As of 2003, there were 759 automobiles per 1,000 Americans, compared to 472 per 1,000 inhabitants of the European Union the following year. Approximately 39% of personal vehicles are vans, SUVs, or light trucks. The average American adult (accounting for all drivers and nondrivers) spends 55 minutes behind the wheel every day, driving 29 miles (47 km). The
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Saturday, August 30, 2008
USA Transportation
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
USA Income and Human Development
According to the Census Bureau, the pretax median household income in 2006 was $48,201. The two-year average ranged from $66,752 in
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
USA Economy
The
The private sector constitutes the bulk of the economy, with government activity accounting for 12.4% of GDP. The economy is postindustrial, with the service sector contributing 67.8% of GDP. The leading business field by gross business receipts is wholesale and retail trade; by net income it is finance and insurance. The
In 2005, 155 million persons were employed with earnings, of whom 80% worked in full-time jobs. The majority, 79%, were employed in the service sector. With approximately 15.5 million people, health care and social assistance is the leading field of employment. About 12% of American workers are unionized, compared to 30% in
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
USA Foreign Relations and Military
The
American isolationists have often been at odds with internationalists, as anti-imperialists have been with promoters of Manifest Destiny and American Empire. American imperialism in the
The president holds the title of commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces and appoints its leaders, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The United States Department of Defense administers the armed forces, including the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and the Department of the Navy in times of war. In 2005, the military had 1.38 million personnel on active duty, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard for a total of 2.3 million troops. The Department of Defense also employs approximately 700,000 civilians, disregarding contractors. Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime through the Selective Service System. The rapid deployment of American forces is facilitated by the Air Force's large fleet of transportation aircraft and aerial refueling tankers, the Navy's fleet of eleven active aircraft carriers, and Marine Expeditionary Units at sea in the Navy's
Total
Monday, August 25, 2008
USA States
USA States
The
The states compose the vast bulk of the
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Sunday, August 24, 2008
USA Parties, Ideology and Politics
Politics in the
Within American political culture, the Republican Party is considered "center-right" or conservative and the Democratic Party is considered "center-left" or liberal. The two ideologies competing within the political mainstream are modern liberalism and modern conservatism. The former is distinguished through its belief in Positive liberty, holding that freedom requires the opportunity to live life as one would chose. Consequently liberalism seeks the universal provision of all three generations of human rights, including for example, freedom of speech, property ownership, education, health care and a clean environment - all of which are seen as prerequisites for liberty and human development. Modern conservatism is a hybrid of classical liberalism, which promotes Negative liberty, holding that liberty is nothing more than the absence of direct coercion by other individuals, and social conservatism, which emphasizes hierarchy and authority. It consequently often rejects state efforts to secure second and third generation rights, seeing the state's rightful role almost exclusively limited to securing first generation rights and the social hierarchy necessary for the maintain order. While modern liberalism was the dominant ideology on domestic policy throughout the mid 20th century, during a period often dubbed the "Keynesian consensus," it has been engaged in a fierce battle with modern conservatism, since the latter's rise in the late 1970s, leading to a sharp resurgence in political polarization. The states of the Northeast and West Coast and some of the
The incumbent president, Republican George W. Bush, is the 43rd president in the country's history. All
Saturday, August 23, 2008
USA Government and elections
The
The federal government is composed of three branches:
* Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.
* Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the Cabinet and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
* Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional.
The House of Representatives has 435 members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the fifty states by population every tenth year. As of the 2000 census, seven states have the minimum of one representative, while
All laws and procedures of both state and federal governments are subject to review, and any law ruled in violation of the Constitution by the judicial branch is overturned. The original text of the Constitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the federal government, the relationship between it and the individual states, and essential matters of military and economic authority. Article One protects the right to the "great writ" of habeas corpus, and Article Three guarantees the right to a jury trial in all criminal cases. Amendments to the Constitution require the approval of three-fourths of the states. The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; the first ten amendments, which make up the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment form the central basis of individual rights in the
Friday, August 22, 2008
USA Contemporary Era
The leadership role taken by the
The 1990s also saw a rise in Islamic Terrorism against Americans from al-Qaeda and other groups, including an attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, an attack on U.S. forces in Somalia, the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, the 2000 millennium attack plots, and the USS Cole bombing in Yemen in October 2000. In
The presidential election of 2000 was one of the closest in
Using language from the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act and the Clinton Administration, in 2002 the Bush Administration began to press for regime change in
In the upcoming 2008 presidential election, the Republican Party candidate, four-term Senator John McCain of
Thursday, August 21, 2008
USA Cold War and Civil Rights
The
The Soviet Union launched the first manned spacecraft in 1961, prompting U.S. efforts to raise proficiency in mathematics and science and President John F. Kennedy's call for the country to be first to land "a man on the moon," achieved in 1969. Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear showdown with Soviet forces in
As a result of the Watergate scandal, in 1974 Nixon became the first
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
USA World War I, Great Depression, and World War II
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the
During most of the 1920s, the
On December 7, 1941, the
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
USA Civil War and Industrialization
Tensions between slave and
Monday, August 18, 2008
USA Independence and Expansion
Tensions between American colonials and the British during the revolutionary period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 through 1781. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress, convening in
After the defeat of the British army by American forces who were assisted by the French,
Sunday, August 17, 2008
USA History
The indigenous peoples of the
On April 2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed on what he called "La
By 1674, English forces had won the former Dutch colonies in the Anglo–Dutch Wars; the
Saturday, August 16, 2008
USA Environment
The
Friday, August 15, 2008
USA Geography
The
The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the
Because of the
Thursday, August 14, 2008
biogas
USA Etymology
The term
The standard way to refer to a citizen of the
The phrase "the United States" was originally treated as plural—e.g, "the United States are"—including in the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1865. However, it became increasingly common to treat the name as singular—e.g., "the
The United States of America USA
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with more than 300 million people, the
The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of
In the nineteenth century, the