Legislative, judicial, executive - all the branches of government are well represented on the Internet and most have a great deal of useful information.

There are quite a few popular government-related sites. I have included a few here and then lists to find all the rest.

With tax season upon us, the Internal Revenue Service might be a good visit. Find out the latest tax changes or download any tax form or publication since 1992.

If you plan to get a little money back off your taxes and want to travel abroad, check with the US State Department's Web site for the latest policies and travel tips.

For your trip, you may want to check the latest safety statistics online for your airline of choice on the Federal Aviation Administration's Website.

Learn more about your Social Security, Medicare and welfare benefits on the Social Security Administration Web site. You can also download their publications and forms.

Planning on mailing a letter or package? Get all the supplies you need online from the United States Postal Service. You can also check ZIP Codes, browse or calculate postal rates, or track your Express Mail online.

Visit the virtual White House and read the history, check press releases, see what is new. You can also e-mail the Executive Office of the President, or the Office of the Vice President, First Lady, or Mrs. Gore from this site. It says here that you can also search the White House documents, but only the publicly-released ones.

See the latest in space explorations and missions at National Aeronautics and Space Administration site. Few sites are so colorful and dynamic as NASA.

If you want to keep up with legislation, why not get it from the donkey's (or elephant's) mouth. The U.S. House of Representatives Web site lets you easily identify your representative (with all their vital information including voting record), gives you a schedule of events the House is dealing with and discusses the legislative process.

Additionally, the United States Senate Web site is almost identical in nature to the House site, except it is obviously related to the Senate.

To know what bills are being proposed, considered or enacted, check the Thomas Legislative Information on the Web created and maintained by the Library of Congress.

Search by Bill Summaries, Text and much more for the 105th and recent congresses. Don't miss the comprehensive and updated "How Our Laws are Made" and "Enactment of a Law" sections.

In addition to the main Library of Congress Web site, the LOC contributions include U.S. Legislative Branch, Official Federal Government Web Sites, U.S. Judicial Branch Resources and State and Local Governments. These resource lists provide links to the best sites related to each subject.

There is one other great list of Web sites outside of the Library of Congress. Try the Villanova Center for Information Law and Policy's Federal Web Locator (FWL). Here you can easily track down the government site you need.

Finally, if you live in Texas, visiting State of Texas Government Information, Texas Legislature Online and Texas State Electronic Library will get you to most any Texas-related resource.

While citizens often complain about "the government," there are many things going right at the state and federal level. Providing timely and complete information online is a good example.