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The ballot deadline is January 26, 2010. Please don’t mail your ballot at this point. Please find a drop box.

It has been said that people spend more time shopping for a TV than they do mulling over an election ballot. For crying out loud, in Oregon you can fill in your ballot while sitting in a comfy chair, drinking a beverage of choice, and mumbling or ranting to your heart’s content.

If you don’t vote you can’t complain. People around the world and through the centuries know that maintaining a democracy is a lifetime effort (and sometimes a death-defying one). You can’t vote once and expect to find yourself in Shangri-La (which may not be your cup of tea anyway). And voting once or twice a year is the minimum entrance requirement for keeping a country a free republic. It takes more, much more.

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1) The Gallagher Law Library blog reminds us that an “Immigration Law Primer” is available at the Federal Judicial Center.

2) The basic print immigration law primer is Kurzban’s “Immigration Law Sourcebook.”

3) Speaking of immigration – and travel, Oregon public libraries have a new language database, Mango Languages. You can learn basic phrases, take a more intensive course, or use their translation service. It also has English as a Second Language (ESL) lessons. Check with your local library reference staff or website, e.g. Washington County and Multnomah County.

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(And just try saying judicial system without sounding inebriated, a point the wonderful comic Dana Carvey made more than a decade ago.)

I was listening to an Oregon legislative hearing the other day and a legislator commented (quite rightly) on how confusing government is to many people (legislators and the rest of us).

Those of us who live and breathe “government” spend a lot of time helping to educate the public. But we remember well a time when we were confused ourselves — because it is confusing!

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It’s not easy to find a simple online explanation of the difference between Official and Unofficial sources of law. My explanation may fill in that gap – or not, depending on your specific question. (And a blog post this long can hardly be called “simple,” but such is life — and law.)

1) In a nutshell, an official source is a source that has been authorized by an official body, such as a court or a legislature. In Oregon, for example, we have the official statutes of Oregon, published in the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS), by the Oregon Legislature, through Legislative Counsel. (This official statutory compilation should not be confused with Oregon Laws, which is the official session law compilation.)

2) We also have in Oregon, as do many states, an unofficial statutory compilation, the Oregon Revised Statutes Annotated, which is published by Thomson-Reuters (West Group).

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If you want an absorbing, fascinating, and fun book to read … if you want to sound (and possibly be even more) intelligent and well-informed when discussing health care systems around the world, and you don’t want to slog through zillions of pages in boring tomes, I highly recommend that you read:

T.R. Reid’s “The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care”

This is a “I missed by bus stop!” sort of read (which is much better than saying, “whoops, I missed Minneapolis!”). Reid is a great researcher and storyteller (and very funny, at that – you might have enjoyed T.R. Reid’s other books or radio appearances.)

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There are lots of online home schooling resources and I’m highlighting only these two, both of which have good links to Oregon home schooling laws:

1) Oregon Department of Home Schooling

“Home schooling is an alternative education option in Oregon. Parents who choose to home school their children must register at their local Education Service District (ESD). Curriculum and assignments are not provided by the state, however, testing is required at grades 3, 5, 8 and 10. Please review the guidelines, Q & A and laws and rules for more information on home schooling….” (link to full ODHS website)

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(The Law Librarian Blog has an interesting update to this story: What Would Professor Kingsfield Say? Conan O’Brien-NBC Contract Dispute Awakens Sleeping 1L Contract Students, posted, January 16, 2010.)

I read recently that “Conan’s Lawyers Screwed Up, Forgot To Specify “Tonight Show” Time Slot,” Henry Blodget, Jan. 11, 2010.

A lot of people exclaim “there ought to be a law,” but the reality is, in many instances, what people need is better contracts. From your condo/HOA bylaws, to your apartment lease, to employment contracts, to that CEO going-out-the-door sweetheart deal, to that prenuptial agreement, to your will, and on and on and on, it’s the words of the contract that matter.

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The January 13, 2010 Library Link of the Day featured this interesting story from the Center for the Study of the Public Domain:

What Could Have Been Entering the Public Domain on January 1, 2010? Under the law that existed until 1978 . . . Works from 1953

Excerpt: “…What might you be able to read or print online, quote as much as you want, or translate, republish or make a play or a movie from? How about Casino Royale, Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel? Fleming published Casino Royale in 1953. If we were still under the copyright laws that were in effect until 1978, ….
….
Agatha Christie’s, A Pocket Full of Rye
Saul Bellow’s, The Adventures of Augie March
Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451
John Hunt’s, The Ascent of Everest
C.S. Lewis’s, The Silver Chair (the fourth book in The Chronicles of Narnia)
J.D. Salinger’s, Nine Stories
Leon Uris’s, Battle Cry
James Baldwin’s, Go Tell It On the Mountain
Ira Levin’s, A Kiss Before Dying ….” (link to full story and website)

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This could be a Traffic Week post, but it’s a new week and time to move on. That said, it’s hard to let go of the steering wheel:

Automobile Fraud and Unsafe Vehicles: How the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System Can Help You Protect Yourself, January 6th, 2010, by Tracy Russo:

Excerpt: “…[C]ar fraud can place unsuspecting consumers in unsafe vehicles….
…
Consumers can access critical nationwide total loss and salvage vehicle information on vehicles by visiting www.vehiclehistory.gov. NMVTIS is the only publicly available system in the U.S. to which all insurance carriers, and auto recyclers, such as junk yards and salvage yards, are required, under federal law, to report to on a regular basis….” (link to full post)

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Welcome to the end of Traffic Week at the OLR Blog. Traffic law posts will appear throughout the year, but this is the end of my Traffic Week experiment.

Despite all efforts at smart driving, even the best amongst us will get a traffic ticket. I’m not sure I can do better than my Oregon Legal Research blog posts on Beat Your Ticket, Get Your Day in Court.

Happy Trails!

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