Signs of a bad babysitter

Your child has frequent bumps and scrapes

Sure, kids will be kids, so don’t panic at the first sight of a scraped knee. But if accidents start to become a frequent occurrence, it could be a sign that your babysitter is not keeping a watchful eye on your children.

Your babysitter is doubling as social chair

You come home early or make a surprise pop-in to find your babysitter has invited friends over without your permission. Or perhaps she’s busy talking on the phone while your kids are in the other room unattended. Either way, the primary focus of a good babysitter should always be your kids – socializing should take place on their own time.

Your babysitter has an Internet alter-ego

Today’s younger generation is very in touch with social media, from MySpace to Facebook. Sure your babysitter will do her best to make a good impression on you, but it never hurts to do your homework. Although profiles on social media sites are often private, it is worth taking a look at places like MySpace and Facebook to see if your potential sitter has a page. At the very least it gives you insight into their personality and interests – and in the worst cases, if the content of their profile raises a red flag, you can respectfully look at other options.

Your child begs you to stay

Getting used to a new babysitter takes time, and kids will naturally miss Mom and Dad, but if you child is regularly upset or angry over the prospect of being left at home with a babysitter – there is likely an underlying issue. Remember, as much as you may like someone, it’s even more important that your kids do too.

Obama as the first black president?

Bill Clinton. We've been calling him that for years. He's apparently been hearing it. Because he has approached his campaign against Barack Obama in the manner of a person who has no fears of being misunderstood and slapped with a race card violation . Now he is accused of just such an offense. Maybe he got too familiar and forgot to respect the painful lens through which African Americans often hear criticism. Or maybe he knew he was flirting with danger, but felt he was well enough loved to be given a pass. Or, and this is radical, maybe he was battling an opponent without regard to ethnicity , not as a Black contender around whom he must tread carefully so as not to stir up any thoughts of race. But surely Bill Clinton is savvy enough to realize that the race card is always hovering above the table, if not actually in play. Perhaps it was a calculated tip of the hand to remind voters of the pitfalls that await a Black candidate, if not to remind them that Obama is African American. Whatever his intentions, Bill Clinton has been branded as the campaign criminal who "injected Race into the race" , so everthing he says and does might now be judged with a pre-concieved bias instead of on it's merits. Maybe he really is Black.

Spring Time!

Spring training starts this week with pitcher's and catcher's reporting. Woo-hoo! That means warmer weather is around the corner (right?) and baseball will be back in full swing soon. It's been a pretty dismal winter so far, and not just because of the snow and cold. The Bulls have been disappointing and hampered by injuries to key players...same goes for the Blackhawks, though I believe the best is yet to come for that young team...area college basketball teams aren't exactly lighting it up...inconsistent at best. The Bears season ended far too early...so we're left with looking forward...to baseball.

But will baseball ever be the same again if Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee continue their very public he-said, he-said battle? At this point, it's difficult to believe either of them, and what good is this doing anyway? To prove to kids that it's not good to use steroids or human growth hormone? That cheating is wrong? That's the reason Congress is using to investigate the issue. And haven't children already learned that? I'm not sure what the benefit can be other than to ruin one's reputation forever, be it McNamee or Clemens. Enough on that...at least baseball is giving us some conversation pieces.

Politics

I've always been intensely interested in American politics and government, as far back as I can remember. Before I came to college, I based my sense of American history and, thus, of patriotism and morality on what other people told me about American history. When I came to college, however, I was no longer able to assert the same beliefs as I had previously without proving the points myself, which required an extensive examination of the words and actions of the Founders themselves. What I found in my examination absolutely blew me away; everything that I had always been told was conservative was liberal, and everything that I had always been told was liberal was, in fact, conservative.

I believe that free market capitalism, at its most fundamental, is anti-democratic and is therefore anti-American. To explain this point, I offer the following excerpt: "Democracy both recognizes the right of the individual to use his powers to the utmost, and encourages him to do so by offering a fair field and, in case of success, an abundant reward. The democratic principle requires an equal start in the race, while expecting at the same time an unequal finish...Americans who talk in this way seem wholly blind to the fact that under a legal system which holds private property sacred there may be equal rights, but there cannot possibly be any equal opportunities for exercising such rights. It would be absurd to claim that, because all the rivals toed the same mark, a man's victory or defeat depended exclusively on his own efforts. Those who have enjoyed the benefits of wealth and thorough education start with an advantage which can be overcome only by very exceptional men - men so exceptional, in fact, that the average competitor without such benefits feels himself disqualified for the contest." The above quote is an excerpt from The Promise of American Life, written in 1911 by American political scientist Herbert Croly. It completely articulates the ambiguities posed by the pairing of capitalism with democracy; as Croly suggested, the two are philosophically opposed.

Autism

Autism is one of five classified pervasive developmental disorders. Asperger's syndrome is another. Approximately 6 in 1000 people are somewhere on the autism spectrum. Children are generally diagnosed as toddlers. The most noticeable signs of Autism are late-developing use of language or a complete lack of language development, repetitive use of words or repetitive hand movements, little to no eye contact, lack of interest in peer relationships, lack of spontaneous or make-believe play, and a persistent fixation on parts of objects.

Signs of Asperger's syndrome are difficulty reciprocating during conversations, i.e., those with Asperger's see "their turn to talk" as seemingly never-ending. My cousin fails to grasp the pragmatic aspect of a conversation. She will share endless facts with me, because she sees talking as a method of communicating information only, not sharing thoughts, emotions, or feelings. She displays difficulties with topic appropriateness, and knowing when to end the conversation. Her vocal pitch and stress is frequently different from people with normal conversational capabilities. I have learned to live with the fact that she can not "tone down" her voice.

Coincidences

What are the causes for such odd and fascinating things? Some people may say there is a cause for everything, which there certainly is for most things. (Example: My friend and I both have the same exact flowers by our mailboxes in our yard- reason: a group of girl scouts volunteered to plant flowers for one dollar by mailboxes in 2005) But I am talking about a small example of my professor and I running into each other at the grocery store. It definitely has not been at similar times. I do change up my grocery stores. And it has not been connected to -anything- I can think of. She also does not live close to the store, she does not go everyday (just on the days I do apparently) and we do not go on every tuesday or something. It has been random days of the week. Thus, I find no explanation. That I would call a coincidence.
Is there some higher power with a plan? Some people reason with this ideology.
However, I take the I Heart Huckabees approach that everything is connected. How? I use my own logic. Our existence is of molecules connecting everything in the world. Of course you know that atoms and molecules make every tangible material in the universe. They are what make matter possible. I use this in the way that when something becomes connected, it stimulates these atoms and molecules, creating a reaction within us. For example: have you ever "felt" someone looking at you? Or thought of someone and they called you? Or felt comforted just by someone "being around you". I feel like once the molecules and atoms recieve such stimulus they want it more and more and thus, it creates coincidences. Or what we think are coincidences.
That is one explaination. Then you get the unexplainable things such as a man who receives a heart transplant and dies the same way as his donor. How does that happen?
Everything is connected somehow, but this I would not know how to explain. It makes you wonder though, what is out there, why are we here, what are the chances, and if something higher exists.

Congress extends farm bill; Bush will sign

Mar. 14--Congress has extended the current farm bill for another month as it continues talks to craft an acceptable bill.

Lawmakers and the White House have not been able to agree on how to pay for the five-year, $286 billion legislation passed by both chambers last year. The Bush administration has threatened to veto both versions of the bill, saying it is too expensive.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said there has been progress in negotiations with Senate and House members on a new farm bill and that he was confident it could be resolved in a few more weeks.

The negotiators are seeking an agreement on $10 billion in new funding.

"Where does the money come from" is the critical question, he said, adding that the administration has objected to its funding proposals so far.

The House and Senate pushed the expiration of current farm law, signed by Presdiendt Bush in 2002, from March 15 to April 18. The law originally expired Sept. 30 and has been repeatedly extended.

Members were hoping to have agreement on the legislation before Congress heads home for a two-week recess at the end of this week, but progress has been slow.

Bush, in a statement released Thursday, said he will sign the extension. But he also warned that Congress will need to come up with a new bill by April 18 or he will call for a one-year extension of the existing farm bill.

"While long-term extension of current law is not the desired outcome, I believe the government has a responsibility to provide America's farmers and ranchers with a timely and predictable farm program -- not multiple short-term extensions of current law," Bush said. "Without a predictable policy, agriculture producers will be unable to make sound business decisions with respect to this year's crop." Bush said he is "eager" to sign a bill that provides a safety net for farmers, includes significant farm program reforms similar to the administration's farm bill proposal, and does not include tax increases.

An amendment to allow a hard cap of $250,000 on the amount of farm payments an individual can receive passed the Senate Budget Committee on March 6. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced the amendment with Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.

"The farm bills that passed the House and Senate have loopholes that make the farm payment system worse than what we operate under now. So, despite the fact that we're in the middle of conference negotiations, I'm looking for ways to address the problems that weren't taken care of," Grassley said. "The majority of the Senate gave its support to payment limits during the farm bill, so it seems only right to keep pushing for passage." The amendment would save $641 million over five years and $1.401 billion over 10 years. The amendment also specifies that the savings be applied to nutrition.

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