Spectator

Conrad Black’s sense of occasion, if not context

Posted on February 27, 2008 by Douglas Bell


Yesterday, when F. David Radler—inmate number 18189-424—surrendered himself at 11:30 a.m. to the Bureau of Prisons at the Moshannon Valley prison, the wheels of justice continued to grind for Conrad Black, Peter Atkinson and Jack Boultbee. The following quote appears in the 47-page government response to the Hollinger three’s joint application to continue bail pending appeal:

Throughout their motion appellants engage in Herculean efforts to make what is essentially a sufficiency of the evidence appeal—and a weak one at that—appear to be something else…

In the process, they omit important facts, misdescribe others, attribute arguments to the government it never made, and assume this court will view the evidence in the light most favourable to their defence. Appellants attempt, for example, to portray a straightforward honest services fraud charge—which the district court described as “not at the periphery but near the core of prohibited” schemes...to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services—as a novel or even “dangerous” theory presenting substantial legal questions.

Appellants realise the nearly insurmountable task ahead in convincing the court that their sufficiency arguments present substantial questions likely to result in reversal or a new trial.

The appeals court decision is expected before the end of the week. Meantime, Black is rumoured to have sent the following line of poetry in response to a missive of support and condolence: “It’s a long lane that knows no turnings.”

It’s a line taken from Browning’s long poem “The Flight of the Duchess,” which, in context, reads:

And then, when red doth the sword of our Duke rust,

And its leathern sheath lie o’ergrown with a blue crust,

Then I shall scrape together my earnings;

For, you see, in the churchyard Jacynth reposes,

And our children all went the way of the roses:

It’s a long lane that knows no turnings.
One needs but little tackle to travel in;

So, just one stout cloak shall I indue:

And for a staff, what beats the javelin

With which his boars my father pinned you?

And then, for a purpose you shall hear presently,
Taking some Cotnar, a tight plump skinful,

I shall go journeying, who but I, pleasantly!

Sorrow is vain and despondency sinful.

Say what you like about Black, the man has a sense of occasion.

• David Radler begins serving 29-month sentence for fraud at Pennsylvania jail [CP]
• Conrad Black in bid to delay start of sentence [icWales]

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Lit February 27, 2008 at 9:28 p.m.

The man has class! Byron is a perfect choice for the occasion. Bravo Conrad Black.

Casey February 27, 2008 at 9:44 p.m.

LitTwo Hundred February 27, 2008 at 9:28 p.m.

The man has class! Byron is a perfect choice for the occasion. Bravo Conrad Black.

The man is a loser....AND clearly possesses zero class - people with REAL born and bred class; with true breeding, do not pontificate, are humble and and do get themselves into legal entanglements that ultimately end up convicting them and sentencing them to prison. They do not defraud, lie or cheat. Just because someone can recite a line or two of poetry ostensibly to describe one's current predicament does not indicate or demonstrate that this person is worthy of the lofty position to which he ascribes himself.

Casey February 27, 2008 at 9:47 p.m.

and do get themselves into legal entanglements = " and do NOT get themselves....." - correction

jade_lee February 27, 2008 at 10:39 p.m.

Welcome to a world that continues to perpetuate a "class system" Casey. BTW my son's name is Casey and I love that name as a result, it makes me think of cowboys for some strange reason and that influenced our choice. Sorry if you are a female Casey! LOL

There is a double standard that still exists even in the so called new world of North America that is billed as a democratic system where all people are equal. It's apparent to anyone who has lived a full life that we are not all equal and people like Conrad Black are granted forgiveness ahead of many of the Tom, Dicks or Harriets who have been less devious and paid far more for their reckless behaviour. This double standard reads, to me anyways, that it's never what you do but who you are, that dictates social condemnation. I am glad to represent a culture that does not care who commits the crime but instead cares about addressing the crime and criminal, according to the laws we have created. I don't hate Conrad Black, instead I hate what he has done and I don't care to see him suffer in prison, I just want him to face the same punishment others have endured. The fact still remains that some individuals learn from punishment but many do not. Lets hope Conrad Black with his stellar education and extraordinary opportunities in life is someone who walks away from his term of incarceration hanging his head just a tad lower, just like Joe and/or Josephine average are expected to do!

Fintan February 28, 2008 at 8:43 a.m.

Hello all,

I put this in the wrong thread this morning before I had my second cup of coffee and it was about 2 a.m. in Toronto, so I'll post it again here:

Wriggle, wriggle! Like a fish twitching at the end of a line, His Lardship and his lawyers (who might well end up not getting their money) go through the paces as the time ticks away towards his tryst with destiny and Bubba. As this Sun-Times article reports, they filed another 12-page plea on Wednesday. 12 pages! How many ways can you say: I didn't do it!

http://www.suntimes.com/business/holling......

It seems their principal ground for appeal is that the judges haven't been told clearly and loudly enough that Black got away Scot-free with several of his crimes, something that the dogs in the street know only too well.

Thank you, Valerie for your explanation. Your summation is far from verbatim, but very concise and accurate. Only an idiot, or someone who has learned the Black art of twisting and misrepresentation from the master himself or his grim wife, would have construed a reference to sari-clad beauties as referring to children, since only adult women wear them. Children and adolescent girls are more likely to wear churidars (kurtas).

As someone who will celebrate our 38th anniversary on Monday, the day His Lardship finally ends up where he belongs, I'm afraid I'm depressingly normal, but it's hardly a sin to have an eye for beauty, is it?

The point I was making in comparing young Tamil beauties, who wash their hair in coconut milk and adorn it with neem flowers, with the old crone Morticia, who has spent the GDP of a small nation on cosmetic surgery, chemical treatments and ultra-expensive couture clothes and designer footwear and hangs $2-million diamonds around her scrawny neck, is that such wastefulness is indulged in at the expense of others.

I also went on to make the point that when these Tamil beauties are no longer young, their beauty lives on in the dignity with which they bear their difficult lives. Morticia would have only contempt for women like them, and has spent her entire professional life opposing policies that would mean a better deal for the so-called Third World - and indeed for women who are "inferior" to herself in the First World as well.

Of the Malicious Duo, I consider Morticia by far the more obnoxious, and I wish she were going to prison as well. But it's a consolation to see her bereft of power and influence at least.

Roll on Monday, only four days to go.

Fintan February 28, 2008 at 9:10 a.m.

This is what His Lardship has to say about one of his old neocon pals who failed to help him, or couldn't be bothered to and has now gone to meet his Maker, probably not an enjoyable encounter for either of them:

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.h...

I too can think of something good to say about William Buckley now: he's dead!

This is what His Lardship had to say about him on an earlier occasion:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs...

For those of you seeking something new in the media, this just off the press at The Star. What a pleasure to read it!

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/articl...

What nonsense to compare His Lardship to Lord Byron, as Lit 200 does. Likewise typically, Lit 200 seems to be confusing Byron with Browning.

The difference between Lord Byron and His Lardship is that the latter ponced around in a comic opera military uniform, probably causing excruciating embarrassment to his Queen, who was present, but he never had the balls to serve in the military of either Canada or the USA - despite his severe criticism of the young Americans of his age who refused to fight in what the saw as an unjust war. Byron had the courage of his convictions and went to fight for the freedom of Greece, where he is now honoured as a national hero.

To compare Black to a giant like him is totally stomach-churning.

Fintan February 28, 2008 at 10:09 a.m.

It's funny to see His Lardship quoting poetry in e-mails, Browning no less! Where he's going, a lot of people are likely to know a good deal more about Smith & Wesson than Browning!

But, just in case the prison administration do decide to give him a job as some kind of teacher, this segment of a poem by Oliver Goldsmith might be more appropriate:

"Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way
With blossom'd furze unprofitably gay,
There, in his mansion, skill'd to rule,
The village master taught his little school;
A man severe he was, and stern to view,
I knew him well, and every truant knew;
Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace
The days disasters in his morning face;
Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee,
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he:
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd:
Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault.
The village all declar'd how much he knew;
'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too:
Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,
And e'en the story ran that he could gauge.
In arguing too, the parson own'd his skill,
For e'en though vanquish'd he could argue still;
While words of learned length and thund'ring sound
Amazed the gazing rustics rang'd around;
And still they gaz'd and still the wonder grew,
That one small head could carry all he knew.
But past is all his fame. The very spot
Where many a time he triumph'd is forgot."

And if there's anything for His Lardship to take home from this poem, it is that he'd better "laugh with counterfeited glee" when Big Bubba makes a wisecrack!

leaf February 28, 2008 at 12:49 p.m.

i forgot to mention poems when i made my case for fickton's obsession with CB.

Fintan February 28, 2008 at 2:21 p.m.

Ha, ha. Obsession with CB! What is this blog about anyway, African wildlife?

Casey February 28, 2008 at 2:31 p.m.

Fintan Itse February 28, 2008 at 2:21 p.m.

Ha, ha. Obsession with CB! What is this blog about anyway, African wildlife?

Fabulous comeback, Fintan. Very witty and always worth tuning into this blog to get your perceptions, etc. Also loved the right on commentary about Tamil women, etc. and BA's cronism - is there such a word? -in comparison. Appeal decision should be handed down today or tomorrow but from what I have read, the likelihood of CB being given bail extension beyond March 3rd is nil or close to it.
Keep the great links coming and again, welcome back.

leaf February 28, 2008 at 3:04 p.m.

general knowledge question:

what is the difference between obsession and interest?

Fintan February 28, 2008 at 4:05 p.m.

"Also loved the right on commentary about Tamil women, etc. and cronism - is there such a word? -in comparison."

LOL, Casey Smith, flattery will get you everywhere with me!

Yes, there is such a word as "cronism". I had to look it up, but it means something different from what I meant when I compared the hideousness of Morticia to the beauty of women who just have what some people call natural style - if you have it, it sticks out a mile.

What Morticia has sticks in the craw of anyone with a sense of the aesthetic. But her ugliness is in her heart and her blood, not her outward appearance. I know that I could take what we call a "kassialma" here, an alcoholic, homeless bag lady, and by spending, say, a relatively trivial sum like €10,000 I could make her look at least as good as Morticia viewed at 50 metres. Within limits, mind. She's have to be under 70, but it's pretty hard to find one older than that. Sadly.

Here's another link. I bet His Lardship isn't snivelling all that much about the demise of that neocon icon Fyckley. But he has enough to moan about, I guess.

http://www.today.com/external.php?url=ht...

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