Get Over It, Winners
by Michael Arvey  OpEdNews   04 January 2005
 
  
 
Growing up in the 50s and 60s in the post-World War II housing tracts of Southern California, I hobnobbed with what in those times were politely dubbed, ?social clubs.? Some members of my particular assemblage, chronically having little or no income, would on occasion pilfer gasoline from parked, residential cars in the wee hours, a practice jokingly referred to as accepting donations.
 
The technique was as simple as it was stinging: Stuff a thin, pre-cut five-foot section of hose down into the tank, apply lips to cold hose, make a Louis Armstrong trumpet face with flaring cheeks, suck the gas up and into containers. Cheap gas that is, or was. They?d take only a gallon at the most?who would ever notice such small losses?
 
In this same manner, I suspect electoral votes are filched by sucking them away one by one, gallon by gallon, under the shadows of corrupt consciences. In the end, those losses, or ?irregularities,? accrue immeasurably, thus tilting elections to the deceivers. Nonetheless, it might just so happen that those who wear the burning mouths get noisey, sloppy and overconfident?that is when they trip themselves up and draw notice. And so it was in Ohio?the swing state Bush desperately needed to ?win? after being informed by Karen Hughes that exit polls indicated he was losing by a landslide.
 
True, the ?mainstream liberal media? has reported a successful recount in favor of Bush to definitively quell the troubled aftershocks pulsing through enfeebled, conspiratorial minds. What is more important, however, is what they are not reporting?the titanic struggle between Ohio?s Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell (R) and a heroic force of democracy, Rep. John Conyers (D?Mich. In fact, Rep. Conyers may well be one of democracy?s last representative hopes in America.
 
How many media outlets have informed Americans, e.g., that Rep. Conyers and others have been investigating the Ohio vote and who, according to journalist William Rivers Pitt (Truthout), believe ?that there has been too much illegal activity on the part of Blackwell, other election officials, and Republican operatives? in the state? Such illegal activity, therefore, would require the nullification of Ohio?s electoral certification. Conyers and others plan to contest the election on Jan. 6, and will require at least one Senator to side with them to halt the approval of the Electoral College votes pending a full investigation of the Ohio vote.
 
The Star Tribune (Dec. 29) explains one of the many issues involved: ?Under Ohio law, each county must randomly choose a precinct to recount by hand and by machine.? If the counts don?t match, a recount must be conducted by hand. The report continues, ?Most County Boards of Elections, however, chose to pre the sample precinct, a violation of the law. Some counties refused to proceed with a full hand recount when the hand and machine tallies failed to match.?
 
Multiply such ?anomalies? and myriad others across the nation, and someone?s gotten away with hosing up more than a few gallons of gas.
 

Much, much more.