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Hostess Brands, maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, is seeking bankruptcy protection, blaming its pension and medical benefits obligations, increased competition and tough economic conditions.

The Chapter 11 filing on Wednesday comes just two years after a predecessor company emerged from bankruptcy proceedings. That company, called Interstate Bakeries and based in Kansas City, Mo., filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004. It emerged in February 2009…But Hostess said Wednesday that previous efforts to produce incremental change, including the previous Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, were insufficient…

RTFA for all the excuses.

The privately held company, based in Irving, Texas, said it will be able to maintain routine operations thanks to a $75 million financing commitment from a group of lenders led by Silver Point Capital…

The company said it does not anticipate any disruptions in production or delivery of its breads or cake products and said its popular brands, which also include Drake’s, Ding Dongs and Ho Hos, will still be available.

Until they run out of suckers buying crap to consume.

Hostess said it is looking to “create a sustainable cost structure with competitive employee benefit plans.” It also hopes to modernize its systems, fleets and plants to keep pace with customer needs.

“This company has tremendous potential if we can remove the barriers to success,” Driscoll said.

Another Mitt Romney-style tale of private equity investment “creating jobs”. During the previous bankruptcy – well before the Great Recession – they convinced unions desperate to retain jobs to cut pay, invest union funds including employee pension funds in the corporation. They were the biggest investors and received only a guarantee of no layoffs.

Meanwhile, relying on the American sugar addiction – a destructive habit at least as unproductive as our oil addiction – they continued to market crap food with about as much nutrition as dust bunnies.

Does it matter who’s in the White House?

WASHINGTON — in this covetous town, the delicacies of the Georgetown Cupcake shop stand alone as symbols of wish fulfillment — heaping swirls of luscious confection atop rich, creamy pastry.

Therefore: Operation Cupcake. As the Federal Communications Commission debated final rules last December on how Internet service providers should manage their traffic, AT&T delivered 1,500 of these opulent desserts to the F.C.C.’s headquarters here.

Like many other big corporations, AT&T annually blankets power brokers with token holiday gifts, but the cupcake campaign was notable for its military precision. A three-page spreadsheet, stamped “AT&T Proprietary (Internal Use Only),” detailed how the desserts were to be deployed to each of the 63 commission offices: four dozen were assigned to the enforcement bureau, 10 dozen to the wireless divisions, 12 cupcakes to each of four commissioners, and 18 to the chairman, and so on.

As it turns out, AT&T had begun its $39 billion courting of T-Mobile about the same time. The resulting deal, announced a week ago, would transform the industry if approved. It would narrow the field of major wireless providers to three and vault AT&T into the No. 1 spot, ahead of Verizon; consumer advocates say the combination will lead to higher prices.

As interested parties lobby for and against the merger, one person will be pulling at the levers of power more often and with more influence than anyone else, according to both friends and foes: AT&T’s chief lobbyist, James W. Cicconi. A master strategist, Mr. Cicconi internalizes the art of regulatory and legislative war — and Operation Cupcake is but one of the efforts to come out of his shop…

In 13 years at AT&T, Mr. Cicconi has helped guide the company through roughly a dozen mergers, large and small, and he has made his share of enemies in Washington. As a testament to his power, however, few of them will criticize him on the record…

Nor is Mr. Cicconi’s lobbying effort a one-man show. He oversees a division that spent $115 million on lobbying over the last six years, putting it among the top five corporate spenders in the country, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks lobbying and campaign spending.

AT&T employs an army of outside lobbyists, including at least six prominent former members of Congress, including the former Senate majority leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, and former Senator John Breaux, a Louisiana Democrat.

Two of the sleaziest politicians who ever lived.

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Sprinkles Cupcakes, a California purveyor of mini-cakes beloved by Hollywood stars, has accused rival Famous Cupcakes of stealing its trademarked “Modern Dot” cupcake design to lure away clientele.

Sprinkles high-end pastries have made the rounds of U.S. media, from “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to “Nightline”, drawing locals and out-of-towners who regularly wait in long lines outside the company’s Beverly Hills store.

The company, which also runs stores in Texas and Arizona, accused Famous Cupcakes in a federal lawsuit filed on Thursday in Los Angeles of incorporating the “nested circle design” featured on Sprinkles cupcakes on Famous Cupcakes packaging, store decor, and “each and every page” of its website.

The owner of Famous Cupcakes, who said on its website she began selling cupcakes door-to-door at age 7 and believes “one cupcake is never enough”, could not be reached for comment.

I haven’t eaten a cupcake since I discovered muffins as a kid – and savory muffins at that. But, I can appreciate the battle over trademarks.