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The attorney for the man who leaked discredited memos to CBS News' Dan Rather is a Democratic Party activist in Texas who has vowed to defeat what he says is a White House "master plan" for "a one-party America." David Van Os, a San Antonio lawyer and defender of retired Texas Air National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett's role in supplying forged memos detrimental to President Bush, has held a number of local party posts, including chairman of the Travis County Democratic Party. Mr. Van Os referred to the suspect memos this way in a Sept. 15 e-mail to reporters:...

If Burkett had access to these documents in the past, he would have used them, and obviously he's not sophisticated enough to have produced them. Also, why is the MSM so quiet on trying to find out the true source? Because they know it would lead to the DNC/Kerry kamp! These forgeries surfaced only when Kerry started slipping in the polls! They took notes from Burkett, then used the WRONG memorandum format to type them up and ship them back to Burkett. Burkett would have known the memos were not good enough, but he had to pass them on anyway,...

OK, we shouldn't be surprised by now that Burkett is exposed as a fraud, but I found this contradiction so glaring I can't believe the press hasn't picked up on it: Burkett is claiming that he was given the documents by someone named Lucy Ramirez (or her shadowy courier). From USA Today: "Burkett said he arranged to get the documents during a trip to Houston for a livestock show in March. But instead of being met at the show by Ramirez, he was approached by a man who asked for Burkett, handed him an envelope and quickly left, Burkett recounted."...

Media: Now that CBS and Dan Rather have made their half-hearted apologies for their shoddy reporting practices, will the whole flap finally die down? It shouldn't.... No apology to President Bush for trying to smear him. Or to the American people for trying to hoodwink them. CBS still hasn't come clean. It has too much to hide. So does the Kerry campaign. Burkett says he gave the documents to Cleland. And Ben Barnes, one of the main on-air sources for CBS story, is a major fund-raiser for Kerry. Yet somehow CBS can't explain how it got the documents — or...

Last week, as the furor over Dan Rather's National Guard memos grew more and more intense, media critic Ken Auletta, appearing on PBS, criticized Fox News Channel for having "treated this story as if it were Watergate. It's not Watergate." Actually, in many respects, it is indeed broadcast journalism's Watergate.... There are two serious problems with this entire episode, beyond the obvious blow to CBS News' credibility. One is Rather's defensive — even accusatory — reaction to any and all questions about the documents' legitimacy.... First, they refused to consider any questions whatsoever — even from respected news organizations —...

Wednesday, September 22, 2004 Brother concerned for welfare of key figure in scandal PORTALES, N.M. (AP) —The brother of retired Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett says he hopes Burkett isn't "hammered" over the documents he provided to CBS News for a story questioning President Bush's National Guard service. "I don't want him hammered about things we're not sure of," said Jerry Burkett, a Republican farmer who lives near Portales. Burkett, who hasn't spoken to his brother since the scandal broke, said he can't fault his brother if he didn't know documents were likely forged. (snip) "We're pretty concerned about...

Why does the media ignore the distinct possibility that Burkett typed these memo's? USA Today and CBS have been in his house. "Hey Bill, while we are visiting, do you mind if we look at your computer? Nice printer. What's on the hard drive Bill?" Seriously, whoever did this is guilty of a felony. Isn't there probable cause for the local sherriff to seach Burkett's house? Can't he be called in for questioning. If Burkett has a printer, does anyone know, can it be matched up to a specific document. You know, little imperfections, like they do with tracing of...

<p>Bill Burkett, the man identified yesterday by CBS as the source of the controversial documents used in its September 8 “60 Minutes II” report questioning President Bush’s Air National Guard service, plans to sue the network, the NY SUN reports.</p>

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Memo lawyer is party activistBy Rowan ScarboroughTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished September 22, 2004 The attorney for the man who leaked discredited memos to CBS News' Dan Rather is a Democratic Party activist in Texas who has vowed to defeat what he says is a White House "master plan" for "a one-party America."     David Van Os, a San Antonio lawyer and defender of retired Texas Air National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett's role in supplying forged memos detrimental to President Bush, has held a number of local party posts, including chairman of the Travis County Democratic Party.     Mr. Van...

.....The Bush campaign was quick to hop on the latest twist in the document drama. ''The fact that CBS News would coordinate with the most senior people in the Kerry campaign is troubling, and it is a stunning revelation that raises serious questions," said Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the Bush campaign. ''The Kerry campaign should come clean about their involvement." Reprising a line from the Watergate scandal during an appearance on CNN, Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said, ''The question to the Kerry campaign is, what did they know and when did they know it?" The...

A spit-take scoop from USA Today: CBS arranged for a confidential source to talk with Joe Lockhart, a top aide to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, after the source provided the network with the now-disputed documents about President Bush's service in the Texas National Guard. Lockhart, the former press secretary to President Clinton, said a female producer talked to him about the 60 Minutes program a few days before it aired on Sept. 8. She gave Lockhart a telephone number and asked him to call Bill Burkett, a former Texas National Guard officer who gave CBS the documents. Lockhart couldn't...

Now that a connection has been established between Bill Burkett, the CBS source in the forged documents story, and Kerry advisors Joe Lockhart and Max Cleland, the Democrat National Committee has gone into a furious, and some would say desperate, "spin" mode.DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe has even issued a statement all but accusing the Republicans of forging the anti-Bush memos themselves:“In today’s New York Post, Roger Stone, who became associated with political ‘dirty tricks’ while working for Nixon, refused to deny that he was the source the CBS documents. Will ...the White House admit today what they know about Mr....

... 7. CITY TEAM CAPTAIN SIGNUP ROSTER ... ABILENE Name: Bill Burkett (?) Address: EMAIL Address: Home and/or Cell Phone ... FRIDAY, 1 Oct 2004 7 – 8:30 AM – Breakfast on your own 8:30 AM – Depart Forth Worth, Texas for Abilene, Texas 11:30 AM – Arrive at Abilene Veterans Rally Venue 11: 30 – 2PM– Veterans Rally and Lunch at selected Venue 5 PM – Depart Abilene, Texas to Midland, Texas hotel 6:30 PM – Depart to Veterans Rally Venue 6:30 – 10:30 PM – Veterans Rally and Dinner at selected Venue 10:30 – Depart back to hotel

The NY Sun has an article today where Mr. David Van Os, Bill Burkett's attorney conceded that his client “was not direct” about where he got the memos, “to protect a promise he made to the man who gave them to him.” He said Mr. Burkett’s lies “pale in comparison to CBS’s.” link to story However, US Today runs a story where Burkett offers this explanation of how he came upon the documents: "Burkett now maintains that the source of the papers was Lucy Ramirez, who he says phoned him from Houston in March to offer the documents. USA TODAY...

Sorry for the vanity but in this entire debate about the fake documents, there is one thing I am not hearing that needs to be said. The remaining Kool-Aid drinkers on the left (and Rather himself) are still positing that the documents may be fake but the information is still true. Ask them a simple question. When was the last time somebody faked documents in order to prove the truth? They don't. It's not human nature to fake something you know is true. You fake what you know to be a lie but you want to convince others is the...

WASHINGTON — It was at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in February that retired National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett came to have the documents that could affect a presidential election and Dan Rather's career.From the rodeo, Burkett took the National Guard records that purported to shed negative light on President Bush's military career to a West Texas cold storage locker where, according to Burkett's lawyer, they remained until CBS sweet-talked them out of his client.Now, says attorney David Van Os, Burkett — never shy about casting negative light on Bush — regrets getting involved. CBS News and Rather...

It has taken Bill Burkett a while to "come up" with this Lucy Ramirez supposed source. The Democrats and CBS are probably reaching the "lashing out" stage of this debacle. I WOULD NOT PUT IT PAST Burkett, et. al., to throw out the name of Lucy Ramirez as a "plant" (someone who they know "the blogosphere" will eventually find but that links back to "our" side). Also, posting info about an "innocent bystander" Lucy Ramirez could get FR in trouble and hurt our cause.

Here is the most basic point I find astounding. Burkett told CBS his source was Conn, who is a real person. How could CBS go with the story without verifying with Conn? And then tell the American people they had good sources? Obviously, they did not check the alleged source because Conn knew nothing of this. How can the CBS personell involved still be in their jobs? This doesn't seem to pass the laugh test.I could as easily say I have documents from President Bush or Donald Rumsfeld. Who would take my word before checking with them?And How can the...

CONFABULATION Written By Michael Kopelman, Professor of Neuropsychiatry, Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’s School of Medicine, King’s College, University of London. Confabulation is the phenomenon whereby patients with memory disorders may produce false memories. For example, the patient may tell you in graphic detail how his or her parents visited last night, and later you discover that the mother died four years ago and the father died twenty years ago! The person is not aware that they are producing false memories. Confabulation is sometimes sub-divided into two types. 'Spontaneous confabulation' refers to confabulation in which the patient tells you spontaneously...