My wife was a Medical Technologist, and we have watched entirely too many
forensics shows, so much so that we have assembled our own list of things to
do to when planning to perpetrate a crime against someone, based on how
culprits have been caught. But part of what makes at least some part of the
shows interesting are those analysts who have specialized in a field, or
even had to study a field that had not previously existed. One case hinged
on the analyst demonstrating the a leather glove print not only matched the
glove that the police recovered from the suspect, but could not match any
other leather glove. When the defense attorney asked if the forensics
analyst was an expert on glove prints, the judge in the case observed that
he had become one.

Before we knew of fingerprints, there were those who specialized in
detecting forgeries, or, on the other side of the coin, demonstrating that a
given medium came from a particular source. While I have not bothered
following this story that closely (although I am waiting for one of our list
members to accuse Dan Rather of lying about the memos in the same way the
Bush lied about WMDs, and another list member to acknowledge that while
anyone could have sent a film crew to Iraq under Saddam, CBS can send a man
to Texas and return him safely to the news room in the current decade),
surely there are actual specialists, people who analyze documents and faxes
eight hours a day five days a week, who can weigh in with expert opinions.
CBS could have even hired a few of them, for less than the current debacle
is costing.

In the mean time, while waiting for the conclusion of Rathergate to actually
conclude, my wife and I are taking notes, so we can visit our AWOL Senator's
local offices (or just say we did), and fax a few documents to Fox News.
And, I have a system shutdown and restart to prepare for. See you in the
funny papers.

Greg Stigers
Kerry and Edwards for U.S. Senate

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