There is another article on this situation at www.hjnews.com...fourth item down.

This is the problem with liberal arts scholarship. How does a guy with a PhD put out such shoddy, probably dishonest, work?

I tell you why, he's field can create their own reality, where nothing can be proved or disproved with any degree of certainty.

Hailey is trying to prove that the sun "could" be revolving around the earth by watching the sun rise and set and ignoring the moon and the stars.

I'm with JFH 100%. Fucking arrogant academic pricks. They were never able to cut it in the real world, so they spend their lives criticizing those who can. Tenure is a very evil thing.

Wow, a university and professor being less than candid. I'm shocked! I gotta lay down!

It is indeed a major problem with liberal arts scholarship. (I have an M.A. in English myself, which I got very recently, so I observed... and maybe even practiced... some of it myself.)

Where in most disciplines, Occam's Razor is right there on top of the tools in the box, in some of the humanities it's buried so far down not many even think it has any use. The aim of most criticism of literature these days is to show how the words don't mean what they denote.

There's something about his argumentation in this "paper" that reminds me of Kerry discussing multilateralism and outsourcing in the Thursday debate too.

Great work on deconstructing his text.

Kevin:

Keep the faith, you've got them on the run.
Change of Subject.
The New York Times is shilling that Kerry is in perfect health except for war shrapnel. I think we should get a new nickname and motto for the NYTimes

From the Old Gray Lady to To Old Gray Shady or Old Gray Queen in light of the 75% Gay Editorial Board

All the News Fit to Print - All The News Fit to Invent.

Anyways - happy Saturday

The very first attempt at discrediting a conservative is to call whatever he's said or done as "mean spirited". It doesn't matter that the original attempt to pass these forgeries off was an overt attempt to hijack a presidential election and based strictly on hatred. All the subsequent attempts to lend any credibility are operating from and supporting the very same hatred. If lying to further a cause based on hatred, then lying even more to support that cause is not "mean spirited" then what is? If your viewpoint needs dishonesty to legitimize itself then your viewpoint is dishonest and illegitimate.

"It's not a political issue, it's an academic one."

The invocation of "academic," to university types, is blanket inoculation from any meaningful criticism (except in the sciences, where rationality still reigns).

This also implies the absurd notion that university english departments (Hailey is a English prof) aren't political. They are intensely political, and one is judged by ideology (based primarily on the Holy Trinity of race, gender, and class). I wonder if a professed conservative holds a tenured position in that particular English department, or any other humanities department for that matter.

Academics are first and foremost political; the waving of the "academic" flag is comical.

In any case, Wizbang's criticism's were not political; they were based on the emprirical evidence and common knowledge about the CBS documents.

The Universtity should address the merits, and stop throwing marshmellows around.

I exempt all the hard sciences from the above comments.

"Whoever it is," Hall said of the e-mails, "is clearly trying to intimidate the university and trying to intimidate Professor Hailey."

You big bullies!!

And wouldn't the "worst kind of smear" to a university be a dishonest professor doing half-assed research work?

Hailey's qualifications?

His CV lists a PhD in Technical Communication and Critical Theory from U. New Mexico; do they even HAVE such a department there?

Given the squishy title of his thesis (The Objective Metaphors: An Examination of Objects as Metaphors and Metaphors as Objects) I'd love to look at it, but can't find it on ProQuest (UMI.com dissertation abstracts).

I assume it exists (cough cough). Has anyone else it?

I don't understand why the university intends to be so aggresive about this. It's quite obvious that Hailey's work is wrong. And frankly, as popular as Wizbangblog is, its audience is still relatively small, and the Haileygate story still relatively unknown, compared to if it had broken on, oh, CBS SIXTY MINUTES II.

I have to think it would be in the university's best interest to avoid elevating this to another level. Should they respond? Sure. Forcefully, if the feel like it? Sure. But I think it should be in their best interest to let it continue in the blog channel for now, not the mainstream media. Because, frankly, Hailey's work on this was truly horrible, and the last they want to do is embarrass him and the university by casting brighter light upon it.

Yo, Kevin! The Utah paper is named the Deseret News, NOT the Desert News. There's an extra "e" in the name, for reasons that are obscured by history.

robusto, let's not go down the road of forged qualifications, departments that don't exist, and what not. I think it is safe to assume that the university vetted his qualifications when he was hired.

Oh, by the way, its Deseret News, not Desert News.

A small nit -- it is "Deseret News" (with the third 'e') not "Desert News."

I disagree that Newcomer is a 'peer' of Hailey. Newcomer's qualifications are vastly superior. Hailey's work is not only sloppy, but many of his statements are incomprehensible gobbledegook. And as far as the visual "evidence" goes, I see quite a number of differences.

The LGF/Charles Johnson overlay is deadly. The fact that it could be produced with default settings is dispositive, in my book. Hailey's work, which obviously requires extensive hand-nurturing AND still does not produce a direct LGF-like overlay, is inconsequential and unworthy of serious attention.

With people like Newcomer along with experts from Adobe saying that the CBS memos are unquestionably the product of modern word processing, the only credible challenge would be for someone to come forward WITH AN ACTUAL TYPEWRITER, roll a piece of paper into it, and produce ALL FOUR MEMOS in a form that overlays with the CBS memos as closely as the LGF overlay. Hint: It can't be done. No one could manually achieve the centering of the headings -- and no one has yet come forward with a comparable superscript 'th' exemplar from any typewriter ever manufactured.

"Deseret" is a word from the Book of Mormon which refers to the honey bee. When the Mormons first settled in what became Utah, Brigham Young called it the kingdom of Deseret to encourage the people to be as industrious as bees. That's why Utah's state flag and seal feature a beehive, and its motto is "Industry."

The Deseret Morning News is owned by the LDS church. The other daily paper in Utah is the Salt Lake Tribune which was founded by anti-Mormons. This history is probably why Salt Lake City still has two daily papers, when most cities its size have been reduced to one. The church keeps ownership of the DesNews mostly so that it can tell its own side on issues when it gets attacked. Otherwise, it's pretty moderately conservative, and I'm not even sure the editors are LDS.

"trying to intimidate Professor Hailey"

I have not attempted to contact the university or Hailey.

I sincerely hope all researchers are "intimdated" out of publishing shoddy and/or dishonest work.

I sincerely hope the University has enough integrity to let Hailey suffer the results of his own failings.

"It is not a political issue, it is an academic one."
Damn straight. Your ivory tower just started to teeter.

Of great interest would be to discover if the worthy Prof Hailey undertook this 'research' on his own nickle (meaning that his 'research' took place during his own personal time - after normal teaching and office hours, using his own hardware and software {we know that the intermediate stages and results of his 'research' were parked on the University's servers}). Or did he undertake this 'research' as contract work for, say, Mapes? I presume there are some rules regarding contract work using university (i.e. state-owned) equipment, including rules whether some sort of reimbursement on the part of the 'researcher' to the University is expected or mandatory.
Although I have spent many years creating documents in FrameMaker and supporting graphics in PhotoShop, I have never undertaken to create a purported text document letter by letter in ransom-note fashion using PhotoShop, so I can't estimate the investment in time that such 'research' would take. With all the smudging, fudging, budging and nudging of characters, it must have been considerable. Anyone care to hazard a guess? If USU is like most campuses, classes started about Sept. 1. I suspect this 'research' started immediately after RatherGate unfolded, which means lots of scrambling about during the last couple of weeks. Suppose any of Dr. H's students were dragooned into this? Or that a regularly scheduled class here and there was suspended to make time for the 'research'?
Finally, if there are pecuniary aspects to this shoddy saga or if some students have been cheated out of scheduled class time, I can imagine that one of the local politicos in Democratic hotbed Utah, or maybe one of the local media outlets, would be interested in asking pertinent questions about professorial ethics.

Let me tell you. If Kevin has Dr. Newcomer on his side, the staff at USU are going to humbled beyond their wildest imaginations. I noticed the University called it a "smear tactic" right away. I wonder if they had time to read it.

Reading the thing is like reading those "opinion papers" we had to write in 8th grade. He simply declares things to be true that are fantasy.

He claims he knows the font but won't tell us.

If I were the head of the University, I'd read Dr. Newcomer's site, then I'd read Hailey's. Then I'd call Dr. Newcomer and discuss it.

Then I'd ask Hailey to remove his work and post an apology. That's IF I didn't fire him for embarrassing the hell out me.

I think it is safe to assume that the university vetted his qualifications when he was hired.

That's not really that a safe assumption. I'm not saying THIS guy is a fake, but that it's happened often enough that it's a possibility.

Still, as Dan S invoked Occam's Razor, it's safer to assume the guy has a valid, if worthless, set of degrees.

Obviously, there is another war being fought out there besides the War on Terror. It's the public vs the MSM and their enablers.

The dishonesty has to stop and until people like Rather are fired, it will continue. They are going along like nothing happened. We have to keep the pressure on these frauds.

whatsa matta u... doesnt anyone ever compare the headings on both memos...they are identical down to the flaws in the 3's(300x).... they are either copies or typeset as in headings at a printer.. and then run off in a 1000(ie) page run

What's wrong guys, you haven't talked about the debate at all. Kerry crushed Bush. Now the polls will says so also. Newswek is first:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6159637/site/newsweek/

In the first national telephone poll using a fresh sample, NEWSWEEK found the race now statistically tied among all registered voters, 47 percent of whom say they would vote for Kerry and 45 percent for George W. Bush in a three-way race.

Removing Independent candidate Ralph Nader, who draws 2 percent of the vote, widens the Kerry-Edwards lead to three points with 49 percent of the vote versus the incumbent’s 46 percent. Four weeks ago the Republican ticket, coming out of a successful convention in New York, enjoyed an 11-point lead over Kerry-Edwards with Bush pulling 52 percent of the vote and the challenger just 41 percent.

OUCH

"Technical Communication and Critical Theory" Ph.d.

This is a fancy name for an english prof these days. "Critical theory" is a postmodern neologism for their verbose meanderings; rest assured, it's neither "critical," nor is it "theory," as those terms are understood in the real world.

If you know the vocabulary of "hegemonic, patriarchal, imperialist, oppressive, logocentric, racist, rational, etc", you too can be a "critical theorist," and begin your personal crusade against the Enlightenment. It's little wonder that, with such training, Hailey doesn't understand such things as evidence, constructing a rational argument, or full disclosure of methodology.

As an academic, I felt I need to point this out:

NOT ALL ACADEMICS ARE LIKE MR. HAILEY OR THE USU.

Many of us are often held to strict, strict standards. Especially when not just opining, but putting out a piece of work that has been researched.

Even if a purely academic endeavor that Mr. Hailey intended to do, this does not stand up academically. Aside from Dr. Newcomer, I would like to see any English professor give an opinion on Hailey's writing. When not writing for creative purposes, meaning, when one is writing for research and to provide information, it is NOT appropriate to use dodgy and subversive language.

Could you imagine if a lawyer wrote a divorce paper that completely circumvented any point he was trying to make? If this is academic research, not creative, then Mr. Hailey KNOWS he should have been clear and concise. A research paper is not the place to argue "Well, by typewriter and typed on a machine I meant my computer." Surely SOMEWHERE along the path to his Creative Writing and Fine Arts degree, he mus have taken at least ONE research and writing class.

(BTW, the Utahns at my school, of which there are quite a few, acknowledge that the Univ of S. Utah isn't exactly a pillar of academic pride and prestige, even in Utah.)

I take it the university is telling bloggers they have no right to critize Hailey's work. In doing so is a smear campaign. Does this mean anything he purports is not to be challenged by anyone? The university needs to get a grip and get over it.
If Hailey is stupid enough to post something that shoddy and not expect to be taken to task for it, he truely lives in Lala land.
Just like the stink over Rathergate, and now the other coiffured hot house lilies are backing him up, they can expect the same kind of critical monitoring. Hailey freely volunteered to join this questionable club, so now he has to pay the same dues.
They are certainly of the same ilk and odor.

And I agree with whomever mentioned it above, I touched on the credentials that USU is percieved to have even to Utahns.

Not to insult a degree from a community college in ANY manner at all, but when you look at Mr. Hailey's background, and look at Dr. Newcomber's... it's not even a comparison. Further, to call Dr. Newcomer a "peer" of Mr. Hailey is stretching the word to its limitations.

I encourage Mr. Hailey and the USU to take a look at Dr. Newcomer's creditials, they will most definitely be humbled.

I have to go poopy. hahahahahaha. Pthbbbbbbbb!! I got it all over my bottom. Does anyone have a spare roll of toilet paper? I have to go pee-pee. Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. hahahahahaha. poo-poo and pee-pee, poo-poo and pee-pee. Yaaay!! hahahahahahahaha. Diareeah! haha!

Hey, Kevin, aren't you supposed to be some kinda knuckle dragger in a pair of pajamas? How dare you bring credentials and reason into this. When your betters (the elites of academia and the wise-folk of the media) attack you with cries of "smear tactics" and accusations of being "mean-spirited" and the like, don't you know you're supposed to bow down to their greatness and humbly beg their forgiveness!? But nooooooo, you respond with further thoughtful analysis and firm conviction - what are you, some kinda troublemaker or something?

Excellent work. Keep up the good fight, the voice of the unwashed masses gets louder every day.

-W

(BTW, the Utahns at my school, of which there are quite a few, acknowledge that the Univ of S. Utah isn't exactly a pillar of academic pride and prestige, even in Utah.)

AJ, you're confusing USU with SUU.

Utah State University, the one in Logan, Utah, has several excellent departments. The EE department, for example, has a highly active and renowned space sciences arm. Remember that space tether experiment that flew on the shuttle a few years ago? That was USU (rumor has it the failure was NASA's fault; they insisted that a bolt be added in a location that caused the tether to be jammed).

Southern Utah University in Cedar City was, until recently, Souther Utah State College, a two-year institution. They, along with other state colleges, branched out to include some four-year programs and petitioned the state board of regents for the right to call themselves a University. AFAIK, they are most famous for the annual Shakespeare festival. And their team won the Robot Rivals competition last time 'round, despite the penchant of the Robot Rivals TV crew for displaying the University of Utah logo (UofU is the one in Salt Lake City) instead of the SUU logo (whatever that is).

Dr. Hailey works for USU, the one in Logan with an excellent engineering department.

(full disclosure: I graduated from USU in '86 with a BA in Philosophy after having been tossed out of both EE and CS. I never encountered Dr. Hailey and had few dealings with the English department)

USU's first reaction is to protect academic freedom, which is understandable if Hailey has been receiving mean-spirited emails.

But academic institutions have their own standards, don't they? As an academic who is asserting academic freedom, doesn't Hailey have an obligation to publish his results in a way that can be verified or disproven? That's what Dr. Newcomer has done.

For example, a biology professor at USU who publishes a paper will explain her experiment so that any other scholar in the field can confirm or refute the findings. It's not accepted as scholarship until others repeat the experiment and verify it.

At a minimum, Hailey should immediately indentify precisely where he obtained each letter in his comparison document, so that, for example, Dr. Newcomer can test the conflusions in Hailey's work. He should also explain how he substituted the superscript "th" -- especially given that character's starring role in all the analyses done to date. He should also explain why he used the "th" he used. There are lots of other letters and numbers that sure don't look like they came from the font Hailey identified. As a scholar, he should identify the source.

I am sure that the scholars and administration will agree with this request, right? Or is it their position that it still counts as scholarship when the methods are concealed and no one can attempt to verify the scholar's procedure? Does it count as "sholarship" at USU when the methodology is so carefully hidden away?

Remember, this is the state who's other university research triumph was "cold fusion."

Garbage scholarship then, garbage scholarship now.

Yes, I know cold fusion came from the University of Utah...

CONGRATS ... Blogers are now a JIHAD !!

"Brokaw blasted what he called an attempt to "demonize" CBS and Rather on the Internet, where complaints about the report first surfaced. He said the criticism "goes well beyond any factual information."

"What I think is highly inappropriate is what going on across the Internet, a kind of political jihad ... that is quite outrageous," the NBC anchor said at a panel on which all three men spoke."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041003/ap_on_en_tv/rather_anchors

When criticising someone, it is important to think about your own objectives. Are you simply infuriated and blowing off steam? Or are you genuinely trying to make the other person see the error of his ways? Some (but not all) of the communications I have seen thrown towards Hailey and his school fall into the blowing off steam category - when you let yourself do this, don't expect any sort of rational communications back, nor expect the receiving person to r