Bulge-spotting: The new national sport

Yow. Real life drags me away from the internet for one lousy day, and just look at all the material that piles up!

We have much bulge-gate material to deal with -- and more to come over the weekend, if my own researches pan out. ("Bulge-gate" is the term David Lindorff prefers, and I'll follow his lead. Some dislike the "-gate" suffix, but it always gives me a warm, nostalgic feeling...)

First: Salon runs an interview with a NASA research scientist, Dr. Robert M. Nelson, who says, in effect, "Yep, that's a bulge there." A lot of us have said the same thing, but I guess it means more coming from Dr. Nelson, because he works for NASA and is a professional photo analyst.

Now, he is certainly welcome on board -- but what new evidence does he bring? He offers up a photographic enhancement similar to one I received from a reader a couple of weeks ago. Basically, the technique involves using the sharpening tool in Photoshop, thereby strengthening the outline of whatever-the-hell lurks beneath that jacket. He used several frames to help separate signal from noise, but (as I have found through my own experiments) one can achieve much the same result using a single image.

Some may question Nelson's approach. I use Photoshop professionally every day, and I know that the "sharpen" tool can occasionally create misleading artifacts -- although (let us quickly add) this technique is standard practice in scientific imaging.

The bulge-spotters' argument may be better served if we keep these pictures as far as possible from the Adobe treatment. Any use of Photoshop, however innocent in intention, allows Bush apologists to howl that evil librul hoaxters concocted the entire controversy.

(Actually, they made that very accusation at the very beginning of this debate. Then they stopped saying anything.)

In my view, some of these photos are damning enough without enhancement.

On the other hand, I've no objection to using Photoshop to create side-by-side comparisons. One interesting example can be found here, which makes the case that W is wearing a defibrillator. I've devoted some space to this theory, but I lean against it. The "Lifecor" vest seems too big. But my mind's still not made up. Come to your own conclusion...

Rumor has it that the bulge can be seen in this video clip, as Bush walks away from the cameras after informing the world that Osama Bin Laden is still a very bad man. To my eyes, this evidence seems iffy, though not quite so lame as Bush's little speech.

If you want the opinion of a professional equipper to the spies, check out this interview with Jason Woodside, owner of San Francisco's International Spy Shop -- the Bay Area's answer to Q. He says that Bush's "poorly tailored shirt" looks more like a "wireless induction system."

As you probably already know, the latest installment of Doonesbury's "bulge-gate" series got the strip in trouble, though not because of the bulge per se. Trudeau had some fun with Cheney's penchant for potty-mouth remarks. Since the word "fuck" was not spelled out, I really don't see what the big deal is here...

Finally, we have more cryptic words from our old friend, "Brad Menfil," the alleged Republican bigwig who claims to be shocked and outraged by all the horrible things the Bush team is doing. But not shocked enough to take a stand and tell us who he really is and how he knows what what he says he knows. Lots of folks think Brad's a disinformation dispenser. But hey -- if there's nothing to the bulge story, what need of disinformation?