So I found myself thinking about why the universe was round and whole and I came to this resolution, namely, that which each resolution comes another solution, but then what follows is something other than a rational universe, yet in the end there was but another solution, another illusion, another resolve, another time to wonder, another, another, and another.

It just didn't make sense after a while. But then what does. It was but one solution followed by another, simply the aftermath of what followed due to a decision.

But in that decision, likened close to the answer whatever it is that might become what would still be regarded as the final decision, and thereupon hung the nature of ones being, as if clung to the wall like ivy hoping the rains would come soon, lest they starve due to lack of precipitation. And of course, it was the precipitation that the decisions were after, the recourse of the respite, of the neverending rapture of what lay ahead. Tomorrow. There was always tomorrow.

And yet tomorrow comes, and there is another transition.

So therefore, in any event, lest we be resolved to dreadful notions, it seems that the evidence is rather conclusive that nowhere what may come in the way of circumstances, in the way of haphazard events, it was just plain that nothing was stronger that what was coming at you, when it comes, when comes down upon like waves of various amplitude, like light gently falling against the shadows, shedding another answer on just the other side of tomorrow, whereupon you had a glimpse for today, just a glimpse.

Just a glimpse, is that all we who are mortals can understand -- bloating however that glimpse out of all proportion to reality. Obsessed with our glimpses, we try to hasten our views upon the minds of others, who may or may not have any mental association with or perspicacity of these visions.

So we come to a shared understanding, by talking with one another, by getting to know those people whom we meet, so that we are not alone in that lonesome capacity of life's analysis, a task to which no one alone can hope to fathom or understand. We can only hope to come close to the truth when we take into consideration the perspectives of others.

This world contains a great myth about the greatest of the individual, when the individual is only a reflection of the society which produced the individual, because every individual is but the fragmented product of the world with which one interacts. Since we are proud creatures, we like to ascribe to ourselves too much talent when we are just blessed with the right psychic mix to meet the challenges of life. And at every step of the way, everyone is subject to constant challenges. There is never a moment when one can come to expect to escape the inescable human condition. Arrogance and hypocrisy can appear when that expectation arises, thereby protecting the self from self realization, but this is only an illusion.

Here is a link to my navigatable transcript of the Bush-Kerry Debate on September 30, 2004 at the University of Miami.



Bush retorts to reiterating that he wants to go on the offensive. He touts "Prime Minister Allawi" for the ex-spy appointed by the administrative Iraq apparatus to be the new leader after the old appointed leader Ahmed Chalabi fled to Iran.

At times Bush scowled and sneered when Kerry spoke. When answering tough questions, like explaining about bin Liden, he literally glowered in disgusted, and appearred uncomfortable while hunched over the podium.

He kept talking about not sending "mixed signals" then said that we needed to stay on the "offensive" in the "war on terror," or that he would never shirk from "defending America." He reassured us that being President was "hard work" but neglected to mention that he has spent 40% of his presidency on vacation.

Excuse me, Mr. President, what I do as a teacher is very hard work, and although we get 12 weeks cumulative vacation as a teacher, even I do not get 40% vacation time -- which would equate to 21 weeks of vacation. In other words the President goes on vacation almost 2 weeks every month.

Not once did Mr. Bush even admit to making mistakes, even when asked point blank by moderator Jim Lehrer,

You have said there was a, quote, "miscalculation," of what the conditions would be in post-war Iraq. What was the miscalculation, and how did it happen?

No, what I said was that, because we achieved such a rapid victory, more of the Saddam loyalists were around. I mean, we thought we'd whip more of them going in. 

But because Tommy Franks did such a great job in planning the operation, we moved rapidly, and a lot of the Baathists and Saddam loyalists laid down their arms and disappeared. I thought they would stay and fight, but they didn't. 

And now we're fighting them now. And it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. 

And I'm optimistic. See, I think you can be realistic and optimistic at the same time. I'm optimistic we'll achieve -- I know we won't achieve if we send mixed signals. I know we're not going to achieve our objective if we send mixed signals to our troops, our friends, the Iraqi citizens. 

We've got a plan in place. The plan says there will be elections in January, and there will be. The plan says we'll train Iraqi soldiers so they can do the hard work, and we are.

Then Mr. Bush finishes his explanation of the "miscalculation" quote with this :

It is hard work. It is hard work to go from a tyranny to a democracy. It's hard work to go from a place where people get their hands cut off, or executed, to a place where people are free. 

But it's necessary work. And a free Iraq is going to make this world a more peaceful place.

Currently the military is overstretched, and National Guard units are doing a large part of the Iraq operation than is warranted by tradition and common sense. The national guard belongs here in the United States guarding the nation, not supporting the military operation in Iraq.

This administration is not sensitive to the impression of imperialism in Iraqi. Creating 14 permanent military bases in Iraq, appointing and selecting the last 2 "prime ministers", and promulgating the current Iraqi constitution with laws that permit expropriation of 100% of all profits by foreign multinational corporations. What Iraqi nationalist can be pleased with the lingering resemblance to colonialsim? How can an Iraqi be reassurred that they are not merely trading one thug (Saddam Hussein) for another (Allawi, U.S. colonialism.) At least, we must acknowledge this in the realm of ideas for the average Iraqi.

Are these really a lot of ex-Baathists and Saddam loyalists? Or just a whole lot of angry citizens very angry about what's happening in their country?

The mind is nothing but an imprint of what the surrounding environment has put upon it. This occurence is largely a matter of choice, but nevertheless still results from the largely uncontrollable experience of one's childhood years. No child ever has a choice as to what environment into which that child was born. However, at the same time, once adulthood comes, it becomes a little harder each time to excuse mistakes on account of the origin of environment.

There's no sorry to it. The art of blame comes in two flavors. Either you tend to blame others for your own faults, or you inflate your self superiority in order to compensate for your own inadequacy. On rare occasions, there is a person who embodies the worst of both traits. To be aware of these faults in our self psychology is the best possible to cure, for surely to exist unaware is but certain guarantee that we will plow forward with ignorance.

When you begin to blame others, when you begin to assess your own weakness in measure with a criticism of others, you begin to separate your self from self- awarenesss because you begin to allow an a minimal acceptance of your own fault in the events that were untoward. because we all have a fault in any relationship to which we accede. If a presumed friend does you some wrong, you were foolish to make an assumption. Rather than becoming angry, instead the most healthy response is to understand the cost of wisdom. You are learning the strengths and limitations of all those people whom you encounter. The only certainty is your willingness to learn and be flexible.

The other psychosis which arises in the human condition, is that which props up that hubris of superiority, or what is otherwise known as arrogance. This originates as a primative defensive mechanism, whereby one is enabled to avoid insecurity by reassuring oneself of one's mastery or superiority. But this yields the ultimate delusion, because all other points of view can thus be decimated by the belief in one's own superiority.

Pity for the unfortunate possessor of both these traits, the individual who both blames the world and inflates the notion of self, for this person has escaped all potential for shame. One who seeks blame as an escape will become confronted with that weakness's misnomer : responsibility. One who seeks to elevate one's esteem, will reach a point where an inhibition to admit fault crosses the uncrossable line of self-respect. When the two traits merge into one, a certain guilelessness awakens in the monstrous ego which cannot recognize honor nor respect the humility of shame.

All of us are guided by the desire to attain our fanciful illusions. We live our days in pursuit of these unquantifiable resolutions. Meanwhile we can never be free of our childhood insecurities, and however infrequently we are reminded of them, they nevertheless reappear. It is during these reappearances that we develop the traits of a lifetime. Do we permit ourselves to blame, or do we protect ourselves with the assurances of our own superiority?

Or do we seek to hear the silent whisper that is wisdom?

Today there was a group of Republicans tabling at the corner of Fillmore and Sacramento in San Francisco. I tried very hard not to approach them, but after an hour my will broke down. There were three people, an older black woman who said she had a small business. She wore a red business vest and struck me as very sincere. Another women was a dental student at the local dental school, who plastered a non-moving smile on her face as if in rigid self-assurance. The third member of the trio was an older white man, with a grey beard who hardly spoke.

I approached the black woman and asked where she was from. She is from Southern California but has been a resident of San Francisco for 25 years. I asked her to tell me why I should vote for the Bush-Cheney team in 2004.

The first issue was national security. I mentioned that not one penny has been spent securing our ports, chemical, and nuclear facilities. Then I mentioned that the administration has wasted a lot of resources on the way it has managed Iraq in the last year, hiring multinational corporations to do the business native Iraqi's could have done and hiring Somali's and Indians for cheap labor instead of local Iraqi's. Then I mentioned that very little of the funds for reconstruction has been spent, and said that I did not believe the Bush administration has any credibility on National Security.

The next issue she brought up was fiscal responsibility, which is unbelieveable. I was calm however. My intention was to be polite and informative. I asked about the latest figures on the deficit and the federal debt, then I mentioned that we only sustain this debt burden thanks to China and Japan's willingness to buy our debt bonds, and that the pressures on the bond market are going to increase interest rates. I next mentioned that 18% of businesses with a yearly revenue of 10 million have 50% debt burdens, which means that they will be squeezed with the inevitable rise in interest rates. Then I mentioned that it was fiscally irresponsible to offer 2 extensive tax cuts in lieu of this debt burden.

She mentioned that she benefited from the Bush tax cut. I agreed that targeted tax cuts are beneficial, but that Bush said in his 2000 presidential campaign that "by far the vast majority of my tax cut goes to the middle class." Now in my mind the vast majority means more than 50%, which is a far cry from that fact that only 16% of the total tax cuts went to those with incomes less than $200,000. 66% of all owners of small businesses have incomes less than $200,000, only the top 10% has incomes greater than $200,000. I then said "If you are going to make a statement in a campaign, you need to follow through when you are in office, and that is not what happened."

A young teacher approached and we got into the Leave No Child Behind Act. I called to attention the item in the law which makes it law that all high schools must give names of students to military recruiters unless the parents sign a form. It was agreed that the law was in need of help. I mentioned that the administration has not spent all of the money that was authorized, up to an aggregate of 32 billion over the last 3 years.

At this point, the young teacher mentioned that she just wanted to get a few stickers to put in her classroom so she could have both sides represented. The dental student began to face me with her changeless smile. I mentioned that she smiled a lot, and she just said that was because she was a dental student and had to practice showing her teeth. So I asked her if she also listened while she was smiling. She said sort of, but then said that she had a different opinion. I said that the issue wasn't a matter of opinion. I mentioned plenty of facts and I would be willing to listen to her refute them.

So she says that she didn't think government should get involved with social services.

Wait, I replied, are you saying that the education of our children is a social service, and that education is local controlled and is not the same thing as the government. Education in the United States grow at the local level and has always been supported by local taxes. The problem is that not every district has a strong local tax base, and so not every school district is equally funded. Most schools don't use Title One funds, but those districts that do are the very poor school districts who don't have a strong local tax basis.

The dental student mentioned that it should be handled at the states. But the states don't have the money, I said. (The black lady almost cut me off to say the same thing, but let me speak instead. I think she was the only one who really listened to me -- but again I reiterate that this was a very civil, peaceful discussion.) Only the federal government has the resources to deal with this problem. That the Bush administration has decided to underfund the Leave No Child Behind Act is an indication of its priorities. You can upgrade the standards and not help fix the problem. If you have a rusty car, you can't pass the inspections unless you fork up the money to repair the engine.

The older man with a beard than said that they were of a different opinion. I again stated that I respect their right to have an opinion, but still, I just wanted to hear a reason to vote for the Bush-Cheney ticket and so far I have not been convinced. As regards having an opinion, I have stated a lot of facts and would be more than willing to hear you refute these facts.

But at a certain point you have to let it go and move on. The trio of genuine conscience Republicans were uncomfortable with having a discussion. They seemed fixed to a set philosophical prescription, so I made my graces to leave. I said I didn't want to give them any trouble, and said that I was glad they were out hear expressing themselves. I thanked them for being kind enough to talk with me and shook their hands. It was truly a beautiful experience, because all of us had a sophisticated level of respect.

This kind of civil discussion is what democracy is supposed to be about. All too often our society gets the false impression that having a different opinion is more important than having an open discussion where people can agree to disagree. The whole point of democracy is to be heard, not to insist that you are right, but to make sure that all points are available to be expressed. When you listen to only one side of an argument you become blinded by the inherent imperfections of one set of observations. An opinion only becomes refined when it is viewed or challenged by a different perspective. Which is why I like to engage in these polite conversations, because I want to hear other points of view. How else is one to know how other people think if they do not allow themselves to listen to what others think?

Why is the Bush administration and Dick Cheney in particular so negative and terrorism-on-the-brain minded? Why accuse and talk negatively, and resort to talking about rosy untruths in order to speak positive? At least Herbert Hoover merely had to worry about the woosy economy, not the failed foreign policy and national policy initiatives made by an administration that has spent 4 years blaming everyone but themselves.

You see, George W. Bush doesn't make mistakes. He miscalculates, and then continues making the same mistakes.

But then ... according to Bush (source)

"The government of prime minister Allawi has earned the support of every nation that believes in self-determination and desires peace," he said. "The UN and its member nations must ... do more to help build an Iraq that is secure, democratic, federal and free."

Playing down the instability and huge loss of life of Iraqi civilians and US soldiers, Mr Bush said: "Not long ago, outlaw regimes in Baghdad and Kabul threatened the peace and sponsored terrorists ... Today the Iraqi and Afghan people are on the path to democracy and freedom. These two nations will be a model for the broader Middle East."

Warning that there would be worse days ahead, Mr Bush conceded that "we can expect terror attacks to escalate" as elections approach in Afghanistan and Iraq. But he vowed that his mission was "not to retreat, it is to prevail ... We will be standing with the people of Afghanistan and Iraq until their hopes for freedom and liberty are fulfilled."

Coming the day after Mr Kerry, accused him of "stubborn incompetence" and "colossal failures in judgment" on the war in Iraq, Mr Bush will have been acutely aware of his domestic audience.

Meanwhile Cheney is busy going from undisclosed location to another telling the nation that Kerry will result in guaranteed terrorist attacks. Yet the same Cheney who as prior head of Halliburton still earning $100,000 per month in deferred salary -- in order to avoid taxes -- condescendingly said in the 2000 debates with Senator Lieberman that he never earned a dollar from the government in order to castigate the senator democrat as the sloth on the government dole, while Cheney, the great bastion of integrity earned his millions as an independent business person.

Now of course it would be ludicrous to assert the known facts that Halliburton gets its contracts completely from government, via defense contracts. That would be not only absurd, but unpatriotic, so I must refrain from saying that.

But going around and making inneuendoes denouncing the integrity of the opposing candidate has become the norm. Maybe it's an indication that the stakes are too high. Dear God I hope this is high enough.

Have you seen the latest piece of sarcastic wisdom on the back of a car bumper? While driving down Divisadero Avenue, I saw the most memorial epitath of bumper sticker-ism since I saw "There's a terrorist behind every Bush" on the back of an old faded-purple volkswagon bug. This bumper sticker was on the back of an expensive new black Lexus.

Except for ending Slavery, Fascism, and Communism, war has never solved anything.

Because of the ambiguity, and the fact that war has no adjacent adjective, we have to assume that the statement discusses both the war on iraq and the war on terror. In either case, the logical assumption of the statement is not only inappropriate, but completely ignorant of any contemporary historical context. As the old military adage goes, we are fighting the wrong war with the tactics of the last war.

Slavery was a social condition that evolved from the decision of aristocratic landowners to import black laborers to perform agricultural labor in the new world. After 230 or so years, the American social-economy had evolved to an impasse. The civil war was a result, not a solution. The incorporation of the ex-slaves, the issues of black civil rights lasted another 100 or so years. The process did not have to begin with a war, and could have been legislated, as was the case in England and Brazil ( although to be fair, Brazilian emancipation occurred in a different background, with more violence, including the creation of an independent nation of ex-slaves in Bahia.)

Nevertheless, to say or imply that the civil "war" solved slavery is ridiculous. The solution, if that is what we are to call black civil rights, took another 100 years, after the carpetbaggers, the Jim Crow laws, sharecropping, the Ku Klux Klan riders, the lynchings, the separate but equal laws, and the poll taxes.

The word Fascism used by the bumper sticker must be construed to mean Hitler and Japan and World War Two. Certainly we can't say World War One, because that war would be a perfect example of war's potential for folly and bumbling stupidity. But the sticker wisdom infers that any war is justified on account that war is often the only solution. World War Two consisted of two world governments on a rampage of nationalistic military conquests aimed at world domination. War was the only choice, not a solution. What the hell else were we too do.

World War Two doesn't deserve to be the bastion of justification for stupidity that it has become.

Communism was never Russian ideology taking over the world. War did not defeat communism anyway. After the end of the old colonialism before World War Two, the developing world was in a moment of transition into a shift of global power. The social disruptions that became civil wars in the rest to world were merely pawns in the new global power players. The places where "communism" took root longer than 50 years (China and Russia) were also places with an ancient tradition of bureaucratic centralization of authority. The moniker of the word "communism" ignores the historical tradition of political bureaucracy. The very notion that war ended communism disguises the foreign policy decisions that are involved, namely what government to support and where the support of government ultimately resides.

Assassinating an elected socialist leader, replacing the government with an unelected military government using military units trained in the United States, is not a war against communism. It is a military takeover.

Supporting corrupt governments, providing ammunition and military weapons to the dictatorship in the interest of centralized government is not a war against communism. It is a military dictatorship.

And the presumption that we "won" the cold war is only an illusion. Now that we cover the entire globe with military bases, more than 140 in all, we have made investments that have negligible economic value, and have actually diminished our security. How many other nations in the world have anywhere near that many bases across the globe?

Centralized despotism evolves new descriptions as time passes. Caesars, Kings, Lords, despots, dictators, fascists, and tyrants do not need modern fancy terminology to describe the same results. Communism by another name is not something that got defeated by this mindful policy called war. Russia and China simply evolved into new relationships with the global world, and so to the United States. Not because of this policy called war that was a solution provided by the United States.

War is more unavoidable, than it is necessary, and it is really the only choice rather than a foreign policy tool. A society that uses war as a tool has lost sight of what real foreign policy choices have been made, and what choices there actually are that could be more effective.

The identities of the critics are important, especially in light of the Ohio expert Philip D. Bouffard who changed his mind when he looked at 300 samples of type from an IBM Selectric Composer, and also noted that "as early asApril 1969 -- three years before the dates of the CBS memos -- the Air Force had completed service testing for the Composer, possibly in preparation for purchasing the typewriters." (SOURCE: Boston Globe.)

According to Salon.com writer Geraldine Sealey

William Flynn, a forensic expert, has been cited in several news accounts claiming the Killian memos were almost certainly faked. A few people have sent us this link showing that Flynn is also famous for alleging that the KGB forged John "Ivan the Terrible" Demjanjuk's death-camp ID in order to "frame" him.

As for one of the other "debunkers" cited in the AP account among other stories, Sandra Ramsey Lines, it turns out that she has strong GOP ties and is a member of the WISH List, a group that raises money for Republican women running for the House and Senate.

And Eric Boehlert writes in Salon that a PR firm pushing the CBS memo forgery story was also a force behind the anti-Kerry Swift Boat campaign.

Today, in a Boston Globe article, forensic expert re- analyzes the Killian memos and compares the type to the IBM Selectric Composer. "Philip D. Bouffard, a forensic document examiner in Ohio who has analyzed typewritten samples for 30 years, had expressed suspicions about the documents in an interview with the New York Times published Thursday, one in a wave of similar media reports. But Bouffard told the Globe yesterday that after further study, he now believes the documents could have been prepared on an IBM Selectric Composer typewriter available at the time."

Further,

"Bouffard, the Ohio document specialist, said that he had dismissed the Bush documents in an interview with The New York Times because the letters and formatting of the Bush memos did not match any of the 4,000 samples in his database. But Bouffard yesterday said that he had not considered one of the machines whose type is not logged in his database: the IBM Selectric Composer. Once he compared the Bush memos to Selectric Composer samples obtained from Interpol, the international police agency, Bouffard said his view shifted.

In the Times interview, Bouffard had also questioned whether the military would have used the Composer, a large machine. But Bouffard yesterday provided a document indicating that as early as April 1969 -- three years before the dates of the CBS memos -- the Air Force had completed service testing for the Composer, possibly in preparation for purchasing the typewriters.

As for the raised ''th" that appears in the Bush memos -- to refer, for example, to units such as the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron -- Bouffard said that custom characters on the Composer's metal typehead ball were available in the 1970s, and that the military could have ordered such custom balls from IBM.

''You can't just say that this is definitively the mark of a computer," Bouffard said."

Notice how the heated controversy has overtaken all discussion upon the implications of said document. Namely, if Bush willfully ignored his responsibility to pass a physical and perform regular service in Alabama. That he used his political connections to wiggle out of his responsibities has been muted by the uproar.

This reminds me of the illegitimate uproar about Sandy Berger stuffing documents in his pants, that were admited as baseless and non-existent one week later. The uproar however did re-direct focus from legitimate criticism of the Bush administration at the time -- namely, why did Condellezza Rice publicly utter the name of the Pakistani mole?

These tactics have been repeated throughout the Bush administration. Don't look over there, look over here, look over here, look over here.

The white house knew of the existence of these documents, and it appears to me they had a plan ready when and if the documents ever surfaced. Why else would the White House not deny that the existence of such documents are possible?

At this point, that is my view of this matter. I'm open to other interpretations. But again, my desire is the best explanation, not whether I win or lose. I will gladly admit an error or shed my previous opinion in devout surface to the truth. Sometimes everyone of us allow our emotions to color what we perceive, but we also have to listen and hear what other people think, and weigh the merits based upon the most reasonable explanation. If an explanation can be refuted, or muted by reasonable alternatives, then all of us must in good conscience set aside our sentiments. You have to be wary of people who always adamantly assert absolutism.

That being said, CBS News anchor Dan Rather made some comments in the news (SOURCE:www.davidcorn.com for 11 Sept 2004

Yesterday Dan Rather told CNN, "I want to make clear to you, I want to make clear to you if I have not made clear to you, that this story is true, and that more important questions than how we got the story, which is where those who don't like the story like to put the emphasis, the more important question is what are the answers to the questions raised in the story."

I served in the US Navy from 1954 to 1974 and in the mid 60's I started seeing the IBM Selectric in our units.. They had several different type balls and you could change them for the job you were doing.. I would probably say that an O4 and above would have one on his desk. They did have the (th)on the balls as I still have documents done in the late 60's and early 70's which were not forms, but letters of commendation that were typed in superscript type on these machines...

Nope, I trust Dan Rather a hell of a lot more than anyone connected to or believing in this huge pile of fecal matter that just seemed to fall in the oval office a little over 3 1/2 years ago....

Posted by: Ken Jackson on September 10, 2004 07:04 PM

So the argument that the memos are fake is, at this point, hardly a slam-dunk. The interesting thing about the memos, as I noted in an item below, is that they mostly confirm the existing story rather than introduce new elements. If one was going to go through the trouble of faking documents, one probably would want to add a dramatic turn to the tale. But, of course, we cannot deduce the truth of these records via armchair speculation. At the moment, though, the memos seem as real as not. And Dan Rather is right; the issue remains the questions about Bush's service, not this particular set of records. All this talk of forgeries only has benefited Bush by serving as a distraction.

I have often felt very enamoured by animals throughout my life. Notice I did not say pets. Pets are those symbolic resemblances of the ego that is put on a leash, or held and stroked with utterances of ga-ga affection. Not that I haven't felt the same way, but there is a certain anthropocentric line which often gets blurred.

Such as when you are seated out in the public view and you happen to have -- oh lets say -- a dog. Now if you had no dog and happen to be sitting by yourself, there would not be one person who would come within 5 feet of you to squat down and bellow out "oh he's a sweetie poh" repeatedly. But there you sit, with the great human portal that is dog, and wham. You get to make aquaintances by a constant steady few who happen to walk by. It's enough to cause a fellah to go get a dog.

Single males for SPCA dogs.

But then there are those who act quickly in that infinitesmal one second between recognition and the hands immediately on a dog's face. I ask, how many people do you meet for the first time by putting your hands all over a their face? Why should a dog's face be any different?

What is it in the psyche that allows us to let go of our filter systems when we see and experience that dog?

Maybe that's the difference between animals and pets?

These people are something else. Kerry is attacked with accusations that are not supported by every single military document. Kerry's accusers get to travel freely around the media circuit for two weeks. The accusers parse their words and all are refuted/contested by other witnesses who were either more directly involved with the said events, or the accusers themselves admitted they had no first-hand knowledge. 4 members offered by the accusers contested the use of their names. Now we have a rampage of first-hand sources offering multiple testimony about George W. Bush. The bush records consist of 3 groups: those obtained by reporters prior to and during the 2000 election, those submitted by the bush administration, and those obtained by reporters since the 2000 election.

There should be no contest about Bush's irresponsibility, because there are many first-hand witnesses and documents independent of one another. The Swift- boat accusers are all inter-connected by the same organization and public relations firm. The whole panoply of witnesses and documents that involve George W. Bush have been obtained by different organizations, independent researches and reporters, and consist of 6 witnesses of completely different backgrounds.

Witness One is Linda Allison, the ex-wife of the Bush family friend who was to "watch" George Bush when he was in Alabama keeping the family out of trouble. ( go here for the story. )

Witness Two is Ben Barnes, the ambitious ex-Texas lieutenant governor who got a lot of wealthy Texas scions into the champagne unit to avoid Vietnam. Yes he's a Democrat. So what. The Kerry accusers are all Republicans, and what they say is refuted by documents. Where are the documents that refute Ben Barnes? Answer: they don't exist.

And Witness Three supports Ben Barnes. This witness is Colin Powell, who wrote in his own book that so many scions of the wealthy got into safe posts in the national guard. This is called corroborating background in a legal court of law. That is, the events in the testimony did occur to such a degree that the statement is believable. How many officers historically acted in the why attested to by the Kerry accusers? And A man who is in a war by default is taking the chance that he might be killed.

Witnesses Four and Five are Bob Mintz and Paul Bishop. Members of the Alabama Unit who attest George Bush was never there.

There are well-known records of drunk driving and partying by George W. Bush at the time that add further corroboration background.

But the hacks in the corporate media will tell you a lot of nonsense. Currently CBS obtained a group of memos from Lt. Col. Jerry Killian. These memos provide further proof of what should be incontestable, but the Bush administration insists otherwise. Media matters goes through the litany of accusations and refutes each one here.

The gist of the arguments are that certain parts of the of the type in the memos were "not available." Thus it has been said by certain forensic experts that the memos come from a computer. But a few forensic experts can say what they want, because other forensic experts uphold the documents.

Superscripted "th" keys were available by IBM since the early 1960's. I know this for myself because my grandmother had one my father used when he typed letters, and I remember the "th" key. A military unit had plenty of uses for the "th" key because of the need to type service units in almost everything.The thing is, the key was all the way to the far right (I think, maybe it was left) and many an officer preferred to type "th" with the two index fingers, which are each quickly adjacent to the "T" and "H" keys. Think about that.

An officer would have to thus consciously want to use the key. Consider that the only sentence where the raised "th" occurs is in the May 4th memo, where Lt. Killian orders Bush to report to the "111th" F.L.S. Administrative Office. I know this is purely speculation but, think about that.

Then there is the issue of proportional spacing, whereby the shape of the letter determines how much space a letter is given. But IBM had proportional spacing on it's models since 1941. Richard Nixon's resignation was typed on one in 1974, so were a lot of government documents.

The curlicue-type apostrophe was also available by IBM in 1953.

And the kicker is that the Font was not available. But...

In fact, Times Roman font dates back at least to 1945, as this short history explains....IBM specifically hired its designer, Stanley Morison, to adapt the font to the Selectric typewriter. In fact, the Selectric Composer typewriter, introduced in 1966, not only could insert superscript but also featured proportional type and a font called Aldine Roman , a font similar to Times New Roman that appears to match the font in the memos

Oh did I mention Witness Six retired Maj. Gen. Bobby W. Hodges, who (according to the Washington Post ) said "these are the things that Killian had expressed to me at the time."

The argument that the documents come from "Microsoft Word" is ridiculous. Anyone who has used a typewriter that is that old will recognize the type is legitamate. By the way, I used the said typewriter that my father had. Look at the documents yourself here.

----- from Salon.com -----

"The CNS News.com story, echoed by other conservative outlets, helped sparked a debate over proportional spacing, fonts, electric typewriters and superscripts as independent typographical experts weighed in with their own doubts. Some experts contacted by the Washington Post, New York Times and Salon suggested that the raised, or superscripted, "th" in one of Killian's memos was a telltale sign that the documents were created well after 1972. Yet independent researcher Marty Heldt notes that he had received an undisputed Bush military document in 2000 from the Vietnam era that clearly contains a superscripted "th." He also notes that when Killian's Aug. 18, 1973, memo is enlarged and the word "interference" is examined, it's clear the two middle e's rest higher on the page than the other two e's; that is not something a modern- day word processor would likely do."

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The salon story is from Eric Boehlert, who in my opinion is a trustworthy source. It's worth a full read.

You can check out the documents yourself by looking at the pdf files. PDF is a file format called "post-script document files" -- a world respected digital representation. It makes an exact scan.

You can go to the CBS site above to get the pdf document files. I insist. I did.

They are obviously not from Microsoft Word Documents. These slanders are relying on people not seeing the documents for themselves. Once you see the documents, the idea that someone would say they come from a computer is incredible.

Desperation is what this is.

And if you can't see that well, what can I say.