I got a missive from one of my old colleagues in at the Regina Leader-Post about the reaction there to the fate of one now-disgraced, ex-Canadian, Darwinian capitalist:

This morning, shortly after 0930h, a bottle of nonalcoholic champagne appeared in the Leader-Post newsroom, with a toast drunk to "departed friends" and to "American justice".

Thinkin' of you.

Why would they think of me just as poor Conrad was going through the worst moment of his life to date*? Please, somebody help me out here!! :^)

* I'm thinking if he does go to prison, a body cavity search could reset the nadir bar even lower.

In any event, if my old colleagues take some pleasure from the plutocrat's anguish, it's just some much-needed karmic balancing.

As to toasts, here's what I wrote in a March 2 post:

What makes this anniversary (11th, of the 1996 L-P downsizing) a bit more special is that Lord Black of Crossharbour will be going on trial in Chicago on March 14 for white-collar crimes committed during his tenure as CEO of Hollinger International (see below).

Last week, I had lunch with two former colleagues from those days. Our toast? "May justice prevail!" :)

Conrad Black goes down on four of 13 charges, including obstruction of justice. He probably faces up to 20 years in prison plus a fine of US$250,000 on each count. Black's legal team say they will appeal.

This would seem to make his "Conrad will win!" t-shirts something of an ironic collector's item, wouldn't it? Unless you count beating the racketeering charge, the most serious one he faced, as a victory.

I also offer some reminiscences of some of my dealings with Hollinger and Black over the years.

The Associated Press reports that al Qaeda is trying to step up its efforts to plant operatives in the United States. ABC News had a similar item on Tuesday.

On Thursday, however, Dubya rejected the idea that al Qaeda has regained strength.

But he did try to pin blame for 9/11 on Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia:

In rebuffing calls to bring troops home from Iraq, President Bush on Thursday employed a stark and ominous defense. “The same folks that are bombing innocent people in Iraq,” he said, “were the ones who attacked us in America on September the 11th, and that’s why what happens in Iraq matters to the security here at home.”

It is an argument Mr. Bush has been making with frequency in the past few months, as the challenges to the continuation of the war have grown. On Thursday alone, he referred at least 30 times to Al Qaeda or its presence in Iraq.

But his references to Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and his assertions that it is the same group that attacked the United States in 2001, have greatly oversimplified the nature of the insurgency in Iraq and its relationship with the Qaeda leadership.

There is no question that the group is one of the most dangerous in Iraq. But Mr. Bush’s critics argue that he has overstated the Qaeda connection in an attempt to exploit the same kinds of post-Sept. 11 emotions that helped him win support for the invasion in the first place.

Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia did not exist before the Sept. 11 attacks. The Sunni group thrived as a magnet for recruiting and a force for violence largely because of the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, which brought an American occupying force of more than 100,000 troops to the heart of the Middle East, and led to a Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad.

Pakistan's President Musharraf has vowed to eradicate extremism in his country in the wake of the Red Mosque crisis.

Tarek Fatah argues things couldn't have gotten to the point they did without the government's complicity.