Good evening, Firepups!  Here’s a sample of the broad range of news items that were circulating out there today.  Feel free to add others that caught your eye and interest.

❖”Obama for America” has a web site feature devoted to “Romney Economics”.  Eleven slides chronicle the history of Romney and partners’ purchase of GST Steel in Kansas City, the changes they made, and the consequences.  “When the company eventually declared bankruptcy, workers were denied their full pensions and health insurance, and the federal government was forced to step in and bail out the pension fund.”  There’s an accompanying video, too.

❖Mysterious moves.  Ron Paul announced his campaign will no longer spend tons of money campaigning “in primaries in states that have not yet voted” when those states include KY (son Rand’s state), TX (Paul’s state), MT (where he won votes in 2008), and CA (where he “can pick up hundreds of thousands of protests [sic] votes”).  At the same time, his supporters “are engaged in an active–and increasingly contentious–effort [to] take over delegate slates in states that have already voted.  Paul said that the practice would continue . . . .”

❖By executive order, Gov. Lincoln Chafee has declared “that Rhode Island will recognize out-of-state same sex marriages”.    There is currently a bill proceeding through the legislature that would also grant CT same-sex couples married out-of-state the right to sue for divorce.

❖CO Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper’s efforts, including calling a special session of the legislature, to get same-sex couples equal rights as other married couples, met with strong Republican opposition and was defeated yesterday.  Protections in CO’s Civil Union bill would have included “letting partners make medical decisions for each other . . . [and] would enhance parental and inheritance rights.”

❖Oh, how the mighty are falling!  “Rebekah Brooks Charged In Phone-Hacking Scandal”.  And she’s not alone–her husband, an assistant of hers, her chauffeur and two security staff are also being charged.

❖It’s come to this.  Two lawsuits have been filed by drone strike victims against the Pakistani government for failure to protect them from the drones.  Victims want the government to declare the strikes as war crimes, and prosecute accordingly, and to appeal to the UN and the International Court of Justice for a halt to the strikes  And there’s another goal:  “We would like to know if Pakistan consents or has tacitly approved the drone strikes.  Or if they have an agreement with the U.S. government . . . ” about them, according to the attorney filing the suits.

❖It’s a first.  China’s government-owned Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) will be purchasing 80% “in the U.S. unit of Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia Ltd., giving it ownership of 10 branches in California and three in New York.”  The Federal Reserve approved the sale once it received  the Department of Justice’s ok.  More from Bloomberg.

❖26 Italian banks have had their credit ratings cut by Moody’s.  10 were reduced to junk status, two larger ones had ratings cut from A2 to A3,  and some were cut “by as much as four notches.”  All are on “negative credit watch”, so expect more downgrades.

❖In a summary of growing resistance in Europe to “Austerity”, is this intriguing info:  “In Italy, the economic crisis is giving rise to political instability last seen 40 years ago.  Captains of industry are being given armed escorts as the tensions and political paranoia of the blood-stained 1970s return to haunt the country.  After the knee-capping last week of a nuclear industry in Genoa . . . “  There is even talk of bringing in the army.

❖Uh-oh.  Thor at work?   French President Hollande was on the plane headed to meet with Angela Merkel when lightning struck, the plane had to turn around, a new one was readied and took to the air, and thus Mr. Hollande was late for the meeting. [cont'd]

“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist.” Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, also known as the ‘Bishop of Corum’

• “The European Union has agreed strict new rules for banks, intended to make them safer and eliminate the need for future bailouts.”

• “The eurozone has narrowly avoided returning to recession after recording zero growth in the first three months of the year, figures have shown.”

• “Taking a deep breath, California’s most powerful man strode to a lectern and unveiled the fiscal policy that he hopes will keep America’s most populous state from falling into bankruptcy.”

• “Millions of Japanese homes are preparing for a long hot summer after Japan’s government warned that a shortage of electricity generation could lead to mandatory power cuts. Critics say the threat is a ploy to force the restart of the nation’s idling nuclear power plants.”

• “Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari is set to be at this weekend’s Nato summit on Afghanistan. The Pakistani embassy in Washington told the BBC he was “likely to attend” the meeting in Chicago.”

• TRNN: “JP Morgan Debacle Shows Deep Systemic Risk Unchanged. Bill Black: Billions of derivative bets cannot be called a hedge but might be allowed under weakened Volker rule.”

• “Today, behind closed doors in Charlotte, North Carolina, legislators from 15 states will meet with the oil and gas industry to discuss so-called ‘model legislation’ as part of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The result could be laws that handicap renewable energy targets — while creating loopholes for fossil fuels, written directly by the oil and gas industry itself.”

• TRNN: “The Struggle Over UNCTAD (and Why It Matters). Vijay Prashad: Southern countries defend mandate as the “North” pushes a “global supply chain” that could obliterate smaller countries.” Paul Jay refers to Part 1 of this report, which is here, from late April.

• “The Syrian regime is targeting wounded civilians and medical workers, Doctors Without Borders said today, preventing people from receiving life-saving emergency care.”

• “In Rochester, New York, activists are fighting to win control of Catherine Lennon-Griffin’s foreclosed, bank-owned home as a community land trust, at her request — making this one of the first examples in the country of a neighborhood winning back a bank-owned residence and designating it for community use.”

• Zombie Ayn Rand!

The truth will set you free but first it will piss you off.

Last week saw Mitt Romney desperately trying to find someone at the world’s most stereotypically named elitist Prep School to deny that even among the spoiled scions of old money he stood out as a gigantic prick.

So on to this week, who can Mitt bring forth to say that Willard is not a heartless corporate raider, but a living saint?

“The people that know him — the picture the media paints is not the Mitt that I know,” Romney’s oldest son, Tagg, told The Daily. “And I wish I could do something about it. I can’t tell you how many people tell me that.”

Yes, but how many people could tell you that…and also this?

Mitt Romney’s five sons — Matt, Tagg, Craig, Ben and Josh — are sitting pretty with a trust fund worth $100 million.