Anti-Patriot Act Story Turns Out to be a Complete Fraud

The various assortments of lefties who oppose the Patriot Act often use library books as a reason for their objection to continuation of the Act. The fact that the Act could allow the government to find out what kind of books you check out of the library is seen as proof positive that the Patriot Act has to go.

In fact, until recently no one has been able to bring up a case in which such library snooping had occurred. However, a UMass Dartmouth student recently alleged that he had been visited by Homeland Security agents after inquiring about Mao's Little Red Book. Teddy Kennedy even cited the case in a recent op-ed opposing President Bush. Here's what Kennedy - or his ghostwriter - had to say:

Just this past week there were public reports that a college student in Massachusetts had two government agents show up at his house because he had gone to the library and asked for the official Chinese version of Mao Tse-tung's Communist Manifesto. Following his professor's instructions to use original source material, this young man discovered that he, too, was on the government's watch list.

Think of the chilling effect on free speech and academic freedom when a government agent shows up at your home -- after you request a book from the library.

Incredibly, we are now in an era where reading a controversial book may be evidence of a link to terrorists.

Something is amiss here. Something doesn't make sense. We need a thorough and independent investigation of these activities.

The Congress and the American people deserve answers now.

Well, I have an answer for you Teddy - the whole thing was a hoax (from Little Green Footballs):

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.

This student was obviously in need of some attention and decided to grind his political axe at the same time. However, how dumb do you have to be to try something like this when it's so easy to check it out?

It's unknown whether Teddy was just dumb or drunk at the time he wrote (or approved) the op-ed. It's so hard to tell the two apart.