Voting Rights

Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided that George W. Bush would be President of the United States, everyone has been talking about voting but, as with the weather, no one has done much. Voting is said to be fundamental to our nation, but until the 2000 elections we didn't seem to understand how rickety our election process is.We know that in our federal system voting is administered by states, each one having different systems of casting and counting votes. But it goes deeper, as we saw in November and December. Voting is actually administered by counties (3000 nationwide), and takes place at precincts (several hundred thousand) where it is administered by Volunteer-Managers-for-a-Day (more than a million all told). The differences we saw in Florida between how votes are cast, counted, and miscounted by voters and officials in different precincts -- let alone different counties -- are not news. They can never be eliminated entirely but in the past they have been tolerated far too much.Small wonder that in such a system ascertaining the will of the people would not be easy even if everyone were pulling for an honest deal and a fair count and if we all shared the same vision of what that meant. But of course we don't. Therefore, working to improve our election system requires two focuses: (1) streamlining the system across-the-board, and (2) making the system fair to all voters and segments of voters.The federal government has a wide role to play in all this. Its power derives from several sources, some of which are: (1) power to enforce constitutional guarantees, especially equal protection and due process; (2) plenary power over federal elections; and (3) ability to spend money and offer money to states on certain conditions. The responsibility belongs to the executive branch directly, as well as in seeking legislation, and in litigating before the judiciary

Regional Development Based on Environmental Competitive Advantages – A Comparative Analysis of Polish Voivodships

This article presents an assessment of the environmental competitiveness of Polish regions in the years 2004 and 2012. For the purposes of analysis, 26 indices of the condition and protection of the environment and also pressures placed on the environment were selected. With respect to each index, between 1 and 16 points were attributed to each region (16 units on the NUTS 2 level are distinguished in Poland) depending on the degree of environmental impact. Then, the points allocated to the voivodships for each index were totalled and a ranking of voivodships reflecting the level of environmental competitiveness was elaborated.W artykule przedstawiono istotę, metodę badań i wyniki oceny środowiskowej konkurencyjności regionów w Polsce w 2004 i 2010 r. Dla potrzeb analizy wyselekcjonowano 26 wskaźników stanu, presji i ochrony środowiska charakteryzujących poszczególne województwa. W odniesieniu do każdego wskaźnika, regionom przypisano punkty od 1 do 16 (w Polsce wyróżniamy 16 jednostek na poziomie NUTS 2) w zależności od stopnia oddziaływania na środowisko. Następnie, sumując punkty uzyskane przez województwa w odniesieniu do poszczególnych wskaźników, otrzymano oceny końcowe, w oparciu o które opracowano ranking województw odzwierciedlający poziom środowiskowej konkurencyjności

Insurance contracts on tourism

The business life in the modern world is developed upon the logia of the domination of the rules and within them an important role play those that are related to implementation of the standards that are connected with he security and insurances. Due to the need for an economic transformation it resulted with the creating of a new set of new contracts which commencing from several general principles of the obligatory law, that regulate the situation which were not established insofar, which in fact are established in practical life. These constructions of the contract law largely begin to be distinguished from the so-called classic contracts out of the civil law. The contracts, often similarly with the classic ones, with their content and intention, the differ so largely from the classical ones that now cannot be argued anymore for one of their existing contracts but for the new type of contracts, independent, sui-generis. Viewed from this plan the contract on insurance is known from the early times, but now it has been so largely transformed thus now transaction or operation within the domestic or international trade is not conducted without involvement of this contract.Contract, insurance, insurance company, tourism, business, policy, imperative rule

Contract law as an alternative possibility for investments in transition economies

Each country which has gone through or is in the process of transition and social-economic transformation, in normal circumstances has its rational objectives to create the conditions for active participation in initial or advanced operations of the international business. Depending on the level of development and international business environment they adopt and execute specific investing strategies. Every responsible government has its duty to evaluate the importance and cost of investments and to create legal possibilities for a safe environment. In practice, entrance and operation of particular enterprises in countries emerging late from economic transition but also in those which will emerge, in the conditions of scale economy, is evaluated to be difficult, if not to say impossible. In this case there is not much left to be chosen except that governments should seriously engage to approximate the legislation with well known international standards by applying international contract principles. It is believed that in the phase of initial operation development, economic progress in the country can be easier, safer, and with low economic cost basing on well known alternative strategies of the entrance type through certain contracts internationally recognised. Alternative possibilities of entrance in trade, guaranteed by contract law of every country and which could be on the licence form, franchises, etc. should be evaluated by all means and possibly executed in order to be a part of international business environment.Contract, contract law, alternative investments, trade economy, franchise, license, business, environment, transition economies.

Education or Reputation? A Look At America's Top-Ranked Liberal Arts Colleges

This report examines the country's most prestigious liberal arts colleges. Despite endowments soaring as high as $1.8 billion, nearly all institutions increased tuition during the Great Recession to finance bloated administrative spending, with many college presidents enjoying salaries higher than Barack Obama's. This report peels back reputation to find out what students are really getting for their diploma's$240,000 price ta