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Apart from the simple fact that I genuinely like the country, I also like to keep an eye on what goes on in America because what happens there has a habit of turning up here in the UK. Sometimes a bad habit, like reality TV or Rap and, in this case, the erosion of our freedoms and the rise of state paranoia and suspicion.
I have to thank The Naked Truth for pointing me at this one who found it on the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington DC.
Seems that a retired Texan schoolteacher, Walter Soehnge and his wife Deanna, after a law-abiding life, suddenly fell foul of the Shrub’s Department of Homeland Security. Did Mr. Soehnge make calls on his mobile to known terrorist organisations? No he didn’t. Did his wife download Islamic Fundamentalist literature on her laptop? No siree. Did they get caught with a carload of Semtex after running a red light? Nowhere near.
What Mr.and Mrs. Soehnge did that caused America’s very own Gestapo to issue a threat alert and subsequent investigation into their affairs was actually something they felt was rather honourable. They paid off their $6,522 Matercard debt. And because they paid off more than they usually pay in a month, their bank, under new legislation euphemistically called the Bank Privacy Act, froze the payment and informed Homeland Security. And the money didn’t move until the threat alert was lifted.
The admirable Mr. Soehnge made his displeasure very public including calls to newspapers, television stations and the Civil Liberties Union. The Shrub’s administration meanwhile, continues to delve into every nook and cranny of the life of it’s citizens in a frenzied state of neurotic spying.
And just remember. As I said, these things have a nasty habit of turning up here.
You know why this really intrigued me? Other than my usual paranoia (which my shrink still ensures me is normal), that is.
I paid off my $6K debt last summer after working really really hard and starving to save up last Spring…and now I’m wondering…oh, but I’m already on their list. Hmmm. But they have stopped searching me at the airport, which I kind of miss. I really enjoyed those arguments even though no one wanted to travel with me. Oy.
BTW, I’ll be in London last week of June & first week of July.
Some of my Nawlins friends’ll be there that week in July too, but I do hope we can meet for coffee or whatever it is you Brits do.
N.Mallory: Brits go for tea
as for the article, good old American paranoia. Ofcourse, the bill is supposed to thwart off terrorism, and a story of an innocent life caught in the crossfire.
Good old uncle Bush working to keep the world (American interests) safe.
[...] –>Yellow Swordfish tells the story of Walter and Deanna Soehnge, who fell under Department of Homeland Security surveillance and had their assets frozen for the terroristic activity of … paying off their credit card balance! Now it can be told. [...]