Chateau Lafite Rothschild (China) Essay Example for Free

Chateau Lafite Rothschild (China) Essay Situation in China: China is one of the most important markets in the world, and with a growth of the Chinese economy in the past decades; it has encouraged international suppliercompaniess to enter the Chinese market. Living standards as well as purchasing power parity have improved since the countries openness to a market-oriented economy. Due to this openness foreign companies have attracted the consumption of wine from the middle-class, generating an increase in the last years of wine sales. Wine consumption continues to grow at a rapid rate in the country. The Chinese wine market is a complicated due to its numerous wine producers (local producers) and wine companies entering china to exploit the wine market. China as the most populated country in the world is a commercial paradise for all the enterprises wanting to expand to new markets. By the gain in market share by the introduction of new products to the Chinese market, foreign companies take advantage of a growing market. In the last years the French wine companies have been exporting to china expecting to gain market share in the wine sector taking advantage of one of the world’s fastest growing economy. For French wine export companies, it is important to understand the market, due to the Chinese wine companies and local wine production and how they have been gaining ground in the wine market. Due to the countries emerging economy and the growth in economical aspects the population in china have been entering a new era of consumption of foreign products, and due to this reasons most foreign companies have set up subsidiaries or the most common joint ventures with other Chinese companies to enter the country’s market and gain some ground on the major cities. One of the most important and emerging sectors in the Chinese society are the luxurious products. After the purchasing power of the individuals, luxurious products have acquired more interest and represent an improvement in status of the Chinese population either local or international status. The wine sector represents an important sector for upcoming expenditures for the Chinese population, although the purchase of wine is more business oriented than for personal consumption. The preferred wines for this type of consumption are the high-end French wines (Bordeaux and Burgundy). The market situation is very open nowadays due to the facility of the Chinese consumers o access wines imported from major foreign producing countries as well as local produced wines (France, Italy, USA, Chile and Australia). To have great success in the Chinese wine market the companies have to apply a strong marketing promotion compared to the local mass promotions by Chinese producers. The foreign brands have to apply a strong marketing promotion, but due to lack of resources the advertisements from foreign companies has a limited reach. To improve the image of foreign wine brands, foreign companies must intensify their promotions and advertisements, generate a consumer education by creating events, wine demonstrations and wine-food events, as well as lowering the prices to accommodate them to the population’s purchasing power (different levels of purchasing power). STRENGHTS: †¢ Luxurious and high-end wine. †¢ Renown wine company over the world. †¢ French presence and popularity in the wine market. Bordeaux and Burgundy wines considered one of the best wines in the world. WEAKNESES: †¢ Weak marketing. †¢ High product prices. OPORTUNITIES: †¢ Fastest growing market in the world. 20% growth from 2006-2011 and with a forecasted growth of 54% for 2015. †¢ Most populated country in the world. †¢ Economy has been growing at over twice the world’s average, generating future markets for imported products. †¢ Wine market in china is expected to continue its growth, placing itself in 4th place in the world’s markets. †¢ Elevated purchasing power from the Chinese consumers. Accelerated increase in consumption. THREATS: †¢ Corruption and smuggling from the neighboring countries. †¢ Chinese wine producers awakening. Chinese wine companies have gained the majority of market share in the country. †¢ Growth of china’s vineyards has surpassed the production from three countries combined (Australia, Chile and South Africa).

Cloud Computing Service Level Agreement and Governance

Cloud Computing Service Level Agreement and Governance Service Level Agreement and Governance for Cloud Computing The contractual side of a service level agreement (SLA) and governance for cloud computing Ali Raslan Abstract In the world of information technology (IT), cloud computing has been the futuristic concept of modern computing for the last decade or more. Nevertheless, in the last few years this concept has become the mainstream. However, with the entire buzz and the evolutionary techniques the information technology companies developing and implementing, many overwhelming issues like interoperability, insecurity, and accessibility represents some of the most anticipated questions every decision maker has to consider before signing the contract of a Cloud Service agreement document. In addition to that, one key issue for every organization trying to make the big move to the world of cloud computing, is to provide governance for data that it no longer directly controls. During this research, I will try to illustrate and point the main ideas and practices of the contractual side of a service level agreement (SLA) and governance for cloud computing by trying to highlight a set of guidelines to help and assist organization in defining and constraining the governance plans for data they are willing to move into the cloud. Keywords: cloud computing, SLA, IT, contract, agreement, constraining. Word count: 4000 words. Introduction Cloud computing is the new era of internet evolution, where this term usually refers to everything involves delivering hosted services and data over the internet to companies, individuals and even other computing systems. The idea of cloud computing started in 1950s when large-scale mainframes made available to schools and corporations (James, 2013). Few decades later, this concept started to become more alive by adopting this concept by some of the major technological companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft where commercial cloud computing started to take place in the market. This new technology developed through a number of phases, this includes Software as a Service (SaaS), Grid and Utility Computing (GaUC), Application Service Provision (ASP) (Arif, 2014). Nevertheless, through the development of this concept, many issues and uncertainties like security, interoperability, vendor lock-in, and compliance were arising against adopting this technology (North Bridge, 2013). These problems are familiar even with the traditional Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO), and these issues usually treated at the agreement level between the service provider and the customer. Cloud Computing Definitions The National Institute Of Standards And Technology NIST Definition of Cloud Computing â€Å"Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.† (Peter Mell, 2011). Moreover, in his book The Big Switch: Rewiring the World from Edison to Google by Nicholas Carr, hundred years from now, the modern era of power grid has begun when corporations started to join the power grid leaving behind the traditional power generator systems every company used to have in order to satisfy the company’s need for electricity. This big transformation at that time is very similar to today’s switching from traditiona l computing and data handling to the cloud. Where with all the unusual concepts and worries about the security, actual data place and the stability of the services provided, companies will soon realize the emerging markets and services Cloud Computing can offer. The main motivation behind Cloud computing mostly represented by the benefits this technology can offer for its clients. Where features like ‘Service on Demand’, usually with a ‘pay as you go’ billing system and factors like the highly abstracted and shared resources, the instantaneous provisioning and scalability makes cloud computing the next power grid transformation. Risks and Issues On the other hand, despite all the mentioned benefits and features cloud computing can offer, it has been realized that there are limits to the acceptance of cloud computing among enterprise companies, because of the level of complexity and dependability these service might become. Moreover, the data governance issues related to this technology represents some of the main difficulties the cloud computing market is facing right now. The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) defines that the client responsibility of data governance is similar to the service provider responsibility in case of any data lose or corruption (Catteddu, 2009). Thus because customer should be aware of the risks that might imply by using this technology, and to encourage these companies to investigate farther in finding a more reliable providers. In addition to that, farther risks might imply to any cloud computing environment, such as hacking attacks or unauthorized access to the actual phys ical data locations. The Journal of Information Technology Management categorized this type of attacks in three main categories: Attacks targets hosted application under a SaaS environment. Attacks through the trusted network connection. This can be done from the customer side to the provider or from the provider side to the customer environment. Attacks targets hosted server under a PaaS or IaaS environment. (Cochran Witman, 2011) Cloud Computing Governance Components In the Information Technology Outsourcing, describing the product or the service specifications to be delivered are usually drafted via a contract is in the form of Service Level Agreement (SLA), this agreement defines the all the important and legal parts of the service between the service provider and the service recipients. The same concept can be implemented with the cloud computing, since most of the main agreement parts involves providing an information technology service. However, cloud computing includes many different ideas and concepts, where in cloud computing agreement the service have to treat different concepts and behaviors like unknown data physical location, rapid scaling, lower IT upfront, and even different way of paying for the service such as monthly or annual subscriptions. In addition to that, in a cloud environment, usually the services are hosted and owned by a separate party. Where in most cases the owner of the application can be different from the owner of the server (Cochran Witman, 2011). Nondisclosure and Confidentiality Agreements These two terms are used in many other areas and through all types in contracts, agreements and forms, but the basic understanding of those two terms refers to the confidentiality of the agreement in general. Therefore, at the level of a service level agreement, a nondisclosure agreement usually means a confidential agreement. Margaret Rouse in her article about Nondisclosure Agreements she defines NDA as â€Å"A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a signed formal agreement in which one party agrees to give a second party confidential information about its business or products and the second party agrees not to share this information with anyone else for a specified period of time.† (Margaret, 2005). Similarly, David V. Radack in his article Understanding Confidentiality Agreements, he defines confidential agreement as â€Å"Confidentiality agreements, are contracts entered into by two or more parties in which some or all of the parties agree that certain types of information t hat pass from one party to the other or that are created by one of the parties will remain confidential.† (David, 2014). From the two provided definitions, we can see that a confidential or nondisclosure agreement force all participated parties to protect and never disclose any of the information passed between the parties while building the service. Legal location In general, the actual physical location of the server or the data in a Cloud Computing environment is not important from the technical point of view. However, from a legal point of view a Service Level Agreement requires clearly identifying the actual location of the servers handling the data and services. Thus in case of a security breach from the provider side, punishments or penalties could be issued through the provider’s local authority. For that reason, if the breach resulted the data to be moved into an offshores location, the local government regulations might have no effects towards that (Steele 2010). On the other hand, a civil case could be issued in the right of the vendor or attacker in case of such risks. For that reason, defining the legal location is very important in a service level agreement because it represents a legal cover to the actual data that might get stolen or destroyed. The Restrictions of a Software License Software License Restrictions is a very imperative factor in any Software License Agreement because it might affect the main tasks of the whole system in case of storing on an unknown devices or servers. This might occurs because sometimes software license might get violated when stored or hosted via remote hardware infrastructure. This issue might results a side effects like not being able to run the system as a whole or a part because software licenses might have a security features at the level of linking the software to a special machine MAC address or a processor serial number. User based exposures User based exposures might occurs when an end user posts some data in a secure interface or website in the system, after submitting the data to the main data server, the data might get through a third party communication systems or servers. During this stage, a security breach might occurs were data can be lost, stolen or disclosed. At this level, the Service Level Agreement investigates what administrators at this level have access to during the transmission stage. This point might cover different types and techniques for encrypting the data, or include the third party providers in the agreement to insure the security and safety of the data. Communicating With Remote Networks and Services. The system’s integration and incorporation with the cloud software as a service is one the most important factors any cloud based services have to offer for any system. However, integrating these services with the organization’s internal system sometimes means giving these services the possibility to become a part of the internal system. This can be an issue concerning the security the internal system. Mathias Thurman in his article Tightening Up SaaS Security, discusses how these concerns increase when the security of the SaaS is unidentified or unknown. Basically because when integrating the internal system with the SaaS, the SaaS network becomes a part of the internal system, and when reaching this level of integration, any attacks of security failures from the side of the SaaS provider well results the local network to be at risk too (Mathias, 2010). Cloud Service Level Agreement Components Service Level Agreement Template To illustrate the main parts and layout of a Service Level Agreement in a cloud-computing environment, in the following template we can see the main parts, layout, and definitions of the Service Level Agreement content, made by SLATemplate.com. Certainly, a Service Level Agreement can includes hundreds of pages describing every single specification. However, for the sake of illustrating the sample main part of the agreement we have the following template represents the most important parts of an SLA for a Cloud Computing system. Service Level Agreement (SLA) for Customer by Company name Effective Date: 10-08-2010 Version Approval (By signing below, all Approvers agree to all terms and conditions outlined in this Agreement.) Table of Contents 1. Agreement Overview 2. Goals Objectives 3. Stakeholders 4. Periodic Review 5. Service Agreement 1. Agreement Overview This Agreement represents a Service Level Agreement (â€Å"SLA† or â€Å"Agreement†) between Company name. and Customer for the provisioning of IT services required to support and sustain the Product or service. This Agreement remains valid until superseded by a revised agreement mutually endorsed by the stakeholders. This Agreement outlines the parameters of all IT services covered as they are mutually understood by the primary stakeholders. This Agreement does not supersede current processes and procedures unless explicitly stated herein. 2. Goals Objectives The purpose of this Agreement is to ensure that the proper elements and commitments are in place to provide consistent IT service support and delivery to the Customer(s) by the Service Provider(s). The goal of this Agreement is to obtain mutual agreement for IT service provision between the Service Provider(s) and Customer(s). The objectives of this Agreement are to: Provide clear reference to service ownership, accountability, roles and/or responsibilities. Present a clear, concise and measurable description of service provision to the customer. Match perceptions of expected service provision with actual service support delivery. 3. Stakeholders The following Service Provider(s) and Customer(s) will be used as the basis of the Agreement and represent the primary stakeholders associated with this SLA: IT Service Provider(s): Company name. (â€Å"Provider†) IT Customer(s): Customer (â€Å"Customer†) 4. Periodic Review This Agreement is valid from the Effective Date outlined herein and is valid until further notice. This Agreement should be reviewed at a minimum once per fiscal year; however, in lieu of a review during any period specified, the current Agreement will remain in effect. The Business Relationship Manager (â€Å"Document Owner†) is responsible for facilitating regular reviews of this document. Contents of this document may be amended as required, provided mutual agreement is obtained from the primary stakeholders and communicated to all affected parties. The Document Owner will incorporate all subsequent revisions and obtain mutual agreements / approvals as required. Business Relationship Manager: Company name Review Period: Bi-Yearly (6 months) Previous Review Date: 01-08-2010 Next Review Date: 01-12-2011 5. Service Agreement The following detailed service parameters are the responsibility of the Service Provider in the ongoing support of this Agreement. 5.1. Service Scope The following Services are covered by this Agreement; o Manned telephone support o Monitored email support o Remote assistance using Remote Desktop and a Virtual Private Network where available Planned or Emergency Onsite assistance (extra costs apply) Monthly system health check 5.2. Customer Requirements Customer responsibilities and/or requirements in support of this Agreement include: Payment for all support costs at the agreed interval. Reasonable availability of customer representative(s) when resolving a service related incident or request. 5.3. Service Provider Requirements Service Provider responsibilities and/or requirements in support of this Agreement include: Meeting response times associated with service related incidents. Appropriate notification to Customer for all scheduled maintenance. 5.4. Service Assumptions Assumptions related to in-scope services and/or components include: Changes to services will be communicated and documented to all stakeholders. 6. Service Management Effective support of in-scope services is a result of maintaining consistent service levels. The following sections provide relevant details on service availability, monitoring of in-scope services and related components. 6.1. Service Availability Coverage parameters specific to the service(s) covered in this Agreement are as follows: Telephone support : 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday – Friday Calls received out of office hours will be forwarded to a mobile phone and best efforts will be made to answer / action the call, however there will be a backup answer phone service Email support: Monitored 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Monday – Friday Emails received outside of office hours will be collected, however no action can be guaranteed until the next working day Onsite assistance guaranteed within 72 hours during the business week 6.2. Service Requests In support of services outlined in this Agreement, the Service Provider will respond to service related incidents and/or requests submitted by the Customer within the following time frames: 0-8 hours (during business hours) for issues classified as High priority. Within 48 hours for issues classified as Medium priority. Within 5 working days for issues classified as Low priority. Remote assistance will be provided in-line with the above timescales dependent on the priority of the support request. â€Å"(SLA template, 2010) References Carr, N. G., January 2008. The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google. s.l.:s.n. COCHRAN, M. WITMAN, P. D., 2011. GOVERNANCE AND SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT ISSUES IN A CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT. Journal of Information Technology Management Volume XXII, Number 2, pp. 41-55. Peter Mell, T. G., 2011. The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing. [Online] Available at: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf Arif Mohamed, A history of cloud computing. 2014. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/A-history-of-cloud-computing. [Accessed 5 March 2014]. James, A Brief History of Cloud Computing | SoftLayer Blog. 2013. [ONLINE] Available at: http://blog.softlayer.com/2013/virtual-magic-the-cloud. [Accessed 10 March 2014]. North Bridge, 2013 Cloud Computing Survey | North Bridge. 2014. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.northbridge.com/2013-cloud-computing-survey. [Accessed 11 May 2014]. Peter Mell. The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing 2011. [ONLINE] Available at: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf. [Accessed 11 May 2014]. Catteddu, D. and G. Hogben, Cloud Computing Benefits, risks and recommendations for information security 2009, European Network and Information Security Agency: Heraklion, Crete, Greece. 125 pp. Margaret Rouse, What is non-disclosure agreement (NDA)? Definition from WhatIs.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/non-disclosure-agreement. [Accessed 11 May 2014]. David V. Radack, Understanding Confidentiality Agreements. 2014. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/jom/matters/matters-9405.html. [Accessed 11 May 2014]. Steele, C., City of Monrovia, California, personal communication, 2010. Mathias Thurman, Tightening Up SaaS Security Computerworld. 2010. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/352873/Tightening_Up_SaaS_Security. [Accessed 11 May 2014]. SLATeamplate.com, Service Level Agreement Template (SLA). 2010. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.slatemplate.com/. [Accessed 11 May 2014].

Project Intervention Plan for Elderly Community

Project Intervention Plan for Elderly Community A Project Intervention Plan  on  Wah Fu Estate Community Mao Peter Introduction of the community Wah Fu Estate was built in 1963. It is located in Pok Fu Lam, south-western part of the Hong Kong Island. Such establishment of public estates was closely related to the fire accident at Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon in 1953, which is the milestone of public housing history in Hong Kong since that the government provide better and affordable public housing for Hong Kong residents. As a satellite town in Hong Kong, the Wah Fu Estate provides most of the basic facilities such as wet markets, schools, community hall, library, and public transportation as well. It is a quiet and pleasant place where the resident can enjoy a board sea view with hills behind. That is why the Wah Fu Estate is called a â€Å"luxurious estate for common people†. It includes two phases of development. Wah Fu I with 12 blocks of buildings of old-slab design, and Wah Fu II with 6 blocks of twin-tower design. Rationales for community issues As the Wah Fu Estate has developed for more than 50 years, many of the original residents there have become the elderly. This can be seen to the latest census statistics as shown in table 1, the largest age group in the Wah Fu Estate is 45-64, about 30% of the overall population (Census and Statistics Department, 2011) and more than 20% are aged 65 and over. It is significantly higher than the ones of Southern District in general (13.7%). This demographic characteristic has greatly influenced the community need and problem of the Estate. Table 1. Age structure of Wah Fu Estate and Southern District Higher proportion of the aged people in the estate leads to the greater concern of health care and social welfare services provided in the Wah Fu estate for their deteriorating health conditions and higher demand for getting help from others. The geographical location of the estate makes it mainly rely on the bus and minibus services. The provision of public transportation services to the MTR stations, other main districts in the Hong Kong Island and the other side of the Victoria Harbour is very crucial to the residents there. The provision of social facilities such as shopping centres, restaurants are another concerns in the community especially those in the open area for the elder residents to take a rest and have better interactions with others. Long history of Wah Fu Estate is reflected by the supporting pillars outside the buildings, decaying rooftop and messy electronic lines. The maintenance of the estate is a main and urgent issue in the community. The latest development of the estate is the redevelopment, which has pronounced on the Chief Executive’s policy address this year. It can be projected that this will become the major issue of the community in the next few years. Rationales choosing community work approach To have the community work in such an old public estate, locality development can be used. It is one of the three models of community practices by Jack Rothman. The relationship among the residents in the Wah Fu estate is very close as they live together for such a long time. Their bonding is strong that it is more effective to use this advantage to coordinate them in presenting and solving the community issues with the government and other stakeholders instead of advocate them to have social actions and campaigns. The estate as a whole and even each of the buildings has their own Mutual Aid Committees or similar organizations. We can build up a close relationship with them and use their networks throughout our community work in order to have a greater effect to express their views to the public and solve the problems of the community. There have some NGOs providing social services to the residents in the Wah Fu Estate, such as Salvation Army Wah Fu Centre for Senior Citizens and Aberdeen Kai-fong Welfare Association Southern District Integrated Elderly Service Centre, the collaboration with those NGOs which know the community situation well is also essential to have a better community work in Wah Fu estate. Specific intervention strategies/empowerment plans We can organize some outdoor seminars in the estate for the discussion of the community problems to let the residents concern the issues of their own community more. We can also build up the foundation of the membership and help them to set up the locality-based concern group to discuss issues faced by them including the maintenance of their apartments, provision of social facilities etc as I have mentioned before in this paper. Some sub-groups can also be set up for some typical issues like transportation and redevelopment programme. Throughout the discussion in these groups, they can have mutual support and build up their civic consciousness. They can make collaborative and informed decision or consensus by themselves and express them in one voice to the society. This is the process of empowerment to the residents of Wah Fu estate to handle issues of their community by themselves. Another way which is more traditional to promote our community work is to set up a counter over the street and spread out our leaflets to present our service and get in touch with the residents. The periodic newsletter can be printed to the member, other relevant NGOs and organizations to publicize our activities and keep continuous contact with the residents. Roles of Community Worker The community worker can play the roles of enabler, instructor, facilitator and trainer. We instruct the residents to speak up their opinions and views about the community issues in the concern group. We help them to coordinate different views and conflicts between them, that means to facilitate the discussion or empowerment process. Through these activities, it is an opportunity for us to train up the district leaders to help their neighbours for their own betterment of living. Challenges and Difficulties From the interviews conducted in our community walk, they concern more with the current issues in the estate such as health care and community facilities than the redevelopment programme that is believed to be the most concern issues in the community. They are widely believed that the redevelopment plan may take 5 to 10 years to complete which is too far away for them to think about it. As they have been waiting for a long time for the plan, their desire to concern about it has faded out. This is one of the main challenges to do the community work in Wah Fu estate. The forums and visits from outsider about the redevelopment plan have also fatigued the residents and they have the tendency to alienate from it. It is another difficulty to get contact with them and start our community work. Conclusion In order to have an effective community work, helping and instructing them to present the existing problems that mentioned previously in this paper is significant to gain their trust. After that, we have to ensure the residents to know and realize that as it is one of the key statements in the policy address, the redevelopment of Wah Fu Estate will take place soon, then mobilize and empower them to work for solutions, to make their voice and requests about the redevelopment issues such as in-situ settlement can be heard by the government and the public. References Census and Statistics Department. (2011). 2011 Population Census. Retrieved from http://www.census2011.gov.hk/pdf/fact_sheets/estates/D_10182e.pdf http://www.census2011.gov.hk/en/major-housing-estate/10183.html Rothman, J., Erlich, J. L., and Tropman, J. E. (eds.) 2008, Strategies of Community Intervention. (7th Ed.) Itasca, Illinois: F. E. Peacock. Chapter 7.

Tone and Point of View in William Faulkner’s The Unvanquished :: Unvanquished Essays

Tone and Point of View in William Faulkner’s The Unvanquished Everyone at some point in his or her lives have looked back upon their past and recalled either a pleasant or unhappy memory that brings tears to their eyes. In the novel â€Å" Unvanquished William Faulkner creates a character named Bayard who recalls a time when he was boy during the period of the civil war. Although Faulkner gives readers little information about Bayard we learn several things about his life during that time and about the people who were present in his life. Faulkner throughout the story of the Unvanquished used several writing techniques in allowing readers to know that the main character is a grown man looking back upon his childhood. First by the tone he sets throughout the story and last writing the story in the first person. Setting the tone to a particular piece of writing can be a very difficult task one which Faulkner never has much trouble with. While reading the â€Å"Unvanquished† a reader never loses sight of the feelings and desires of the mai n character present in this short story at any given time. Due to the fact that this story is written in the first person point of view readers are not given much opportunity to truly know the thoughts and feelings of the other characters present in this story also. For example, in the chapter titled Ambuscade readers are introduced to Bayard father John Sartortis. Who appears to be a kind, hardworking man who fulfills all of his manly duties as a father, son and boss? But upon closer examination of the text the reader discover this characterization to be somewhat false because although Bayard see his father in this manner one of his slaves does not. When leaving the Sartortis property Loosh a slave ask Miss Rosa about the whereabouts of her son and why he wasn’t around to provide and take care of his family during a time when they needed him most?

The Legal Classification of Men and Women :: Social Justice Legal Essays

Usually sex classifications were challenged by women who felt they deprived of equal legal treatment, but they were also challenged by men who felt women were given unfair legal protection. Originally, most of the gender specific legislation in the United States was passed because stereotypes regarding women pervaded the mentalities of many of our nation's lawmakers. Slowly the government realized that women had been sealed into the domestic sphere and attempted to reverse this discrimination by giving women special compensations. In some instances the treatment women received was leftover from old notions of role typing, while in others, laws directly tried to remedy harmful effects of the past. In both cases, men claimed their equal protection rights were violated by laws which separated women from men. In Stanley v. Illinois 1972, Peter Stanley challenged an Illinois statute which "automatically conferred custody on a married father and on a mother, married or unmarried, and automatically denied it to an unmarried father" after the death of a parent (Goldstein 196). Stanley claimed that his equal protection right, protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, was violated because other parents who were similarly situated, that is, women and married men, were given a benefit which he was denied. A constitutional law must demonstrate a clear goal of the state, and represent the "least restrictive means to achieve those ends" (Mezey 16). In this case, however, the Supreme Court observed "that the State registers no gain towards its goals when it separates children from the custody of fit parents" (Goldstein 199). Clearly this law is a remnant of the past when women were thought to be the only caretakers of children. The underlying motive for this law was "the theory that an unwed father is n ot a "parent" whose existing relationship with his children must be considered" (Goldstein 198). While it is common for the state to defend their stereotypical legal relics on the grounds of "administrative convenience," the Court now identifies these laws as problematic (Reed v. Reed 1971, Frontiero v. Richardson 1973). "Procedure by assumption is always cheaper and easier than individual determination(,) but when the procedure... explicitly disdains present realities in deference to past formalities... it cannot stand" (Goldstein 200). Thus, the Illinois law which automatically awarded women the custody of their children, but not similarly situated men, was declared unconstitutional, because it was grounded in outdated stereotypes. Leon Goldfarb, in Calfifano v.

German-American relations after the last Gulf War 2003 :: essays research papers

German-American relations after the last Gulf War 2003 There is hope for a future rapprochement between Germany and the USA. The relationships to the USA, since 1949 a leading part of the German foreign politics, deteriorated enormously and in March/April 2003 they hit an all-time low since the end of the Second World War. The administration of George W. Bush considered a military attack on the regime of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as an important component for the struggle against the terrorism. The German Federal Government considered the war as an unjustified diversion of the conflict with the terror organization Al-Qaida. The intensity and duration of the German-American annoyance in the course of the conflict in Iraq was surprising against the background of a close political cooperation between the two nations over 40 years. Germany made good experiences with the transatlantic relationship in the past. We share the same basic values and we have a similar understanding of representative democracy, human rights, constitutional state and market economy. In the time of the Cold War from 1949-1989 West Germany and the USA could be regarded as ideal cooperation partners because they followed the same aims with complementary capabilities. The interests of Bonn and Washington were the military protection of Western Europe against soviet attacks as well as the encouragement of democracy and market economy in Europe. The USA played a very important role for the German unification in 1989. The process of unification was not only a result of American support but encouraged the German-American relationship. However, with the end of the Cold War, Germany lost its important role it played for the US-foreign policies. In the 90Â ´s during the Balkan wars the power of the USA and the powerlessness of Europe became clearly expressed. All attempts of the European states to form a united policy on their own continent failed. They could not define a united policy. The USA were frustrated because they did not see in Europe a reliable partner for a security policy. The transatlantic annoyance over the war in Iraq was more than a difference of opinion over the best strategy in the struggle against international terrorism. The USA, a country with global security interests, view the thread of international acting terrorism organizations, which might possess weapons of wholesale destruction, with greater concern than European governments, including Germany. Instead of using military means, which they possess only in a limited way, the European governments strive for a legal attempt at conciliation by means of international organizations like the ONU and the international Criminal Court, ICC.

My Pet Elephant Essay

Hello there. This is the story about the first time I got a pet. my name is Hugo Lambrechts and here is where it all began. Last night at around 12:00 pm I was about to go to bed when I saw a present on my bed from my Mom .When I opened my gift I saw a toy elephant inside. I saw it and I stared for quite some time, took a big breath and smiled. When I was about to go to bed I was dreaming of having a pet elephant and how it would be to have an elephant for a pet. The next morning, it was my birthday! I jumped for joy. Mom greeted me a happy birthday. Then I saw my dad , he was the one i had to beat, I mean if I want a pet elephant, then I have to go through him. I said â€Å"Good morning Dad.† Then dad said â€Å"Happy Birthday! What would you like for your birthday?† I asked him â€Å"Dad can I have a pet elephant?† My Dad looked shocked then he laughed a little then he became serious. He said with a loud voice, â€Å"No! You can’ t have a pet elephant! I mean do you even know how to take care of an elephant?† I didn’t know what to say, I was stuttering like I was in the North Pole for days. Then the school bus went by with a big â€Å"HONK!† I can’t believe I was saved by the school bus. I was rushing to get out as soon as possible. â€Å"Bye Dad, Bye Mom see ya later.† I said in a rush. Then I raced out the door in the school bus and off to school. After school, I got home then I overheard my Dad talking on the phone then he was talking about work and stuff then it hit me I heard him talking about a present! Then that made me think. So I just went up to my room and thought about it for a long time. The next day, while I was eating breakfast I saw my dad focused on the computer looking for something on a site about wildlife and stuff. So it made me wonder more and more. So when I got back from school I saw my Dad and Mom in front of the TV watching those documentaries about animals and so when I got bored I went upstairs in my room and thought about it again. When I got home I saw boxes everywhere and so I asked, â€Å"What are these boxes for?† Then Mom answered â€Å"We are moving to a new house.† Then I asked† But why?† â€Å"You’ll see.† Said my Mom with excitement. Page 3 Then I went upstairs to pack my things. While we were driving to North Island I was thinking about what will the surprise be? So when I got there I went running down the car and up the stairs and into the room. Then I saw a basket on the floor and it said To Hugo Dear darling Hugo Happy Birthday! I hope you love your gift. From your parents Then when I opened the basket it was a baby elephant inside! .And that is the story of how I got my pet elephant.