Apt. 11D

Blogging is Easy. Parenting is Hard.

Megan asks, "why are babysitters paid so poorly". She thinks that it's a supply and demand thing. Also, watching kids isn't skilled labor.

It make take talent (like the patience of a saint), but the actual skills of doing laundry, spooning formula into one's mouth, and changing a diaper are not hard to learn.

I rant in the comment section that parenting is actually very skilled labor. Also, babysitters are poorly paid, because people think it's easy, because women's work is always undervalued, and because society doesn't want to pay for work that they still think should be freely given. Sometimes you can't understand economics without looking at the politics.

Check out this commenter who can't believe that she has to pay for childcare, because her mother in law doesn't want to watch her kid. This is exactly what's going on.

Kieran Healy chimes in, too.

Are Financiers the New Rock Star?

So, Uma is getting married to some rich financier. Selma is getting married to the third richest guy in France.

What happened to the days when movie stars married greasy rock stars? Tommy Lee and Richie Sambora are in trouble.

Rich is the new black.

Two Disability Links

Check out this wonderful list of links for parents and teachers of kids with disabilities.

A call to feminists to be more sensitive to disabled people.

Supermarket of da Future

Germany has developed the supermarket of da future. I'm loving the automated wine tasting.

Limiting the Death Penalty

The SC ruled that the death penalty should not be given to people convicted of child rape. While I am happy about any ruling that cuts back on capital punishment, I agree with Megan that some crimes may be worse than murder. Megan writes, "I don't see any particular reason to limit its application to murder. I can imagine much worse things than a quick, clean death."

If you had to bump someone off, I vote for this guy.

Smart People to Debate

More shout outs to the blogosphere from David Brooks. His favorite conservative writers are:

There are dozens of writers I could put in this group, but I’d certainly mention Yuval Levin, Daniel Larison, Will Wilkinson, Julian Sanchez, James Poulos, Megan McArdle, Matt Continetti and, though he’s a tad older, Ramesh Ponnuru.

Ross Douthat and my former assistant, Reihan Salam, are two of the most promising. This pair has just come out with a book called “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream.”

The best thing for liberals is to have smart people to debate. If these guys represent the new conservative movement and can breath life in the old order, then things are good.

First Spouses

David Brooks and Gail Collins blog about the candidate's spouses. Interesting comment by Gail:

I’m sticking to my original conviction, though. We’ve had a couple of first ladies who affected policy in a negative way, by being overprotective of failing spouses (Edith Wilson, Nancy Reagan). And we’ve had a couple who captured the American imagination in a way that made them significant in their own right (Frankie Cleveland, Jackie Kennedy). But the only two who had a real impact on policy in the White House were Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton.

Domestic Abuse

Varsha Sabhnani was convicted of enslaving and torturing two Indonesian women for years, was sentenced yesterday to 11 years in prison and ordered to forfeit the family home.

Should there be licensing procedures or government oversight of live-in labor?

Should Stay at Home Dads Do the Laundry?

When we lived in Manhattan, I would meet up with the playground gang. We would chase the kids and chat about veggie bootie and life. Everybody had their own interests outside the kids, so there was always a lot to talk about. We were also lucky enough to have a couple of stay at home dads in the group to keep things interesting. And Andrew did keep things interesting.

USA Today had a piece on stay at home dads this week, which featured my buddy, Andrew. The article discussed how Andrew and his wife, Eliza, split the chores.

Question of the Day -- Eyeliner or Lipstick?

Question of the Day -- Eyeliner or lipstick?