Can you spare $100,000?

* What kind of people are supporting the candidacy of Mitt Romney?
NY Times:

Close to 60 corporations and wealthy individuals gave checks of $100,000 or more to a “super PAC” supporting Mitt Romney in the months leading up to the Iowa caucuses, according to documents released on Tuesday, underwriting a $17 million blitz of advertising that has swamped his Republican rivals in the early primary states....

...Millions of dollars came from financial industry executives, including Mr. Romney’s former colleagues at Bain Capital, who contributed a total of $750,000; senior executives at Goldman Sachs, who contributed $385,000; and some of the most prominent and politically active Republicans in the hedge fund world, three of whom gave $1 million each: Robert Mercer of Renaissance Technologies; Paul Singer of Elliott Management, and Julian Robertson of Tiger Management. 

Harlan Crow, the Texas construction magnate, gave $300,000 personally and through his company. William Koch, whose brothers Charles and David are among the country’s most prominent backers of conservative causes, gave $1 million personally or through Oxbow Carbon, the energy company he founded. Members of the Walton family, founders of the Walmart chain, gave over $200,000, while Bob Perry — a wealthy home builder who has long been the top patron of Mr. Romney’s erstwhile rival, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas — chipped in $500,000 in early December....

Wow! How many people have a spare $100,000 or more to give to Romney?  Do you?  This kind of information only highlights the fact that Romney's agenda would help the rich.  Romney, who famously tried to bet Rick Perry $10,000, is completely unaware of the plight of average Americans.  Those that are contributing to Romney's campaign know they would benefit from a Romney administration.  

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* U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is introducing some new legislation.
Washington Post:

Sherrod Brown is calling on his fellow Senators, Democrats and Republicans alike, to take a stand on a simple question: Should Senators be allowed to own stock in companies whose bottom lines are directly affected by their votes?

...Brown will introduce the measure — which could very well get a vote — as an amendment to the STOCK Act that’s currently being debated in the Senate. The STOCK Act would ban insider stock trading in Congress, preventing members of Congress from using “non public information” derived from their position to explicitly enrich themselves. But the STOCK proposal doesn’t address the far more pervasive situation in which members are casting votes that directly impact companies they have a financial stake in.

Brown says he supports the STOCK Act, but that it isn’t good enough. His proposal would formally prohibit members from owning individual stock in any companies directly affected by any of their official duties. This rule already applies to committee staff and executive branch employees, but not officials elected to the legislative branch.....

This kind of reform is definitely needed.

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* Ohio Gov. John Kasich has opened tickets to his State of the State speech to a raffle.  I don't why he thought there would be such a demand.  Ohioans already know what the condition Ohio is in and we don't need to hear Kasich tell us.

Since the beginning of the year, eight hundred people have been notified of job losses, according to ODJFS Warn Notices.


* The far right Gov. Mitch Daniels is pushing his right-to-work legislation through the Indiana legislature. One of the results could be that the state of Indiana could see a boycott by some large conventions and meetings.

* Will Republicans get their panties in a knot since Mitt Romney used teleprompters last night for his speech in Florida?