"From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines, going where I list, my own master total and absolute, Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me."
Walt Whitman (1819-92)
"When I look back now over my life and call to mind what I might have had simply for taking and did not take, my heart is like to break."
Akhenaton (d. c.1354 BC)
And now, the current weather, from some random person we pulled off the street:
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Outrage in the Blogosphere
Apparently this blog is far from the only one who has analyzed the Dan Rather memos from CBS and found them to be forgeries. If you thought some of the stuff I covered earlier was amazing, check out these blogs:
The Shape of Days brings some very interesting things to the table, including a very in depth presentation of what typewriters (and typesetters) were capable of in the time period in question (not, apparently, these memos.) Make sure you read this post plus at least two further.
The Flounder claims that the "Bush Memos are forgeries" and substantiates it by using very specific character spacing data.
Cronaca features a discussion by art historian David Nishimura comparing the memos to art forgeries and the methods of determining if a piece is a fake (it is.)
Little Green Footballs has an eye popping animation that alternates between the CBS memos and a version he created on Microsoft Word (they are identical.)
Another version, slightly different, is here in Flash format. Warning, there are popup ads, sorry, but believe me its worth it.
And whatever you do, don't miss this new memo spoof from Politicalities.
Stay tuned. This is going to be big.
UPDATE: Apparently the daughter of Ben Barnes, the Kerry Campaign official who claims he tried to use his influence to get George Bush into the National Guard, is claiming that her father confided to her that it was a lie. After declaring this on a radio talk show, Barne's press secretary attempted to cancel an interview Barne's daughter had scheduled with ABC Radio without her permission.
Wierder and wierder.
YET MORE UPDATE: There is a very good article on the effect of blogs on this topic at the Techcentralstation site. This article claims that the issue of forgery on these documents was discovered and pursued by bloggers to the point that, within one day, several major news outlets were pretty much forced to cover the story. And you thought nobody was listening.
AND EVEN MORE: William Safire's op-ed piece today for the New York Times contains even more blockbusters about the story coming apart at the seams. I was going to list them, but there's too many. Check it out.
