From the knowledge leader since 1768 ENCYCLOPÆDIA Britannica ALMANAC 2009 In association with ® E N C Y C L O P Æ D I A Britannica ® Jacob E. Safra, Chairman of the Board Jorge Aguilar-Cauz, President Chicago · London · New Delhi · Paris · Seoul · Sydney · Taipei · Tokyo ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, INC. EDITORIAL Thad King Charles P. Trumbull Patricia Bauer Robert M. Lewis Kenneth Pletcher Barbara Schreiber Melinda C. Shepherd Karen Jacobs Sparks Amy Tikkanen Anita Wolff ART AND COMPOSITION Steven N. Kapusta Nicole DiGiacomo Carol A. Gaines Cate Nichols Thomas J. Spanos EDITORIAL LIBRARY Henry Bolzon Lars Mahinske ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, INC. Jacob E. Safra Chairman of the Board Jorge Aguilar-Cauz President Michael Ross Senior Vice President, Corporate Development PRODUCTION CONTROL Marilyn L. Barton INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Carmen-Maria Hetrea Sheila Vasich Mansur Abdullah Dale H. Hoiberg Senior Vice President and Editor WORLD DATA Stephen Neher Mary Kasprzak MANUFACTURING Kim Gerber Rosaline Jackson-Keys Director, Almanac and World Data MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT Jeannine Deubel Kimberly Cleary Kurt Heintz Michael Levy Executive Editor, Core Editorial CARTOGRAPHY Michael Nutter COPY Sylvia Wallace John M. Cunningham Yvette Charboneau Glenn Jenne Marsha Mackenzie Managing Editor and Director of Production CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Kelly Knauer Richard Fraiman Publisher Joy Butts Assistant Director, Brand Marketing DESIGN Anthony Wing Kosner Steven Sandonato General Manager Helen Wan Associate Counsel PICTURES Patricia Cadley Carol Pittard Executive Director, Marketing Services Holly Oakes Senior Brand Manager, TWRS/M Tom Mifsud Director, Retail and Special Sales Peter Harper Director, New Product Development Laura Adam Assistant Director, Newsstand Marketing Suzanne Janso Book Production Manager Anne-Michelle Gallero Design and Prepress Manager Michela Wilde Associate Brand Manager Special thanks to: Glenn Buonocore, Susan Chodakiewicz, Margaret Hess, Brynn Joyce, Robert Marasco, Brooke Reger, Mary Sarro-Waite, Ilene Schreider, Adriana Tierno, Alex Voznesenskiy © 2009 BY ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, INC. All rights reserved. All TIME material copyright © 2009 TIME Inc. All rights reserved. Photos (front cover left to right): Dominique Charriau/WireImage/Getty Images; Office of US Senator Barack Obama; Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images; Sean Gallup/Getty Images; J. Vespa/WireImage/Getty Images ISBN-13: 978-1-59339-228-4. International Standard Serial Number: 1540-8868. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA ALMANAC 2009 Britannica.com may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.britannica.com. For information on group and bulk sales, please send an e-mail to
[email protected] (Trademark Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.) TABLE OF Year in Review Features CONTENTS 3 Life on Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 The Supreme Court’s Group Hug . . . . . . . . . . 5 by Jeffrey Rosen, TIME Animals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Geology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Libertarians: A (Not So) Lunatic Fringe. . . . . . 6 by Nathan