I'd Like Your Opinion On This

This is a piece of art done by Rick Rueda of Amarillo. It is titled "PTSD".

I found it to be a powerful statement on a huge problem, and a beautiful piece of artwork. It speaks to the way this country sends soldiers off to war, but ignores the problems that war causes the soldiers when they return home. There are far too many suicides among veterans, because our government won't live up to its responsibility to care for veterans, and give them the care they need and deserve.

It was displayed in a local art gallery, and that gallery didn't see things that way. They have banned Mr. Rueda from displaying any more of his art in their gallery.

I would really like to know what my readers think. Is this a powerful piece of art? Or should it be banned from public viewing? Please tell me what you think.

I want to hear from as many of you as possible -- and to that end, I will even publish anonymous comments on this one post (if that is the only way you'll comment).

VA Lies To Congress About Vets

If there's one thing the Bush administration has been consistent about, it is lying. They have lied about little things and big things, important things and unimportant things. They have lied to their friends and their enemies. They have lied to Congress and to the American people.

So I guess it shouldn't surprise us to see they plan to finish their 8-year stretch still lying. Maybe they've been lying so long they've forgotten how to tell the truth. This time, it's the Veteran's Administration (VA).

We all know that 4047 American soldiers have been killed in the Iraq War. It's hard to hide an obvious cost like the death statistics. But there are hidden costs to this unnecessary war -- like the psychological casualties among the soldiers who have returned home. It's much easier to lie and hide this cost.

According to the statistics released by the VA, 790 veterans of the war tried to commit suicide in 2007. That sounded bad enough, but now we find through VA internal e-mails that this was a lie. The actual number of attempted suicides among returning veterans was about 12,000 in 2007. That wasn't just a lie -- it was a gigantic whopper!

Over 300,000 of the returning veterans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Major Depression. Only half of these have sought help, and of those, only half have received a "minimally adequate" treatment. This is a huge number of psychologically wounded veterans, and the Bush policy is creating more every day.

As Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington) pointed out, some of the more violent symptoms may not show up for many years. She said, "I think we ought to be worried. They can be walking time bombs for decades. I hope everyone in the VA understands this."

It's easy to see why the Bush administration is trying to hide these war casualties. This is a huge and growing problem that will affect our country for many years. We are paying a terrible price to soothe Bush's pride, control Iraqi oil and enrich a lot of giant corporations. It is time to end this nonsense.

We must pull our troops out of Iraq -- the sooner the better.