And while all of this is going on, native protesters are blocking railways, barricading roads, seizing provincial parks, and occupying towns, in most cases with absolute impunity, to back up land claims that can add up to 100% or more of a province’s territory.
Andrew lamenting Conrad Black's sentence:
But I had far rather live in a country with a Conrad Black than without him, and now that he has been found guilty -- pending appeal -- I confess I will be one of those hoping for a light sentence.
Typical Conservative. Kiss up, kick down.
And just a note on Mr. Black's "four dollar words" and "1000-page biographies", which Andrew seems so much to admire. Imagine being stuck behind Mr. Black at a McDonalds while he fishes around for a nine syllable term meaning cheesebugga. Imagine actually reading one of his books, rather than flipping through to the last chapter to see how it ends. (And imagine the "revision" of Mr. Black's literary reputation that will likely take place now that a bad review no longer attracts lawsuits!)
I'm afraid Mr. Black's English was the literary equivalent of a lumbering brontosaur, requiring ten minutes and a half mile to turn completely around. There is nothing to admire in it. The character of modern Canada, of indeed the modern world, is all Strunk and White; the cool, crisp lines of a Bunyan or a Swift. Mr. Black's prose was an attempt to reverse the clock to an era when ostentatious displays of linguistic bling could frighten those less rich with pointless verbiage into compliance. It was the stylistic reflection of his Ideology. That Mr. Black will be supping at Club Fed for the next decade or so is just one indication that the time for such language has long faded into the depths of history.
PS. And, no, Andrew, people do not regard the National Post with something "approaching affection". It is, on the contrary, universally and sincerely reviled. You can't even use it to wrap dead fish in. The dead fish complain too much.
10 comments:
Linda McQuaig had a great article in the Star today. Coyne props up Black, and thus the establishment.
http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/235809
Horsewhipping is now passe.
Whooee! I watched a fair bit of CTV Newsnet on teh Black trial. That Rosemary Thompson was practically cryin' over all the stress poor Conrad an' Barbara had to endure while the jury was deliberatin'.
JB
Are you suggesting that Lord Black is “incorrigibly and notoriously corrupt and dishonest, psychiatrically maladjusted, unrelievedly odious, in fact evil and devoid of any redeeming or even mitigating qualities”? Why next you’ll be calling Lady Black a “grasping, hectoring, slatternly, extravagant, shrill, harridan.” You beastly man.
Imagine the outcry from all those Tory bloggers if a more "liberal" columnist suggested that his former employer be given a light sentence in the wake of a criminal conviction.
I have to wonder why anyone cares so much about Conrad Black that we have to hear about him 24/7.
Rich or poor, smart or stupid, sane or insane - the man broke the law - why do people have to complicate this issue?
He first "cheated" when he was in school (on his exams and kicked out) and has been cheating ever since.
Black didn't even come up with the sesquipedalianism on his own--it was first used as a political tool by his mentor, William F. Buckley Jr., of "Do not let them immanentize the eschaton" fame. Why some are cowed by this cheap trick is utterly beyond em. I found it dead easy to parody at my place ("Black day in July"), but an ex spoiled it for me by saying my style was more graceful. :)
That's "utterly beyond me." Sorry for the typo, er, faute de frappe.
Although the Globe and Mail has been mostly in full suck up mode - DeCloet made the pointed suggestion that all of Lord Connie's most fervent supporters should show their faith in the man by giving him their life's savings to invest for them.
Anyone? Anyone at all?
Speaking of Liberal crime, I see another Liberal riding assoc. treasurer has been caught in the cookie jar. Surprise surprise. I guess the others were just pissed because she got there first.
It just never ends. Liberals steal money, other Liberals try to cover it up. MSM ignores it all.
Except not all media.
http://stevejanke.com/archives/233953.php
Post a Comment