I called it here first!
mid-morning on Saturday, the 24th of December 2005 by Chad
Darn right. I knew it was a hoax from the first story. Now it comes out that the UMass student was a liar, the professors involved are complete fricking idiots, and the “reporter” was nothing more than a parrot.
Federal agents’ visit was a hoax
Student admits he lied about Mao book
By AARON NICODEMUS, Standard-Times staff writerNEW 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.
It was a dramatic turnaround from the day before.
For more than an hour on Thursday, he spoke of two visits from Homeland Security over his inter-library loan request for the 1965, Peking Press version of “Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung,” which is the book’s official title.
His basic tale remained the same: The book was on a government watch list, and his loan request had triggered a visit from an agent who was seeking to “tame” reading of particular books. He said he saw a long list of such books.
In the days after its initial reporting on Dec. 17 in The Standard-Times, the story had become an international phenomenon on the Internet. Media outlets from around the world were requesting interviews with the students, and a number of reporters had been asking UMass Dartmouth students and professors for information.
The story’s release came at a perfect storm in the news cycle. Only a day before, The New York Times had reported that President Bush had allowed the National Security Agency to conduct wiretaps on international phone calls from the United States without a warrant. The Patriot Act, created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to allow the government greater authority to monitor for possible terrorism activities, was up for re-authorization in Congress.
…..
The story continues on about how all involved were nothing more than pawns, were all too willing to believe that government agents “dressed like men-in-black” were out to crush their rights… blah blah blah.
Thanks to Michelle Malkin for the early Christmas present to me!
Lets see if those idiots at slashdot will pick up the retraction.
Spreadin’ the word at Wizbang
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December 24th, 2005 at 1:24 pm
I get a kick outta the fact that he/she/it’s name has not surfaced this is a false accusation which is in fact a crimehe/she/it is 22 years old which eliminates any immunity protection based on agehe/she/it is a criminal and his/her/it’s name should be publicized. If he/she/it was 18 and had been at Abu Gravewould we know all the details??? hummm???name, name(s) and residence(s) of parent(s), steparent(s) etc., all the romantic details or lack thereof of his/her/it’s life interviews with everyone who has known/seen or claims to have known/seen him/her/it since diaperhood.
December 24th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
I do agree. The only thing where I may have been wrong was that I originally thought that the professors did the hoax on their own. But I wasn’t sure enough to post that.
But I hope there is an official investigation.
December 24th, 2005 at 6:30 pm
It goes further still.
The senior senator from Massachusetts got into it with the Boston Globe:
as did WSJ BOTW:
Here’s what the advisor to JohnKerry had to say:
December 25th, 2005 at 1:23 pm
Lying Leftists And The Seditious Anti-American Lies They Lie. — Part 3,517,849
I’m sure you’ve heard the one about the student questioned by the student in Massachusetts who was questioned by the FBI regarding a request for Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book. And you may have even read the piece by Senator…
December 25th, 2005 at 10:20 pm
Looks like this student forgot about the story of the boy who cried wolf. Maybe she should check that book out. It is in the children’s section. The same section where her maturity and literacy level lie.