But banks, payment processing firms and a relatively new lobbying group called the Third Party Payment Processors Association have been going wild on Capitol Hill in recent months over a pretty conventional law enforcement effort with a salacious name: Operation Choke Point. The project attempts to curb money laundering by scrutinizing banks and payment processors that facilitate transactions with illegal businesses -- petty fraudsters running payday lending scams, sham telemarketing operations and other shady groups.
It's Money Laundering 101, but the program's detractors have portrayed it as a vicious government effort to dictate what kinds of companies banks can do business with.
The most extreme element of the movement comes from the anonymous, conspiratorial website stopthechoke.com, a site that features an image of President Barack Obama as Godzilla "destroying America" and warns that guns, ammunition, pharmaceuticals and other whole industries may soon be eliminated. The site has developed a bit of a following on Facebook, with more than 37,000 likes.