President's Address to Congress
Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery Address to Joint Session of Congress, Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Rupert Murdoch has personally apologised for the New York Post cartoon that critics labelled as racist for likening a violent chimpanzee shot dead by police officers to Barack Obama. The News Corporation chairman and chief executive issued a statement on February 24 in which he said the cartoon was intended only to mock Obama's economic stimulus bill, which the Post considered to be a badly written piece of legislation, but that it had turned out to be a mistake because it had offended so many.
"As the chairman of the New York Post, I am ultimately responsible for what is printed in its pages. The buck stops with me," added Murdoch. "Last week, we made a mistake. We ran a cartoon that offended many people. Today I want to personally apologise to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/feb/24/rupert-murdoch-sorry-chimpanzee-cartoon

FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act
Press Release: Congressman Dave Obey (D-WI), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has introduced a $410 billion bill to wrap up work on the fiscal year 2009 appropriations bills. “Last year, President Bush refused to work with Congress to come up with compromise to finish these nine bills, instead insisting on unacceptable cuts to energy research, healthcare, education, law enforcement and biomedical research."
Bill Text and Explanatory Statements
Summary: Agriculture
Summary: Commerce, Justice, Science
Summary: Energy and Water Development
Summary: Financial Services
Summary: Interior and the Environment
Summary: Labor, Health and Education
Summary: Legislative Branch
Summary: State and Foreign Operations
Summary: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development

A group of wealthy American clients sued UBS in Swiss court on February 24, in an effort to prevent the disclosure of their identities as part of a tax-evasion investigation by the DOJ. Click here for the NYT story. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of nearly a dozen American clients, accuses UBS and Switzerland's financial regulator of violating Swiss bank secrecy laws and of conducting what Swiss law considers illegal activities with foreign authorities. Tax evasion is not considered a crime in Switzerland. Disclosing client names under Swiss law is a criminal offense and can expose bank executives and officers to fines, prison terms and other penalties. WSJ Law Blog February 25, 2009

Google Book Search Settlement - New Commercial and Access Models Await Readers
Timothy B. Lee: "Speaking at Princeton on Thursday, Richard Sarnoff, chairman of the Association of American Publishers, discussed the landmark settlement in the Google Book Search case. Sarnoff speculated that the agreement could effectively give Google and Amazon a "duopoly" in the online book market."
Richard Sarnoff - Reinventing Access to Books: The Landmark Settlement among Authors, Publishers, Libraries, and Google. Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University, February 19, 2000

Tax Provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
IRS: "Congress has approved and the President has signed new economic stimulus legislation, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The IRS is implementing tax-related provisions of this new program as quickly as possible. Here are some key highlights:
Payroll Checks Increase This Spring. The Making Work Pay Tax Credit will mean $400 to $800 for many Americans. The IRS has issued new withholding tables for employers.
$250 for Social Security Recipients, Veterans and Railroad Retirees. The Economic Recovery Payment will be paid by the Social Security Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Railroad Retirement Board.
Money Back for New Vehicle Purchases. Taxpayers who buy certain new vehicles in 2009 can deduct the state and local sales taxes they paid."

Feedback from A.Word.A.Day
From: Rock Currier (rockcurrier cs.com)
Subject: fool's gold
Def: Something that appears valuable but is worthless
Pyrite or fool's gold has caused many prospectors to foolishly think they have found gold. Sometimes pyrite speciens can be very beautiful. About three years ago one specimen not much larger than a hand sold at auction for more than $40,000, probably not far from its weight in gold. Here are many pictures of pyrite crystals from all over the world.
From: Michael Sharp (mja29way aol.com)
Subject: fool's gold
The fool may be the one who skips the fool's gold. Real gold is sometimes found mixed in with or existing in the same area as fool's gold.
From: Rudy Rosenberg (rrosenbergsr accuratechemical.com)
Subject: sword of Damocles
Def: An ever-present threat; an impending disaster
In the vernacular of Brussels, Belgium, it is most often referred to as the sword of Madame Ocles. Although most people know the correct spelling, it is more fun to use the popular version.

Marbury v. Madison: 206 Years Old and Still Going Strong
The case established a notion fundamental to the workings of the U.S. government: that the Supreme Court is empowered to strike down laws passed by Congress.
Cliff Sloan, a litigation partner in Skadden's D.C. office, thought this wasn't good enough, that people needed to know more about the case. So he, along with co-author David McKean, wrote a book, which comes out next week, called “The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall and the Battle for the Supreme Court.”
Ever heard of “dead peasant” insurance policies? In a nutshell, they're often secret insurance policies taken out by companies on unwitting employees, which can yield sizable corporate tax breaks. They're also, it turns out, spawning a good deal of litigation. The National Law Journal recently ran a piece on lawsuits related to the policies. And in today's WSJ, reporter Ellen Schultz weighs in - focusing largely on an odd Texas lawsuit.
WSJ Law Blog February 24, 2009

On February 26, 1919, Congress approved acts to establish two national parks. Lafayette National Park on the coast of Maine was the first national park east of the Mississippi—ten years later, it was renamed Acadia And in northwestern Arizona, more than 1 million acres were set aside as Grand Canyon National Park. That year it received 44,173 visitors. Today there are almost 5 million visitors each year.
February 26 is the birthday of Victor Hugo, (books by this author) born on this day in Besançon, France (1802). We know him as the author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862), but he became famous in France as a poet. When he turned 80, France created a holiday in his honor. The senate declared him a national legend. As he lay dying, the press recorded every word he said and every decision he made. More than 2 million people joined his funeral procession through the streets of Paris. The Writer’s Almanac