So, if things have changed for the worse, we should all just go along with it? Not my style.

You sure put a lot of words in my mouth. "Slackards....exponentially....past 6 years".....I said none of that but you did. Why? Did you really think a comparison of Reagan's numbers to Obama was effective? Did you just look at overall numbers? Total government employee numbers are broken down by Civilian, Military, and Legislative/Judicial. In the 4 years following Reagan's election, rounding up and down (numbers in the thousands), Reagan maintained a Civilian number of 2800, 2800, 2800, and 2900 with a Military number of 2100, 2100, 2200, and 2200. In Obama's first 3 years following his election his Civilian number was 2800, 2800, and 2800 with a Military number of 1600, 1600, and 1600. http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-over...ables/total-government-employment-since-1962/Oh....bummer. The Feds are holding steady but in the midst of multiple worldwide conflicts we have managed to reduce our military. And BTW, Obama's Civilian numbers increased significantly over that of his predecessor. The 2 years with the highest number of Civlian employees were 1968 and 1969.....LBJ and Nixon, lol.

Moving on.....despite your Karnak-like abilities, you are incorrect. Allow me to speak for myself. What did I mean by massive beaurocracy? TSA, IRS, EPA, SEC, DoE, a $488B price tag for increased government regulations under the current administration.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/cost-regulations-under-obama-488-billion_652691.html Fraud in nearly every corner and every organization. A government so big it is losing money hand over fist and then running around like crazy to catch and prosecute, thereby requiring more employees and pretending to appear effective. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/157210.php
http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/School-Imp...ding-for-Education-Fraud-Waste-and-Abuse.aspx, http://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370539751924#.UgPEeqbn_cs

Violent crimes. The mass shootings to which YOU opened with in terms of mental health do not account for anywhere near the number of overall violent crimes in the US. They get the media attention for obvious reasons but they are the exception not the rule and legislating to the exception is a major mistake which will result in unintended consequences. Violent crimes are murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Just this summer alone in Chicago, over 100 people have been murdered. That number will increase by another 20 or 30 by the end of August. Do the people who commit all of these crimes and those in Chicago have a history of mental illness? Why not just get rid of prison sentences for violent criminals then and send them all to psychiatric hospitals? Most of the specific people you mentioned in terms of the mass shootings did have a history of mental illness....and all of them gave repeated signals that both family and health professionals either ignored, did not believe, or did not pursue other than putting them on meds. How did that work? And somehow you think the federal government is going to detect them prior to a major incident? Not a chance. Time marches on, society changes you say....it sure does and if you aren't advocating the removal of guns from citizens then you have to accept that tragic incidents will occur, crazy people will do bad things. Our government can't figure out how to properly frisk a child at an airport. They can't effectively find and treat severe psychosis. They can develop things like MKULTRA though.

Back to Benghazi....pressure on the incoming FBI director caused charges to be filed. Shocking.

http://news.investors.com/ibd-edito...arrett-gave-benghazi-stand-down-order.htm?p=2

This is interesting.

2002, US consulte in Pakistan, 10 killed
2004, US embassy in Uzbekistan, 2 killed, 9 wounded
2006, US embassy in Syria, 1 killed
2007, US embassy in Athens, attacked
2008, US embassy in Serbia, set on fire
2008, US embassy in Yemen, 10 killed

Nice try grasshopper, but Obama's civilian numbers were bound to increase over GWB because of the temporary hiring of census workers that happened in 2010. Census hiring begins in 2009 and those employees are terminated later in 2011 once all the information is compiled. Your chart offers no numbers from 2012, which I would image are quite a bit lower. Further, the size of our military has steadily been reduced over the past 30-40 years because technology has eliminated the need for a million man military. So nice try but you don't get to pick and choose your facts. As a matter of fact, if you want to include the number of postal jobs that have been eliminated by the Obama administration then the federal government is considerably smaller than it was back then.

Next, your figures about increased government regulations are correct. When Obama took office we were at an all time low in regulations and we were freshly aware of the consequences of having no regulation. When you go from no regulations, that killed the economy, to have some regulations it is going to cost money to do so. That said, I am sure there are some of those regulations that are indeed overkill and as soon as the Republicans can get their head out of their ass and stop trying to repeal Obamacare every week, they will focus their energies on more important things like seeing to it that the frivolous regulations are overturned. You went on to insinuate that the government is losing money hand over fist yet our deficit is falling at a historic rate and is on schedule this year to be considerably less than what was expected. We are not their yet but we are on the right track. Exports are increasing every single day and we are on pace to be the leading exporter of oil by 2020. In case you haven't noticed we are moving in the right direction....albeit slowly, but the right direction none the less.

How naive of you to think that none of those other violent crimes were perpetrated by the mentally ill. I used those as examples because they are all names and stories that we can relate to, but violent crime goes on every single day in this country. Some of it is definitely just thug on thug violence that has nothing to do with mental health and there are other means of combating that kind of violence. Further, your assumption that the federal government should be the leading actor on mental health is absurd and further leads me to believe that you have a truly ignorant knowledge of mental health in this country. Mental health will always originate at the community level with funding that comes from all government entities: local, state and federal.

Your nostalgia about the way things used to be is revealing. Just exactly what are you wanting to return to? You must have an idea of what society should look like if you don't like the way it looks today then please expound and explain to me what this utopia would look like.

this is inconvenient information MM

List of terrorist attacks under Clinton's watch.
Oct. 12, 2000 - A terrorist bomb damages the destroyer USS Cole in the port of Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39.

Aug. 7, 1998 - Terrorist bombs destroy the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In Nairobi, 12 Americans are among the 291 killed, and over 5,000 are wounded, including 6 Americans. In Dar es Salaam, one U.S. citizen is wounded among the 10 killed and 77 injured.

In response, on August 20 the United States attacked targets in Afghanistan and Sudan with over 75 cruise missiles fired from Navy ships in the Arabian and Red seas. About 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from warships in the Arabian Sea. Most struck six separate targets in a camp near Khost, Afghanistan. Simultaneously, about 20 cruise missiles were fired from U.S. ships in the Red Sea striking a factory in Khartoum, Sudan, which was suspected of producing components for making chemical weapons.

June 21, 1998 - Rocket-propelled grenades explode near the U.S. embassy in Beirut.

July 27, 1996 - A pipe bomb explodes during the Olympic games in Atlanta, killing one person and wounding 111.

June 25, 1996 - A bomb aboard a fuel truck explodes outside a U.S. air force installation in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. 19 U.S. military personnel are killed in the Khubar Towers housing facility, and 515 are wounded, including 240 Americans.

Nov. 13, 1995 - A car-bomb in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills seven people, five of them American military and civilian advisers for National Guard training. The "Tigers of the Gulf," "Islamist Movement for Change," and "Fighting Advocates of God" claim responsibility.

April 19, 1995 - A car bomb destroys the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and wounding over 600.

February 1993 - A bomb in a van explodes in the underground parking garage in New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and wounding 1,042.


Since we are discussing ex presidents

Right direction? Really? Barry is not only the welfare president. He's also the part time job president.
http://m.weeklystandard.com/blogs/food-stamp-growth-75x-greater-job-creation_660073.html

2002, US consulte in Pakistan, 10 killed
2004, US embassy in Uzbekistan, 2 killed, 9 wounded
2006, US embassy in Syria, 1 killed
2007, US embassy in Athens, attacked
2008, US embassy in Serbia, set on fire
2008, US embassy in Yemen, 10 killed

Thanks for compiling this information, Gyver. It perfectly illustrates my point: while tragic, these incidents just happen sometimes when you are dealing with countries like these where political upheaval is the norm. My point throughout this entire discussion hasn't been to condemn GWB, or any other President, for embassy and consulate attacks, but to show that this isn't unusual and nothing about it rises to the level of the criminal. That, and the Republican indignation has continually changed from one thing to the next as each previous point gets dispelled. It's like they just keep trying to find something that just isn't there. Sorry but I don't remember Dems doing that to GWB over similar incidents. There used to be a saying in this country that politics stopped at our shores, meaning that we stood united against all others. Benghazi marked the first time that a candidate broke that code during a campaign just to try and score cheap political points when Romney started attacking Obama before the attack was even over. This has been a side show and, if anything, Republican attempts to make this something other than what it was has belittled the sacrifice that those brave Americans made that fateful night.

These are consequences of the economic crash, nothing Barry has done right or wrong. Welfare roles always increase after economic crashes, especially with the enormity of baby boomers in the country who were on the cusp of retirement age when the crash happened, it's no wonder that a propensity of them elected to enroll themselves in government benefits. Everyone likes to pretend that the increase in welfare roles has come from minorities but, funny enough, it's 60-65 year old white people who have increased the welfare and disability roles.

There is a prevailing thought among right leaning thinkers today that very complex, nuanced problems can be solved with overly simplified solutions. This is foolish. If you want proof, just look at the 40 attempts by congress to repeal Obamacare. Notice that I said "repeal" because not one single time has the congress sought to present legislation that would REPLACE Obamacare. Our broken health system constitutes 18% of our economy; there is no way to fix the economy without addressing the rising costs of health care. Where are their ideas? Where is the depth of their thinking?