Why isn't Powerline on your blogroll?

The importance of Texas Penal Code 32.21(a)(1)(F) will begin to hit home today.

If it's 2 or more government documents, burden shifts to defendant - the document package is almost like "contraband."

The very fact that they are in your hands (or fax machine) extablishes intent. Sorta like being in bed with a minor...your good faith belief that, "I thought she was 18," is irrelevant. Strict liability crime.

Again, a curious little Texas statute that will play a bigger and bigger role.....

***
Penal 32.21

b) A person commits an offense if he forges [or transfers or publishes] a writing with intent to defraud or harm another.

(f) A person is presumed to intend to defraud or harm another if the person acts with respect to two or more writings of the same type and if each writing is a government record...

Look I live in the DFW Texas area. Something really bothers me about Burkett's Houston trip. He says he stops in Waco to copy the docs. But if I were going to Abilene from Houston I would take I 45 to I 20. Nowhere near Waco. There is not a good route that takes you thru Waco. You would be on a bunch of contry roads and constantly changing.

Not dispositive but it sure makes me wonder if the same Burkett who lied to CBS about his source initially, is now lying again.

Why would he protect a Lucy Ramirez who he did not know and never met.

I wonder if these documents are just saved on the Kinkos hard drives? He typed them himself and is now just trying to protect himself from the "retaliation" that his paranoid delusional rantings convince him are about to come.

"After he received the documents in Houston, Burkett said, he drove home, stopping on the way at a Kinko's shop in Waco to copy the six memos. In the parking lot outside, he said, he burned the ones he had been given and the envelope they were in."

To explain away lies and details on which he fears he might be caught he concocts an over-elaborate lie.

interesting to me: the seizure points to a post-encephalitic epilepsy.

In other wors, any doubts I had about him forging, or helping to forge, the memos is gone.

Exactly. The juicy details distract from other relevant parts of the story.

This entire Burkett story sounds like it's from some cheesy spy novel. Burning originals in a parking lot to cover up possible forensic evidence, putting documents in "cold storage", clandestine meeting with mysterious stranger, treating papers like tnt, paranoia about protecting a source you never met or saw. Curiouser and curiouser.

On todays show a new episode of

"Spot the looney"

- Just watched Lockhart on FOX....In the words of another era "You could tell he was lying...His lips were moving..."

- Lockhart didn't see anything wrong with a major programing producer calling him and passing along the fact that there was... "a guy you should talk to that has some stuff that will help you "fight back" against the swiftboat thing"...

- The implecation was that this sort of thing goes on all the time... interesting.....

- I guess we know who the point woman was in this whole messy epic. "Whats the thing about Mary". Well her father claims she got into broadcasting as a way to further her "extreme feminists" views and he's ashamed of the things she has done over the years. The bigger question is why CBS would put someone with such extreme left wing views in a high position of influence within its organization.

- Lockhart insists there was no Quid pro quo. He wants us to believe that as a high ranking member of a current candidates presidential campaign he is willing to make blind phone calls to anyone who is recommended by CBS. The rest of the MSM must be dripping with jeolousy.....

- But with all the contacts back and forth over a period of months coupled with the timing of the DNC "fortunate son" launch, which included references to the fake documents, and the coordinated timing of public statements by Dem senators doing the same, there is plenty of pizza sauce clinging to everyone.

- When you look back over the last 2 months at all of the maleprops that have been done in Kerry's name you almost have to say with supporters like this who needs an opponent...

interesting to me: the seizure points to a post-encephalitic epilepsy.

Or he's faking.

The bigger question is why CBS would put someone with such extreme left wing views in a high position of influence within its organization.

Because they don't see how her views are extremist.

Totally OT rant:
1. Who the hell calls it 'The Houston Livestock Show?' Yes, the official name is 'The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo', but as a longtime H-town resident it is, was, and always will be the RODEO! Even if you were hanging out in the stockyards.

2. Mardi Gras my a$$! Not nearly enough parades, nudity or vomit.

3. What a terrible spy. This has all the intelligence of a monkey f***ing a football. Talk about a man with an inflated sense of his own importance!

4. Did he keep his ticket stub? Has anyone spoken to his wife about his whereabouts during Rodeo time? Can he corroborate anything?

/rant

With respect to my fellow Texan, Gary Maxwell, the route through Waco is one of the few things that makes sense. Picking up Hwy 6 at Eastland (or going south to Hwy 36 through Cross Plains/Rising Star to Hwy 6) makes sense to me. It's easy to take 6/290 all the way in to Houston. I've driven that general route many times with a deer camp near Gorman and living in College Station.

sarahw "interesting to me: the seizure points to a post-encephalitic epilepsy"

You're way off base. The seizure points to a trance while Burkett attempts to contact Houdini.

Burkett received the memos in March. He says he was under severe pressure from CBS to give them the memos until September 5 when he handed them all over.

Maybe Mapes at CBS had "seen" the memos before, and that's why she was so interested in them, and in getting them officially "handed over" to CBS.

Once the focus shifts to determining who Ramirez is, the trail may as well go cold. Suppose we never find her -- look at his story: Maybe she gave a fake name to Burkett; she didn't show up in person in Houston so Burkett can't even give a description. Very convenient for him, no?

I doubt Ramirez even exists -- [dons tinfoil hat] but just in case, has anyone seen Yvette Lozano recently? She used a pseudonym ("Amy Smith") when she sent those debate tapes to Downey. She's out of jail by now, yes? [removes tinfoil hat]

A couple of things:

The bigger question is why CBS would put someone with such extreme left wing views in a high position of influence within its organization.

Employers can't control or prohibit different political ideologies held by people in the newsroon, they are only supposed to refuse to let it bleed into coverage. Remember, this is a two-way ideological street ...

Regarding Burkett's condition - everything that I've read leads me to believe that the man is genuinely ill.

In today's Chicago Tribune, page 14, end of story continued from Page 1 "CBS Apologizes for Guard Story" the last two paragraphs:

"Before the story aired, Rather said he had interviewed Burkett about the documents and how he obtained them. Rather said his reporting on Burkett's background was one of the reasons for confidence in the story.
"'When we talked to people in his home community in Texas,' Rather said, 'even those people that didn't like him said he's a truth-teller.'"

Burkett a truth-teller? What planet does Rather live on?

Message from Planet Rather: "Burkett! What's the frequency..."

On MSNBC this morning Lockhart said (my paraphrasing):

a) Mary Mapes told him that she was working on the Bush National Guard story and suggested he call Bill Burkett.

b) that when he talked to Burkett they *DID NOT* talk about the Documents or even the National Guard story but instead talked only about the SwiftVets.

Seems rather odd to say the least!

Note that Mr. Burkett's lawyers, Mr. Van Os and Mr. Quintanilla, are also power players in Texas Democrat politics (http://www.blogoram.com/000682.php#000682). Mr. Van Os is Travis County Democrat Party Chairman and was one of the lawyers who went to Florida to try to steal the election for Al Gore. Mr. Quintanilla is Election 2004 Planning Chair for the Bexar County Democrats.

Whose interests are they really serving? Mr. Burkett's? Or the Democrat Party's? Or in this case, do the two coincide? If they can successfully defend Mr. Burkett and make this look like incompetence and bias on the part of CBS, they will just coincidentally be creating distance between the scandal and the Kerry campaign.

I wonder if we're about to see a war between CBS and the Democrats to see who gets tarred?

Good comments all.. I respond to Hunter though...

Check out Cox and Forkum

Perhaps Lucy Ramirez is the chupacabra in diguise. That would explain meeting at a livestock show!

Employers can't control or prohibit different political ideologies held by people in the newsroon, they are only supposed to refuse to let it bleed into coverage.

Bill,
The problem is not that Mapes was an ideolouge employed by CBS, but that CBS ignored her idealogical zeal to the point that they let her do anything she wanted and respected her enough to believe that she truly did her due dilligence.

"Perhaps Lucy Ramirez is the chupacabra in diguise." Great find, Brett. I hit the link and learned something entirely new. In reading the definition of chupacabra and ABEs (Anomolous Biological Entities) I found myself reflecting on John Kerry instead of Lucy. Does anybody else notice the pattern here... John Kerry has a mood swing, declares an alternate reality and good people start falling on their swords trying to protect him. John Kerry is a one-man wrecking crew. Everyone the Brahmin touches seems to suffer for Kerry's dilletantism, however high the personal cost, as Kerry just holds his nose up and orates his way onward to the next elitely-divined decree.

I put up a theory on Lucy Ramirez at Rathergate.com.

I think its a little bit of clever misdirection by Mr. Burkett, but there is a Lucy Ramirez that fits the bill as a fraud.

Lucy Ramierez, Kaiser Sosa whatever. This story is ridiculous. From the rodeo stuff taken right from that james bond movie to all the other silly stuff the man is in a fantasy world. And this over the top fantasy is quite consistent with his previous fantasies. I think he forged them, but maybe he was a catspaw for the DNC. Its almost impossible to say since this is clearly irrational, which is why he makes such a great catspaw.

The aging lazy denizens of MSM absolutely do NOT understand the digital world.

Did either Rather or USA Today ask Burkett if he had a computer? If yes, they should have demanded a mirror image of his hard drive.

If Burkett doesn't have a computer, how about mirroring the Kinko's hard drives and searching them?

'Cause it's very hard to completely eliminate all traces of a document on a PC . . . . . .

Why the heck would Mapes/CBS call Cleland/Lockhart to suggest that they contact Burkett? It’s a lame claim... Burkett had many avenues to get to the Kerry campaign if he had real and legitimate information to give them. Assume for a moment that he contacted them first - they would likely direct him to a simpatico in the media to exploit the information. The lame claim indicates that something else must have occured. It attempts to mitigate any damage that phone records would do by suggesting that such contacts were just innocent, if unethical trifles. Acceptance of such ethical culpability without a much bigger fight is too simple. The truth must be much more damning.

Assume that Burkett was a dupe just like he says. He’s been making inconsistent silly wild-ass claims for years, proving his pliability. He’s contacted by a fictitious Lucy Ramirez dangling bait to bolster his fantasies and a secret meeting is set. At the rendezvous he is given the forgeries in an envelope by a mysterious stranger who instructs him to burn the envelope to destroy any forensic evidence. Rather than shop the forgeries around, he is contacted by Mapes/CBS... what a coincidence!

From the south we have: Fictional Ramirez —> Mysterious Stranger —> Burkett

From the north we have: Cleland/Lockhart —> Mapes/CBS —> Burkett

Looks like a duck to me!

As guilty as these guys look, don't overlook the possibility that the real culprit(s) come from the family of MoveOn.org assassins (ie TexansforTruth.org who laid out the bill of particulars long before this story broke. These guys may just be useful idiots and fellow travelers.

The question is who's driving the smear? The DNC ... the campaign ... MoveOn.org??

Going from Abilene to Houston through Waco makes more sense on a map than it does on the ground.

I-45 to I-20 is longer but likely faster, unless you're going to be in Dallas/Ft Worth or Houston during high traffic times.

The next likely route is Hwy 36, which passes south of Waco and goes more directly to Abilene. Both Hwy 6 and 36 go through a lot of little towns, which is slower (but more interesting) than the interstates. I've noticed that folks who grew up before the interstates tend to favor the more direct routes.

Chosing a route also depends on where in Houston you're going: it's a big place.

There is certainly nothing incredible about going through Waco, though it's a little strange.

Hi Gang,

"Burkett now maintains that the source of the papers was Lucy Ramirez, who he says phoned him from Houston in March to offer the documents".

I'm certain that I saw somewhere a reference to these docs existsed PRIOR to March of this year. I think I saw it in a search on Mape's father.

Anyone remember?

ButchI'm certain that I saw somewhere a reference to the fact that these docs existsed PRIOR to March of this year. I think I saw it in a search on Mape's father.

Anyone remember?

Butch

How likely is it that Lucy Ramirez is familiar with American military jargon, as the author of the Rather documents must have been? Beyond that, how likely is it that she would have used Army jargon, as opposed to Air Force jargon?