The State's Tort claims Act in California Research Paper

The State's Tort claims Act in California - Research Paper Example However, it is not everybody that is qualified to file a claim. There are steps that need to be followed in order to file a claim successfully. There are some basic information that must be in a typical claim form. One should also note that there are strict timelines that are set by the California Tort Claims Act and this claims act must be duly followed. Introduction The California State Torts Claims Act stipulates under sections 810-996.6 that before a lawsuit for money damages is brought against a government entity, there must have been a written claim that must have been drafted and presented within the 6-month timeframe and there are usually no exceptions to this rule (Fowler & Fleming, 1968). This means that, one must be very conscious of the fact that they must have filed their cases within a particular frame of time as this would help to keep their options open. A resident of California that has been injured by the government must consider filing a claim even though, they do not intend to sue the government at the moment as this would help to protect their rights as citizens of the state and keep their options of suing the government open in the nearest future. In the tort claims act in California, there are certain procedures that must be followed when a claim is filed against a governmental entity for damages. These procedures actually depend on the type of action that the aggrieved party is presenting before the court of law. One must try to find out from a reputable attorney on the applicable procedure for the claims and the timeframe that they must make the claim as the procedures followed usually depends on the type of damages done. Recognizing when it is necessary to file a claim The government of California might be sued for several reasons. One of the reasons that a citizen of California sues the government is if, the government has violated their fundamental human rights. Other reasons that it becomes necessary to sue the government are if, th e governmental entity is responsible for a death, damage to property or physical injury. If a resident of California is injured by the government, this injury is called a ‘tort’ and the claim that is filed is called the, â€Å"tort claim†, and the person filing this tort claim is usually the injured person and is usually called, the â€Å"claimant.† Thus, the California government code 905, 905.2 stipulates that in order to get money from the government for damages, the claimant must file a tort claim from the governmental entity (Fowler & Fleming, 1968). People that are qualified to file a claim The only person or persons that are qualified to file a claim are person(s) that are filing claims on behalf of themselves or on behalf of someone that was injured. However, a clarification has to be made as to what constitutes an injury. An injury in this case does not necessarily have to be a physical injury, it can be violations on the fundamental human rights of the claimant or damage to the possession of the claimant. This clarification is made under the California Government Code section 910, 910.2 (Fowler & Fleming, 1968). Steps to take to file a claim successfully The California State Government Code section 915 (a) stipulates that a person that is filing a claim against a local government entity or county

Caring for populations Essay Example for Free

Caring for populations Essay Introduction A community health nurse must be effective in targeting the population as a whole. The nurse will determine the needs for the community by using the data compiled from a windshield survey. As stated in the text, â€Å"A population focus also involves a scientific approach to community health nursing: an assessment of the community or population is necessary and basic to planning, intervention, and evaluation for the individual, family, aggregate, and population levels† (Nies McEwen, 2011). The purpose of this paper is to establish a priority health problem of the community of Harlingen, based on demographic, epidemiological data and a windshield survey of the area. Community The community assessment for this project is Harlingen, Texas. According to the 2010 United States Census Bureau, its population is about 64,918 of which 47.8% are male and 52.2% are female. The density is approximately 1629.1 residents per square mile. The racial makeup is 1.0% Black or African American, 79.5% Hispanic or Latino, 18.0% White, 1.9% from two or more races, 1.3% Asian, 0.1% Native American. The median household income, 2008-2012 was $34,096 in Harlingen, compared to $51,563 in the state of Texas. The percentage of persons below poverty level from 2008-2012 was 33.2% in Harlingen, compared to 17.4% in Texas. The city of Harlingen is in the center of the Rio Grande Valley. It is a community which has a transient population of â€Å"Winter Texans.† These Winter Texans are generally retirees from the northern states, who come to the warmer climates to escape  the winter weather of their home states, usually between November and March. Harlingen has one mall, two medical hospitals and one mental health state facility, two libraries, one community college and numerous schools from primary to high school levels. Demographic and Epidemiological According to the website, County Health Rankings Roadmaps, for Cameron County in 2014, teen pregnancy is measured by the teen birth rate per 1,000 female population, ages 15-19. The number for Cameron county teen births is 80, the number for Texas as a state is 57. There is poor quality of life in relation to health in Cameron County. 30% of the population has poor or fair health, compared to 18% in Texas. Cameron County also has an adult obesity rate of 27%, 21% of physical inactivity while there is 69% of access to exercise opportunities. 16% of the population suffers from excessive drinking and 396 counts of sexually transmitted infections. 36% of the population is uninsured, 86% graduated high school, 10.5% are unemployed and there are a whopping 48% of children in poverty, which has increased from the 2008-2012 numbers. The top causes of mortality in Texas are diseases of the heart, followed by Cancers and Respiratory diseases. Windshield survey During the observation of Harlingen for the Windshield Survey project, overweight residents were visible. The majority of the population is Hispanics, most were slightly overweight and appear relatively healthy. There are nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the community and they are mainly Hispanic and White older adults who are a mix of thin and frail to obese and unhealthy. Women are seen pushing strollers on the jogging trails, while the young children play in the parks. There are groups of teens who play football and basketball in the same area. In the residential areas, some people can be seen outside maintaining their properties, while other properties are dilapidated. The general appearance of the residents are healthy, with some being overweight. I have seen a few multimedia billboards for the local hospital, which is displaying an ad for bariatric surgery, which is appropriate for the current overweight population. Harlingen has some city parks and Boys and Girls clubs and numerous gyms in the area that are heavily utilized. The restaurants in the  area are mainly along the expressway and lining the few main streets around town. There is no food sold along the street, but people can be seen sitting in the parks eating meals. In Harlingen, the population is overweight Hispanics and Whites who have access to healthcare and wellness measures, as it is advertised constantly. There is adequate transportation and resources available for the population. Problem As stated before, Cameron County has an adult obesity rate of 27%, 21% of physical inactivity while there is 69% of access to exercise opportunities. While the averages for the state of Texas are 29%, 24% and 74%, respectively. Cameron County also has a limited access to healthy foods, 16% and 21% food insecurity and a mere 17% of children are eligible for free lunch. Since Harlingen and Cameron County have high obesity rates compared to the rest of the state, the Healthy People 2020 objectives applicable for Harlingen include: NWS-11 (Developmental) Prevent inappropriate weight gain in youth and adults and NWS-9 Eliminate very low food security among children. (Healthy People 2020, 2014) While these are two distinct objectives they are connected, much education will be need to be done to ensure change. The community needs to be educated and held accountable for their actions, at times they are unaware of how much damage an unhealthy diet can do. The Community Health Nurse must prepare for these challenges and have a good understanding of how to present information that will gain the interest of the population. A community health nurse must be well versed in the numerous efforts that are starting to prevent childhood obesity. There are new physical education requirements, nutrition standards for beverages and foods sold in school, to community initiatives to expand bike paths and improve recreational facilities (Koplan, Liverman Kraak, 2005). â€Å"Families need to make their homes to more conducive to a healthful diet and daily physical activity (Koplan, Liverman Kraak, 2005). The nurse will need to get out to the community via health fairs, school assemblies, media outlets, etc. to get the message out there. Education on making healthy choices, getting adequate exercise and making small adjustments to their daily lives will help. According to the article, Relative and Absolute Availability of Healthier Food and Beverage Alternatives Across  Communities in the United States, there was a study that was conducted on 3 years of data from the Bridging the Gap Community Obesity Measures Project. It stated the mean healthier food and beverage ratio was 0.71, meaning that stores averaged 29% fewer healthier than less healthy products. There were less availability of healthy alternatives in Hispanic communities (2014). Summary The community health nurse needs to be an expert in assessing and diagnosing health concerns in the community to be able to set realistic goals that will maintain the health of the population. Health promotion, education and community involvement are crucial. â€Å"Nutritional education is essential and must include parents, teachers, and the child† (Nies McEwen, 2011). The community should know and understand the food pyramid, how to make healthy choices and the importance of balancing intake and exercise. References County Health Rankings Roadmaps. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/app/texas/2014/rankings/cameron/county/outcomes/overall/snapshot Koplan, J., Liverman, C.T., Kraak, V.I., Institute of Medicine, (.(U.S.). (2005). Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press. Nies, M. A., McEwen, M. (2011). Community/Public Health Nursing (5th ed.). MO: Elsevier. Nutrition and Weight Status. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/nutrition-and-weight-status/objectives United States Census Bureau. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/4832372.html Zenk,S.N., Powell, L.M., Rimkus, L., Isgor,Z., Barker,D.C., Ohri-Vachaspati,P., Chaloupka, F. (2014). Relative and Absolute Availability of Healthier Food and Beverage Alternatives Across Communities in the United States. American Journal Of Public Health , 104(11), 2170-2178. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014-302113

Canada and NATO :: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO

In the book entitled Canada, NATO and The Bomb: The Western Alliance in Crisis by Tom Keating and Larry Pratt the main issue discussed was Canada’s position in Europe, North America and their view on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It went into specific issues dealing with political tension within Canada and tension outside Canada with other countries. It went through the years of different political parties and how they dealt with the matters of NATO. It states Canada’s opinion dealing with matters such as the alliance, war, and decision making with other countries involved in NATO. The book came across Canada’s decision making as though Canada went along with the decisions made by other countries. Canada, NATO, and The Bomb is not a book to inform it is a history book. It addressed issues that had happened previously and stated the type of involvement Canada had in it. In most cases, a book dealing with these sensitive issues, which involved other countries, would provide the pros and cons but in this case only the cons of NATO and the alliance were provided. This book showed NATO as being an organization that is very unorganized. It came across as though the countries involved did not respect each other’s thoughts and opinions. It dwells on the mistakes made by countries for example the United States, various other European countries. It made it seem as though NATO was in conflict within each other making the organization as a whole seem incapable of compromise and the defence of anything. At many points NATO wanted to vote the United States out of the organization but this obviously never happened. At one point it was a problem â€Å"about the possibility of being dominated and ultimately overwhelmed by too close an association with the United States† (pg.30) for Canada and their relationship. The themes of the book were Canada and its position in NATO and NATO’s and its position in the world. The theme was not presented clearly. One of the points were Canada and the main focus was any and everything but Canada. It stated over and over again that Canada did not approve of very much but that was it. It came across as if Canada was only complaining and nothing was being done. NATO and its position are expressed as only conflicts within the congress. It was giving history presentation information dealing with NATO, its purpose and its views on important topics.

Hamlet Exam Study Guide Essay

What should Hamlet do? Explain the moral theories of each philosopher: Plato, Aristotle and Augustine. For each, determine the right thing for Hamlet to do. Then, assess the prince’s actions from the perspective of each recommendation. Plato Plato’s moral theory consisted of the concept of the soul and the concept of virtue as function. To Plato, the soul has three parts; reason, spirit, and appetite. The reason we do things is to reach a goal or value, our spirit drives us to accomplish our goal, and our desire for things is our appetite. The three virtues that must be fulfilled to reach the fourth, general virtue are temperance, courage, and wisdom, which correlate with the three parts of the soul. In order to achieve inner harmony, every part of the soul must be fulfilling its proper function. In Plato’s theory, Hamlet needs to look at the big picture of achieving inner harmony. In order to reach the goal of achieving inner harmony, Hamlet has to figure out another way of easing his anger other than the vengeance of his uncle. The virtues of temperance, courage, and wisdom need to be incorporated into Hamlet’s actions, and he would be able to reach his inner harmony. By keeping his reason in control of his will and appetites, he can use the dialectic to fulfill the knowledge on how to deal with the situation. Hamlet’s big picture of inner harmony was the death of his uncle. He wasn’t concerned about the consequences he would have to face in result, such as not achieving his goal. He was more concerned about feeding his appetite of revenge, and not re-evaluating his virtuous life. Although he held out on murdering his uncle a couple of times, he was still in rage and trying to please his father’s ghost, whatever the consequences were. He loved his mother, and wanted to save her, but he was more concerned with killing his uncle. Hamlet was not able to achieve inner harmony, since he did not have a proper functioning soul. Aristotle Aristotle’s moral theory involves the idea of living your life to the fullest happiness that can be reached. In order to achieve this final, we need to live a virtuous life according to the Golden mean, which is finding the middle grounds of the virtues we live by. Aristotle explains that we should continuously act in accordance with virtues, which are acquired from our upbringing and experiences. Because Aristotle believed in teleology, he said that by aiming our actions toward an end (happiness), our souls need to work in the way of excellence. Like Plato, Aristotle also gears toward reaching a goal. In order for Hamlet to achieve the goal of happiness, he needs to follow the golden mean to live the ideal life. Hamlet and Aristotle had the same question; what does it mean to be? Hamlet’s famous statement â€Å"to be or not to be† meant he did not know exactly how to put his feelings into action. Is it better to live with the knowing of the murder of his father, or is it better to die in the act of revenge. Aristotle would have Hamlet evaluate how he can fulfill the function of being a good person. To do this, Hamlet needs to act on the rational part of his soul and make the right choice in dealing with his knowledge of his father’s murder. Hamlet needs to live by the virtues of courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. If Hamlet makes rational decisions based on these virtues, he will understand that he needs to be able to communicate to Claudius and let him know that he will not get away with what he has done. As the Prince, he needs to take action as a ruler and set a good example for the people of Denmark and other kingdoms. Then again, Aristotle gave a pass of negative behavior to the involuntary acts that are done as a result of external compulsion. So, as he may say that everyone has the potential to be good, they may still slip up due to impulses such as revenge against the uncle who killed Hamlet’s father and re-wed his mother. In the act of aiming toward an end, Hamlet may choose whether or not to follow the instrumental road or the intrinsic road. Since Hamlet had a couple of chances to kill the King, he kept holding out until he thought he would have a perfect opportunity. In the beginning, he was following a virtuous life, and toward the end, when he claimed to have â€Å"bloody† thoughts, he was gearing more toward the impulsive irrational part of his soul. He eventually followed this road, but his soul was dying anyways. Augustine In order to have faith, we need to understand the reason for spirituality. To know universal truth, we have to go beyond human reason to discover God. Since the soul cannot find peace among bodily pleasures or sensations, we need to understand what will bring happiness to our lives and how we can succeed as humans. Since God created us, we will find happiness only in him. We have free will to choose the City of God or the City of the World. In choosing the City of God, we are putting our faith in God to guide us to make the right choices in finding happiness, not materialistic things or other people. By devoting our ultimate love to God and having faith that God can provide us with happiness, we can fulfill our destiny. For Augustine, Hamlet needs to start praying. He needs to open his heart and have faith in God to take care of the situation. Since we are Gods people, only God can bring justice. The king may have done something horrible, but he has to answer to God in the end. Hamlet needs to stay on the right track and pray that God can save him from his horrible thoughts of having revenge on the king. God is the only one who can bring happiness to our lives and help us to succeed as humans. Hamlet needs to choose the City of God, and make the right choices to not worry about punishing other people. This is the only way that he will achieve the goal of happiness. Unfortunately, Hamlet did not look to God for the answer. He may have said some prayers, and asked for guidance, but he certainly did not follow what he knew he was supposed to do. Instead, he listened to the ghost of his father and aimed towards revenge. Hamlet may have thought he achieved what he was out to do, but in the end, his mother was poisoned to death, his lover, Ophelia, died along with her brother, Laertes, as well as his other two friends he had killed in England, the king died, and so did Hamlet himself. If he would have put his trust in God to deal with the murder of his father, he could have saved himself along with everyone else he cared so deeply for. God always has a plan.

Middle Class Dillusionment

Progressivism: Middle Class Disillusionment In 1958, a man named George Mowry explains s economic, social, and political divisions of the progressivism movement. The progressivism movement ties in a lot with our society today and shows how history does indeed repeat itself. Mowry describes the good, and bad of progressivism, but emphasizes the bad. Mowry is really trying to exhibit the differences between capitalism and socialism in his essay and explain why progressivism is not good for the well being and future of America, which can be proven today but our economic instability and division as a nation.More importantly however Mowry displays how progressives try to create, â€Å"heaven on earth† by their moral actions. Mowry first describes the type of people who are involved in progressivism. People who were involved in progressivism were the solid middle class, who were intellectual and ethical climate of age, a significant cluster of prejudices and biases, and people who c reated great inventions, beautiful pictures, and the law. The people of the solid middle class were lawyers, newspaper, publishing, independent manufacturers, merchants, medicine, banking, and real-estate.The progressive leaders included the Chicago tribune family, and Charles Evan Hughes, â€Å"if names mean anything, an overwhelming proportion of this reform group came from old American stock with British origins consistently indicated. † More dangerous than rich people who inherited money from their ancestors was their rich youth, â€Å"Obviously this was a period, like the ones after the war of 1812 and 1850’s, when energetic and incautious youth took command. † This is ironic because all of their ancestors earned their money through capitalism and that’s what progressives are trying to take away now.Religious affiliations of the progressivism movement were the woman of the Quaker faith, and Jewish faith. Overall the progressives hated the economic sy stem of capitalism, believed that the wealthy are bad people who we must take away money from and give it to the masses, and most of these people are young. Joseph Medill Patterson, whose godfather founded the Tribune resigned from the Chicago commissions of public works to become a socialist. Patterson believed it was impossible to reform a city under capitalism, â€Å" he announced , it was impossible to reform the city and country under capitalism. Patterson was exemplifying capitalism vs. socialism. Capitalism is the idea that Capital is owned, operated, and traded for the purpose of generating profits for private owners or shareholders. Emphasis on individual profit rather than on workers or society as a whole. On the other hand socialism is according to his/her ability, to each according to his contribution. Emphasis on profit being distributed among the society or workforce in addition to receiving a wage. Today we can see many links between capitalism and socialism.Our gove rnment today is run on progressivism/ socialist ideals. President Barack Obama has several plans and ideas to help the poor by giving them the money of the rich people, and supplying them with health care (obamacare) and so on. Progressives wanted to help people, they wanted to help the poor, this was not morally wrong but many other people saw that this was hurting our economy. Our government is socialist/ progressive because they want to have government control over other money and they want to have the ability to decide where that money goes.But you can’t just do that. If those people earned their wealth they should have every right to keep it, they should not be entitled to try to help the poor. Furthermore during this time of the progressivism movement there were many Democrat-republicans who supported the idea of progressivism. Some of those commonly known leaders are Theodore Roosevelt, Robert La Follete, Lincoln Steffens, Willam Allen White, Woodrow Wilson, John Johns on, and Hooke Smith of Georgia. Another group of people who were making a movement was populism.Populism were a group of people who were economically secured, well educated, middle class group who arose from farmer distress in a period of acute depression. â€Å" According to William Allen White, populism had ‘shaved its whiskers, washed its shirt, put on a derby, and moved up into the middle class†¦ populism arose from a farmer distress in a period of acute depression. Its reforms were belly reforms. The movement was led by angry men and woman not too far removed from the Grange hall. The motivation of these farmers was heart.They believed its not fair to take farm land and stick a bunch of windmills on there, not only was it not fair but it also made the agriculture business lose money. In a specific case California lost money for putting up windmills in farmer land and turning the production of agriculture into a nominal size. This idea of motivation of heart also rel ates to today because our motivation for supplying all of this aid comes from heart, because we believe it isn’t fair that one shouldn’t have medical care, or food etc.However there are just some gray areas to this plan that need to be filled and that is what in term ends up costing us millions. Another important point that Mowry discusses is the rise of industrial and commercial cities. The positive things about the rise of these cities are that it was, â€Å" a refuge from an ugly country side and hostile natural environment†, and it also provided a place of excitement and opportunities. In contrast to the positive things were the negative things.The negative things about the rise of industrial and commercial cities is that its, â€Å"Devils berg of crimes†, successful= financial workers and failures if they remained family workers. It also created an anti-urban feeling which romanticized pioneer past and agrarian background, involved western stories an d virtues of the countryside. Miss. Glasgow believed, â€Å"Country was the world as God has planned it, the city as man had made it. † There was definitely some mixed feelings between the citizens about urban and a city lifestyle. Mowry described the income people had into three categories.The first category was the upper-class which we defined as, â€Å"people who had more money than was good for them†. The middle class were those who had just enough and the lower class were those who had much less than was morally good for them. In regards to these three categories each community made artificial arrangements by property, classical economic laws repeatedly described in the past as natural had become artificial and progressives had destroyed the popular sanction behind the laws of rent, prices and wages. In response to the actions of the progressives came the enforcement and rise of labor unions.Mowry viewed the labor unions as a menace not only to the employer but to the entire community, the small employer and many middle class professional unions gave the same results of industrial monopoly. The labor unions made a steady decrease in opportunities for the individual operating as an individual, thus putting an end to open society, and putting the burden of the industrial revolution upon the middle class. In an attempt to rebuttal the vicious attack of the labor union on progressives the progressives created a co operation of progressive and organized labor.This operation left only the progressives to lead. The captain of industry and labor boss was standard. Monopolistic closed shop was an abomination not to be tolerated with or without the government and progressives became a majority. The progressives were motivated by fear and confidence to exceed any other group. They believed that they were â€Å"The good men†, â€Å"The better element†, â€Å"The moral crowd† because of the fact that they believed in helping people. The progressives planned to increase the number of â€Å"large hearted men† to counteract the class organization of both capital and labor.The progressives believed that gaining more support from others would make them the majority and be favored, loved, and even looked up too. The progressives wanted to eliminate capitalism and labor unions. The progressives were strong for fighting back against the mass numbers of capitalists and labor unions, but fight they did and they did not back down. Although the intentions of progressives were morally correct it was not economically correct for the success and future of America.Our government and administrators today might believe that what they are doing is right for the people but they have to also consider what is right for our nation. The way Mowry described the mentality of progressives can be used to describe the mentality of some of our administrators today, â€Å"Reactionary and reform impulse, a desire to create heaven on e arth, moral superiority is greater than our economy, and lastly individualism dynamism and leadership. † These are the characteristics of progressives today and of 1958. It is true that history repeats itself.