Bwog was puzzled when news of a delegation of Columbia professors going to Iran to apologize to President Ahmadinejad for PrezBo's performance in September appeared in our inbox yesterday. The article by the government-sponsored Mehr News agency cited only one anonymous source and seemed completely improbable, Bwog brushed it off as Iranian propaganda and went about its day.

The New York Sun, however, ran a whole article (followed by a pro-PrezBo comment signed as CB9 chair Jordi Reyes-Montblanc) about the "visit," which also made it into the pages of such reputable news outlets as the New York Times and Michigan Daily, as well as a handful of blogs. No professors confirmed the story, Richard Bulliet didn't know anything about it, and a Columbia spokesman said the university "has no knowledge or information about the claims being made in the Iranian media." Now City Room has a fat post on the non-story, consisting of multiple denials of the rumor and a rehash of the whole affair.

If any professors are planning to head east, they might not be professors for much longer, since PrezBo apparently banned official visits last month. Bwog suggests a telegram.

- LBD