pinions of buddy don: now that we know them memos is fake . . .

. . . kin we git back to whuther they refleckted the truth? as everbidy knows, thats whut marian carr knox claims, witch shes the one who sed thay wuznt they ones she typed, but they did have the same infermayshun as the ones she typed.

corse, the idee that dan rather is a librul has been a main stanza of the never-endin chorus of the right wing agin the medya whenever it disagrees with thar point of view. so twernt much of a sprize when he wuz bout thonly jurnlist standin up to the addministrayshun. but how kin ye splain this articull in the air force times? witch the air force is whut mr bush claims he wuz in even tho he never wuz, so mayhap they gut a lil riled up by the lie. but whutever twuz, they gut em a riter name of william h michael, witch he cum out with a aritcull name of Bush’s Air Guard stint started well, then faded into mystery. heres a cuple of the snippets:

From most accounts, Bush appears to have received preferential treatment to get into the Air National Guard and avoid the draft after he graduated from Yale University in 1968. He was initially regarded as a good pilot, but his performance faded over his final two years in the Guard and he was suspended from flight status. He did not fly for the remaining 18 months he served in the Guard, though he was obligated to do so.

And for significant chunks of time, Bush did not report for duty at all. His superiors took no action, and he was honorably discharged in 1973, six months before he should have been.

In a 2002 interview with USA Today, Dean Roome, a former fighter pilot who lived with Bush in the early 1970s, said Bush was a model officer during the first part of his career. But overall, he said, Bush’s Air Guard career was erratic — the first three years solid, the last two troubled.

“You wonder if you know who George Bush is,” Roome said. “I think he digressed after a while. In the first half, he was gung-ho. Where George failed was to fulfill his obligation as a pilot. It was an irrational time in his life.”

. . .

Handwriting experts hired by many media organizations as well as other critics contend the document, and possibly all four, are forgeries. However, Killian’s order is confirmed by two documents that were not part of the CBS papers. The first is a White House-released letter from the commander of the 147th Fighter Group, Col. Bobby W. Hodges, to its Texas higher command dated Sept. 5, 1972, with a subject line of “Suspension From Flying Status.”

The letter documents the missed flight physical and the suspension, “effective 1 Aug 1972.” A Sept. 29 order from the National Guard Bureau further confirms the missed physical and the suspension.

On May 26, 1972, Bush asked in writing for reassignment to an Air Reserve squadron in Alabama so he could work on the U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Winton “Red” Blount, a close friend of his influential father. That was rejected because Bush was obligated to serve as a Ready Reservist until May 26, 1974, and was ineligible for assignment to the Air Reserve. About three months later, on Sept. 5, Bush asked to perform “equivalent duty” with the Alabama unit from September to November. Killian approved the request a day later. The orders went through on Sept. 15, and while Bush had missed the Sept. 9-10 unit training assembly, the document noted he could make the next two. Bush’s Officer Military Record shows an Oct. 1, 1973, discharge from the Texas Air National Guard and transfer to the Alabama unit.

Another White House-released document shows a total of 56 points Bush apparently earned during this 12-month period, but it’s awarded in one lump sum rather than credited for each training period. But this document also contains an error, listing Bush’s status as “PLT On-Fly” — meaning he was on flight status — when he had not been for a year. This, said retired Army Lt. Col. Gerald A. Lechliter, who has done an in-depth analysis of Bush’s pay records (www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/opinion/lechliter.pdf), makes the form’s authenticity suspect.

There’s also the record of a Jan. 6, 1973, dental exam performed on Bush at Dannelly Air National Guard Base, Ala. There’s nothing that documents why Bush, who reportedly returned to Texas after the election, didn’t get this work done closer to home.

Bush’s attendance and participation in weekend drills had been meticulously recorded up through May 1972. But other than the points record and the dental exam record, the year following Bush’s request for reassignment to Alabama is a blank.

In a fitness report supplement released by the White House this year, an administrative officer wrote, “Not rated for the period 1 May 72 through 30 Apr 73. Report for this period not available for administrative reasons.”

In the remarks section, Killian wrote that Bush “has not been observed at this unit during the period of report. … He cleared this base on 15 May 1972 and has been performing equivalent training in a non flying status” with the Alabama unit. Bush, however, was only authorized to be gone from September to November.

whut really gits me bout all this is how we a'gone eleck our presdent on the basis of how well a campain is cunducted, not how well eethur of the two candidates wood perform as presdent. with a media sleepin at the wheel, the rules git to whar ye kin tell inny lie bout yer opponent n ifn he dont lie back, ye claim he aint fit to lead the moral charge fer harts n minds agin the terrists.

fer that, ye need sumbidy who lies so well he even bleeves his own lies, witch thats thonly way ye kin splain how mr bush claims the chattel property status of afghan women is progress tords freedum or how iraq is on the march to freedum n demockrussy. fack is, the insurgency is alreddy a civil war n he wont even add mitt it, even tho the number of cities they call 'no go zones' n the number of ded colishun fiters n iraqis keeps a gittin higher.

let freedom reign?