World 12_27_17

GUEST OPINION
Congress Must Step Up to Help States Protect the
Integrity of Our Elections
By Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos
As Vermont’s chief election official, ensuring the accuracy
and integrity of our elections is one of my highest priorities.
In a world of constantly changing technology we must stay
ahead of those who seek to undermine the integrity of our
elections. We must ensure that our elections are secure and
free from interference, especially cyber-attacks from foreign
entities like Russia.
Alongside election officials from around the
country, I work hard daily to do just that, and to
stay ahead of rapidly developing technology
and those who would use it to harm our
democratic process. As Congress
approves the largest tax cut in history, I
can’t envision an investment more
important to our democracy than an
infrastructure that ensures our elections
remain tethered to the important
principle of ‘one person, one vote.’
Today I’m calling upon Congress to
fulfill their commitment to this value.
In 2002, Congress passed the “Help
America Vote Act” (HAVA) to help states
improve election systems and practices. Under
the Act Congress committed $3.9 billion to states
for these efforts. However, today, fifteen years later, Congress
still has yet to provide $396 million of that funding. If members
of Congress are serious about ensuring that our elections,
the bedrock of this country’s democracy, remain protected
from the electronic interference of those who would wish to
do harm, it is imperative that they provide states with the
remaining 396 million dollars due under the Help America
Vote Act of 2002.
As existing election infrastructure ages, election officials
are under increasing pressure to modernize and innovate in
order to ensure that elections continue to be administered in a
secure and efficient manner. These efforts have become even
more important as election officials work to counter a new
generation of cyber security threats to election systems. As I,
and my colleagues around the country, work to update and
maintain aging election systems, we’re calling upon Congress
VOTE
to assist us in this critical effort by providing states with the
remaining funding under HAVA.
This investment will not solve all of the challenges we election
officials face, but it will help states, including Vermont,
enhance the efficiency and security of elections through the
purchase of new voting systems, the implementation of additional
cybersecurity tools, and the hiring of IT professionals.
My call to action for Congress doesn’t stop with the release
of remaining HAVA money. In addition, Congress
should also be actively considering a “HAVA II”
to support the work my colleagues and I are
doing to protect our elections from interference
by bad actors.
While the remaining $396 million dollars
under HAVA will help in assisting
states in overcoming this new generation of
threats to our elections systems, more
funding beyond that amount will be
required to meaningfully bring our country’s
elections systems up-to-date.
I would invite any member of Congress
who does not believe that prioritizing the
integrity and security of our elections is
worthwhile to have an honest conversation
with me and with the bi-partisan group of election
officials from around the country who are calling for this
much-needed investment. This is about the very core of our
democracy, and how their actions strengthen or weaken our
ability to carry out those fundamental democratic principles.
Every day I strive to ensure that elections are administered
in a secure manner, whether it’s protecting voter registration
data from cybersecurity threats, or ensuring that votes cast are
protected from tampering or manipulation. As election officials
work to fulfill this commitment to improve voter confidence,
Congress must fulfill its commitment to states by fully
funding HAVA now, and by ensuring that there will be further
investment in the security of our elections in the future to keep
us ahead of the evolving threats in the digital age.
Only by doing so can we maintain the public’s confidence
in our elections, and in democracy itself. The stakes could not
be higher, and Congress must step up.
Holiday
Early Deadlines
January 3, 2018 Issue
Display Deadline:
Wednesday, Dec. 27 at 5:00 PM
Classified Deadline:
Friday, Dec. 29 at 10:00 AM
December 27, 2017 Issue
Display Deadline:
Wednesday, Dec. 20 at 5:00 PM
Classified Deadline:
Friday, Dec. 22 at 10:00 AM
THE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED FOR BUSINESS
MONDAY, DECEMBER 25
& MONDAY, JANUARY 1
The Hateful Eight HHH1/2
Some people interpret “Thou shalt not bear false witness”
to mean that God prohibits lying completely.
I’m not so sure. I think that it makes more sense that
the 8th Commandment is intended to condemn those who
have sworn to tell the truth in a specific circumstance and then
lie. Perjury=breaking a commandment. Lying=not great, but
what are you going to do?
Lies are like Dollar Stores. They’re everywhere. They’re
bad. The world would be better without them, but there’s no
sense in trying to stop them entirely. The best thing a wise
person can do is learn to spot them and deal with them.
Someday you’ll get a pop up on your computer or a call
from someone who says that your computer is infected with
viruses.
If you don’t recognize that the “Microsoft” guy on the other
end of the phone is lying, you will be giving him your credit
card number and you’ll rightly feel like a fool.
The consequences of gullibility in that case is $200. In
Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight,” the consequences of
believing lies is swift violent death.
The story begins in a covered wagon plodding through the
Wyoming snow circa 1875. All four passengers (Kurt Russell,
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Coggins, and Samuel L Jackson)
are on their way to the town of Red Rock. But they may never
get there.
Because of a blinding blizzard, the four hearty old westerners
end up stopping for night at Minnie’s Haberdashery. But
Minnie isn’t there, four unknown men are. Our eight antiheroes
need to be smart about who they trust or they won’t
live through the night.
If you like Agatha Christie-style whodunnits and don’t
mind hearing the n-word every three minutes, you’ll love
“The Hateful Eight.”
• • •
• • •
Reliability & Affordability continued from previous page
more in order to get to work. They will pay more to drive
to the store. They will pay more to go to visit relatives. The
cost to heat their homes will increase exponentially. The cost
to use electricity for cooking and watching television will go
up. The cost to use natural gas, propane, etc. for cooking and
heating will go up. Obviously, anyone who lives in a rural
area and has a commute to work will feel the pinch.
Another piece to the Carbon Tax might be to tax carbonproducing
industries at the rate of up to $10 per ton of carbon
emissions produced and incrementally increase it until it
reaches $100 per ton.
The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation’s
most recent (2012) study on greenhouse emissions said that
the state produced 9.12 million tons of greenhouse gasses.
Transportation was responsible for 45 percent of those emissions,
while residential and commercial fuels were responsible
for 21 percent. Electricity generation was responsible for
11 percent. Agriculture was responsible for 10.2 percent.
Interestingly, Industrial Fuels came in at 6.2 percent and
Industrial Processes registered 3.4 percent.
The bottom line is that the Carbon Tax is a pocketbook
issue for all consumers. Businesses will not absorb the higher
Quentin Tarantino’s best film, “Pulp Fiction,” was about
the supernatural power of faith. The two lead characters who
follow their moral instincts – Bruce Willis and Samuel L
Jackson – survive. Meanwhile, John Travolta ignores a miracle
and dies ignominiously.
“The Hateful Eight” puts a dark spin on the same theme. In
Tarantino’s post-Civil War America, God has turned the other
way. There are no miracles and there are no moral people.
There are only savvy men and gullible corpses.
In the film’s most memorable scene, Samuel L Jackson’s
character tries to infuriate an old Confederate General with a
vivid, lurid tall-tale. It’s fairly obvious to us that Jackson’s
story is made up. The General partly understands it, too. All
he needs to do is control his foolish instincts to believe what
he is told and he will live…
“The Hateful Eight” isn’t Tarantino’s best. But even mediocre
Tarantino films contain more memorable dialogue and
outrageous comedy than anything else out there.
In this deception-filled world, learning to tell the difference
between what’s real and what’s not is one of the greatest skills
you can have.
And that’s no lie.
costs that they face due to the Carbon Tax. That tax increase
will also be passed directly back to consumers in the form of
higher prices.
Vermont legislators are not the only ones who are considering
this huge tax increase. There is a plan underfoot in the
Northeast led by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to
map out a strategy to impose a regional Carbon Tax. We’ll be
keeping an eye on this.
Rather than support a higher taxing scheme, the Central
Vermont Chamber of Commerce supports energy policies that
encourage reliable and affordable electricity and fuels for
heating and transportation. We want to ensure rates that are
competitive and are cognizant of the cost to businesses of all
sizes. We encourage energy conservation and use of renewables
without shifting costs. We also support local control
over siting renewable energy sources.
The Chamber supports efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. We believe that the private sector leads the way in
technology and innovation, offering the greatest potential to
emission reductions and easing the harmful impacts of climate
change. What do you think?
HAVE YOU LEFT YOUR JOB? RETIRED? RETIRING?
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We have the experience to help you make
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Give us a call today.
RETIREMENT • INSURANCE • INVESTMENTS
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Berlin, VT 05602
(802)371-5011
Yvonne.liguori@voyafa.com
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December 27, 2017 The WORLD page 13