The World Around You

Washington Whispers reports,

Wilson tells us he plans to circulate the text of a briefing by analyst Sam Gardiner that suggests the White House and Pentagon made up or distorted over 50 war stories. You know some tall tales, like the Pvt. Jessica Lynch story. But there’s more, says Gardiner, a war gamer who has taught at the National War College. Like how defense officials said the first Iraqi unit marines encountered, the 51st Mechanized Infantry Division, had surrendered four days before it actually did. And he says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers gave bad or deliberately incomplete info on several topics. Sure, propaganda has always been used in war to deceive and demoralize the enemy. But these guys went way overboard, Gardiner says. “Never before have so many stories been created to sell a war,” he insists. “And they probably didn’t need it.”

Anyone surprised? Anyone? Anyone? I thought not.

The Indianapolis Colts suffered their first loss of the season in overtime to the Carolina Panthers, 23-20. Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star writes that Tampa Bay fans who believe in karma should be satisfied after Sunday,

First, let’s consider Chad Bratzke’s interception-that-wasn’t-an-interception, followed by his fumble-that-wasn’t-a-fumble and an officiating-blunder-that-was-really-an-officiating-blunder. Or, as the people in Tampa Bay might call it, karmic justice.

The Call raises an interesting question:

Huh?

The initial call on the field was that Bratzke intercepted Jake Delhomme’s pass, took a few steps, got stripped of the ball, fumbled, and his teammate, Raheem Brock, recovered.

It was the right call. Right?

If Bratzke held the ball any longer, he could have claimed it as a dependent. How many steps did he take before he fumbled? Some of us counted five. Maybe it was four. But it was enough to get even Michael Jordan called for traveling.
…
Again, it didn’t lose this game. Don’t let the previous 30 paragraphs on that call give you the wrong impression. But it’s fair to assume the Colts, who were coming off an overtime miracle and a short week, would have preferred a tie with eight minutes left, and not another last-minute miracle, followed by an overtime.

Here’s what lost the game, and forgive me if space — which was used up talking about the officiating — does not allow for a full accounting:

Turnovers. Dropped passes. Dropped interceptions. Bad penalties — like there’s any other kind. Shoddy special teams. Shoddier tackling.

The Texans are up next and the Colts should bounce back.

Richard Scrushy spoke out on “60 Minutes” last night,

“I’m not going to jail. I’m an innocent man. I’m not going to jail,” Scrushy declared to Mike Wallace, reporter for the “60 Minutes” news magazine program, in the first public comments he’s made since the scandal broke.

The ousted HealthSouth chief executive’s denials mirrored those advanced by his attorneys in court hearings and in interviews. He said he doesn’t expect to be charged criminally.

“I don’t expect that at all,” he said. “I think an objective review of the evidence will show that Richard Scrushy was not involved in any of these alleged crimes. And they will see that I was not part of that scheme.”

Scrushy said the fraud, which federal investigators now believe totals over $2.5 billion in fake profits, was carried out by those under him without his knowledge.

This is what we call implausible deniability. This kind of fraud by underlings makes absolutely no sense and the fact that Scrushy is sticking to this line is laughable. There is no way he could not have known, but even if he didn’t, he’s the CEO, the buck stops at his desk. It was not just the company that was defrauded, it was the investors in the company, including his employees.

Scrushy will face the charges in court and we’ll see what can be proven. I don’t know if he will be convicted. I do know he is the one responsible for the mess at HealthSouth.