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CBS' “new” Bush guard memos a hoax (Update w/ conclusive proof of forgeries!)
ChronicallyBiased - keeping tabs on the Houston Chronicle ^ | 9/9

Posted on 09/09/2004 3:47:33 PM PDT by GOPcapitalist

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To: GOPcapitalist

IBM did have a special typesetting machine, the IBM Composer, which WOULD automatically center type if you typed it twice.
http://www.ibmcomposer.org/

I used to use one at work, but I was a professional printer from 1975-1983. It was a bear to use.

Was Killian a professional typesetter? Maybe he used such a machine at work for these memos.

Otherwise, I can't explain why he would have used it.

Nor can I explain why the type lines up exactly like 12 point Times New Roman using Word set to default formatting.


181 posted on 09/09/2004 6:30:03 PM PDT by CobaltBlue
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To: patriciaruth

NewLand already took the bet, and I accepted, but OK.

That's the limit though. If I lose twice, FR gets a hundred bucks and I don't get no beer for the rest of the month.

Oh the Humanity.....


182 posted on 09/09/2004 6:30:57 PM PDT by Ronin (When the fox gnaws....SMILE!)
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To: GOPcapitalist

Don't know if its conclusive, but I'm convinced. I've been telling people all day that the document isn't justified and therefore wasn't difficult to produce on a typewriter. The centering function would be nearly impossible to replicate with a 1972 typewriter. My hat's off to you.


183 posted on 09/09/2004 6:31:48 PM PDT by js1138 (Speedy architect of perfect labyrinths.)
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To: Izzy Dunne

>>If you had a typist who could do centering using proportional-spaced fonts, I'd like to meet her/him!


Absolutely correct. You HAD to use mechanical typesetting devices like the Varityper or the IBM composer for this.


184 posted on 09/09/2004 6:32:38 PM PDT by CobaltBlue
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To: GOP_1900AD
An ANG schlub hammering out a quick report would have left justified the address block.

That's my point exactly - why would they trouble themselves over a military record. If pride of workmanship was it (and I don't mean to dismiss that), then there are more basic things they would do first.

185 posted on 09/09/2004 6:35:16 PM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: luvbach1

I learned typesetting on an ancient Varityper in 1975. Then switched to an ancient IBM Composer.

Thank God for computers.


186 posted on 09/09/2004 6:35:46 PM PDT by CobaltBlue
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To: The Duke
Interesting, though, that the example above does not feature the 'superscript' font that they've been questioning all day

Notice the unusual space between the 111 and th. If the space is NOT there, MS Word automatically makes the th a superscript.

The smartass forger is a dumbass.

187 posted on 09/09/2004 6:38:11 PM PDT by Jeff Gordon (Remember: Benedict Arnold was a "war hero," too.)
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To: alnick
In all fairness, back in the stone ages we used to center on mechanical typewriters all the time. It's just that the typist did the math rather than having the computer figure it out. :-)

Try it with a proportional font. Try it as a military clerk typist. Try matching the precision of a word processor that can deal with a thousandth of an inch.

188 posted on 09/09/2004 6:39:11 PM PDT by js1138 (Speedy architect of perfect labyrinths.)
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To: CobaltBlue

Using Varityper or a photo compositor would create the effect except there was one little problem.

It regards the font. TrueType Times New Roman is a variant of the font created in the 1980s. Slight, subtle differences, but noticable to someone really adept at specing type.

The document was processed using that particular font.


189 posted on 09/09/2004 6:39:25 PM PDT by lavrenti (Think of who is pithy, yet so attractive to women.)
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To: RightField

>>I earned the respect of the whole crew when I was able to make last minute corrections at 2:00 am when the typists had left, by using my Exacto knife, small light table, and some words pulled off error sheets that had been thrown away.

Very hard to do using Word due to the weird way it spaces - you have to drop in an entire line or it won't come out with correct kerning.

Good enough for 2:00 a.m., or maybe you used WordPerfect? ;^)


190 posted on 09/09/2004 6:40:14 PM PDT by CobaltBlue
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To: Twinkie

No hyphens. The doc centers the address lines perfectly, then the body of the copy is ragged right.


191 posted on 09/09/2004 6:41:37 PM PDT by CobaltBlue
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To: Bob

Mara is hacking away at home.


192 posted on 09/09/2004 6:43:14 PM PDT by petercooper (All I wanted to know about Islam, I learned on 9-11-01.)
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To: lavrenti

I don't have a good copy of all the available IBM fonts so am reluctant to opine on this.

One of the web experts said that the 4 with a closed top and no foot was used ONLY in Times New Roman and that Times New Roman was ONLY on computers.

Well, I went to the Linotype website and they used Times New Roman, with a four with a closed top and no foot, on Linotypes. Created 1932.
http://www.linotype.com/1540/timesnewroman-family.html

Admittedly Killian probably did not use a Linotype machine for his memos. Still, we want to kill this story, best to be cautious.


193 posted on 09/09/2004 6:50:43 PM PDT by CobaltBlue
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To: RightField
but the only way that any text is right-hand justified is by adding or subtracting spaces between words. I used to use a macro-based word processor that could add spaces between letters (down to a thousandth of an inch) in addition to spaces between words. It also allowed decimal increments in font size. I wrote a macro that would produce a screen image and allow you to size it with a single parameter, fractionally adjusting all the included text sizes.
194 posted on 09/09/2004 6:51:26 PM PDT by js1138 (Speedy architect of perfect labyrinths.)
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To: Ronin

You're a good sport.

This is fun!


195 posted on 09/09/2004 6:51:51 PM PDT by patriciaruth (They are all Mike Spanns)
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To: CobaltBlue
The bottom line here: the law of probabilities is stacking up against CBS. Each and every complicating factor to this story makes it less probable that the memo is authentic. Let's suppose some probabilities and show how this works. Consider:

The first problem with the documents is the proportional spacing. There weren't many proportionally spaced typewriters in the early 70's so lets say the odds against Killian having one are 10,000 to 1.

The second problem we encounter is the superscript text. The probability of typewriters in the early 70's having a superscript key is even more remote. Let's suppose the odds against it are 100,000 to 1.

Next we move to centering. Let's say the odds against that are 1 million to 1.

Next we move to Times New Roman font. Let's say the odds against that are 10 million to 1.

While a remote chance theoretically exists that each individual problem is explanable by technology at the time, however obscure it may have been, when you take them all together it becomes geometrically more remote. Not only do you have to have a machine that does proportional spacing. You also need one with a "th" superscript key, times new roman font, and a centering device that is so precise it matches the exact capabilities of a modern word processor program. Simply put, the probability of that kind of a typewriter existing in Killian's possession in 1972 has got to be somewhere in the range of several billion, if not trillion, to one.

196 posted on 09/09/2004 6:52:20 PM PDT by GOPcapitalist ("Can Lincoln expect to subjugate a people thus resolved? No!" - Sam Houston, 3/1863)
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To: GOPcapitalist

Good work!


197 posted on 09/09/2004 6:53:35 PM PDT by Ciexyz ("FR, best viewed with a budgie on hand")
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To: GOPcapitalist
"Conclusive the proof that they are forgeries: MECHANICAL TYPEWRITERS DON'T AUTO-CENTER ADDRESS BLOCKS!!! "

Boy, don't I know that for a fact. I can still remember 42 years ago when I first took typing in highschool, we had to learn how to center things on the page before we typed it. We had to count the number of letters in the line, then divide it by two. Then we had to count back that amount with the backspace key, starting from the "0" margin in the middle, in order to find our beginning point. Talk about a pain in the rump!

198 posted on 09/09/2004 6:55:52 PM PDT by mass55th ( “Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.”)
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To: Novel
The good thing that will come of this is that the Today show may think twice about having Kitty Kelly on. If this thing brings Rather and 60 minutes to it's knees, NBC may not want to risk the same fate.

Kitty has already been outed as a liar. Her book might be recalled. If NBC puts her on the air, FOX will Howl.

199 posted on 09/09/2004 6:57:19 PM PDT by js1138 (Speedy architect of perfect labyrinths.)
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To: Joe Hadenuf

this is what I picked up from the article...
Gary Killian, who served in the Guard with his father and retired as a captain in 1991, said one of the memos, signed by his father, appeared legitimate. But he doubted his father would have written another, unsigned memo which said there was pressure to "sugar coat" Bush's performance review.

that was all it said...


200 posted on 09/09/2004 6:58:09 PM PDT by scoastie
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