THE "New" CBS BUSH DOCUMENTS: Let's do some investigating

www.freerepublic.com | September 9, 2004

[Howlin]

These are the NEW documents "discovered" by CBS with conjunction with their Ben Barnes expose/confessional tonight regarding George Bush's National Guard service.

They've gotten some interesting comments on the Live Thread, so I thought I'd give them their own thread so you people out there with the knowledge can dissect them for their accuracy/truth/existence.

[fat city]

Sounds right-- I couldn't remember if the font was proportionally spaced or the words. Regardless, it was not used for anything less than formal projects. Hey, I was a 20-year old GI in Germany- lucky I can remember seeing a typewriter at all.

[M1911A1]

My reserve unit uses a PO box.

There may be other reasons to question these documents, but the PO box isn't one of them.

[Howlin]

The IBM Stand Alone was the first "desktop" device that produced type with proportional spacing. Not to be confused with the better-known IBM Selectric Typewriter, which it only vaguely resembles, the IBM Stand Alone Composer has 4,000 moving parts, none of them electronic. It utilizes a complex mechanical device called a "colour justification tube" to encode how "short" each line is of justification, allowing for the operator to note down the colour codes and then REtype the entire page, setting each line of type up according to the colour codes and producing a second-generation page in justified format. A well-cared for IBM Stand Alone Composer, instruction and repair manuls, and 32 type balls (a different one for each font and point size) has been located in the possession of catherine yronwode of Forestville, California. Negotiations for purchase are undwerway and the search is on for a repair person who can fix the machine's steel "drive band," which broke one week before Ms. yronwode bought her first copy of Quark Xpress (version 1.1) in the1980s.

[El Gato]

Notice that neither "memo to file" is on letter head. Even the Memorandi aren't on printed letterhead. Even a Guard unit would *probably* have pre-printed letterhead paper.

[Howlin]

Or maybe this:

http://www.ibmcomposer.org/SelComposer/description.htm

[intolerancewillNOTbetolerated]

"Instead of font letters at the end of arms that slammed up onto the ribbon and paper at the touch of a key, the Selectric had a ball with all the letters around on its surface. Whenever you touched a key, the ball spun around and hit the ribbon and paper."

Yeah...they were the envy of everyone who did much typing back in the day.

[Wild_Bill_8881]

WEll if ya lok at the 4th memo, the 18th CYA one it says something about backdating OETR

course I'm still trying to figure out what an "OETR" is

OER is Officer Effectiveness Report..but OETR?

[Law is not justice but process]

I hate to say it, but the memo on the 19th says "phone call from Bush" - a phone call can come from anywhere.

[Chaguito]

The 4May memo most closely resembles Selectric Adjutant type. However, Adjutant is NOT proportional according to http://www.selectric.org/selectric/fonts/adjutant.gif

Is it true that Selectrics printed proportional fonts? I don't see how, since they used a print ball. Seems like coordination of movement of ball across page would be difficult. Could be wrong.

[Terp]

Well guard units funding comes from the states....

Still stuck in my active duty mindset [grin].

[Capricam]

The first one looks legit but the rest look faked. Killian signed his whole name in the first one, but in the August 1 document, just his initials. Sorry, but people don't do that. They either sign one or the other but NOT BOTH ways like that. Also the other two documents have NO signature. Really fishy and really smells like a typical leftist attempt to me.

[RasterMaster]

What can be done to keep the press and "news" programs honest....seems they all are full of libel and slander, and have gone too far for too long unpunished.

[Howlin]

Where are the links to those memos?

[Congressman Billybob]

My first job, summer '60, was in a print media advertising agency. The only thing we had to produce proportional type was an IBM Selectric. Typewriters like that were rare, and probably not used in the military.

The other question is why this squadron didn't have a PRINTED LETTERHEAD. The head on this was typed on the same typewriter. And no, these were not produced with any type of computer. These were definitely done on a proportional typewriter.

As I know from going through declassified WW II documents for a book a while back, all file copies of such documents would have been made with carbon paper. Anyone worth his salt should be able to identify an "original" carbon copy.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "I'm Mad as Zell, and I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore."

If you haven't already joined the anti-CFR effort, please click here.

[COEXERJ145]

I'm sure there are plenty in the "new media" what would be happy to out See-BS for faking documents that try to hurt the President.

[Wild_Bill_8881]

Yep, I was active too

you wouldn't BELIVE some of the Guard setups I've seen though, It must be nice

[baseballmom]

***Yeah, the MTST System was similar-- only it used magnetic tape (hence, Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter) and was about the size of a console piano.***


Wow, talk about strolling down memory lane. I think this is the machine I used to use in the claims dept of an insurance company. I would type up all the claims info - a tape was running through the machine putting holes in the tape. Then I would take the tape and put it into a phone to send out to the branch offices on the west coast.

Man o man, I could FLY on that machine. LOL

[Howlin]

Yeah...they were the envy of everyone who did much typing back in the day.

I'd love to have one today! You could fly on those things.

[AndrewC]

Orders (Memorandum, May 4, 1972) sent to someone need to have verification that the person received them. There is no reply by endorsement block for Bush to have signed it. Also note that official orders are normally printed on official letterhead,(at least that is the way it was done in the Air Force). And finally, ten days is not a lot of time to send someone for a physical. The physical must be scheduled, etc. because it is performed by a flight surgeon and not a podiatrist and more importantly the flight physical is normally performed in the birth month of the individual. Bush was born July 6, 1946.

[NordP]

After reading these comments on the thread you started, I've come to the definite conclusion that we need another division at FreeRepublic.com:

CSI: FR

;-) You all are GOOOOOD!