Thursday, January 10, 2008

Smart ways of online shopping

Online shopping is becoming more and more popular these days. In this holiday season it was said that online shopping went into some $33 billion dollars, which was a staggering amount. There are many reasons why this online shopping is picking up these days. The main section, which adores online shopping, is the youth. There are many advantages of online shopping, one being is 24*7 shopping that means you can shop any hour in day or night at your convenient timings. Despite of many plus points, online shopping has many drawbacks. These are some tips, which will assure you of happy shopping online.
  • Be careful with the phishing websites, which pretend to be as the original websites and ask for your information.
  • Legitimate companies don’t send unsolicited email messages asking for your password or login name, or your financial information. But scammers do.
  • When you’re asked to provide payment information, the beginning of the website’s URL address should change from http to shttp or https, indicating that the purchase is encrypted or secured.
  • At a minimum, your computer should have anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and a firewall. Security software must be updated regularly to help protect against the latest threats.
  • If you’re looking for the best deal, compare total costs, including shipping and handling. The holiday season is prime time for online retailers, and many are offering incentives like free shipping.

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Tuesday, January 8, 2008

US Parliamentary Systems

Many of the world's democracies and republics operate not within a congressional model of government, but rather a parliamentary system. The most significant difference between a parliamentary government and the U.S. Congress is that a parliament typically encompasses the entire governmental regime, containing legislative, executive, and judicial branches within its structure, as well as the monarch, if one exists. The U.S. Congress exercises only legislative powers, and is but one of three co-equal and independent branches of the larger federal government.

In a parliament, the executive branch of the government is chosen from or by the representative branch. This generally comprises the prime minister and the governing cabinet. Congressional leaders merely administrate the daily business of Congress itself, while it is in session, and not the functioning of the national government as a whole. So, while in structure the Speaker of the House of Representatives resembles a prime minister, in substance and practice he or she only moderates the functioning of the U.S. Congress, while the wholly separate executive branch of government administrates the daily functioning of the federal government. In the U.S. Congress, legislation originates within the legislative branch, whereas in a parliamentary system, legislation is drafted by the government in power and then sent to parliament for debate and ratification.
Members of the U.S. Congress are generally elected from one of two parties, but its members are free to vote their own conscience or that of their constituents. Many members can and do cross party lines frequently. In a parliamentary system, members may be compelled to vote with their party's bloc, and those who vote against are often cast out of their respective parliamentary parties and become less influential independents. The lack of super powerful political parties allows U.S. members to more faithfully represent their constituents than members of parliament can—a member is ultimately responsible to their constituents alone, not to their party.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives.
In the Senate, each state is represented by two members, in accordance with the New Jersey Plan, proposed by William Paterson reached at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. The Senate's membership is therefore based on the equal representation of each state, regardless of population.
Since there are now 50 states, the total membership of the body is 100. Senators serve for six-year terms that are staggered so elections are held for a third of the seats (a "class") every second year (rounded out, so that one class has thirty-four Senators). The Vice President of the United States is the President of the Senate and serves as its presiding officer, but is not a senator and does not vote except to break ties. The Vice President rarely acts as President of the Senate unless casting a tie-breaking vote or during ceremonial occasions. As such, the duty of presiding usually falls to the President pro tempore, by tradition the most senior senator of the majority party, who almost always delegates the routine task of presiding over the Senate to junior senators from that party.
The Senate is regarded as a more deliberative body than the House of Representatives; the Senate is smaller and its members serve longer terms, allowing for a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere that is somewhat more insulated from public opinion than the House. The Senate has several exclusive powers enumerated in Article One of the Constitution not granted to the House; most significantly, the President cannot ratify treaties or, with rare exception, make important appointments—most significantly ambassadors, members of the federal judiciary (including the Supreme Court) and members of the Cabinet—without the advice and consent of the Senate.