Archive for February, 2013
More Lance
From here; there may be some mitigating circumstances pertaining to a resolution, but that doesn’t change the offense.
The USPS wanted to sponsor a clean racing team. They put it in all the riders’ contracts that they could not dope. Not only did they dope, but also (it is alleged) the team turned out to be a criminal doping conspiracy run by Armstrong so that he could win races and get rich.
The Federal Claims Act covers knowingly causing a false statement or record to be made in order to induce the government to pay a false claim – in this case, $30M worth of them. Technically, each of the riders is liable (for treble damages plus civil fines), but of course, Armstrong was the ringleader, and he wound up with all the money.
Additionally, any favorable publicity the USPS may have reaped at the time of the team’s wins has now been offset by all the negative publicity and abuse heaped on them at the worst possible time.
That’s the case. Armstrong has apparently offered to pay $5M to settle it. The DOJ believes it can recover a lot more for American taxpayers in court.
The sermonizing, philosophical conclusions are that bad things come back to haunt you, etc… Practically, you can see the logic behind “deny, deny, deny.”
The Pristorius Case
There is news every day and for now it is just about bail. This is a story that promises to be a blockbuster for months to come.
I remember Oscar Pistorius from the Olympics, especially his interviews. He and his relay teammates seemed like really nice guys, sort of like Lance Armstrong.
The man has some serious skeletons in his closet, many having to do with guns (restaurant incident, more licenses), and others having to do with an apparent ego, temper, partying (boat incident) and bullying personality.
Was it intentional? For now, and perhaps always, that will be debatable. Is he guilty? That is going to be the ongoing question. If you play with guns…
Hanlon’s razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. link
![groundhog-day-driving[1]](http://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/images/b1863376c538_B55E/groundhogdaydriving1.jpg "groundhog-day-driving[1]")
The Richard Hauptmann Case (Lindbergh Kidnapping)
The incredible corruption I have witnessed the last few years (e.g., Jefferson County, Amanda Knox case) has caused me to look at things differently. Recently I saw the NOVA program on the Lindbergh kidnapping. It wasn’t great and it didn’t offer anything really new factually, but it spurred me to look into the whole thing. Call it an American Experience. From the PBS website:
Program Description
In the aftermath of his 1927 solo transatlantic flight, Colonel Charles Augustus Lindbergh–the Lone Eagle–became the most famous human being on earth. And when he and his lovely wife Anne produced an adorable baby son, Charlie, an eager press quickly dubbed him Little Lindy or sometimes just the Eaglet. But on the evening of March 1, 1932 Lucky Lindy’s luck ran out. Bold kidnappers snatched his baby from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey, while everyone in the house was awake. Negotiations with the kidnappers stretched out for weeks. But Little Charlie never came back. His body was discovered not five miles from Hopewell. Now, NOVA is reopening one of the most intriguing, grisly, and confounding crime mysteries of all time as a team of expert investigators employ state-of-the-art forensic and behavioral science techniques in an effort to determine what really happened to Lindbergh’s baby and why.
The L.A. Dorner Situation
The comments here are amazing, e.g.,
Cops in general have serious psychological problems, ones that can be do more harm to the public than good. In fact, most cops are in it to boost their ego because they have to prove to themselves that they are not the losers. They are hungry for power and authority. Most of them have no college degree because they cannot compete with the smart ones. So they join “the force” to impose their stupidity on those who are smarter than them, cowardly hiding behind the badge. Most cops are corrupt or corruptible. They’ve committed extortion and other crimes at the blessing of a failed justice system.
Good photos from the UK.
Does this look like a grey pick-up truck?
