So, Whose Side Is She On?

The City Council of Escondido has passed a resolution (4-1) to recommend, but not require that companies in Escondido use the federal e-Verify system to make certain that their workers are legal. City departments are now required to use e-Verify through passage of the resolution.

Only Olga Diaz voted against the recommendation. She is quoted in the morning paper as saying that yes, e-Verify is a federal program (supported by President Obama) but that its use sends the wrong signal.

The only signal that the use of e-Verify sends is that a company wants American citizens working for it. That is the LAW!

The Obama administration has changed the government supported methodology from finding and deporting illegal alien workers to the more humane methodology of enforcing laws that penalize employers who hire illegal aliens.

Either policy will work if enforced, and neither policy will work if unenforced.

The position taken by Olga Diaz (and a group of activists called “El Grupo”) is unfathomable unless she directly supports illegal immigration.

Technology Advances, Quickly

This is feeling like a “technology” day…

A former Apple Computer employee has developed an interesting concept and written an ‘app” for it – one that has drawn TONS of investment money.

The app, called “COLOR” lets people in a near vicinity – say a restaurant, voluntarily share their smart phone stored photos.

The purpose is to let people in a bar or restaurant who have similar interests, invite introductions to each other because the stored photos demonstrate a shared interest – flowers or architecture or sports or…

(Yes, I know what you are thinking, but anyone reporting racy photos will be cut off the COLOR system.)

Obviously, this is a “social media” operation. Just thinking about my stored photos on my iPHONE4, I am not certain anyone could determine ANYTHING about my interests, but perhaps my eclectic photos are not usual.

The GPS based app is a close approximation of another, and FAR more interesting capability of smart phones to act in the future as credit cards, as soon as the players can figure out who is going to share in the profits.

While the usual credit card companies are the usual suspects demanding the money, companies like Apple also have a dog in the fight.

The idea is that to pay a bill in a restaurant or a store, one needs to simply pass their  smart phone over a “reader” (Near Field Technology) that either deducts the money from an authorized bank account or gives a credit to a company (Bank or Corporation) that gives you a loan, just as a credit card does today.

The problem is not technology – that exists today – but some agreement is needed as to what portion belongs to Bank of America or Apple, for example.

The search for useful apps among the 300,000+ currently available is a daunting task.

 

 

The World of Google

Google, for those who see the corporation as simply a search engine, is, instead a corporate giant on the same stage as Microsoft and Apple and Cisco.

Google does many things – including a HUGE effort to scan every book ever written to provide a modern Alexandria (Egypt) library.

(Alexandria Library (“Bibliotheca Alexandrina”) was reputed to have had every manuscript written up to the time it was destroyed in #, having confiscated and copied every book on every ship and person entering the city. Its date of destruction, who did it, and how it was done is a historical mystery.)

Anyway, Google has scanned, so far, 15 million books. The problem appears to be those books that are “orphaned” which is to say books where the author or the owner of the copyright cannot be found, but the copyright has not yet run out. Google reached an agreement with the publishers of the books, but a judge has said that is not sufficient.

Aside from the interesting legal question, the mere fact that Google has scanned 15 million books — a massive effort paid for by a corporation with no revenue stream except for the future, is interesting in and of itself.

Google may go to Congress to have them pass a law covering this interesting legal situation.

Looking For Ways To Cut Taxes?

I like to call it the March of Dimes Syndrome. You may recall that the March of Dimes of my youth was dedicated to finding a cure for, and assisting people struck by Polio. Then along came the Polio Vaccine, and the population of polio diminished  —  but the March of Dimes looked around and said, “Hey, we have this national staff,  this name recognition, and this distribution system so lets just redirect our efforts.’

Now that made absolute sense in a private organization. When your product stops selling and you have a distribution organization in place, find another product to distribute.

Governments do not behave in such a rational manner. When their usefulness ends, they just continue to collect taxes and throw the money away. Just a few years ago we were still paying taxes placed on citizens in WWII, and for all I know they may still be collected.

Nothing is as permanent as a government tax supported agency.

So why do we still collect $1 on every car registration to support call boxes along freeways, when every swinging Richard has a cell phone? Even the homeless!

The voiceofsandiego.com asks that very question:

“The law specifies that the money “shall be used for the implementation, maintenance and operation of a motorist aid system of call boxes” on state and county freeways and highways and unincorporated county roads. The intent was to ensure the safety of stranded motorists.”

http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-8869-safe-deposit.html

Tha article says that there is so much money collected that if they never collected another cent, the state can fund maintenance on the existing call boxes for another eight years!

The local agency responsible for the call boxes had enough money for two years of maintenance, so they voted, rationally, to suspend collecting the “fee.”

Now that was not going to go over well to local politicians, so Supervisor Ron Roberts convince the group to continue to collect the fee and fund a county fire-fighting helicopter.

Not that a fire-fighting helicopter isn’t a great idea – but it expanded the roll of the group – and that was just the beginning!

Read the article, and see who the good guys and the bad guys are – you will recognize the names!