Gaudent magni viri rebus adversis non aliter, quam fortes milites bellis

Seneca wrote that. It means great men rejoice in adversity just as brave soldiers triumph in war.

Now that we know that Conrad Black will stay in jail, we will see whether or not he rejoices in his adversity.

Black steadfastly refuses to fade away quietly in disgrace. During his incarceration, he has taken to teaching as well as writing. It is said that his jailhouse history seminars are standing room only.

Here he is in fine form, still writing in the NP:

No one knows if there are more people who would vote for an African-American president to prove that they and their country are tolerant than would vote against him because of intolerance. I suspect there are, but no prudent person would predict the outcome of this election. Accordingly, I reaffirm my prediction that McCain will win.

Whether you love him or hate him, you have to admit that Lord Black seems to have made some premium lemonade out of the lemons life has handed him.

Politicians Flee Category Five McCain

The Republican nominee for POTUS was big news round these here parts last week when he came to town. He waded through the tumbleweeds and past the creaking saloon doors of the ghost-town that was end-of-parliamentary-season Ottawa to give an address at the local speakeasy.

Paul Martin was in the news recently too. Why? Who cares?

Nobody appears to have any time for him anymore. He is the rare electoral loser leader among the pantheon of Liberal winners --He and John Turner rate a shared alcove next to the restrooms. When it comes to Martin, PMPM loyalists could drive themselves crazy with tantalizing “if onlys”. For example: if only he had waited for the fall of 2004 or later to have the writ dropped for his first election as PM, the sponsorship stuff might (might, I said) have blown over somewhat and he would not have lost his majority in the 2004 election, right? Who knows what Martin could have achieved if only he had built on, or at least kept, the majority that the Little Guy from Shawinigan handed him when he left…

But hey, isn't it funny how some Canadians who claim that seventy-year-old John McCain is “too old” to be President are the same Canadians who would have gladly followed Paul Martin had he won that imaginary majority back in late 2004 and then decided to take the Liberals into the next election this fall as
a seventy-year-old PM and party leader?