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GOP Groups Plan $1 Billion Push for Romney

“Republican super PACs and other outside groups shaped by a loose network of prominent conservatives — including Karl Rove, the Koch brothers and Tom Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — plan to spend roughly $1 billion on November’s elections for the White House and control of Congress,” Politico reports.

“That total includes previously undisclosed plans for newly aggressive spending by the Koch brothers, who are steering funding to build sophisticated, county-by-county operations in key states… Koch-related organizations plan to spend about $400 million ahead of the 2012 elections — twice what they had been expected to commit.”

via GOP Groups Plan $1 Billion Push for Romney.

Angry Lawmaker’s Tirade a YouTube Hit – Illinois’ Mike Bost throws a tantrum on state house floor

(NEWSER) – It might be a calculated political ploy in the YouTube era or a decent argument for anger-management classes: GOP state Rep. Mike Bost went ballistic on the floor of the Illinois statehouse, complaining that Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan has too much control. “Total power in one person’s hands—not the American way!” said Bost, before throwing papers in the air and punching them as they fell, reports CBS Chicago.

“You should be ashamed of yourselves! I’m sick of it!” Bost said. “Every year! We give power to one person! … Enough! I feel like somebody trying to be released from Egypt! Let my people go!” The original debate centered on a controversial pension-reform bill being pushed by Democrats that would, among other things, shift costs from state to local school districts.

via Angry Lawmaker's Tirade a YouTube Hit – Illinois' Mike Bost throws a tantrum on state house floor.

Republicans are always like this out of power. They are pathetic.

Oosp: Romney’s New App Misspells ‘America’ – And Twitter quickly turns it into a meme

(NEWSER) – There are typos, and then there are typos, and then there’s the gift Mitt Romney just handed his online detractors. Romney’s campaign just launched an app that was supposed to let people show their support by taking pictures, overlaying stirring messages on them, like “American Greatness” or “I’m a Mom for Mitt,” and then sharing them on social media with the message, “I’m With Mitt,” Mashable explains. The problem? One of the banners reads, “A BETTER AMERCIA.”

Yeah, there was no chance this wouldn’t instantly become a meme. People who we suspect are not Romney supporters have been feverishly snapping shots of dictionaries, spelling bee participants, toilets, and more, with the “AMERCIA” banner over them, and a Tumblr has cropped up to show off the best of them. Twitter is abuzz with mockery like, “Will Mitt Romney apologize for Amercia?” and “AMERCIA TEH BUETIFLU.” The campaign tells the Washington Post that it’s submitted a fix for the app to Apple.

via Oosp: Romney's New App Misspells 'America' – And Twitter quickly turns it into a meme.

Robert Reich (Romney-Trump in 2012!)

What could Romney’s handlers be thinking when they hyped his connection with Donald Trump — fundraising with Trump, offering supporters the possibility of a meal with Trump, relishing Trump’s attention and endorsement? 

Trump signifies everything Romney presumably doesn’t want people to associate with himself — conspicuous wealth, arrogance, hubris, and a distinct preference for money over all other human values.

Trump, like Romney, represents almost everything that’s wrong with the American economy today — an unprecedented amount of wealth and power at the very top, widespread insecurity and declining real wages for everyone else, and a form of casino capitalism that places huge bets with other peoples’ money and depends on everyone else to bail it out when the bets turn sour.

via Robert Reich (Romney-Trump in 2012!).

Lloyd’s of London preparing for euro collapse – Telegraph

Richard Ward said the London market had put in place a contingency plan to switch euro underwriting to multi-currency settlement if Greece abandoned the euro.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph he also revealed that Lloyd’s could have to take writedowns on its £58.9bn investment portfolio if the eurozone collapses.

Europe accounts for 18pc of Lloyd’s £23.5bn of gross written premiums, mostly in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. The market also has a fledgling operation in Poland.

Lloyd’s move comes as a major Franco-German provider of credit insurance for eurozone trade, Euler Hermes, said it was considering reducing cover for trade with Greece because of the risk the country might leave the eurozone.

When a company goes bust, it is often sparked by withdrawal of credit insurance for suppliers wanting to trade with it.

A spokesman for Euler Hermes, Bettina Sattler, told Bloomberg: “The outcome of the new elections in June remains highly uncertain. Consequently, the situation is further deteriorating. The risk of Greece exiting the eurozone has been revived.

“In light of the recent developments, Euler Hermes will most probably have to switch to a more prudent approach. [We have] maintained a high level of cover for [our] customers until today. But now we are confronted with a changing situation.”

Lloyd’s fears are likely to be shared by a number of European businesses, which are watching developments in Greece.

On Saturday, Juergen Fitschen, co-chief executive of Deutsche Bank, described Greece as a “failed state” run by corrupt politicians.

“I’m quite worried about Europe,” Mr Ward said in one of the first admissions by a major UK business leader of the scale of the crisis that would be prompted by a eurozone collapse.

via Lloyd's of London preparing for euro collapse – Telegraph.

How Can We Fix the Constitution? – Slate Hive

The U.S. Constitution is no spring chicken. Our founding document turns 225 this year, and after more than two centuries of wear and tear, it’s begging for a few nips and tucks. Maybe even some full-on body work. Luckily, Daily Show writer Kevin Bleyer spent the last few years pledging his life, fortune, and sacred honor—not to mention his nights and weekends—to rewriting a new foundation for our floundering nation. His new book, Me the People, is out this week—just in time to save America.

As patriots ourselves—and grateful beneficiaries of the First Amendment—we at Slate are joining the cause. And calling on you to do the same. After reading Kevin’s call to arms below, dip your quill and submit your brilliant, ludicrous, offbeat, dead-serious, self-serving, nation-building, game-changing, crowd-pleasing, or outrageous idea for how to improve on the text the framers bequeathed to us.

via How Can We Fix the Constitution? – Slate Hive.

Michael Tomasky on the Media’s Foolish Elizabeth Warren Witch Hunt – The Daily Beast

So now Elizabeth Warren has to prove that she’s 1/32nd Cherokee? The temperature on the story is rising. There was a huge article in the Boston Globe on Friday written to raise a number of questions and suggest that Warren used the minority designation to get her job, or get ahead—exactly at the same time that a poll was released (PDF) showing that 69 percent of Bay State voters don’t consider her heritage to be a “significant” story. It reminds me of nothing so much as Monica Lewinsky, and of the media’s need sometimes to get a grip.

Why Lewinsky? The situations are in fact almost precisely the same. You had then a press pack that had decided that whether Bill Clinton was telling the truth about Monica was a question on which the fate of the republic hinged. The press became self-righteously consumed with its search for The Truth. Meanwhile, outside the Beltway, and outside of Wingnuttia (it existed then, just at about half of its current GDP), nobody cared what the truth was. The media kept producing revelations; surely, now, swore Maureen Dowd and Michael Kelly, America will see this man for the reprobate he is! America looked, yawned, told the press to start acting like grownups, and continued to approve of the job Clinton was doing as president at rates near 70 percent and to oppose impeachment at similar levels.

The appearance Thursday morning of this Suffolk University poll (linked to above) made me think: Well, this story line is about to wrap up. If more than two-thirds of voters don’t care, then that’s that. But no—still going strong! And now it’s not the loopy, right-wing, and pro-Brown Herald, which pushed the story first, but the Globe trying to play catch up. Yes, yes, it’s all in the public interest. What, you say, the public says it isn’t interested? Well, we’ll teach them what’s in their interest!

This is close to embarrassing. True, Warren’s story is a little cheesy. No let’s back up even further. It’s hard to see why someone who is 1/32nd anything can be called that thing. But those are the Cherokees’ rules, and the United States of America for all moral and legal purposes accepts them as the rules. As you may have read when this story broke, the current head of the Cherokee nation, Bill John Baker, is also just 1/32nd Cherokee. He is also, by appearance, completely white. You could mistake him for a Tea-Party Congressman.

via Michael Tomasky on the Media’s Foolish Elizabeth Warren Witch Hunt – The Daily Beast.