Alien intelligence

Information Week is out with a list of organizations that obtained H-1B visas to bring foreign “guest” workers into the country last year. They included Qualcomm, with 158; UCSD (69); San Diego State (8); San Diego State University Research Foundation (4); the County of San Diego (2); the Islamic School of San Diego (1); and the Zoological Society of San Diego (1). The workers can stay in the country for three years, which can be extended to six years. High-tech industry bigwigs including Microsoft founder Bill Gates have been lobbying for raising the 65,000 annual cap on the number of visas granted, a move opposed by homegrown workers, who argue that the program allows employers to recruit cheap labor from abroad. … There is a new website, auditsandiego.com, opposing Proposition C, the controversial June ballot measure sponsored by San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders. According to the website, “Allowing any mayor to appoint the person who will audit the city departments is like having the fox guard the henhouse.”