Lefttimes.com - we're movin on up.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Glen and I would like to thank everyone that has stopped in, everyone that has commented, and especially anyone who might have gained something from this first iteration of the left times.  We now move on to a new phase in our quest to see President Bush lose the White House, and republicans lose congress.  In the next few days, our official full website will launch.

the main site - http://www.lefttimes.com
blog - http://blog.lefttimes.com

Update your bookmarks and visit, we're launching soon.  On to the rant.

Wanted to check in, barring any major political news, there will probably not be any updates this weekend while I am finishing up the website. A word of warning, we may be switching to an in house blog, but more on that later. Some of the links are finally connected at www.lefttimes.com if you want to go there as a good portal for some lefty stuff, but I still have some more links to put up as well as ACTUAL CONTENT.

Check out www.deckofbush.com . This stuff is great for your conservative brother in law who still thinks our sitting unelected president is a great leader, or any political purposes. Hopefully we can look back at these cards next year and be able to tell how good we have it with President Kerry. I have talked to webmasters of www.deckofbush.com and they are extremely nice people, so hit that site up and check it out. It's a great way to kick off regime change 04.

Until next time all.

After a series of colossal missteps, the Bush administration seemingly had recovered in the past week.  John Kerry was on vacation, the attacks were starting to stick, and no major anti Bush revelations a la national service were served up for the week, that is, until Sunday.

On 60 Minutes, former terrorism guru to every administration from Reagan on, Dick Clarke unleashed a scathing commentary on the Bush failure to protect his country.  Why is this attack more important than usual?  This hits the President where it hurts, security.  The source couldn't be more credible.  An independent, non partisan guy all the way, who's only actual record of voting was republican.  The Bush administration wouldn't have you think that however. 

To hear it from them, this is a guy playing politics in an election year, looking for a spot in a future Kerry administration, and of course, according to Dick Cheney, out of the loop.  It actually seems that Clarke has been trying to get this book published for a while, but was held back by a White House rule that says every book published by a former White House official has to be reviewed for security reasons.  They took an extra long time on this one, and ended up bringing the timing upon themselves.  He has also said he has no ambition to work under John Kerry or anyone else.  Finally, Dick Cheney probably damned himself by saying they kept their TERRORISM ADVISOR OUT OF THE LOOP ON TERRORISM.  I don't see what grounds they have for discounting Mr. Clarke.

• The reason that politicans do not speak to us is because we don't vote.  It is a self perpetuating cycle, and we aren't going to break it by just sitting home again.  For that matter, some candidates actually have some positions young people can get behind.  Need help with your college tuition?  Do some research, there are candidates willing to address this and other topics important to us.
• To say that whoever wins doesn't effect you is flat out ignorant.  Even if you don't care about an even handed approach to the middle east peace process or Medicare, I bet you like to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and not live your life in fear.  I bet you can't guess which current sitting president is gutting those very things.
• Your vote doesn't count?  537 of us decided the election last time, thats the size of an average high school that changed the world. 
• If you don't vote, other people will.  Do you want a small minority speaking for you and the rest of the US?  The problem is, they already are.  We can change this in November.
  
  

     According to the ever respected non-partisan Associated Press, President Bill Clinton gave the ok to kill Osama Bin Laden. They report that:

"Bill Clinton (news - web sites) gave the CIA (news - web sites) "every inch of authorization that it asked for" to carry out plans to kill Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), the former president's national security adviser testified Wednesday, bluntly disputing claims that the spy agency lacked the authority it needed. "

     How many times have we seen that right-wing media try to blame Bill Clinton for Osama's escape and deadly escapades?  Every right wing pundit, including Novak and Carleson from Crossfire, to the right wing's newest blow hard, Dennis Miller, has accused Clinton of letting Bin Laden escape.  Do they really think that the greatest president of the 20th century would not do everything in his power to stop this terrorist madman.? Last night I heard on one show, " Do you think Clinton was too preoccupied with the Lewinsky case?" Of course the anwser is no. But who are the assholes who put our greatest leader through a sex scandal for political advantage?  It was the shifty right wingers.  The same people who led us into an unjust war in Iraq in the name of fighting terrorism
    
No matter what ever happens the right wing will always lie. When the country was running great, they made up lies about Clinton. When terrorists hit, they blamed the "weak on security" Democrats. Now that the country is in toliet they lie about the future president, John Kerry. They lie to American people by claiming Bush is strong on defense, meanwhile people are dropping out of his cabinet like flies and saying things like, "Bush has made us less safe". That is a quote from Dick Clarke( Bush's chief advisor on terrorism) from his interview on 60 minutes.

     So next time we have a Democrat as president, and he or she is trying to make the world safer place, we should not believe Republican lies. While the right is stuck in the cold war, the left and other progressives are truely fighting terrorists around the world. That is why we need Kerry, he could turn this country around.

The DNC should take a note from John Kerry's new ad. It manages to address what is percieved to be his biggest weaknesses, and puts an air of above the frey over the sitting President, unlike that awful flash animation @the DNC, which is embarassing and needs to be removed stat. I've said it before and I'll type it here, if we make this a referendum on the issues, we win in a landslide, and we must take the opportunity to take it to him now. We don't even need to be that negative, Bush's record speaks for itself. That again, is not to say we shouldn't continue to fight back.

I think it is amazing that George Bush's numbers have not flatlined yet, it seems they just can't get their footing. Last week, taking advantage of John Kerry's vacation, they were able to gain headway into the debate, only to be seemingly thrown back by the least likely stylings of Sen. John McCain and Sen. Chuck Hagel. Both men claimed that John Kerry was in fact not weak on defense, and that the administration was more or less cherry picking and taking out of context certain votes to make these claims. This says nothing of the possible knockout punch by Richard Clarke, hot off of the heels of Paul O'Neill, with a claim that not only has this administration had Iraq on its mind since day 1, they have had it on their mind since 9-11, even pushing to go there first over Afghanistan. If this doesn't prove an alternate agenda to the American public, well..let's just say my faith is already dropping. This new revelation will not be measured in polls until at least next week. Speaking of polls, where have they gone? It's like the Maine caucuses again all of the sudden with any numbers. I was curious to see how the President's negative ad blitz affected the numbers, but I suppose we'll have to wait for those.

Back to Clarke, the administration is scrambling to assasinate the character of this guy as damage control. Scott "world's best press secretary ever" McClellan was on the job this morning. This guy's attitude is almost more damaging to Bush than Bush's failed policies himself. Say what you will about ol' Ari, he may have said a few odd things (using oil a god given right or something to that effect), but it seems like every time they let McClellan talk, he raises more questions than he answers.

Finally we expect to break 1000 hits sometime in the next few days. Thanks to everyone that visits, and especially thanks to those that come back, thanks most of all to those who leave comments and check back daily. On the Kerry Core "support the cause" front, we are up to 512.50, slightly behind our goal, but amazing none the less, thanks to the 8 people who have contributed. 3 days to go, 488 to raise to meet our current goal. https://contribute.johnkerry.com/index.html?source_code=00013197 is the link, cut and paste that bad boy to hit it up now. Funds contributed through our Kerry Core DO count towards the Kerry-ometer 10 million in 10 days drive @ www.johnkerry.com . Until next time everyone..

On Friday, I had the bittersweet pleasure of reading what I wrote printed in my local newspaper.  They printed it alright, the word lies in the headline and everything, but right beside it, there was this.  (check out both my original letter and the editorial of that day at www.dailycourier.com)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Support Our Troops, daily courier opinion for March 19.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I apologize to the daily reader who has already heard most of these rants, but here is my response to that terrible editorial.  They called me today to voice authorize it like last week, so I have a feeling it will get printed.  If it does, I'll regain some respect for this paper.  As you can read in my response, my anger is directed mostly at the last three sentences.

I think that the person that wrote the Support Our Troops article has it all wrong.  Yes, people shouldn't wonder why we are still in Iraq.  It is now our mess to clean up, and pulling out now would be worse for our already lacking status in the world.  That alone would instantly replace every terrorist we have stopped with a brand new one, with fresh hatred for this country of ours.
Where I largely disagree, however, is to ask why were we there in the first place?  The president more or less lied to the public to build this support.  There is no link between 9-11 and Iraq, and there weren't real ties to Osama's group until now..after we have supposedly liberated the peace loving Iraqi people.  Is this all bad?  No, for sure, it is good that Saddam is out of power, but at what cost?  Over 10,000 lives, American and Iraqi have been lost.  We are left with few friends in the global arena at this crucial time in our history.  Our beloved troops are stretched a bit thin, and with no exit strategy in place.  This go it alone approach has made us less safe, more hated, and very unprepared in the case of another attack.  Supporting our President, thus, should not go hand in hand with "supporting our troops."  We are talking about a man who had this in mind ever since he ran for office, long before 9-11, according to former administration officials.  We're talking about a man who wasted the first time the United States was truely united, and mislead us into a side adventure that has detered from the real war on terror. 
Finally, if you want to really support the troops, empty gestures mean nothing.  Flags on cars do nothing to help the war effort, they probably came from China in the first place.  If you really want to help the war effort, conserve gas, stop driving SUVs, stop buying diamonds, buy a bond.  Some of these things could help us toward energy independence, and make us less beholden to middle eastern Oil. 
I support these troops with every ounce of heart that I can.  To imply that I can not do that without also supporting this war and our President, is frankly un-American.  Dissent is the highest form of patriotism, and it's also how we became a country in the first place.

 

Well, there you have it. We're in the home stretch of our first Kerry Core run, and we're currently at 487.50 towards our goal of 1000. Four more days, hit it up if you can at https://contribute.johnkerry.com/index.html?source_code=00013197

Last week, we nearly doubled our hits, thanks to everyone that visited, and to everyone that helped us raise an unexpectedly high 487.50 for John Kerry. We will be doubling up on our efforts to hit 1000 in both hits and funds raised this week. Thanks again.

Coming this week here:
A new face has rained on the President's parade. How will this affect his slipping numbers, and has his onslaught against John Kerry helped at all? Will democrats exploit this growing credibility gap, or keep making really crappy flash animations?

John Kerry returns to the campaign trail on Wednesday. Will he take back the mic?

A new cause to support, news on the website, and maybe maybe a new writer. I will also have up a review of Bill Maher's Ride Alone. This man makes too much sense, and we need more independent thinkers like him making our decisions. I don't agree with everything he writes, but god dammit if it doesn't make sense.


From now on at least through September, I will probably only update Monday-Friday, barring any breaking news. We're talking about pushing the website back until the day of the democratic convention, the idea is to save domain fees and donate it to the cause. We haven't decided for sure yet. We're also looking at our incentives program, possibly making some enhancements there. Finally, this week, the first two books we reviewed will go up on half.com, proceeds going to John Kerry or the DNC, as well as a possible blog friendly team up with amazon to sell these and other books, proceeds (small) going to supporting our domain.

     AOL news reports that "Richard Clarke, Bush's top official on counter-terrorism who headed a cyber security board, told CBS "60 minutes" in an interview to be aired on Sunday he thought Bush had "done a terrible job on the war against terrorism." He also said that "I think the way he has responded to al Qaeda, both before 9/11 by doing nothing, and by what he's done after 9/11, has made us less safe," Clarke told CBS.

     A vote for Bush is a vote for Bin Laden as it turns out. Bush and the administration do not care if they win the "War on terror", they only care if the make money from it. I hope to God they catch the terrorists, but at the same time, we can not live our lives in fear. I am not worried about a terrorist attack. I try to live the way Europeans have dealt with it for years. Shit happens! We can't stop these maniacs. Bush has not done a good job. At one point he was they most popular man in the world. Look what he has done. Angered our allies, started an unjust war in Iraq and lost another 500 Americans and got thousands wounded.

Bushes own team wants nothing to do with his stupidity anymore. They have come out and said, he is a horrible leader. He does not keep your children safe and he needs to be removed from office. Anyone realize what president did keep us safe from terrorists? 

     Clinton kept us safe from terrorists. Those lies about him having the chance get to have Bin Laden are not true. He was offered to the Saudi officials from the Sudanese and they are the ones who didn't accept him. The Saudi's are the enemy. Remember that 15 of the 19 hijackers on 911 were from Saudi Arabia! I recommend Michael Moore's- "Dude, where's my country?". He gives an informational and more detailed description of what I speak.

     I would like to thank everyone who had donated to the Left Times Kerry Core. It is greatly appreciated. Also I ask that you please link us to your site or pass on the link on. WE are dedicated to help John Kerry and the fight against the lies and stopping the scum that run the country now!

THANKS!!!

Tonight at the Catholic Univesity of America in Washington state, the chairmen of each party, Terry McAuliffe of the DNC debated Ed Gillespie of the RNC over the use of negative campaigning. Both sides, of course, attempted to blame each other for the attacks. Gillespie says that the democrats have been calling them liars and crooks, and McAuliffe defended that republicans refuse to debate on the issues that matter: health care, jobs, Iraq, but instead try to bring in wedge issues such as abortion and gay marriage. The night seemed to end on a higher note for democrats, with McAuliffe saying that if Gillespie and the RNC would raise the level of discourse, he would be all for it.

Terry McAuliffe, who in my eyes has been pretty impotent at times, truely came out on top tonight if the Yahoo news report that I read really did get the spin-less highlights of the night. A pat on the back is due. We must show America what it is like to take the high road, but at the same time, we mustn't be afraid to fight back. It is a delicate balance that we must maintain to win in November, but a balance that I think is doable.

Yesterday, in what could turn out to be used in a rather effective attack ad, Vice President Cheney was giving a speech highlighting the ...highlights of George Bush's foreign policy victories around the world and in Iraq, as well as assasinating the character of John Kerry. Alanis Morrisette must be pretty happy, because midway through this run of the mill speech, the screen split in half. This is Fox News, mind you, and the news broke that a car bomb had exploded near a hotel in Baghdad. Viewers were treated to the audio and visual of Cheney stroking the President's foreign policy while pictures on the right side of the screen showed a level of hell that had erupted in Baghdad, thanks to the President's foreign policy, and all of this on Fox News. I don't know if someone was asleep at the wheel while this was playing, but god damn that's some irony. Even stranger yet, John Kerry was giving a speech about the President's stubbornness in dealing with the Iraq situation at the very same time. That couldn't have been planned better.


Finally, let me say that I totally disagree with Glen that there is not a single good Republican. It's a broad generalization in the same mold as saying all dems are weak on security and baby killers, it's just not true. Republicans, while I believe they are wrong on the issues, don't necessarily have to be bad people. They may be working for the people just as much as Joe Limpwrist from Massachusetts, but want to go about it a different way. Bush and his "band of thugs," yeah those guys might be evil, but people like Senator McCain prove that not all of those on that side of the spectrum are lockstep and afraid to say when they are wrong. True, a large amount of the party has been hijacked by some fringies and religion, but it's sloppy to say ALL repubs are terrible people. All that said, I personally will side with a Democrat almost every time on an issue. In order to truely get anything done, either winner in November will have to truely be a uniter, not a divider, and that statement has to hold true long after the campaigning stops, im looking your way GW. If you are a republican, you have researched your stances on the issues and didn't just get your party from a single issue or even worse, your parents, you have my respect. If you think W is a great president, well that's a different story, and we have to have a little talk. I don't think anyone from any side, liberal, conservative, democrat, republican can think George Bush is a good president if they truely research some of the evil he has done. Liberals and Democrats, we're pretty well spoken for. Republicans and conservatives, this guy crushed what would have been a balanced budget, spends like crazy, wants to wipe his ass with the constitution and especially your privacy, and has expanded the government much more than Bill Clinton did. His assertion that his steady leadership has made the world a safer place is, well to be frank, a lie. This man has no sense for anyone that isn't a campaign contributor. If you are one of the few reaping rewards from a Bush presidency, you are either rich, head of an evil corporation, or both. If one of those categories fit you, then you at least know what you vote for. Many republicans I know see past their party affiliation and realize that this guy is just plain bad. I think that if most of them did their research, they would agree.