Day: September 14, 2004

Yet Another Richard Katz Claim on CBS Fall Flat on Its Face

I forgot to note in my previous post that software designer Richard Katz, who defends the CBS documents, also doesn’t seem to do a very good job analyzing fonts. He claims in a CBS story,

Richard Katz, a software designer, found some other indications in the documents. He noted that the letter “L” is used in those documents, instead of the numeral “one.” That would be difficult to reproduce on a computer today.

Except, as Joseph Newcomer points out here this is simply not true — the 1s in the memos are the numerical “one.”

How can Newcomer be so certain? Because the ones in “111th” in the memo take up more horizontal space than the lower cased Ls in “will” and “Ellingsworth” also in the memo. Why would this happen? Because even typewriters that used proportional spacing used monospaced numeric characters so that tables of numbers can line up nicely. The number 1s in the memos are clearly monospaced numerals, not lower-cased ls.

What kind of software does Katz design?

More Indications that Memo are Fake; CBS Digs In Deeper

Today the Dallas Morning News reported that Jerry Killian’s former secretary, Marian Carr Knox, says the CBS memos supposedly writtne by Killian are not authentic. According to the Dallas Morning New,

“These are not real,” she told The Dallas Morning News after examining copies of the disputed memos for the first time. “They’re not what I typed, and I would have typed them for him.”

Mrs. Knox, 86, who spoke with precise recollection about dates, people and events, said she is not a supporter of Mr. Bush, who she deemed “unfit for office” and “selected, not elected.”

“I remember very vividly when Bush was there and all the yak-yak that was going on about it,” she said.

But, she said, telltale signs of forgery abounded in the four memos, which contained the supposed writings of her ex-boss, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, who died in 1984.

She said the typeface on the documents did not match either of the two typewriters that she used during her time at the Guard. She identified those machines as a mechanical Olympia, which was replaced by an IBM Selectric in the early 1970s.

She spoke fondly of the Olympia machine, which she said had a key with the “th” superscript character that was the focus of much debate in the CBS memos. Experts have said that the Selectric, and mechanical typewriters such as the Olympia, could not produce proportional spacing, found in the disputed documents.

. . .

She also said the memos may have been constructed from memory by someone who had seen Lt. Col. KillianÂ’s private file but were not transcriptions because the language and terminology did not match what he would have used.

For instance, she said, the use of the words “billets” and a reference to the “administrative officer” of Mr. Bush’s squadron reflect Army terminology rather than the Air National Guard. Some news reports attribute the CBS reports to a former Army National Guard officer who has a longstanding dispute with the Guard and has previously maintained that the president’s record was sanitized.

That person, of course is Bill Burkett. If Burkett is indeed the source, then CBS is sitting on a disaster-in-waiting which might explain why they’re being so obtuse about acknowledging the problems with the documents.

Today, CBS had the gall to say this on its broadcast tonight,

“Laura Bush became the first White House insider to doubt the authenticity of the documents. But she offered no evidence to back up her claim.

Presumably she should have turned to a graphologist.

Source:

Former secretary says she didn’t type memos. Pete Slover, Dallas Morning News, September 14, 2004.

Typical MoveOn.Org Logic

I wanted to read a Salon.Com story today, and so submitted to their little day pass ad, this time by MoveOn.Org. This ad was interactive in the form of a quiz. First question,

“Which state is most important to win if we’re going to elect John Kerry in 2004?

a. Idaho

b. Florida

c. New Mexico”

I’m just trying to get through as quickly as possible and so click on C. “Correct” I’m told “New Mexico is one of 17 battleground states.” Odd, since I haven’t really been following this. So what if I go back and try B? “Correct” I’m told “Florida is one of 17 battleground states.” (They do concede that Idaho is not a battleground state.

MoveOn.Org might want to look up the definition of “most” and reconsider its meaning when modifying “important.”

Richard Katz Who?

CBS is defending its apparently faked documents today with the help of software designer Richard Katz. Katz may be a software designer, but he apparently is not a regular user of MS Word,

Several of the document examiners said one clue that the documents may be forgeries was the presence of superscripts — in this case, a raised, smaller “th” in two references to Guard units.

But Katz, the software expert, pointed out that the documents have both the so-called “superscript” th (where the letters are slightly higher than the rest of the sentence, such as 6th ) and a regular-sized “th”. That would be common on a typewriter, not a computer.

“There’s one document from May 1972 that contains a normal “th” on the top. To produce that in Microsoft Word, you would have to go out of your way to type the letters and then turn the “th” setting off, or back up and then type it again,” said Katz.

Dude, it’s Control-Z. Someone get this man a copy of Word for Dummies already.

More on CBS’ Handwriting Expert

Now the New York Post suggests that CBS’ handwriting expert, Marcel Matley, might not even have any professional training in document authentication or handwriting analysis.

According to the Post, Matley got his start in the pseudo-science of graphology (the claim that you can tell much about an individual’s personality/character by their handwriting),

The expert chosen by CBS to check Dan Rather’s disputed National Guard documents got his start as a graphologist analyzing “Spirituality in Handwriting” and lacks recognized document training, The Post has learned.

Analyst Marcel Matley lists “Spirituality in Handwriting” and “Female/Male Traits in Handwriting” on the Web site for a foundation he serves as librarian. They were privately printed, but another analyst provided portions to The Post.

In “Spirituality in Handwriting,” Matley assesses a woman’s “libidinal energy” based on her handwriting.

“She has an excellent and rich animate nature with a healthy, instinctual libidinal energy which, when integrated, will propel her into dynamic and fruitful activity and self-fulfillment,” Matley wrote in 1989.

In “Female/Male Trait in Handwriting,” the San Francisco-based Matley said he could analyze a woman’s handwriting “to show her how she can have her womanly qualities fully realized.”

The article continued: “For your male client, you will be able to recognize the facade of machismo — and also recognize the hurt boy- child who uses that as a defensive hiding place.”

Moreover, in the past Matley has had to admit that he apparently has no formal training in document authentication,

In addition, in a 1995 California court deposition obtained by The Post, Matley acknowledged that he had no formal training in a document lab, in identification of papers, inks or “machines, typewriters, photocopies.” He also acknowledged he’d had no training from the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, U.S. Army, California Department of Justice or any other law-enforcement body.

Maybe he thought the Killian memos looked masculine and that was enough!

Source:

CBS Writing Ace Has Rather Wacky Background. Deborah rn, New York Post, September 14, 2004.

CBS’ Handwriting Expert Says He Did Not Authenticate Documents

According to the Washington Post, the handwriting expert Dan Rather claimed had analyzed the documents and “says he believes they are real” now claims that he never authenticated any of the documents for 60 Minutes II. According to the Post,

The lead expert retained by CBS News to examine disputed memos from President Bush’s former squadron commander in the National Guard said yesterday that he examined only the late officer’s signature and made no attempt to authenticate the documents themselves.

“There’s no way that I, as a document expert, can authenticate them,” Marcel Matley said in a telephone interview from San Francisco. The main reason, he said, is that they are “copies” that are “far removed” from the originals.

The Washington Post also points out a number of stylistic problems with the memos, including several raised by retired Col. Bobby Hodges whom CBS originally said had also authenticated the documents. According to The Post,

Stylistic differences. To outsiders, how an officer wrote his name and rank or referred to his military unit may seem arcane and unimportant. Within the military, however, such details are regulated by rules and tradition, and can be of great significance. The CBS memos contain several stylistic examples at odds with standard Guard procedures, as reflected in authenticated documents.

In memos previously released by the Pentagon or the White House, Killian signed his rank “Lt Col” or “Lt Colonel, TexANG,” in a single line after his name without periods. In the CBS memos, the “Lt Colonel” is on the next line, sometimes with a period but without the customary reference to TexANG, for Texas Air National Guard.

An ex-Guard commander, retired Col. Bobby W. Hodges, whom CBS originally cited as a key source in authenticating its documents, pointed to discrepancies in military abbreviations as evidence that the CBS memos are forgeries. The Guard, he said, never used the abbreviation “grp” for “group” or “OETR” for an officer evaluation review, as in the CBS documents. The correct terminology, he said, is “gp” and “OER.”

The case for CBS gets worse and worse. The longer CBS waits before starting an internal investigation parallel with an external independent look at the documents the more its credibility is going to be harmed if the documents ultimately prove to be fakes.

Source:

Expert Cited by CBS Says He Didn’t Authenticate Papers. Michael Dobbs and Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, September 14, 2004.