[Roccus]

Arlen Specter did a few good things, but that's what he was elected AS A REPUBLICAN to do. So, why the big fanfare?

AMEN.
Your mention of Packard and HP immediately brought to mind Carly Fiorina, a destroyer and wannabe public servant, also a Republican. I use the term "destroyer" in its naval sense since she left the hulks of HP and Lucent in her wake.

[Roccus]

“Your mention” should have been “The mention”

[zeugma]

Your mention of Packard and HP immediately brought to mind Carly Fiorina, a destroyer and wannabe public servant, also a Republican. I use the term "destroyer" in its naval sense since she left the hulks of HP and Lucent in her wake.

Yup. She took a company that was innovative and made some really great products (that most people don't even know about) and ran it into the ground, then stepped off thinking she'd done something good. I had an HP "Test and Measurement" catalog years ago. It was a hardbound book, with some really neat devices. I always wanted my very own atomic clock.

One testament to HP's products is that people still use 20+ year old HP calculators.