BLACK DAY FOR CONRAD

JURY FINDS COMRADE BLACK GUILTY

(one small step for U.S. Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, one giant step for the rule of law).

We don’t know if Conrad Black suffers from triskaidekaphobia like one of his his heroes- Napoleon,-but this Friday the 13th. spelled doom for the Lord. He faces a possible 35 years in the Big House. His "friends are weeping for him…including his high priced lawyer  everyone calls "Fast Eddie".

And it’s such an incestuous little clique too…Lord Black and his cronies…they’ve been hanging out at the Ritz Hotel in Chicago- anxiously awaiting this day.

There he was the other night, before dinner- being interviewed exclusively by a "breathless" Theresa Tedesco, a reporter from one of the newspapers he used to own…The National Post. And before he gets furious about an omission…he actually founded the National Post as a conservative mouthpiece for his own news and views. No doubt, he would deny that he had any influence there at all. It is to laugh.

Black answered no relevant questions in the Tedesco talk…although he did opine that he had given some thought (albeit not much) to what life would be like in prison.

You have to be very careful with Comrade Black. He sues at the drop of a hat. But now that he’s on the other side of the dock…found guilty of some rather exotic crimes,he may be playing things a bit closer to his Toronto/London/New York/Chicago/Palm Beach/San Quentin vest.

Black’s support has come from a variety of quarters, including unindicted war criminal Henry Kissinger, real estate magnate and erstwhile TV star Donald Trump, and other American "luminaries", including a Roman Catholic Cardinal. Hmmmmmm.

Interestingly, Black spoke about his daughter as his "fiercely serious" supporter, whom Theresa descibes as "statuesque". He then mentioned his present wife Barbara Amiel, almost as an afterthought. He was also reported to be happy to have his former wife Joanna in his corner, along with her current husband George Jonas (an ex-intimate friend of Barbara…..all too much isn’t it).

I met the great Lord once myself- when he was still just a Mister. Back in the 70′s when he was trying to figure out how to get his soft quick little pinkies on the pension fund surplus enjoyed by Dominion Store employees.

The occasion was drinks and dinner at the home of John Bassett – my nominal boss when I worked at CTV. The reason for my invitation that night was my recent return from Beirut. I had done an interview with Yasser Arafat and John thought it would be amusing to hear a first-hand account.

My main recollection of the evening was of the litany of disparaging remarks the two Mr.B’s made about Arafat in particular and Arabs in general. Black referred to them in his Churchillian way, as dirty, scruffy people who dressed in a bizarre fashion.

There were also of course, the usual disparaging remarks about Canada, a country Black said he loathed. His dislike of most things Canadian is especially delicious in the light of his current experience with the justice system in America, a country he always idolized as being somewhere between Utopia and heaven.

I met the pre-facelift Barabara way back when she was an underling, clawing her way up at The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto.

Needless to say, I have always found them both somewhat distasteful.

My prediction is that Mr. Black will get 7 years of prison time. With good behaviour, he could be out in 5.

(I believe I can hear those Dominion Store employees cheering now.)

I am pondering this case and will write more about it as soon as  my emotions settle down.

Cheers.