Conrad Black is a pretentious ass. He deserves to go to prison for a very long time for defrauding his shareholders of millions of dollars, and now it seems that at least someone at the Globe and Mail agrees with me.

I was reading about Conrad's plea for mercy and something funny caught my eye... starting every quote from his deluded supporters, there appeared to be a snippet of code that wasn't parsed by whatever system the Globe and Mail was using to serve up their web pages. The snippet of code turned out to be {bull}. You can see the context below, or you can visit the page directly to see what I mean, although I can't imagine this will go unnoticed for long.  

THE MEASURE OF A MAN

Lawyers for Conrad Black have gathered stories attesting to the former press baron's character from about 100 letters of support. They make up a large part of a presentencing submission to the court, released yesterday and portray him as a kind and generous man who was made significant contributions to literature, scholarship, politics, business, and to the welfare of his fellow man.

CHARLES MOORE related that Conrad was never in too much of a hurry to listen to ones problems and in some instances discovered personal difficulties suffered by his staff even without being told. Conrad discovered, for example, that Mr. Moore's daughter had a serious health problem, sent her a present and asked for a progress report. {bull} LEON HARRIS reflected on the consistent kindness Conrad exhibited when his Mr. Harris' brother, Lewis, who had worked for Conrad as the editor of the Sherbrooke record, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Conrad not only stayed in constant touch with Lewis during his illness, but after Lewis' death contributed to a journalism scholarship the family set up in Lewis' name. {bull} DANIEL COLSON's letter told of a time in which Conrad ensured that a non staff editorial contributor who became terminally ill was hired as a full time employee so that he would have health benefits.

{bull} EMMETT TYRRELL related that Conrad kept older writers on staff to protect their livelihood and dignity. {bull} Mr. Black arranged for a housekeeper named Leonor whose English was limited to attend Hunter College to advance her opportunities in this country. Mr. Black also paid Leonor's tuition and ensured she had the time to attend classes. {bull} When another housekeeper, Julia, suffered a nervous breakdown due to her divorce, Mr. Black paid close attention to her problems and paid for a year of therapy to help bring her out of her depression. {bull} JOHN HILLIER also suffered depression as a result of a divorce. ... Conrad welcomed both Mr. Hillier and his two children to live at his home ... Mr. Hillier wrote: 'I have found Mr. Black to be a person that shows his compassion and kindness to many people and always will find time to be available to you if needed. I am very privileged to be known by and to call Mr. Black a friend.' {bull} DOMINIC LAWSON WRITES OF THE FACT THAT WHEN HIS YOUNGER DAUGHTER WAS BORN WITH A SIGNIFICANT GENETIC DISABILITY, CONRAD CAME TO HIS HOME TO OFFER MORAL SUPPORT WHEN OTHER FRIENDS HE HAD KNOWNMORE INTIMATELY THAN CONRAD HAD FELT UNABLE TO DO THE SAME. {bull} Conrad became concerned that Dina, the lady who helped clean the office, was working too far into her pregnancy and expressed his concerns to her personally. {bull} After having left a conference to take a sick friend to the hospital and stay with him throughout the night, Conrad was astonished that he should be complimented for his thoughtfulness.

SOURCE: CONRAD BLACK'S SUBMISSION IN RESPONSE TO THE PRESENTENCE INVESTIGATION REPORT

NOTE: ALL EXPERTS TAKEN UNEDITED FROM DOCUMENT