Apologies

First of three parts Tiffany Lee wanted a car. She was weary of the two-hour bus ride to her job at a UCLA Health System clinic. She hated having to ask friends to drive her 7-year-old son to his asthma treatments. But as a single mother with three children, bad credit and a $27,000-a-year salary, she couldn't find a bank or dealership willing to give her a loan. Then a friend steered her to Repossess Auto Sales in Hawthorne. Another buyer might have balked at the deal she was offered.

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett has apologized for any embarrassment he caused his state when he revived a widely discredited conspiracy theory about President Obama's birthplace by requesting verification that the president was born in Hawaii. The apology came on the same day that Hawaii officials finally responded to Bennett's request for “verification in lieu of” the birth certificate, which he said last week could be a precondition for placing Obama's name on the Arizona ballot.  “If I embarrassed the state, I apologize, but that certainly wasn't my intent,” Bennett said Tuesday in an interview with radio station KTAR.

Former President George Bush told a newspaper he is sorry he maligned this area by describing American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh as "some misguided Marin County hot-tubber." The Marin Independent Journal invited residents of the bucolic county just north of San Francisco to tell the former president about their home. The newspaper ran excerpts. Many of the writers scolded Bush. "Call off the dogs please," he wrote. "I apologize.

SEATTLE -- Before President Obama sat down for a television interview to announce he was now in favor of same-sex marriage, he received an apology from Vice President Joe Biden, the man whose own comments on the issue days earlier hastened the decision for Obama to go public with his long-awaited reversal. According to a source familiar with the conversation, Biden expressed his regret for getting ahead of Obama on the issue, after he told NBC's David Gregory that he was "absolutely comfortable" with gay couples being married.

Terrell Owens knows melodrama and controversy, but does he know comedy? The new Comedy Central series "Tosh.O" last week featured a video clip of Owens taking his place behind the mike at a fake news conference, where Owens said, "It's going to be a busy season; I figure I better get all my future apologies out of the way now. "I'd like to apologize to my teammates and the coach for my excessive celebrations. I guess I'm the only one who gets excited.

The documents Chan Share clutched as he left China were forged. It was 1939 and Asians were not allowed to immigrate to the United States. So, like many others, Share claimed he was a "paper son" and had a California-born relative whose records were lost in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

North Korea warned Wednesday that it will fire an intercontinental ballistic missile -- or even carry out another nuclear test -- unless the U.N. apologizes for condemning the regime's April 5 rocket launch. By flaunting its rogue nuclear and missile programs, Pyongyang raised the stakes in the escalating diplomatic tit for tat with the outside world.

Charles Barkley didn't blame a wife or a cousin or the family dog for putting some unknown substance into his glass or forcing him to get behind the wheel of some unidentifiable vehicle after having a drink. Barkley came back to the TNT "Inside The NBA" show Thursday night for the first time in nearly two months and he was mostly just Charles, maybe biting his lip a little but also accepting blame for his arrest in December for driving under the influence.

With apologies to Dr. Seuss' memory: For the poor of our country, this is the year the Gingrich will steal Christmas. OSCAR C. ZASKE Palos Verdes Estates

Re "Senate Issues an Apology for Inaction on Lynchings," June 14: Conservative (red state) values: The two senators from Mississippi, the state registering the most lynchings, were among the unapologetic 20. Apparently holding the moral high ground means never having to say you're sorry. Jim Allen West Hollywood Re "Who'll Apologize for the Filibuster?" Commentary, June 15: Abolishing procedural tactics like filibusters because they were once used toward evil ends like lynching makes about as much sense as abolishing pens because one was used to sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

Mitt Romney apologized Thursday after a newspaper story described bullying behavior on his part when he was an 18-year-old senior at an elite, all-boys prep school in Michigan. The Washington Post detailed a 1965 incident at Cranbrook School in which a buttoned-down Romney apparently was incensed by the dyed blond locks of a junior known for his "nonconformity and presumed homosexuality. " He led a "posse" of students in a charge against the boy, the Post reported. "He can't look like that," Romney reportedly told a close friend at the time.

A Washington Post investigation into Mitt Romney's years at the Cranbrook School in Michigan, which included a disturbing account of Romney bullying a student who later turned out to be gay, earned an unusual apology from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee Thursday morning. The incident came to light one day after President Barack Obama said he supports same-sex marriage, and Romney reiterated his opposition. “Back in high school, I did some dumb things,” Romney said during a radio interview Thursday morning.

Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Scott Thompson apologized to employees as the fallout from a questionable resume spread to the company's board, with director Patti Hart announcing she would not seek reelection. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company also said Tuesday that it had formed a special three-person committee to conduct a thorough review of Thompson's academic credentials "as well as the facts and circumstances related to the review and disclosure of those credentials" in connection with his CEO appointment.

Talk about a bad trip. It started when Daniel Chong, a 23-year-old UC San Diego student, spent a night with friends to mark April 20, which some pot afficionados consider something of a holiday. It ended with an ordeal behind bars. The Drug Enforcement Administration apologized Wednesday to Chong, who was "accidentally" left in a holding cell for five days and reportedly drank his own urine to survive. San Diego attorney Gene Iredale said his client was "still recovering" from the ordeal.

In sheer emotion and rage, Lakers forward Metta World Peace swung his arms violently. He had just thrown down his third dunk of the game late in the first half, and the 18,997 fans at Staples Center erupted with joy. No one looked more elated than World Peace, who pounded his right fist on his chest. He then cocked his arm back and swung an elbow at Oklahoma City forward James Harden. Harden fell to the ground clutching his ear. Thunder forward Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka went toward World Peace, who squared up and appeared ready to defend himself.

A Florida judge Friday set a $150,000 bond for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot an unarmed black teenager and touched off a firestorm of controversy about race and the American justice system. Zimmerman, 28, appeared in court in a dark suit and gray tie, and, in a surprising move, took the stand. There, in a voice verging on meek, he apologized to the family of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old he admits he shot -- but only, he says, in self-defense. "I wanted to say I am sorry for the loss of your son," he said to the parents, who attended the hearing in the central Florida city of Sanford, where the shooting took place.

These days, even more interesting than the stories of the crime and punishment of our sports heroes are the stories of their mea culpas. Love may mean never having to say you are sorry. But these days, sports means having to say it all the time, say it without really saying it, or not saying it at all. Michael Vick's appearance in the confessional of Sunday's night's "60 Minutes" on CBS was one approach. The former NFL star and convicted dog-fighting felon appeared as if he would have admitted to, and been contrite about, stealing the Hope Diamond had he been asked.

The Florida Democrat who said Republicans wanted sick people to "die quickly" is apologizing for a new bout of inflammatory rhetoric, in which he used a derogatory term for women. Rep. Alan Grayson said late Tuesday that it was inappropriate for him to call Federal Reserve advisor Linda Robertson a "K Street whore" during an interview last month on the "Alex Jones Show," a syndicated talk radio program. Robertson is a former top Enron lobbyist and Clinton administration advisor who was hired by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to help with congressional relations as lawmakers are seeking more oversight of the agency.

ATLANTA - George Zimmerman apologized to the parents of the unarmed black teenager he fatally shot, as a Florida judge set his bail at $150,000, offering the former neighborhood watch volunteer a path to freedom after more than a week in jail. By midafternoon Friday, Zimmerman was still in custody, but his freedom was "being worked on as we speak," said Jimmy Woods, a spokesman forMark O'Mara, Zimmerman's attorney. Zimmerman, 28, appeared in the Sanford, Fla., courtroom at 9 a.m. in a dark suit and gray tie, his hair in a buzz cut, his hands bound by a chain circling his waist.