Search

CORRECTION APPENDED Everywhere of late, people are saying they are sorry. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for one, after talking ill of his commander in chief. Or the BP chief executive, Tony Hayward, apologizing for the destruction caused by his company's oil well. Or Representative Joe Barton apologizing to Hayward and then apologizing for that apology. And these were but the most recent mea culpas (or, at least, culpas, some with very little mea). There was also the pope's, for the pain caused to Irish parishioners by pedophile priests; Prime Minister David Cameron's, for the murder by British soldiers of Irish protesters on Bloody Sunday 38 years ago; a Major League umpire for calling a runner safe when he should have been out in the ninth inning, thus depriving a pitcher of a perfect game; a parade of athletes and politicians for using steroids or breaking their marriage vows; and the occasional carmaker for not acting quickly enough to repair faulty systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]