The Evidence Against Rather

free republic ^ | 11 Sep 04 | self

[mac_truck]

bump for later reading

[hosepipe]

Peter Lemmings and Tom Brokjaw are watching what happens to ol' Dan Blather.... you can bet on that.. like beta wolves just waiting to pounce.. To all those in the flock its just good entertainment.. The sheeple graze and poo-poo just like normal.. pulling the wool off one of them wolves is stared at, glassy eyed by the FCC.... WAIT maybe their wolves TOO... but,alas, it takes a lot to stampede sheeple..

[Southack]

FReeper commish is researching point #50 about the AFM #35-13. It now actually appears that there is a reference in a respectable place to such a manual existing at one point...from the 1950's...but it doesn't appear to be germane to Medical exams or flight requirements. We'll know more after Commish has finished reading the actual manual.

Commish also pointed out a couple of items on your list (to me) that need tweaking in verbiage to be more accurate.

What we've got right now is a rough draft of some 50+ indicators of fraud. This list needs o be cleaned up, vetted, re-ordered for priority, and then trumpeted from the rooftops.

CBS has now been caught redhanded with forgeries. That deceit isn't going to be allowed to stand.

1 Full Legislative Day Left Until The AWB Expires

[CobaltBlue]

>>the probability that this memo was typeset with a composer machine, rather than ordinary typewriter is pretty slim

Unfortunately probability and statistics won't do any good with the DU/Boston Globe/NYTimes/ crowd.

This is the most important election in their lifetimes, too.

[CobaltBlue]

>>You (and Southack) are correct.

I would like very much to ask him whether he has an IBM Composer himself, and whether he can tell us whether the Times New Roman font had curly apostrophes, but he won't respond to my Freepmail.

[FredZarguna]

Thanks for the boost, but, that Ratherism was a characterization of the picture of Dan shown in an earlier post.

Me, worried? Nope. Aside from the evidence that the memos were almost certainly produced on a computer, there are the problems with dating, the fact that the note was "typed" by a non-typist, that it's headed "CYA" as if a CYA note would have an attestation to that effect, incorrect military acronyms, the testimony of the man's wife and son, and so on and so on and so on.

It's no longer even interesting to debate whether this thing is a hoax. What's going to be interesting is how much we can find out about where this came from, how much collusion between CBS and the DNC occurred, and how hilarious CBS' repeated protestations of thorough, accurate journalism are going to be.

[CobaltBlue]

Old mechanical proportional font machines like the IBM Composer had maybe 5 different character widths. Nothing like "twips."

Lower case "i", numeral "1" and lower case "l" would be one unit wide.

Uppercase "w" and uppercase "m" would be five units wide.

Everything else in the middle.

I seem to remember that lower case "l" and numeral "1" were the same but maybe not. I haven't seen one of these machines in years but talked to my old boss about it a couple of days ago.

Brings back ancient memories.

[CobaltBlue]

>>It turns out someone has. See:

Rather's toast. I think Kerry's toast, too, BWDIK?

[Swordmaker]

High quality typography did use overhang for centuries after all, but the probability that this memo was typeset with a composer machine, rather than ordinary typewriter is pretty slim

I agree. According to www.ibmcomposer.org, the composer required the user to type each line TWICE, exactly the same. The site describes the process:

The IBM "Selectric" Composer was the first desktop typesetting machine. It was based on the successful "Selectric" technology. In case you're not familiar with that, the IBM Selectric typewriter is the one that has a small ball with all the letters imprinted on it.

The basic task of the IBM Composer was to produce justified camera ready copy using proportional fonts. It has the capability of using a variety of font sizes and styles.

The first IBM Composer was the IBM "Selectric" Composer announced in 1966. It was a hybrid "Selectric" typewriter that was modified to have proportional spaced fonts. It is 100% mechanical and has no digital electronics. Since it has no memory, the user was required to type everything twice. While typing the text the first time, the machine would measure the length of the line and count the number of spaces. When the user finished typing a line of text, they would record special measurements into the right margin of the paper. Once the entire column of text was typed and measured, it would then be retyped, however before typing each line, the operator would set the special justification dial (on the right side) to the proper settings, then type the line. The machine would automatically insert the appropriate amount of space between words so that all of the text would be justified.

[Boundless]

> Kerning may be evidential, or may be irrelevant.
> It's risky to focus too much on it.

A new article just appeared on this topic:

What's the Font, Kenneth?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1213431/posts

It shows clear evidence of kerning. That pretty much
rules out ordinary proportional typewriters. Even if
the IBM Selectric Composer could kern (and I don't
know that it can), it's ruled out on other grounds.

[Chummy]

I've seen some of the other military documents with a superscript "st", not sure if I can say I recall seeing any with a superscript "th". Further, the point remains in question as those other superscripts appear to be created using techniques that those of us who were typing back then knew to use: platen half a line up, lower case keystroke, lower case key stroke, platen returned to the primary line.

The difference is the forged documents show a single-stroke superscripted character, and again I do not know of a typewriter of the era that would include same.

IBM Selectric type balls only offered 88 characters; what standard character would have been omitted to allow these specialized characters?

[CobaltBlue]

Tests have now proved that the documents could not have been produced by any known IBM typewriter or specialized typesetting equipment available ANYWHERE at the time.

[CobaltBlue]

Read this post, then read what's linked. It's all over for Rather, he blew it big time.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1212788/posts?page=175#175

[js1138]

Not true about Times New Roman. Last night Southack posted something that showed that Times New Roman was available on the 1972 IBM Executive, a high end typewriter.

Look carefull at the vertical placement of the Executive "th" and compare it to the CBS document. Then try to replicate the letterspacing of the CBS document with an Executive. Can't be done.

And if that isn't enough, try duplicating the 13 point spacing between lines.

[Ditter]

5000 Longmont #8 DOES exist. We just drove by there on the way to dinner. It was a very elegant address in 1971, not a bachelor pad. It is still a very nice area but looks like it might need a little work. I wonder if he lived there with his parents.

[CobaltBlue]

You're late to the party. Get a drink, take a break, it's all taken care of.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1212788/posts?page=175#175

[js1138]

I've seen that. I say the famous post #47 in real time and I also saw the original Executive image when it was first posted.

My point remains that the superscripted "th" could not have been done on an Executive. The Executive could not print above the font body.

[Chummy]

I agree, CobaltBlue!

Okay, now this is admittedly intended to be rhetorical, but how does a reputable journalist break a story the magnitude of this without having seen the original documents?

That very fact may be part of the big story on this: a news gathering agency such as CBS (and AP) ran with a story without so much as checking the most basic component on which the story is based.

[CobaltBlue]

>>The Executive could not print above the font body.

I just don't recall clearly what the IBM Executive "th" looked like. It would help me if you had a link handy or just put the image in your post.

[CobaltBlue]

>>how does a reputable journalist break a story the magnitude of this without having seen the original documents?

If the purpose is to affect the election, it doesn't matter whether the story turns out to be true in the end.

"October Surprises" frequently turn out to be false but by then it's too late.