One Childhood Wish Comes True
He's a really rich guy who's got just about every toy a boy ever wanted and done virtually everything he's dreamed of. Still, there are a few holes in Sen. John Kerry 's personal resume. Being president is the most obvious. But he's harbored two other dreams much longer: sitting at Fenway Park for a game with Red Sox great Ted Williams and being an astronaut, a wish sparked when he and some high school pals lay out on a grassy Massachusetts field and watched Sputnik pass overhead years ago.
Teddy Ballgame's dead now, and the space thing's a bit out of reach. But that was until an old friend re-entered Kerry's life last week making good on a promise that touched on both of Kerry's childhood dreams.
It was Tuesday morning when former Sen. John Glenn called Kerry at his Senate office. A Kerry mentor who was the first astronaut and a copilot with Williams in Korea, Glenn reminded his pal that they had agreed during the 2004 campaign to watch the next space shuttle flight together. "Wanna go?" asked Glenn. Heck, yeah, said Kerry, and they were off early Wednesday to Florida. While the liftoff was postponed and the two returned home, Kerry told friends he had had a great time as Glenn regaled him all day on the thrill of spaceflight. "It was like watching a game at Fenway with Ted Williams," Kerry said. "A great memory."
Tommy Thompson Is His Own Best Ad
We bet that former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson wishes he had gone to work for Breyers or Hershey's. To set a good example, he's preparing to consume his new company's product--VeriChip Corp.'s flesh-embedded medical radio chip. "It doesn't cause any pain," he assures us, explaining that a rice-size chip will be inserted into his arm. The chip stores coding that makes the user's health records available worldwide. Hospitals wave a radio wand over the arm to get the info. "People are dying all the time," he says, "because they can't access their medical information overseas."
Going Global to Fight a U.S. Giant
Big Labor is looking overseas as it ramps up a new fight against Wal-Mart. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney revealed to us last week that he's working with unions overseas to blast Wal-Mart's U.S. and foreign pay and healthcare packages. "There'll be a global component to it," says Sweeney, who won't dish more until the full campaign is revealed at this month's union convention.
Daschle-Thune Fight Goes On
How many attack blogs does it take to keep former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle 's political hopes alive? So far, five. Or so say friends of Daschle-slayer Sen. John Thune , the target of the blogs. Maybe it's revenge or just his old pals trying to soften up rookie Thune for a 2010 race, but we've failed to find any other political newcomer hit so hard by the latest Internet fad. Is it a conspiracy? The Rapid City Journal reveals that Daschle's political action committee still pays his old campaign partner, who runs one of the blogs.
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