As I think everyone agrees, if the CBS memos could be shown to exhibit kerning, this conversation would be over. Kerning involves letters being closer together or farther apart based on their proximity to other differently shaped letters. A computer can do advanced kerning on the fly, because it knows what letters each other letter is around. A typewriter, of course, cannot do this, because each letter has no idea what preceded or follows it.

The problem has been the quality of the memos -- although Power Line and others have had some pretty convincing arguments that the documents exhibit kerning, it's been difficult to be more than 90% persuaded because the poor quality of the fax makes certain kerning appearances difficult to distinguish from resolution errors.

However, I received an email from a "Rainabear" (I'm sympathetic to this; some of my friends to this day call me "Johnnybear") who offered the following argument:

http://www.rainabear.org/Journal/Entries/0904/11.shtml

Specifically, Raina points out that when the letters a and t occur as "at" in the CBS memos, the letters take up less physical width then when they occur as "ta". Since no typewritter could know the difference, Raina's contention is that, even with the low resolution of the scans, this is proof the documents must have been made on a computer intelligent enough to know the order.

Now, I'm not signing off on this just yet, and want to play around with it myself, just to be sure. But I find it quite persuasive so far, and want to see more of it, because as we all can agree, this would pretty much settle the issue.

CBS or the memo owners could clear this up REAL fast if they just scanned in one of the memos at 600dpi to shut us all up. The fact that they haven't, to me, shows that it would hurt their case. Could anyone see any other reason? What do you all think?

Quick Update: It's been pointed out, and I've checked this, that Microsoft Word has kerning TURNED OFF by default, and that some of what we're calling "kerning" is actually Microsoft Word's intelligent letter spacing (?), not specifically kerning. (Either way, it's a computer-aided feature and eliminates typewriters from contention, if proven.)

Here, this one should be easy -- how about you find me one document from 1970-1972 that looks like the Killian documents. Just one. Go to awolbush.com or the USA Today archives or wherever you want -- there's a ton of document sites out there. ONE DOCUMENT, of a reasonable size (at least a paragraph or two in length) that looks like the CBS memos. JUST ONE. Find me SOMETHING, anywhere, that looks like it was made on Killian's magic typewriter.

If you can't find a single document on any topic anywhere that also looks like the Killian documents (and matches up with Microsoft Word's default settings, no less), then you must admit you're wrong. You can't possibly believe that Killian used one typewriter only for these four disputed documents and used a different typewriter for everything else he or anyone who lived in 1970-1972 has ever written.

One document, that's it. Find it, and I'll shut up.

The issue of the superscripted "th" has taken some absurd turns lately, with CBS and the Forgery Denial crowd going ga-ga over the fact that USA Today has a .pdfed personnel document from Bush that uses a little "th", too. "Ah ha! That proves we were right!" Really. Let's take a look at this "proof":



Is anyone really arguing that this typewriter looks anything like the Killian memos? For one thing, it uses a Courier-style monospaced font -- the i's and m's and capital P's are all the exact same physical width. In fact, this typewriter looks a lot like the one I grew up and learned to type on, with the lowercase letter "L" being the exact same key as the numeral "1". Obviously, this isn't the typewriter we're looking for.

But even look at the superscripting, since that's what everyone is so excited about:



The "th" key in this case seems to be one of those special/custom keys we've been told existed. But look closely -- the little th doesn't even go above the top of the "111" -- it's just lined up against the edge. If this even still counts as superscripting, it's obviously a very different type.

The CBS forgeries, of course, do the superscripting exactly like Microsoft Word, not the typewriter used in the Bush personnel file.

Everyone is getting too excited and prize-happy when they find a machine that can do ONE of the irregularities in the document, but no one has found a machine that can do MOST or ALL of the irregularities in the document. It would be like if I held a contest asking if someone could name a movie that starred the following actors: Greg Kinnear, William Shatner, and Kirsten Dunst. "Ah ha," an email would go, "the movie Auto Focus starred Greg Kinnear, so I win." "Yes," I'd reply, "but it didn't star William Shatner." "Oh yeah, well, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan starred Willian Shatner, so give me my money!" You see where I'm going with this.

We are looking for a typewriter available by 1972 which a person such as Lt. Col Killian could have sat down and, by typing the content of the Killian memos into the machine, created documents that look exactly like the Killian memos. No one has come anywhere close to approaching this, but I promise to give them $10,000 if they do. The closest anyone has come so far is on The Shape of Days. Gerry Kaplan used an IBM Selectric Composer (the only typewriter so far that has a chance of succeeding) and tried his best to get it to match up with one of the Killian memos. In doing so, he had to change point-size balls and manually line space and, even then, was way, way off. If that's the best someone can do, the reward money stays in the bank.

Remember, I did not make a contest to see if, through tons of work and customization and changing parts and manual centering, you could make a typewriter from 1972 create the CBS forgeries. I said:

I am offering $10,000 right now to anyone who can find for me a typewriter from 1972 that could have reasonably made those documents. Payment will be made in the form of a cashiers check to the first individual who can do this. The typewriter must be using the same proportionally spaced font as the CBS documents, the same curly-quotation marks, the same impossible superscripted "th"s, the same 13-point line spacing, and create a document that looks as much (or more) like the alleged forgeries than does a Microsoft Word document with default fonts and margins.

The contest stands as given.

Since my site skyrocketed in viewership today (more than 10,000 unique visitors in the past few hours alone), I thought I'd mention that my other blog is ludicrosity.com (which I co-author, and tends to be about more general societal issues such as religion, culture, and everyday oddities, though occasionally has some crossover with this site), and my indie film site is spartancity.com. Oh, and if you're also a Kerry opponent, feel free to purchase a bumper sticker or t-shirt.

Tacky, yes, but remember, I might have $10,000 to pay up. A twenty-five cent commission on a DEFEAT JOHN JOHN mug might go a long way.

Incidentally, I'm assuming the recent spike in visitors is from the shout out from one of my favorite sites, Instapundit, but just in case you haven't visited there, it's excellent.

The emails have been great, and it's nice to see people on both sides debating rationally and intelligently. Some people have brought points to my attention on both sides I might never have considered, so thanks to all.

This site was created because, though not a Bush fan, I believe Kerry represents a step down in leadership and the wrong choice for the country. Ironically, if this site is successful, it will cease to exist after election day. :)

I will continue to post on the CBS forgeries and share new information as it becomes available. I hope to see some of you stick around to challenge me over the next two months (especially during the debates), and help us all make the most informed decisions possible.

What can I say -- I'm overwhelmed, and thank you all for reading.

Adding up all the pledges so far, we have $17,600 toward the first person who can recreate the CBS forgeries. (And that's just in confirmed pledges -- the take is over $25,000 if everyone who's casually pledged in the comments section is taken into account.) I didn't ask for additional pledges, but am very, very flattered by all of you who have written in with your contributions. People, this isn't a typo -- we're talking $17,600 in cash to the first person who can find a typewriter available in 1972 that reasonably could have produced the documents in question. The word "reasonably" is important here -- it's not enough to find a typewriter which, if you switched typing balls and spent an enormous amount of time on formatting and tried really really hard, could have made these documents. CBS has billed these largely as notes Killian wrote to himself, for his own records. Anyone who argues that Killian spent a couple minutes swapping out a 12-point metal ball for an 8-point metal ball in order to write "th", then swapped the 8-point ball for a 12-point ball in order to continue with this note we was writing to himself, is a little off track. :)

At least two of these documents lines up exactly -- exactly -- to Microsoft Word's default margins, typeface, font size, kerning, spacing, etc. The idea that this is a bizarre coincidence is intellectual dishonesty.

Think for a minute of what this challenge is. We're looking for a typewriter that could do all of the following:

1) Use a proportionally spaced font with advanced kerning and proportional spacing identical to Microsoft Word

2) Have a left-curled apostrophe key

3) Have the ability to superscript not just in position, but also a decrease in font size from 12pt to 7-8pt

4) Have sentence breaking identical to Microsoft Word default rules

5) Have 13pt vertical spacing identical to Microsoft Word defaults

6) Have the ability to center text on the page identical to Microsoft Word defaults (this one I hadn't even thought of and, yeah, pretty much helps close the lid on this case -- unless you think Killian had the ability to eyeball-center a line of text to the millimeter.)

Not to mention the fact that not a single member of Killian's family believes the documents are genuine and have no idea where they came from, or that there are all sorts of problems with the content of the docs, too, from improper military jargon to impossible dates (at one point even referencing a general who had retired). At this point, can any literate person honestly believe there's even a possibility these docs are genuine? Come on now. We need to step back, take off our little partisan hats, and succumb to logic: these documents could not have reasonably been created in 1972. It seems the only typewriter that even could do something like the CBS memos was an extraordinarily rare and complicated typesetting device that would never, ever have been used to write memos (especially to onesself). And even then, there are too many differences between the Selectric kerning and the Microsoft Word kerning. It's just not possible, people.

Still, the reward stands -- and at nearly double its original amount. At least $17,600 and rising for the first person who can reasonably recreate the CBS memos using 32-year old technology. And I promise that if I'm proven wrong on this, I am absolutely 100% committed to paying up.

Good luck, all!

First of all, thanks to the five people who have each pledged $100 a piece in addition to my $10,000 offering. Therefore, anyone who can reasonably recreate the CBS memos on equipment available in early 1972 will be receiving at least $10,500.

Two people so far have attempted to claim the prize on the basis that the IBM Selectric Composer was a proportionally-spaced font typewriter available at that time (though not yet in wide use). In fact, even CBS News is apparently going on the air tonight with "evidence" that this model and several other typewriters of the day could even do super- or sub-script characters.

Yet the IBM Selectric Composer's own manual makes superscripting of the type seen in the CBS forgeries impossible. This section is taken from page 51 of the manual (page 56 of the .pdf):



As you can see, the super- and sub-scripting available to these typewriters only involved the raising or lowering of letters; it obviously couldn't make them any smaller, since the wheel was fixed-point.



To repeat: a typewriter could only raise or lower letters -- it couldn't make them smaller or larger because the wheel used fixed-size characters. The CBS forgeries contain Microsoft-style mini-font superscripts, which could not be done even on a typewriter with superscripting ability.

The only way a fixed-type machine could have made the Microsoftian-style superscripts is if there was a special key for "st" or "th" -- and, according to the IBM manual's page 167 (page 172 of the .pdf), there were no such special character unit values.

For CBS to say "but typewriters in the day could do superscripts" ignores the whole point of why the superscripting in the forged documents are so persuasive -- the letters on a fixed-size metal wheel can't just get smaller or larger. They must know this, and therefore their continued attempts to deceive the American public are even more sickening.

The $10,000 offer stands.

This is incredible. Even now that we know for a fact that the documents are forged, that no typewriter existed that could have made those raised tiny "th"s (let alone the specific proportionally spaced fonts, 13pt default line spacing, etc.), even when the Associated Press and other news outlets are (finally) running stories about the forgeries, CBS is standing by their lies. This is getting beyond aggravating to being truly scary. ("We are at war with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia." - 1984)

Dan Rather gave a statement an hour ago in which he said "I know that this story is true" and that "the documents are authentic; we wouldn't have gone to air if they would not have been." Asked about whether CBS would consider a retraction, Rather said it was "not even discussed, nor should it be" and blamed the controversy only on "those who don't like the story." CBS issued a statement shortly afterwards that insisted they used "independent handwriting and forensic document experts" (though refusing to say who, which is odd since no network or paper has been able to find a single document expert even willing to allow for the possibility that these documents are genuine), and that they're not even going to look into it, arrogantly stating "no internal investigation is underway at CBS News nor is one planned."

So, for anyone still willing to consider that these documents are anything other than cheap, childish forgeries, I am offering $10,000 right now to anyone who can find for me a typewriter from 1972 that could have reasonably made those documents. Payment will be made in the form of a cashiers check to the first individual who can do this. The typewriter must be using the same proportionally spaced font as the CBS documents, the same curly-quotation marks, the same impossible superscripted "th"s, the same 13-point line spacing, and create a document that looks as much (or more) like the alleged forgeries than does a Microsoft Word document with default fonts and margins.

If you think you can do this, email defeatjohnjohn@hotmail.com and collect your reward. And yes, I am serious.

Hate to come back to this topic only a few hours later, but I can't believe CBS is still standing behind these fake anti-Bush documents; CNN and the AP and every other network is still reporting these forgeries as fact!

This is what a typewritten document looked like in 1972 (part of the public record and mutually agreed upon):



As was the case with all manual typewriters, there is no "kerning" between letters -- indeed, the font is monospaced, meaning an "i" and an "m" and a capital "L" all take up the same amount of width. Quotes and apostrophes were straight up and down (because the typewriter, obviously, had no way of knowing which direction the quote was supposed to curve, without context), and there was certainly no way of doing superscripting (having an "st" or "th" in a smaller font up and to the right of the number preceding it.)

Now, here's an example of what CBS is claiming is an authentic 1972 document:



The reason this forgery is so easily disprovable is because anyone can open up Microsoft Word and, using the default settings and the default Times New Roman font in the default 12 point size, type the statement above, and get this:



That's what I got (and what you will get, too) just by typing the paragraph into Microsoft Word and pressing print. I didn't change a thing; in fact, there's even accidental "proof of authenticity" there because I made a transposition typo (OERT instead of OETR). Everything is identical -- spacing, kerning, even the default margins -- to the default Microsoft Word settings. Look at how the text lines up on the right side of each paragraph. Try it yourself -- you'll get the exact same thing. Run it through a fax machine and it'll come out identical to CBS's "1972" document, I guarantee it.

Incidentally, there's another oddity among these "1972" documents, when it comes to Colonel Killian's signature:



Obviously, this is another childish forgery, with the same impossible raised "th"s and computer-assisted kerned proportional Times New Roman font (which, by the way, was never available on a typewriter, even now.) But also compare the signature in this new example with the one in the document we began with (which we know is accurate.) Who, exactly, is the "documentation expert" that CBS claims to have verified these ridiculous papers?

No typewriter exists today (and certainly not 32 years ago) that could produce a single one of these forgeries. I know the opponents of the President (and therefore the U.S. media) are feeling desperate these days. But to insult our intelligence so amateurishly, and then have the audacity to stand by and defend such an easily disproved story, is an enormous violation of the public trust that cannot be allowed to get swept under the rug.

I have been trying to write this article all day, and can't -- I get a couple of sentences in and get so furious I become incoherent, and then have to start over. In a week where the mainstream press has gone outrageously, zealously overboard in their hatred of Bush, from every negative or dishonest article about the Republican convention, to the refusal to show Bush's new double-digit lead over Kerry in every national opinion poll, to the now debunked lies about the Bush "boos" last week, to these new forged anti-Bush National Guard documents from CBS, it's just not even fun to write about any more. It's surreal.

On this recent issue: as of this writing, CBS is sticking by its fake documents regarding Bush's preferential treatment and negative service in the National Guard. This is not a matter of opinion. At all. That these 60 Minutes documents are forged is a demonstrable, incontrovertible fact. There existed no typewriter in 1972 that could have made these documents. No typewriter printed out perfect proportionally spaced fonts before computers -- it wasn't physically possible. Not until the 1980s did technology exist to make these documents. This is just a fact.

The documents even use superscript letters (i.e., the way a little tiny "th" follows "187th".) No typewriter could ever have done this, period. Think about the logistics of it. Then go "oh yeah, duh." That CBS continues to stand by these forgeries in the face of all logic is outrageous. I'm as baffled as I am furious.

Anyway, since I'm obviously too worked up to be coherent on the topic, I'll direct you to a few bloggers who beat me to it, and you can see more proof that the documents were made in Microsoft Word on a modern computer -- every single letter, every space, every kerning, every apostrophe, everything, without exception, at all, proves it was created within the past few years (probably within the past few weeks). We continue to witness the collapse of journalistic integrity and if we don't speak up and demand we hold these liars and their accomplices in the media accountable we have lost the right to complain.

See side-by-side comparisons of the "1972" documents and Microsoft Word using Times New Roman (a font, by the way, that no typewriter even to this day has ever used) here and here.

Also, if you wish to view a huge, in-depth discussion (using many more examples and proofs), check out the excellent Powerline argument that everyone's been linking to.

Sigh.