Terra Extraneus

Are you following the Brian Stone saga at An Audience of One? You should be. He just started a new job this week as the principal of an inner city middle school in Tulsa.

Want to know about my new school? All of the typical things you’d read about in an urban, high-challenge school. Poverty, gang culture, drugs, low test scores, family breakdown, etc. In other words, my kind of place. In spite of all that these are children and precious children at that. They have the same need for acceptance that their counterparts at a ritzy private school do. These kids have potential and need help to deliver on their abilities. There are huge changes coming to my school and I’m excited to be part of that change. I’ll write more on this later.

Also, check out another excellent recent Brian post: “Destiny.”

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Novelist Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez is rightfully angry about common ignorance and sloppy media coverage of Hispanic Americans and “the immigration problem.” She makes 16 cogent points on the topic. Here are some excerpts (paraphrased); a link to the entire post is below.

• The vast majority (75%) of U.S. Hispanics were born and raised here, including many who have roots that predate the pilgrims.

• You can be a Mexican American and never have had an ancestor cross the U.S. border, because a huge part of the U.S. used to be Mexico.

• English only? Then you may no longer say the names of most U.S. states. Only seven states have English names; the rest are Spanish or Native American. Spanish names which would be excluded by “English only” include California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Florida, as well as Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, and thousands of other U.S. cities.

• The majority of Hispanics in the U.S. speak English as a first language. The Pew Center for Hispanic Research found that by the third generation, all Latin American immigrant descendents — 100% — speak English as their primary language.

• The U.S. has two international borders, not one. To date, not a single terrorist has come to the U.S. through Mexico. At least two suspected terrorists have arrived here through Canada.

• The only people who can claim to be true “Americans” are Native Americans.

• Most Mexicans are Native Americans. [My note: 80% of Mexicans are all or part Amerindian (native American)].

• Check for plans to give Halliburton the contract to build the proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

See Valdes-Rodriguez’ post: “How Stupid Are the U.S. Media?”

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Hat Tip to Independent Christian Voice for the Valdes-Rodriguez’ link. Read ICV’s article, “Immigration Issue Is One of the Most Complex.”

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Abdul Rahman, the Afghan man who faced a possible death sentence by beheading for converting from Islam to Christianity, has been released. Muslims, chanting “Death to Christians!” took to the streets to protest Rahman’s freedom. Rahman was turned into authorities by his own family, who are among the Afghan Muslims who seek Rahman’s execution for the crime of following Christ.

Rahman has gone into hiding, and Italy has offered him asylum. More news from the Associated Baptist Press here. The ABP reports says at least two other Afghan Christians remain in jail under circumstances similar to Rahman’s ordeal.

Two-hundred and eighty-four U.S. military have been killed in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion of that country in 2001. The U.S. has 18,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan. The most recent U.S. death happened earlier today, when Taliban insurgents attacked the U.S. base there.

The Afghan constitution, which was drafted and adopted after the Taliban was ousted in 2001, declares Islam the supreme law of the land, and Islamic law calls for the execution of Muslims who abandon the religion. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, an organization closely linked to James Dobson, criticized the Bush administration’s foreign policy for failing to make religious freedom in Afghanistan and elsewhere a top priority. Quoted in the ABP article linked above, Perkins said:

Simply dismissing the charges based upon lack of evidence does not sufficiently address the lack of religious freedom in Afghanistan. As the United States continues its work in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is vital that the Bush administration secure a clear understanding of religious freedom from these new governments. Abdul Rahman’s imprisonment has revealed a major fault in our foreign policy.

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On the Blog Oklahoma blogroll, “D” is for Dave Town, the unique world of teacher, lawyer, blogger Dave Walker.

In January I began a review of the 300+ blogs “in or about Oklahoma” listed on the Blog Oklahoma directory. In four previous installments I have surveyed the approximately 50 blogs having names starting with “A” to “C.” Under the Ds, I found one of the most interesting characters I’ve stumbled across so far in the Oklahoma blogosphere, Dave Walker.

Walker, 41, is a 6th-grade public school teacher in Edmond. Teachers can be interesting people and interesting bloggers (e.g., Brian Stone at An Audience of One). But teaching is just one level of Dave Town, and surprisingly, something Dave hardly ever mentions on his blog.

Walker is also a 1998 grad of the Oklahoma City University law school and a member of the bar, but he has never practiced law. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. He is also a devoted blogger. He has been writing Dave Town since April 2002. He also writes a soccer blog, Footballs Are Round. And there’s Teaching Journal, an extremely frank record of his 2002-2003 school year.

In addition to all of the above, Walker is an adult convert to Catholicism. Dave became a Christian at a Baptist church as a teenager, but as a young adult, wandered spiritually for several years until he was “received into full communion with the Catholic Church” on Easter 1998. Walker is as enthusiastic about his faith as you might expect of an adult convert, and many of his posts are about Christianity, Catholicism and spirituality.

I was startled to find Walker’s favorite books list includes Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton and Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger, which are two of my favorites, also. I’ll bet you also enjoyed Merton’s Thoughts in Solitude and Salinger’s Raise High the Roof Beams, yes? Walker is also a fan of C.S. Lewis, both the fiction and non-fiction, including even the science fiction trilogy.

Dave Town includes lots of religion, some politics (he’s a libertarian) including Oklahoma politics, book talk, movie reviews, and plenty of other notions. I read quite a bit of Dave’s blog, and I found most everything I read to be quite interesting.

I am surprised Dave Town only gets 20 visitors a day. Walker deserves a broader readership. I encourage you to pay Dave Town a visit. Here are some posts to get your started:
> “I Love My Neighbor, It’s Me I Can’t Stand”
> An account of his conversion to Catholicism: “Jefferson Street Chronicles, Part 2”
> an untitled poem

Dave Town, of course, goes on TerraX’s “Best of Okla.” blogroll.

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Terry Hull is working his way through all 300+ blogs listed on the Blog Oklahoma blogroll. For other reviews of Oklahoma blogs, see:
> “Oklahoma Blogs: 10,000 to A.”
> “Oklahoma Blogs: Michael Bates and the B’s.”
> “Oklahoma Blogs: Time for Chase To Make Some Cuts.”
> “Oklahoma Blogs: More Blogs Filed Under C.”

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As a Christmas gift, my father gave me a subscription to Money Magazine, published by Time, Inc. Money Magazine is no doubt a good source of learning for the average individual, and it, and others like it, should be required reading for the young and anyone who did not major in finance as undergraduates. But even so, as a lawyer practicing in the financial services area, some omissions in recent issues were troubling.

BUSINESS ETHICS SIMPLICITY
The March 2006 issue contained its monthly column on business ethics and in this installment reviewed the ethical implications of the abrupt resignation after only a six-month tenure of an employee who accepted a signing bonus of $10,000. The employee was a newly minted MBA and the employer was a small company, but the employment contract did not preclude what the employee did or protect the employer. The article concluded that the employer should not have been so naïve and the employee should have remained longer or refunded part of the signing bonus. The article indicated the employer could retaliate by how it responds to inquiries from anyone reviewing the employee’s resume.

The article seemed so far off the mark that a correction seemed in order.

1. The article did not mention that if an employer retaliated in such a manner, litigation might result. That is the reason most companies will not allow anyone but a skilled HR department to respond to inquiries regarding former employees.

2. The article did not consider the reason for the departure of the employee, only whether the employee had a duty to repay part of the signing bonus. The ethics column is designed to respond to reader inquiries. Because the initiating communication was from the employer regarding the ethics of the abruptly departing employee, the column leaned in favor of condemnation of the employee. The employer may have painted a rosier picture than was warranted.

3. While I am not unsympathetic to the employer, especially a small business, the employment contract could have stated how long the employee was expected to stay, at the least, or the bonus could have been paid out over a year or some other time frame. The employer should have known that a newly minted MBA might need some time to reach a final plateau of stability, and therefore might not stay in a first job.

The use of forfeiture provisions in employment contracts is rapidly expanding. Some public companies have recovered so much money and stock by looting their former employees that they must report such recoveries on their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The amount of money and stock that must be involved to require a disclosure on financials in public filings is enormous, because to be “material,” no small amount would qualify for disclosure. It is amazing that the news media has focused so little attention on forfeitures of compensation or the “ethics” of wholesale forfeitures imposed on employees.

The probable explanation is that so many large public companies are engaged in the practice that financial services news sources cannot respond without risking retaliation. Not every company loots its former employees. Business ethics still exists.

CHANGING JOBS WITH 401(K) PLAN ACCOUNTS
The April 2006 issue addressed the question of what to do about a 401(k) plan account when changing jobs. Money Magazine suggested that the 401(k) plan account could be left with the prior employer, could be moved to a new employer’s plan, or be rolled over to an IRA. Money Magazine, however, naively failed to address the most important factor in determining which of those options to choose.

Leaving a 401(k) account with a former employer can be problematic. Corporate America is no longer the ethical or moral center of the nation, but rather is in desperate need of reformation. Corporate America must contend with only two powers in maintaining its hegemony: political, and that force is primarily deflected through campaign contributions, and competition. Corporate America is a jealous god, and employees who go to work for competitors are usually considered traitors, even though the corporation will vigorously maintain the employee was “at will.” Like any other organization that hates traitors, Corporate America will punish and retaliate against traitors. Former employees are often shocked to find that former co-workers are forced to distance themselves from former employees, and may even turn on them.

Also, Money seems unaware that businesses fail, suffer data losses, and even inadvertently hire embezzlers, thieves and pirates. Surely, the readers of Money Magazine are not just employees of ethical Fortune 500 companies. A few years ago, it was reported that there were 65,000 businesses with fewer than five employees in Oklahoma City. Most likely, that number has increased.

Former employees are not in the loop as to changes in 401(k) plan terms, changes in choices, and changes in trustees and other responsible persons. Thus, leaving 401(k) accounts behind with former employers is not risk free. The only alternative if something goes wrong is litigation, something Money Magazine would no doubt find abhorrent.

Moving the 401(k) account to the new employer’s plan has the same potential for risk. It might be lessened by a successful employment relationship, but as often as people seem to be forced to change jobs in this society, it is a risk. Money Magazine does not seem to know that.

Rolling the account over to an IRA at a financial institution, preferably one with more than a billion dollars in publicly reported assets or a bank, is clearly the best option in most cases. Competent financial advice is available, and the readers of Money Magazine are not without independent resources. Just following Money’s advice most months will probably lead to safe and successful investing. Anyone unable to read Money Magazine and follow its advice should restrict their investments to Certificates of Deposit at federally chartered and insured banks. But, the real benefit is control. IRAs are typically self-directed accounts, typically insured to one extent, in one manner or another, and under the control of the owner.

Money Magazine seems to take the position that only persons with more than $1 million in liquid assets should enjoy the benefits of retail securities firms that offer “full service.” That is clearly wrong, too.

The problem of choices and guidance that might be created by moving an account from a 401(k) program to a rollover IRA is better solved by consulting a Certified Public Accountant at the same time that a financial institution is engaged to administer the account. CPAs are not just tax preparers, and an hour of their time once a year to review investment decisions, either in advance or after the fact, would be worth the relatively small bill for their time. Anyone “cheaping out” by failing to engage a CPA would also be better off in Certificates of Deposit at a bank or simply following Money Magazine’s advice.

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Republican Congressman Ernest Istook is running for governor of Oklahoma. One of the hot-button issues Istook has raised is that Oklahoma should declare English its official language. The congressman also seeks such legislation at the national level.

If Istook succeeds, it will be none too soon. No news yet from Democratic incumbent Brad Henry or other Republican gubernatorial candidates on which languages they are supporting. English sure has my support, and I’m glad to know it has Istook’s, too.

Personally, I’m sick and tired of people crossing our borders, bringing with them their foreign cultures, foreign foods, and foreign languages. Melting pot, schmelting pot. Everywhere I go these days I’m surrounded by indecipherable foreign words. It boggles the mind. Let’s get this thing settled once and for all. We speak English here, thank you, and you can just take all those funny-sounding foreign words back where you came from.

I’m especially talking about French. Everywhere I turn, it’s French this and French that. We have let so many Frenchisms slip into our everyday vocabulary that I don’t know if we’re speaking English or Franglish. Come on, it’s not pants (short for the sissy French word, “pantaloons”), it’s trousers. It’s not gasoline, it’s petrol. And for English’s sake, it’s not French fries, it’s chips. Can you imagine how the British must feel when they come to America and see how the Francophiles among us have convoluted the Queen’s English on this side of the pond!

Don’t you just hate it when you hear someone order “a la carte,” or tell you they are “en route,” or ask you to give them “carte blanche,” or attempt to achieve a “coup d’etat.” Every business person wants to be an “entrepreneur.” Every cook wants to be a “gourmet.” If it’s good, it can’t just be good, it has to be “par excellence.” If it’s bad, it’s not just a mistake, it’s a “faux pas,” or even worse, a “gaffe.” Some of these words are hard to say, and they are all hard to spell. Who needs them! I’m with Rep. Istook. Why can’t we just stick to plain old English?

Of course, the place where the French have really got us in a chokehold is in the kitchen. With all their hors d’oeuvres and sautés and soufflés, everything slathered with mayonnaise and marinades. French toast. French bread. French pastry. French vanilla. French dressing. French fries. Man, those French love to eat.

The French have even infiltrated our military, so much so that I believe it has become a national security issue. Our men and women in uniform wear “camouflage,” carry “bayonets,” engage in “sabotage” and “espionage,” and have frequent “rendezvous.” (What’s the plural of rendezvous, anyway? Can’t the French get anything right?)

Even conservatives admit that they prefer it “laissez faire.” I guess the French really have won. Fait accompli.

Have you ever received an invitation to a party from some effete Francophile who noted on the card, “RSVP?” Wink, wink. Don’t think you’re fooling me, you cosmopolitan snob. I know what your little French abbreviation means. “Repondez, s’il vous plait,” my foot. It’s just another way of saying, “Only French-lovers need reply.”

The other day I was at IHOP, and the guy at the next table ordered an “omelette.” Give me a break. That’s an egg pancake around here, mister. Then the woman he was with ordered a “Spanish omelette.” Isn’t that so multi-cultural it makes you gag! This is the good ole U.S. of A. Have the Western omelette — err, I mean the Western fried egg – you French-lover.

I don’t want the soup “du jour” and I don’t want my potatoes “au gratin” and I don’t want my steaks “filet mignon.” I don’t want to wear cologne, I don’t want to watch films noir, and I don’t want to live on a cul-de-sac (well, actually, cul-de-sacs are kind of nice, but I’m no Frank, so I prefer to call them circle drives). I don’t want to be avante-garde or bon vivant or have panache or savoir faire. I just want to be a good old red-white-and-blue American.

Did you know that there are more than 13 million Frenchies, I mean French-Americans (I sure wouldn’t want to be politically incorrect) in the United States! Almost 2 million of them speak French as the primary language in their homes, according to the U.S. census. That’s right here in America! Is there any hope for our nation?

How many of them are even here lawfully? How many of them have illegally crossed the U.S.-Canadian border? When are we going to finally beef up our border security? Congress is talking about erecting a 15-foot wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, but they’ve got it all wrong. That’s not going to stop the French invasion. What we really need is a 4,000-mile wall running along the U.S.-Canadian border. It’ll cost a pretty penny, but it will be worth every dime if it helps to keep our families safe – safe from the French, and all of their French foods and French ways and funny French words.

Let’s be honest and call a frog a frog. They look different than us. They think differently than us. They talk differently than us. And they’re taking over our country, while we sit quietly by and do nothing. America is quickly becoming the Western States of the French Republic. You can’t watch TV or see a movie anymore without being bombarded with Frenchies. Robin Williams. Robert Duvall. Angelina Jolie. Ellen DeGeneres. Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Zooey Deschanel. Stephen Colbert. The list goes on and on. Back in the day, we all thought Shelley Fabares was cute as a button and we all loved Robert Goulet, but it’s gotten way out of hand.

We must draw the line somewhere, and Rep. Istook is exactly right about where. Let’s make English the official language and start cracking down on the use of all these French words in our government, our schools, and everywhere else you turn. If we don’t do something, one day all of our kids will be wearing sissy berets and going around saying “oui, oui” and “bon voyage” and “déjà vu” and “c’est la vie.”

This is America, doggonit, and as long as Lady Liberty continues to stand in New York harbor, as long as it still says “E pluribus unum” on our coins, and as long as this state is still proud to claim its Choctaw name, “Oklahoma,” then English is the only language for me. And that’s how I’m going to decide my vote in the upcoming gubernatorial election.

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Today Terra Extraneus passes its three-month milestone. We have had 2,247 visitors to our blog, including more than 700 during the last 30 days. Readers have visited from 45 countries and 41 U.S. states. We are averaging 25 or so readers a day, which is down a bit from last month, when several factors contributed to elevated traffic during our second month in the blogosphere (see “Two Months and 1,543 Readers Later”).

Last month I listed 10 states that had not yet visited our blog. One Rhode Islander has since found his or her way to TerraX, reducing the number of truant states to 9: Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, Vermont, and Wyoming. We can only hope Internet service eventually finds its way to those remote areas.

Traffic continues to come to TerraX for all sorts of reasons. Perhaps the single biggest traffic generator during the past month has been our articles on Christian fundamentalism. There seems to be a lot of interest on that topic, and many people have found their way here by searching on “Christian + fundamentalist” and “Christian + fundamentalism.”

One reader visited TerraX from Beijing, China, by searching “Terry Hull + Enid.” Who in Beijing knows me by name and knows my hometown? Actually, I know the answer to that question. One of these days I will tell you about one of the most remarkable people I have ever known, David Moser. (David, if you see this, I would enjoy hearing from you.)

¡BIENVENIDOS A MEJICO!
I was especially pleased when TerraX had a visitor a couple of weeks ago from Mexico City. Isn’t it amazing that during our first two months we had more than 1,500 visitors from all over the world, including 15 Asian and 5 African nations, but never a single visitor from our neighboring country down south?

I have done some traveling in Mexico. The culture and technology there runs about 50 years behind what we are accustomed to here in the U.S. That has its positive side. People tend to move at a slower, healthier pace. With fewer electronic means of entertainment (fewer TV stations, movie theaters, DVD players, etc.), people in Mexico seem friendlier and more hospitable. In the early evening in a small Mexican town, you are likely to find people on their porches and front lawns, neighbors visiting, children playing in the streets, like something you might have found in the United States 50 years ago, before suburbia and the glut of personal entertainment devices led us into the Cocoon Age.

However, the downside is that Mexico is behind the times economically. Desperate poverty is widespread, and the ordinary lifestyle in Mexico would be considered way below the poverty line by U.S. standards. According to the World Bank, one half of Mexican people live in poverty (having less than the minimum food and other necessities) and one-fifth live in extreme poverty. They are our neighbors, a word which should have special significance to followers of Christ. Only 16% of Mexico’s 106 million people have Internet access, compared to 68% in the United States.

By the way, what brought our Mexico City visitor to Terra Extraneus? He found us by doing a search on Jimmy Carter’s recent book, Endangered Values, which brought him to my review of that book.

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Jim Calloway of the Oklahoma Bar Association and author of the Law Practice Tips blog took a turn this week hosting the Blawg Review law blog carnival. The carnival includes a couple of dozen or more law-related blogs from around the country. Jim managed to give the round-up a nice Oklahoma spin.

The Blawg Review, of course, is a law blogs carnival, but many of the posts will be of interest to our non-lawyer readers, including articles about:
* the IRS: “Dirty Dozen Top IRS Scams for 2006″
* PCs: “Purchase Your PC With Windows Vista in Mind”
* Marketing: “Ain’t Nothing Worse Than Bad Word of Mouth”
* and New Orleans’ attorney “Ernie the Attorney” blogging about politics in the Big Easy.

You can access the links to the articles above and several others at Blawg Review #49. Good job, Jim.

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Oklahoma motorists often wonder why they have to pay so much in automobile insurance premiums. Beyond the avarice of insurance carriers, one legitimate reason is that Oklahoma allows, indeed encourages uninsured motorists. Anyone who has been in a serious automobile accident, especially if the at-fault driver was uninsured, knows this trauma very well.

The following discussion is not news to the insurance industry. Because it also deprives them of income, it is astonishing that they, too, are not active in forcing change. The insurance industry lobby in Oklahoma is as powerful as it is in most states, but for some reason will not take on the used car dealers.

In Oklahoma, whenever a used car is purchased from a used car dealer, the used car dealer has the statutory authority, granted through their license to do business as a used car dealer, to “paper tag” the vehicle sold. The Oklahoma used car dealer can issue this paper tag without any insurance verification. An Oklahoma tag agent could not do so, but a used car dealer can do so. A new car dealer could not paper tag a new car without first verifying the existence of insurance, but a used car dealer can do so.

Oklahoma statutes (47 O.S. §7-602) specify that “at the time of registration” an insurance verification shall be required. Used car dealers do not, it seems, “register” vehicles. Oklahoma statutes (47 O.S. §1137.1(E)) require used car dealers to use a “fibrous” paper tag. They seem to get this right, because those paper tags seem to last forever. The law does not require the used car dealer to strip the used car of the old tag, which is why there are so many used cars running around with a plate that is actually expired as well as a yellowing, curling, hanging-by-a-piece-of-tape paper tag. Oklahoma statutes (47 O.S. §583(F)) require used car dealers to purchase $25,000 of liability insurance for each of their vehicles. But this duty and this coverage appear to cease when the used car is sold and “paper tagged” for the new owner. That means the used car can literally be tagged and go off the lot without any insurance.

Theoretically, it will only stay uninsured for 30 days, until the new owner purchases the tag for the used car, but that is a long 30 days. Also, if the used car owner does not have automobile insurance at the time of purchase, it is probably due to a reason that is not likely change within 30 days. Thus, many used cars remain uninsured.

The average citizen of Oklahoma can protect himself to an extent by purchasing uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage (also known as “UM” coverage). But every year I meet two or three people who did not purchase UM coverage. Some thought they were saving money. Some thought the coverage would not cover anything but medical bills because they confused it with another coverage called “Med-Pay” coverage. Some people confused it with comprehensive or collision, never realizing it would cover their own injuries and not just the injuries of the machinery. Insureds that forego the purchase of UM coverage are required to sign a form indicating they understand what they are doing and are doing it intentionally, and not by accident. Thus, it is difficult for the insurance purchaser who waives UM coverage to blame anyone for his error.

Nevertheless, UM coverage is not the sole solution, in part because it transfers the cost of insurance to the purchaser of insurance, when that cost should have been paid by the uninsured motorist. Used car dealers should be prohibited from paper tagging a car at sale unless they obtain an insurance verification from the purchaser. This breech in the levee of Oklahoma financial responsibility laws should not remain open.

If the Oklahoma insurance industry will not lobby for a change in the law, then the least the insurance industry can do is spend the money to educate the public about the need for uninsured motorist coverage. The insurance agent has trouble completely filling that role because the insurance agent has a perceived conflict of interest in attempting to educate consumers about the coverages they need to purchase.

Where is the elected Insurance Commissioner of the state of Oklahoma on all of this? The Insurance Commissioner should be lobbying for a change in the law, too. Never mind…he was impeached, convicted, sentenced to three years and fined $20,000 last month.

[Kim Holland, the new Oklahoma insurance commissioner, was appointed by the governor and has been in office for one month.]

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For the first time, I’m getting telemarketing calls on my cell phone. What a nuisance. So I have just registered on the Federal Trade Commission’s Do Not Call list.

At first I wasn’t sure if this “Do Not Call” site was legit – or just another telemarketing scheme. So I checked on the FTC site, and as you see, the above site is referenced on this page: “Q&A: The National Do Not Call Registry.”

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