Warning: Political contributions to Democrats may put a security hold on your credit card

No, I am not joking. Tonight I got a message from Bigass Bank asking me to call to verify charges that had put a security hold on my credit card account. I called Bigass Bank back, and got an overly-friendly young man who was clearly in Bangalore congratulating me on my vigilance in ensuring the integrity of my account. When I told him to cut the crap and just tell me what the flagged charges were, he cited four charges: One was to Skype for a three-month subscription to the service's unlimited calls to 36 countries that I need for those 2:30 AM teleconferences with my team China, Australia and Korea. One was for Maggie's echocardiogram at the vet (her ticker is fine, thanks for asking -- what appeared to be a heart murmur is a high-pitched sound that is not uncommon when cats are stressed, LIKE WHEN YOU HAVE TO RUSH THEM TO THE EMERGENCY VET BECAUSE THEY'VE BEEN GNAWING ON FRIGGIN' MOUSE BAIT, as we had to last summer). And then there were two charges for donations to "Obama for America" and "Franken for Senate."

Look, I'm all for vigilance on the part of the credit card companies to keep both their losses and my hassles to a minimum if my card number is stolen. Capital One does an especially job of striking a balance OK, I can buy that the Skype purchase might flag something. But a charge to "The Vet at the Barn"? I frankly think that Bigass Bank is flagging cards containing political contributions to Democrats for "security holds".

So there's only one thing I can do. Make donations this weekend to Darcy Burner, a progressive Democrat running for Congress in Washington state who really needs the money in these last days before the election and Scott Kleeb, who's running a close Senate race in Nebraska. And Dennis Shulman right here in my own Congressional district. And maybe I'll kick in another few bucks for Franken.

Let's see if they flag my card again.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: OK, now I want to know how many of you have experienced holds after making political donations to Democrats. Commenter Kiterea and Minstrel Boy have both had holds put on their accounts after making political donations. If this has happened to you, please describe your experience in the comments.