BUCKHEAD REFUTES MARY MAPES ON RATHERGATE DOCS

How Did Buckhead Know? ^ | Monday, November 21, 2005 | Buckhead

[kristinn]

Ever since the controversy over the CBS use of forged memos erupted, those disappointed by the exposure of the forgeries have wondered if the whole thing wasn't some sort of set up perpetrated by the Dark Lord, Karl Rove. Integral to this paranoid theorizing was their slack-jawed amazement that anyone could have observed and commented that the documents were fake based on typography as quickly as I did. How could anyone not on the inside have articulated a technical and convincing explanation that the documents were fake within a few hours of the broadcast? Well, here's your answer. It's probably too late to make any difference, but I am no longer able to stifle myself now that Mary Mapes' has written a several hundred page book parading her venomous disregard for those who exposed her lies and her delusional self-image as the Joan of Arc of investigative journalism.

So, how did I know?

The short answer is that I am 47 years old and I am not a blithering idiot.

A more elaborate answer is  this:

I have been interested in computers since 1979.  I have  used dot matrix, mainframe line printers,  daisy wheel,  ink jet, & laser printers.  I have worked in an office environment  from 1980 forward, except for 3 years of law school from 1982-1985.  I  have typed thousands of pages on IBM Selectrics, and a few hundred on various  mechanical and electric typewriters of the conventional variety.  I have changed the type ball and  pitch on Selectrics many, many times.  I have changed the daisy wheel on  daisy wheel printers.  I have typed at least a thousand pages on a Wang  word processing system, and had typed for me many thousands more.  I was one of two people in our small firm that  spearheaded the purchase and installation of a Apple Macintosh computer network in 1989.  I was the office computer geek for 8 years.  I  read the manual for Microsoft Word 4 for the Macintosh.  The manual has a  discussion in the beginning explaining that with personal computers, word processing software and laser printers, typeset print quality and  proportionally spaced fonts were available to everyone and not just those who  could afford typesetting machines, and how this was a Great New Thing.   The manual distinguished between monospaced fonts and proportionally spaced fonts.  I immediately began using proportionally spaced fonts and have done so to this day.  The distinction between monospaced and proportionally spaced fonts is very noticeable to me.  

I have been typing my own documents in various versions of  Microsoft Word, using proportionally spaced fonts, since 1989. In the 16 years since then, I have myself typed, prepared, and signed many thousands of pages using MS Word.

In my work career,  especially the law practice, I have reviewed several hundred thousand, maybe more than a million, pages of  documents prepared by businesses and government agencies from many time periods prepared on all manner of machines.  I have many times reviewed  documents that were multiple generation copies of the original, and bear the  distortions that go along with that.

I have  been a litigator for 20 years.  I have encountered a lot of fancy and not so fancy lies.

In 1999, I filed a brief  with the U.S. District Court, Northern Dist. of Ga., in Times New Roman 12. I  used that font, which is rather small, to fit within the page limit, which I  could not otherwise do using my preferred font, Palatino 12.  (Most courts now specify font and type size by rule to preclude this ruse.   Ask any litigator.)   In any case, the other side objected to the brief on the grounds that it did not comply with the local court rule specifying that there could be no more than 10 printed characters per  inch - a rule of which I was not aware at the time.  I filed a brief in  response to the objection. Trust me, the prospect of losing a contingency case over a font rule when you have invested years of work in the case will galvanize your attention on the subject of fonts.  A pdf scan of a certified copy of that brief  is available here at the link above to "1999 Brief."   Compare what I said about typewriters, monospaced fonts and proportionally spaced fonts in the brief filed in 1999 with what I  said in post # 47, on 9/8/04.  I knew what I knew a long time ago, and the brief proves it definitively.   So long, conspiracy theory.

I relied  upon  no one and nothing other than what I already knew and what I saw when I looked at the documents.  I acted entirely alone, with no advance  knowledge or warning of any kind or nature whatsoever from anyone anywhere at  any time prior to the post.  After the post, the blogosphere was on the  case, and I was no longer alone at that point.

The notion that the ability to spot these memos as fakes for the  reasons I articulated in that post is some kind of dark art limited to a select priesthood of credentialed experts in forensic typography is totally false and, on a moment's reflection, completely ridiculous.  Any person  who worked in an office before, during and after the desktop printing revolution and who was awake for more than a few minutes during that period could tell immediately that the documents were not from 1972.  There are many millions of such people. If  you read the thread you will see that less than seven minutes after my post  another poster, NYCVirago, said "You're exactly correct."  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1210662/posts#49. There are many  such comments later in the thread and in a later research thread on the subject,  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1210702/posts.  Many such comments were posted before 6:00 AM the following morning,  which proves that the knowledge is common and widespread. The outpouring on the rest of the web, at Powerline, Little Green Footballs, INDC Journal, etc., proves the same thing.  The problems  with the documents that I identified were obvious to millions of people and  that is one reason that the story took off like it did.  That it was me  rather than someone else who first noticed the font problem is pure  coincidence.  It would have been picked up  by someone else in a few  minutes if I just gone to bed instead that night.

But I didn't, and so Mary Mapes hates Buckhead along with everyone else that has participated in refuting her lies.

[decal]

So, considering that no news organization worth a hang would have gone with such an obviously flawed story without having an agenda, and with this woman refusing to admit she's either stupid, unbalanced, biased, or some combination of the three, is there now possible legal recourse against her and/or CBS?

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

IMO, FReeper known as Grampa Dave delivered the funniest line on that thread:

'Ich bin ein Buckheader'

[ccmay]

Hi Buckhead,

Add one more name to your list of admirers. I watched this story unfold in real time. It was one of the most exciting things I remember seeing here.

I'm curious, did you suffer any professional or social consequences after your outing? Thank heavens I have no boss, and I can tell anyone in the world to kiss my ass, but I'm sure it's not that way for most people.

-ccm

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Buckhead was indeed given a much-deserved award at the Annual Banquet for this forum. See Syncro's post above.

[JayNorth]

And a democrat 501 just happens to start an ad campaign about the same subject at the same time as this CRIME was being committed by cBS?

Indeed. That little fact has gotten forgotten in the past year, so it bears repeating.

[bitt]

"the Favorite Son" campaign...geez, that got canned real quick, huh?

[bitt]

thanks!

[EricT.]

CBS and Mapes are not stupid

Ummmm...do you have any facts to back up that assertion?

[TigersEye]

The forger had to be both stupid and insane.

So, you think it was Mapes herself?

[Walkingfeather]

What is key to note here for EVERYONE is .... The left becomes Myopic in their views,beliefs and identity. They layer themselves with same thinking people, with like views, beliefs and identity. In doing so they begin to feed the tiny elephant that sits in the center of their table. Soon they are so used to it the second or third generations around them no longer see it. Thus a Blind spot is born.

Folks as nuts as the left drive us, we need to keep hanging around them to make sure we do not fall into our own blind spot.

FR is an awsome resource, we need to keep up the good work without going over the cliff thinking their is a road below us.

Walkingfeather

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

No, the concensus at the time was that it was a Texan - Lt. Col Bill Burkett - who was behind the forgeries in one capacity or another.

[Seaplaner]

...Mary Mapes' has written a several hundred page book parading her venomous disregard for those who exposed her lies and her delusional self-image as the Joan of Arc of investigative journalism.

Yo, Mary Mapes! Yeah you.

You and your buddy Dan seem to be following the same game plan to weasel back some of your journalistic respectability.

As I see it, there are two (2) ways to recover some journalistic reputation.

You can choose the Conservative way, and in a dignified manner own up to your transgressions by taking responsibility for foisting the forgeries, or...

You can take the Liberal/Socialist path and try to shroud your little counterfeit memo ring with lies of such transparency that they beg ridicule.

You see, Mary, the concepts of honor, integrity, and personal responsibility are not for everyone. The notion that you would ultimately be more highly regarded if you took complete responsibility is a foreign abstraction that you and your little Times New Roman peddling chums will never, ever understand.

Pity.

,

[Psycho_Bunny]

The thing I hate about the Buckhead Incident is that, on the night in question my "Well Honed FReep Eye" told me that thread was going to be boring and I didn't click on it.

Damn you, Buckhead!

[TigersEye]

I should know better than to make a joke like that. It will only be a matter of minutes before a FReeper homes in on the inaccuracy and corrects it.

I knew Burkett has been determined as the source. But after seeing Mapes on O'Reilly I thought she fit that description. Stupid and insane.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

wink, wink

[traviskicks]

The short answer is that I am 47 years old and I am not a blithering idiot.
---

But... but.. but.. you need a degree, you need to be 'qualified', you need to be an 'expert' say our friends on the left.

The best expert is yourself and the best experts are self taught.

[Tunehead54]

Of course I was wrong, Danno did not resign.

---

Yes, he did. It just took a while. I still cannot believe they stand by the "not proven false" defense. I was a little late to the party (#103?) but I will never forget #47! Or was it #43? ;-)

Buckhead - I salute you. You saved our nation from SKerry and prevented the the stealth of an election. I think there are about 30 million Iraqis who would add their thanks. Kudos to Howlin too - I never want to be on your wrong side! Its late - no school so we'll do a museum tomorrow ... Thank you Lord for President Bush! :-)

[devolve]

I'M NOT  BUCKHEAD!

AMERICANS - 403

AL-MUTHAS - 3

[PhilDragoo]

One of the memos above was proferred by Mapes et al as vintage 1972 typewritten documentation--

--the other was composed by yours truly on Microsoft Word thirty-two years later following the Buckhead Brouhaha.

May-ree, May-ree, May-ree, Girl, you got some 'splainin' to do.

[beyond the sea]

EXCELLENT