The Maryland General Assembly opens its 90-day Session in Annapolis on Wednesday, January 14, 2009. Although the State is going through some tough economic times right now, various legislative leaders seem to indicate that tax hikes are not likely, but that budget cuts are. (Whew!)
I'm already looking at the synopses of bills that have been pre-filed, and I've got a couple of them that have me scratching my head. Once I see the synopsis, if I have other questions, I'll go into the text of the bill itself.
SJR 1, for example, would have Maryland finally ratify the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution, which provides for the direct election of US Senators. It was ratified on April 8, 1913. (And we need to do this, why?) http://mlis.state.md.us/2009rs/bills/sj/sj0001f.pdf
What will they get into this year? I don't know, but stay tuned! I'll try to report on it as best I can. And I welcome comments!
Just remember, if the 2007 Special Session didn't prove the following quote, nothing will:
"No man's life, liberty or property is safe while the Legislature is in session."
Now, I digress. Do you know who said that? The answer may surprise you!
A lot of people think that it was either Mark Twain or even H. L. Mencken that came up with the saying. In doing research on the net, I wasn't quite satisfied, so I looked for as many references as I could find, and one source seems to have done exhaustive work on it.
The American Dialect Society has a number of citations as to where the quote was first found, and it determined that it was neither Twain, nor Mencken, nor even Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), a journalist and short-story writer during his lifetime.
The answer? Judge Gideon Tucker. Who? He ruled in favor of a widow in a negligence suit [1 Tucker 248 (NY Surr 1866)] because her attorney did not advise her on the most current law dealing with settling her husband's estate. That's when he uttered the quote.
It seems that Twain somehow got hold of the statement, used it, and Noah Webster apparently credited Twain with it rather than the judge.
If you'd like the citation, drop me an email and I'll send it to you.
Anyway, Wednesday's going to be the first day of many of fun. And, think of it! We'll soon have Governor O'Malley delivering the State of the State Message!
No comments:
Post a Comment