Escape Artist

In the left column you will find a counter that is doing an estimated cost of the war on Iraq. This is based on an algorithm that is creating an estimate in real time. Here are some facts about what this illegal, immoral war is costing.

Federal spending on the war and reconstruction

2001 & 2002: $2.5 billion
2003 $ 51 billion
2004 $ 77.3 billion
2005 $ 87.3 billion
2006 $100.4 billion
total of $318.5 billion

US funding of the Iraq National Congress

$ 38.6 billion

State departments "Future of Iraq Project" (which the white house pretty much ignored.)

$5 million

The survey group that failed to find weapons of mass destruction

$900 million

Cost of the Iraq study group

$1 million

Amount the Pentagon has requested to construct military bases in Iraq

$806 million

Amount Congress has budgeted for a "commemoration of success" for American Troops
$20 million (what would they budget if there was any chance of success???)

reconstruction to date has cost the US $34.1 billion. Rebuilding post war Germany cost $30.3 billion in 2006 dollars.

As macabre as this sounds, economists have estimated each life lost in the war to be worth $6 million the reality is

for each US Army private killed in action the US government compensates the family with $500,000 plus $40,000 annually.

for each American defense contractor killed on the job $102,000 annually

for each Iraqi family member killed by American missile up to $2500 per person.

The cost in life:

Remember now that there is potential for the US to be paying 2500 bucks per Iraqi civilian

70,100 to 601,000 Iraqi civilians are estimated dead as of January 2007.
US soldiers dead 3,021
Iraqi soldiers and police 5965
defense contractors 665
journalists 146
British soldiers 129
Other coalition soldiers 123



It is time to stop this war and close the coffers.

While we seem perfectly content to spend billions on an illegal and immoral war, we as a nation, seem unwilling to save an estimated $3.1 billion annually. How is that? Based upon the Congressional budget office, Williams Institute, $3.1 billion could be saved by legalizing gay marriage.

This is based upon the following stats

Same-sex couples marry and move into higher tax bracket, boosting federal taxes by $400 to $700 million

New gay households move up in income and are cut from programs such as medicaid resulting in savings of $50 to $200 million,.

Uninsured gays and lesbians whose health care is now paid for by the government join their spouses insurance plans .. If only 1/3 do this federal costs drop by $190 million

If half the same sex couples now living together get married (this is the rate seen in Vermont and Massachusetts) and spend a quarter of what straight couples do, it results in a wedding industry boon of $2 billion

Back to Iraq, corruption costs Iraq $4 billion annually. $8.8 billion the US gave to the Iraq government cannot be accounted for. More than 20% of the governments ministry are ghost employees.. that is they don't exist but they collect paychecks.

The true cost of this illegal and immoral war will not be known until it is halted and there is time to tally up the stats. I have not even mentioned the costs expected to treat the wounded .. just brain injuries which more than 4600 soldiers have suffered will be an estimated $19 billion to care for and treat them. Evacuating a single wounded soldier to the US can cost more than $1 million.

The amputation rate is twice that of any other war. More than 1300 soldiers have lost a limb. The rehabilitation costs could easily be over $200 million.

1 in 5 Iraqi vets suffer some form of post traumatic stress syndrome. A prosthetic limb can easily cost $100,000

The suicide rate of our soldiers in 2005 was double what it was in 2004, I have been unable to find how dramatic the rise has been since then.

44% of Gulf war vets have filed for disability benefits, a similar percentage is expected of the 1.4 million current soldiers. Long term medical care and benefits could cost $127 billion.

On the home front, the Pentagon has ordered the National Guard to transfer $1.76 billion worth of equipment to the Army. Transferring gear overseas has left domestic Guard units with 1/3 of their essential combat equipment. 7040 National Guardsmen were deployed to Vietnam, 126 died. More than 100,000 have served in Iraq so far, 392 have died. Deploying reservists in Iraq costs the US $4 billion in lost productivity annually.

Expecting Bush to ever do the right thing? Think again. Here is part of his stated stands on laws in force in this country.

Sabanes-Oxley act of 2002

The law said: Corporate whistle blowers giving information to government agencies or Congress will be protected from retaliation.

Bush said: Only whistle blowers who squeal directly to the congressman or a committee that is investigating the relevant issue will be protected. (Senator Grassley R-Iowa says this means the statue only applies to people who are lucky enough to find the one member of congress out of 535 who happens to be the chairman of the appropriate committee and who also happens to already be conducting an investigation even though the problem has not yet come to light.)

Post Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act 2006

The law said: Future FEMA administrators must have some background in disaster management and not less than 5 years of executive leadership and management experience.

Bush said: The statute rules out a large portion of those persons best qualified .. to fill the office and will be ignored.

US Patriot Improvement and Re authorization act 2005

The law said: The Justice Department's inspector general must investigate "any improper or illegal use" of expanded powers provided by the act, including the FBI's use of National Security Letters that force businesses to turn over sensitive customer information,

Bush said: He'll withhold any information whose release he deems harmful to "foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the Executive, or the performance of the Executive's constitutional duties" In other words, any information that might be worth knowing.

Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2006

The law said: Detainees in US custody will not be subjected to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"

Bush said: The administration will use whatever interrogation tactics it sees fit.


Department of Defense Appropriation Act of 2002

The law said: Congress will be briefed before launching a "special access" (read "black") program along the lines of the National Security Agency's surveillance efforts

Bush said: Special-access programs are non of Congress' business; he'll inform lawmakers when he chooses, "as a matter of comity."

Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act 2004

the law said: First-class mail will be protected from warrant less searches.

Bush said: We don't need no stinking warrant to open your mail.

Hitler.. er... Bush is a clear and present danger to freedom and the American way. He continues to violate the laws of the land and pursue an unwinable war. Only with the impeachment and public trial for his war crimes can the United States hope to regain face with the rest of the world, and reclaim the freedoms that are the basis for our countries way of life.

After having an attorney come out to the house and draw up durable power of attorney that included specifically a clause allowing me access to any safe deposit boxes held privately or by the trust, I returned to the offending branch to close out the boxes.

From past experience, I determined it might be best to go to the branch manager first to avoid any unnecessary delays. Seeing the branch manager was indeed in, I went up to him, verified he was indeed the branch manager, a Mr Breslau, and explained I was there to conduct some business on behalf of my parents and took a seat. I was informed he could not help me since he was on his way out to a customer... making me wonder what he thought I was.. which apparently was not an important enough customer to even find out why I would bother to come to and ask specifically for, the branch manager.

Thus I was dismissed and sent to "sign in" and wait for someone to help me. Mind you, there was no one else at any of the desks needing attention, and yet I still was left to wait for attention.

A young man who I recognized as having been present during much of the altercation between myself, my Mother and Flora finally came to help me. I produced the power of attorneys for both my parents, explained that I believed it to be ineptness and in efficiency rather than theft or fraud, that had caused my Mother to be denied access to their safety deposit box, I was there to empty and close that box, surrender the keys and close their Money Market account.

A counter check was produced almost immediately, but access to the box seemed to be in question. I cited page 3, item h which was quite specific, but that did not seem to help much in expediting the matter. Mark, the young man waiting on me, had to go to Katherine (or Kathleen, I know her by sight having had difficulty with her before, but have managed to dismiss her name the way she usually dismisses me)

Due to this conference, which took place within 8 feet of where I was sitting, Mark was instructed to delay me because "they had not been advised of the power of attorney" I pointed out I was informing them now of the power of attorney, and that it would have been impossible to advise them prior to that day since I had just come from the meeting with the attorney and the signing of the documents that gave me power of attorney.

I was then treated to sitting there for over half an hour while Mark looking more uncomfortable by the minute, spent that time on the phone with their legal department asking if I had the right to close the box out. It seems they could not stop me from getting into the box as it was clearly stated in the document, so they were grasping at straws to keep me waiting.

I put up with this delay, and finally, when they had nothing left to question, I was admitted to the vault where we together searched for the missing box...which it turned out was another of the duplicate numbered boxes in the back room... and I mentioned knowing he was present during the problem with myself and my Mother and Flora. His only comment was that he had to work with her everyday but I got the impression he was sympathetic and understood why I might be somewhat impatient with the delays I was experiencing.

I emptied the box, we replaced it, I surrendered the keys and signed off on the box. That only leaves on more trip necessary to close the last remaining account once we are sure all the direct deposits are going to the new account and all the checks have cleared the old account.

In summary, if you are just a regular person, and do not dress in $100 + suits, you cannot expect the slightest courtesy from employees or management at Washington Mutual banks. I have been urging my friends to move their accounts to another bank and to let WaMu corporate know exactly why they are closing their accounts. Just about every other bank I went into to ask for information, treated me with far more courtesy than I have ever gotten from WaMu, there were no head to toe evaluations or dismissals based on what I was wearing or how I looked.

You can be a part of this very grass roots protest by telling Washington Mutual Corporate that you will be moving your bank accounts to another bank and why, or why you would never open an account with WaMu if this is an example of how they treat their customers.

The following occurred at Washington Mutual, Corbin/Nordoff branch.

Following Father being admitted to the ICU at Valley Presbyterian Hospital on Friday January 26, 2007, we (the family) were advised that it did not look good and that it was very likely he would not survive due to renal failure and his blood pressure bottoming out. With this in mind, my Mother believed she needed to get a handle on where things were, what was in the safety deposit box etc. Knowing that she would be unable to handle getting in the vault and getting the box out on her own, we decided we should see about putting me as a signer on the safe deposit box. I had other bank business to transact for Mother so while I was there on Jan 28, 2007, I asked if this would be difficult to have me put on as a signer for the box explaining that Dad was in ICU and not expected to make it. The teller asked me to wait as she wanted to make sure that the secondary on a box could have me put on as a signer or if it would need to be the primary (which I was pretty sure was Dad). I was told that Mother would be able to do this.

On Jan 31, 2007 I took Mother to the bank. There was a long line, which we started to wait in, then Mother, not having been to the bank in over a year suggested I take her down by the desk for the safe deposit boxes so I did this. After waiting for some time, she had me approach a desk across the room to see if we were in the right place. I was told no, that we would have to wait in the line, which was now even longer. We got back in line and waited. There were two tellers waiting on customers, and when our turn finally came, Mother made a small deposit that she also had brought to take care of and explained she wanted to put me on the safe deposit box. The teller looked it up and determined there were in fact two safe deposit boxes which explained why I had two keys in my possession for this errand.

The teller informed us that the adding me to the box had to take place at one of the desks across the room, and told us to go see Kathleen. I knew who Kathleen was having had previous dealings with her, where I had noticed her being very short with me, just shy of rudeness. I wheeled Mother towards her desk. When we were within three feet of her desk, she abruptly rose and headed for the exit door. I asked her if she was leaving as we had just been told to come to her.. she said yes she was going to lunch and someone else would have to help us and walked out the exit with out any further conversation.

I then wheeled Mother over to the desks that were occupied, and a small woman who I believe had a name tag that said her name was Flora asked what we wanted. Mother said she wanted to add me to the signers for the safe deposit boxes that they had at the bank. The woman said she did not know how to do that, and there was no one who could help us except Kathleen who had just walked out the door. Mother asked to see a manager and was told no one from management was there right now. Mother was beginning to become irritated and having worked in a bank herself suggested there must be someone who could help us now. The woman said she would see if she could find someone to help us. She disappeared for a rather long time, returning with two clear plastic sleeves waving them about explaining to Mother that I could not be added to the box as it was in the trust. I started to ask if both boxes were in the trust whereupon this woman said “you don’t talk. You have no right to say anything here. It was apparent English was not her first language, and her tone and demeanor led me to believe she had just told me to shut up in an extremely rude manor. I said “ Excuse me?” Mother had been unable to read the paperwork in the sleeve and asked to see it and since this woman was not holding it still she took it and held it where she could read it. Flora then told me I had no right to say anything again, and snatched the paperwork out of Mothers hand turning to her and saying “and you don’t be taking anything out of my hand” I said to her, “ and you don’t need to be grabbing anything out of my Mother’s hand either.”

Mother was becoming more upset and said “how about if I just empty out both the boxes then.” Flora said she was welcome to close the boxes, I said I did not think she should close the boxes and again was told I could not speak, and said to me “ I am not talking to you I am talking only to her” and shoved her stubby little finger in my Mothers face. I admit I was having trouble maintaining my temper at this point, and again spoke despite the warnings I had no right to say anything. I told Mother not to close the boxes, if she wanted to empty them fine, I had a fire proof safe at home that would do for temporary storage, but did not want her to close the boxes in case Dad got well and wanted to put things back into them.

Flora stated I would not be permitted to help my Mother in the vault, so I said then she would have to push her in and help her as she was not able to do this on her own. She said she could not push Mother would have to do it on her own. I said in effect you are denying my Mother access to her safe deposit boxes as you will not let me help her and you won’t help her. This line of dialog repeated at least twice before looks were exchanged between this rude woman and a male who was seated not far away. At which point they decided I could help Mother and her wheelchair in the vault as long as it was alright with Mother.

The teller had written down two box numbers for us, and I wheeled Mother back to the gate by the safe deposit box vault to wait.. which we did for another 5 minutes or
more and then Flora came and filled out a list and had Mother produce ID and sign on two lines of the log.

During this transaction, Mother asked Flora if she always told her customers to shut up. Flora responded with “don’t tell lies, who said this” Mother and I both said, “you did” and she again said “no, you lie, don’t tell lies” calling both of us liars. I said never mind Mom, lets just do what you want to do here, I am not going to argue this.

On entering the vault I saw one of the two numbers the teller had written down on an open door that was obviously empty. I pointed out that was one of the numbers and it was apparent the box was missing. Flora looked for the other box for about 15 minutes before finding one with the correct number, but when she climbed the ladder and tried the key marked 401, it did not work. She then said there had to be another box with that number, which seemed very wrong to me, but she kept looking and eventually found a box with the same number on the bottom back end of the vault. The key worked in that one and we took the box to the tiny cubicle, Flora came back to the cubical and stated “ You only have one box, the other was closed out a long time ago.” She also indicated that the second key must also be to the same box. I had already compared the keys and knew them to be for different locks but did not bother to try to discuss this with her as I could not expect civility let alone any help from her.

I held out my hand for the box keys, and Flora kept pulling them away as if she was not going to relinquish them to me even though I was the one who had handed them to her. Finally I just took them out of her hand. At the cubicle Mother’s wheelchair was a tight squeeze and the door could not be shut. I squeezed in to help her. At this point I asked if she wanted to just inventory the box and put it back, she said no she wanted to empty it out. We took the contents of the one box and put them in Mother’s purse. I was handed the box and Mother told me to just put in on the counter, which I did. I stood there looking for someone to let us out. Two people who had no customers at desks saw me and made no move to come over. Mother asked me to get her out of the cubical, which I did. More time passed and she said turn her around. She also looked for assistance and none was forthcoming even though it was apparent we were waiting for it. Mother then said, “ Just wheel me out of here.” I told her I could not, that they had to buzz us through the gate. When no one came Mother said loudly, “I’m about to start hollering” and getting no response, picked up the metal safe deposit box and started pounding it on the counter. This did cause someone who had already seen us to finally come. Mother did not want to go back into the vault so I accompanied this male and we replaced the now empty box. I said to him I was not impressed with being told to shut up or with being called a liar, and told him what Flora had said to us.

After being buzzed out, Mother had me wheel her up to the only person who had made any attempt to help us as his name plate said he was a vice president. Since Mother was an assistant vice president when she worked in a bank she knew this might mean he was not the manger she wanted but she asked him if there was anyone in management since he had identified himself as a stocks and bond investment person. He pointed out the male who had just been with me in the vault who had heard Flora tell us there was no one from management, and certainly had not identified himself as management when we had a complaint.

On Feb 1,2007 Dad seemed to be rallying and was well enough for me to ask him how many safe deposit boxes he had. He replied two. I said you’re sure, you did not close one out a long time ago, he said he was sure. I asked him if either of the boxes might be empty and he said no, there were things in both boxes. I said I had hoped to wait until he was feeling better but was worried about the box being open so I related to him the events of Jan 31. We then discussed where the boxes were. He said the small one was on the very bottom, and the larger one was way up high. This description did not jive with the open door, and since it was also a small box I was somewhat relieved as this meant it was more than likely inefficiency and not fraud or theft. I reassured him that the box number they had written down that apparently was wrong with the open door and no box inside did not match the description he had just given me. It did match the box that Flora could not get into that was up very high.

Dad then told me that in the morning I was to contact his attorney and tell him the whole story, document the events and to have Mother document the events. Further instructions were to determine if there was a way I could act for them in this matter, and what action needed to be taken. I was then to advise council if Dad was needed to act, that he would need at least a week to gain his strength. He then stated we would need to change banks which is also what Mother had said she wanted to do as soon as we could work out the logistics.

I fear Flora's accent sounded German to me, which made me tend to think of Flora as a neo-nazi bitch. I can find no redeeming character traits, and no excuse for her rude and vulgar treatment and do not believe she should be working in any place she must deal with people as she seems to have no people skills. While this is not over for us, I cannot help but recommend if you have accounts with Washington Mutual, you should consider changing banks. It is most likely that the corporation is just so cheap they fail to adequately screen or train their employees. Passing the buck appears to be the only department they excel in.