This and That...

[Warph]

Obuma has Army Pulling Helos from National Guard

Apr 19, 2014 | by Kris Osborn

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/04/19/army-pulling-helos-from-national-guard.html

Army leaders are reaching out to the National Guard after Guard leaders and lawmakers criticized the Army over its plan to retire 798 aircraft and transfer AH-64 Apaches from the Guard to active duty units.

The Army told Congress the plan is to increase readiness in light of the budget crunch that has forced the service to find costs savings and part of those savings involve moving 48 AH-64 Apache attack helicopters from Reserve units to the active force.

The overall restructure plan, designed to finish by 2019, will streamline existing systems, said Col. John Lindsay, director of aviation in the Army's operations headquarters.

"In January, 2013, we began to come to grips with the fiscal realities that we were getting ready to contend with. We were facing $3 billion less in acquisition and equipping through FY19 (fiscal year 2019)," Lindsay said.

Officials estimate the plan will save $1.1 billion in operations and sustainment costs per year, he added. The initiative will also retire TH-67 training aircraft, OH-58D Kiowa Warriors and OH-58 Kiowa scout aircraft, and move a total of 192 Apaches from the National Guard to the active force, Lindsay said.

The plan also calls for providing an additional 111 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to the National Guard so that governors and state leaders have more assets for homeland stability missions such as disaster relief, medical evacuation and other domestic security issues.

Some lawmakers and National Guard leaders have criticized the Pentagon's plan to restructure Army Aviation, saying that it disproportionately favors active duty forces at the expense of National Guard pilots, many of whom served alongside their active duty brethren in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"It (Army restructure plan) is a scheme built on a foundation of inflated active-component Army training and readiness in order to devalue the future capabilities of the Army National Guard," National Guard Association of the United States president retired Maj. Gen. Gus Hargett, told lawmakers during Congressional testimony.

As a result of the controversy, Army leaders have been reaching out to National Guard leaders and governors of impacted states in order assure them of the merits of the plan and hear their input about states receiving more UH-60 Black Hawks, service officials said.

The concept of integrating more Apaches into active units will leverage the Apache's considerable scout and reconnaissance potential and increase readiness in active units most likely to deploy, Lindsay explained.

"Our analysis revealed we needed to concentrate that attack and reconnaissance capability --with 40-percent less aircraft-- in the active component," he added.

An analysis of alternatives conducted several years ago on the now cancelled Armed Aerial Scout program found the Apache to be adept at reconnaissance and scout missions as well as attack, Lindsay said.

The Armed Aerial Scout program, cancelled due to lack of funding, was seeking a reconnaissance helicopter able to replace the aging Kiowa Warrior fleet. The idea was to engineer an aircraft that could perform in high/hot conditions while executing scout and reconnaissance missions.  Lindsay explained the Army simply does not have the money for the program right now; however, the requirement still exists.

An Army analysis determined that scout and reconnaissance missions can be greatly enhanced through what the Army calls manned-unmanned teaming – essentially drones working in tandem with nearby rotary aircraft.

The Army has already deployed this capability with Apaches and Kiowa warriors in Afghanistan where helicopter pilots are able to see video feeds from nearby drones in real time. For this reason, the Army's aviation restructure initiative will permanently pair Apache units with drones in order to maximize the benefits of manned-unmanned teaming.

A company of Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft will be attached to an Apache attack battalion and a company of Shadow drones will be connected to a reconnaissance squadron, Lindsay said.

The Army now has 4,573 helicopters and plans to drop that number down to 3,775 by 2019, Army officials said. Once completed, the transformation will result in a force of 690 Apaches, 2,135 Black Hawks, 533 Chinooks, 417 Lakotas and Shadow and Gray Eagle UAS, service officials said.

Also, the Office of the Secretary of Defense ordered the acquisition of 100 new UH-72 Lakota helicopters so that the retiring TH-67 training helicopters at Fort Rucker, Ala., can be replaced without taking from the supply of UH-72 aircraft owned by the National Guard.

An earlier version of the plan had called for the National Guard to provide some of its UH-72 Lakota helicopters to Fort Rucker, Ala., for training.

[Ross]

[Warph]

Mooch Forced To Cancel Graduation Speech After Close To 2K Sign Petition Protesting Her Appearance

Via The Hill:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/204285-michelle-obama-scraps-graduation-speech-after-protests

First Lady Michelle Obama is scrapping her plans to deliver a graduation speech for high school seniors in Topeka, Kan., after hundreds signed a petition in protest.

More than 1,750 people had signed a petition protesting the first lady's appearance at the graduation ceremony, angered that security concerns would limit the number of friends and family who could attend.

According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, students would have only be allotted six tickets apiece had the first lady maintained her original plans.

Instead of delivering a graduation speech, Obama will be at the school the day before graduation, and will deliver remarks at a "Senior Recognition Day."

The first lady's address is meant to commemorate the anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education desegregation ruling.

"The remarks will celebrate the achievements of the graduating class of high school seniors in Topeka, home of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year," the White House said in a statement.

(Update to this story)

Parents And Kids Don't Want Michelle Obama Speaking At Their
High School Commencement

(The families get what some don't: anytime Obamas are present, it is all about them and no one else)

Via NY Post:
http://nypost.com/2014/04/18/parents-and-kids-dont-want-michelle-obama-at-hs-graduation/

TOPEKA, Kan. — If expanding the guest list to include Michelle Obama at graduation for high school students in the Kansas capital city means fewer seats for friends and family, some students and their parents would prefer the first lady not attend.

A furor over what the Topeka school district considers an honor has erupted after plans were announced for Obama to address a combined graduation ceremony for five area high schools next month an 8,000-seat arena. For some, it was the prospect of a tight limit on the number of seats allotted to each graduate. For others, it was the notion that Obama's speech, tied to the 60th anniversary of the US Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education outlawing segregation in schools, would overshadow the student's big day.

"I'm a single mother who has raised him for 18 years by myself," said Tina Hernandez, parent of Topeka High School senior Dauby Knight. "I've told him education is the only way out. This is one of the biggest days of their lives. They've taken the glory and shine from the children and put on Mrs. Obama. She doesn't know our kids."

[Warph]

Aborted Babies Incinerated & Converted to Electricity in Oregon

Dean Garrison April 24, 2014

http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/aborted-babies-incinerated-converted-electricity-oregon/


What has society become? Our history books tell us of the savagery of a Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews at the oppressive hands of a mad man. Will history ever speak for over 50 million babies that have been aborted in America in the last 40 years? If this is now considered an acceptable form of generating electricity then I believe my family will have to resort to burning candles. This is beyond deplorable.

VICTORIA, British Columbia, April 23, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The British Columbia Health Ministry has admitted that the remains of babies destroyed by abortion in B.C. facilities are ending up in a waste-to-power facility in the United States, providing electricity for residents of Oregon.

The province's Health Ministry said in an email to the B.C. Catholic that "biomedical waste" shipped to the U.S. to be incinerated includes "human tissue, such as surgically removed cancerous tissue, amputated limbs, and fetal tissue."

"The ministry understands that some is transferred to Oregon. There it is incinerated in a waste-to-energy plant," the email stated.

The ministry said that contractors handling the province's "biomedical waste" follow "health and safety protocols, as well as federal, provincial, and local regulations."

Kristan Mitchell, executive director of the Oregon Refuse and Recycling Association, told the B.C. Catholic that the "biomedical waste" likely ends up at the Covanta Marion waste-to-energy facility in Oregon since it is the only facility that uses waste to power the grid. The facility confirmed that it still receives and incinerates B.C. medical waste.
Source: Lifesitenews.com

Unfathomable.

Before you dismiss this story as propaganda please consider that exactly one month ago (March 24th) we first reported that the same thing was happening in the U.K.:

"Ten NHS trusts have admitted burning fetal remains alongside other rubbish while two others used the bodies in 'waste-to-energy' plants which generate power for heat," reports the Telegraph. The revelations emerged as a result of a Channel 4 Dispatches program set to be broadcast in the UK tonight which found that more than 15,000 babies were incinerated.

The program also unveiled the fact that parents who lost babies were being treated without compassion and were not properly consulted on what would happen to their child's remains.

In a society where the Catholic Church stands tall against abortion while its membership casts ballots for "baby killers" (pro-choice democrats), we should probably not be surprised.

We are no longer a society of morality. We are a society of convenience.

I realize that a lot of people don't want to be bothered with the abortion debate. They feel that the debate is lost and there is nothing that can be done. Others believe in a woman's right to choose to terminate that which resides in her body. They don't see it as a human life. They see it as a woman's choice.

These people need to do some research into the life and teachings of Margaret Sanger. Abortion was never about a woman's right to choose. Sanger was a bigot who was providing the means for society to cleanse itself from undesirables which included people of race and those who were not of the right social class. She is, of course, the founder of Planned Parenthood and one of the most famous proponents of Eugenics in world history.

Abortion is just another strategy of a corrupt government to capitalize on a story line while pushing an evil agenda behind the scenes.

[Warph]

General Martin Dempsey waited quietly by the sofa while the President of the United States swiped the screen of his iPad and began another game of Angry Birds.  Bright colors and loud noises drifted up from the screen which had completely absorbed the attention of the Commander in Chief.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had not been asked to sit down and he had learned early on that Obuma was very sensitive about members of the military usurping his authority.  The last time he did it, he had been asked if it was "a racial thing."

Instead he remained standing while a fly slowly circled his head like an orbiting satellite.

"So we're on for the conference," Obuma said, without taking his eyes off the
iPad.  His legs were curled up behind him on the sofa and his neck was craned over as if he were trying to physically project his body into the game.

It was a stance that Dempsey often saw on his teenage kids.

"Completely." Valerie Jarrett drifted in from somewhere.  Dempsey had gotten used to her appearing out of nowhere with the covert skills of a Special Forces team.

"I shake the Iranian guy's hand and then I make a speech.  Damn." Obuma winced as unhappy sputtering noises rose from the game.  Something had gone wrong.

Valerie affectionately patted his head.  "You'll get it right next time."

The Commander in Chief of the United States shook her hand away.  "I know I'll get it right next time," he said, without looking up.  "I don't need you to tell me that."

"Of course you don't.  You're too smart for that."

"I know I am," he mumbled, swiping again.

General Dempsey's face paled.  He had thought it was a bad idea when the White House first suggested it.  Modernization was good and these were changing times, but there was too much that could go wrong.  Still Valerie had insisted and she had gotten her way.

The general had served in Vietnam, but his stomach had never churned as much acid as when his boss had gotten an iPad because next to a dozen Angry Birds apps was one app defined by a bright red button labeled 'NUCLEAR BUTTON.'  One wrong tap could reduce the world to a cinder.

Obuma paused with his finger in mid-air.  "What about the military preparations?"

"Well we have one carrier in the region in case anything goes wrong," General Dempsey said,  "We would have had two if not for the cutbacks."

His boss frowned in that look which meant that he thought his failure to understand the answer was someone else's fault.  "Why do you need two aircraft carriers for a gay wedding?  Are the two grooms going to come in on separate aircraft carriers that are going to dock together?"

"What gay wedding," General Dempsey said, and cursed inwardly a moment too late.  Maybe he could have gotten the budget for the second carrier restored.

Obuma sighed with patient impatience.  "We talked about this.  Didn't we talk about this Valerie?"

Valerie seemed to materialize in front of Dempsey out of thin air glaring angrily up at him with the air of a poodle pretending that it's a bulldog.  "Every branch of the service is supposed to hold a gay wedding.  Barack thinks it's of the highest priority."

"My apologies, Ma'am," General Dempsey said wearily.  "I thought he might have been referring to Iran."

Valerie Jarrett's hand slapped his face, or the air underneath it, which was as close as she could reach.  "There are no military preparations for Iran.  None whatsoever!   This is a peace conference!  Have those Jews gotten to you?"

"I'm a Lutheran," Dempsey said.  This wasn't strictly true as he had stopped believing in any higher power after his first visit to the White House and then he had started believing again after the first dozen times that his Commander in Chief had managed to not blow up the world using his iPad and then lapsed again after being made to supervise his third gay wedding.

"Wait a minute," Obuma said, absently raising one hand without taking his eyes off the screen.  "What if we bring two carriers together to have a gay wedding in Iran at the peace conference?"

General Dempsey began to pray.  He was no longer sure for what.  It might have been a bolt of lightning.  Or a premature retirement to somewhere safe.  Maybe Mars.

"Sweetie." Valerie was all sweetness and light again as she rushed over to Obuma.  "I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not?" Obuma demanded petulantly.  "Just because I came up with it?  You never want to do anything I say."

"Tell him General," Valerie demanded.

"Uh well," General Dempsey stammered.  "The Iranian regime isn't too terribly fond of gay marriage."

Obuma shook his head.  "Where did you get that idea?  I'm disappointed.  I thought we got all those Islamophobic trainers out of the military."

"They hang them," Dempsey said desperately.  "They lock them up and hang them."

"Is this a racial issue?" Obuma demanded, frowning at his iPad.  "It's always a racial issue with you guys."

"It's what it is," Dempsey said weakly.  He didn't ask what race had to do with it.  He had learned better.

"That's enough," Valerie snapped. "The President doesn't want to hear from you anymore."

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff wasn't paying attention to her anymore.  The fly was no longer circling his head.  It was preparing to land on the iPad on the sensitive capacitive screen of the mobile device right over the red button.

"Sir," he began.

"What?" Obuma snapped, finally looking up at him.

"If you could just play another game of Angry Birds.  Right now," General Dempsey said, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Is that vital to national security?" Obuma asked.

"You have no idea how much, sir."

"Don't say I don't ever do anything for the military." Obuma shrugged and tapped the Angry Birds app just as the fly landed.

General Dempsey mopped his forehead.  It had been another close one.  He didn't know how many more of these he could take.

.....then I woke up.

...Warph

[Warph]

[Warph]

Meet The Parasite Named Obama

(A parasite named after a parasite.  Imagine that)

Via Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2014/04/26/a-parasite-named-obama/

Obama is a parasite.

He's also a fungus, a spider and an extinct lizard.
But before President Obama's critics rejoice, having unappealing species named after you is apparently a good thing.

"Honestly, it's difficult for me to envision a higher honor," Jason Bond, an Auburn University professor, told the Loop. "It's permanent. In science, there are few things that we do as scientists that has the permanency that taxonomy does."

Bond, a spider expert at the university's Department of Biological Sciences and its Museum of Natural History, discovered several new species of trapdoor spiders in late 2012, and named one of his favorites, "Aptostichus barackobamai" after the president.

It had unique characteristics, Bond said, like Obama.

[Ross]

FROM WATCHDOG WIRE - NEVADA

Bundy Ranch Standoff Prompts Question:
Are Cowboys the Real Endangered Species?

Clark County ranches decline from 52 to just 1

April 21, 2014
by Thomas Mitchell

Officials of the Bureau of Land Management insist Bunkerville cattle rancher Cliven Bundy "owes the American taxpayers in excess of $1 million" in unpaid grazing fees for the past two decades.

That was why they closed off 600,000 acres of federal public land and started confiscating Bundy's cattle. But when armed protesters showed up this past weekend, the Director of the BLM Neil Kornze — a former aide to Sen. Harry Reid and a former Elko resident who was named to head up the agency this past week — abruptly called a halt to the roundup.

Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement," Kornze said in a statement, "we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public."

He called the confiscation "a matter of fairness and equity."

At one time there were 52 cattle ranchers in Clark County. Largely as a result of BLM fairness and equity, Cliven Bundy, whose family has run cattle in the area since long before there was a BLM, is the last of the breed.

According to Bundy's daughter, Shiree Bundy Cox, her great-grandfather bought the rights to the Bunkerville allotment around 1887 and sold them to her grandfather who turned them over to her father in 1972. The family paid for water improvements, fences and roads out of their own pockets.

Then the BLM started charging fees to manage the federal land. "They were supposed to assist the ranchers in the management of their ranges while the ranchers paid a yearly allotment which was to be used to pay the BLM wages and to help with repairs and improvements of the ranches. My dad did pay his grazing fees for years to the BLM until they were no longer using his fees to help him and to improve," Cox writes online.

Twenty years ago the BLM went to Bundy and told him he could not graze in the spring. This was supposed to prevent his cows from stomping on endangered desert tortoises.

But range biologist Vernon Bostic wrote in Ecology of the Desert Tortoise in Relation to Cattle Grazing that the greatest death loss of desert tortoises during the drought of 1981 occurred in an allotment where cattle had been excluded. In an adjoining allotment where cattle grazed all year long, the tortoises were relatively unaffected by the severe drought. "The reason is simple: Cows provide tortoises with both food and drink," wrote Bostic.

The BLM has not made any statement as to whether the desert tortoise population has changed one way or the other on the land in question.

When Bundy was told he could not graze in the spring, he also was told to remove all his water tanks and the lines that fed them from local springs. Never mind that water rights are granted by the state and the federal government is not allowed to interfere with those rights, as several federal court cases have upheld.

Bundy explained to the BLM that he had no feed lot in which to hold cattle and his only option would be to sell his cattle for slaughter in February and buy new stock to put out to pasture in July. But from July to February desert range cattle actually lose weight.

According to recent news accounts, federal agents brought in backhoes and dug up Bundy's water pipes. Will the federal government reimburse him for his lost water rights, his generations-old grazing rights and his two bulls killed during the roundup? The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution requires governments to reimburse property owners at a fair value when property is taken by force.

Even though Bundy is in the headlines, the same thing is happening quietly all over the state.

J.J. Goicoechea — veterinarian, rancher, chairman of Eureka County Commission and past president of the Nevada Cattlemen's Association — says Nevada has lost half of its breeding cows over the past three years because of BLM regulations — approaching 300,000 head, down from more than a million in the 1980s.

One reason listed by BLM for the cattle roundup was so it could save tortoises in the Gold Butte area, since it plans to kill off tortoises by putting up solar panels at nearby Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone.

Bundy, 67, is the last rancher standing in Clark County.

For Bundy it was go out of business 20 years ago like all the other Clark County ranchers or defy the BLM's arbitrary and unscientific dictates. Bundy is the last major rancher in Clark County for one reason.

Which is the endangered species? Tortoises? Or cowboys?

http://watchdogwire.com/nevada/2014/04/21/bundy-ranch-standoff-prompts-question-are-cowboys-the-real-endangered-species/

[Warph]

12 Numbers Which Prove That Americans Are Sick And Tired Of Politics As Usual

By Michael Snyder, on April 24th, 2014

The American people are increasingly waking up to the fact that nothing ever seems to change in Washington D.C. no matter which political party is in power.  In fact, as you will see later on in this article, an all-time high 53 percent of all Americans believe that neither party "represents the American people".  Over the past several decades, we have sent a Bush, a Clinton, another Bush and an Obama to the White House, but the policies coming out of Washington have remained pretty much the same the entire time.  The mainstream media would have us believe that the Republicans and the Democrats are constantly fighting like cats and dogs, but the truth is that the Republicans want to take us to the same place that the Democrats want to take us - just a little more slowly perhaps.  And behind the scenes, Republicans and Democrats have a good time with one another and they are ultimately controlled by the same set of oligarchs.  The Americans people are really starting to recognize what a sham our system has become, and the numbers show that they are quite fed up with it.

I truly wish that things were different.  When I was much younger, I was actively involved in politics and I enthusiastically campaigned for certain candidates.  But then when they got to Washington D.C., they never did most of the things that they promised to do during their campaigns.

I was quite bewildered by this.  At the time, I concluded that we just needed to send even more "good politicians" to D.C. and then things would finally turn around.

But things never did turn around.  No matter which party had the upper hand, the same garbage continued to spew forth from Washington.

Ultimately, like millions of other Americans, I have come to see that there is not really much of a difference between Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi on one side, and John Boehner, John McCain, Mitch McConnell and Jeb Bush on the other side.

Sure, if you listen to their campaign speeches you might be tempted to think that they were polar opposites, but when you watch what they actually do there is not that much that really separates them.

Fortunately, large numbers of Americans are starting to see through this disgusting charade.  Most of our politicians are con men that tell us what we want to hear during their campaigns, and then after they are elected they forget all about us.  Dissatisfaction with these politicians has risen to unprecedented levels in recent years, and that could be a good thing. 

The following are 12 numbers which prove that Americans are sick and tired of politics as usual...

#1 A national Rasmussen Reports survey has found that an all-time high 53 percent of all Americans believe that neither major political party "represents the American people".
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/april_2014/53_think_neither_political_party_represents_the_american_people

#2 According to a Real Clear Politics average of national polls, only 29 percent of Americans believe that the country is heading in the right direction.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html

#3 According to a Real Clear Politics average of national polls, Americans disapprove of the job that Barack Obama is doing by a 52.2 to 43.7 percent margin.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html

#4 According to a Real Clear Politics average of national polls, Americans disapprove of the job that Congress is doing by a 77.6 percent to 14.2 percent margin.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html

#5 52 percent of Americans "do not think the economy is fair to those willing to work hard".
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/general_business/economic_fairness

#6 65 percent of Americans are dissatisfied "with the U.S. system of government and its effectiveness".  That is the highest level of dissatisfaction that Gallup has ever recorded.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/166985/dissatisfied-gov-system-works.aspx

#7 Only 4 percent of Americans believe that it would "change Congress for the worse" if every member was voted out during the next election.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/21/usa-today-poll-shutdown-boost-for-democrats-bane-for-gop/3143281/

#8 An all-time low 31 percent of Americans identify themselves as Democrats.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/166763/record-high-americans-identify-independents.aspx

#9 An all-time low 25 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/166763/record-high-americans-identify-independents.aspx

#10 An all-time high 42 percent of Americans identify themselves as Independents.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/166763/record-high-americans-identify-independents.aspx

#11 60 percent of Americans report feeling "angry or irritable".  Two years ago that number was at 50 percent.
http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-archive/entry/13/24047

#12 70 percent of Americans do not have confidence that the federal government will "make progress on the important problems and issues facing the country in 2014".
http://www.prisonplanet.com/70-of-americans-have-no-faith-in-government.html


Of course at the heart of much of this dissatisfaction is the continuing problems in our economy.  For example, check out the Gallup daily employment tracking survey that you can find right here... 
http://www.gallup.com/poll/125639/Gallup-Daily-Workforce.aspx
...As you can see, the payroll to population number (those Americans working 30 hours a week or more) has been flatlining in the low forties for more than four years now.  The truth is that there never has been an employment recovery in this nation since the last recession.

The last wave of the economic crisis really devastated the middle class, and as a result record numbers of Americans have become dependent on the government. 

Ten years ago the number of women working outnumbered the number of women on food stamps by more than a 2 to 1 margin. But now the number of women on food stamps actually exceeds the number of women that have jobs.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/food-stamp-recipients-outnumber-women-who-work-full-time

No wonder so many Americans are so angry.  Things are not nearly as good as they used to be.

Unfortunately, even though so many people are angry and frustrated, there is very little consensus on the solutions to our problems.

Many Americans even want to throw out the principles that this country was founded upon entirely.  For example, one recent survey discovered that 59 percent of all Americans believe that the U.S. Constitution is "outdated".
http://www.prisonplanet.com/is-the-constitution-outdated.html

That is a very chilling number.  We live at a time when Americans are becoming increasingly ignorant about who we are, where we came from and how we get here.

And a lot of our fellow citizens do not even know how our system of government works.  One survey actually found that only 25 percent of all Americans knew how long U.S. Senators are elected for (6 years)and only 20 percent of all Americans knew how many U.S. senators there are (100).

http://www.alternet.org/story/90161/ignorant_america%3A_just_how_stupid_are_we

In the final analysis, it is hard to be optimistic about a political solution to any of our major problems in the near future.  Most of our politicians are deeply corrupt, the American people are incredibly angry and are deeply divided, and the vast majority of campaigns for federal office are won by the candidate that raises the most money.

[Ross]

UPDATED:
List Of Purged Military High Officers
Is 'Terrifying'...

(by Lisa @ Investment Watch Blog) -- Look up the service records of some of these guys. MOST have perfect LONG services, highly decorated.

I believe only 2 Generals were fired under Bush's 2 terms total. There are currently 48 4-Star Generals. [link to en.wikipedia.org]

Many of these below have spotless records, 25 and up years service, many medals and honors such as Brig. Gen Bryan W. Wampler and Command Sgt. Major Don B. Jordan.

Commanding Generals fired:

    General John R. Allen-U.S. Marines Commander International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] (Nov 2012)
    Major General Ralph Baker (2 Star)-U.S. Army Commander of the Combined Joint Task Force Horn in Africa (April 2013)
    Major General Michael Carey (2 Star)-U.S. Air Force Commander of the 20th US Air Force in charge of 9,600 people and 450 Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (Oct 2013)
    Colonel James Christmas-U.S. Marines Commander 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit & Commander Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response Unit (July 2013)
    Major General Peter Fuller-U.S. Army Commander in Afghanistan (May 2011)
    Major General Charles M.M. Gurganus-U.S. Marine Corps Regional Commander of SW and I Marine Expeditionary Force in Afghanistan (Oct 2013)
    General Carter F. Ham-U.S. Army African Command (Oct 2013)
    Lieutenant General David H. Huntoon (3 Star), Jr.-U.S. Army 58th Superintendent of the US Military Academy at West Point, NY (2013)
    Command Sergeant Major Don B Jordan-U.S. Army 143rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command (suspended Oct 2013)
    General James Mattis-U.S. Marines Chief of CentCom (May 2013)
    Colonel Daren Margolin-U.S. Marine in charge of Quantico's Security Battalion (Oct 2013)
    General Stanley McChrystal-U.S. Army Commander Afghanistan (June 2010)
    General David D. McKiernan-U.S. Army Commander Afghanistan (2009)
    General David Petraeus-Director of CIA from September 2011 to November 2012 & U.S. Army Commander International Security Assistance Force [ISAF] and Commander U.S. Forces Afghanistan [USFOR-A] (Nov 2012)
    Brigadier General Bryan Roberts-U.S. Army Commander 2nd Brigade (May 2013)
    Major General Gregg A. Sturdevant-U.S. Marine Corps Director of Strategic Planning and Policy for the U.S. Pacific Command & Commander of Aviation Wing at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan (Sept 2013)
    Colonel Eric Tilley-U.S. Army Commander of Garrison Japan (Nov 2013)
    Brigadier General Bryan Wampler-U.S. Army Commanding General of 143rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command of the 1st Theater Sustainment Command [TSC] (suspended Oct 2013)

Commanding Admirals fired:

    Rear Admiral Charles Gaouette-U.S. Navy Commander John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group Three (Oct 2012)
    Vice Admiral Tim Giardina(3 Star, demoted to 2 Star)-U.S. Navy Deputy Commander of the US Strategic Command, Commander of the Submarine Group Trident, Submarine Group 9 and Submarine Group 10 (Oct 2013)

Naval Officers fired: (All in 2011)

    Captain David Geisler-U.S. Navy Commander Task Force 53 in Bahrain (Oct 2011)
    Commander Laredo Bell-U.S. Navy Commander Naval Support Activity Saratoga Springs, NY (Aug 2011)
    Lieutenant Commander Kurt Boenisch-Executive Officer amphibious transport dock Ponce (Apr 2011)
    Commander Nathan Borchers-U.S. Navy Commander destroyer Stout (Mar 2011)
    Commander Robert Brown-U.S. Navy Commander Beachmaster Unit 2 Fort Story, VA (Aug 2011)
    Commander Andrew Crowe-Executive Officer Navy Region Center Singapore (Apr 2011)
    Captain Robert Gamberg-Executive Officer carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower (Jun 2011)
    Captain Rex Guinn-U.S. Navy Commander Navy Legal Service office Japan (Feb 2011)
    Commander Kevin Harms- U.S. Navy Commander Strike Fighter Squadron 137 aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln (Mar 2011)
    Lieutenant Commander Martin Holguin-U.S. Navy Commander mine countermeasures Fearless (Oct 2011)
    Captain Owen Honors-U.S. Navy Commander aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (Jan 2011)
    Captain Donald Hornbeck-U.S. Navy Commander Destroyer Squadron 1 San Diego (Apr 2011)
    Rear Admiral Ron Horton-U.S. Navy Commander Logistics Group, Western Pacific (Mar 2011)
    Commander Etta Jones-U.S. Navy Commander amphibious transport dock Ponce (Apr 2011)
    Commander Ralph Jones-Executive Officer amphibious transport dock Green Bay (Jul 2011)
    Commander Jonathan Jackson-U.S. Navy Commander Electronic Attack Squadron 134, deployed aboard carrier Carl Vinson (Dec 2011)
    Captain Eric Merrill-U.S. Navy Commander submarine Emory S. Land (Jul 2011)
    Captain William Mosk-U.S. Navy Commander Naval Station Rota, U.S. Navy Commander Naval Activities Spain (Apr 2011)
    Commander Timothy Murphy-U.S. Navy Commander Electronic Attack Squadron 129 at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, WA (Apr 2011)
    Commander Joseph Nosse-U.S. Navy Commander ballistic-missile submarine Kentucky (Oct 2011)
    Commander Mark Olson-U.S. Navy Commander destroyer The Sullivans FL (Sep 2011)
    Commander John Pethel-Executive Officer amphibious transport dock New York (Dec 2011)
    Commander Karl Pugh-U.S. Navy Commander Electronic Attack Squadron 141 Whidbey Island, WA (Jul 2011)
    Commander Jason Strength-U.S. Navy Commander of Navy Recruiting District Nashville, TN (Jul 2011)
    Captain Greg Thomas-U.S. Navy Commander Norfolk Naval Shipyard (May 2011)
    Commander Mike Varney-U.S. Navy Commander attack submarine Connecticut (Jun 2011)
    Commander Jay Wylie-U.S. Navy Commander destroyer Momsen (Apr 2011)

Naval Officers fired: (All in 2012)

    Commander Alan C. Aber-Executive Officer Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 71 (July 2012)
    Commander Derick Armstrong- U.S. Navy Commander missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (May 2012)
    Commander Martin Arriola- U.S. Navy Commander destroyer USS Porter (Aug 2012)
    Captain Antonio Cardoso- U.S. Navy Commander Training Support Center San Diego (Sep 2012)
    Captain James CoBell- U.S. Navy Commander Oceana Naval Air Station's Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic (Sep 2012)
    Captain Joseph E. Darlak- U.S. Navy Commander frigate USS Vandegrift (Nov 2012)
    Captain Daniel Dusek-U.S. Navy Commander USS Bonhomme
    Commander David Faught-Executive Officer destroyer Chung-Hoon (Sep 2012)
    Commander Franklin Fernandez- U.S. Navy Commander Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 24 (Aug 2012)
    Commander Ray Hartman- U.S. Navy Commander Amphibious dock-landing ship Fort McHenry (Nov 2012)
    Commander Shelly Hakspiel-Executive Officer Navy Drug Screening Lab San Diego (May 2012)
    Commander Jon Haydel- U.S. Navy Commander USS San Diego (Mar 2012)
    Commander Diego Hernandez- U.S. Navy Commander ballistic-missile submarine USS Wyoming (Feb 2012)
    Commander Lee Hoey- U.S. Navy Commander Drug Screening Laboratory, San Diego (May 2012)
    Commander Ivan Jimenez-Executive Officer frigate Vandegrift (Nov 2012)
    Commander Dennis Klein- U.S. Navy Commander submarine USS Columbia (May 2012)
    Captain Chuck Litchfield- U.S. Navy Commander assault ship USS Essex (Jun 2012)
    Captain Marcia Kim Lyons- U.S. Navy Commander Naval Health Clinic New England (Apr 2012)
    Captain Robert Marin- U.S. Navy Commander cruiser USS Cowpens (Feb 2012)
    Captain Sean McDonell- U.S. Navy Commander Seabee reserve unit Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 14 FL (Nov 2012)
    Commander Corrine Parker- U.S. Navy Commander Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 1 (Apr 2012)
    Captain Liza Raimondo- U.S. Navy Commander Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River, MD (Jun 2012)
    Captain Jeffrey Riedel- Program manager, Littoral Combat Ship program (Jan 2012)
    Commander Sara Santoski- U.S. Navy Commander Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 15 (Sep 2012)
    Commander Kyle G. Strudthoff-Executive Officer Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 (Sep 2012)
    Commander Sheryl Tannahill- U.S. Navy Commander Navy Operational Support Center [NOSC] Nashville, TN (Sep 2012)
    Commander Michael Ward- U.S. Navy Commander submarine USS Pittsburgh (Aug 2012)
    Captain Michael Wiegand- U.S. Navy Commander Southwest Regional Maintenance Center (Nov 2012)
    Captain Ted Williams- U.S. Navy Commander amphibious command ship Mount Whitney (Nov 2012)
    Commander Jeffrey Wissel- U.S. Navy Commander of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 1 (Feb 2012)

Naval Officers fired: (All in 2013)

    Lieutenant Commander Lauren Allen-Executive Officer submarine Jacksonville (Feb 2013)
    Reserve Captain Jay Bowman-U.S. Navy Commander Navy Operational Support Center [NOSC] Fort Dix, NJ (Mar 2013)
    Captain William Cogar-U.S. Navy Commander hospital ship Mercy's medical treatment facility (Sept 2013)
    Commander Steve Fuller-Executive Officer frigate Kauffman (Mar 2013)
    Captain Shawn Hendricks-Program Manager for naval enterprise IT networks (June 2013)
    Captain David Hunter-U.S. Navy Commander of Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron 12 & Coastal Riverine Group 2 (Feb 2013)
    Captain Eric Johnson-U.S. Navy Chief of Military Entrance Processing Command at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, IL (2013)
    Captain Devon Jones-U.S. Navy Commander Naval Air Facility El Centro, CA (July 2013)
    Captain Kevin Knoop-U.S. Navy Commander hospital ship Comfort's medical treatment facility (Aug 2013)
    Lieutenant Commander Jack O'Neill-U.S. Navy Commander Operational Support Center Rock Island, IL (Mar 2013)
    Commander Allen Maestas-Executive Officer Beachmaster Unit 1 (May 2013)
    Commander Luis Molina-U.S. Navy Commander submarine Pasadena (Jan 2013)
    Commander James Pickens-Executive Officer frigate Gary (Feb 2013)
    Lieutenant Commander Mark Rice-U.S. Navy Commander Mine Countermeasures ship Guardian (Apr 2013)
    Commander Michael Runkle-U.S. Navy Commander of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2 (May 2013)
    Commander Jason Stapleton-Executive Office Patrol Squadron 4 in Hawaii (Mar 2013)
    Commander Nathan Sukols-U.S. Navy Commander submarine Jacksonville (Feb 2013)
    Lieutenant Daniel Tyler-Executive Officer Mine Countermeasures ship Guardian (Apr 2013)
    Commander Edward White-U.S. Navy Commander Strike Fighter Squadron 106 (Aug 2013)
    Captain Jeffrey Winter-U.S. Navy Commander of Carrier Air Wing 17 (Sept 2013)
    Commander Thomas Winter-U.S. Navy Commander submarine Montpelier (Jan 2013)
    Commander Corey Wofford- U.S. Navy Commander frigate Kauffman (Feb 2013)

157 [ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN] Air Force majors forced into early terminations, no retirement or benefits. All 157 had been twice passed over for promotion and were within six years of retirement.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20120103/NEWS/201030335/
Too many to list

A retired Army general is calling for the "forced resignations" of President Obama, administration officials, and MORE
http://www.wnd.com/2013/11/general-lets-make-obama-resign/#RgFdpYytKGaBQMdA.99

http://www.redflagnews.com/headlines/list-of-purged-military-high-officers-terrifying