Another day, another deranged right wing lunatic.

Last October 1, a friend and colleague who inhabits the office next to mine, and who happens to be, ahem, somewhat right of center -- but I like him anyway, even though he's a Yankees fan -- banged on my office door, and said I'd been called out on Coby Mach's radio show, which is a low-rent local version of Rush Limbaugh. I think his exact words were 'what have you done now?'

I was mystified. He said a 'retired airforce general' had reported me to the FBI, CIA (?!) and Board of Regents.

I asked why?

He said I had issued death threats to students. He recited some of what he'd heard, and damn it, it was the Mikado! Yes, this vicious little piece by society offenders William Schwenk Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan.

And then I realized. it was my version of "As some day it may happen.." I posted on my Facebook page two weeks previously. Apparently some right-wing loon has been patrolling my facebook page and thinks W.S. Gilbert was a terrorist. Or I am. Or something. God knows what he makes of the Pirates of Penzance.

Apparently Mach, not the sharpest crayon in the box at the best of times, read it all out solemnly, unaware it was taken from a comic opera. I have to get that audio!

So naturally I contacted the Board of Regents to get a copy of the complaint.

Turns out either my friend Bob, or Coby Mach, gave the loon a promotion; he only claims to have been a colonel. Aside from the hysteria of describing Ko-Ko's song as 'threats', he's illiterate, of course.

So I did some of my Googly magic on Mr. Stephans. It turns out he leads the Nebraska section of Convention of States Action, which wants to amend the US Constitution by the obscure Article V mechanism (which has never actually been tried). It's sort of a Holy Grail for the 'No Step on Snek' crowd.

Even more amusingly, Mr Stephans himself has a history of unprovoked violence. He physically attacked a referee during a grade school basketball game, eventually pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery. Given his record, I've asked the Chancellor to ban the loon from campus.

Now back to reading about how uncivil the Democrats are...

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