From: "Rich Gauszka" 

So Gary - Where is your evidence that this event did not occur?

"Gary Britt"  wrote in message
news:440c8ee2{at}w3....
> Bullshit, just like the student who falsely claimed agents came to talk to
> him because he supposedly ordered some commie book for school.
>
> You actually fall for this crap?
>
> Gary
>
> "Dyana"  wrote in message
news:440c422e{at}w3....
>>
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RAISEALARM-02-28-06
>>
>> Pay too much and you could raise the alarm
>>
>> By BOB KERR
>> The Providence Journal
>> 28-FEB-06
>>
>> 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.
>>
>> And an alarm went off. A red flag went up. The Soehnges' behavior was
>> found questionable.
>>
>> 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."
>>
>> Eventually, his and his wife's money was freed up. The Soehnges were
>> apparently found not to be promoting global terrorism under the guise of
>> paying a credit-card bill. They never did learn how a large credit card
>> payment can pose a security threat.
>>
>> But the experience has been a reminder that a small piece of privacy has
>> been surrendered. Walter Soehnge, who says he holds solid,
>> middle-of-the-road American beliefs, worries about rights being lost.
>>
>> "If it can happen to me, it can happen to others," he said.
>>
>> (Bob Kerr is a columnist for The Providence Journal. E-mail
>> bkerr{at}projo.com.)
>>
>> (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)
>
>

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