HELL, CALIFORNIA (September 24, 2007): By authority of The Ratfink Club's board of trustees, we hearby induct Richard W. Bulliet, professor of History at Columbia University, into our exclusive society of folks - living and dead (sometimes it is hard to tell the difference) -- who in our constitutionally protected opinion deserve the designation of Ratfink.

Professor Bulliet, born October 30, 1940 (when Adolph Hitler was still in the process of killing 6 million Jews and millions of other innocents), secured admittance to The Ratfink Club upon his successful bid to bring Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at the campus of Columbia University on September 24, 2007.

"We received nominations from around the globe for Professor Bulliet," says the Grand Rat, high priest of The Ratfink Club.  Among those submitting nominations for Professor Bulliet:

   Women in Iran who were stoned to death on suspicion of loose morals

   Men in Iran who were hung on suspicion of homosexuality

   Professors in Iran who enjoy zero freedom of speech

   U.S. solders who were maimed or killed in Iraq by insurgents using Iranian made weaponry

   Children in Israel who go to sleep every night fearing they will be nuked by Iran

   Armenians, Gypsies, and others who know the pain of genocide

"These victims have no voice, no podium, no 'academic debate' such as Bulliet happily afforded Ahmadinejad," the Grand Rat explains.  "Until Bulliet meets the ultimate Judge of morality, this mark of Cain will have to suffice."