I was trying to decide if et al needed a serial comma – and I came across this:
In Bournemouth, England at least, “plain language” means you can’t use these: E.g., bona fide, and more (etc. too)
Excerpt from the story at Newstin dot com: Town halls ban staff from using Latin words, in case they confuse immigrants:
In case you haven’t already seen this: Blog Search Engines, by Ann Smarty at Search Engine Journal.
Thanks to iLibrarian for the lead.
From the Washington County (Oregon) Law Librarian:
Public law librarians get the darnedest questions. It’s not so much the questions themselves, but that people think that we have answers to their questions. We don’t! But we like that people think about us when trying to solve their problems.
And we do have the pretty good problem-solving and research skills. We also, most of us, have a lot of common sense, not to mention a lot of people we can call upon for more research ideas. Here’s a recent question – and answer:
The Oregon family of “family law attorneys” comprised of lawyers, judges, the state bar, family law facilitators, and others is amazing. This family works so well together. They may not think they do, but from this law librarian’s desk, I am grateful for all the family law resources they make available to client and pro se litigant alike. Recently I noticed their newsletter went online, which is wonderful. A recent and extremely useful article, by Thomas Johnson, about Collaborative Practice is in the October 2008 issue.
1) Oregon State Bar (OSB) family law resources
2) Oregon Judicial Department (OJD) family law resources, homepage
If you use the OHS research library, mark your calendar with the info below. If you’ve never visited OHS and their library, you’ve missed an Oregon treasure. Plan a trip during the upcoming holiday season when there are so many other events drawing you to downtown Portland.
The Oregon Historical Society Research Library will be closed January 11-19, 2009 for collections maintenance. Regular hours will resume January 20. The OHS Museum will remain open during this time.
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR 97205
503-306-5240
Links to Previous Bites can be found here at, “Oregon Consitution in Small Bites: So Far“
Today: Article II, Sections 18-24
18. Recall; meaning of words “the legislative assembly shall provide”
22. Political campaign contribution limitations
23. Approval by more than majority required for certain measures submitted to people
24. Death of candidate prior to election
Section 18. Recall; meaning of words “the legislative assembly shall provide.” (1) Every public officer in Oregon is subject, as herein provided, to recall by the electors of the state or of the electoral district from which the public officer is elected.
(2) Fifteen per cent, but not more, of the number of electors who voted for Governor in the officer’s electoral district at the most recent election at which a candidate for Governor was elected to a full term, may be required to file their petition demanding the officer’s recall by the people.
(3) They shall set forth in the petition the reasons for the demand.
(4) If the public officer offers to resign, the resignation shall be accepted and take effect on the day it is offered, and the vacancy shall be filled as may be provided by law. If the public officer does not resign within five days after the petition is filed, a special election shall be ordered to be held within 35 days in the electoral district to determine whether the people will recall the officer.
(5) On the ballot at the election shall be printed in not more than 200 words the reasons for demanding the recall of the officer as set forth in the recall petition, and, in not more than 200 words, the officer’s justification of the officer’s course in office. The officer shall continue to perform the duties of office until the result of the special election is officially declared. If an officer is recalled from any public office the vacancy shall be filled immediately in the manner provided by law for filling a vacancy in that office arising from any other cause.
(6) The recall petition shall be filed with the officer with whom a petition for nomination to such office should be filed, and the same officer shall order the special election when it is required. No such petition shall be circulated against any officer until the officer has actually held the office six months, save and except that it may be filed against a senator or representative in the legislative assembly at any time after five days from the beginning of the first session after the election of the senator or representative.
(7) After one such petition and special election, no further recall petition shall be filed against the same officer during the term for which the officer was elected unless such further petitioners first pay into the public treasury which has paid such special election expenses, the whole amount of its expenses for the preceding special election.
(8) Such additional legislation as may aid the operation of this section shall be provided by the legislative assembly, including provision for payment by the public treasury of the reasonable special election campaign expenses of such officer. But the words, “the legislative assembly shall provide,” or any similar or equivalent words in this constitution or any amendment thereto, shall not be construed to grant to the legislative assembly any exclusive power of lawmaking nor in any way to limit the initiative and referendum powers reserved by the people. [Created through initiative petition filed Jan. 29, 1908, and adopted by the people June 1, 1908; Amendment proposed by S.J.R. 16, 1925, and adopted by the people Nov. 2, 1926; Amendment proposed by H.J.R. 1, 1983, and adopted by the people Nov. 6, 1984]
Ye old, “trust, but verify” cliché that many, most, attribute to Ronald Reagan, and that one hears way too often nowadays, surely goes back much further than Reagan, and likely even further back than the first place I read a version of it. It is certainly a turn of phrase that could easily be lifted (as have most of all our best lines :-) and used in other contexts, not excluding election campaigns:
Winston Churchill’s, “The Hinge of Fate,” 1950, Houghton Mifflin edition, page 687:
“…. Memories of the war may be vivid and true, but should never be trusted without verification, especially where the sequence of events is concerned.”
It’s almost Plum Book time again (see also here for links to previous Plum Books). If you’ve ever thought about becoming a belly-of-the-beast public servant (appointed) and working in Washington D.C. for a new Presidential administration, now is the time to get your resume out and buffed up.
Prepare to compete for jobs with the best and the brightest – very exciting!
Maybe it’s my bent sense of pathos and bathos, but I’ve found Nebraska’s safe haven law dilemma both incredibly heartbreaking and (darkly) humorous. The sadness is for both the parents and the children. The humor is reserved for the legislature that crafted this law with enormous Unintended Consequences. (More Nebraska abandoned-children stories here and here.)
If you either don’t have kids or if you have trouble-free kids (ha ha ha ha ha), you might not know it but, believe me, there are an awful lot of parents around the county who would love to do what these parents have been doing. Parenting is really hard and not only is it very hard to get away even for a little while, but what do you do when you have completely run out of ideas and energy and are quickly running out of love?
Yes, Oregon parents want to get away from their kids too. My most popular blog posts, in page hit numbers you might find hard to believe, are the ones on WHEN CAN I LEAVE MY KIDS ALONE! That’s right. Parent everywhere, are trying to flee their kids. They have my sympathy, and loads of it, but I’m not offering to babysit, thank you.
Visit the King County Law Library blog, KCLL Klues, for a research guide on Investigating Social Networks.
This is a logical companion guide to their other skip-tracing and public records guides, which you can find here and that I posted about here.
