One of Washingtons dirty little secrets

Mind you, this is written by Jesselyn Radack, a homeland security director for the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, based in Washington, D.C.

Law.com...


I would love to post this whole article, unfortunately its to long.
Here are some clipsits.

It's one of the nasty little secrets of Washington, D.C., that everybody claims to dislike but nobody does anything about. It's called burrowing -- the insidious phenomenon of political appointees, who should leave with the outgoing president or be forced to compete for positions to stay, instead frantically converting to career posts at the end of a presidential administration.

In the very last week of the Bush administration, the beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency posted several plum, six-figure career slots that were open for less than a week and expired before Inauguration Day. Was FEMA looking for the best public servants or Republican loyalists who needed new jobs?

Burrowing, however, is not only inappropriate. It is illegal.

In the 1880s, Presidents Chester Arthur and Grover Cleveland first pressed for adoption of a civil service merit system, in which the most able candidates for government service would be chosen through fair, competitive examinations. In slow and incremental stages, reformers created a merit-based system that largely ended the spoils system at the federal level, eventually culminating in the law that now governs federal employment, the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.

The just-departed Bush administration engaged in prohibited personnel practices at the hiring and firing ends, and heads into history notorious for its hiring of unqualified neocons and firing of perceived dissenters. The most egregious examples are Attorney General John Ashcroft's stacking of the once prestigious and apolitical Honors Program with committed conservatives and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' firing of nine U.S. Attorneys in 2006 for deviating from the party line.

So....to sum it up "were screwed"

I dont know if any of you have ever seen this...

But It sure does make some interesting reading...


* John Adams and John Quincy Adams (father and son)
* William Harrison and Benjamin Harrison (grandfather and grandson)
* George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush (father and son)

n-laws

* Theodore Roosevelt was uncle-in-law to Franklin Roosevelt.

[edit] Second cousins

* James Madison and Zachary Taylor

[edit] Third cousins

* Martin Van Buren and Theodore Roosevelt (three times removed)
* Martin Van Buren and Franklin Roosevelt (four times removed)
* John Adams and Calvin Coolidge (six times removed)
* James Madison and Barack Obama (nine times removed)

[edit] Fourth cousins

* John Tyler and William Henry Harrison (once removed)
* Ulysses Grant and Franklin D. Roosevelt (once removed)
* John Adams and Millard Fillmore (three times removed)
* John Quincy Adams and Franklin D. Roosevelt (three times removed)
* Zachary Taylor and Franklin D. Roosevelt (half-cousins, three times removed)
* James Garfield and George H. W. Bush (three times removed)
* James Garfield and George W. Bush (four times removed)
* John Adams and William Taft (five times removed)
* John Quincy Adams and Calvin Coolidge (five times removed)
* Franklin Pierce and Herbert Hoover (five times removed)
* Millard Fillmore and George H. W. Bush (five times removed)
* Millard Fillmore and George W. Bush (six times removed)

[edit] Fifth cousins

* Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt
* Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland (once removed)
* Rutherford Hayes and Grover Cleveland (once removed)
* John Tyler and Benjamin Harrison (once removed)
* James Garfield and William Taft (once removed)
* John Quincy Adams and Millard Fillmore (twice removed)
* Millard Fillmore and Warren Harding (twice removed)
* John Quincy Adams and William Taft (four times removed)
* Millard Fillmore and Herbert Hoover (four times removed)
* Franklin Pierce and George H. W. Bush (four times removed)
* Grover Cleveland and Gerald Ford (four times removed)
* Millard Fillmore and Gerald Ford (five times removed)
* Franklin Pierce and George W. Bush (five times removed)

[edit] Sixth cousins

* Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter
* Millard Fillmore and William Taft (once removed)
* Ulysses Grant and Grover Cleveland (once removed)
* Rutherford Hayes and Franklin Roosevelt (once removed)
* Grover Cleveland and William Taft (once removed)
* Franklin Pierce and Franklin Roosevelt (twice removed)
* James Garfield and Calvin Coolidge (twice removed)
* William Taft and Franklin Roosevelt (twice removed)
* Calvin Coolidge and George H. W. Bush (twice removed)
* Franklin Roosevelt and Gerald Ford (twice removed)
* Ulysses Grant and Gerald Ford (three times removed)
* Rutherford Hayes and Gerald Ford (three times removed)
* Rutherford Hayes and George H. W. Bush (three times removed)
* William Taft and George H. W. Bush (three times removed)
* Calvin Coolidge and George W. Bush (three times removed)
* Franklin Roosevelt and George H. W. Bush (three times removed)
* Millard Fillmore and Calvin Coolidge (four times removed)
* Franklin Pierce and Calvin Coolidge (four times removed)
* Rutherford Hayes and George W. Bush (four times removed)
* William Taft and George W. Bush (four times removed)
* Franklin Roosevelt and George W. Bush (four times removed)
* Ulysses Grant and George H. W. Bush (five times removed)
* Ulysses Grant and George W. Bush (six times removed)

[edit] Seventh cousins

* Millard Fillmore and Ulysses Grant
* Benjamin Harrison and William Taft
* Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush
* William Taft and Calvin Coolidge (once removed)
* Millard Fillmore and Franklin D. Roosevelt (once removed)
* Calvin Coolidge and Franklin D. Roosevelt (once removed)
* Gerald Ford and George W. Bush (once removed)
* Ulysses Grant and Calvin Coolidge (twice removed)
* Grover Cleveland and George H. W. Bush (twice removed)
* William Taft and Richard Nixon (twice removed)
* William Taft and Gerald Ford (twice removed)
* James Garfield and Herbert Hoover (three times removed)
* James Garfield and Gerald Ford (three times removed)
* Grover Cleveland and George W. Bush (three times removed)
* Theodore Roosevelt and George H. W. Bush (three times removed)
* Abraham Lincoln and Gerald Ford (four times removed)
* Abraham Lincoln and George H. W. Bush (four times removed)
* Theodore Roosevelt and George W. Bush (four times removed)
* Abraham Lincoln and George W. Bush (five times removed)

[edit] Eighth cousins

* Grover Cleveland and Franklin D. Roosevelt (half-cousin)
* Rutherford Hayes and William Taft (once removed)
* Calvin Coolidge and Richard Nixon (once removed)
* Calvin Coolidge and Gerald Ford (once removed)
* Herbert Hoover and Gerald Ford (once removed)
* Franklin Roosevelt and Richard Nixon (once removed)
* William Taft and Warren Harding (twice removed)
* Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford (twice removed)
* Rutherford Hayes and Richard Nixon (three times removed)

[edit] Ninth cousins

* Warren Harding and Richard Nixon
* Warren Harding and Jimmy Carter
* Benjamin Harrison and Calvin Coolidge (once removed)
* Warren Harding and Gerald Ford (once removed)
* Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush (four times removed)
* Richard Nixon and George W. Bush (five times removed)

[edit] Tenth cousins

* Herbert Hoover and George H. W. Bush
* Herbert Hoover and George W. Bush (once removed)
* George W. Bush and Barack Obama (once removed)

That looks about right lol.

While I'm not going to go out and check all of that info; there would be no way for me to really be surprised that all politicians and presidents = related some form or another.

* George W. Bush and Barack Obama (once removed)

And don't forget the:

Dick Cheney and Barack Obama (9th Cousins)

Something like that, go figure right lol, I laughed so hard when I read about the bloodline, can't do much else except light a blunt because, yeah were all screwed unless we do something.