The story of Dr. Steven Hatfill becomes more convoluted daily. On the one hand, the guy is clearly somewhat weird. And, if he really did claim falsely that he had a Ph.D., then Louisiana State was not merely justified in firing him, but honor-bound to do so. But, here's where the story becomes murky. One version has it that a spokesperson for Hatfill announced that he believed he'd been awarded a Ph.D. from Rhodes when he actually hadn't. (To anyone who actually has earned a degree -- at any level -- from a legitimate university, this is about as believable as claiming that you were sure you had given birth to twins and were surprised to find out later that you had never been pregnant.) There are also repeated stories that Hatfill inflated descriptions of his previous military (and possibly paramilitary) service. But, no one seems to have ever made these claims completely public so that Hatfill could comment on them. And, at the same time, no one has produced any evidence -- not one scrap -- that the dude ever actually committed any nefarious deeds with biological weapons.

I wonder if Hatfill merely lied himself into the wrong place at the wrong time -- imagine some wannabe entertaining casual acquaintances with whoppers about guns and gangs and drive-by shootings, and then finding himself falsely accused of committing a very real murder. It would be an ironic fate, for sure. In the meantime, the FBI continues to dog this guy, who may be a criminal, or merely a fantasy-prone individual, or maybe even neither of the above. Could we maybe cut a bit of the funding to this not-quite-comical gumshoe squad and redirect it towards more beneficial public works? I know our local library could use some more books.