• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Homeland Security watching your library requests.

Tmy

Philosopher
Tmy
Joined
Oct 23, 2002
Messages
6,487
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-05/12-17-05/a09lo650.htm

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.



Kinda spooky. Our govt has become such a big brother. Thats the crap we used to bust the Soviets on.
 
That reminds me, I need to get my hands on a copy of A Catcher in the Rye...
 
McCartyhism all over again, really stupid.

The student could have just gone here. And why do colleges still use SS numbers when ID theft has grown into such a problem?
 
He didnt buy it. He requested it from the library.

With all the warrentless spying stories in the recent news, would this be such a big surprise?
 
Anyone else tempted to put together a list of seditious books and start requesting interlibrary loans?
 
Libertarian said:
Anyone else tempted to put together a list of seditious books and start requesting interlibrary loans?
Click to expand...
That's just it. I gotta figure college students request the Little Red Book about a zillion times a year. Pretty much all of them have at least one left-wing professor, and let's say a millizillon have a left-wing professor who "regularly contact people" from world hotspots. So of all that millizillion who "fit the profile" this is the first time that the local library had to send out for the thing? That doesn't sound quite right.
 
Dang, I better cancel my request for the "Communist Manifesto" by Groucho Marx and the "Transvestite Handbook" by Jedgar Hoover from my local library ....

Charlie (channeling Ernistine form "Laugh In") Monoxide
 
ImaginalDisc said:
Good.

Oh, I'm sorry. What about this topic makes your skeptic sense tingle?

((:confused:))
Click to expand...


The story seems too pat, as though it were designed to evoke fears of McCarthyism. Heck, it's even got a communist angle even though the communists haven't been the bad-guys for a couple decades now.

I don’t care if he did spend significant time abroad, I just don’t believe two federal agents have nothing better to do with their time. If agents checked out every student with that profile, time abroad and reading a communist book, they’d be visiting about half the students at every college and University in the US.

Then when you read the details of the story, they don’t seem to add up. Why wouldn’t the reporter fact-check with the Department of Homeland Security? That would be a basic thing to do.

If the name of the student is withheld, why give so much personal information about him? We have the names of two of his professors, the topic of one of his research papers, and the location of his parent’s home. That’s more than enough to identify him.

Personally, I’d need more information before I bit on this hook.
 
Mycroft, manny, Grammarton,

This bit from the link zakur posted

UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack said, "It is important that our students and our faculty be unfettered in their pursuit of knowledge about other cultures and political systems if their education and research is to be meaningful. We must do everything possible to protect the principles of academic inquiry."
Click to expand...

does indeed suggest that there's no way Homland Securty would have the student's info. Incidentally, I wonder why the student wouldn't have th agents names and badge numbers. Federal agents still have to provide identification for inspection in these sorts of events, right?
 
ImaginalDisc said:
Mycroft, manny, Grammarton,

This bit from the link zakur posted



does indeed suggest that there's no way Homland Securty would have the student's info. Incidentally, I wonder why the student wouldn't have th agents names and badge numbers. Federal agents still have to provide identification for inspection in these sorts of events, right?
Click to expand...

He might not have written their names down. If a couple of homeland security agents came to my door to discuss my choice of reading materials, I might be too upset and frightened to remember to write down their names.

I don't know what to think about this. The sources that have reported it seem reliable enough that I wouldn't doubt their veracity under other circumstances. I don't understand why that particular book would be targeted though. It's not like it's about how to build bombs. It's just political.

If the story is true, and there are no other relevant facts regarding why this student was targeted, it's a disturbing story about where our society is right now and where it is headed. Unfortunately, given the other stories about what our government is currently doing, I find it quite plausible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom