Happy Catmas, Feline Navidad, and Season's Greppings (for all you Unix/Linux worshippers)

Here you can see a snow leopard in mid-climb.




This is the first time the lynx has given me a chance for a really good photo.

Big Brother in action? (maybe not)

In this story, a student is said to have been visited by two men described as "agents of the Department of Homeland Security" and "federal agents" after requesting Mao's "Little Red Book" via interlibrary loan.

A few things strike me as wrong in this story. Does the Department of Homeland Security even have agents? The FBI might technically be in this department, but they would identify themselves as FBI agents (plus I think that all FBI agents are called special agents). Would FBI agents would have the time or interest to check out what can't be a very uncommon request? And how would they even learn of it? We know they can request library records, but it seems unlikely (to me anyway) that there's any kind of ongoing monitoring. The story says a social security number was necessary for an interlibrary book loan. That sounds dubious too. The student isn't identified either. No necessarily a problem, but it makes verification harder. Two professors at UMass Dartmouth are identified, so the story isn't completely anonymous. Did someone hoax a gullible student? Is someone hoaxing a gullible reporter?

Here's the story:

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-05/12-17-05/a09lo650.htm

Any thoughts on the validity of this story?