Banking unpatriotically

We are told that desperate times call for desperate measures — that the USA PATRIOT Act's countless civil rights violations are necessary because our lives are at stake.

Recent news stories have reported, however, that the government abuses the Patriot Act's many questionable antiterrorist provisions to probe non-terrorism-related crimes — as in the investigation of a "Stargate SG-1" fan website for suspected copyright violations. Even worse are the cases where the Patriot Act has been invoked when there is no crime at all.

Just ask Walter Soehnge, a resident of Scituate, R.I., who says he's "madder than a panther with kerosene on his tail."

The retired schoolteacher told The Providence Journal last week that his ire is the result of his harassment at the hands of the Patriot Act. What vile misdeed had he committed? Terrorism? Weapons smuggling? Conspiracy? Quail hunting?

Nope. He paid down a debt.

Soehnge and his wife, Deana, decided the debt they owed for their JCPenney Platinum MasterCard payments had reached knee-weakening altitudes, so they decided to payoff the balance. They sent in a check for $6,522. And thus the net of suspicion was cast.

When the couple checked online to see if their account had been credited, they saw that the check had been received. But the amount available for credit on their account hadn't changed. They repeatedly called the credit card company and eventually learned that their budgeting behavior had been reported to the Department of Homeland Security.

The amount of money they sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. In accordance with recent changes made to the Bank Security Act, once the increase hits a certain percentage point higher than the normal payment, the company has to notify Homeland Security. The money doesn't move until Homeland Security lifts the threat alert.

The Soehnges were eventually "found not to be promoting global terrorism under the guise of paying a credit-card bill," according to The Providence Journal, and their money was freed up. They were never informed, though, how repayment of credit card debt can pose a threat to homeland security.

Such Soviet efficiency has been at work around the nation. Other local papers have reported similar instances of antiterrorist incompetence mandated by the Patriot Act.

Among the other victims: nuns.

Earlier last month, The Tampa Tribune printed a story about the nuns of the Holy Name Monastery, based in St. Leo, Florida. The sisters said that the monastery's main bank account was frozen without explanation last fall. On November 10, their checks started bouncing without warning, and the account wouldn't accept any deposits, including paychecks from state agencies where some of the sisters hold jobs. Many of the checks they wrote went to pay Visa and utility bills; two of their checks had gone to other charities. The nuns racked up $399.56 in fees, later reimbursed by their local Wachovia bank. During the week that the account was frozen, 22 checks were returned with the unexplained (and slightly morbid) stamp, "Refer to Maker."

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Sister Jean Abbott, the monastery's business manager, told The Tampa Tribune that they were informed they were implicated by the Patriot Act because one 80-year-old nun who is a signatory to their account didn't have her photo ID and Social Security number on file ("Clearly an international spy," said Abbott). But in the 116 years that the church has been in business, the bank had never asked for any of that information. Like the Soehnges, they'd been casualties of the Patriot Act's sloppy, ineffectual and abusive banking provisions.

Chris Hansen, an American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney, consulted for The Tampa Tribune article and noted that Wachovia may have cited the Patriot Act in their explanation to the nuns to avoid taking the blame for their own idiocy. "It is our experience that there are a lot of things these days where people say, 'The Patriot Act made us do it,' " he said. "Often it's true, but it isn't always true."

If Hasden's assessment is correct, this anecdote is an even more convincing testimonial to the flaws of the Patriot Act.

You know you're in trouble when the White House's prize horse has become commerce's biggest scapegoat — when the Patriot Act's injustices and absurdities are so laughable and so legendary that the Patriot Act has replaced El Niño as the havoc-wreaking punch line du jour. Catherine Rampell is an anthropology major from Palm Beach, Florida. She can be reached at crampell@princeton.edu.