I'm testing out Python-2.6b3 and attempted to build wxpython-2.8.8.1. 
It creates a subclassed CCompiler (MyUnixCCompiler), which overrides the
_compile function, with the following signature:

_compile(self, obj, src, ext, cc_args, extra_postargs, pp_opts)

This is the same function signature found in distutils/ccompiler.py
(line 705).  However, it gets called further up in
distutils/ccompiler.py (at line 699) with a lang keyword argument. 
Since **kwargs or similar isn't included in the signature, it raises an
exception.

The best solution seems like removing the lang=lang keyword argument on
line 669, but it's not clear why this was added or what consumers use
this new addition.  Changing the signature would be an interface break
and require old code to be updated, but might allow for a **kwargs entry
that would allow for future additions.

Please let me know if you need any further information...  5:)