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| "If Obama is for it, I have to hate it! Them's the rules!" |
Courtesy of the Lunatic on Lake Lucille's ghostwritten
Facebook page:
The Obama Administration is working on regulations that would prevent children from working on our own family farms. This is more overreach of the federal government with many negative consequences. And if you think the government’s new regs will stop at family farms, think again.
My family is a commercial fishing family, and commercial fishing in Alaska is much like the family farm (but the year 'round farmers no doubt work harder than we do!). I guarantee fishing families wouldn’t stand for this nonsensical intrusion into our lives and livelihoods, and, as a former 4-H member, I don’t believe farm families will either. Our kids learn to work and to help feed America on our nation’s farms, and out on the water.
Federal government: get your own house in order and stop interfering in ours.
- Sarah Palin
It always amazes me that EVEN with RAM helping her to write her own Facebook page (Something that "rill" Americans would never even consider), Palin STILL manages to step in a big pile of manure virtually every time she posts.
First off there is absolutely NO correlation between farming and commercial fishing. None.
This is perhaps one of the most ridiculous comparisons that Palin has ever had her ghostwriters make on her behalf, right up there with calling her an "energy expert" or comparing bloggers and journalists bringing up her crosshair map after the Giffords shooting to a "blood libel."
Now the other glaring problem with this is that Palin/RAM is completely mistaken about what the law says. (I know, surprising right?)
Now the original
proposed regulations written back in September 2011 (Kinda late aren't you Palin?) WERE being interpreted by some as saying that the children of farmers would not be allowed to run farm equipment until age 16:
The worry is that it might jeopardize the ability of brothers and sisters or cousins who jointly operate a farm through a business partnership to have any of their children work for it.
Now this was really NEVER a problem, but some farming interest groups and the Senators that represent states which rely heavily on agriculture, demanded that the bill be changed.
And in response to their concerns
it was:
The U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL)’s Wage and Hour Division owing to pressure from farm groups has recently decided to re-propose ‘parental exemption’ for child labour engaged in agriculture in the U.S. The parental exemption allows children of any age who are employed by their parent, or a person standing in the place of a parent, to perform any job on a farm owned or operated by their parent or such person standing in the place of a parent. The rule of parental exemption was first introduced in 1966 by the Congress when protection was expanded for children employed in agriculture and prohibited their employment in jobs that the USDOL declared hazardous for children below the age of 16 years to perform. (By the way this change was made back in March 2012.)
So there you have it, children working on their family farms are exempt from this rule and other youngsters are now protected from possible harm on the job.
So exactly what the hell is Palin bitching about?
Now here's the other thing. These proposals were NOT put in place to expand "government overreach" or as a "nonsensical intrusion into our lives and livelihoods." These proposals were made for a VERY specific reason.
This according to a report published in
US News:
Almost 27,000 children are injured on farms in the United States each year, and many require hospitalization, according to a new study.
Many of these serious, sometimes fatal, injuries are caused by agricultural industrial hazards, such as falls from tractors or machinery accidents, the researchers report.
Of about 26,650 kids ages 19 and under injured annually, 14 percent were hospitalized, and 84 died on average each year. By comparison, just over 1 percent of non-farm-related children's injuries warrant hospital care, the study said.
"These injuries cost society an estimated $1.4 billion per year in 2005 dollars," Zaloshnja said. "Work-related injuries annually cost $347 million or 24.4 percent of the total cost."
In other words, the Obama administration was only trying to tighten up guidelines to protect our nation's children. Of course in Sarah Palin's words this is just another example of President Obama demonstrating his hate for America.
However the proposals are designed to protect the children who will be the future of America, so my question to Sarah Palin is "Why do you hate our children?"
