Protests and outrage?

I have been trying to put together something on health care but the debate has been so long and strange. It is hard to put my thoughts together in any coherent fashion. Maybe because it has been so incoherent. What have we see? Protests and many of them. I have seen people, American people, attending town meetings not to learn or to question but to disrupt. I have seen people strutting around these meetings with guns strapped to their hips. I have seen many, many people who receive socialized medicine, for that is what Medicare is, out there whining about how they deserve it, while others do not. I have seen American people coming out, to protest, protest against...what? Helping other Americans obtain Health care. I have seen politicians outright lying, talking about "pulling the plug on grandma" and having "death panels". People who think that by providing a viable option for Health care that more people can afford, we will be giving up our rights. That somehow, stemming the tide of death brought about by the lack of affordable insurance causes would be un-American. Why is health care for all Americans something we would protest?

Where were the protesters, when, for the first time in the history of this country, we were marched off to war, to attack another nation? Where were the protesters when the cost of that was left out of the budget? Where were the protesters when our President joked about the fact that no Weapons had been found? Where were the protesters when our government decided that our e-mails and phone calls should all be monitored? When we tortured? When we were lied to? When the man behind 9/11 was said to be irrelevant? So much to be outraged about, so little outrage. So sad.

I have listened to Senators and Congressman blather on about the cost of health care reform and saying that it will bankrupt this country. Where were they when the money was flowing into Iraq to rebuild that country, while our own country went broke? When money simply disappeared into a vortex never to be seen or heard of again? Now they want to become fiscally responsible. Now, when we are trying to do some good for the people of this country, now, we must watch our nickels and dimes, when trillions have be thrown away. Or maybe not thrown away, maybe just put into the pockets of politically connected companies. Was it just an accident that the company that made the most money from the War in Iraq was once Dick Cheney's employer? So little outrage, so very sad.

Still we are treated to the sight of Dick Cheney on television, telling us what a good job he and his friends did. Giving Scooter Libby awards, I guess for taking the fall. What good job? Who in this country is flourishing right now? Not the people who work hardest in this country. Not the small business people, who, everyday wake up hoping that they won't be overdrawn. Not the people who wonder if they should buy their persciptions or food for the family. Not the people forgoing medical treatment so as not to beggar their families. Not the people losing their homes.

The banks that get to charge overdraft fees are doing OK. The drug companies who get to buy more television time to expound on the wonders of drugs that improve the sex life, they are doing okay. The Health Insurance CEOS for whom every claim denied is a new boat or vacation home, they are doing just fine. Not those mortgage companies who get paid off by the Mortgage Insurance companies and then just for fun get to resell a home that was lost by an American family, they are doing just fine. So little outrage, so very, very sad.

How can we as a country use budgeting as an excuse to continue the way health care is provided or not provided? How can Americans continue to allow other Americans to die for lack of it?

Where are the protesters now? Where is the outrage?