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Don't Like Where Your Personal Information's Being Exposed? Then Take Control And Cover It! Protect Yourself!! [Nobody Else Will!!!] Plus: New $20 Bills Start Showing Up Today: Wanna Whip Up The Latest Conspiracy Theory, Just For Fun?
October 9, 2003
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Dear Ben: I've noticed that my drivers license number is written across the top of my Texas disabled parking tag. I turn mine over and put it on the dash, but I see many (permits) hanging through the rear windshield/window, with the drivers license number in full view. How can we get the state of Texas to stop putting this number on these tags? How can we alert users of the tags without tipping off the thieves? I hope you have some ideas.
Sharon, via e-mail
Dear Sharon: You should be worried, Sharon. The Texas Department of Public Safety brain-trust (rightfully) instituted this measure in the mid-1990s to stem the wide-spread abuse of this parking privilege-especially during the busy holiday shopping season and the predictable scarcity of parking spaces at the malls. But don't lose any sleep over this one, since there's an easy Dover Fix: Put a piece of tape (like heavy, black electrician's tape) over the number...and relax. If anyone from the law enforcement community wishes to "match" the driver's license number of record (permanently marked on the permit with a black "Sharpee") with that of the driver or passenger of the vehicle utilizing the permit-the tape can be removed (and replaced) quickly-re-protecting your personal information from unauthorized eyes out data-mining in Texas parking lots.
And since we're on the subject of handicap parking permits, let me take this opportunity to hit on one of my pet peeves: It's illegal to drive with the handicap parking permit hanging from the rear view mirror...but countless Texans continue to engage in this distracting maneuver. Remember-it's called a handicap parking permit-not a handicap driving permit. By the way: Forget torching me by mail/e-mail giving me all of the reasons why you drive with your handicap permit swinging from the mirror. The "I drive with my (handicap) permit hanging so I don't forget to put it up when I park in a handicap space" argument, my reply's the same: If you can't remember to hang your permit, maybe you shouldn't be driving in the first place.
Dose of Dover For The Week: Everything's just peachy at the Bureau of Engraving...and will be in your wallet starting today with the debut of the re-designed, peach-colored $20 bill. While the Feds say they're trying to thwart counterfeiters, have you thought about the possibility of a more far-reaching agenda on the paper money horizon? How long before the Treasury decides to re-cast all of our paper currency? It's been rumored for years that the Government has been plotting to change the look and color of the currency in order to boost the real "book" value of our nation by eliminating billions of unreported-and-offshore dollars. How so?
Here's how this conspiracy tale unfolds: The Feds would suddenly announce that-beginning on a specific date-all of the old currency would no longer have value/be accepted as legal tender...only the "new" currency would be accepted. (There is precedent for this I might add: The military did this on a regular basis in the past, declaring the wartime "script" (their form of currency used during foreign military operations) as expired after a certain date and time in order to foil enemy counterfeiters.) So how would this same strategy increase the value of our money? Easy.
The stashes of cash that fuel the "underground economy" derived from the drug trade, gambling, prostitution and other well-documented organized-crime enterprises showcased on shows like HBO's "The Sopranos" would be forced to the surface. Suddenly those vaults of tax-free and illegally-earned dollars would have to either quickly push back into the system to be converted into the new, freely-spendable cash, or they'd be lost. And there have been rumored Government-funded studies over the years that this strategy would cause billions of dollars to disappear from circulation-thus increasing the actual "book" value of the U.S. treasury. In this post-9/11, Patriot Act world-with far less offshore banking/bank secrecy protection-theories abound that assorted U.S. Government agencies, from the IRS to the FBI, Secret Service and now, Homeland Security, would all come back with thousands of "scalps"-in the form of organized crime runners, money-launderers and the Holy Grail of the 21st century-terrorists. Stay tuned and remember, you heard these semi-paranoid-sounding theories here first.
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