Tuesday, November 16, 2004

A DIET OF WORMS II

Raven is poring over some papers he printed out from the Internet.

A peso for your thoughts, guy.

“They may not be worth much more than that. On the other hand—the more I read about the fraud in the US election, the more I’m convinced that it wasn’t just some bloggers’ pipe-dream.”

Probably not. There HAD to be fraud. That’s why I had to go to the Venezuela news site http://www.aporrea.org/ to find out about the exit polls that showed Kerry winning in Ohio and Florida. Wall Street brokers had access to those polls beginning in the morning of November 2nd, but the public at large didn’t. The problem is going to be proving the fraud, because I am sure it was done inconsistently.

“Remember the enormous stink that the Bush Gang raised about fraud in the August 15th Venezuelan referendum on Hugo Chavez? Even after the Carter Center folks did an audit that showed that the vote was clean, they were still insisting that there had been a massive fraud.”

In Venezuela they were ABLE to do an audit—easily and quickly—because all they had to do was compare the voting machine printout totals with the paper ballots that were printed out and deposited in the ballot boxes. In the US election the Bush Gang made damn sure that there were not 2 parts to be compared in an audit. Moreover, they deliberately created chaos.

“Apparently the Libertarians and Greens have called for a recount in Ohio.”

Good for them! So long as they can raise the money for it, they are surely entitled. Even though they have no chance of winning anything.

“It all smells of something really rotten.” Raven peers at the chunk of cheese he’s been pecking. “Or maybe it’s this ersatz camembert. How long have we had it?”

I’m not sure. While you were having your masochistic romance with the Worms Diet, a lot of food was just cooling its heels in the refri.

“Maybe it’s time to toss some of it. Beginning with the cheese. I don’t mind a strong flavor, but....”

You got spoiled eating live worms, I think.

“I can think of several live worms I wouldn’t mind pecking at right now, but they aren’t in our garden.”

They wouldn’t happen to be in close proximity to the White House rose garden, would they?

“Given that Bush ordered a purge of the CIA, they might very well be in those environs, yes.”

Why is he purging the CIA?

“I guess he decided that some of the agents weren’t blindly loyal.”

How can you tell if they are blindly loyal, or only blind, Rave?

“Is that a joke or a riddle?”

Actually, it was more or less a straightforward question.

“Right. My only hope is that the new bunch is just as inept as the previous ones. Otherwise, there will be a new proliferation of assassination plots against Hugo Chavez—ones that are maybe less goofy than the capers they’ve cooked up in the past.”

Bite your tongue, boy! Figuratively speaking, of course. The proper target of assassination plots in drooling on the desk in the Oval Office.

“Yeah, but life is not fair—a bitter recognition that led me to the ill-fated, though mercifully brief, Diet of Worms. And to the spoiling of perfectly good cheese.”

For want of a horse, the kingdom was lost?

“That needs updating: because of a horse’s ass, the planet faces extinction.”

Raven heads for the door.

“And in the spirit of Raven Ritual, I’m going to bury this cheese in the garden.”

Good idea. Let the worms have a go at it.