Tiger Woods and the rise of the cheater

Fox News

By Diana Falzone 

“Who cares if he cheated,” my friend, an avid golfer and golf enthusiast exclaimed.  While watching the Masters on TV, I passionately declared that I did not like Tiger Woods. 

My friend continued, “Fine. You don’t have to like him as a person but there’s no denying the man is a phenomenal athlete.”

The outburst from my friend resonated with me.  Should we be able to disconnect the man from the sport?  

It is your choice whether you want to buy into the Tiger Woods brand.

Woods has never cheated at his chosen profession although there was some drama that occurred over the weekend at The Masters. The usually fair and square golfer made a mishap that some claimed was intentional when he made a "bad drop" which resulted in penalty drop two yards behind his original shot.  

Since I’m not a golf expert and even those that claim to know the sport inside and out can’t come to a conclusion if Woods knowingly did this, we have to assume it was accidental. 

The golfer ended up finishing in the top ten. 

So with that being said, his golf past has indicated that he has won fairly due to his talent, hard work and dedication.

Woods has never cheated his fans.  He cheated on his wife.

In no way, shape or form did he pull a Lance Armstrong. He did not use performance enhancing drugs to achieve his victories, or dupe a charity organization nor did he lie under oath or conceal the truth to the public.  

Even when his extramarital affairs came to light, Woods did not deny it unlike many other philanderers before him. He owned his mistakes even though those mistakes were within the context of his private life. 

For some reason, we the public, myself included, feel that we have the right to be judge and jury of a public figure’s personal conduct.

Now, I am not a die-hard sports fan. I do not know Woods’ specific golf statistics however I am aware of the stats on his personal life: dozens of alleged mistresses, one betrayed ex wife, and two young children who one day will understand why their father went from being a beloved, commercially viable athlete to a man whose name is now synonymous with torrid infidelity.  

As of late, it seems the tide may be turning for Tiger. After all, he did compete for another coveted green jacket  and even more surprisingly did so with the beautiful blonde Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn cheering from the sidelines.  Her support alone purifies Tiger’s muddy past; showing the world that the pro golfer could be worthy of a second chance.

Alas, it's still a very personal decision as to how you feel about his dishonorable behavior within his marriage. Woods' crime was not punishable by law.  He broke a known moral code.  

Is he a role model for being a good husband or partner?  Hell no.  

Yet, he is an inspiration to young athletes who have the eye of the Tiger. He has exhibited nothing less than an example that hard work pays off.  

What he does in his bedroom should not be our business. Our business is what he does on the golf course.

There is a divide between the man and the sport.   

It is your choice whether you want to buy into the Tiger Woods brand. 

It your decision if you want to be a fan of his athletic prowess.  

It is up to you whether to turn the television off when his face appears, or to buy what he is selling. 

It is not Tiger’s moral obligation, unless dictated by a moral clause in a company contract, to live up to your standards.

Diana Falzone is a FoxNews.com contributor and the advice columnist for My Wingman Diana on Military.com. Her work has been published in the textbook "Sexuality Education," distributed in universities across North America. You can follow her on Twitter @dianafalzone.

Canada Revenue Agency struggling to put a lid on tax fraud

The Globe and Mail

KATHRYN BLAZE CARLSON 

It is a simple scheme that netted a Brampton, Ont., man’s clients thousands of dollars, all on the backs of law-abiding Canadians.

His crime was this: As a tax preparer from 2005 to 2010, Adegboyega Adenekanad Adebukunola filed $858,897 in fake donations on 129 returns, reducing his clients’ tax bill by a total of $245,602.

The case represents a tiny fraction of the revenue lost to false receipting, but it offers a fresh glimpse into a fraudulent enterprise that has cost Ottawa hundreds of millions of dollars over a decade. Because of people like Mr. Adebukunola and his clients, millions of Canadians filing returns next month will shoulder an unfair tax burden and suffer from fewer dollars flowing into federally funded programs and social services.

The Harper government has sought to boost revenues without raising taxes since 2006, introducing dozens of tax-fairness measures expected to bring in more than $2-billion by 2015. Last week’s budget was no exception – its fiscal outlook relies on raking in billions by closing loopholes and pursuing cheats more aggressively. Still, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s plan sent mixed signals to the Canada Revenue Agency: It will get $13-million annually to track international financial transfers and pursue fraudsters scamming its R&D tax credit program, but it is also the target of fresh cuts, taking a hit of $60-million annually on top of previous cutbacks.

And while the CRA is getting sharper teeth, its new-found authority will be limited. If the agency suspects people failed to pay their due taxes, it can now collect half of the disputed amount while the case is tied up in court. But that new deterrent applies only to charitable-donation tax shelters and it remains to be seen whether it will some day extend to unpaid taxes tied to fake receipts.

In charity lawyer Mark Blumberg’s view, one bright light from the latest budget is what was missing: Though it introduced a new first-time donor’s “super credit” that will increase the value of a receipt by 25 per cent (once per couple, and only up to $1,000), there are no other donation incentives. And that means there are no new financial incentives to file fake receipts.

After Mr. Adebukunola’s arrest in the United States on an international warrant, he pleaded guilty to tax fraud this month and was sentenced to house arrest. There are other cases: In October, 2012, for example, Penelope Donick was sentenced to one year in jail and a $200,000 fine after the CRA discovered she had filed $4-million in falsified receipts across 269 fraudulent returns; before her, there was Ambrose Danso-Dapaah and his estimated $39-million in fake charity receipts.

“Anyone with a computer and a printer at home could do this,” Mr. Blumberg said. “Anyone can, in about 15 minutes, create an official donation receipt for income tax purposes for any charity.”

Canada’s 86,000 charities issued $13-billion in receipts for the 2011 tax year. Ever since 2007, the CRA has focused on combatting charity-gifting tax arrangements and tackling this other lesser, but far simpler, scheme involving fraudulent donation receipts. In a newsletter last year, the CRA listed fake receipting as among Canada’s top-five tax scams.

Keep reading on  The Globe and Mail >>

Thieves make billions on fake tax returns

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Drugs, bribes: $49 billion left Russia illegally in 2012

worldnews

By Douglas Busvine and Katya Golubkova, Reuters

MOSCOW - Nearly $50 billion was transferred out of Russia illegally in 2012 and more than half this sum may have been controlled by a single group of people, the country's central bank said on Wednesday. 

Sergei Ignatyev [photo], chairman of the Bank of Russia, was citing the findings of a study that the bank said it would publish later on Wednesday. 

"You get the impression that they (half the transfers) are all controlled by one well-organized group of people," Sergei Ignatyev, chairman of the Bank of Russia, told the Vedomosti daily in an interview.

Ignatyev, who is due to retire in June, declined to identify the group in response to a reporter's question at the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, where he was due to deliver an address.

But the central bank analysis appears to be an indictment of President Vladimir Putin's brand of state capitalism, which critics say has allowed official corruption to flourish on a huge scale.

'Bribes and kickbacks'It also marks an unusually strong intervention by Ignatyev, who during his 11-year tenure has kept a generally low profile, seeking to preserve the central bank's policy autonomy without pushing for full, Western-style independence from politics.

Putin is due to nominate a successor to him in March, but no front runner has yet emerged.

The central bank study found that $49 billion, or around 2.5 percent of gross domestic product, was spirited illegally out of Russia last year.

"It can be payment for narcotics ... 'grey' imports ... bribes and kickbacks to officials (and) managers making large-scale purchases," Ignatyev told Vedomosti. "It can be schemes to avoid tax."

Of the total, the central bank estimates that $14 billion is related to trade operations, with the remainder made up of $35.1 billion in "dubious" capital transfers.

The latter represents 60 percent of last year's officially reported total net capital outflows of $56.8 billion, according to the study.

Experto revela errores en las fotos de Chavez

CubanosdeApie

Obamaphone fraud

faustasblog
Who can forget?

“Everybody in Cleveland” had an obamaphone!

Ooops…

Millions Improperly Claimed U.S. Phone Subsidies

The FCC until last year allowed consumers to self-certify, without requiring documentation, that they met federal poverty guidelines. Subscribers didn’t have to recertify once they were enrolled in the program, and there were few checks on whether households signed up for more than one cellphone.

As Captain Louis Renault said, “I’m shocked, shocked,” that people lied!

How many?

That many.

An Economic Explanation for the Horsemeat Scandal

freakonomics

From the Independent:

A law banning horses from Romanian roads may be responsible for the surge in the fraudulent sale of horsemeat on the European beef market, a French politician said yesterday.
Horse-drawn carts were a common form of transport for centuries in Romania, but hundreds of thousands of the animals are feared to have been sent to the abattoir after the change in road rules.
The law, which was passed six years ago but only enforced recently, also banned carts drawn by donkeys, leading to speculation among food-industry officials in France that some of the “horse meat” which has turned up on supermarket shelves in Britain, France and Sweden may, in fact, turn out to be donkey meat. “Horses have been banned from Romanian roads and millions of animals have been sent to the slaughterhouse,” said Jose Bove, a veteran campaigner for small farmers who is now vice-president of the European Parliament agriculture committee.

Una venta de tierras en Moeche descubre una estafa en Cuba

Francisco Varela

ferrol / la voz  

El juicio contra dos cubanos nacionalizados españoles y residentes en Galicia, más un anciano que vive todavía en la isla caribeña, más otros cuatro encausados por una supuesta estafa en la venta de herencias en Moeche tuvo que ser aplazado el pasado viernes. El Juzgado de lo Penal número 1 de Ferrol lo suspendió ante la incomparecencia de una testigo que vive en Miami.

olienlared.blogspot.com

El asunto, que se remonta al año 2003, ha puesto en evidencia una posible trama de estafa en viejas herencias en Galicia de emigrados en la República de Cuba. Pueden existir otros casos semejantes, según trascendió durante la larga instrucción, demorada por la dispersión de los acusados o víctimas (Cuba, Miami, Galicia...) a pesar de que el valor de las tierras en conflicto no supera los 60.000 euros. Se trata de varias piezas de la concentración parcelaria de Labacengos, en el municipio de Moeche. En Cuba se encuentra Pedro Gómez Vázquez, acusado, ahora con más de 80 años y declarado en rebeldía. Otros dos cubanos -también encausados- nacionalizados españoles y que viven en A Coruña lo convencieron, parece, para vender estas parcelas, herencia de su padre y un tío suyo, ya fallecido este. Se hicieron los documentos de apoderamiento y demás y los de A Coruña, explican las acusaciones, regresaron e iniciaron los trámites en España para proceder a la venta. Así se hizo con unos compradores, con la bendición de un notario, pero cuando llegaron al Registro de la Propiedad de Ferrol les dijeron que nada, que no se inscribían porque no estaba nada claro.

Ocurre que existen otros herederos, no solo el anciano cubano. Hay varios en Miami, de cubanos que saltaron el charco, y también en la comarca de Ferrol que fueron quienes dieron la voz de alarma.

El fiscal, en sus conclusiones provisionales, imputa el anciano cubano y a los dos residentes en A Coruña de un delito de estafa y pide que se les condene a tres años y dos meses de cárcel e indemnización a calcular en la ejecución de sentencia.

Cuba involucrada en pesquisa por fraude en Sevilla

martinoticias

La policía española de Sevilla está investigando al exgerente de la Empresa de Limpieza Pública del Ayuntamiento de esa ciudad (LIPASAM), Rafael Pineda, entre otras irregularidades por un caso de posible fraude en el que aparece involucrada Cuba.

La pesquisa, según destaca este martes el diario español ABC, se extiende a la gestión llevada a cabo por la llamada Oficina de Vehículos Abandonados (OVA), que se encarga de retirar de la vía pública los carros que la policía sevillana identifica como fuera de uso.

Fuentes policiales indicaron al periódico que la investigación se centra en un convenio suscrito por LIPASAM con la Asamblea del Poder Popular de La Habana en 2010 para el supuesto envío de algunos de esos carros a Cuba.

También en la demolición como chatarra de más de mil de esos automóviles que la empresa municipal no habría facturado ni tampoco dado constancia de su destino.

ABC revela que el escándalo explotó luego de una denuncia a fines de 2011 según la cual alguien habría estado lucrando con el trasiego de tales vehículos.

El diario apunta que algunos de los carros “supuestamente enviados a Cuba, según consta en los archivos” de LIPASAM “jamás llegaron a la isla”, y que algunos presuntamente demolidos “podrían haber sido entregados a terceros para su puesta en circulación de nuevo”.

Según la información, el convenio con Cuba comprendía sólo los vehículos que se encontraran en un estado aceptable de conservación y, según las fuentes consultadas, del gasto del envío se iba a hacer cargo la Asamblea del Poder Popular de La Habana.

“Sin embargo—señala ABC--, habrían aparecido casos de coches supuestamente enviados a Cuba que también tendrían certificado de demolición en el desguace y viceversa, lo que haría muy difícil comprobar qué se hizo exactamente con esos vehículos”.

Se estima que más de mil autos habrían sido destinados para demolición entre 2008 y 2010, y que el dinero dejado de percibir por LIPASAM en ese tiempo superaría los 100 mil euros. 

MLB investigating Alex Rodriguez, Miami clinic

nbcsports

NEW YORK -- - Major League Baseball is investigating whether players, including Alex Rodriguez, purchased human growth hormone as recently as last year from a Miami health clinic, the league said in a statement Tuesday.

The league statement was issued in response to a report published in the Miami New Times, which cites files obtained from a former employee of Biogenesis, a now-closed South Florida clinic, that show Rodriguez was one of several athletes to purchase HGH and other substances.

"We are always extremely disappointed to learn of potential links between players and the use of performance-enhancing substances. ... Through our Department of Investigations, we have been actively involved in the issues in South Florida," MLB's statement said.

ALSO ON THIS STORY

HBT: Clinic records suggest A-Rod purchased steroids in 2012

Rodriguez, the New York Yankees slugger currently recovering from hip surgery, has admitted using steroids from 2001-03 but insisted he stopped after that. Rodriguez issued a statement denying having a link to Anthony Bosch, the owner of the South Florida Clinic.

"The news report about a purported relationship between Alex Rodriguez and Anthony Bosch are not true," the statement read.  "Alex Rodriguez was not Mr. Bosch’s patient, he was never treated by him and he was never advised by him. The purported documents referenced in the story -- at least as they relate to Alex Rodriguez -- are not legitimate.”

Other players named by the New Times as appearing in the records at Biogenesis include Melky Cabrera, Gio Gonzalez, Bartolo Colon and Nelson Cruz. Cabrera, the All-Star game MVP for the San Francisco Giants last season, was suspended 50 games in August for failing a drug test. The outfielder has signed with the Toronto Blue Jays as a free agent.

Colon, a pitcher for the Oakland A's, was also suspended 50 games in August.

Gonzalez, who went 21-8 for the Washington Nationals last season, and Cruz, who hit 24 home runs for the Texas Rangers, had not previously been linked to performance-enhancing drugs.

The Rangers said in a statement that after being contacted by the New Times late last week, they notified Major League Baseball. The club said it had no further comment.

Gonzalez posted on his Twitter feed: "I've never used performance enhancing drugs of any kind and I never will, I've never met or spoken with tony Bosch or used any substance."

The report said that Bosch's notes list the players' names and the substances they received, including human growth hormone and steroids. Several unidentified employees and clients confirmed to the publication that the clinic distributed the substances, the paper said. The employees said that Bosch bragged of supplying drugs to professionalthletes but they never saw the sports stars in the office.

Any player found by MLB to use banned, performance-enhancing substances, is subject to suspension.

Ajustes cubanos y los medicadólares

GUILLERMO DESCALZI

Oscar Sanchez/ MiamiHerald.com

Lo que salva también mata. Así es con Chávez y Cuba. El largo coma del castrismo se acerca a su fin con las agonías de su último salvador. La muerte de Chávez será catastrófica para la gerontocracia isleña. La muerte de Fidel hace ya algún tiempo ha dejado de preocupar a sus herederos. Tienen esa muerte en sus cálculos. La de Chávez, en cambio, no la anticiparon tan cercana. Su muerte puede castrar al castrismo. Por eso el barullo de idas y venidas en la Habana, desde las del vicepresidente venezolano y su entorno, a la de los jefes de la izquierda y pseudo izquierda latinoamericanas. Son idas y venidas de planificación en la emergencia.
Raúl llegó al poder con la voluntad de hacer de Cuba una China local. Lo que hizo fue convertirla en una Corea del norte caribeña, y mientras Pyongyang subsiste por gracia de Beijing, Cuba lo hace por obra y gracia de Chávez. El pánico de su inminente final se siente ya en la cúpula del castrismo. Temen perderlo, y no por amor a Chávez sino a sus petrodólares. Ese cambio ya lo están manejando, y sus medidas son desesperadas. Están en pleno proceso de ajustes y reajustes. En lo del dinero, por ejemplo, perderán sus petrodólares pero los sustituirán con otras variedades de dólares, entre las que están los medica-dólares.
En junio del 2012, antes de la caída en picada de Chávez, nuestro Departamento de Justicia encausó a Oscar Sánchez, un cubanoamericano de Naples, por lavar dinero defraudado al Medicare. El dinero iba al Banco Nacional de Cuba. En La Habana hay actualmente unos ciento cincuenta defraudadores del sistema, que se fugaron allí siguiendo su dinero. Sánchez, según creían ellos, era su lavandero. Parece que en realidad fue pescador del régimen, pescador de dólares del Medicare con la carnada de ‘lavarlos’ en el Banco Nacional. Según Andy Gómez, del Instituto de Estudios Cubanos y Cubano Americanos de Miami, Sánchez tiene que haber sido agente de La Habana porque no hay otra manera de explicar los centenares de millones del Medicare pasados por el Banco Nacional. Los senadores Orrin Hatch y Tom Coburn aseguran que no son centenares sino miles de millones de medica-dólares los que pasan por Cuba. Según Sandra Colón, de la patrulla contra el fraude al Medicare, la cifra de lo defraudado bordea los 68 mil millones al año, y cada dólar lavado en Cuba le deja una tajada al castrismo. La mayor parte procede del sur de la Florida, centro nacional del fraude al Medicare, y los defraudadores a veces no saben para quién trabajan.
Se viene el fin de Chávez, y en La Habana ya tienen otra válvula de escape en un ajuste a la emigración. Reprimida por 53 años, Castro ahora hará que el malo sea el Departamento de Estado. Los cubanos han empezado, con notables excepciones, a salir de la isla sin necesidad de permiso del Estado. Lo que necesitan es visa de los países que la exijan, lo que quiere decir que en adelante el corcho a la emigración lo pondrán quienes den o nieguen las visas. Le quitaron el corcho comunista y le pusieron el corcho de Washington. Son brillantemente maquiavélicos. En adelante el principal controlador de las salidas de Cuba a Estados Unidos será Washington, y se viene el fin, con bastante rapidez, de la ley de ajuste cubano, que da residencia a todo aquel que esté aquí más de un año y un día. Como los viajes pueden hacerse ahora con visa de turista, esa visa unida a la ley de ajuste se convierte, para todo efecto práctico, en un ‘pre-permiso’ de residencia. Lo único que tendrá que hacer para quedarse el cubano que venga de turista será… ¡quedarse! Muchos saldrán por países que no requieran visa.
Van a buscar otro ajuste, aprovechando los cambios en la emigración cubana para sugerir que recibirán de regreso a los cubanos que Estados Unidos no podía deportar. Hay 31,746 cubanos en esa condición. Los Castro van a insinuar la devolución de los deportables a cambio del fin del embargo. Usan carne cubana como moneda de tráfico, señal de que la isla, por más que los cubanos puedan sacar sus cuerpos de allí, sigue siendo prisión del alma. Castro, como en el mito de Caronte, le ha pasado al Departamento de Estado los remos del bote que cruza el río de la muerte, el estrecho de la Florida en este caso.
Raúl es ingenioso. Tiene dos naipes extras para cuando Chávez tire sus cartas sobre la mesa. Uno está en el fraude al Medicare, el robo de medicadólares. El otro está en los ajustes al ajuste cubano, un ajuste manipulado desde Cuba.
En la Corea del Norte del Caribe se acerca el momento en que se enterrará al castrismo. Hay que evitar darle vida artificial con puentes tendidos desde aquí.

Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2013/01/28/1394857/guillermo-descalzi-ajustes-cubanos.html#storylink=cpy

La firma de Hugo Chávez ¿Electrónica, escaneada o autógrafa?

lapatilla

 

Una gran polémica nacional ha levantado la publicación en la Gaceta Nacional No. 40.090 del pasado martes 15 de enero dew 2013 de un par de decretos firmados por el presidente Hugo Chávez, entre ellos el del nombramiento del ex candidato a la gobernación de Miranda, Elías Jaua como Canciller de la República.

El día de ayer, el abogado Perkins Rocha introdujo ante el Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ) una demanda de falsedad de documentos públicos, tras la publicación de los decretos N° 9.351 y N° 9.352 en la Gaceta Oficial 40.090, de fecha 15 de enero de 2013.  “Es una demanda que estoy intentando contra el presidente Hugo Chávez”, dijo refiriéndose específicamente al nombramiento de Elías Jaua como nuevo Canciller de la República y Sexto Vicepresidente del Consejo de Ministros para el área política.

El abogado señaló que “Yo no estoy atacando la falsedad de la firma” sin embargo el documento expresa  que el decreto ha sido firmado en Caracas el 15 de enero de 2013. “Eso es un testimonio falso del Presidente”. “En ese texto, el Presidente firma en Caracas, cuando ese día  estaba en La Habana” afirmó Rocha.

Sin embargo la polémica sobre la firma de Hugo Chávez se ha extendido en las redes sociales, donde algunos han afirmado que esa es su “firma electónica”, otros que se trata de una firma “escaneada” (fotocopia electrónica) y pegada al documento mientras los menos afirman que se trata de su firma autógrafa y que por lo tanto fue el propio Hugo Chávez quien firmó.

Los documentos del Ejecutivo que van a la Gaceta Nacional se envían a la Sectretaría del Consejo de Ministros, quien da fe que la copia que se envía a la Gaceta es fiel y exacta al documento original que queda en custodia del despacho correspondiente.

El 16 de julio de 2011, el presidente Chávez obtuvo su llave certificada para realizar firmas electronicas según lo establecido en el Decreto Ley Ley sobre Mensajes de Datos y Firmas Electrónicas.  La Superintendencia de Servicios de Certificación Electrónica (Suscerte), que regula lo pertinente a la Ley, define a la Firma Electrónica como “conjunto de datos que vincula de manera única el documento al usuario y garantiza la integridad del documento electrónico.” Y luego la misma página oficial expresa que “Al firmar electrónicamente un documento se puede comprobar la integridad y procedencia del mensaje”

La firma digital de un documento es el resultado de aplicar cierto algoritmo matemático, denominado función hash, a su contenido y, seguidamente, aplicar el algoritmo de firma (en el que se emplea una clave privada) al resultado de la operación anterior, generando la firma electrónica. Es decir, la firma digital no genera un grafismo de la firma autógrafa, de hecho no lo contempla la legislación venezolana.

La firma electónica más común es una operación en un telecajero, donde el usuario con su tarjeta y su clave personal “firman” la operación que están efectuando.

Queda entonces que la firma sea una firma escaneada o digitalizada de la firma autógrafa original o que el documento impreso en la Gaceta sea copia fiel y exacta de un documento que firmó con tinta el presidente Chávez, el cual debe contener la traza de tinta en el papel.

Son tres los aspectos resaltantes que expertos consultados ha dicho a lapatilla.com sobre las recientes firmas de Hugo Chávez publicadas: La carta de felicitación a la FANB en diciembre pasado y los dos decretos publicados en la Gaceta No. 40.090

1. Son idénticas entre sí. “Es improbable, para no decir imposible, que la misma persona firme de manera idéntica y no parecida todas las veces” afirmó el experto que prefirió el anonimato.

2. “Hugo Chávez es zurdo, y su firma habitual tiene un curso ascedente, de izquierda a derecha”

3. “Las tres firmas aparecen en un curso perfectamente horizontal” remató el experto.

4. “Es rarísimo, que estando habituado a ello, Hugo Chávez no escribiera algún comentario ad hoc a su firma, dada además la importancia del nombramiento”

A continuación les presentamos los detalles de las firmas “autógrafas” sean reales o digitales. Eso no lo sabemos. Les dejamos a ustedes, estimados lectores sacar sus propias conclusiones (LP)

Mensaje de fin de año de Hugo Chávez a la Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana (FANB) el 28 de diciembre de 2012

Firma 1 de Hugo Chávez en la Gaceta Nacional No. 40.090

Firma 2 de Hugo Chávez en la Gaceta Nacional No. 40.090

Firma de Hiugo Chávez en la Gaceta Nacional No. 39.121 de febrero de 2012

Is the public buying Lance Armstrong's narrative?

Armstrong's most humbling moment: Losing Livestrong

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Armstrong: 'Yes,' he used performance-enhancing drugs

nbcsports.msnbc

"Yes."

That was Lance Armstrong's response to Oprah Winfrey's initial question in her much-publicized interview with the former seven-time Tour de France winner on whether he used performance-enhancing drugs to aid his victories in all seven of the prestigious races.

Armstrong said a "win at all costs" mentality and "arrogance" were behind his cheating, and accepted blame for his mistakes, saying he deserves the scrutiny he's now come under in the wake of being stripped of his titles.

Armstrong answered "yes" to separate questions about whether he used EPO, whether he partook in blood transfusions, whether he used took human-growth hormone and whether he used performance-enhancing drugs in all seven of his Tour de France victories. He answered "no" when asked if he felt his accomplishments were possible without the assistance of banned substances.

Armstrong did insist that he did not use performance-enhancing drugs beyond 2005, and that his third-place finish in his 2009 comeback to the Tour de France was clean.

Reflecting back on his era of cycling dominance, Armstrong said that "the winning was almost phoned in," and he did not feel bad about using banned drugs, and furthermore did not feel that using banned drugs was cheating, revelations that he now, in hindsight, finds "scary." In a moment of contrition, Armstrong said that his longtime supporters "have every right to feel betrayed," and that he'll spend the rest of his life apologizing to make it up to them.

On the topic of illegal testosterone use, Armstrong had a controversial excuse, saying he used it because he was running low on his natural supply of the hormone due to his battle with cancer.

Armstrong insisted that there was no directive within his U.S. Postal Service team requiring riders to conform with the doping program in which he and other riders partook. That stands in contrast with statements from former teammates, notably Christian Vande Velde, who says he was threatened with being kicked off the team before partaking in the program.

Armstrong also confessed to being "a bully," and wanting to control the narrative, reacting negatively to statements he didn't like. It's a pattern of behavior Armstrong said has followed him his entire life, and one evident in Armstrong's frequent denials of doping over the years before and since his retirement.

When asked pointedly whether he required or expected teammates to dope for the sake of achieving a certain level of team success, Armstrong responded, "absolutely not."

Armstong hesitated before responding, "No," when asked if Dr. Michele Ferrari was at the head of the team's doping program, but also said he was reckless to be involved with the Italian physician and cycling coach, who's been issued a lifetime sports ban by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for multiple anti-doping violations. Armstrong characterized the entire period of his life as "reckless."

Armstrong said a donation made to UCI, cycling's chief organizing body, was made "because they asked me to," and not in an attempt to bribe officials to hide positive test results.

Winfrey pressed Armstrong on the topic of lawsuits filed against people who spoke out against Armstrong, among them Emma O'Reilly, a former masseuse for the U.S. Postal Service team. "It's a major flaw," Armstrong said of lawsuits against O'Reilly and others who were speaking the truth. "It's a guy who expected to get whatever he wanted and control every outcome. It's inexcusable."

The International Olympic Committee didn't wait to listen to Armstrong's interview.

The IOC on Wednesday stripped Armstrong of his 2000 bronze medal, sending him a letter asking him to return it, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.

For others who will tune in Thursday, it's not just what Armstrong said that matters. How he said it, whether angry, tearful or matter-of-fact, will be judged as well.

"I left it all on the table with her and when it airs the people can decide," Armstrong said of his interview in a text sent to the AP on Wednesday. He dismissed a story earlier in the day that described him as "not contrite" when he acknowledged doping while dominating the cycling world.

Livestrong, the cancer charity Armstrong founded in 1997 and was forced to walk away from last year, said in a statement it expected him to be "completely truthful and forthcoming." A day earlier, World Anti-Doping Agency director general David Howman said nothing short of a confession under oath — "not talking to a talk-show host" — could prompt a reconsideration of Armstrong's lifetime ban from sanctioned events. And Frankie Andreu, a former teammate that Armstrong turned on, said the disgraced cyclist had an obligation to tell all he knew and help clean up the sport.

"I have no idea what the future holds other than me holding my kids," Armstrong said in the text.

Armstrong has held conversations with officials from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, including a reportedly contentious face-to-face meeting with USADA chief executive Travis Tygart near the Denver airport. It was USADA's 1,000-page report last year, including testimony from nearly a dozen former teammates, that portrayed Armstrong as the leader of a sophisticated doping ring that propelled the U.S. Postal Service team to title after title at the Tour de France. In addition to the lifetime ban, Armstrong was stripped of all seven wins, lost nearly all of his endorsements and was forced to cut ties with Livestrong.

According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Armstrong has information that might lead to his ban being reduced to eight years. That would make him eligible to compete in elite triathlons, many of which are sanctioned under world anti-doping rules, in 2020, when Armstrong will be 49. He was a professional athlete in the three-discipline sport as a teenager, and returned to competition after retiring from cycling in 2011.

That person also said the bar for Armstrong's redemption is higher now than when the case was open, a time during which he refused to speak to investigators. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a confidential matter.

Armstrong, who always prized loyalty on his racing teams, now faces some very tough choices himself: whether to cooperate and name those who may have aided, abetted or helped cover up the long-time use of PEDs.

Armstrong left his hometown of Austin, where the interview was taped at a downtown hotel, and is in Hawaii. He is named as a defendant in at least two pending lawsuits, and possibly a third. The Justice Department faces a Thursday deadline on whether to join a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping.

That suit alleges Armstrong defrauded the U.S. government by repeatedly denying he used performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong could be required to return substantial sponsorship fees and pay a hefty fine. The AP reported earlier that Justice Department officials were likely to join the lawsuit.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Even with apology, Armstrong's brand value 'near zero'

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OPRAH ON LANCE: He Did 'Not Come Clean in The Manner' I Expected

Oprah Winfrey said Lance Armstrong, who she said confessed to her that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his string of Tour de France victories, did 'not come clean in the manner' she expected, Reuters reported.

Winfrey went on to say that she would leave it to others to decided if the former champion was contrite during the interview that was taped on Monday in Texas, but she did call him thoughtful and serious.

A group of about 10 close friends and advisers to Armstrong left a downtown Austin hotel about three hours after they arrived Monday afternoon for the taping. Among them were Armstrong attorneys Tim Herman and Sean Breen, along with Bill Stapleton, Armstrong's longtime agent, manager and business partner. All declined comment entering and exiting the session.

Soon afterward, Winfrey tweeted: "Just wrapped with (at)lancearmstrong More than 2 1/2 hours. He came READY!"

In a text to the AP on Saturday, Armstrong said: "I told her (Winfrey) to go wherever she wants and I'll answer the questions directly, honestly and candidly. That's all I can say."

Speaking on "CBS This Morning," Winfrey said she had not planned to address Armstrong's confession before the interview aired on her OWN network but, "by the time I left Austin and landed in Chicago, you all had already confirmed it."

Armstrong was stripped of all seven Tour titles last year following a voluminous U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report that portrayed him as a ruthless competitor, willing to go to any lengths to win the prestigious race.

USADA chief executive Travis Tygart labeled the doping regimen allegedly carried out by the U.S. Postal Service team that Armstrong once led, "The most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."

Cycling's governing body urged Armstrong on Tuesday to testify before its independent commission on doping.

The International Cycling Union, or UCI, said it was aware of media reports that Armstrong had come clean and confessed to doping during an interview with Oprah Winfrey taped Monday.

"If these reports are true, we would strongly urge Lance Armstrong to testify to the Independent Commission established to investigate the allegations made against the UCI in the recent USADA reasoned decision on Lance Armstrong and the United States Postal Service (USPS) team," the federation said in a statement.

The UCI said it would not make any further comment until it has viewed the interview, which is to be broadcast on Thursday night.

The UCI set up an independent panel in November to investigate the Armstrong case and what role the governing body had in the scandal. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency raised suspicions of UCI collusion with Armstrong in its damming report that led to the cyclist being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life.

The UCI has been accused of covering up suspicious samples from Armstrong, accepting financial donations from him and helping him avoid detection in doping tests.

Armstrong is reportedly considering testifying against UCI officials.

Former UCI President Hein Verbruggen said Tuesday he wasn't ready to speak about the Armstrong case.

"I haven't seen the interview. It's all guessing," Verbruggen told the AP. "After that, we have an independent commission which I am very confident will find out the truth of these things."

The three-member independent commission is chaired by retired British judge Philip Otton. He is working alongside Australian lawyer Malcolm Holmes and Tanni Grey-Thompson, a 10-time Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair racing who is now a lawmaker in the upper chamber of Britain's Parliament.

The three-member panel will meet in London from April 9-26, with a June 1 deadline to deliver its report.

The cycling body has said the three will have access to "all relevant documents in the control or possession of the UCI," including bank and telephone records and laboratory test results.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/15/oprah-says-lance-armstrong-did-not-come-clean-like-thought-would/#ixzz2I3he3mmq

Lupica: Armstrong part of a 'giant, athletic Ponzi scheme'

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Biodiesel Train Crossed US-Canada Border 24 Times to Exploit Biofuel Loophole

www.treehugger.com/ Michael Graham Richard

Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out that there's something going on if a train crosses the US-Canada border 12 times back and forth (24 times across the line) without unloading its cargo. The CBC in Canada looked into it, and they discovered that a Toronto-based company was behind this strange behavior, making several million dollars importing and exporting biodiesel to exploit a loophole in a U.S. green energy program.

Here's the CBC's segment on it:

 

Renewable identification numbers (RINs) are credits set up by the EPA to "promote and track production and importation of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel." They are valuable because if an oil company doesn't have enough, it can buy them from others. In this case, the fraudsters...

Bioversel Trading hired CN Rail to import tanker loads of biodiesel to the U.S. to generate RINs, which are valuable in the U.S. because of a "greening" policy regulating the petroleum industry. The EPA's "Renewable Fuel Standard" mandate that oil companies bring a certain amount of renewable fuel to market, quotas they can achieve through blending biofuel with fossil fuel or by purchasing RINs as offsets.
Because RINs can be generated through import, the 12 trainloads that crossed into Michigan would have contained enough biodiesel to create close to 12 million RINs. In the summer of 2010, biodiesel RINs were selling for 50 cents each, but the price soon fluctuated to more than $1 per credit.
Once "imported" to a company capable of generating RINs, ownership of the biodiesel was transferred to Bioversel's American partner company, Verdeo, and then exported back to Canada.

Hopefully this media attention will push legislators to close that loophole, and others, and will bring scrutiny to others who have no doubt been doing the same thing as Bioversel.