Bush tops Clinton in presidential affair

Rosie DiManno

Unprecedented! Epic! Extraordinary! Unique! Historic!

Those were just some of the adjectives tossed around by mooks in suits – thoroughly important in their own right, no doubt – who shared the emcee gig yesterday for a mano-a-mano gabfest summit featuring the last two presidents of the United States of America.

On stage together, for the first time, right here in Toronto: George Bush and Bill Clinton. Nos. 43 and 42, starring in A Conversation With Presidents.

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Is Peacenik disappointed with the small turnout to protest Bush? Kind of. What Peacenik is more disappointed in is that almost 6000 Canadians wanted to pay about $200 each to listen to Bush and Clinton lie to them. And apparently Bush/Clinton were almost given a standing ovation. And Peacenik really doesn't like the fawning tone of this article and the media's coverage. But it really doesn't matter.

Bush and Clinton are part of a staus quo that is about to go kaboom. They are irrelevant. They should get their speaking fees while the getting is good. Cause society and the economy are coming unglued. The staus quo - Obama, Bush, Clinton, Harper, etc etc is sitting on a bomb. What will set that bomb off? A GM bankruptcy? 10% unemployment? An Israeli attack on Iran? Broke pension plans? Fuel shortages? Food shortages? Inflation? A terror attack? Swine flu mutating into a killer flu? A run on a major bank? There are lots of triggers. Too many to be disarmed. Boom!!

Bush still pre-screening questions at speaking events.

Throughout George W. Bush’s presidency, his handlers always made a special effort to ensure his appearances with regular Americans were scripted in such a way that shined the best possible light on Bush and his polices. Whether he was meeting troops in Iraq, leading “Ask President Bush” re-election campaign events, or trying to sell his (failed) Social Security reform plan, Bush always had a friend in the audience ready to ask a softball question or heap praise on the president. It appears that old habits die hard, as those attending Bush’s upcoming speech in Michigan will be forced to submit their questions ahead of time:

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First of all the website www.protestbush.com is back online and it has been updated. The protest is today at 3 p.m. at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Peacenik already said this is a travesty, but it is also a farce. Peacenik watched the moderator for the event ,Frank McKenna, on The Hour the other night. They talked about what a "personable" guy George Bush is. Peacenik wanted to kick in Peacenik's tv screen. How will the media cover today's protest? How will the police police the protest? How many protestors will show up? 3 p.m. Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Update: The website is up but again is very slow to load.

War Crimes perpetrated under Democratic and Republican administrations: George Bush versus Bill Clinton

The Rule of International Criminal Law
by Prof. Anthony J. Hall

From Calgary to Toronto

Just as fresh revelations keep oozing out about the broad extent of the international criminality perpetrated by the regime of the former US president, Canada is becoming the main site of a corporate-driven effort to re-brand George W. Bush as a legitimate political pundit. On May 29 Mr. Bush joins Bill Clinton on the stage of the Metropolitan Toronto Convention Centre in an event hosted by the TD Financial Group and several other sponsors. The hosts include the Calgary-based Bennett Jones law firm, the global accounting giant Ernst and Young, the Toronto Board of Trade as well as the Toronto-based Globe and Mail newspaper.

The Clinton-Bush gig in Canada's biggest metropolis is happening about a month after the former president "tested the waters" as a public speaker by addressing an audience of 1,400 executives of mostly Texas-based oil conglomerates in an event hosted by Calgary's Chamber of Commerce. Bush's luncheon address was accompanied by the protests of several hundred demonstrators who advanced the case that there is a huge body of evidence already in the public domain that should be sufficient to prohibit Bush from entering Canada or, failing that, to necessitate his arrest on Canadian soil. In a widely published article, which I introduced in early March at an invited lecture at the University of Winnipeg, I outlined the legal and political terrain underlying Bush's first major public foray outside the United States. That paper, which has proliferated widely on many Internet sites, is entitled "Bush League Justice: Should George W. Bush Be Arrested in Calgary Alberta and Tried for International Crimes."

My academic intervention was one part of a larger collective effort aimed at advancing the case that the international crimes of George W. Bush and many of his ministers and advisers have been so obvious and gigantic that citizens must mobilize globally to insist that the rule of international criminal law should be made to prevail over the rule of force and political expediency. Many of the core legal principles awaiting enforcement are those that coalesced in the course of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. Its chief prosecutor, the renowned US jurist Robert Jackson, initiated the proceedings in 1945 by insisting that humanity's future depended on removing "immunity for practically everyone concerned in the really great crimes against peace and mankind." No longer could "so vast an area of legal irresponsibility" be "tolerated" because "because modern civilization puts unlimited weapons of destruction in the hands of men."

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Punditman says...Punditman just bought the Globe and Mail. Punditman had a discussion recently with someone who works at the Globe and Mail. This took place late one night at a watering hole so there was truth serum involved—all the better to discover what this Globster really thinks. Glory be, low and behold, he and Punditman had an argument about the media! The Globster thought Noam Chomsky's analysis of mass media bias was wrong and saw no nefarious influence by media ownership over media content. Punditman was amazed at this dude's utter dismissal of someone who in 2005, was voted the world’s No 1. living intellectual.

Punditman wonders what the Globster would say about the above article, and in particular the following passage:

The role of corporate media as enablers and sugar coaters of the highest order of international crime could not be made clearer than in the sponsorship by the Globe and Mail of the Toronto encounter between Clinton and Bush. What credibility does the Globe and Mail retain after the Toronto event in its coverage of the fast breaking story of the global movement to enforce the rule of law on credibly accused war criminal George W. Bush? How likely is it that the journalists at the Globe and Mail will report fairly and objectively on the intervention of Lawyers Against War.

Perhaps there will be more people showing up than Punditman anticipates at today's protest in Toronto? Punditman sure does hope so, and he has a request of anyone reading this who is going to the protest: throw some old shoes in the direction of the Metro Convention Centre, on behalf of Punditman.

Punditman just bought the Globe and Mail. Was that wrong?

Clinton and Bush to clash for cash in Canada

By Joseph Curl (Contact) | Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The well-worn cliche is "time heals all wounds," but in politics, the saying often ought to be "money heals all wounds."

On Friday, former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who spent years railing against each other, will appear together in Toronto for what is being billed a "conversation."

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Although this travesty is being hawked by Power Within, a company affiliated with Tony Robbins, Peacenik was disappointed to see that among others the Toronto Board of Trade, TD Canada Bank, and the Globe and Mail are also sponsors. Which made Peacenik surprised to see this story in the Globe: Bush-Clinton tickets not that hot.

Maybe the Globe is feeling a little guilty about sponsoring the appearance of a suspected war criminal in Toronto. Peacenik is conflicted. Peacenik wants to boycott the companies sponsoring this event. Which is easy as far as the Board of Trade and TD Canada Bank is concerned. But Peacenik reads the Globe. Peacenik likes the Globe. What will Peacenik do? What should Peacenik do?

Don't forget the protest at 3 p.m. Friday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre: www.protestbush.com Peacenik noticed that this website is down this morning. Peacenik hopes it is because it is being heavily used.