~Saving one animal won't change the world, but the world will change for that one animal!~
You decided that you wanted to move to an apartment that didn't allow pets. I don't know what lured you. Maybe it was a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Maybe it was a great view. Maybe you liked the woodwork. At any rate, it was more important to you than she was. So you took her down to the shelter, still wearing her cute little pink leopard collar with a bow, and you cheerfully wrote on the card that she was very healthy for her age and friendly and just likes to sleep in the sun! I guess you knew her pretty well - you put her birthday down on the card, too, making me believe you've probably had her for her entire life.
Then you left, secure in your rationalization that somehow, in the midst of kitten season, your seventeen year old cat would find a home. The shelter took a picture of her scared face and big eyes and put it on the web.
For two weeks, I looked at that picture. I hoped someone else would see her fear and feel compelled to help her, but the public wasn't seeing her. She was back in isolation, getting vitamin B shots and subcutaneous fluids. The tech wrote "depressed" on her card. I'm not surprised. I'd be depressed too if I went from "sleeping in the sun" to a metal cage with a thin layer of newspaper.
Finally today, I couldn't stand it anymore. I felt too guilty thinking about her sitting in that cage at her age. So I went down and I got her, and now she's curled up on a fleece baby blanket in a cat tree in my bathroom. When I go in there, she rubs her head on my hand.
Today, I cleaned up your mess. I felt worse for your cat than you did. And all over the city, other rescuers did the same. They rescued your abandoned cats and dogs and bunnies and exotics. And we all wondered the same thing as we did it: How could you create this situation? How is it that you feel no remorse? How is it that you were you able to walk away from an animal you shared your home with for a year, ten years, fifteen years, knowing that they might die because of your actions?
I'll never meet you to ask you those questions. I just hope I meet the person who will be good enough to give your baby that sunny spot to sleep for the rest of her life (however long that is). She deserves it, and it's a crying shame you didn't have the decency to give it to her. This was originally posted in 2006. I am re-posting because the message hasn't sunk in!
~Saving one animal won't change the world, but the world will change for that one animal!~
We are looking to invite someone in our home over the age of 2 years two days a week, and would also consider daily after school care if the need was there. We love to create stories, read, draw, do art projects and science, take walks, and play at the park!
Please email me with your interest and I will forward my resume and references. We can set up a time to meet if things appear ideal for each of us via email. Ideally this would be the first week of September, but could possibly start earlier depending on days and times.
Tired of trying to think of something different to do this weekend?
Ever want to join the circus as a kid and didn't get to?
Come and experience the joy of flying this summer with all of us at Trapeze Experience!
We are back for until August 10th and offering classes for people of all ages to enjoy. Classes are available 6 days per week, including several classes a day on weekends. Each class is two hours long and has a small group of students, so be ready to have some fun and get a little exercise as you learn tricks on the flying trapeze!
Please call toll free 1-877-207-8344 or email for more information and to find out how you can be flying through the air "with the greatest of ease" :D Ask for Christin and we look forward to seeing you!
I will begin my Masters of Science in Accountancy in the end of August (evenings). I can start to work from August 19, Mon Through Friday 8am or 9am to 5pm and Sunday all day. It is also OK if I need to work 3 or 4 days a week.
I work at home, so I will be here the majority of the time.
Right now we are trying to sell our house to move out of state so this job may or may not be temporary depending upon whether or not we can sell and move quickly. I would estimate 4-6 weeks minimum before we would be able to move at the earliest.
MAIN JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:
take care of my two girls, ages 1 and 3, play with them, take them to the park, prepare and give them meals and light cleaning.
WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR:
someone who truly loves children and is active, able to walk to parks or sit and play indoors. Must be creative and enthusiastic, responsible and punctual. I would prefer someone who is or has studied child development or early childhood education, but will consider other qualified persons.
MUST have previous experience with children and be able to provide references. This position is in our home only. I am not considering people that would like to care for my children at their location.
ABOUT US:
My two girls are 1 & 3 and very sweet. They are also active and lots of fun. I work in the home so if there are times when I am needed, I am here. We love being outside in the yard and going for walks to the many parks in the area. We also love having fun and being silly. I try hard to tach my children to be honest, polite and caring and would expect that style to be followed by anyone who is around them.
We live in West Rogers Park and are close to the redline, metra and Lunt bus. The job pays $8 per hour on a weekly basis and would be ideal for a college student.
Children are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of household toxics. For, example, simply because of children’s size and physiology, they are exposed to more indoor pollutants than adults standing in the same room! Children inhale more air per body weight than adults, at their respiratory rates are ten times faster that those of adults, and, since pollutants are generally heavier than air, they are at greater concentrations at the height of a child’s nose than they are at the height of an adult’s nose. Even when children are exposed to the same amounts of chemicals as adults, their bodies are much smaller, relatively speaking; the proportion of their chemical exposure to body weight is greater than ours. The same is true for foods. Because children eat more in relation to their body weight they consume proportionally more food additives and pesticides. Children are more active than adults, and probably drink more water in relation to their body weight, and so have a greater exposure to water pollutants. At the same time, their bodies are not as well equipped to process toxic chemicals, so their risk is increased more than ours by two factors.
While there are certainly some people who are more sensitive to household pollutants than others, it is important to remember that these substances are poisoning all of us, whether or not we feel the effects immediately. Some toxics poison instantly, others show their devastating effects only after years of every of everyday exposure. How many times have we said we would have done something to prevent a tragedy, “If only I had known….”
I strive for students to enjoy lessons, to be constantly improving, and to learn to be expressive while performing. I believe in creating a musical foundation of classical performance and technique, but am always excited to support students who are interested in branching out to other styles, too.
Additionally, because I have worked doing violin repair and bow rehairs, I am frequently able to offer my students affordable and convenient repairs.
Objective To obtain employment as a nanny for an exceptional family
Experience 06/2005-07/2006 Glenkirk Arlington Heights/ Highland Park, IL
Medical Assistant/ Direct Support Personnel
„X Assisting in-house podiatrist ,ophthalmologist, and psychiatrist with consumers
„X Reordering, distributing, and administering medication to DD/ MI consumers
„X Managing and updating consumer medical files in accordance with DHS rules
02/2006-01/2008 Highland Park Hospital Highland Park, IL
Patient Care Technician
„X Assist patients in cardiac telemetry unit; perform 12 lead EKG; maintain and reinforce oxygen therapy; respond to patient call lights
„X Float to other units such as Psych, Med/Surg, and Ortho/Neuro
„X Received 12 customer service awards; 1 teamwork award from manager
2003-Present Child Care Lake Forest, Lake Zurich, Arlington Heights, Palatine, IL
Nanny
„X Providing quality care and attention to children ages : newborn to 9 years old
„X Light Housekeeping and laundry duties; Homework Assistance; Per Diem care
„X Making natural baby food for the infants of families
Education
2006-2008 William Rainey Harper College Palatine, IL
„X Completing courses to receive an A.A.S in accounting
2005-2006 College of Lake County Grayslake, IL
„X Completed Most General Education classes in preparation for transfer
2005-2006 Lake County Technology Campus Grayslake, IL
„X Certified as a Certified Nursing Assistant in the State of Illinois
„X Student of the Quarter; Student Ambassador; Skills USA member
2001-2005 Waukegan High School Waukegan, IL
„X Graduated June 2005; Graduated Cum Laude
CPR, CNA, EPIC certified. Proficient in MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel, MS Access, MS Outlook
*Nanny to our son and soon to arrive second child, this includes playing at the house, reading books, doing art projects, taking walks, going to parks, beach, library and going with them to activities and play dates when I cannot do so.
*Preparing meals for children, preferably someone who likes to cook and feed kids who love to eat!
*Light Housekeeping to help keep things tidy between visits from the housekeeper. Housekeeper comes once a week.
*Help with Laundry for the household.
We will provide a car for transporting children to activities, however you do need a valid license and preferably your own car for getting to our home. We are really looking for the right fit and offer a very competitive salary with paid vacation. Hours are flexible but we would like someone full-time.
We would like someone who can start soon but the start date is flexible.
I'd like $100 rehoming fee, and only serious, good-hearted prospects. I treat my chinchillas as my family and I don't want this guy to go to bad home! I've had them for about 12 years (I admit to use to being a breeder, BUT NO LONGER! I don't have the space, and they do require a great deal of space. So, I only have 3: 2 males and the female- I'm not a breeder) but will be happy to help educate someone new.
On July 23 the New York Times published a brief account of President George W. Bush’s comments on the struggling US economy to an invitation-only fund-raiser in Houston. The July 18 event was held at a private home to benefit Pete Olson, the Texas Republican who is challenging Democratic Representative Nick Lampson. The comments were recorded by a local ABC television station and broadcast, despite Bush’s verbal request that journalists in attendance turn off their cameras.
The Times wrote: “When he talks about why the economy is ailing, President Bush often turns to euphemism, citing ‘challenges in the housing and financial markets.’ But Mr. Bush offered a far blunter assessment last week at a closed Republican fund-raiser in Houston.”
The article continued: “‘Wall Street got drunk—that’s one reason I asked you to turn off your TV cameras,’ the president said. ‘It got drunk, and now it has a hangover. The question is, how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?’”
There is much to be said about the glimpse the incident allows of the modus operandi of the US political elite. Bush and his handlers feel that open, public discussion of basic policy would have dangerous consequences—an appraisal no doubt based both on polls of ordinary Americans and warnings on the nervous state of financial markets. They have come to rely on the “free press” to censor opinions that would be impolitic to reveal to the general population.
The incident also reveals Bush’s extremely limited understanding of the financial crisis shaking the US and his own administration. He glibly presents it as a temporary aberration, attributable to an intoxication with “fancy financial instruments.” This not only vastly underestimates the depth of the crisis, it ignores the deep-rooted tendencies in US capitalism that have led the financial industry to adopt exotic and outright fraudulent ways of packaging its products, and the role of successive administrations, including his own, in facilitating such reckless forms of speculation.
Investments of trillions of dollars in new financial instruments have undoubtedly played a key role in triggering the current economic downturn. A flood of dubious mortgage-backed securities led to a housing bubble whose bursting undermined credit markets. But speculation in housing was only part of a far broader explosion of financial manipulation, including a vast and unregulated market in “derivatives,” including credit default swaps and other means by which banks, hedge funds and other major investors hedged their bets.
The result is a financial crisis on a scale not seen since the Great Depression, precipitating a sharp jump in joblessness and soaring prices for basic commodities such as gasoline and food.
Bush’s ignorant and cynical remark is an evasion of the central issue exposed by the Wall Street crisis: the colossal growth of economic parasitism and criminality in the workings of American capitalism. This process, which has unfolded and accelerated over the past three decades, is the reverse side of the systematic dismantling of America’s once mighty industrial base. The present crisis is the outcome of the American bourgeoisie’s increasing separation of the means by which it amasses its wealth from the production of real value.
This process is not a mere aberration, nor is it new. It is a malignant expression of the decline in the global economic position of American capitalism and is rooted in a protracted crisis of profitability in basic industry.
It has proceeded at every point with the full support of the American political establishment and both parties of US big business. The Democratic Carter administration took a major step in facilitating the growth of financial speculation by launching the assault on government regulation of business with its program of deregulation of the commercial air and trucking industries. Carter, in 1979, appointed the Wall Street banker Paul Volcker to head the Federal Reserve Board, with a mandate to wring inflation out of the economy by jacking up interest rates and precipitating the deepest recession since the 1930s.
The shutdown of unprofitable sections of basic industry and mass layoffs were used to weaken the working class and undermine its militancy. This was a calculated class-war policy, inaugurating a ruling class offensive against workers that has continued ever since.
Reagan, with Volcker still at the helm of the Fed, intensified the anti-working class offensive, initiating a wave of union-busting and wage-cutting by smashing the air traffic controllers’ strike and firing and blacklisting some 11,000 members of the PATCO union. The anti-union offensive, together with unprecedented cuts in social spending, the gutting of environmental, health and safety and other regulations that had limited corporate profit-making, and tax cuts for the wealthy, facilitated the increasing turn by corporate America to forms of speculation divorced from manufacturing. This growth of financial parasitism was promoted as an assault on “big government” and justified with endless invocations of the virtues and infallibility of the “free market.” The entire process was aimed at funneling an ever greater share of the social wealth into the coffers of the financial elite—and it succeeded in doing precisely that.
Among the more significant deregulatory measures carried out by the Carter and Reagan administrations were the 1980 Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act and the 1982 Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act. These loosened restrictions on bank mergers and on the interest rates banks—particularly smaller savings and loans institutions (S&Ls)—could charge, notably on mortgages.
Financial institutions scrambled to create the most profitable methods of cashing in on high interest rates and the flood of cash accruing to the wealthy. Collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) were first created in 1983 by investment banks and Wall Street firms. They were packages of large numbers of mortgages, portions of which could be bought and sold, giving their owners the right to a corresponding share of the payments from all the mortgage debtors in the package.
Financial derivatives—instruments whose values depend on the value of an underlying commodity, stock or other asset—also took off during the 1980s. Futures contracts for agricultural commodities—allowing farmers to lock in prices and speculators to place bets on the movement of farm prices—had existed since the 19th century, and contracts depending on the movement of currency exchange rates were created in the 1970s. However, in the 1980s such contracts spread to cover stocks, interest rate movements, energy prices, and the prices of other commodities. They were largely traded in unregulated, so called over-the-counter markets.
The unviability of this speculative financial activity soon became apparent. A massive crash in October 1987 wiped out 23 percent of the stock market’s value in one day. Failures of S&Ls reached epidemic proportion, and in the late 1980s the US government organized a bailout, costing approximately $160 billion. In an attempt to stabilize the financial system, US regulators increased the proportion of total capital that banks had to keep as cash reserves.
The ensuing economic upswing depended to a large extent on the easy credit policies of the Federal Reserve, which encouraged further speculative bubbles.
Collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) first became widely used in the early 1990s. Total issuance of CMOs from 1990 to 1994 hit $1 trillion. CMOs—like similar mortgage-backed financial instruments created more recently—were legally independent entities that did not have to be counted on banks’ balance sheets, allowing banks to evade capital requirements imposed by regulators after the S&L crisis. Banks instead made loans and realized hefty profits from selling CMOs to other investors.
Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post explained this shift in a 2007 column, writing: “In the simple model of yesteryear, a bank would essentially borrow money from its depositors and lend it to households or businesses that needed loans. For every dollar it lent out, however, the bank was required to set aside some of its money in reserve to cover losses it might suffer if some loans were not repaid. But all that went out with deregulation and the rise of financial engineering. [...] Most of the loans [big banks] make do not remain on their books, but are immediately packaged with other loans and sold to buyers such as hedge funds.”
The early 1990s also saw a significant de facto deregulation of futures markets. Until then, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had limited the number of commodity futures an individual investor could buy, in order to prevent sudden market shifts from destabilizing commodity prices. However, in 1991 the CFTC began granting exemptions to these rules for major investors such as Wall Street firms and pension funds.
There followed the dot-com stock market bubble, which crashed in 2001, quickly succeeded by the now-imploded housing bubble. One of the most important legal changes enabling the inflation of a gigantic housing bubble was the 1999 repeal, under Democrat Bill Clinton, of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which had separated commercial banking (involving depositors’ money) from investment banking. This deregulatory measure allowed commercial banks to become large-scale issuers of mortgage-backed securities.
The scale of the current crisis is far greater than those of the 1980 and 1990s. The sums involved in market speculation in the US and worldwide have grown almost exponentially, while industry in the major industrialized countries has continued to shrink. Consumer spending, which accounts for some 70 percent of US gross domestic product, has been sustained, in the face of declining real wages, largely by an immense growth of household and consumer debt.
According to a 2007 study by the McKinsey consulting firm, the total value of world financial assets went from $12 trillion in 1980 (109 percent of a world gross domestic product of $10.1 trillion) to $43 trillion in 1990 (201 percent of world GDP), to $94 trillion in 2000 (294 percent of GDP), to $167 trillion in 2006 (346 percent of world GDP).
The value of US mortgage, futures and derivatives markets has surged. Outstanding US mortgages are valued at approximately $12 trillion. According to the Wall Street Journal, over-the-counter commodity futures markets have a value of $9 trillion, and regulated commodity futures markets are valued at $4.78 trillion—up 1000-fold from a total value of $4 billion in 1976.
At the same time, workers’ share of GDP has fallen sharply. According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, workers’ share of GDP in the OECD countries fell from a high of 75 percent in 1975 to 68 percent in 1990 and 66 percent in 2005. US workers were shifted from higher-paid manufacturing jobs to service work, as 5 million manufacturing jobs were lost from 1979 to 2006 and manufacturing’s share of the labor force went from 20 to 11 percent.
Since it came to power in 2001, the Bush administration has presided over a further growth of financial speculation. The bursting of the housing bubble has already led to massive movement of speculative capital into commodity futures markets, providing a major impetus to the explosion of oil prices from $60 to $140 a barrel and leading to surges in grain prices that have destabilized world food markets.
Bush himself has personal connections to corporations that profited enormously from unregulated financial instruments. Enron, whose CEO Ken Lay was a key Bush supporter, made significant use of energy derivatives markets in its 2000-2001 manipulation of the California electricity market.
I have recently moved back to the Chicagoland area after graduating from the Institute of Production and Recording in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am a Digidesign Certified Pro Tools Operator and have experience working on both analog consoles, such as the SSL 4000 and Trident 80B, and digital worksurfaces such as the Digidesign D-Control, D-Command, and Control 24.
During my time in Minneapolis some of the projects I worked on were an untitled track for Micky Follansbee(Sign of the Times), a four track live demo for Big Blacks Dance Floor Blues, and assisted on the mixing of a few tracks for Edna’s VD. I am currently working on editing a full-length for Chicago artist Beneathme. Examples of some previous work can be found at myspace.com/kevinfrytz.
Since moving back to Chicago I have began working with Mikey Vujasin(Beneathme). Mikey recently finished working on an album for Chicago artist Quarter Mile. Examples of Mikey’s work with Quarter Mile can be found at myspace.com/quartermiletheband.
In addition to being engineers, both Mikey and I are guitar players and song writers so we understand what it’s like to be on the “other side of the glass”. It’s our job to make you the artist feel as comfortable as possible during the recording process and come out with a quality recording that everybody involved is happy with.
We’re ready and eager to respond to any questions or concerns one may have about recording and is willing to provide examples of previous work upon request. Feel free to contact us if you are interested even the slightest bit at recording or interested in hearing previous work, an instant message, MySpace message or email will be responded to promptly.
Again, please respond with your weekly rate information, your earliest availability, and your experience (including any formal education). It is easier to screen through emails this way. Replies that do not include this information will not receive a response. I am not requesting references until the actual interview; but I would like to know that you have them and/or any experience/training. I would like to start interviewing Monday, July 28th and continue throughout the week. The start time is negotiable, but I'm aiming for mid- to late-August.
Please help us...she really needs a different environment...This was NOT a good match....and I was lied to about what and who "She" was!!!! (I had her transported 6 hours....no, I wasn't going to drive her back)
I’m a SAHM, My name is Sulet, I have been married for 11 years and I’m the proud parent of 4 wonderful children. My three older children are ages 11, 9, 7 and the youngest is 23 months. My three older ones attend school all day. I have always loved to work with children and I do now, and have in the past by babysitting and also teaching at a recreational preschool. I believe that children learn more in a smaller setting, due to the personal attention they receive. I am not a daycare and I’m not trying to be one.
At this time I have one opening for your child starting August 11th
Some of the things that I will offer your child are:
1. Breakfast (hot or cold), Home made lunch, healthy snacks, and fruits, milk and juice (except for infant, you supply the breast milk or formula), once infant is 4 months then I can make them fresh food.
2. Time to learn, which I will teach them colors, shapes, and appropriate things for there age group
3. I will be reading to them daily
4. Learning songs and music, I believe music is very important for children
5. Play time in which we dance, play games, and have time with toys
6. Time to learn Spanish, your child will be introduced to a second language
7. Outside activities include walks or drives to the park (one block away), play time in the fenced backyard (weather permitting), and on some planned days we will take fieldtrips to parks, zoo, museum, and other age appropriate places.
8. Most importantly your child will receive Love, Attention, and Great Care
My hours are 7am to 6pm (with flexibility) and I will take full-time or part-time, reasonable rates.
Please feel free to contact me via phone at 773-318-9506 or email me your questions.
Main requirements include: CPR Certification, Valid Drivers License, Proven work experience, valid references and background check. Must be non-allergic to cats, nonsmokers only
I can provide a resume and personal and work references. I am very responsible, educated, and always strive to perfect whatever I am doing. You can trust that I will take excellent care of your children! :). I love to have a great time and am able to do that while still having rules and most importantly, providing a FUN, INTERESTING environment!
There's a class at the Greenleaf Art Center that addresses the special needs of the creative mind when setting and achieving goals. Come join the fun in a supportive, interactive atmosphere. Use this class to get ready for the Glenwood Arts Fair, Chicago Artists Month, or just get more organized and move forward in everyday life and work.
What did the last class accomplish? (note, these are ACTUAL results reported)
- "I emptied, painted, and installed shelving in all my home closets!"
- "I started taking Spanish classes!"
- "I got more accurate with my to-do list so I was more satisfied with my results!"
- "I cleaned out my car's trunk!"
- "I developed more comfort in saying "no" to non-priorities and requests from others!"
We have a few additional spots, contact Kathie Paluch at the Greenleaf Art Center to sign up - 773-465-4652 or by email at info@GreenleafArtCenter.com - tell her you responded to Lisa's craigslist posting.
There's a downloadable summer class schedule and a printable class registration form on the Greenleaf Art Center's website under "Classes."
Goal Setting for the Creative Mind (Lisa Kemp, instructor)
Class Tuition $100 - 4 weeks
Wednesdays 7:00 - 9:00 pm
REVISED DATES - July 30, and August 6, 13 & 20
- Has a warm, loving personality and truly enjoys working with kids
- Is responsible and reliable
- Has previous babysitting experience and excellent references
- Has a safe, reliable car