Five Fabulous Friday Links

• Fess Parker (portrayed Davy Crockett on TV) passes away at age 85.  A good actor and a greater human being.  New York Times
• Christopher Hitchens on the hard reality of Pope Ratzinger.  A dispatcher of sexual predators in Germany. Slate Magazine
• Republican Senator John Boehner showing his true colors (not that he's ever hid what a jerk he is). At Reuters, but hat tip to Econbrowser (Chinn and Hamilton)
• Catholic Hospitals Support Health Care Bill. Associated Press/New York Times
• Republican Senator Dick Shelby continues to stall and sabotage Wall Street Reform. Shahien Nasiripour at Huffington Post