As President Bush readies to leave office, well-connected lawyers are being hired to press for pardons for their convicted clients. Among the lawyers are former solicitor general Ted Olson, hired to represent former junk-bond king Milchael Milken, the Washington Post reports. Milken pleaded guilty in 1990 to securities violations following an insider trading investigation, the Post says in a blog post at Washington Post Investigations. Another lawyer representing clemency clients is former White House lawyer H. Christopher Bartolomucci, now a partner at Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C. Bartolomucci worked on pardons in the White House from 2001 to 2003. The Post article does not name his clients. So far, President George W. Bush has granted only 157 pardons out of 2,064 requests, and six commutations out of 7,707 requests, the story says. Pardons at the end of a term can raise fairness concerns.
http://www.abajournal.com/news/high-profile_lawyers_seek_pardons_for_well-known_white-collar_clients/

U.S. presidential inaugurations took place in March or April until 1937
http://inaugural.senate.gov/history/factsandfirsts/index.cfm

“Greening house by house is already catching on--the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) extended its Leadership in Energy and Design (LEED) rating system to residences to meet the interest in more environmentally friendly homes. But the next steps will be tougher. The sprawl of the suburbs has ensured that much of the energy we consume--and carbon we emit--comes from our dependence on cars. Until we change the layout of our neighborhoods--reversing the suburban ideal of semi-isolated homes--living green won't be easy. 'Having a green neighborhood and a green home are two different things,' says Michelle Moore, a vice president at USGBC."
http://postcarboncities.net/node/2409

From: Grant Barrett (gbarrett worldnewyork.org)
Subject: Word-of-the-Year Nominations Open
The American Dialect Society is now accepting nominations for the "word of the year" of 2008. What is the word or phrase which best characterizes the year 2008? What expression most reflects the ideas, events, and themes which have occupied the United States and its residents? Nominations should be sent to (woty at americandialect.org).
They will be considered for the American Dialect Society's 19th annual word-of-the-year vote, the longest-running vote of its kind in the world and the word-of-the-year event up to which all others lead. It will be held in San Francisco on January 9, 2009.
The best "word of the year" candidates will be:
new or newly popular in 2008
widely or prominently used in 2008
indicative or reflective of the national discourse
Multi-word compounds or phrases that act as single lexical items are welcomed, as well.
Sub-categories for "word of the year" include most useful, most creative, most unnecessary, most outrageous, most euphemistic, most likely to succeed, and least likely to succeed. Past winners can be found on the society's website.

Capitol Hill, White House, National Politics: http://www.c-span.org/

City Council banishes the mayor's wife from City Hall in Kansas City, Missouri
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122723082748846583.html

Google search examples
For specific site, type site:theweek.com
For search in government domain, type "congressional review act" and site:gov
For search in educational domain, type "congressional review act" and site:edu
For search within range of numbers, type "leather shoes" $100..$200
For currency conversion, type 1,000 U.S. dollars in euros

The 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century as listed by National Public Radio
“You can also view a condensed list without descriptions or audio, the original NPR 300 -- the preliminary list of works, or you can find out in text form how we put it all together.” http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/vote/list100.html

November 25 is the birthday of the man who popularized the story of Paul Bunyan, a man named James Stevens, (books by this author) who was probably born on this day on a farm near Albia, Iowa, in 1892. He worked as a logger, and at night in the logging camps, he listened to stories about Paul Bunyan. He wrote an article about the strongman who was a legend in the timber industry, and people liked it. So he wrote a whole book of stories, which he published in 1925 as Paul Bunyan. The Writer’s Almanac