Navy: Kerry Medals Approved Properly
CNN.com
The Smear Boat Vets are wrong.
Bill Frist, Friend of the Friendless Pharmecuetical Companies
Frist won't bring drug import legislation up for vote - Tennessean
What a whore. What a whore.
But I digress. The legislation concerns drug reimportation. Drugs are made in America, shipped to Canadian companies, who could then concievably ship the drugs back into America and still sell them for less than the same drugs simply being sold in America.
Does anybody not see how screwed up this is??
Frist cites "safety" concerns, cites he. There is no way to verify that these drugs are actually coming from Canada and that they haven't been tampered with, says he. He counsels us to remember the Tylenol scare in 1982, counsels he.
So if there were some way to verify that the drugs are actually being driven over the border and back without being tampered with, we might could have the legislation and get cheaper prices on prescription drugs? Sounds like a plan to me...
Hey! Here's a bright idea. Why don't we just sell the drugs here for less money in the first place? I mean, if the pharms are cutting Canada such a deal that they can afford to ship our own exports back to us and make a profit underselling the big pharms, why can't the pharms just cut Americans the same break?
Hmmm?
Blumenthal: Retired General Calls Iraq "Far Graver Than Vietnam"
Salon.com
Don't mean to be hawking Salon.com's day pass all the time, but here's another mustread.
1. In Vietnam, we didn't have as much at stake.
2. Iraq is far more volatile.
3. We're in much worse shape with our allies.
Oh, yes. According to one source in this story (General Joseph Hoar), all signs point to an attack on Fallujah after Election Day.
Is that going to be win or lose, Mr. President?
Run The Debates Whether Bush Shows Or Not
The Talent Show > American Prospect
Excellent idea from the Prospect. Since Bush is dragging his feet on the issue, run the debates anyway. What's Bush going to do - not show up? Leave Kerry next to an empty podium answering questions for a prime-time audience? Hell, no. Of course, this is the president who's held twelve press conferences during his entire term so far. Maybe Rove knows that a empty podium would be better than President Bush bumbling out answers to questions he hasn't had a chance to rehearse.
Where Do They Get These Guys?
Okay, so I'm listening to CNN coverage of Ivan. The reporter is in Gulf Shores, talking about some animals that zookeepers were unable to evacuate - 20 deer and 12 alligators.
The reporter then spends 3 minutes telling us how they're going after the deer. "Oh, yeah, there was one deer, looking really frightened, here just a minute ago. He's running down the street thataway. The keepers are using tranquilizer guns to bring the deer down. Hopefully, they'll be able to get all the deer..."
Dude. 20 deer loose in Alabama isn't a problem. Lay out a salt lick. What about the FREAKING ALLIGATORS!!!!!
Wanna know why that deer was looking frightened? 'Cause there's alligators loose! Jeez Louise.
Oh, so he gets to the alligators, which the keepers are shooting to kill, he assures us. There are six unaccounted for, including Chuckie. Chuckie is twelve feet long and weighs over half a ton. Reporter Guy tells us that the tourists love Chuckie.
Not as much as Chuckie loves them...
Dan Rather Interviews Marian Knox
Tonight on 60 Minutes.
You must watch this interview. Record it if you have to.
Bad Press! No Toilet For You!
Only those with big bladders need apply for the White House beat. For the past year, the 20 or so correspondents toiling in the basement of the press room in the West Wing have been fighting to keep their toilet. "We've been using that toilet since Jimmy Carter was president," said Associated Press Radio correspondent Mark Smith. But after some trouble with the commode last year, the General Services Administration announced it was flushing the troublesome fixture.Jimmy Carter giveth, but Bush taketh away.
Correspondents took their case to White House press secretary Scott McClellan, threatening: "We could also hold it -- but I think you'll agree we're cranky enough as it is." The GSA said it would cost $500,000 to fix the toilet -- earning it a place alongside the $400 hammer and the $600 toilet seat. McClellan would not dirty his hands in this plumbing dispute. The GSA then announced it had poured concrete into the "sewer ejectors," making the WC permanently unusable. As of yesterday, the toilet and sink were gone, replaced with a chair and a mirror.
How could Bush make such a colossal blunder during an election year? Not even a Porta-Potty? Maybe Bush misspoke when he was yelling at people to stop all this press leaking.
Hey, Senator Kerry? Since the press can't be bothered about anything else, can you promise a bathroom for every press gaggle in your adminstration?
Cat Killer Crashes Protest
TheStar.com
No, Bill Frist didn't get into a tangle with Bush protestors. Some ignorant jackass skinned a live cat on camera and called it art. He then showed up at a showing of a documentary that covered the ensuing infamy and court case, causing a lot of flack and getting himself arrested.
Bill Frist isn't even mentioned in this article. I guess we should give the man credit for not filming his own extracurricular cat dissections as a study aid...
Killian's Secretary Speaks: Forged Memos Telling the Truth
DallasNews.com (free registration)
1. Marian Carr Knox was Killian's secretary. She would have typed the memos.
2. The CBS memos are fake. The typefaces are wrong for what was in the office. There are stylistic differences in how Knox would type the memos. Terminology like "billets" and "administrative officer" are Army terms, not ANG terms.
3. The CBS memos reflect real documents that once existed. Knox remembers very vividly "when Bush was there and all the yak-yak that was going on about it." They accurately reflect Killian's viewpoint and memos that were in a "cover your back" file that Knox maintained for Killian. There may not have been a memo-for-memo connection, but there were real memos once.
So the story is: The memos are forged, but they're telling the truth.
UPDATE: I left a dangling "but" up there - the italics finished the sentence. Sorry about that.
This is a bluff of epic proportions. The forger wanted people talking about the Bush Guard record, s/he had a lot of information about Bush, and s/he knew about the CYA file. There couldn't be too many people who knew that - Killian's widow and son didn't even know that.
I'm not convinced that the forger gave a damn about being discovered, either. Whether the memos were written on Word, or the forger located a Selectric Executive D to do it right seems to be irrelevant. Being discovered would just be more publicity about the contents. But if enough of the right people thought the gig was up and started talking about what they knew, the bluff would have worked.
And it did. Hodges may be backpedalling for all he's worth, but he's confirmed the details of the memos' content. And Mrs. Knox may discover that she knows the identity of the forger, if as I suspect the forger has interviewed her in the past. Only time will tell...
Why Bush Left Texas
The Nation
When you read this article, please remember one thing. Bush was making $900 a month working for the Blount campaign. $900 a month.
Bush, Schwarzeneggar Raise Taxes on Teachers
AP
According to Republican logic, any tax cut that's less than an Republican tax cut is a tax increase. Bush is busy flogging a permanent enacting of his tax cuts, saying that the sunsetting of those cuts is a tax increase.
So why is Bush and Schwarzeneggar raising taxes on teachers?
This elimination of tax credits for teachers who buy basic supplies for their students is pretty low, too. These teacher reach into their own salaries to get pencils and paper into the hands of their students, and now they're going to be paying more taxes.
It's disgraceful. I wonder if there are any similar tax increases that Bush isn't advertising out there?
Bill Hobbs on Kerry Memo - Short on Specifics
US Military Weapon Systems
Military spending in the United States is massive. The 2004 budget for military spending asked for $399.1 billion. It takes the military budgets of the next sixteen highest spending nations to equal ours.
Is there no room for budgetary cuts in this long list? Of course there is. Weapons become obsolete, pork is too prevalent, and redundancy can become too unwieldy.
So let's not pretend, as Bill Hobbs does, that suggesting budgetary cuts in the military is working to disarm it. An efficient and focused military will only strengthen our security, not endanger it.
We've seen laundry lists of John Kerry's vote against weapons systems before. If you look at them, you'll see that only a few of John Kerry's votes are being blown out of proportion. When John Kerry voted against a defense appropriation bill that included the entire military budget, is it fair to isolate a few systems and say he opposed them? Why not say that John Kerry voted to completely disband the United States military?
Because that would be ludicrous. So too are these laundry lists. Expanding one vote into ten separate votes against specific systems is just propaganda.
However, Mr. Hobbs has discovered a memo from a 1984 Kerry campaign that does list specific weapons systems for cuts. The context for these cuts, however, isn't provided. On January 16 of that year, Reagan had begun to propose a nuclear-free world. This was because the US military buildup of the early '80s had had an opposite effect on the Soviet military - they went lean and mean. It was not Reagan's hard line that won the Cold War at all - it was his retreat from the hard line that allowed the Gorbachev revolution to take root and flourish.
So John Kerry's memo was in a context of the Reagan Administration signalling a back off from earlier rhetoric and a wild increase in military spending. The Congress was giving Reagan everything he had asked for over the years. Something had to give, somewhere.
None of these proposed cuts would have left America defenseless. Cutting five aircraft and one helicopter with associated missile systems would hardly have decimated our air arsenal and firepower. And plugging the hole of Reagan's feel-good sinkhole of Star Wars could only have released money for more useful and attainable goals.
What Mr. Hobbs needs to address is how would America's military been deficient had these weapons systems been cut. He quotes Vodkapundit's Will Collier:
Just taking the last section, as somebody who's been working on fighter jets and air-to-air weapons for the last decade, I can't even imagine how our armed forces would be able to operate today if Kerry's advice had been heeded.Vodkapundit: long on rhetoric, short on specifics. There are and were dozens of aircraft systems and missile programs in the military - none of them could have filled the gap left by these few cuts?
And perhaps Kerry's Vietnam service helped guide his thinking. For example, the Sparrow missile performed poorly in Vietnam, yielding less that 10% kill per shot.
Give us some specifics, folks. Otherwise, we can dismiss the use of this memo as more chicanery.
Two Questions That Aren't Being Asked
USATODAY.com
This summary of the memo authenticity debate is rather good, but it highlights quite well the questions that aren't being asked, the questions that no one in the media apparently can conceive of asking.
Number one, Bobby Hodges. When first we heard of Hodges' connection to this story, he was saying that the memos contained "the things that Killian had expressed to me at the time." Now he's saying he thought the documents were handwritten and he believes them to be fake.
But believing the documents to be fake doesn't negate his first statement. Fake or not, they reflected Killian's stated opinion at the time. No one is pressing Hodges on this point.
The question to be asked, oh ye with access, is this: Mr. Hodges, fake or not, you confirmed the contents of the article as Killian's expressed opinion to you at the time. Does that confirmation still stand?
Number two, Killian's family. Marjorie Connell, Killian's widow, says the records are a farce, because he didn't keep files and considered Bush an excellent pilot. "He was not a paper person," says Mrs. Connell.
Yet there is a signature and several initials of Killian on these memos. Has anyone ever asked Mrs. Connnell or Gary Killian, Killian's son, to look at the signature and verify whether it's Killian's? She must be able to recognize the signature one way or the other.
The question to be asked is: Mrs. Connell, you've had a chance to look at the signature on these documents. Is that your late husband's signature?
Come on, mainstream media. These questions aren't hard.
BTW: Marjorie's current husband, Ed, is quoted in the USAToday article:
He said his wife has told him that Killian "pretty well kept work separate from home" and did not bring home paperwork or talk much about what went on at the base.Meaning that she isn't in a position to deny or confirm what Killian may have done on the base.
Update To Killian Memo Timeline Below
I've added two new memos to the timeline. They were just released in a masterstroke "eat it" move from Rather and CBS News.
More Fun With Typewriters
PC magazine
Ad copy typed by a IBM Selectic Composer is put side by side with the same copy typed in Word. View the results for yourself.
Darn That Liberal Media!
USNews.com
US News and World Report has determined that the White House used an inappropriate standard in determining that Bush fulfilled his duty.
A Typewriter Expert and the Killian Memos
Pinstripe.com
Lots of reasons to think this was typed on a typewriter. The most important is sentence periods are followed by double spaces. In Microsoft Word, double spaces after periods cause false indents in the following line. Yet twice when false indents should occur, the Killian memos remain lined up on the left.
No doubt the Freepers will howl that the forgery was done on a typewriter, next. Howl, Freepers, howl.
The Killian Memos: What's At Stake
I'm not going to polish this post up - it's a timeline for Bush's fifth year of service, fitting the Killian memos into the framework. It shows you clearly what is at stake if the memos can be proven authentic.
UPDATE: I've included the two new memos that have been released. It appears to me that some of these memos and letters are carbon copies of letters sent to Austin, Bush, or other places. Some are for personal use. The fact that Killian signs carbon copies suggests how CYA a lot of these memos are. Let me emphasize, as I do below, that the memos and letters tell an internally consistent story that fits the official records like a key into a lock.
Killian Memo - 2 February 72Which means: all payroll records from Bush's fifth year were in Alabama or were fraudulent pay. The frequency of pay records makes the Alabama choice untenable - no one remembers him! I could buy being missed by some in October and November, but January, February, and April as well? No way. No way.
- Killian asks for update on flight certification
- Specifically mentions Bush and Bath
***Was Killian gunning for Bush at this early date?
Dad calls Allison (Blount campaign), gets Bush deputy spot - Spring 72
Last Bush service date for a while - 14 April 72
Killian Memo - 4 May 1972
- Orders Lt. Bush to physical no later than 14 May 72
- By regulations, Bush had until end of July?
- Last physical: 10 May 71
***This appears to be a standard order, but new February memo puts a different light on it. The date for ordered physical is in line with last physical
Bush clears base (See 2 May 73) - 15 May 72
Killian Memo - 19 May 1972
- Bush calls about getting out of drill until November
- Informs Killian of "working on another campaign for his dad"
- Killian says 3 month of ET or transfer; Bush wants to transfer to any unit that will have him
- Get physical fixed by then? Bush will in Alabama if continuing in flight status, but has campaign and "other things to do after that"
- Killian reminds him of investment and commitment
- Bush then "has a unit in mind" - 9921st, evidently
- Killian suspects Bush is "talking to someone upstairs"
***Killian feels like he's getting played here. Bush first wants any unit that will have him, then suddenly produces ones? And he's getting antsy on the physical.
Bush Application for 9921st, Alabama - 24 May 72
9921st's Approval - 26 May 72
Fifth year of Guard service begins - 27 May 1972
111st Recommend Approval - June 72
- Killian not on this document
Bush Denied 9921st Assignment - Unclear
- Bush has a Military Obligation to fly
- Bush can't fulfill MO at 9921st
Bush Grounded on Killian's Verbal Order - 1 Aug 72
- Missed flight physical
- Source: 29 Sept 72 summary
Killian Memo - 01 August 1972
- Killian notes his verbal orders about grounding Bush
- Reasons: not meeting standards (no attempt to meet training certification) and not getting flight physical
- Requested orders of suspension and convening of flight review board
- Notes his recommend of transfer to 9921st which was denied.
- Also notes Bush's desire to be assigned to non-flying billets
- Looking for a pilot to replace Bush
***This is bad news: Killian grounds because Bush isn't attempting to train (payroll records confirm) and missed his flight physical (direct order). Killian is trying to suspend Bush, calls for a flight inquiry, and is looking for a replacement. IF THIS MEMO IS REAL, THEN WHERE IS THE PAPERWORK?
Republican National Convention - 21-23 August 1972
-Bush attended
Bush Asks Killian's Permission for 187th Assignment - 5 September 72
- For September, October, and November only
AL Approval 187th Assignment - 15th September 72
-Can't train September
-October 7-8, November 4-5
-"Bush can't satisfy flight requirements with our group"
Prescott Bush dies of cancer - 8 October 72
-Conflict with AL training in October
Bush resumes service - 28-29 October 72
-Payroll records
-Credited to October
-Arranged to miss 4-5 November service due to election?
Election Day - 8 November 72
Bush's November service - 11-14 November 1972
-Four days
-Makeup for September time?
-Credited to November
Bush's bad month - December 1972
-Wrecks car, challenges dad to fight "mano a mano"
-Drives bicycle in front of mom's car
Bush January service - 4-6, 8-10 January 1973
Bush AL dental exam - 10 January 1973
***Why is Bush in Alabama? No recorded permission to train past November
Bush April service - 7-8 April 1973
"Bush not observed" report - 2 May 73 (?)
- As of this date, Bush was not observed at Houston for the year
***Killian 19 Aug 73 memo says this report backdated
Bush Buckles Down - May through July 1973
- Extensive service
- In late April, Bush is ordered to attend INACTRA dates
- Those dates are marked as code 50 on Bush's payroll records
- Many more code 50s are marked, and one long week of 22 (regular drills)
Killian Letter - 24 June 1973
- Official response to phone call asking for Bush's OETR
- Killian can't rate Bush because he wasn't there since April 72
- All recent activity (the buckle down) wasn't within rating period
- "Please advise"
Killian Memo - 19 August 1973
- Staudt (retired for 1 1/2 years) is pressuring Hodges about Bush
- Staudt wants Bush's OETR sugarcoated
- Killian has no info from 187th, and Bush wasn't in Houston during rating period
- A second call: Killian agrees to backdate OETR but not rate Bush with Harris's agreement
***Staudt is leaning on Hodges, and Hodges is leaning on Killian via Harris. This is about filing Bush's 72-73 OETR which isn't filed as of 19 August 73Killian was sitting on the OETR, and finally buckled on 19 August 73 - to a point. He doesn't rate because Bush didn't train in Houston during this time and he has nothing from the 187th, at this late date.
The memos are evidence then of Bush's disobeying of a direct order and his failure to find a proper training unit. They are also evidence of a suspension and flight inquiry called for which appear nowhere in the records. They may also be evidence of Bush's attendance and payroll records being forged - which means rank corruption in the Texas ANG.
Which also alleges that the sitting President of the United States cashed government checks for service he had not performed, participating in a defrauding of the military during war and has lied about this to this very day.
The memos fit into the given records like a key into a lock. Their story remains internally consistent. The question of their authenticity will be the defining moment of this campaign. This must be settled beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Rather to Critics: You Can't Handle The Truth
CBS News
Rather gave the name of the handwriting expert who confirmed Killian signed the memos, Marcel Matley.
The typeset existed since the 30's, and proportional typewriters were available, as was a superscripted "th" key.
Now, President Bush, answer the questions. Did you get preferential treatment? Did you disobey a direct order? Why did you never take your physical?
And where are the missing documents from your military file?
Answer the question. And don't lie to us this time.
Word Doesn't Superscript Like The Killian Memos
Just a note: I'm using my copy of Word to reproduce the May 4 memo that orders Lt. Bush to take his physical in May.
I've having a devil of a time persuading Word to not superscript the top "th" in 111th, and also the "st" in 1st Lt. Bush. Those superscripts are also different from the memo's superscript - they remain below the top of the other letters, but the memo's superscript goes above the line.
And the Word superscripting is not a single "th" key - it's both letters in a smaller typeset that's aligned against the top letter. There's no simple way I can see to raise those letters above the top line of the other letters. You can actually delete those small letters one by one and then type whatever you want in that smaller font.
So if this document is a forgery, the forger would have to self correct the top "th" and the "st", and then find a way to defeat the programming to get the second "th" above the other letters.
So it's far more likely that this was typed on a sophisticated typewriter of the time.
Krugman: Bush's Plan To Cut Deficit Assumes Bush Tax Cuts Expire
The New York Times: The Dishonesty Thing
The administration claims to have a plan to cut the deficit in half over the next five years. But even Bruce Bartlett, a longtime tax-cut advocate, points out that "projections showing deficits falling assume that Bush's tax cuts expire on schedule." But Mr. Bush wants those tax cuts made permanent. That is, the administration has a "plan" to reduce the deficit that depends on Congress's not passing its own legislation.Can you believe this? Of course you can.
After all, when Bush was Governor in Texas, he fought the Texas Patient Bill of Rights, let it become law without signing it in protest, and then used it as a campaign prop in 2000.
Bush also threatened to veto the $87 billion before he signed it into law.
There is no good thing that Bush isn't willing to assume credit for, and there's no bad thing that Bush is willing to accept responsibility for. America can do better.
FactCheck.org Is Treating Killian Memos As Authentic
FactCheck.org
UPDATE: Also, someone emailed Jonas Goldberg his memories of a proportional IBM typewriter circa 1971-1974 at Patrick AFB. Nobody wanted to use it because backspacing required a "en" chart.
Which would make it the perfect typewriter for Killian to dash off memos to himself about various subjects.
And CYA has been a military slang term since the '50s.
SECOND UPDATE: The Washington Post has the forgery story on the front page. Someone at CBS spilled on the source who authenticated the content of the memos: Major General Bobby Hodges, who's named in the memos.
Are the Killian Memos Forged?
It looks like it.
The memos are typed using a proportional font. Such a font was not available to ordinary consumers, and unless we want to believe Killian had a souped up typewriter in a National Guard facility, we have to put these memos aside.
A proportional font is like the one you should be looking at right now. It's different from a monospace font, in which each letter, from "i" to "w" occupies exactly the same space on the page. Proportional fonts use less space for i's and l's and more space for w's and m's.
One of the messages refers to the 187th in Montgomery. The "th" is quite small and takes up half the space of the line. Microsoft Word does this when "th" follows a number. There's no way to do this on a 1973 typewriter.
The signatures don't match Killian's signature on Bush's Guard records.
There's some question about the size of the paper, but that's explainable. Unfortunately, these other things are not.
Especially when I used my copy of Microsoft Word to type one of the messages and made an almost exact copy.
What we are looking at, my fellow Democrats, is a master stroke from Karl Rove. These papers are so obviously forgeries that they discredit (once again) the entire AWOL search. They were intended to be so easily revealed.
Making anybody who relied upon them issue retractions and flee from this subject. Damn it, we've been had.
UPDATE: I've been advised to not give up the ship in comments (thanks, Jo). Proportional font typewriters with superscripted "th" were available in the early 1970s. So I'm holding off judgment on the memos.
And they came from Killian's file, not Bush's. Some other memos from his file would help establish this.
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