Letters to the Editor
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Nerdnam
God help me for continuing with the "forged memos" red herring. But, while everyone's right that typists back then were well-trained in centering and whatnot--even with proportional typewriters, and I had a horribly tedious temp job in college where I was counting out fractional spaces to do right-justification on a proportional typewriter, yuck--that's not even what we're necessarily talking about.
The IBM Selectric Composer--not the regular Selectric--was specifically designed to produce camera-ready copy, with right justification, centering, super- and subscripts, and all that other stuff you think it takes MS Word to do.
http://www.ibmcomposer.org/SelComposer/description.htm
Even the very earliest, 1966 model, which was totally mechanical, counted out all those fractional spaces for you. For a line you wanted justified or centered, you had to type it twice--it measured how much space to allow the first time you typed it (not committing letters to page), then the second time you typed it put the spaces just where they needed to be.
But the circa-1970-something Composer I used in 1980 had a memory. I only had to type an article in once to produce it with right justification, centered headings, boldface (produced by multiple-striking), and italics or other fonts (it would stop and wait for me to swap out the font ball). When I was done, I told the Composer to go and voila. A machine bought for my obscure trade newsletter in the 1970s. But the 1966 non-memory Composer could, more tediously, produce the same results.
It's ridiculous to go on like this, but IT MAKES ME CRAZY THAT IBM-COMPOSER-DENIERS NEVER ABSORB THIS SIMPLE TECHNOLOGICAL HISTORY. I used this damn thing every workday for more than a year. Totally mundane 1970s technology, if not the most common. (I did think it was kind of cool back then. Wow, I just type and it comes out looking like it's typeset! Whoooo! Hey, I was 20.)
Still, the important thing about this lawsuit is that Rather and Mapes's story was sourced up the wazoo, and hardly relies on this ridiculous little trumped-up typography controversy. Let's have all the evidence re-presented. Pretty please.
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Can't spell "taliesan" without "lies"
"What about Chambliss? Gets out with a bad knee and then slams a person who had multiple amputated in war."
Cleland did not lose his limbs in battle.
You're lying again.
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the typography this is important ...
... because absolutely no other TANG paperwork from the time are typed the same way. They show typical typography that one would expect from government-issue typewriters of the time.
The chances of a lowly air national guard unit having such a fancy system and using it to type only a few select memos is so preposterous as to dismiss it out of hand.
Nice try, but try again.
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Groenhagen
Man, do you have a LOT of time on your hands. And there are several questions that you have absolutely failed to answer:
1. Who cares about Clinton? Bush broke the law. Whether the documents Rather presented were fake or not:
1. CBS was complicit in either allowing the fake documents
to get through, wanting to curry favor with the Bush
camp, or both. Go on and try to prove to me that the
SCLM did NOT try to smear Gore and portray Bush as a
"guy you'd want to have a beer with" - OVER AND OVER.
But that will all come out as a result of this lawsuit.
2. Bush DID break the law and was AWOL. He did get placed
ahead of at least 500 other people on the waiting list
in the "champagne" unit. You don't seem to have a problem with this.
3. Multiple people have adequately answered your asinine assertions that Clinton WAS NOT accused of 'wagging the dog'. Whether his wars were "illegal" or not, you resort again to "BUT CLINTON". You neocon crybabies just can't ever seem to stop your pissing and moaning and but-Clintoning.
4. In case you were wondering, here's the real story behind Clinton's draft dodging:
* Eighteen-year old Bill enters Georgetown University and registers for Selective Service, as required by law. His status as a full-time student earns him a deferrment.
* In his senior year, Bill receives a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University.
* In February of 1968, the Federal Government eliminates draft deferments for graduate students and Bill once again becomes eligible in March of that year.
* Clinton subsequently, though family and political connections, obtains a Navy Billet from the local naval reserve unit and temporary draft protection from the Garland County Draft Board, allowing him to start at Oxford - special treatment that was not uncommon for Rhode's Scholars of the day.
* Clinton completes his first term at Oxford in December, 1969, and is ordered to report for a physical in January, which he did.
* In April 1969, Bill was ordered to report for induction. However, delays in International mail delivery resulted in Clinton receiving his orders after the induction date had passed. By this time, he had begun his second term at Oxford. Regulations allowed him to complete the term, but he must report for induction by July 28, 1969.
* Once again utilizing extensive political connections, Clinton gets accepted into the University of Arkansas ROTC program on July 17, nullifying his draft notice. Clinton would not have to enroll until he completed basic training the following year.
* In the fall of '69, Clinton opts to return to Oxford, rather than enroll in the University of Arkansas Law School. While at Oxford, Clinton contacts the draft board to drop his ROTC deferment and return to active status. By this time, regulations had changed, allowing graduate students to complete their schooling before reporting for military duty. Clinton had a high enough draft number to virtually ensure he would not be called.
Analysis:
While his conduct may have been immoral and was undoubtedly unethical, it was not illegal under the laws at that time and, thus, the conclusion drawn that he was the first pardoned criminal to serve as President is fallacious. He craftily manipulated the system, but he had the proper and legal right to do everything he did. He was never technically AWOL, never guilty of failing to report, was never a criminal under public law and, thus, was not among those pardoned by President Carter in 1977.