Spectator

June 2008 Archive

Satirists of Canada: Your day has come!

Posted on June 30, 2008 by

The past few days have seen a considerable improvement in the climate for free speech in this country. First, the Canadian Human Rights Commission pitched out the egregious complaint filed by the Canadian Islamic Congress against Maclean’s (and Mark Steyn). And now, the Supreme Court of Canada, courtesy of the good offices of Justice Ian Binnie, reconfirmed the importance of and extended the purview of what counts as fair comment. A read-through of Binnie’s opinion—which spoke for the court’s 9–0 rout reversing a B.C. Court of Appeal decision that favoured anti-gay activist Kari Simpson over shock jock Rafe Mair—reveals a veritable free speech manifesto:

Margaret Wente’s take on gay pride proves that one kind of prejudice is still OK

Posted on June 27, 2008 by

image for Margaret Wente’s take on gay pride proves that one kind of prejudice is still OK

On a day when North Korea more or less gave up her nukes and the axis of evil was reduced to the axle of evil (and what with the surge going as well as it is, soon Iran will stand apart: a lone beacon of general depravity), there is much to celebrate. And yet somehow the Globe’s Margaret Wente tortures me still. Her subject yesterday: gay pride. Her lead, written in a “mocking” style, proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that sarcasm really is the lowest form of humour: “Yes, folks, it’s that time of year again. Time to get out the feathers and the leathers and the nipple rings, and celebrate the wonderful diversity that is Pride Day.” Isn’t that clever? By suggesting that gay people—men and women alike—only wear leathers and nipple rings on Pride Day, “folks” like us can safely ridicule them and their “wonderful diversity.” Why? Because deep down inside, they know themselves how silly they all are? Why else would they only dress like that once a year? One thing you can safely say about Wente is that she is clearly unafraid of being either ignorant or stupid. Hell, she embraces it.

Denied: Posner’s wry prose more or less sends Black to jail until 2013

Posted on June 26, 2008 by

Yesterday, in 16 pages of tightly woven legal reasoning, Richard Posner more or less put paid to whatever faint hope remained that Conrad Black will see a free day anytime before 2013. Moreover, he ensures that, barring a judicial miracle, Black’s co-conspirators Jack Boultbee and Peter Atkinson will join him as guests of the United States on or about July 10. Posner is among the most estimable minds on the American bench, and his decision reflects its author’s eclectic, sometimes eccentric, but always razor sharp intellect. The prose possessed a sniffily dismissive and wry air. In explaining the nub of Black’s fraudulent endeavours Posner writes:

Eddie Greenspan’s moment in the sun

Posted on June 25, 2008 by

Three days in, it’s pretty clear. With the cross-examinations of Gordon Eckstein and Maria Messina in the defence of Garth Drabinsky, Edward Greenspan seeks nothing short of vindication for his client and himself. After last summer’s mistake by the American lake, wherein his brutal cross-examination of David Radler had even his co-counsel objecting, Eddie is back on the beaten path—and loving it. This time, there are no more jack-in-the-box objections from impertinent Yankee grade schoolers. But there is plenty of time and latitude to roam through and excoriate the half-truths, prevarications and damnable lies of the Crown’s witnesses to what “they call crimes.”

Livent trial hears of clock being pelted at former CFO

Posted on June 24, 2008 by

Eddie Greenspan’s continuing cross-examination of Maria Messina at the Livent trial took an odd turn shortly after noon yesterday when, in his continuing effort to erode, corrode and generally subvert Ms. Messina’s credibility, he mocked her testimony that former Livent finance VP Gord Eckstein once threw a clock at her during a meeting: “Do you recall how close it came [to hitting you?]… You must have thought he was stark raving mad…Sybil had run amok.”

On not being famous at Moses Znaimer’s IdeaCity

Posted on June 23, 2008 by

It’s a Friday night in Toronto’s Distillery District, a vast commercial, residential and “arts” space installed in a renovated booze factory close to downtown. I’ve come to attend one of Moses Znaimer’s “legendary” IdeaCity parties, held at this time every year as part of a three-day festival attracting “luminaries” to the city. There’s a rather elaborate entry protocol, which involves me standing around a long while waiting to be confirmed. Once in the door, I feel practically naked as I don’t have a giant badge with my name on it indicating that I’ve paid Moses however many thousands of dollars to listen to 20-minute snatches of wisdom selected by him. Among this year’s merchants of wiseness are Margaret Atwood, listed as a “Canadian literary icon”; Christie Hefner, written up as “CEO Playboy Enterprises” (now there’s an idea!); and Betty Krawczyk, “Head Raging Granny.”

Falling over ourselves to pay tribute to Tim Russert

Posted on June 23, 2008 by

Tim Russert, in case you hadn’t noticed, is dead. The longest serving host of the NBC political chat show Meet the Press passed to his eternal reward recently, and the Excited States of America lived up (or down) to its somewhat sardonic anglophilic nickname. At his memorial service, Bruce Springsteen sang and eulogized via video hookup. This in tribute to Russert’s working-class roots in benighted Buffalo (a city rapidly overtaking Detroit as a symbol of rust belt decline). At the “request of the family,” McCain and Obama sat together at the funeral, implying that, even in death, only Tim could reconcile America’s political divide. And more or less anyone in the media who deemed his passing worth mentioning was slavering in their praise. Even the New Yorker’s cleverer-than-thou David Remnick heaped on the praise with just the right touch of superiority.

Nortel, Livent, BCE: A red-letter day for white-collar law

Posted on June 20, 2008 by

White-collar law, both civil and criminal, dominates this morning’s headlines: the Livent trial is ongoing, the BCE decision is expected from the Supremes later this afternoon and the RCMP is finally charging execs from Nortel and Royal Group Technologies (coverage of this last story comes complete with perp-walk photos and an alleged fraudster named—I kid you not—Vic De Zen).

Finger wagging, browbeating, accusation, innuendo, disdain: Just another day at the Livent trial

Posted on June 19, 2008 by

As expected, Eddie Greenspan was in full flight today as he launched his cross-examination of former Livent CFO Maria Messina. He started by telling his prey that they would be spending quite a while together and advised her to confine herself to the specific questions he was asking. This led to 90 minutes of finger wagging, browbeating, accusation, innuendo and outright disdain. He characterized her consulting for a downtown Toronto law firm—one charged with representing the interests of Livent against their former executives Drabinsky and Gottlieb—as the “Stikeman Elliott witness protection program.” Furthermore, Eddie “accused” her of “taking three million bucks to prepare testimony in an effort to convict Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb.” It was all jolly innuendo accompanied by the usual apt and brash theatrics. What does it all amount to? Stay tuned.

Grist for the Greenspan mill: A new witness steps up at the Livent trial

Posted on June 19, 2008 by

After a week’s interregnum, the Livent trial gears up again this morning with the cross-examination of former CFO Maria Messina. In her testimony to date, Messina more or less confirmed everything Livent’s other primary bean counter, Gord Eckstein, told the court about Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb’s alleged perpetual motion fraud machine. The difference highlighted by the Greenspans’ last ferocious cross-examination is that Eckstein is a pretty horrible guy: arrogant, mendacious and given to obscenity. Messina, on the other hand, has (so far) come off as saintly and long-suffering. She repeatedly testified that during her time at Livent she was “immobilized by fear” and that in preparing her memos revealing the fraud to new management, her hands shook so badly she had to get somebody else in the office to type it.

In the debate over Google’s effect on humanity, everyone is missing one big issue

Posted on June 19, 2008 by

image for In the debate over Google’s effect on humanity, everyone is missing one big issue

For the second time this week, I’m taking my lead from The Atlantic (it’s the best magazine in the world right now, making even The New Yorker appear precious and overwrought). Unsurprisingly, the two articles that stirred me to blog were both (a) about the Web and (b) rife with fundamental, flummoxing misperception. I’ve already written about Mark Bowden’s piece on the Web-induced demise of The Wall Street Journal. Now for the big kahuna: Nicholas Carr’s take on Google. Titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid,” this cover story has been sticking in bloggers’ craws all week, inspiring them to pee on hydrants to mark their view on the current state of media, the Web and the human condition. Carr’s view is clear: the hypertext world of Google is slowly eroding our capacity for sustained contemplation, thereby flattening our collective intelligence. One thing is also clear: the piece has an enormous blind spot.

Christie Blatchford and Tim Hortons: Barometers of all things Canadian

Posted on June 17, 2008 by

image for Christie Blatchford and Tim Hortons: Barometers of all things Canadian

Sometimes it’s best just to report the facts as you know them and leave the opining to your betters. Here, for example, is Christie Blatchford in this morning’s Globe reporting on the goings-on at yesterday’s terrorism trial in Brampton:

As long as the CBC is losing things…

Posted on June 17, 2008 by

OK, so CBC lost Hockey Night in Canada’s theme music. Now, having set that happy precedent, perhaps the Ceeb brain trust might, for the sake of good taste and our collective sanity, consider losing this jacket (and maybe even the guy in it).

Pot calls kettle black in ongoing feud between print and Web journalists

Posted on June 17, 2008 by

image for Pot calls kettle black in ongoing feud between print and Web journalists

The July-August issue of The Atlantic includes a piece by lead features scribbler Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down) on the recent goings-on at the Wall Street Journal. In it, Bowden writes a predictable lament regarding the demise of long-form, responsible journalism in newspapers. The cause? The Web, of course, and Web-enabling buccaneer capitalists like Rupert Murdoch. All of which is fine, after a fusty Luddite fashion. But when Bowden gets up on his hind legs and announces that the Web “has yet to develop institutions capable of replacing print newspapers as vehicles for great in-depth journalism, or conscious of themselves as upholding a public trust,” I tend to get a little pissy. My debunking, after the jump.

Fallout continues after Conrad Black’s contentious appeals hearing

Posted on June 16, 2008 by

The fallout from Lord Black’s contentious appeals hearing included the now-familiar bumptious rebuttal from his Lordship, backed up by the usual ventriloquism offered up by George Jonas of the National Post. In all this, there was the assertion that judges Posner and Sykes were, as Black put it, “essentially part of the prosecution.” Whatever his motivation throughout the hearing, Posner was by turns caustic, sarcastic, incredulous and dismissive. Afterwards, Andrew Frey noted that it’s an appeals judge’s job to be skeptical and that it was unlikely that Posner would come off the bench and give him a hug.

How Mark Steyn got Canada on the cover of the New York Times

Posted on June 13, 2008 by

image for How Mark Steyn got Canada on the cover of the New York Times

Whenever our home and native land gets a mention in the mighty New York Times, we feel that concomitant frisson of recognition. For a moment, we’re a little closer to the centre of things. Today we made the front page above the fold, and not in a way that was especially flattering. The subject, in part, is the discrimination complaint before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal involving a piece Mark Steyn wrote for Maclean’s. I’ve written before about this sorry situation and expressed my opinion that the sooner we put paid to this sort of frivolous prosecution, the better. While Times legal reporter Adam Liptak takes seriously the Supreme Court’s efforts to balance speech rights with other societal concerns, he appears to imply that the situation in B.C. is the bridge too far. His argument, after the jump.

Peter Munk interview at Indigo goes awry due to rowdy audience member

Posted on June 12, 2008 by

image for Peter Munk interview at Indigo goes awry due to rowdy audience member

Balzac’s neatly turned observation that “behind every great fortune there is a crime” has developed into a veritable shibboleth of the activist left. One thing is sure: if you make or inherit a great fortune, it’s a lock you’ll be accused of a great crime. Gates is a monopolist, Murdoch a closet fascist, Thomson a virtual polygamist, and don’t even get me started on all those Russians. Tuesday night in Toronto I saw this phenomenon in action. Peter Munk, whose Barrick Gold Corporation has developed into one of the great Canadian money-spinners of recent times, was interviewed on the stage at Indigo Books. His interlocutor was his daughter, Vanity Fair contributor Nina Munk. The subject of the chat was supposed to be a new book by Munk the Younger and Rachel Gotlieb that is titled The Art of Clairtone and celebrates the design innovations of Peter Munk’s long-defunct stereo company. The evening went more or less as planned, with Nina asking Peter straightforward journalistic questions concerning the content of her book. And then, in a moment, things went haywire.

A three-sheet salute to The Walrus’s Ken Alexander

Posted on June 11, 2008 by

image for A three-sheet salute to The Walrus’s Ken Alexander

The word went out last night: Ken Alexander—perpetually described (yet again this morning in the Globe) as “colourful, chain-smoking and tempestuous,” or some such code for irascible and sodden—is calling it quits after four years of editing The Walrus. In short order, the periodical essentially replaced Saturday Night as Canada’s national magazine of high-end, long-form magazine journalism. It was this shift—exacerbated by Alexander’s studied old-money indifference to forelock tugging and civility—that brought down the wrath of the established journalistic orders (see Robert Fulford in the pages of Toronto Life). Over the course of Alexander’s tenure, The Walrus simultaneously attracted and repelled talent. The result was an earnest, ambitious, if somewhat worthy publication.

Bernardo tape released to the media, but not without pointless proviso

Posted on June 10, 2008 by

One of the surreal aspects of our 24-hour real-time media universe came into precise focus this morning in Justice David McComb’s fourth-floor courtroom at 361 University Avenue. He ordered that copies of Paul Bernardo’s interview with police regarding the Robert Baltovich case be released to the press. The order was carried out over a couple of hours, rendering the logistics in this matter chaotic, if not absurd. While a gaggle of press vultures (including this stooped reporter) hung over his shoulder, Iain MacKinnon—the lawyer who argued on behalf of CBC, CTV, CanWest and Rogers—burned copies of the original onto DVDs in order to make good on the court’s order. He even used his own laptop.

Canada’s other national anthem sold to the highest bidder

Posted on June 10, 2008 by

After a 40-year run on CBC, Hockey Night in Canada has lost its theme song to CTV. Composer Dolores Claman—who had held out for a better licensing deal from CBC and then turned around and sold the rights in perpetuity to its competitor—said, “I am very moved by how so many Canadians have taken the hockey theme to heart. We are so pleased the song has found a new home.” What sentimentality. She made a smart financial decision. At any rate, the fool in all this is the CBC’s bumbler-in-chief, Richard Stursberg. He’s in charge of the national broadcaster and allowed its arguably most recognizable icon to slip through his fingers. Nice work. At least he’s still got George Stroumboulopoulos.

Two rich white guys face a higher power

Posted on June 9, 2008 by

Here are a couple of stray observations on a steamy Toronto Monday. Friday night, Peter C. Newman won a National Magazine Award for his magisterial take on the Conrad Black trial in the pages of Toronto Life. From the podium, he thanked the man himself. Mr. Black noted in the pages of Saturday’s Post that, to his mind, this “outpouring of sentimental celebration…is a nostalgic re-enactment of the leftist ritual of self-indulgent historical myth-making.” He was writing about the 40th anniversary of student rioting in France, but as an expression of his likely take on Newman’s triumph, it’ll do just fine.

Margaret Wente “reports” on the misery of latte lovers

Posted on June 9, 2008 by

Writing a regular column for a major newspaper is unbelievably hard work. And far be it from me to gainsay the efforts of someone who manages to crank out that much content several times a week. The best columnists appear to be satisfied with ignoring the currency or “newsworthiness” of their observations in favour of broader themes that, irrespective of the news, make the column relevant.

The newsworthiest breast in Canada

Posted on June 6, 2008 by

At this time last week, l’affaire Bernier was taking wing and sending a Canadian news story flying around the world: “Over the course of 72 hours in midweek,” reported the Globe, “Ms. Couillard was the subject of thousands of articles and 821 TV reports in no fewer than 61 countries.” Moreover, “she took sole possession of a remarkable six per cent of all U.S. news coverage.” But in the blogosphere—where currency is the, uh, currency—sometimes it takes a solid week for a particular issue to come into focus. Take, for instance, John Barber’s “satire” of this coverage in last Saturday’s Globe. It was printed under the slug “Analysis” and titled “Thousands of articles, 821 TV shows, 61 countries and one breast.” That “breast” is the first of seven mentions (eight, if you count the cutline) in the piece, accompanied by two instances of the more ribald “knockers.”

Lesson #18,330,424 from the Conrad Black trial: Simplify

Posted on June 6, 2008 by

For as long as he remains a guest of the United States—and perhaps right to the gates of Paradise—I suspect Conrad Black will hear ringing in his ears the following exchange between Judge Richard Posner and Andrew Frey recorded at Black’s oral appeal to the Seventh Circuit (I’ve edited the exchange for the purposes of clarity):

Just another day at 361: Paul Bernardo to the left, Livent to the right

Posted on June 5, 2008 by

A courthouse is, by definition, a Petri dish of the absurd. The courthouse at 361 University Avenue was no exception yesterday as a hearing into the hows and wherefores of releasing the Bernardo tape took place simultaneously with (and not five yards away from) Brian Greenspan’s continued dismantling of Gord Eckstein at the Livent trial. Several members of the fourth estate hopped back and forth between the two, and the attendant vertigo was almost too much to bear.

Conrad Black’s last kick at the can

Posted on June 5, 2008 by

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals calendar has it listed for 9:30 a.m. Central Time this morning: Conrad Black’s last kick at the can (short of an appeal to the Supreme Court), “07-4080, 08-1030, 08-1072 & 08-1106; USA v. Black 30 min.”

Foul language bumps Livent trial rating up to PG-13

Posted on June 3, 2008 by

The air turned a distinct shade of blue today at the Livent trial when the normally avuncular Brian Greenspan, having taken over his brother’s cross-examination of Gordon Eckstein, reacquainted the former Livent CFO with his expressed feelings for his former employers. Reading from a deposition given by a former Livent employee, Greenspan read testimony in open court stating that Eckstein had on numerous occasions referred to his bosses as “fuckheads, shitheads and idiots.”

Might Thomson Reuters try to buy The New York Times?

Posted on June 3, 2008 by

As noted yesterday by my august colleague Philip Preville, the Globe and Mail has, in its infinite wisdom, eliminated one of the ways it annoys the readers of its print manifestation. They have officially ended the idiotic practice of charging for double-dipping—that is, charging for Web access to their premium material. The New York Times, a somewhat more essential read, has been free since September and the Wall Street Journal—from which the Globe still takes sloppy seconds in the business section—is moving more and more in that direction. The Globe’s archive is another matter; it remains behind a pay wall whereas the Times is mostly gratis. Still, for the Globe, it’s a start.

Pressure’s rising in the Livent trial, as Greenspan’s cross-exam goes into day five

Posted on June 3, 2008 by

Yesterday was Gordon Eckstein’s fifth day under cross-examination in the Livent trial, and for fans of Eddie Greenspan’s particular brand of withering, scornful sarcasm—the kind he marshalled against David Radler to mixed reviews—yesterday’s midday cross-exam was of pure vintage. Going back and forth as to the propriety of “papering the house” (i.e., buying up tickets, then giving them away so as to give the impression of a full house), Eddie and Eckstein snapped at each other like a couple of Dobermans scrapping for sport.

Conrad Black looking to teach, rewrite history

Posted on June 2, 2008 by

He haunts us still. Conrad Black—newly minted instructor of American history at Coleman Federal Correctional Institute—takes his case before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals this Thursday, with the help of his able appeals lawyer, Andrew Frey. Oral arguments are limited to a half-hour on both sides, with yellow and red lights aflashin’ to ensure a timely disposal of the arguments. Steve Skurka has a piece on the National Post’s Web site that neatly summarizes the case on both sides.

When it comes to the ethics of embedding journalists, Christie Blatchford misses the big picture (again)

Posted on June 2, 2008 by

I spent last week working in L.A.—an experience like no other, one that could make even the most deluded dreamer crave Toronto’s low-ceilinged ambitions. On Monday, seeking to inoculate myself against the general lunacy abroad in the land, I attended a sober Memorial Day ceremony at the Los Angeles National Cemetery. And while even this event had its share of native nuttiness (among the colour guard was an outfit called the Sons of Confederate Veterans, complete with period costume and a confederate flag), I was still struck by the unironic and severe atmosphere that is central to such American commemorations. During the Pledge of Allegiance, every person present (save the odd interloper) enunciated the national creed loudly and clearly, right hand draped over heart: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”