THE SECRECY IS MIND BOGGLING

If you ever watched the TV show X Files chances are that your inner conspiracy theorist was indulged thoroughly. I have to wonder though if it's really that far off. I was watching a show on MILITARY television and I was blown away by the way government works down to the most minute detail. The first half of the show was dedicated to the Doomsday plane, existing for the purpose of saving the President and senior members of congress in case of a tragedy.

In a way yes it gives people a feeling of safety that in case of an eventual mass tragedy government can restore functions through other mediums. As the show went on it spoke of the top secret facility known as Mt Weather and it's basically the White House underground. The big issue is all the secrecy, yes I understand not a lot can be revealed but it does make you wonder how much exactly is being hidden.

We live in a secretive society where the big thing is " What they don't know won't hurt them." Secrecy is in some ways what supposedly guards democracy. Are the secrets limited though? Does knowing everything about everyone come in that package? I guess it's in the name of democracy, still it's mind boggling.

THE KENNEDY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT: YOUTH

As I sit and watch the second part of PBS' JFK: American Experience I sit and wonder if during those years youth was considered the best way for government. In just a few days it will be the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination and rather than focus on the negative I would like to pose this question:

• Did Kennedy's youth represent new hope for the US or was it simply the start of an aggressive and somewhat reckless period? 

It seems like Kennedy's fearless nature led him to make mistakes such as the Bay of Pigs invasion, which seemed to empower Fidel Castro and embarrass the US. Kennedy was a symbol of hope in the 1960's and somehow that hope diminished for Kennedy as he realized that his advisors were not always looking out for the interests of the US. Kennedy was also faced with problems such as civil rights unrest brought about by segregation and inequality. 

The Kennedy white house came at a time when change was begging to take place, in a revolutionary manner. Kennedy's youth was one part of the equation, a positive part, but his inexperience was the negative counter. Yes, Kennedy did want to put us in space and he wanted to stand down on talks of nuclear war but his desires seemed to clash with the status quo. 

We made it to space, we did not engage in a nuclear holocaust and yet we were still a target. Kennedy was not necessarily as authoritative as his predecessor Eisenhower, nor as devious as Nixon, the man that would eventually take the White House in 68.' The start of the revolutionary period of the US came from an uncertainty on how to deal with communism and having a weaker foreign policy. With youth and inexperience the military ended up with a deeper level of involvement than necessary in Vietnam. 

Perhaps if Kennedy had not been killed there would have been an early pull out of Vietnam and there wouldn't have been such a massive loss of human life. Kennedy never had the opportunity to realize his dreams for an open system of government that showcased great American resolve and courage. Camelot was only 34 months of a lifetime and yet that spectrum was unique because of youth, aggressiveness, and inexperience. There will never be another Camelot and perhaps that's not a bad thing, then again it would be nice to see that hope once more.

WHY I SAY THANK YOU

I'm not a war monger, I don't go around saying let's bomb this place and that place all to hell. I wish that conflicts could be settled through communication but human nature prohibits that. I am still very thankful for veterans and today, on this veteran't day I say thanks. Veterans have always primarily fought because of an intense belief in the idea that the whole world deserves to be free of oppression.

Veterans do fight for the idea of democracy, every veteran I have met has always expressed a belief in making things right for others. Let's face facts, for every imperfection in our society, America on its worst day is still a gold standard. No, there is no perfect system, but considering the opportunities we have in this country, we can't really complain.

Every veteran is also willing to sacrifice a part of themselves in combat, something not everyone can really begin to comprehend. I never spent a day in a field of battle so I will never make a derogatory statement about a veteran, like so many idiots tend to do. People need to remember that veterans don't go into conflict with agendas, veterans are not politicians.

On this day, even if you don't believe in conflict, don't attack someone for doing what you never would. It's important to be grateful, servicemen and women often make a sacrifice that carries a high price and an almost non existent reward. There are reasons to say thank you to our veterans, too many of them to mention. Today I suggest a thank you because it's the least that can be done and lets our veterans know we understand what they gave up.

WHY AM I STILL UP?

It's late and I am still up writing, I really have to question my sanity. I have a meeting in the morning and need to be sharp but I am so interested in other things at the moment. I wonder if night brings about hubris and makes people feel invincible. I am tired, I am thirsty, I know what my day will bring tomorrow but I just don't feel like letting that get to me. I am thinking of so many things and so many things I am thinking of make such little sense, even to me.

An hour ago I was thinking of what it must have been like to be David Sarnoff back when he was delivering flowers to the may mistresses of Marconi out in New York. Then I think back to previous hours and how thrilled I was with the latest installment of the HBO drama Newsroom and how cool it is that Jeff Daniels will likely have an iconic role to define his outstanding career. Here I am, it's late as fuck and I am still writing, and yet I don't know why.

This blog is such a medium for expression, often times I express raw emotion without any real attention to accuracy and I wonder how many mistakes I have made in the process of creating volume. I don't give a shit about what people think of my mistakes because this is my forum and yet I want reactions, I want to push buttons and get people talking. Yes I know what I'm saying because I read and read carefully but often times I write recklessly because I am fully invested. I look forward to numbers, ideas, reactions and I love when I have the opportunity to prove assholes wrong.

I am not really into political correctness, in fact I challenge that ridiculous and hypocritical norm which we enforce because honestly it's nothing more than fear, a blanket for the cowardly. It's late and I am opening up to perfect strangers because I am secure in my own feelings and opinions, I will agree, disagree, and stand up when it's necessary. I will attack people not for the sake of the attack but simply because I live in reality. It's late, I'm tired and open, and I will say whatever the hell I want to say.

HEALTH CARE IS INCREDIBLY COMPLICATED EVERYWHERE

I can't understand why there is such a complex situation regarding healthcare not just in the US but really in the world. There is currently a bill before congress attempting to repeal "Obamacare" otherwise known as The Affordable Care Act. Let's look at healthcare in a less complicated manner for a second.

Health Care is not a privilege that should only be afforded to those that can afford it and yet it seems that it's that precise issue the one that is plaguing it. People aspire for affordable care but truthfully it gets more and more out of reach daily. I don't think the problem lies with the costs associated so much as it does with the fact that insurance determines whether or not to pay a physician. I am familiar with this because my father was a physician and he constantly struggled with insurance companies and often they did not comply.

Insurance is the middle man that is supposed to facilitate care and it fails to do it in a regal manner. Now I ask: Is socialized medical care an answer? The answer is a big no. Let's look at the European Union for a quick second. if you look at the rankings of the World Health Organization most countries in the EU fund over 75% of their medical care publicly. Years ago that idea was brought before congress by Hillary Clinton during her husband's administration and it failed miserably.

The problem with socialized medicine is that the system is not executed in a manner that benefits the patient. I know that in the Netherlands which has a WHO ranking of 17 and a European ranking of 14 and  there are big deficiencies. Prescriptions are given and not properly monitored while specialist visits are rarely recommended by primary care physicians. While I respect a PCP I don't understand why one would decide that he or she could do the job of a Neurologist, Gynecologist, or for that matter Cardiologist.

We can avoid the issues plaguing care in the US if we regulate insurance and learn to police their practices as opposed to serving their interests. I also think that the EU system would work far more effectively if a number of specialist visits and proper monitoring of medication was put more effeciently into play. While socialized medicine works through a system of taxation it does not really mean it's effective in nature and practice.

If Obamacare is repealed, which I doubt, we go back to scrambling for a solution to a problem that's spent nearly a half century on the congressional floor. I think that in order to solve the problem people need to educate themselves and understand the definitions of words such as socialism, and terms such necessary taxation medical care.

Let's move on our own behalf because democracy says we can.

WHAT MAKES FOR A DIVIDE MAKES FOR A DEBATE

Now that the elections are over and we have chosen our leader there is an interesting discussion to be had. The numbers coming in on election night were so tight it was nearly impossible to tell who was going to win. At one point Romney held a comfortable lead in electoral votes but it was early enough to where Obama could still and would eventually pass him. The end result was a commanding electoral lead for Obama. Then there is the popular vote which for a long time was in Romney's side.

It is clearly understood that the popular vote does not determine the winner of the election. The popular vote does register a pulse in the American landscape and as of yesterday Obama only had a 1.7% lead over Romney. The interesting question now is what did America really want on election night? Truthfully their was no overwhelming winner and a lot of questions were raised.

Yes Obama won almost every state he won last time with the exception of two states that Romney recovered for the Republican party. If you study the margin of victory that Obama had in some of those states it was almost non existent and the difference was made by the size of counties voting. Traditionally democratic counties voted as such and gave Obama a greater boost to carry the states he carried. So once more when you look at the map it's fair to question if there was a clear and overwhelming winner according to what we want as a nation.

It's also fair to ask if we are being overly influenced by negative attack adds that seem to run almost non stop for a specific period of time. I would love to see how the election would turn out if instead candidates were left to expose their various points in televised town hall style meetings where they could in turn talk to the people. Yes the candidates do that already and they do state what they feel is wrong but in this case it would not be an add but rather an exposure in which they could establish a specific point and try to carry it consistently. I know that won't happen but it would be no less interesting. How did FDR campaign after all? The FDR fireside chats were like destination radio for depression era America.

America is divided but the truth is that if you take a sampling of people and question them about policy a good percentage will not know the difference between a Romney proposition or an Obama proposition. This is not a statement that chastises either as being overly liberal or conservative but rather exposes the fact that not many people can really recite a budget proposal or medical reform proposal. The truth is that the venom that comes out of people and what divides the country comes from misunderstanding, assumption and prejudice in some ways.