[Mb-civic] NASA photo analyst: Bush wore a device during debate

[Cheeseburger]

NASA photo analyst: Bush wore a device during debate

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/29/bulge/

Physicist says imaging techniques prove the president's bulge was not 
caused by wrinkled clothing.


Oct. 29, 2004 | George W. Bush tried to laugh off the bulge. "I don't know 
what that is," he said on "Good Morning America" on Wednesday, referring to 
the infamous protrusion beneath his jacket during the presidential debates. 
"I'm embarrassed to say it's a poorly tailored shirt."

Dr. Robert M. Nelson, however, was not laughing. He knew the president was 
not telling the truth. And Nelson is neither conspiracy theorist nor 
midnight blogger. He's a senior research scientist for NASA and for 
Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and an international authority on 
image analysis. Currently he's engrossed in analyzing digital photos of 
Saturn's moon Titan, determining its shape, whether it contains craters or 
canyons.

For the past week, while at home, using his own computers, and off the 
clock at Caltech and NASA, Nelson has been analyzing images of the 
president's back during the debates. A professional physicist and photo 
analyst for more than 30 years, he speaks earnestly and thoughtfully about 
his subject. "I am willing to stake my scientific reputation to the 
statement that Bush was wearing something under his jacket during the 
debate," he says. "This is not about a bad suit. And there's no way the 
bulge can be described as a wrinkled shirt."

Nelson and a scientific colleague produced the photos from a videotape, 
recorded by the colleague, who has chosen to remain anonymous, of the first 
debate. The images provide the most vivid details yet of the bulge beneath 
the president's suit. Amateurs have certainly had their turn at examining 
the bulge, but no professional with a résumé as impressive as Nelson's has 
ventured into public with an informed opinion. In fact, no one to date has 
enhanced photos of Bush's jacket to this degree of precision, and revealed 
what appears to be some kind of mechanical device with a wire snaking up 
the president's shoulder toward his neck and down his back to his waist.

Nelson stresses that he's not certain what lies beneath the president's 
jacket. He offers, though, "that it could be some type of electronic device 
-- it's consistent with the appearance of an electronic device worn in that 
manner." The image of lines coursing up and down the president's back, 
Nelson adds, is "consistent with a wire or a tube."

Nelson used the computer software program Photoshop to enhance the texture 
in Bush's jacket. The process in no way alters the image but sharpens its 
edges and accents the creases and wrinkles. You've seen the process 
performed a hundred times on "CSI": pixelated images are magnified to 
reveal a clear definition of their shape.

Bruce Hapke, professor emeritus of planetary science in the department of 
geology and planetary science at the University of Pittsburgh, reviewed the 
Bush images employed by Nelson, whom he calls "a very highly respected 
scientist in his field." Hapke says Nelson's process of analyzing the 
images are the "exact same methods we use to analyze images taken by 
spacecraft of planetary surfaces. It does not introduce any artifacts into 
the picture in any way."

How can Nelson be certain there's some kind of mechanical device beneath 
Bush's jacket? It's all about light and shadows, he says. The angles at 
which the light in the studio hit Bush's jacket expose contours that fit no 
one's picture of human anatomy and wrinkled shirts. And Nelson compared the 
images to anatomy texts. He also experimented with wrinkling shirts in 
various configurations, wore them under his jacket under his bathroom 
light, and couldn't produce anything close to the Bush bulge.

In the enhanced photo of the first debate, Nelson says, look at the 
horizontal white line in middle of the president's back. You'll see a 
shadow. "That's telling me there's definitely a bulge," he says. "In fact, 
it's how we measure the depths of the craters on the moon or on Mars. We 
look at the angle of the light and the length of shadow they leave. In this 
case, that's clearly a crater that's under the horizontal line -- it's 
clearly a rim of a bulge protruding upward, one due to forces pushing it up 
from beneath."

Hapke, too, agrees that the bulge is neither anatomy nor a wrinkled shirt. 
"I would think it's very hard to avoid the conclusion that there's 
something underneath his jacket," he says. "It would certainly be 
consistent with some kind of radio receiver and a wire."

Nelson admits that he's a Democrat and plans to vote for John Kerry. But he 
takes umbrage at being accused of partisanship. "Everyone wants to think my 
colleague and I are just a bunch of dope-crazed ravaged Democrats who are 
looking to insult the president at the last minute," he says. "And that's 
not what this is about. This is scientific analysis. If the bulge were on 
Bill Clinton's back and he was lying about it, I'd have to say the same thing."

"Look, he says, "I'm putting myself at risk for exposing this. But this is 
too important. It's not about my reputation. If they force me into an early 
retirement, it'll be worth it if the public knows about this. It's 
outrageous statements that I read that the president is wearing nothing 
under there. There's clearly something there."

=======


Literally "plugged in", heh.  Hilarious.  The guy is a boob.  I can just 
see Karl Rove or someone on the transmitter end babbling this and that and 
poor W. doing his best not to have a psychotic episode while trying to 
listen and talk at the same time.  There must have been a LOT of buzzing 
going on in his ear as Kerry was speaking.

Oh well, amazing stuff never ends it seems.

Unless Bush is being ridden by a very thin alien from outer space 
controlling him, then half of America is voting for a complete horror in 3 
days.




Cheeseburger

- Where has the sparrow gone now that I need its song.