The Origin of the VA Motto To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan A couple of days ago I posted this Lets See Now, 'Supporting The Troops' On a few boards, the link here goes to my site. In the post I asked a question "Once again I'll ask, if we as a Country 'Support The Troops', why do We Make Those Same Troops and Veterans Jump through Hoops of Red Tape and Broken Promises to Seek That Support ?!!!! I'm not going to go into what many of my 'Nam Brothers went through, upon returning and loooong after, it's easy to find the facts for those to young or not around than. For those old enough, well, most just plain weren't paying attention, and Now We're Repeating because of that! We seem to love Wars Of Choice, some 70% were well into supporting the present debacle, which means many reading this were in that percentile, and when we have them it's seems very easy to put those who are sent to fight them Out Of Sight and Out Of Mind, as they return and Long After, especially those suffering from the Trauma's of War. I say "AGAIN" in the subject title because I've watched what's happening now for all these years since returning from 'Nam and getting my discharge after 4yrs. to the present, not only for my brother and sister 'Nam Vets but for Korean Vets and all those since! The Veterans Administration and VA Care is only as good as the Political Appointee running it, and the Monies Budgetted by Congress, the Peoples Representatives! Most of those working in the VA system do great work and are extremely caring people, they can only do as much as they can with what this Country gives them and under the leadership of the Politics involved! Trouble is when the VA is mentioned, in the negative, they, like most hard working people, get the blame! That blame lays at the feet of the People of this Country, it's Representatives, and in the present times a certain Political Party, that had Total Control, and Wanted to follow the ideology of a handful of misfits and extremely dangerous minds, Power Hungry and Extremely Greedy! A book recently came out: The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict

But hardly a whisper has been heard about a Congressional hearing in Washington last week on a topic that could have been drawn, in all its tragic monstrosity, from the theater of the absurd, about the consequences of these costs, which are like a cancer inside the American economy. Already we are seeing large numbers of returning veterans showing up at V.A. hospitals for treatment, large numbers applying for disability and large numbers with severe psychological problems.” Even the most basic wartime information is difficult to come by. Mr. Stiglitz, who has written a new book with Ms. Bilmes called “The Three Trillion Dollar War,” said they had to go to veterans’ groups, who in turn had to resort to the Freedom of Information Act, just to find out how many Americans had been injured in Iraq. The $2 Trillion Nightmare

Yesterday, 3-03-08, on NPR's Fresh Air there was another interview with Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz, the authors of the book above. They interviewed each seperately with Ms Bilmes on first for abit over 20min.. In her interview she discusses the Military and Veterans Care issue that's in the book, This Is a Must Listen To Interview, if you missed the NPR show! Linda Bilmes is a professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. An expert on U.S. budgeting and public finance, she has written on financial and budgetary issues, including the cost of the Iraq War, veterans health and disability costs. You can follow this link to the NPR interview with Ms Bilmes where you'll be able to listen and also read an Excerpt of the book, which gets into the Private Contractor issue. Or you can visit later but listen to the report now with this link which brings up the NPR Player, again This is a Must listen to interview. Neither Ms Bilmes nor Mr Stiglitz are whistling dixie here, this is how We Treat The Veterans of This Country On the second part of the show they interview Joseph Stiglitz the co-author of the book. Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel-Prize-winning economist and founder of the branch of economics known as "The Economics of Information." He is a professor at Columbia University and the author of several books on international economics. You can follow this link to the interview with Mr. Stiglitz where you'll be able to listen to the interview with him as well as find the same Excerpt from the book. Or you can listen to this interview here covering many of the little known costs of the Debacle that we'll be paying for years, he talks about the cost of the private contractors, this is abit over 18min long! Also yesterday, 3-03-08, A Hearing began in the Class Action Health Suit Against VA in San Francisco.

Lawyers for two veterans groups asked a judge Monday to order the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to overhaul its health system, especially its mental health treatment, to meet growing demand from soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

The groups suing are Veterans for Common Sense in Washington, which claims 11,500 members, and Santa Barbara-based Veterans United for Truth with 500 members.

Some more articles and reports about those Hearings: 30% of vets face stress disorder, doctor says Judge calls hearing to ponder ordering VA to improve health care VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides where you'll find this Video as well: Live Video Feed - VA under scrutiny for veteran suicides A few more articles: Minnesota Marine's case is part of lawsuit against VA Vets and crimes make for tough decisions You'll find this article The cold price of hot blood at Salon.

Every nation that goes to war makes that war its religion. Wars are always holy, necessary and sacrosanct. That's why asking how much a war costs is blasphemous. It's like asking how much God is worth.

With all this talk about Experiance why is it the one supposedly without can see the Real Need and the Neglect:

Barack Obama Pledges 'Sacred Trust' with Veterans All American Patriots (press release) - Taeby,NA,Sweden Obama passed legislation to stop a VA review of closed PTSD cases that could have led to a reduction in veterans' benefits. * Obama passed an amendment to ...

Obama: ''We Will Not Leave Any of Our Veterans Behind'' PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) - Wien,Austria Obama passed an amendment to ensure that all service members returning from Iraq are properly screened for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). ...

He keeps Talking the Talk and he's got this Vets Vote and I'll hold his feet to the fire to Make Sure He Delivers! Where was all the Experiance as the Drums of War were beating Louder and Louder and one Political Party Controlled, as to Making Sure we Learned the Lessons of the not so distant Past as to the results of War on those we send! While calling out all of us who not only understood the obscene nature of what was to come, Shock and Awe and the Creation of Much More Hate thus placing our National Security, and that of other nations, into extreme jeopardy, as well as the future generations who will be dealing with the 'Blowback' from these times! Experiance, you don't get Experiance out of Apathy and Denial!!