jealous jibes in the past for her string of husbands, brains and bravura, is the real hero in this love story.

• The backshot: "She was amazing," said a woman familiar with Amiel's endeavor of love and commitment. "She stood by her man and called and wrote to just about everybody who could help. Just like the song says: 'Sometimes it's hard to be a woman giving all your love to just one man. But stand by your man.' She sure did."

• Update: Black, the former owner of the Sun-Times who was found guilty of defrauding his media empire, is due today in the Chicago courtroom of U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve, who released him on $2 million bail.

• $$$: Roger Hertog, who guaranteed the former newspaper baron's $2 million bail, launched the New York Sun in 2002 with Black as an investor. A philanthropist who has reportedly given away $100 million, Hertog won the National Humanities Medal in 2007; funds Jewish thought courses at Princeton and New York University's law school, and is a significant donor to New York's Catholic schools. Black is a devout convert to Catholicism. His wife is Jewish.

Shed 'em & Grow 'em: Bill Clinton may have promised his daughter, Chelsea, he'd lose 15 pounds for her upcoming wedding, but it looks like mom, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has been having a worldwide bad hair day because she is growing her hair into a longer "do" for the nuptials.

To honor slain Chicago Police Officer Michael Bailey, every crew member working on the set of the flick "Transformers 3," which is filming in Chicago, will wear a Chicago Police Memorial Foundation T-shirt on Saturday.

• To wit: The crew bought 500 shirts -- each cost $10 -- and film director Michael Bay made a personal donation. Nice.

Reginald Potts, who has been in Cook County Jail since December 2007 while awaiting trial in the kidnapping and murder of his ex-girlfriend Nailah Franklin, just got charged with assaulting a Cook County Jail correctional officer. It's his third such offense.

• Background: Potts, who will be eligible for the death penalty if convicted, reportedly refused to get off the jail phone several weeks ago, so jail guards cut the phone's power line. Potts is accused of punching the nearest officer four times before he was subdued.

Today's birthdays: Walter Maksym, ageless; Slash, 45; Woody Harrelson, 49; Don Imus, 70; Marlon Wayans, 38; Eriq La Salle, 48, and Anthony Kennedy, 74, and belated wishes to Nikki Winters-Haywood, 52.