6


THE WEIRS TIMES & THE COCHECO TIMES, Thursday, May 17, 2012


EDITORIAL “LIVE FREE OR DIE” CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE


Worst of Evils” to his surviving troops. What they had fought for, so many years ago, was still so important; and still is. Simply put, it means that nothing is more important


than freedom, not even our lives. For what is a life if it is to be controlled by others? “Live Free or Die” became our state motto in 1945 and


has been on our license plates since 1971. It is known throughout the country and the world. There have been some, over the years, who have seen


our state motto as a negative. In this age of political correctness, that comes as no surprise. Some have even suggested it incites a violent attitude. Seeing that New Hampshire has a very low crime rate - much lower than even “The Sunshine State” - that argument doesn’t hold much water.


Still, some would like to see it go away. That is a true shame. Recently, the New Hampshire Department of Travel and Tourism has unleashed their new marketing cam- paign. It is a noble effort in terms of time and money spent, but I feel its final form may lead to a more direct attempt at finally, over time, seeing “Live Free or Die” thrown on the growing scrap heap of things that define the origins of our state and this country that are now being forgotten. The basis of the marketing campaign is to emphasis


the beauty and attractiveness of New Hampshire; a good thing and certainly not a new idea. It’s always impor- tant to keep marketing New Hampshire and bringing in revenues from visitors.


But is this the only way to do that? The new “Live Free And…..” campaign fills in the blank


with a pre-determined list of words which emphasis hiking, fishing, climbing, etc. Posters, TV commercials, subway ads in cities and the Internet will soon , if not now, be proclaiming “Live Free and Giggle” (one of the approved words) and other variations and will soon be more prominent across the country than “Live Free Or Die.” I’m afraid that this campaign will eventually dilute


the true meaning of General John Stark’s words and the meaning of how truly important our freedom is, and how much it meant to those who fought for it, even years after it was won. We are the only state that has been bold enough to prominently display such a power- ful and meaningful motto and keep this message alive. Now that this marketing campaign is in effect, it won’t


be going away anytime soon. Still I,for one, and I hope others, will closely follow its path. Will some salivating souls use it as an excuse to change our Welcome to New Hampshire highway signs and our license plates and more? They may just try. But, like those brave men who


fought under the banner of “Live Free or Die” you can be sure it won’t be without a fight.


by Michelle Malkin Syndicated Columnist


SCYTL: VOTER FRAUD FACTS AND FICTION


With six months until


Election Day, conspir- acy theories are perco- lating on the Internet like bubbling mud pots at Yellowstone: Left-


wing billionaire George Soros is going to rig the election for Barack Obama. For- eigners will oversee the nation’s entire vote-counting system. The fix is in, and all is lost. Before conservatives go all Michael


Moore-moonbatty, let’s calm down and separate voter fraud facts from fiction. There’s no time to waste worrying about manufactured scares. And there are plenty of legitimate threats to electoral integrity without having to inflate or con- coct them. FACT: Scytl is a Spain-based business


that specializes in “electoral security technology” and electronic voting applica- tions. Its cryptographic research initially was funded by the Spanish government’s Ministry of Science and Technology and later was spun off as a private-sector e- voting venture. FACT: In January 2012, Scytl acquired


U.S.-based SOE Software. SOE writes “election management” programs that assist officials with everything from “Inter- net voting to election night reporting and online poll worker training.” FICTION: According to alarmists, Scytl’s


acquisition of SOE amounts to a complete takeover of America’s election system. No, not really. While SOE boasts of a presence “with 900 jurisdictions as customers in 26 states,” there is no single contract that the federal government has entered into, or could, with Scytl to count the 2012 presidential election votes. Much of the work Scytl/SOE analysts do is number- crunching and graphics software work after local and state officials have done the vote-counting. Scytl does have a contract with the feds


to use its technology to help overseas and military voters participate in elections. In 2009, the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act mandated that U.S. jurisdictions allow uniformed and over- seas citizens to receive and track their ballots electronically. Scytl’s online ballot program was used in 14 states during the


2010 midterms. FACT: The security risks of e-voting are


still a legitimate concern. University of California at Berkeley computer science professor David Wagner wrote a critical report for the Pentagon about the pri- vacy and accuracy shortcomings of Scytl’s military voting program in 2004 -- which prompted the feds to cancel the initial program, according to PBS. In October 2010, the D.C. Board of


Elections and Ethics encouraged outside parties to try to find security holes in their online balloting infrastructure operated by Scytl. A group of University of Michi- gan students successfully hacked into the system, commandeered passwords, doctored ballots and programmed audio of the school’s fight song to play whenever an e-ballot was submitted. Hackers from Iran and China also came


close to breaking in. “After the hack,” according to AOLNews.com, “(D.C.) ad- ministrators decided to relaunch under a download-only format, allowing users to access ballots but forcing them to fax or mail them rather than cast a vote online.” The D.C. official who oversaw the system, Paul Stenbjorn, now works for Scytl. FICTION: Chain e-mails about Scytl


claim that George Soros owns, operates or controls Scytl. In reality, the company’s investors are Nauta Capital, Balderton Capital and Spinnaker SCR. Soros doesn’t “own” any of these international venture capital firms -- and as far as my research shows, he has no involvement whatso- ever with any of them. Moreover, Scytl’s board of directors doesn’t include any- one with Soros financial or management ties. Pressed for evidence, one Internet conspiracy nut cited an “invitation only event” in Moldova that listed both the “Soros Foundation Moldova” and Scytl as attendees. Soros has enough explicit ties to Presi-


dent Obama’s administration and cam- paign without having to embellish them. Just this week, The New York Times re- ported that he will donate $1 million each to a Democratic super-PAC and a leading progressive get-out-the-vote (GOTV) op- eration. Soros previously funded Project Vote, the notorious voter-mobilization arm of fraud-


See MALKIN on 23


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32