I once had lunch with him (and others) when he was a visiting Chubb Fellow at a certain college. I asked him about his differences with Arnold Schwarzenegger (or maybe whether family gatherings had interesting political discussions), and he said, “You don’t argue with Arnold!” A funny moment.

     More seriously: one is concerned that the urge to “Win One for the Tedder” may get people to rush to support a 1000-page health care plan which is not only unread, but also unacceptable. (E.g., the tyrannical “individual mandate” forcing people to buy insurance against their will) If Ted is to have a legacy, it should probably be a good one, not a poisoned one.

     RIP TK. You helped put the democrat in Democrat.

     See CNN Political Ticker, Congressman: No Viagra before 10 p.m.,

     Former presidential candidate Robert Dole made headlines as a pitchman for Viagra, and now a decade later a Virginia congressman wants to limit the time when ads for this and similar products can air.
     Last month, Democratic Rep. Jim Moran introduced the “Families for ED Advertising Decency Act,” which prevents erectile dysfunction and male enhancement ads from appearing on radio and television between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
     “This [the advertisements] is an intrusion into our daily lives that I believe has become inappropriate.” Moran said in an interview with CNN. “There is a saturation of the television airwaves with these E.D. ads, and they have gotten more pervasive, more blunt, and less subtle.” …

     A “Decency Democrat”? Who knew there were any of those??

     Well, leftovers beat a fresh meal any day.
     –And where’s netters fave John Edwards and his posse of partners (not including Lewinsky…yet)? No keynote address for him?

     As you already knew. But no reason to avoid mentioning it.
     “¡Olé!”

     See, e.g., Examiner.com, RIP John Hughes.
     Presumably up in heaven making videos with Michael Jackson now. Who can prove otherwise?
     –Or maybe making “Obama Alone” or “White House Alone”, about his fellow Illinoisian. Would be interesting.

     I don’t know whether “Some Kind of Wonderful” was really a gender-reversed morally-corrected remake of “Pretty in Pink”, but I guess he can tell us on the other side.
     RIP JH.

     One likes labor unions but the portion of the “Employee Free Choice Act” allowing card-check instead of secret ballots never appealed to this writer; what’s wrong with private “free choice” by secret ballot, instead of being open to coercion if you refuse to check your card? Should the “Employee Free Choice Act” be called the “Union Organizer Free Choice Act” instead?
     On that head, see, e.g., the New York Times, Democrats Drop Key Part of Bill to Assist Unions,

     A half-dozen senators friendly to labor have decided to drop a central provision of a bill that would have made it easier to organize workers.
     The so-called card-check provision — which senators decided to scrap to help secure a filibuster-proof 60 votes — would have required employers to recognize a union as soon as a majority of workers signed cards saying they wanted a union. …
     In its place, several Senate and labor officials said, the revised bill would require shorter unionization campaigns and faster elections. …
     To further address labor’s concerns that the election process is tilted in favor of employers, key senators are considering several measures. One would require employers to give union organizers access to company property. Another would bar employers from requiring workers to attend anti-union sessions that labor supporters deride as “captive audience meetings.” …
     Several union officials said that once the senators’ revisions became public, some union presidents who are card-check enthusiasts might attack the changes, call for scrapping the revisions and demand an up-or-down Senate vote on a bill with card check. …

     I was going to post on this months ago, but just hadn’t managed to. (I even may have several links saved somewhere, though I can’t find them.)
     In any case, nice to hear that, if trends go the way they are, that there will still be the secret ballot, but more fairness for unions in other ways. “Go Workers!”

     We have been busy and not posted recently, but here we are. –See Reuters, Obama - ’stars are aligned’ for healthcare reform,

     President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that the “stars are aligned” to pass healthcare reform legislation and Congress should take advantage of that opportunity. …

     Looks like O is taking his cues from Cthulhu, cf. the subsection in that link, “Cult of Cthulhu”, for the words of H.P. Lovecraft,

…When the stars were right….

     Never mind Obama’s birth certificate; what about Cthulhu’s??