Example of Big Brother watching you - Pay too much and you raise and alarm

[liberal N proud]

Pay down your dept and Homeland Security is notified:

Pay too much and you could raise the alarm
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Walter Soehnge is a retired Texas schoolteacher who traveled north with his wife, Deana, saw summer change to fall in Rhode Island and decided this was a place to stay for a while.

So the Soehnges live in Scituate now and Walter sometimes has breakfast at the Gentleman Farmer in Scituate Village, where he has passed the test and become a regular despite an accent that is definitely not local.

And it was there, at his usual table last week, that he told me that he was "madder than a panther with kerosene on his tail."

He says things like that. Texas does leave its mark on a man.

What got him so upset might seem trivial to some people who have learned to accept small infringements on their freedom as just part of the way things are in this age of terror-fed paranoia. It's that "everything changed after 9/11" thing.

But not Walter.

"We're a product of the '60s," he said. "We believe government should be way away from us in that regard."

He was referring to the recent decision by him and his wife to be responsible, to do the kind of thing that just about anyone would say makes good, solid financial sense.

They paid down some debt. The balance on their JCPenney Platinum MasterCard had gotten to an unhealthy level. So they sent in a large payment, a check for $6,522.

They both learned the same astounding piece of information about the little things that can set the threat sensors to beeping and blinking.

They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.

Walter called television stations, the American Civil Liberties Union and me. And he went on the Internet to see what he could learn. He learned about changes in something called the Bank Privacy Act.

"The more I'm on, the scarier it gets," he said. "It's scary how easily someone in Homeland Security can get permission to spy."

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RAISEALARM-02-28-06

[Atman]

1. Yikes

[liberal N proud]

2. Where did you get that bumper sticker?

assuming it is a bumper sticker

[Atman]

3. Here...

1st Amendment Shoppe

It's my own.

.

[lpbk2713]

4. It wouldn't surprise me if .....

while this this "investigation" is being conducted the account goes overdue and more fees apply.

Imagine that. BFEE puts more money in the pockets of big business at the expense of the little guy.

[Atman]

5. Kicking this...it is important

And I'm quite surprised that it got so little reaction. It's a stunning extension of the PA if you ask me!

:kick:

[Armstead]

6. K& R -- Do the right thing and you get on the "watch list"

The mantra of CONNEDservatives is "If you don't do anything wrong you have nothing to fear from government surveillance."

But here is a case of getting put onto thye bad-list by doing something right. Pay your bills and you're a potential terrorist.

Something that ought to give everyone pause, even right wing Freeper types.