In 1980, there were more than 28 million vets and more than two million soldiers on active duty in the U.S. By 2010, the number of veterans had declined to 22 million and the total of active duty personnel had dropped to 1.4 million. Over the past 30 years, the U.S. population has increased by 80 million people. That means the percentage of veterans in society fell from 12% in 1980 to about 7% by 2010.   read more

In March 2010 Petraeus testified to the Senate that the Taliban’s momentum had been stopped in much of Afghanistan, a statement that bore no relation to reality. He also told The Wall Street Journal that Taliban attacks involving roadside bombs had “flattened,” when Pentagon statistics showed that they had actually doubled in the previous year.   read more

As the military switched from paper-based recordkeeping to computer-based during the Gulf War era (1990–1991), Army units failed to keep and preserve adequate records, even after the Army introduced a centralized report collection system. Many units ignore the new system, and military culture, which had celebrated near-obsessive recordkeeping for 200 years, began to devalue the entire enterprise. In addition, competing bureaucracies blamed one another.   read more

Rick Tyler, a top adviser to Todd Akin’s failed Missouri Senate campaign, called Crossroads’ efforts “a colossal failure,” and said that Rove “has a lot of explaining to do, mostly to his donors. I don’t think donors are ever going to invest in that level again because it turns out that the architect didn’t know what he was talking about,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.   read more

New Jersey CVS supervisor Ryan Barna implored employees to “go out and make this happen this week and every week going forward.” Barna also provided pharmacists with helpful hints on how to respond if customers complain about the unauthorized refills. He recommended telling them that “we tried calling you several times this week on this past-due prescription” and that “I went ahead and filled it so it would be ready for you.”   read more

The Chamber’s scorecard for the Senate was particularly poor, winning only two out of 26 races. This despite spending $24 million on multiple races to defeat Democrats who wound up winning, including Timothy Kaine of Virginia ($4.4 million) and Sherrod Brown of Ohio ($4.3 million) and Bill Nelson of Florida ($3.8 million). In the House, the Chamber won six out of 33 elections after spending $7 million.   read more

In the end, spending by super PACs and other outside groups did not have as much influence as many observers feared, wrote Dan Eggen and T.W. Farnam in The Washington Post, characterizing the largesse as “the dog that barked but did not bite.” In several cases, the big three gave money to the same candidates, so here are their final individual records: Sheldon Adelson: 0 wins; 8 losses Harold Simmons: 1 win (Orrin Hatch of Utah); 6 losses Bob Perry: 0 wins; 5 losses   read more

With the state already represented by two women in the U.S. Senate (Republican Kelly Ayotte and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen), voters chose Democrats Carol Shea-Porter and Ann McLane Kuster over Republican incumbents Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass, respectively, for New Hampshire’s two congressional seats. In addition to the congressional victories, another woman celebrated on Tuesday—Democrat Maggie Hassan—who won the governor’s race over Republican Ovide Lamontagne.   read more

Heitkamp becomes the first woman whom North Dakotans have ever elected to Congress, and only the second to serve in the Senate. Jocelyn Burdick was appointed to a brief three-month term in 1992 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, Senator Quentin Burdick. Heitkamp’s victory leaves four states that have still not elected a woman to either the Senate of the House of Representatives: Delaware, Iowa, Mississippi and Vermont.   read more

More than half of the 11 propositions on the California ballot yesterday appeared courtesy of wealthy individuals who had a vision and the cash to shape the focus, by and large, of the state’s political discourse over the past six months. Only two of the six appeared to have won their contests, and they were arguably the most progressive of the bunch. Three of the other five measures, put on the ballot by the state or a member of the public lacking mega-bucks status, appeared to have won.   read more

Last year, the maker of the iPhone paid only 1.9% in taxes on profits generated outside the United States. In terms of actual dollars, Apple paid $713 million in taxes on $36.87 billion in foreign profits. Its tax bill was considerably higher in the U.S., where the corporate tax rate is 35%. However, the company’s effective tax rate in 2011 was less than 10%. Critics noted that while Apple did not break any laws or even use tax loopholes .   read more

A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) concluding that tax cuts for the wealthy have not yielded economic growth but have contributed to growing economic inequality was quashed by Republican senators unhappy with its conclusions.   read more

As of November 1, Oklahomans can carry a loaded firearm without concealing it as long as they have a license. Oklahoma is now the 15th state to allow open carrying of guns with a license.   read more

Compounding pharmacies killed nearly two-dozen people and caused 86 serious illnesses before a Massachusetts facility drew national attention to the industry following a deadly meningitis outbreak. This information is included in a report released by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) illustrating the need for greater FDA oversight.   read more

Secretive campaign donors—mainly corporations and rich people—favor Republican candidates over Democrats by a margin of about 4½ to one. Some 82% of the money, $164 million, has been spent attacking Democrats or supporting Republicans; $36 million has gone to opposing Republicans or helping Democrats.   read more

Chevron Corp. gave a $2.5 million contribution earlier this month to the conservative Congressional Leadership Fund, which is dedicated to electing Republicans to Congress. Chevron’s gift accounted for most of the $3.1 million raised by the Congressional Leadership Fund during the first half of the October.   read more