Reply #65: So, nothing will convince you otherwise?

[Almost_there]

I'm simply playing devil's advocate here, but, there are multiple forensic experts who claim that these documents were printed on MS Word.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/06/politics/main641481.shtml

<snip>
Independent document examiner Sandra Ramsey Lines said the memos looked like they had been produced on a computer using Microsoft Word software. Lines, a document expert and fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, pointed to a superscript — a smaller, raised "th" in "111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron" — as evidence indicating forgery.

Microsoft Word automatically inserts superscripts in the same style as the two on the memos obtained by CBS, she said.

"I'm virtually certain these were computer generated," Lines said after reviewing copies of the documents at her office in Paradise Valley, Ariz. She produced a nearly identical document using her computer's Microsoft Word software.

<snip>

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Politics/Vote2004/bush_documents_040909-2.html


More than half a dozen document experts contacted by ABC News said they had doubts about the memos' authenticity.

"These documents do not appear to have been the result of technology that was available in 1972 and 1973," said Bill Flynn, one of country's top authorities on document authentication. "The cumulative evidence that's available … indicates that these documents were produced on a computer, not a typewriter:"

Among the points Flynn and other experts noted:

The memos were written using a proportional typeface, where letters take up variable space according to their size, rather than fixed-pitch typeface used on typewriters, where each letter is allotted the same space. Proportional typefaces are available only on computers or on very high-end typewriters that were unlikely to be used by the National Guard.
The memos include superscript, i.e. the "th" in "187th" appears above the line in a smaller font. Superscript was not available on typewriters.
The memos included "curly" apostrophes rather than straight apostrophes found on typewriters.
The font used in the memos is Times Roman, which was in use for printing but not in typewriters. The Haas Atlas — the bible of fonts — does not list Times Roman as an available font for typewriters.
The vertical spacing used in the memos, measured at 13 points, was not available in typewriters, and only became possible with the advent of computers.

<snip>

So, if these two independant experts doubt the authenticity, I am not going to. Its a moot point, anyway. It would have been interesting had they been real, but, I think we all know (and Bush admits!!) that he didn't show up for his final year of service, that he lost his flight status (did he get that back to fly the plane out to the aircraft carrier? haha), and that he was sent to the guard under suspicious criteria.

~Almost