This page is normally only about Color Country. But every now and then, I mix it up with something else. I’m motivated to do that now by an article I just finished reading in USA Today.

The article is about Lynn Brewer, who has made a nice living since Enron collapsed as a motivational speaker about corporate ethics. The pitch is simple: I was one of the executives at Enron who defrauded the country, but I saw the light and repented.

The problem, according to USA Today, is that Ms. Brewer is a total fraud herself. In brief, she has lied her way to a comfortable lifestyle by telling people not to lie.

While researching this article, I found that Ms. Brewer is listed at “Big Speak,” “Speakers Spotlight,” “American Entertainment International Speakers Bureau,” “Eagle Talent Connection,” “Speakers Platform,” and “AllAmerican Speakers.” (Google also listed her as a motivational speaker for the “Premiere Speakers Bureau” but when you look for her at the actual site, she seems to have been suddenly dropped from their roster.) She has certainly been working the field!

There is also an interesting entry at Spoke (a business directory where you can write your own bio) listing her as “Chief Financial Officer” of Purina Mills, Llc. (Purina Mills doesn’t exist as an independent company anymore. It was acquired by Nestle.) But her bio at Big Speak states, “she worked in corporate development for the General Counsel and Chief Financial Officer.” (emphasis added). This is exactly the kind of lying that USA Today reports about her “executive” role at Enron.

Another interesting side note: Wikipedia was faulted for inaccurate information earlier this year. But on the day I researched this blog (Monday), Wikipedia had been updated with the USA Today story (only published the previous Friday), which was the latest of seven increasingly improved versions by Wikipedia contributors.

USA Today has had their own problems with lying. In 2004, star USA Today reporter Jack Kelly was asked to resign when an internal investigation determined that he fabricated many of his most spectacular stories. It’s worth noting that USA Today went to quite a bit of effort to check up on Kelly, eventually sending a second reporter to Yugoslavia to look for the same sources quoted by Kelly. The TimesOnline (London Times) reported that “(Kelly) said that he regrets having lied, but did so only in an attempt to clear his name.”

Another example of egregious public lying is the main theme of Richard Gere’s recent movie, The Hoax. It’s the true story of how Clifford Irving, already a minor author with seven published books, completely fabricated an autobiography of the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes and almost got away with it.

Last week, track star Marion Jones finally admitted to taking drugs to win 5 Olympic gold medals after lying about it through seven years of trials and investigations.

USA Today seems to have a thing about lying. Last year, they published a feature about American lying that begins, “Everybody lies. From the president of the U.S. to Congress to the smallest citizen in the country, we are a nation of liars.”

There’s some truth there.

Why is this? I submit that it’s because we’re submerged in lies each and every day. If one root source of this flood of lies can be found, it’s the ethic that only winning counts. Vince Lombardi, the famed Green Bay Packers coach, said it best, “Winning isn’t the main thing, it’s the only thing.”

But is it?

Like a drunk who has been hitting the bottle so long that he doesn’t know how to stop anymore, Americans don’t know how to simply not lie. But, like the drunk, admitting that you have a problem is the first step. If you have read this far, do one more thing today. Notice how many lies you see and hear today. Let’s start by admitting that we have a problem.