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.

[dixiechick2000]

I love all of the variations on a theme.
That's very clever. ;o)

[Bigg Red]

pwn3d is a twisting of "owned," but spelled wrong in order to look "kewl." :)

**
OK. Thanks. But how is it pronounced?

[RobbyS]

Buckhead: Or Jacksonian democracy rules again!

[Constantine XIII]

It isn't, ususally. :)

Most people just say owned, but even then it is a beacon to others that "this guy/girl plays too many video games."

[Bigg Red]

too many video games."

&&
LOL

Thanks for the info for a low tech old lady with a fascination for esoterica.

[oldenuff2no]

I was lurking the night all of this happened. At first I thought it would be really nice if they proved these documents were forged, and withing a few hours of reading and playing with word, I could do the same thing they had done.
Lady, you got busted.
The standard is that you have to use original documents and have then authenticated. You did neither, you have no credibility and the documents were created on word. They were forged!!!!! Just because you keep talking and won't admit you're wrong does not mean your right, it just means that you can not be honest with yourself or anyone else in this matter. You have Gone past the point of being mistaken and are firmly entrenched in being a "LIAR."

[Bigg Red]

Just because you keep talking and won't admit you're wrong does not mean your right, it just means that you can not be honest with yourself or anyone else in this matter. You have Gone past the point of being mistaken and are firmly entrenched in being a "LIAR."

**
Well, my friend, I think you have just described about 85% of the so-called journalists in this country today.

[Marysecretary]

I started off my 'career' with selectrics and still love them. Then we went to the memorywriter and daisy wheels, then IBM's, Gateways, and Apple PC. It's back to IBM's at the university now. They just keep getting better, but the selecrics were my favorites. Sigh. Glad we have FReepers who are awake and don't believe the newsmedia. Hooray, Buckhead.

[pointsal]

ping

[freedumb2003]

I just wonder how poor Buckhead lives with the thousands of pings (like this one). Do you even try to keep up when you see the red "New Posts to You"?

You're a legend, Buckhead, and thanks for getting this out kristinn!

[formercalifornian]

Press (now: "The Media") took unrestrained glee in the downfall of a President whose policies they detested.

Acute observations all. I also remember after Reagan was shot the Media gave hourly death watch reports with breathless anticipation. Like they were hoping he would die. It turned my stomach.

[gitmo]

Thanks for the post, Buckhead. This is information you've explained before, but the MSM needs to hear it many, many times before they will ever repeat it.

[kristinn]

Buckhead, just thought you'd like to know you'll be famous in Japan, too! I'm doing an inteview with NHK Tv in Japan. They wanted to know about Rathergate. So I told them the story. Things are hopping here at CPAC. Hope you're doing well.

[r-q-tek86]

ping

[southland]

Buickhead for President!@!

[evets]

The Pajama party!

[OrioleFan]

Back sometime in the 90’s Dan Rather attended a conference on journalism and one of the speakers was Larry Ellison from Oracle. Larry’s talk was on how we get our news and he said in the future we would use the internet and get our news from multiple sources, evaluate it and come to our own conclusions. It would relegate network news to just another source. After the talk Dan confronted Larry and stated, “We determine what’s news and what’s not!” Says it all. Buckhead’s observation based on life experiences hastened the demise of arrogant network news control, and demonstrated the value of the internet.

[TexasNative2000]

Thanks-for-the memories BUMP. I was on the thread that night and was grateful to have been there when history was made.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from November 21, 2005. Just another blast from the past -- in the runup to the 2010 election, we should expect to see more of the same from CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, C-Span, and audio support from NPR.