Monthly Archives: September 2004

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Impeachment

What are the respective roles of the House and Senate during an impeachment proceeding?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Basically, the House impeaches, but removal from office occurs after the Senate tries and convicts (with a 2/3 majority vote for conviction). Who can be impeached is in the U.S. Constitution, Article II, section 4: “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” The duties of the House of Representatives are mentioned in Article I, section 2: “[The House of Representatives] shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.” The Senate’s duties are mentioned in Article 1, Section 3: “The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.” This derives from earlier English practice, with the lower chamber impeaching and the upper chamber trying the impeached person.

There is a vast literature on this subject. See, for instance, this guide from the Library of Congress (LC): http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/Impeachment-Guide.html or this from Congress’s Thomas web site: http://thomas.loc.gov/tfaqs/tfaq17.html . Here’s a nice summary document from LC’s Congressional Research Service, available from the website of the US embassy in Columbia!: http://usembassy.state.gov/bogota/wwwsimpe.shtml You can also search the library’s catalog under subject headings that begin with “impeachments–united states.”

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Wintermester/January Term

Where could I find a list of colleges that offer a winter semester or January term?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: AP has had difficulty finding such a listing. I believe you’re looking for colleges still on the quarter system, where there’s a fall, winter, and spring term. Right? There are also regular semester systems where the fall semester begins at a reasonable date — say, after Labor Day — and the spring semester ends around the first of June rather than in late April. This sometimes causes the fall semester to continue after the holidays on into January. The semester versus quarter attribute is listed in some paper college directories, like Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges (Perkins and Lilly, Ref. 378.73 F495B, but they didn’t make that field searchable in the CD version, unless perhaps you’re a hacker).

I think the usual reasons to choose a college has to do with the course offerings, the price, the faculty, the student life, the location, whether your friends go there, and many other criteria. For better or worse, most students then accept whatever the term schedule is, and you may also have to accept your fate.

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Ibid

What does “Ibid” mean when used in citation?

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Ibid. is the abbreviation for the Latin word ibidem, “in the same place.” In some styles for bibliographies, footnotes, or in-text citations, it’s used to refer to the same source as the immediately preceding citation, so the writer doesn’t need to repeat the same information all over again.

Government

What is the difference: payroll and income tax

6 Comments

What is the difference between payroll and income tax? Is payroll merely the weekly form of income tax or is it different since it raises money specifically for social security and medicare/medicaid.

Is the govt trying to screw over the poor by making us pay more in payroll taxes that are more regressive than income taxes?? I hate how they only have a sales tax for goods, which the poor (and everyone) need, and not for services, of which the rich buy a larger share proportionally.

Thanks!

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Technically, a payroll tax is a tax paid by the employer based on its payroll. An example would be the employer portion of U.S. Social Security (Old Age and Survivor’s Insurance or OASI) or unemployment insurance (FUTA, for Federal Unemployment Tax Act). There may be all sorts of variations, such as limits on the level of wages on which the Social Security tax is applied. Colloquially, I’ve heard the term used for the entire Social Security program, including the employee portion, as you suggest. The income tax comes from the employee based on their income and, from a theoretical or policy (but perhaps not from a psychological) standpoint, is considered distinct. The money isn’t earmarked the same way as OASI or FUTA money. You can read about these topics in standard textbooks or dictionaries of economic or public policy terminology.

The topics of tax policy and tax incidence (e.g., who ultimately pays for the employer portion of OASI, or corporate income taxes, or property taxes — is it “passed on”?) has been studied extensively in academic literature (but probably not so much by politicians!). You’re correct that Social Security and sales taxes are generally considered more regressive than some other taxes, although ultimate incidence can be debated and you also have to consider the recipients of expenditures funded by a tax (which might make it less or even more regressive). I invite you to search our library’s catalog or databases that index articles or ask at our Reference Dept.

Science

Dogs

2 Comments

Do dogs get bored? Do dogs sweat? Why do they smell bad, even if freshly-washed? Maybe not bad, but like dog.

ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Oh yeah, they get bored. Anything that’s cooped up will suffer boredom, maybe even crickets. Although dogs don’t sweat, their boredom makes them emit putrid oils into their coat. Lack of boredom is why wild dogs don’t have this odor problem. (Still, AP thinks you’ll notice an improvement in the smell if wash your dog a little better, and rinse well, too.)