Driver License on Your Mobile Phone??

DRIVERS LICENSE ON YOUR PHONE?

Delaware and Iowa have launched pilot programs to try using digital licenses instead of the traditional plastic drivers license cards that we all use to verify our driver’s status, age and identity.

As airline boarding passes, business loyalty cards and Apple Pay all are applications on the smartphone, a digital license would likely be its own mobile app. Also, car insurance companies now offer digital versions of auto insurance cards.

In theory, the cop that pulls you over might alert you via phone, and you can use your fingerprint to allow your info to be accessed remotely. That's when you see the ticket you received and you can even pay the citation on the app.

In practice, however, there are sure to be problems. From a technical standpoint, it us unknown how secure such a system might remain. Further, each state has its own computer systems in po0lice cars and their DMV, all of which may not be compatible.

A more troubling issue is if you are requested to hand your smartphone to a police officer. If the phone is that accessible, the police may be able to see things that the fourth amendment against unreasonable search and seizure would require a warrant to see. (The US Supreme Court has ruled that cell phones are protected from warrantless searches.) What happens if a notification pops up jokingly asking if you are “ready to go hide the body?”

One real advantage would be the instant update to change your address without a dreaded trip to the “take a number” soul-crushing long lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Kids these days have no idea why something as simple as updating an address requires a physical trip to a “brick and mortar” location. So, as with many new technologies, the enormous generation gap looms.

Younger drivers will be likely to embrace this technology and say it’s about time. Those of us well over 40 are likely to be more cautious and suspicious.

The way things are headed, the car will soon be diving the human, rather than the other way around.  I am definitely not ready for that!

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“Gun Control” is Misnamed Try: “Disarm the Victims”

“Gun Control” is Misnamed

Try: “Disarm the Victims”

Every time there is an insane person who shoots innocents, as in Tucson, we are all shocked and saddened. No one wants these acts to continue. People want to do something.

However, you know what they say about good intentions.

With the best of purposes, many misguided leaders have called for stiffer gun control in the wake of the shootings. This occurs each and every time there is newsworthy gun violence. They seldom decry the way the mentally ill are shuffled through the system, and multiple warning signs are ignored. But they often fixate on the instruments of the violence: the guns.

First off, let’s be clear that guns are not good or evil. They are inanimate objects. Contrary to some uninformed souls’ opinions, they never go off by themselves. Like money, they can be used for good or for evil. If an evil wife pays a hit man $5,000.00 to have her husband murdered, no one suggests we ban money. Money, guns, matches and automobiles are all items that can be used for good or evil.

Secondly, it is already illegal for people to use guns for illegal purposes. If the criminals were going to follow the laws, gun violence would not exist anyway. Additional laws further restricting firearms only serve to disarm law-abiding citizens. They are the ones that follow the laws to begin with. My understanding is that criminals, when asked, prefer unarmed victims.

Thirdly, the problem is not too many guns. One could argue that there are too few. How would that shooting have changed if several of the heroic victims had been armed? You know, common sense is about as rare now as fiscal conservatism in government. But, how many times have you heard of a police station being robbed? A donut shop? A hunting camp? A shooting range? What do these have in common? Trained, lawful citizens wearing guns at the ready. That is also why we have armed air marshals flying randomly on our flights, and armed security at many banks.

Oddly, Arizona has liberal gun laws, consistent with the Second Amendment. Many could have been carrying legally that day. Who would have thought that it would bee needed for an event hosted by a grocery store? If we have learned anything by Tucson, let us agree that more trained citizens wearing guns would have actually saved lives. As established, it deters violence on the whole. Further, the guns don’t cause crime anymore than matches cause arson.

If you do not wish to carry, that is fine. Don’t take the illogical position that the government should disarm all victims! If, God forbid, a criminal is ever holding you or your child hostage with a knife at the throat, I suspect you would want the police to come with more than mace and a nightstick to deal with him.

Mr. Peel may be available to address your church or community group. Contact his office through www.PeelLawFirm.com

Locally Shot Movie Truly Moving

“The Grace Card”

I had the opportunity to attend a private preview of a Memphis movie that does not come out in theaters till February 25, 2011.

It is called THE GRACE CARD. It is the very first movie from Graceworks Pictures located right here in Shelby County. Graceworks is the vision of Memphis optometrist Dr. David Evans, who directed and also served as the executive producer of THE GRACE CARD. Calvary Pictures is a ministry of Calvary, a Church of the Nazarene, led by Pastor Lynn Holmes in Cordova.

The church-based moviemaking ministry that spawned Fireproof inspired Memphis' own Calvary Church to make this movie.

It is about two Memphis policemen who have very different backgrounds and beliefs. And they have one other difference—the color of their skin.

Set in present day Memphis, we first see a Caucasian father endure the tragedy of losing a child senselessly. It is clear, as we fast-forward about 17 years; this event shaped him almost exclusively. He is now a Memphis cop that reminded me a lot of the type of cop that the O.J. Simpson defense team made Mark Fuhrman out to be. Angry. Racist. Distant. Bitter.

Then, thanks to a supervisor (played by Shelby County Commissioner, Chris Thomas) this atheistic racist cop is paired with--of all people—an African American part time preacher.

While award-winning actor Louis Gossett, Jr. maybe the only face or name you will recognize in this moving drama, the acting by amateurs is still superb.

There is a transparency in the way the home life of these two men is portrayed that seems so real. It is like you are a fly on the wall of their homes. Troubles with a rebellious teen, struggles with money and the pressure of career plans all are laid bare, with a ring of truth. While the movie earned a PG-13 rating due to its police action, I still believe it to be a family movie suitable for kids several years younger.

But forgiveness and grace are not normal Hollywood commodities. The movies will not have a large release, but neither did similar movies like Facing the Giants and Fireproof. If you want to see if it is near you, see the website at www.TheGraceCardMovie.com.

If you don't see your town on the list, contact actionsquads@providentfilms.org to help bring the theater to your town.

Grace is not easy and it is not cheap, though desired by us all. Living here in Shelby County, we know how often the so-called “race card” is played…What about playing a “Grace Card?”

You won’t regret it.