It Was All A Sham

After the new bankruptcy laws went into effect, the people who could afford it decided that it would be better to pay off their bills and start with a clean slate. They didn't declare bankruptcy, they tried to do the responsible thing and live within their means. That doesn't seem to be what the government really wanted.

Scripps Howard News Service: "And all they did was pay down their debt. They didn't call a suspected terrorist on their cell phone. They didn't try to sneak a machine gun through customs.

They just paid a hefty chunk of their credit card balance. And they learned how frighteningly wide the net of suspicion has been cast.

After sending in the check, they checked online to see if their account had been duly credited. They learned that the check had arrived, but the amount available for credit on their account hadn't changed.

So Deana Soehnge called the credit-card company. Then Walter called.

'When you mess with my money, I want to know why,' he said.

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.'"

Permissison? They don't need permission, that is soo last century. Any illusions that people had about privacy, ownership and government interference should be completely dispelled by the end of 2006. This country has changed drastically over the last few years, in both blatantly obvious and seditiously subtle ways. At what point will middle Amerika wake up and discover that their country is gone?

Tags: homeland security, finances, Soehnge,