Lit_200 June 27, 2008 at 1:13 p.m.

Doug

If Black or Jewish folks decided to hold a downtown parade in honor of their special brand of sexuality I too would probably shade my eyes and join Wente's gay couple weeding a vegetable patch in the suburbs, albeit mumbling apologetically: "not that there's anything wrong with that."

You seem to confuse the tough march toward equal rights for gays and others before the law with a (admit it, mostly) blatant display of meant-to-shock sexual vulgarity.

You like it? Enjoy it! But please don't try to pass the gay parade off as anything important.

Fintan June 27, 2008 at 1:35 p.m.

There was an old man from Kent,
whose schlong in the middle was bent.
To save all the trouble,
he shoved it in double.
And instead of cumming, he Wente.

leaf June 27, 2008 at 4:38 p.m.

[This comment has been removed.]

leaf June 27, 2008 at 6:12 p.m.

[This comment has been removed.]

Casey June 27, 2008 at 7 p.m.

Margaret Wente is a bigot and her " some of my best friends are gay " is a dead giveaway. Her sleazy sarcasm and attempts at irony are blatant evidence and coverup of a personal bias against anything and anyone who, in a society that blessedly permits freedom of expression, stands out or who doesn't equate with this foolish moron's sickening and obnoxious opinions of whaty constitutes " restraint " aka normal. I am disgusted.

Fintan June 28, 2008 at 1:48 a.m.

Poor leafie, still big into transference. The big question is: does she only fantasise about all kinds of gory and perverted things or does she engage in them/would she engage in them if she got the opportunity?

☺ ☺ ☺

Just found this piece of utter drivel:

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/stor...

With priests like that around to add to the problems caused the Catholic Church by their fellow-clerics whose vice is abusing children rather than defendimng convicted felons, it's hardly surprising that the church is in crisis. Shouldn't Papa Razzi tell this tiresome priest to shut his trap?

Not that it mattwers much to me. Thank God I'm an atheist.

leaf June 28, 2008 at 2 a.m.

"Thank God I'm an atheist."

who cares?

you're a grotesque slice of life.

Fintan June 28, 2008 at 3:46 a.m.

A quote from a jumped-up little twerp priest whom His Lardship shoehorned into a position of media influence and who now still defends his old boss after he has been duly convicted in a four-month trial, with millions of dollars wasted on his defence, and then had his conviction upheld by an appellate court:

"It is, to borrow a word, preposterous that Lord Black and company would have complied with the law (as the acquittals on the majority of the charges found) on billions and conspired in fraud on less than 1% of that."

In other words, His Lardship got off (very luckily in my view) on most of the charges. He almost certainly wouldn't have if he had been just another Bubba depending on a public defender.

Yet, he was convicted of stealing several millions of dollars, obstructing justice (which the sky pilot with a name that sounds like Soused fails to mention) and failing in his fiduciary duty to the shareholders, something for which he was very generously paid.

And this is "preposterous" in the view of the black-cassocked one, who ought to be out giving his flock pastoral care rather than spewing right-wing propaganda in a right-wing rag like the Nazional Post.

I had to look it up, but now know "Thou shalt not steal" is the 8th Commandment. Maybe the Holy Father shoud tell his underling in Canada to get hold of a copy of all ten and refresh his memory.

Casey June 28, 2008 at 2:46 p.m.

" you're a grotesque slice of life. " - leaf June 28, 2008 at 2 a.m.

Perfect description of you, leaf aka sleazoid / scumbucket. Trying to project your above depiction upon Fintan simply demonstrates that 1) it is really YOU that is grotesque 2) how stupidly transparent you are 3) what a perfect example you are of a true scumbag, who exists in some netherworld and who probably looks and behaves exactly like Whacko Jacko - no respect, laughed at, ignored and despised.

GravityLevity2 June 28, 2008 at 5 p.m.

The Grinchish Mrs. Wente is possibly one of those heterosexuals, noted by Jane Rule, who would be embarrassed really to flaunt her own sexuality. BTW, her column misrepresents the apparal of most people and watching the Toronto parade, and many of those actually parading. As for the paraders--well, most participants in most parades dress up in costumes. Perhaps Mrs. Wente prefers the Caribanna costumes or those in the Santa Claus parade.

GravityLevity2 June 28, 2008 at 5:28 p.m.

As for de Souza's Nat Post column: If you're going to defend a friend's honour and truthfulness, don't try to twist the truth.

De Souza: "It is noteworthy that Judge Posner found the relevant non-compete agreements 'ridiculous' and 'preposterous.' Such commercial agreements may well be that, and he hints that he found the whole Ravelston-Hollinger Inc.-Hollinger International corporate structure ridiculous and preposterous." Inaccurate
De Souza continues: "Perhaps it was -- Lord Black, who finds himself in an American jail for companies he controlled around the world from Toronto, may well now agree. But ridiculousness and preposterousness do not constitute a criminal act." Fallacious, misleading: notice de Souza's rhetorical shift here, from the criminal acts of the bogus non-competes, which are called theft by Posner et al, to the corporate structure, which was, true enough not a criminal act, and for which the defendants were not convicted.

more De Souza: "At the end of the day, the American courts have permitted the dismantling of a public company, the elimination of hundreds of millions of dollars in shareholder value and put four men in jail for some $6-million in fees on $2-billion in asset sales. It is, to borrow a word, preposterous that Lord Black and company would have complied with the law (as the acquittals on the majority of the charges found) on billions and conspired in fraud on less than 1% of that." Misleading again: The noncompetes on which they were acquitted did not comprise billions of dollars.

GravityLevity2 June 28, 2008 at 5:38 p.m.

more De Souza: "For those of us who from the beginning saw this as a commercial dispute criminalized by the unchecked power of a prosecutorial state, the Posner judgement only confirms that. The judge, in essence, gives his view of whether the relevant payments should have been structured as they were. There is plenty of law in the opinion, but before all that the court is rendering a view on a commercial dispute." Um, wrong--the law is spelt out by the appelate decision; and the obstruction conviction would still be in place even if it had been merely a civil court matter that was being obstructed. (Further, the civil suits cover Hollinger moneys well beyond what was dealt with in the criminal case.)

De Souza: "The Posner opinion likely concludes the legal manoeuvres on this, and it does so with a vehemence against the defendants that admits of no doubts, reasonable or otherwise, as to their straightforward criminality." ambiguous phrasing, in "a vehemence. . . that admits of no doubts"; Does he admit that there is now no reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendants? Or does he mean that Posner's vehemence is somehow illegitimate and taints the decision? Probably, he means the latter; but the exact phrasing allows De Souza to say if he gets in a tight corner, "oh no, that's not what I wrote at all"--But let's look at his next paragraph

"At the same time, over the past 18 months it is surely the case that, even as the American courts were grinding him up, more people who familiarized themselves with the particulars of his case became more sympathetic to Lord Black's protestations of innocence, and even to him personally. He remains now what he was before -- not a saint, nor even a man who did not make serious mistakes in this matter. At the same time, I have no trouble maintaining my judgment that he is not a fraudster, nor a felon." So: either De Souza and Black's sympathizers are beyond even unreasonable in their rejection of his criminality, or De Souza does mean that the vehemence of the opinion is tainted.

GravityLevity2 June 28, 2008 at 5:40 p.m.

de Souza's conclusion: "The courts have spoken, and definitively so. The legal process is over. The great man has been jailed. The sadness is deep, but not complete, for from Florida the caged bird still sings."

Again, ambiguity: what does he mean by "definitively"? He certainly doesn't seem to accept what the courts have said about his "great man". So, in what sense have the courts been "definitive"?: De souza should be specific.

Conrad Black, a great man?--Ahem, I beg to disagree. While hardly a negligble man, he has done only middling work (and middling crime)--with his considerable advantages in life.

As for the bird imagery which runs throughout De Souza's piece and which culminates in the last sentence: 1. Dead ducks (which De Souza calls the defendants earlier) don't sing. Nor do living ones, if De Souza is looking forward to his convict friend's freedom and being recalled to life. Nor do ostriches sing. And the jailbird who sang was Radler, not Black.
Or is the last sentence a poignant coded plea to De Souza's jailbird friend to tell the truth at last?

Casey June 28, 2008 at 5:46 p.m.

Simple - The Breeden Report which claimed that Black, et. al literally stole over $400 million dollars ( that allowed them to live that disgusting and outrageous lifestyle ) or 92.5% of Hollinger's net income from 1997 - 2003 is the REAL story . The US Justice System decided to go with what they could prove inconclusively , simply and in easily understood financial lingo that a jury could understand in black and white terms.
Black went to prison as much for scamming / embezzling that 400 million as he did for the 4 measely charges upon which they ( Sussman, et. al ) got their concrete and irriversible convictions. As for claiming he does not seek a Presidential Pardon - here's why, which he doesn't tell you ( instead preferring to continue to behave the martyr ) - IF he WERE to be pardoned ( impossibile, in my opinion ), to accept it is tantamount to an admission of guilt. He would rather die than to do admit such " blasphemy "....lol.

Casey June 28, 2008 at 8:10 p.m.

inconclusively should have been CONclusively - sorry for my mistake above....

Fintan June 29, 2008 at 3:07 a.m.

GravityLevity2:

Brilliant analysis of Father Soused's column!

I wonder has he ever been in a situation like the one in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foFXj7pEj...

Fintan June 29, 2008 at 11:51 a.m.

Repost from another thread, where it was less on-topic than here:

Wente is, for want of a better word, a lady who seems to be suffering from a massive dick deficit, I only found out when I watched the late night TV news yesterday that the Helsinki Gay Pride parade earlier in the day had been a great success. Very colourful, no trouble according to the police, and lots of people turned out to enjoy the spectacle.

One of the banners I saw on TV read "Homofobia on sairaus", which means "Homophobia is a disease".

I've been very busy and didn't realise it was taking place, otherwise I'd have put a pink scarf on my dog and gone along. Out of solidarity with people who have never done me any harm.

I'm as straight as anyone who drools at the very sight of Scarlett Johansson can be, but I also subscribe to the principles of "live and let live" and "whatever gets y'off".

Who knows, by the time he gets out of the hoosegow, His Lardship may well have been tempted to try another way, and it might even be he finds it an improvement on Morticia.

ROFL

Note: Not only am I guilty of identity theft by using the unique moniker "leaf", but I have also stolen our resident abuse victim's idea or using smilies.

☺ ☺ ☺

Up yours, leafie!

Casey June 29, 2008 at 1:06 p.m.

GravityLevity2 June 28, 2008 at 5:40 p.m.
" While hardly a negligble man, he has done only middling work (and middling crime)--with his considerable advantages in life. "

Correct conclusion and your posts are wise and insightful in their detailed analysis of De Souza's embarrassing comments.
Black, right from the start in the late 60's, proved over and over again that he saw an opportunity to use other peoples' money and either skirted or broke the law countless times, NOT including the recent convictions.
Black merely grabbed with inherited funds and when the opportunities presented themselves, he simply conned his way into using funds to broker ever and ever more humungous financial deals. The financial acumen, smarts, wisdom never factored into any of his business decisions and in fact, this lack thereof proved that he is and was a dumb, naive, con man, Machiavellian and created one ponzi scheme after another. Throughout all the years of his " financial errrr success ", he demonstrated highschool knowledge of the financial world and as soon as someone with smarts ( Chris Browne, Laura Jereski, Richard Breeden ) confronted him, Black essentially imploded and so did the companies that HE, alone, and no one else, ( well, ok, Radler to a lesser degree ) destroyed. Had he reinvested that 400 million in Hollinger rather than in himself, he would still be a despised poop today but maybe Hollinger might have survived either in spite of or because of his necessary reinvestments into his paper companies, which we all know never occurred. Some of the money paid for a 2 million dollar ring, 5 multi million dollar mansions, several corporate jets ( to please the little " Lady " who refused to fly commercial ) 8 million dollar presidential papers, a$$kissing and excessive payments to his pals who sat on his various boards handpicked by himself ( Dwayne Andreas of Archer Midlands was senile and using a walker, if I recall ) and yadda, yadda, yadda. Anyone who was or is anyone important in the financial world thought that Black was a glorified and arrogant business moron.

Fintan June 29, 2008 at 3:16 p.m.

Well said, Casey! What a tosser, what a waste of opportunity and privilege. And we can't even blame it all on the ultra-greedy Morticia, because His Lardship was a slippery and nasty piece of work even before he met her and she moved him up several warps on the scale of evilness.

As for Father the Soused one, has anyone noticed the uncanny similarity between the big wide jaw and the other priest you can see in this video (maybe the Hispanic family leaf was dragged up in had a priest like this):

http://www.apocalypsecartoons.com/father...

Lit_200 July 1, 2008 at 2:14 p.m.

GravityLevity2 June 28, 2008 at 5 p.m.
The Grinchish Mrs. Wente is possibly one of those heterosexuals, noted by Jane Rule, who would be embarrassed really to flaunt her own sexuality. BTW, her column misrepresents the apparal of most people and watching the Toronto parade, and many of those actually parading. As for the paraders--well, most participants in most parades dress up in costumes. Perhaps Mrs. Wente prefers the Caribanna costumes or those in the Santa Claus parade.

As always GL2 misses the point when it serves his/her purpose. The costumes are not the point. Parading your sexuality is. Doug Bell proposes to put Jews or blacks on parade instead of homosexuals as if to say that Mrs Wente is homophobic as well as anti-semitic and bigotted, which totally confuses the point she was raising. Then you take off on dress-up costumes - which she mentions very peripherally - to throw in even more confusion and non sequiturs.

If you want to find analogies to the gay pride parade, think inter-species sex pride, think of a parade celebrating unique and athletic sexual positions, or even, think of a parade of heterosexual pride (why not?) - not Caribbana, Santa or the Easter Bunny.

It's great to be left of Marx but one doesn't have to be a dolt as well.

Fintan July 1, 2008 at 4:03 p.m.

Good grief, Lit 200, get a life! You were so wrong about His Lardship and his fate and you are just as wrong now.

I just discovered this and it raises a good point about His Lardship and his gruesome missus (for now) Morticia, who once went to the Engelmacher, but now denounces any other woman who has an abortion as a murderer.

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

Now that the Order of Canada has been awarded to a doctor who goes against everything His Lardship says he believes in (and I don't mean other people's money) wouldn't this be a good time for Bubba's cellmate to voluntarilty relinquish said order before it is taken away from him anyway as a disgraced thief and obstructor of justice?

By the way, I just discovered that it's Canada Day, so happy Canada Day to all my friends!

P.S. leaf seems to have backed off after Casey's and Jade-Lee's tongue-lashings (and my own modest contributions) so I assume daddy has been up to his tricks again.

P.P.S. One of the funniest men who ever lived ceased to be mortal just over a week ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PiZSFIVF...
George Carlin - as my good friends in Belfast used to say: "Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam" (May his soul be at God's right-hand side)

Casey July 1, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.

Lit_200 July 1, 2008 at 2:14 p.m.

I am in no mood to argue every point you make and basically annihilate it ( too lazy to look up spelling ) all but I agree with Fintan - you are a closet bigot. Enough said. Get a life too and start looking at that life through many prisms, not just one. You really do sadden me because you appear to be informative, intelligent and knowledgeable.

Barbara_in_BC July 1, 2008 at 7:53 p.m.

Lit200 on the Gay Pride parade:

"The costumes are not the point. Parading your sexuality is."

Speaking of costumes, how about that famous photo of Barbara Amiel and Conrad Black in antique French attire at a costume ball. Now what exactly were THEY parading? Wealth and arrogance perhaps?

Barbara_in_BC July 1, 2008 at 10:30 p.m.

And Fintan, I got the irony of thanking God you're an atheist.

Several smilies to you.

Casey July 1, 2008 at 11:27 p.m.

Barbara_in_BC July 1, 2008 at 7:53 p.m.

Lit200 on the Gay Pride parade:

"The costumes are not the point. Parading your sexuality is."

" Speaking of costumes, how about that famous photo of Barbara Amiel and Conrad Black in antique French attire at a costume ball. Now what exactly were THEY parading? Wealth and arrogance perhaps? "

Well said, Barbara and you make an excellent point! Wish I could have thought of it...:-).

Fintan July 2, 2008 at 5:52 a.m.

Poor lit, just keeps getting it wrong:

"I am in no mood to argue every point you make and basically annihilate it ( too lazy to look up spelling ) all but I agree with Fintan - you are a closet bigot. Enough said. Get a life too and start looking at that life through many prisms, not just one. You really do sadden me because you appear to be informative, intelligent and knowledgeable."

This is the party who had absolutely no doubt that His Lardship would be acquitted of all charges, then was certain his bail would be extended, then had no doubt at all that the appeal would be upheld, yadda, yadda, yadda ...

Not a great batting record. LOL

Now lit is convinced I'm a closet bigot. Wrong again. I am a bigot in the sense that I simply can't stand the sight of fat cat crooks and their greedy wives who would dismantle every last vestige of the welfare state if they could, support warmongering Neocon policies, etc., etc.

But there's nothing "closet" about my bigotry in that respect. Anyone who has been reading my posts for the past year or so would probably agree that I am as "in your face" as it gets.

ROFLMAO @ a twerp.

P.S. No need to look up spelling, it's correct, but here's a tip. Start using the Mozilla Firefox browser, which has a built-in spellchecker. You can download it for free.

Casey July 2, 2008 at 7:45 a.m.

Fintan July 2, 2008 at 5:52 a.m.

You, above everyone else, are the furthest thing from a racist or bigot or any other disgraceful label and I, for one, respect your opinions, views, your knowledge, writing style and essentially everything about you. Quite simply, Fintan, you're a pretty decent guy and your wife is indeed lucky to have you in her life. Ditto your kids! Keep postingand continue to call leaf and lit200 what they truly are - lost and very angry, depressed souls who see life via blinders and with tunnel vision. Leaf is simply a disturbed and perverted psycho caused no doubt in pa\rt by the aweful sexual and other types of abuse he absolutely HAD to be subjected to growing up and probably still suffers. Leaf belongs in a locked and caged mental ward of some state hospital for the criminally insane.

GravityLevity2 July 2, 2008 at 2:45 p.m.

Lit: "As always GL2 misses the point when it serves his/her purpose. The costumes are not the point. Parading your sexuality is."

Wrong about my post, Lit. Review the first sentence of my post: "The Grinchish Mrs. Wente is possibly one of those heterosexuals, noted by Jane Rule, who would be embarrassed really to flaunt her own sexuality." Let me spell out the implication for you, Lit, by quoting from Jane Rule's explanation in an essay called "Straights, Come Out". She makes the point that heterosexuals are, or have been in past generations, raised to be ashamed of their own sexuality, so that "Marriage, for them is not a flaunting but a legalizing of their sexuality. . . . Everyone is SUPPOSED to be ashamed"(Rule A Hot-Eyed Moderate 118).

Then, Lit, review the beginning of my next sentence, which does deal with costumes. This next sentence begins "BTW", which I (mistakenly?) understand as Internet-speak meaning "By the way", which indicates that what follows is somewhat incidental to the main point.

Lit_200 July 3, 2008 at 9:36 a.m.

Rage on, idiots. So many words, so much posturing, when you know - you MUST know - how wrong you all are. Even a small comment from me brings on a deluge, as though somebody tall had pulled the chain and flushed the toilet.

Even Casey makes an appearance trotting out her usual charges of bigotry on SFA proof, and the babe in BC still screaming: "me too, me too - see how smart I am? Here's a google site to prove it." And of course GL2—so heavy on political orientation and so light in the loafers. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose

I think it was Winston Churchill who said anyone who is not a liberal before the age of 30 has no heart, and anyone who is not a conservative after 30 has no brain.

I have obviously fallen into the very pit of the over-30 brain dead.

And then there is the self-aggrandizing, anti-feminist, violence-loving Finn: If Fintan knew the slightest thing about George Carlin, he'd know that the sappy Irish farewell he repeated would have sent Carlin into gales of laughter.

I hope you all enjoy the gay pride parade through downtown Toronto and all the rouged gentlemen swinging their exposed dicks for the kiddies to see - doing things for which they would be arrested were they not taking part in such an oh-so-politically-correct cultural event.

I will try to find a life, as you suggest Fintan. I see by looking over this blog that you've found yours.

Troglodytes.

Casey July 3, 2008 at 4:47 p.m.

Lit_200 July 3, 2008 at 9:36 a.m.

" I have obviously fallen into the very pit of the over-30 brain dead. "

So stop logging on here and mouthing your outrageous, insulting, centuriies old crap. For one who " appears " to have some intelligence , it is truly amazing how dumb you come across. Good riddance - all you are is baggage at this point. with a racist streak that is now pretty much discernible, whereas previous posts implied same. Poor you. Email Black the convicted felon - he will love what you have to say. I am done....with you, anyway.

Barbara_in_BC July 4, 2008 at 12:56 a.m.

In a time of overpopulation, gay marriage should be celebrated by everyone.

Fintan July 4, 2008 at 9:58 a.m.

"Lit_200 July 3, 2008 at 9:36 a.m.

"Rage on, idiots. So many words, so much posturing, when you know - you MUST know - how wrong you all are. Even a small comment from me brings on a deluge, as ---- and so on and so on and so on and so on and so on ---"

Looks like the absence of His Lardship is really getting to Morticia - or have the batteries in her gold-plated, diamond-encrusted dildo gone dead?

ROFLMAO