Be sure to check out the new White House site and stay informed: http://www.whitehouse.gov/

National Archives Opens 9/11 Commission Textual Materials
News release: The National Archives...open[ed] more than 150 cubic feet of records of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, known as the 9/11 Commission, an independent, bipartisan commission created by Congress. The Commission’s mandate was to provide a “full and complete accounting” of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and recommend how to prevent such attacks in the future. On January 14th...Memoranda for the Record (summaries of 709 interviews conducted by the Commission), series descriptions, and folder title lists will be available online. These records include information on the terrorists, past terrorist events, al Qaeda in general, and related subjects. The records also include information concerning the emergency responses to the attacks in New York City and Washington, DC...The records [opened] on January 14th represent 35% of the Commission’s archived textual records."

U.S. Labor Department finalizes rule on investment advice for 401(k) plans and IRAs News release: "The U.S. Department of Labor announced publication of a final rule to make investment advice more accessible for millions of Americans in 401(k) type plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). The final rule will be published in the Jan. 21, 2009, edition of the Federal Register. The rule includes a regulation that implements the new statutory exemption for investment advice added to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by the Pension Protection Act (PPA) and a related class exemption."
Employee Benefits Security Administration Federal Register Notice: Prohibited Transaction Exemption for Provision of Investment Advice to Individual Retirement and Similar Plans [12/04/2006] and Comments to Proposed Regs
Chairmen Miller, Andrews Statement on Last-Minute Special Interest Regulation - Rule Could Undermine Retirement Savings Plans for Millions of Americans

IRS Hotline for ID Theft Victims
"The IRS does not initiate communication with taxpayers through e-mail. Before identity theft happens, safeguard your information...IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit, toll-free at 1-800-908-4490."

Spending on Cell Phone Services Has Exceeded Spending on Residential Phone Services
News release: "Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) show that cellular phone expenditures increased rapidly from 2001 through 2007. Cellular phone expenditures surpassed spending on residential landline phone services beginning in 2007...annual expenditures for cellular phone services per consumer unit increased from $210 in 2001 to $608 in 2007, an increase of 190 percent. Expenditures for residential phone services per consumer unit decreased.

President Obama Reestablishes Openness for Government Documents
News release: "On his first full day in office, President Barack Obama signed an executive order and two presidential memoranda heralding what he called a "new era of openness." Announcing a Presidential Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act to reestablish a presumption of disclosure for information requested under FOIA, President Obama said that "every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known."
President Obama also issued an executive order reversing changes made by President George W. Bush to the Presidential Records Act (PRA), stating he would hold himself and his own records "to a new standard of openness." The PRA order permits only the incumbent president (and not former presidents' heirs or designees or former vice presidents) to assert constitutional privileges to withhold information, and would provide for review by the Attorney General and the White House Counsel before a president could claim privilege over his or her records.
Finally, President Obama also today issued a Presidential Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government which recognizes that "[o]penness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government." It directs the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Chief Technology Officer, and the Administrator of the General Services Administration to develop an Open Government Directive within 120 days to implement the memo."

A muse reader passes on this link on the many faces in our patchwork quilt that is America. http://video.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/us/politics/21family.html?pagewanted=all

Top three most expensive books from AbeBooks in 2008 (from a list of ten)

1. Etudes à l'Eau-Forte by Francis Seymour Haden - $17,216
A collection of 25 etchings by Seymour Hayden --24 of the plates depict the landscape around London, the Thames, Ireland and Wales and the final one is a portrait of Thomas Haden. The text reproduces an article printed in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts by Philippe Burty and contains a catalogue of the etched work of Seymour Haden.
2. L'Abou Naddara, Journal Arabe Illustre (1878-1884) by James Sanua - $13,000
First edition published in 1878 and signed by author. The complete set of the first eight years of Sahifat Abou Naddara issued in Paris. Sanua was called Ya'qub Rufa'il Sanu in Arabic but was often referred to by his pseudonym, Abu Naddara (‘father of spectacles’).
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling - $12,874
Rare first edition signed by JK with the dust wrapper panels signed by the cover artist Cliff Wright. The first issue has a misaligned block of text which was corrected in the subsequent issues.
http://www.abebooks.com/books/most-expensive-2008.shtml?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=nl&cm_pla=cme_mx2008&cm_ite=mxlist

Coming to Shumaker charity sale in Toledo
The Hope by Herman Wouk hardbound 687 pages
Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler softbound 328 pages
The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth hardbound 343 pages
False Impression by Jeffrey Archer hardbound 373 pages
The Brothers by William Goldman hardbound 310 pages
The Good Life by Jay McInerney hardbound 353 pages
Hornet Flight by Ken Follett hardbound 416 pages
Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline hardbound 352 pages
“ . . . English was their second language and their first was Meaningful Eye Contact.”
At the outbreak of World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law a series of presidential orders that identified Italian-born Americans as enemy aliens. The orders authorized their arrest and relocation to internment camps, and more than 10,000 were evacuated from their homes and sent to one of the approximately fifty camps around the country.
Widow’s Walk by Robert B. Parker hardbound 294 pages
#29 in the Spenser series
“Rita had a yellow notepad in front of her. Russo had one in front of him.
It was how they knew they were lawyers.”

Concentration and internment camps from various countries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concentration_and_internment_camps