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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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 Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 12:25 am Post subject: |
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As the person who started this thread, I feel myself obliged to post the following:
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NEW BEDFORD -- The UMass Dartmouth student who claimed to have been visited by Homeland Security agents over his request for "The Little Red Book" by Mao Zedong has admitted to making up the entire story.
The 22-year-old student tearfully admitted he made the story up to his history professor, Dr. Brian Glyn Williams, and his parents, after being confronted with the inconsistencies in his account.
Had the student stuck to his original story, it might never have been proved false.
But on Thursday, when the student told his tale in the office of UMass Dartmouth professor Dr. Robert Pontbriand to Dr. Williams, Dr. Pontbriand, university spokesman John Hoey and The Standard-Times, the student added new details.
The agents had returned, the student said, just last night. The two agents, the student, his parents and the student's uncle all signed confidentiality agreements, he claimed, to put an end to the matter.
But when Dr. Williams went to the student's home yesterday and relayed that part of the story to his parents, it was the first time they had heard it. The story began to unravel, and the student, faced with the truth, broke down and cried.
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Anyone know any good recipes for crow?
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-05/12-24-05/a01lo719.htm |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 7:35 pm Post subject: Re: Maoist-Al Qaeda alliance? |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
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NEW BEDFORD -- A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book."
Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library's interlibrary loan program.
The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.
The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a "watch list," and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further.
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Okay. I gotta wonder. What exactly is The Little Red Book doing on a Watch List in post-9/11 USA? Is this really a top draw on the Al Qaeda reading list? Have the guys at Homeland Security been listening to too much Hendrix while staring into a lava lamp and now they think it's 1971 again and the Weather Underground is about to start blowing themselves up in townhouses again?
I mean, I guess I could see that if you substitute the words "proletariat" with "Muslims", and "bourgeois lackeys" with "infidel crusaders", then yeah, maybe Al Qaeda could be getting some inspiration from that. But still, I'd reckon there are about a zillion other books, more specifically tailored to their needs, which they'd consult before The Little Red Book. And why would they bother signing up for a university class just to get access? I bought The Little Red Book at a used bookstore in Edmonton.
Plus, this is a little strange:
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The student told Professor Pontbriand and Dr. Williams that the Homeland Security agents told him the book was on a "watch list." They brought the book with them, but did not leave it with the student, the professors said.
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Okay. They already know who the guy is and where he lives, what's the point of withholding the book? If they wanna monitor him, they can do that whether he has the book or not. Do they think that somehow getting ahold of The Little Red Book actually makes a difference in someone's ability to carry out terrorist attacks? "Nope, can't detonate that suicide bomb until I've looked at The Little Red Book".
Something about this just screams: "Bureaucrats with way too much time on their hands". But maybe that's just me. |
I'd call it bushism (as in mccarthyism), but the term has already been coined to describe the president's unique manner of speech. I guess he wasn't so stupid when he made light of the word. Bushism as it is used has a far less negative connotation than if it was used to describe his policies. |
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