Whatever political party you are affiliated with should not cloud how you deal with the welfare of our veterans.

There should be, without question, a sacred belief by us — the citizens of this country — to honor our commitments to a group of people who put their lives in harm’s way in order to insure that we have the free rights to enjoy life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

One of the promises we have made to our veterans is that when needed, they would receive first-class medical care.

By all recent reports, the leadership of the Veterans Administration, which administers the health care for our veterans, has been at best derelict of its duties and at worst criminal for the deceit and greed that has caused the premature death of many of our older veterans.

The head of the VA, Gen. Eric Shinseki, appeared before a house committee this past week, and under heavy questioning said he was “damn mad at what was happening.”

Really, general? We are damn mad that under your leadership, we have had these problems.

Shinseki, who is a war hero who lost a foot in combat, should follow the code of beaten leaders everywhere. He should figuratively fall on the sword or, in reality, resign.

In speaking of the dereliction of duty by Shinseki, where has our Commander in Chief been?

The ultimate failure of the VA falls on his shoulders, yet he has no comment or does not seem to even care.

This is shameful, but nothing less than what we have learned to expect from this administration.