International
observers from the Ukraine cite examples of voting fraud - in the United
States
By
Jackson Thoreau
OpEdNews.com
A
delegation of international election observers from the Ukraine
harshly criticized the recent U.S. electoral process, with one saying,
"It reminds me of the worst examples of suppression and dirty
tricks under the former Soviet regimes."
The
delegation outlined a long list of alleged instances of fraud and
questionable actions that occurred before and during the Nov. 2
election. Among those was Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell,
the co-chairman of Bush's campaign in Ohio, deciding to only put two
ballot machines per 100,000 voters in urban, Democratic-strong
precincts and two machines per 10 voters in rural and suburban
Republican-strong precincts.
"This
was a blatant attempt to make voters for Mr. Kerry stand in long lines
and leave without voting," said Yuri Yusogotcha, head of the
Ukrainian delegation. "Our government does this in the Ukraine,
too, especially when we run short of food."
In
addition, the delegation noted that Blackwell made a "curious
comment" about Katherine Harris, the former Florida secretary of
state who presided over the 2000 recount again as a co-chair of
Bush's campaign, being rewarded with a good position now in
Congress. "As they say in your American streets, what up wit dat?"
Yusogotcha asked.
The
Ukrainians' list also included complaints of people casting votes
for Kerry only to have them show up as votes for Bush when they
checked the electronic ballots, computer source codes on systems
controlled by partisan Republicans with suspicious lines that
automatically added votes for Bush and subtracted votes for Kerry,
strange machine malfunctions and a lack of ballots in strong
Democratic precincts and other ills.
"The
exit polls that day pointed to a big win by Mr. Kerry,"
Yusogotcha said. "Yet, a sudden rush of 'moral' voters was
said by your media to make the difference for Bush. Where were these
'moral' voters when your country was lying about its reasons for
invading Iraq, taking over its oil and furthering certain people's
dreams of an empire? The world has not seen that many 'moral'
American voters before."
The
Ukrainians also observed Republican volunteers throwing bloody chicken
parts on the front porches of Democrats' homes in Maryland, slashing
the tires of vans the NAACP planned to use to drive people to the
polls in Wisconsin, distributing fliers that wrongly warned voters
that they could be arrested at the polls if they had an unpaid parking
ticket or overdue library book, and harassing Democratic voters at the
polls by challenging their registration status. Other dirty tricks
included city water departments in Ohio turning off the water of
African Americans on election day and telling them they had to stay
home to wait for a repairman so they would not vote, intimidation by
police and state troopers in Florida of African Americans who were
harassed about their voting status, mostly African Americans being cut
off voting lists in Florida just because they had the same name as a
felon, calls made to mostly African Americans in Florida telling them
their precinct's location had changed and directing them to the
wrong precinct and police giving mostly Democratic voters parking
tickets even though their cars were legally parked in Ohio.
"It
seems the American Republican Party has a lot in common with the
German Nazi Party of the 1930s," Yusogotcha said. "Not just
these dirty tactics and fixing of elections, but its use of religion,
propaganda, invasion of other countries, organized camps that hold
prisoners without being charged, torture policies and so on. The
Republican Party has found new ways to suppress the votes of African
Americans and other minority groups."
At
his ranch in Texas, Bush, who was on his 22nd consecutive day of
vacation following the "election," spoke briefly to
reporters. "We have put our antennas out," Bush said,
sipping on a large mug of beer, then placing both hands with raised
index fingers on the top of his head to signify a strange version of
an antenna. "We are deeply disturbed about the fraud reports we
hear from Utah."
An
aide then whispered in Bush's ear, and he looked up with a smirk,
"I mean, the Ukraine. That's near Utah, right?" Bush
whacked the aide on his back.
A
journalist interrupted to say, "Uh, no, Mr. President, the
Ukraine is HALFWAY AROUND THE FREAKING WORLD from Utah. Anyway, the
matter at hand was about fraud reports in the U.S. What do you make of
these reports of voting fraud right here in our country?"
Bush
squinted hard at the reporter and replied, "Go ahead, punk, make
my day!"
The
journalist retorted, "What the hell do you mean, Mr.
President?"
Bush
then shrugged. "Beats me. I never know what's going to come out
of my mouth. Especially lately when I've been hitting the sauce and
some really mind-expanding pills my doctors gives me."
Meanwhile,
in the Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of people protested some alleged
voting fraud in a recent election, which was observed by Republican
Senator Dick Lugar of Indiana, chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee. The protests were encouraged by the Ukainian
opposition leader, who was ahead in exit polls, unlike the response
from Kerry, who also was ahead in exit polls but quickly conceded the
election to Bush and urged Americans to unite behind Bush. Kerry
conceded because he was reportedly concerned about his image, about
being the butt of jokes on national talk shows like Leno's and
Letterman's, not about doing what he said he was going to do to
fight for a fair election.
"This
is what a democracy should be like," Lugar said. "When there
is voting fraud, people should get off their butts and their couches
and protest like they did in the Boston Tea Party. They shouldn't
just, say, go shopping or watch reruns of Seinfeld when there is
fraud, as they now do in my country."
Lugar
added that the Ukrainian election was fraudulent because "exit polls
showed the guy we wanted to win should have won." After being asked
why he did not support "the guy who was ahead in the exit polls in
the U.S. election," Lugar retorted, "Because our candidate was the
one who was behind. What do you take us for, idiots?"
After
being told of Lugar's comments, Yusogotcha replied, "Who is this
Dick Lugar? Is he one of your American porn stars? And why is he
worried about voting fraud in my country and not his own country?"
Jackson Thoreau is a Washington, D.C.-area journalist/writer. The
latest book to which he contributed, Big Bush Lies, was published
by RiverWood Books of Ashland, Ore., and is available at bookstores across
the country. He can be contacted at jacksonthor@yahoo.com or jacksonthor@juno.com.
read his articles
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