Rather Forgery Update: Hailey typewriter, Killian's secretary "th" found, Report release plan.

[dickmc]

The CBS Memo Forgery Report has now covers the recent Hailey "typewriter could do it" posting and Killian's secretary interview from the Dallas Morning News. Interestingly, the reported Olympia typewriter may well have been able to do a ligature "th" according to a previously unnoted post on the net at http://www.newsroom-l.net/blog/archives/000098.html for September 11 at 1:27 A.M. However, as pointed out in the Report, the Olympia could not do proportional typing.

A link to the Report's updated final draft is shown at the end of this article. Rather than take your time with all the areas covered in detail, only the changes are highlighted here. If you want to see the entire report in its "final" form, you can use the links at the bottom to see it as a doc or pdf.

Changes beyond editorial minutia:

New Observations section in the Executive Summary:

1. CBS is commended for posting the Documents on their www site and thereby allowing access to them by all interested parties, including this Working Group. The few of us with gray hair in the Working Group fondly remember Walter Cronkite's reporting of the Apollo Moon Program. All of us on the Working Group hope that this Report's Recommendations will be received in the spirit offered and will help CBS News return to that level of esteem.

2. This Report's scholarly result is clear, unmistakable, and unambiguous: The CBS Documents clearly arise from an unbelievably incompetent and naive forger. There is no doubt of this as evidenced in the Executive Summary and the 52 succinct analysis points in the FINDINGS section, painful as this will be for CBS.

3. Nonetheless, the forged Documents do indicate a notable, almost Sirenesque sophistication in "story development," a factor that no doubt enhanced their appeal. For example, using Bath in an early memo, a name redacted in most, but not all, of the real document portfolios.

4. The validation of the Documents did not meet the rigor and thoroughness that would have been expected.

5. It is noted that advocates of "underlying truth" obstinately now assert that the forged Documents represent contemporaneous notes and feelings. If this were the case, notes could have been produced. Reconstruction of documents and signatures would still be a fraud. If "feelings" are all that remain, a rounded slate of interviews would have been appropriate. We observe, but make no further comment on, whether the "facts fitted the story" or the "story fitted the facts" as this is a journalistic matter for the Panel.

6. The undeniable purpose of the forged Documents was to influence a major Federal election. This makes operation of your Independent Review Panel, and CBS's subsequent actions, an extremely serious matter indeed. A chilling fact is: If the forger had used a typewriter and better researched Texas ANG protocols, that goal might well have been achieved!

7. The production and use of the forged Documents was calculated, wrongful, and quite possibly in violation of state and federal laws.

Modified Recommendation re Texas Law:

5. As the forging and the use of forged military documents, especially during a Federal election, is a serious and possibly criminal issue: formally notify the U.S. Justice Department, the Federal Election Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the appropriate State of Texas jurisdictions of the details relating to the acquisition and use of the Documents and fully cooperate with any subsequent investigation(s) and, if applicable, any resulting prosecution(s).

Addition to Item 7. re Hailey in Findings:

Dr. Hailey of Utah State recently surfaced the concept that the CBS Memos could have been produced on a typewriter by using a different font family. However, it is the position of the Working Group that Dr. Hailey's approach is fatally flawed circular logic in that it involved downloading an electronic font and then using a proportionally spaced word processor to simulate typing the 04 May CBS Memo. If such a hypothetical proportionally-spaced typewriter actually existed, Dr. Bouffard's definitive search for a typewriter would have already turned it up in Item 4. For Hailey see http://imrl.usu.edu/bush_memo_study/index.htm Although Hailey elaborately analyzed letter density from the photocopied-faxed CBS Memos, no letter misalignments were noted, a key telltale of typewritten documents, as contrasted with the well aligned word processor letters in the CBS Memos.

New Item 49. re Killian's secretary and Olympia Typewriter in Findings:

49. The secretary for Lt Col Killian's group, Mrs. Marian Knox, has stated that: "These (CBS Memos) are not real. They're not what I typed, and I would have typed them for him." According to the September 15 Dallas Morning News: "She said signs of forgery abound in the four memos….the typeface on the documents did not match either of the two typewriters that she used during her time with the Guard. She identified those machines as a mechanical Olympia typewriter and the IBM Selectric that replaced it in the early 1070s….Mrs. Knox also cited stylistic differences in the form of the notes, such as the signature on the right side of the document…She said that the culture of the time was that men didn't type office-related documents, and she expressed doubt that Col. Killian would have typed the memos." See the http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/dmn/stories/091504dnpolnatguard.1185eb4ae.html September 15th issue of The Dallas Morning News. Mrs. Knox did mention a "th" for the Olympia. But that would have been the single key ligature described earlier; not the word processor superscript used in the CBS Memos. For more information on that typewriter see http://www.newsroom-l.net/blog/archives/000098.html for September 11 at 1:27 A.M. However, neither the Olympia nor the IBM Selectric could have produced the proportional word processor spacing used in the CBS Memos.

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It would be most helpful for other Freepers to stand with us as additional "signers".
You would supplement the twelve we already have, and the additional four that have committed. A total of 20 to 25 would be great, as well as very helpful.
As you can see in the download, the electronically signed names would only appear on the personal copy of Thornburgh and Boccardi, who form the CBS Independent Investigative Panel, and on Heyward's and Lee's personal copy. Signatures would NOT be on the companion copies for their staffs nor on the www posting.
If you are willing to sign, and standup with those who have signed, please indicate below in a reply and I will get in contact with you by Freepmail.

.

The final drafts may be downloaded here as a MSWord97 document or here as a pdf. Editorial and other comments are still being gratefully received. Our final release date and mailing will likely be next Monday. We have already talked with Thornburgh's office.

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[BunnySlippers]

Boy, a lot of typos in there. Let me know if you need a translation.

[Guillermo]

This was some half-assed attempt between the DNC/Kerry, Burkett and CBS/Rather to smear Bush.

That's about the only thing I believe from those slimeballs.

[dickmc]

Mystery man at Houston rodeo after call from some lady whose spanish or mexican name I can't remember at the moment.

Should be some FR threads if you search for Burkett.

Regards, dickmc

[Snapple]

I will sign, but could you write a post that explains what is going on in layman's language.

[dickmc]

Have sent over Freepmail re siganture.

As for the background:

On about September 10, in one of the long forgery threads Skypilot published an enumeration of some of the reasons why the CBS Memos were forgeries. Since no one was keeping the list up, I foolishly started doing it. That then lead to a series of postings and refinements of the list and a fair amount of discussion about some of the items, and whether to include them or not.

After a while we kind of morphed into some conclusions and recommendations, the idea being that we would make such a list of Conclusions, Recommendations, and Forgery Items into a document that people could use with media and the like. Along the way, Pharlap agreed to help out and make an Executive Summary since the forgery list (now called the Findings was over ten pages!).

Then CBS announced the formation of the Independent Investigative Panel. At that point, we decided that we might as well turn the effort into a Report to be sent to the CBS Independent Investigative Panel. We felt we had something to say and the Report was looking darn good.

With that decision, then came dealing with the fact that a signed cover letter to such folks as Thornburgh and Boccardi (the panel), Hewlett, and Lee would be a lot better than "to whom it may concern from whomever it concerned". This got us to having signatures on the cover letter, but not on the staff, or www copies. A sample of how that signing would look is in the earlier post at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1225070/posts

Would I ever do this much effort again? NO
Do I and the Working Group intend to finish this? Hell Yes!

Regards,
dickmc et. al.

[Howlin]

FYI.

[TXnMA]

I am not certain why it is so, but I have found your requests for signatures on the 'report' to be spectacularly unclear. Perhaps it is due to your use of convoluted article titles...

Perhaps something like, "Sign the FReport on the forged CBS memos" might draw a better response.

I was on the original live thread when TankerKC first remarked that the on-air images of the memos did not appear to follow military format. I immediately began to review my own military records and concurred with TankerKC's observations.

Just FReepmail me how to go about "signing"; I will be glad to do so. (OTOH, I don't see why a hyperlink couldn't have been provided...)

Bottom line: Where do I sign?

[dickmc]

Thanks,

Have sent private Freepmail.

Last time I asked for "signatures" some folks felt it was too solicitous, if there is any such word.

At any event, I apologize for any lack of clarity. Can't do a hyperlink to a signing site as have not ever had my own server. In any event, I think folks may trust Freepmail as
being more private ...or... perhaps not.

In any event, to make a long story short have sent a private Freepmail over for you to send back the info.
If you have some plan as to how to get more signatures
inside Free Republic, please do not hesitate to implement it. More hands are always welcome. :-)

Regards,
Dick

[No_Doll_i]

Sign me up kind sir!

[No_Doll_i]

Sign me up kind sir!

[Range Rover]

Howlin,

Very nice of you to provide a Cindy-Brady-like popcorn trail through the morass that swirls around the "Memos are Real" tribe...much appreciated.

I'm actually riveted by the unbelievable lengths people will go to in trying to prove these memos authentic.

The following from http://www.newsroom-l.net/blog/archives/000098.html are CLASSIC...

"I don't remember that the military has had any reluctance in buying $500 ashtrays...... So spending what, $4,000 or $5000 on a typewriter doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibilities."

"This may be a lethal blow to the Bush presidency. Watch the Dan Rather interview with Killian's secretary. She's 86, and sharp as a tack"

"I believe Dan Rather"

There are a host of other howlers but you'll notice that the posts of those trying to defend CBS and the Memos end abruptly on 9/16...those folks are probably yammering to themselves under bare light bulbs in furniture-less rooms....walls covered with random press clippings and maps with colored pins stuck in hither and yon. I get a kick seeing these folks walking the streets bewildered.

[ForGod'sSake]

I'm not just a little amazed that I missed ALL of the threads concerning this project! I have tried to follow relevant developments on this charade as closely as I could since its beginning, but alas.

A word of caution that might help keep some egg off our faces: I'm familiar with another Freeper project of a couple years ago where a large list of petition signees apparently ended up in the wrong hands; and never arrived at their intended destination. Trust no one ;^)

I'll do whatever it takes to help bring down these utopian dreamers in the MSM. I'll sign.

Regards,

FGS

[Polybius]

Someone named Lucy Ramirez ... contacted him and said they had the memos. He went to the Houston Rodeo at a convention center and a male walked out of the crowd and gave him an envelope with the memos inside and disappeared into the crowd. Lucy was worried about fingerprints so that Burkett went to Kinkos and photocopied the memos to get the fingerprints off. The was so spooked that he burned the originals in the Kinkos parking lot. No one has ever been able to locate Lucy Ramirez or the male who passes the documents. Do you believe it? :)

Of course I believe it.

That is exactly how I got the copies of the memo that proves that Dan Rather owes my father's estate $3 million.

[norton]

Your efforts have remained spectacularly hidden somewhere in the FR forest.
I still don't know what the signature will go to, how it will be used, or whether or not it will be cited as an authentication of research the signatory did not do.
If the signature is simply to recommend the findings to some authority at CBS, or even in the US Government etc., or just to tell someone else in the MSM that authentication can be had in less than the several months that CBS desires, OK.
But, you've done a hell of a lot of work and seem to have planned for its use; but I still can't discern the ends from the (only recently) available discussion.
[where did this get hidden in the first place, it was a week old when many of us discovered it?]

[Budge]

Cronkite grew up in Houston and went to UT for a while.

TRIVIA ADDED: Cronkite also went to Sidney Lanier junior high followed by San Jacinto High.

Later, Dan Rather worked for channel 11 news (KHOU TV, a CBS affiliate) and was the weatherman. His big break came in Sept. 1961 when the cat 4 or 5 hurricane Carla (wind exceeding 165 mph were reported) hit the Texas coast near Galveston. Rather was reporting from the GLS weather station (a well fortified bunker) showing the (then) new hurricane radar tracking system.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Signed! Robert A. Cook

[Robert A Cook PE]

David Thibault, of CNSNews.com (affiliated with Media Research Center www.mrc.org and Brent Bozell) wants this copy as soon as you are satisfied with it.

[MeekOneGOP]

Okay, I'll sign too. Hopefully, ole Dan Bla^ther will be stepping down very soon!

---

Media Research Center:
Dan Rather on Bill Clinton:
"I think he’s an honest man."

   O’Reilly: "I want to ask you flat out, do you think President Clinton’s an honest man?"
    Rather: "Yes, I think he’s an honest man."
    O’Reilly: "Do you, really?"
    Rather: "I do."
    O’Reilly: "Even though he lied to Jim Lehrer’s face about the Lewinsky case?"
    Rather: "Who among us has not lied about something?"
    O’Reilly: "Well, I didn’t lie to anybody’s face on national television. I don’t think you have, have you?"
    Rather: "I don’t think I ever have. I hope I never have. But, look, it’s one thing-"
    O’Reilly, jumping in: "How can you say he’s an honest guy then?"
    Rather: "Well, because I think he is. I think at core he’s an honest person. I know that you have a different view. I know that you consider it sort of astonishing anybody would say so, but I think you can be an honest person and lie about any number of things."
    O’Reilly: "Really?!?"
    Rather: "Yeah, I do."
    O’Reilly: "See, I can’t. I want my government to be honest across-the-board. I don’t want people lying."

---

[hellinahandcart]

bttt

[ForGod'sSake]

Thanky Meek; you da man!

Why doesn't this thread show up in the sidebar(I couldn't find it) under activism? I know if I missed earlier threads concerning this project and almost missed this one, some increased exposure couldn't hurt.

FGS