# Plagiarism..caught!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 6, 2000, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684 "2000-07-06T00:32:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/1 "2000-07-06T00:32:19Z")
Our local paper, the Quad City Times, published a guest editorial on July 4 by an administrator at a local college. His editorial happens to be the same bit of tripe (word for word) in Ann Landers column on the 4th, about the signers of the Declaration of Independence. (This was mentioned in another thread)…at least Ann didnt try to pretend that she actually WROTE the piece of crap, this dude did. I wrote the opinion page editor…and to my utter astonishment, I received the below letter…I have XX’d out personal names … Note…the snopes URL is not active now…but there are plenty of other examples of this thing floating around to show plagiarism … Subject: Re: Plagiarism Date: 7/5/00 6:50 PM Received: 7/5/00 7:10 PM From: Cxxx Kxxxxx, [XXXXXXX@qctimes.com](mailto:XXXXXXX@qctimes.com) To: Dave D [xxxxxxxx@revealed.net](mailto:xxxxxxxx@revealed.net) Your subject line says it all. Needless to say, we’re embarrassed – both for ourselves and for Black Hawk College. An explanation and apology will be printed in Thursday’s paper. Thanks for taking the time to write, and please let me know if you have any other thoughts about this issue. ## (319) xxx-xxxx Dave D wrote: \> In the July 4, 2000 edition of the QC Times, there is an opinion piece by \> xxxxxxxxxxxx titled “The real story behind Independence Day”. \> \> The reader may be interested to know that significant portions of that \> piece were plagiarized from an e-mail urban legend making the rounds. It \> appears that Mr. xxxxxx chose to create the impression that the words in \> his piece were HIS, when in fact they are not. \> \> Please reference [http://www.snopes.com/spoons/glurge/declare.htm](http://www.snopes.com/spoons/glurge/declare.htm) \> \> for a specific reference to my concern. \> … \> \> For an adminstrator at a local college to commit such blatant plagiarism \> (and to not even bother checking the “facts” of the hoax that he used) is \> quite distressing. I look forward to a printed announcement of this. \> \> I would have liked to send a copy of this to Mr. xxxx. Unfortunately, \> the QC Times does not list an email address for him, nor does the \> Blackhawk College email directory (at their web site) have a listing for \> him. \> \> Regards \> \> Dave D ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/2 "2000-07-06T00:52:31Z")
Great stuff! And I’m glad to see the paper’s admission of their error in publishing that. Keep it up! ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/3 "2000-07-06T01:04:49Z")
And the number of ignoramuses in this world decreses by one. A few months ago, some cretin decided to let the entire school know of his opinions regarding science and religion. I would retype his thoughts any my responses, but both are lost. However, I will summarize. I do not mean to endorse his thoughts, and my responses are only what I have learned, not what I state to be the truth. Basically, this is the essence of it: science can’t prove anything. The big bang is a nice idea but it doesn’t work. God can’t hear Catholics outside church. Idea number one about my perfect god, which is based on other things which are convoluted ideas about christianity. I wrote a letter to the school newspaper, which originally published this letter, and basically did a point-by-point debunking of his entire idea. They wrote me back that it was too slanderous (and it was . . . it was a beautiful flame and I hope the moron saw it). I wrote another one which they used. Here’s the annoying part. Rather than print a retraction, this guy apologized if he offended anyone. Didn’t admit his illusions of life and religion and science were incorrect, just said he was sorry if anyone was hurt. Meanwhile, I had a nice cogent argument in the gray column on the side. His little apology was on the middle of the bottom. But don’t let factual innacuracies stop this piece of fecal matter. He went on to get several more letters in the newspaper, most of them his biased opinion, not founded on much of anything besides what he saw on TV. GRRRR some people piss me off. ---
**Author:** ![lswote](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lswote/32/5737_2.png) [@lswote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lswote)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/4 "2000-07-06T01:06:58Z")
As someone who spent the first 20 years of my life in the quad cities (born in Rock Island, raised in Davenport/Bettendorf) I am proud of you my dear beaglemeister. ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/5 "2000-07-06T01:42:02Z")
Dave, you are a paragon and a beaglemeister indeed! Hearty congratulations on clapping down the plagarist and the “Quad City Slime” at the same time. It’s a huge embarrassment to the community college; that awful rag masquerading as a newspaper sank below abysmal years ago. As a QC-itian, a hearty congratulations and “well done!” for fighting ignorance in our corner of the world. ::chanting:: Beagledave rocks! beagledave rocks! Veb ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/6 "2000-07-06T03:22:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by iampunha \* > \*\* > But don’t let factual innacuracies stop this piece of fecal matter. He went on to get several more letters in the newspaper, most of them his biased opinion, not founded on much of anything besides what he saw on TV. > \*\* But I don’t mind having idiots like this around. Gives the rest of us halfassed “normal” people something to point and laugh at. . . ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/7 "2000-07-06T03:52:28Z")
Tripler said: "But I don’t mind having idiots like this around. Gives the rest of us halfassed “normal” people something to point and laugh at. . . " Oh, totally. I loved every second of it. I like making stupid people look stupid, at times. What burns me up, though, is that someone’s going to believe the garbage published in this newspaper and cite it as evidence. And I hate nothing if I don’t hate lies published in a newspaper. The fact that it is his opinion doesn’t mean anything. It’s still NOT TRUE. BTW, the opinion editor wanted to print part of my original four-page letter, but the editor-in-chief and faculty advisor thought it too scathing. They limited me to 1000 words. Pah. I do that in my sleep. ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/8 "2000-07-06T11:03:08Z")
As one Dave to another, I’m proud of you, boy. :: pins the “badge of integrity” medal on beagledave :: I was editor-in-chief of my school paper, and it’s not hard to keep things above-board. I once refused a story even though it would have been quite the scoop because the information was not ethically arrived at. Ethics isn’t all that complicated, especially with the precedents that have occurred in journalism. And obvious plagiarism is a black-and-white issue. I have very strong feelings about it, since I’ve been ripped off myself. Not many people know it, but I’m the original author of “Lather, Rinse, Repeat.” The bastards stole it from me. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/9 "2000-07-06T12:07:03Z")
## From todays QC Times, page A6: “An apology to our readers” ## The Quad Cities Times published a guest column Tuesday about the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The column was submitted by a regular local contributor to the Opinion Page, Robert Copeland Smith, as his own work. On Wednesday, Smith acknowledged that he did not author the column. This admission came after a virtually identical column, attributed to an author whose identity is not know, was published nationally in Ann Lander’s column. In publishing Smith’s column, the Times unwillingly allowed a freelance writer to present another person’s work as his own. For that, we apologize, and Smith’s work will no longer be published in the times. The Society of Professional Journalist’ Code of Ethics includes one standard so simple and so unequivocal that it can be articulated in only two words ‘Never Plagiarize’. At the Quad City Times, this standard is applied not only to the journalists who work for the newspaper, but to all individuals whose byline appears appear on its pages… ---
**Author:** ![soulsling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@soulsling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulsling)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/10 "2000-07-06T13:47:12Z")
it’s people like you **beagle** that make me proud to be human. good job. ---
**Author:** ![KimKatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@KimKatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KimKatt)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/11 "2000-07-06T13:53:47Z")
Awesome. Way to go, Dave. ---
**Author:** ![OrganicMatter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/898d66/32.png) [@OrganicMatter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrganicMatter)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/12 "2000-07-06T15:11:22Z")
During a bout of insomnia, I switched on a Rush Limbaugh rebroadcast – a sure-fire cure for me. He is claiming that the essay about the signers of the Declaration of Independence being discussed on several threads here was originally written by his father. He claims it was published in his newsletter three years ago. It is all starting to make sense now. ---
**Author:** ![FolacinTheAcidic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@FolacinTheAcidic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FolacinTheAcidic)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/13 "2000-07-06T15:35:53Z")
Rush’s dad evidently did write it: [http://www.rosecity.net/rush/freedom.html](http://www.rosecity.net/rush/freedom.html) Of course, given Rush’s alledged commitment to accuracy, you’d think it would have some more truth in it. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/14 "2000-07-06T16:13:30Z")
of course my original complaint to the paper was about plagiarism…there is an interesting discussion of this going on in usenet… [http://x60.deja.com/viewthread.xp?AN=642264485.3&search=thread&svcclass=dncurrent&ST=PS&CONTEXT=962899480.1027342362&HIT\_CONTEXT=962899480.1027342362&HIT\_NUM=8&recnum=\<8jsuiv$7s8$1@news.panix.com\>%233/4&group=alt.folklore.urban&frpage=getdoc.xp&back=clarinet](http://x60.deja.com/viewthread.xp?AN=642264485.3&search=thread&svcclass=dncurrent&ST=PS&CONTEXT=962899480.1027342362&HIT_CONTEXT=962899480.1027342362&HIT_NUM=8&recnum=%3c8jsuiv%247s8%241@news.panix.com%3e%233/4&group=alt.folklore.urban&frpage=getdoc.xp&back=clarinet) with a compilation so far at [http://home.nycap.rr.com/elbrecht/signers/signerindex.html](http://home.nycap.rr.com/elbrecht/signers/signerindex.html) It appears to have origins with a Paul Harvey book, although probably not actually authored by him…in 1956 actually… dave ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/15 "2000-07-06T16:15:32Z")
it seems that the deja link doesn’t work so hot… If you’re REALLY interested in this topic…explore alt.folklore.urban and look for the “Declaration of Independence Signers” thread… dave ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/16 "2000-07-06T17:09:48Z")
I first heard about this thing when a friend forwarded a piece by Jeff Jacoby of the Boston Globe…again the SAME piece. ## In todays Boston Globe (via the web archive) is this EDITOR’S NOTE Author: Date: 07/06/2000 Page: A15 Section: Op-Ed Aspects of Jeff Jacoby’s column on July 3, about the signers of the Declaration of Independence, appeared in a widely circulated e-mail message and on the Internet. One version was published in an Ann Landers column on July 4. Still other variations on the theme can be found in books and Web sites. The consequences for the signers is a popular topic that has been covered on numerous occasions. While facts about the signers are part of the historical record and do not require attribution, Jacoby should have alerted readers that the concept and structure for his column were not entirely original. * * * At least the Quad City Times had the guts to call this what it was …plagiarism, instead of saying “the concept and structure for his column were not entirely original” dave ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/17 "2000-07-07T00:08:04Z")
**beagledave** , I stand in awe as I salute your successful assault on ignorance. This is seriously a victory for the good guys. The folks at [http://www.snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com) would love to hear this. Head on over there, register on the message board and post your coup to the “sightings” page. ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-caught/24684/18 "2000-07-07T00:32:34Z")
BeagleDave, you post 12 hours before me! I was going to update people for you. My husband thinks it is amazing and wonders how many other things he submitted that weren’t his before this. Now I am off to post about the bad things that happen with firecrackers. Did you read about that one?