Conrad Black checked in for his prison sentence about an hour ago, so...

[IntravenousDemilo]

...happy birthday to me! What a nice present!

[Bragi]

1. I dunno...

I have trouble getting all giddy when someone enters an American prison. The person has to be a really gone badass for me to feel better when they are ordered into that great blight on the human landscape that is America's prison system.

Just last week America marked a new milestone for the world's most incarceration-prone society: as of now, one per cent of all its citizens resides in prison. Their detection, prosecution and sentencing, and their jailing, is now a consequential American industry.

Does this not suggest that something may not be well aligned in this area? Should the fact that a country is the most incareration-prone society on the planet give anyone reason to reflact? If the answer is "jailing ever-increasing numbers of citizens" then what exactly is the question?

And given this clue, how can anyone say that the great American train has not jumped the rails?

All in favour?

I see it's unanimous.

Excellent.

- B

[IntravenousDemilo]

2. You're right, America's prison system is a blight on the human landscape.

Lord Black should fit in very nicely.

[Bragi]

4. Man, you're tough-minded on this /nt

[glarius]

3. Much as I despise his imperious, condescending self, I can't help but feel

a little pity.

[tuvor]

6. Maybe this bit of WTF will help you with that.

I know it did for me.

No one mentioned it. No one, that I could tell, even looked at it. Yet it was there, in plain view of all the guests, at least five feet by seven feet, hanging inexplicably, insouciantly, on the wall of the great man's living room: a gigantic oil portrait of Adolf Hitler. And I wondered if the master of the house, when speaking, in tribute to his piece had dropped the common metaphor of "the elephant in the room" in favor of "the führer in the room". For certainly, the Hitler portrait had the same effect as the metaphorical elephant: everyone noticed it, everyone felt awkward about it, and everyone acted as if it did not exist.

The brooding visage of the führer stared out at a selection of Canada's elite: famous columnists, newspaper publishers, multi-millionaires, opinion-makers, etc. I had been invited to the party by Ezra Levant, publisher of the now defunct "Western Standard" magazine, a libertarian-conservative organ based in Calgary, Alberta. Ezra and I had met while doing television commentary for Global TV during Canada's last federal election, and kept in occasional email contact since. When I'd emailed him a few weeks earlier (in September of '06), he'd mentioned that Lord Conrad Black, international media baron, would be hosting a reception for columnist and author Mark Steyn (whose book "America Alone" had just come out) at his mansion in Toronto, though the event itself would be sponsored by the "Western Standard" magazine. And never loathe to pass up an opportunity for adventure, I accepted.

I surveyed the whole bizarre scene for a few more moments. I finally decided to take the plunge and mention the führer to someone. And since I only really knew Ezra - that meant Ezra.

"Ezra", I whispered. "Why is there a portrait of Hitler in here?"

http://tbachman.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-friend-shape-shifting-reptilian.html

Unfortunately, we never learn the reason, but I can't imagine that it was because Black is a swell guy.

[Bragi]

7. fascinating story...

I wish tal the blogger would finish it.

In the absence of an answer to the question, I see some merit in this comment left by someone at the end the article...

The chance of any British Jew (Lady Black is a Jewish Londoner) feeling any admiration of Hitler whatsoever is, according to my calculations, metaphysical zero. And I think the chances are nearly as low for Black himself.

My guess is that they liked it for the shock value, or convinced themselves it was "great art", that it "really captured the larger-than-life evil of the man" or something. Who knows?


http://tbachman.blogspot.com/2007/12/my-friend-shape-shifting-reptilian.html

[Spazito]

5. I think Black got off lightly....

I have NO sympathy for the man, he is where he belongs, imo. I certainly don't want him back in Canada for any reason and am glad he was arrogant enough to trash his citizenship so he can't serve his time here. What goes around, comes around and it certainly holds true for Black.

[JohnyCanuck]

8. Conrad's prison work program - teaching inmates French!

Recidivist in the making?

CanWest: Black says going to prison is no disgrace

This is hilarious since almost every media item about him these days starts out "The disgraced ... Conrad Black". Either the man's a hopeless incorrigible or his upper lip is a tad overly stiff.

Still a privileged lord in his own fantasy, he's even ordering his prison work program à la carte - he prefers to do "something bookish" like teaching French to his inferiors - rather than anything on the prison's standard job list. But, of course! Mustn't soil one's patties, n'est ce pas?

I wonder how many imprisoned drug dealers want to learn French. How many Americans, period, want to learn French? Doesn't the worldly wise Black know that France has been nose-thumbed in the US as being "old" Europe, not to be taken seriously, living in the dark ages, simply because it didn't jump at the chance to support the Iraq war. (CNN)

Maybe he meant to say drink French. Given his true druthers, I wonder which Black would most prefer to have shipped to him - books or French wine? Will he go into withdrawal, or will he resort to brewing his own hoosegow hootch? He can probably teach those inmates a few things besides French.

http://www.yayacanada.com/038-04.html