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Harken Energy

Harken Energy

Harken Energy Corporation is an American oil and gas company, headquartered in Southlake, Texas. It is publicly traded, with its shares listed on the American Stock Exchange. Harken has attracted attention because of the role played in its affairs in the 1980s by George W. Bush, later the President of the United States. Bush, while a corporate officer, sold stock in Harken soon before the company announced substantial losses, a transaction that resulted in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of possible insider trading; see George W. Bush's business and early political career. A Harken transaction with the endowment fund of Harvard University has also been questioned; see Harken Energy Scandal.

External link

- [http://www.harkenenergy.com Company website]

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded¹ from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18

Southlake, Texas

Southlake is a city located primarily in Tarrant County, Texas. A small northernly region of the city is located in Denton County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 21,519. Southlake is well known for its [http://www.southlaketownsquare.com/ Southlake Town Square] project, a massive shopping center located on State Highway 114 and Southlake Boulevard. It is one of the most popular shopping centers in Tarrant County, especially when judged in proportion to the population of Southlake. A plan was approved in March 2005 that will more than double its area. Sabre Holdings, the owner of Travelocity, is headquartered in Southlake. The Dallas Burn (now F.C. Dallas) were located in Southlake before they moved to the Cotton Bowl. They moved again to Frisco, Texas in 2005. Southlake residents also have the dubious honor of owning the highest number (per capita) of Hummer2 (H2) vehicles in the world. Southlake is also home to the Carroll Dragons. Belonging to the Carroll Independent School District, the Carroll Dragons high school football team has been ranked #1 in the country and has lived up to its claim by winning the state championship in 2005.

Geography

Carroll Independent School District Southlake is located at 32°56'48" North, 97°8'43" West (32.946678, -97.145230). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 58.1 km² (22.5 mi²). 56.7 km² (21.9 mi²) of it is land and 1.4 km² (0.6 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 2.45% water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 21,519 people, 6,414 households, and 5,958 families residing in the city. The population density is 379.6/km² (983.0/mi²). There are 6,614 housing units at an average density of 116.7/km² (302.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 94.54% White, 1.39% African American, 0.25% Native American, 1.79% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.81% from other races, and 1.20% from two or more races. 3.67% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 6,414 households out of which 60.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 88.0% are married couples living together, 3.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 7.1% are non-families. 5.4% of all households are made up of individuals and 1.2% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.35 and the average family size is 3.48. In the city the population is spread out with 37.1% under the age of 18, 3.9% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 3.1% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 37 years. For every 100 females there are 100.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 98.0 males. The median income for a household in the city is $131,549, and the median income for a family is $136,023. Males have a median income of $100,000 versus $46,042 for females. The per capita income for the city is $47,597. 1.8% of the population and 1.3% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 2.0% of those under the age of 18 and 2.1% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

External links

- [http://www.ci.southlake.tx.us/ Southlake, Texas official site]
- [http://www.southlaketownsquare.com/ Southlake Town Square] Category:Tarrant County, Texas Category:Cities in Texas

1980s

The 1980s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1980 and 1989. The decade was one of frantic change. It was also an era of political and economic decentralisation, especially in countries with mixed and command economies. Political events and trends of the 1980s culminated in the toppling of military governments and authoritarian regimes, including every communist Warsaw Pact state in Eastern Europe, bringing to a close the decades-long Cold War. The 1980s also saw very rapid developments in numerous sectors of technology which have defined the modern consumer world, particularly electronics like Personal Computers, gaming systems, the arrival of the first commercially available hand held mobile phones (the first being the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X in 1983) and various audio technologies such as the compact disc, which are still prominent well into the 2000s. The population of the world increased more dramatically in the 1980s than any other decade in human history, adding nearly one billion new people in the course of the decade. This is an important fact as such astronomical growth of the human race is unlikely to ever be repeated in the future due to current population trends, which are consistently showing a decline in birth rates across the globe. Children born in the 1980s are likely to have an extremely prominent position in world business and government affairs from the 2020s all the way through to the 2050s due to their immense population and potential voting powers.

Criticism/Backlash

Coined the "me decade," this decade has been somewhat derided since as early as 1989 for its perceived greediness among Yuppies, certain clothes/music/hairstyles which seem outlandish by modern standards, and of course the discovery of the AIDS virus in the early part of the decade, unlike the 1990s which have had a very positive receiving into the 21st Century despite criticism for the 90s' "slacker" image.

Technology

21st Century] 21st Century]
- Bulletin board system popularity.
- Popularization of personal computers, Walkmans, VHS videocassette recorders, and cassette players .
- Introduction of the IBM PC in 1981.
- Home video games become enormously popular, most notably Atari until the market crashes in 1983; the rise of Nintendo brings about full recovery.
- The first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1, launched in 1981.
- Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986.
- The Soviet Union launches the space station Mir in 1986.
- Apple Macintosh, first commercially successful GUI, is released in 1984.
- Accident at Chernobyl nuclear reactor, April 1986.
- Framework (office suite) launched
- Internet actively used by geeks in late 1980s
- First commercial hand-held mobile phone - Motorola DynaTAC 8000X 1983.

Science

- Discovery of the W and Z bosons at CERN.
- Development of the scanning tunneling microscope by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer.
- English computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web at CERN, Switzerland.

War, peace and politics

Switzerland]
- Cold War peaks; fall of the Iron Curtain.
- Jimmy Carter announces a U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow; Eastern Bloc countries boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
- Solidarity movement in Poland launched in 1981. It eventually topples the country's Communist regime.
- Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi tackles with a growing Sikh insurgency and the Khalistan Movement. She orders Operation Blue Star on the holy Golden Temple. She is assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
- Ronald Reagan proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative, derided as "Star Wars." Deploys Pershing missiles in Western Europe to counter the Soviet SS-20, to some protests.
- Soviet fighters down Korean Air Flight 007 in 1983, leading to a high point in international tensions.
- Three Soviet Premiers die in rapid succession: Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko.
- Gorbachev introduces Glasnost and Perestroika in the Soviet Union.
- Fall of the Berlin Wall in East Germany in 1989, preparing the way to German reunification.
- Velvet revolution in Czechoslovakia.
- Revolution in Romania, execution of Ceauşescu.
- Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism dominate British politics.
- The "Reagan Revolution", beginning with the election of 1980, introduces so-called neoconservatives to Washington.
- In 1981, François Mitterrand becomes France's President, the most politically successful Socialist in French history.
- Helmut Kohl is elected in West Germany in 1982, leading to the defeat of the anti-deployment movement; he becomes the longest serving Chancellor so far.
- Falklands War; Argentina invades the Falkland islands in 1982 but defeated by the United Kingdom.
- Israel invades Lebanon in 1982, . A suicide bomber kills 241 U.S. marines stationed there as peacekeepers.
- Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988 causes the deaths of at least hundreds of thousands.
- Over 120,000 flee Cuba in 1980 during the Mariel Boatlift, during which Fidel Castro released many criminals into American harbors.
- P.W. Botha suppresses anti-apartheid activists; international boycotts of South Africa continue.
- King Juan Carlos of Spain prevents a military coup in 1980. Spain joined NATO in 1982; it joined the European Union with Portugal in 1986.
- In 1989 students protest on Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China and are eventually suppressed.
- Large protests in the Philippines topples the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship; military rule ends after protests in Argentina and South Korea.
- Augusto Pinochet forms a new constitution, holds a referendum on rule and loses. Democracy is restored.
- The Soviet Union ends its disastrous military campaign in Afghanistan.
- Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is exposed as a former Nazi
- Vietnam continues its military occupation of Cambodia.
- In Europe, rise of alleged neo-fascist parties (Le Pen in France, Schönhuber/Republikaner in Germany, Haider in Austria), parallel to a rise of Green parties.
- Political correctness becomes a concern in mainstream politics.
- Ronald Reagan decides to invade Grenada in 1984 and depose the nascent hard-line communist government.
- The Reagan administration bombs Libya in 1986 in response to alleged Libyan support for attacks on U.S. servicemen in Europe.
- Under George H. W. Bush, the U.S. invades Panama in 1989 to overthrow Manuel Noriega.
- The Reagan Doctrine implements support for anti-communist or anti-Soviet insurgencies most notably in Nicaragua, Angola, Cambodia, and Afghanistan. This leads to continued civil war, the deposition of several regimes, some democratization, but also the Iran-Contra scandal.
- The United States launches a covert war against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua and is condemned by the World Court for mining Nicaragua's harbour, an authority and judgment the U.S. administration did not recognize.
- President Tito of Yugoslavia dies.
- Release of Americans held hostage in Iran.
- Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issues a fatwa urging the killing of Salman Rushdie.
- Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, UK.
- In 1985, A radical PLO offshoot called Palestine Liberation Front hijacks the Achille Lauro and shoots the wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, throwing him overboard.
- Terror groups Abu Nidal and Hezbollah rise to prominence in Western attention.
- Dark years for Malta and its politics. Violence is culminated by the murder of Raymond Caruana and blocking entry to Nationalist supporters into the southern village of Zejtun.
- The Rainbow Warrior is sunk by French secret service agents.

Economics

secret service 1987 through 19 January 1988)]]
- Reaganomics, Thatcherism and Rogernomics.
- In the United States the longest bull market in history begins in 1983; Dow Jones Industrial Average passes 2000 point milestone January 8, 1987.
- OPEC controls slip; petroleum prices collapse below $10 per barrel by mid-1986, devastating oil-producing nations such as Mexico.
- U.S. Midwest Farm Crisis 1981–1985.
- East Asian Tigers' share of world trade rises significantly.
- U.S. balance of trade falls into chronic deficit; populists criticize trade relations with Japan.
- Stockmarkets across the world crash on Black Monday, October 19, 1987. The New York Stock Exchange suffers its largest one-day stock market drop.
- Late 1980s recession

Trends and Fashions

- The video game console begins to outstrip the arcade game.
- The Rubik's cube, Cabbage Patch Kids, "Baby on Board" signs, and Trivial Pursuit fads capture the interest of the American public.fad]
- Nerds are popular subject.
- Alcohol education expands.
- Hair becomes big and poofy, or otherwise eccentric. Examples include the Mullet and the Flock of Seagulls cuts.
- Power Dressing was a major fashion statement of the decade, characterised by the use of increasingly large shoulder pads - the origins of this trend are often attributed to the American television series "Dynasty" and, specifically to one of its stars - the British actress Joan Collins.
- Pop stars of the era such as Duran Duran and television shows like Miami Vice brought the trend to the male fashion world, often accompanied by "designer stubble" and blonde highlights.
- Women's Liberation movement increases women's role in the workplace, and establishes new precedents for US women. As a carry-over from the 1970s, more and more women take to calling themselves "Ms." versus "Mrs." or "Miss"
- No-Fault divorce laws pave the way for increased divorce rate, as depicted in the movie, Irreconcilable Differences. No-Fault divorce catapults record numbers of women and children into the throes of poverty. The increase in single parent homes and, perhaps more significantly, homes in which both parents work leads to the phenomenon of Latch-key children, where children come home to an empty house and watch a lot of television.
- Neo-prohibitionism grows in popularity.
- Ninja and martial arts mania sweeps North America due to the popularity of Kung Fu Theater and Ninja Movies. Many instructional books are published and sold by many authors claiming to be experts. This is also often blamed as the beginning of the McDojo trend.

Music

- Music videos (and MTV) begin to have an effect on record industry in the United States. Pop artists Michael Jackson and Madonna are pioneers; groups such as Duran Duran benefit.
- New Wave music, a form of synthesized pop-rock, popular throughout decade, esp in early 80s.
- House music - a new development in dance music mid-way through the decade, growing out of the post-disco scene early in the decade, later developing into acid house - a harder form of dance often associated with the developing late 1980s drug culture.
- Hair metal popular in late 80s
- Popular artists include Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran, Madonna, U2, and a-ha.
- Massive sales for Ethiopian famine relief records by Band Aid ("Do They Know It's Christmas?") and USA for Africa ("We Are the World"), followed by Live Aid famine relief concert in London and Philadelphia. Other artists push for nuclear disarmament.
- The Hip hop scene evolves to become a powerful musical force, bringing with it several dance styles. Hip hop also brings artists like Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow and N.W.A.to the forefront; hip hop's spread outside of New York City, especially to Los Angeles, accelerates and then takes off beyond America's shores.

Television

- Television networks are challenged by cable television. In the U.S., Cheers and The Cosby Show top ratings and the Fox network is launched. CNN becomes the first 24-hour news channel.
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, the first animated children's television program built exclusively around a toyline, starts a new trend of increasing the connection between children's programming and toy advertising, alarming many parents and watchdog organizations; an explosive number of toy tie-in cartoons follow.
- Animation in North America begins a dramatic comeback in production values and mainstream popular appeal both in feature films and on television.
- Soap operas gain popularity among high-schoolers and college students in the United States, thanks in part to the supercoupling of Luke and Laura on the most popular soap of the day, General Hospital.
- MTV breaks out influencing pop culture.

Film

- Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial opens in 1982 and shatters records for box office gross receipts.
- Ridley Scott's Blade Runner opens in 1982.
- Teen flicks and horror movies reach a high
- Movie sequels very common

Others

- The AIDS epidemic is identified and named.
- Assassination of John Lennon and Olof Palme, attempts on Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II.
- Violent crime and drug trafficking soar to record levels in most large American cities.
- Research increases on alcohol and weight.
- Assymmetrical and bizarre hairstyles from about 1980 to 1993.
- Remove Intoxicated Drivers grows rapidly.

People

World Leaders

- Chancellor Bruno Kreisky (Austria)
- Chancellor Fred Sinowatz (Austria)
- Chancellor Franz Vranitzky (Austria)
- Prime Minister Bob Hawke (Australia)
- Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser (Australia)
- President João Figueiredo (Brazil)
- President José Sarney (Brazil)
- Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (Canada)
- Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (Canada)
- General Augusto Pinochet (Chile)
- Deng Xiaoping (People's Republic of China)
- President Chiang Ching-kuo (Republic of China on Taiwan)
- Prime Minister Poul Schlüter (Denmark)
- Erich Honecker (East Germany)
- President Anwar Sadat (Egypt)
- President Hosni Mubarak (Egypt)
- President Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua)
- President Mengistu Haile Mariam (Ethiopia)
- President Urho Kekkonen (Finland)
- President Mauno Koivisto (Finland)
- President François Mitterrand (France)
- Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou (Greece)
- Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (India)
- Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (India)
- Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (Iran)
- President Saddam Hussein (Iraq)
- President Patrick Hillery (Ireland)
- Taoiseach Charles Haughey (Ireland)
- Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald (Ireland)
- Prime Minister Menachem Begin (Israel)
- Prime Minister Shimon Peres (Israel)
- Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
- Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone (Japan)
- Emir Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah (Kuwait)
- President Muammar al-Qaddafi (Libya)
- Pope John Paul II
- Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (Malaysia)
- Prime Minister Dom Mintoff (Malta)
- Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici (Malta)
- Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami (Malta)
- Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (Malaysia)
- President Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado (Mexico)
- President Samora Machel (Mozambique)
- Prime Minister Robert Muldoon (New Zealand)
- Prime Minister David Lange (New Zealand)
- Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer (New Zealand)
- Queen Juliana (Netherlands)
- General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (Pakistan)
- General Manuel Noriega (Panama)
- President Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines)
- President Corazon Aquino (Philippines)
- President Wojciech Jaruzelski (Poland)
- President Nicolae Ceauşescu (Romania)
- Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore)
- President and Prime Minister P.W. Botha (South Africa)
- President Chun Doo-hwan (South Korea)
- Premier Leonid Brezhnev (Soviet Union)
- General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Union)
- King Juan Carlos (Spain)
- Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa of Sri Lanka
- Prime Minister Olof Palme (Sweden)
- Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms)
- Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (United Kingdom)
- President George H.W. Bush (United States)
- President Jimmy Carter (United States)
- President Ronald Reagan (United States)
- Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (West Germany)
- Chancellor Helmut Kohl (West Germany)
- President Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia)
- President Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire)
- President Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe)

Entertainers

- AC/DC
- Brat Pack
- David Brooks
- Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Glory)
- The Cars
- Phoebe Cates (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Gremlins)
- Tom Cruise (Top Gun, Rain Man, Risky Business, The Color of Money)
- Bo Derek
- Matt Dillon
- Dalida
- Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club, The Outsiders, Young Guns)
- Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones series, Star Wars series, Blade Runner, Witness)
- Jodie Foster
- Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future series, Teen Wolf)
- Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon series, Mad Max series)
- Debbie Harry (Blondie)
- Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee)
- John Hughes
- Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders)
- Michael Jackson (Thriller)
- Elton John
- Michael Keaton (Batman, Mr. Mom, Night Shift)
- Annie Lennox (Eurythmics)
- George Lucas (Indiana Jones series, Star Wars series, Captain Eo)
- Madonna (Material Girl)
- George Michael (Wham!)
- Motley Crue
- Eddie Murphy (Saturday Night Live, Beverly Hills Cop, Trading Places)
- Jack Nicholson (Terms of Endearment, The Shining, Batman, Prizzi's Honor, Ironweed, Reds)
- Queen (band)
- Sean Penn
- Michelle Pfeiffer (Scarface, Dangerous Liaisons)
- Prince (Purple Rain, Sign O' the Times)
- Meg Ryan
- Charlie Sheen
- Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Terminator, Predator, Conan the Barbarian)
- Sylvester Stallone (Rambo: First Blood)
- Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing)
- The Cure
- U2 (War, The Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum)
- Van Halen
- Sigourney Weaver

Sports figures

- Alexis Arguello (Nicaraguan boxer)
- Marco van Basten (Dutchsoccer player)
- Wilfred Benitez (Puerto Rican boxer)
- Larry Bird (U.S. basketball player)
- Allan Border (Australian cricket captain/batsman)
- Ian Botham (Somerset & England cricket all-rounder)
- Mike Brearley (Middlesex & England cricket captain/batsman)
- George Brett (U.S. baseball player)
- Julio Cesar Chavez (Mexican boxer)
- Roberto Duran (Panamanian boxer)
- Paulo Roberto Falcão (Brazilian soccer player)
- Ric Flair (U.S. wrestler)
- Mike Gatting (Middlesex & England cricket captain/batsman)
- Sunil Gavaskar (India cricket opening batsman)
- Wilfredo Gómez (Puerto Rican boxer)
- Gordon Greenidge (West Indies cricket opening batsman)
- Wayne Gretzky (Canadian ice hockey player)
- Florence Griffith Joyner (U.S. track and field athlete)
- Richard Hadlee (New Zealand cricket fast bowler)
- Marvin Hagler (U.S. boxer)
- Alan Hansen (Liverpool & Scotland footballer))
- Thomas Hearns (U.S. boxer)
- Hulk Hogan (U.S. wrestler)
- Larry Holmes (U.S. boxer)
- Bo Jackson (U.S. American football and baseball player)
- Imran Khan (Pakistani cricket player)
- Jahangir Khan (Pakistani squash player)
- Earvin "Magic" Johnson (U.S. basketball player)
- Michael Jordan (U.S. basketball player)
- Jarmila Kratochvílová (Czech track and field athlete)
- Greg LeMond (U.S. cyclist)
- Sugar Ray Leonard (U.S. boxer)
- Carl Lewis (U.S. track and field athlete)
- Wally Lewis (Australian Rugby League player

President of the United States

The President of the United States (unofficially abbreviated "POTUS") is the head of state of the United States. Under the U.S. Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The full title is President of the United States of America. Because of the superpower status of the United States, the American President is widely considered to be the most powerful person on Earth, and is usually one of the world's best-known public figures. During the Cold War, the President was sometimes referred to as "the leader of the free world," a phrase that is still invoked today. The United States was the first nation to create the office of President as the head of state in a modern republic. Today the office is widely emulated all over the world in nations with a presidential system of government. Many countries with a parliamentary system also have an office named "president", but the roles of this office vary widely, and the President in such systems usually has far more limited powers than the Prime Minister. The 43rd and current