SimpleXMLRPCServer clobbering sys.stderr? (2.5.2)

[Joseph Turian]

I was having a mysterious problem with SimpleXMLRPCServer. (I am using
Python 2.5.2)
The request handlers were sometimes failing without any error message
to the log output.

What I discovered was perplexing.
I had some 'print' statements in the handers that, assuming the
request would be handled, would print just fine. When I switched to
'print >> sys.stderr', the request handlers would just fail
completely, and not make the sys.stderr output that I desired.

It seems that SimpleXMLRPCServer is clobbering stderr in some bizarre
and silent-error-causing way.
I can't really find any documentation of explanation of this
phenomenon.

Could someone please illuminate it for me?

Best,
   Joseph