Let's blow the B.S. from the document experts out of the water. This is from ABC News. Let's debunk the so-called expert, line by line.

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

"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. (WRONG. PROPORTIONAL TYPEFACES WERE INTRODUCED BY IBM IN THE 40S. BY 1966, THE IBM SELECTRIC COMPOSER BOASTED THIS FEATURE.)
The memos include superscript, i.e., the "th" in "187th" appears above the line in a smaller font. Superscript was not available on typewriters. (WRONG--AVAILABLE ON THE IBM SELECTRIC COMPOSER. PLUS, SOME OF BUSH'S OFFICIAL, UNCONTESTED GUARD FILES HAVE SUPERSCRIPT)
The memos included "curly" apostrophes rather than straight apostrophes found on typewriters. (WRONG. NOT ALL TYPE-BALLS FOR IBM HAD STRAIGHT APOSTROPHES. KILLIAN MEMO COULD BE FROM PRESS ROMAN, BODONI, PYRAMID OR ALDINE ROMAN TYPE BALLS.)
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. (WRONG. THE FONT ON THE KILLIAN MEMOS IS A VARIANT OF TIMES ROMAN--NOT TIMES ROMAN.)
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. " (WRONG. THE IBM SELECTRIC COMPOSER, CIRCA 1966, BOASTED VARIABLE LINE SPACING, AKA LEADING. THIS IS EVINCED IN THE MANUAL FOR THE IBM SELECTRIC COMPOSER. IT OFFERED THE USER SPACING FROM 5 TO 18 POINTS)

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In conclusion, the comments by the ABC NEWS expert are false. The Killian memos might still be forgeries; however, none of the evidence provided by the expert proves such.

Therefore, the memos may indeed be genuine as well.

Clearly Bush gamed the system to avoid serving his country in combat--and gamed the system to avoid service in 1972. With more than 1000 U.S. servicemen and servicewomen dead in Iraq for his administration's lies, and many conscripted from the National Guard via Bush's "back door draft," W has lost all credibility to lead the military. He is a hypocrite and should be impeached.

IBM Selectric Composer required you to type document twice!
http://www.ibmcomposer.org/SelComposer/description.htm | self

Posted on 09/11/2004 2:41:47 PM PDT by airedale

Someone else mentioned a website that is dedicated tot the IBM Selectric Composer. The link above will take you to that website. Besides being around four times more expensive to purchase than a regular IBM Selectric the website had a bit of information about the IBM Selectric Composer that hasn't been mentioned in anything I've seen so far. It seems you have to type everything twice perfectly when you use the Composer. Here is that section from the ibmcomposer.org website: click here

"The first IBM Composer was the IBM "Selectric" Composer announced in 1966. It was a hybrid "Selectric" typewriter that was modified to have proportional spaced fonts. It is 100% mechanical and has no digital electronics. Since it has no memory, the user was required to type everything twice. While typing the text the first time, the machine would measure the length of the line and count the number of spaces. When the user finished typing a line of text, they would record special measurements into the right margin of the paper. Once the entire column of text was typed and measured, it would then be retyped, however before typing each line, the operator would set the special justification dial (on the right side) to the proper settings, then type the line. The machine would automatically insert the appropriate amount of space between words so that all of the text would be justified."

Of course the memo's are fake! see the following link.

http://shapeofdays.typepad.com/the_shape_of_days/2004/09/the_ibm_selectr.html