"Changes to child labor laws hurt farmers."

[Stephanie739]

Quote:
If numbers had anything to do with law pot would be legal.

True...the drug war is just a way to control the global flow of money, and has very little do with safety or public opinion. Actually the drug war makes everyone less safe, especially our neighbors to the south. The only danger in cannabis are the laws against its use and manufacture.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote:
that's a pretty broad generalization.
same generalization the law makes.
fortunately, the farmers I konw do not fit your generalization in either way.
unfortunately, the law affects them anyway.
it's not making *these*farmers* or these farm kids safer. it does, however prevent them from doing this work at all, even safely..

Government always works in broad generalization. I was driveing at 10. So was most of my family. Does that mean I would let just any 10 year old drive my truck? No. The problem is almost every law we have was made to fix stupid an everyone else has to live with it. There is a lot of "stupid" floating around in the farming community. I can tell you that out of all the new tractors I know of bough by my neighbors in the last few years maybe one has the roll bar still on it. An about every 4th one going down the road has a little kid siting on the fender. But you tend to notice these things after pulling enough body's out from under tractors an putting them in bags.



Quote:
So you think some politician somewhere just got bored an came up with this to have something to do? There are people asking for this law. The reason is people seeing danger an asking for a law. I bet I know a few.

I dont agree with the law but I at least know where its coming from.

 

[Stephanie739]

Quote:
that's a pretty broad generalization.
same generalization the law makes.
fortunately, the farmers I konw do not fit your generalization in either way.
unfortunately, the law affects them anyway.
it's not making *these*farmers* or these farm kids safer. it does, however prevent them from doing this work at all, even safely..

Government always works in broad generalization. I was driveing at 10. So was most of my family. Does that mean I would let just any 10 year old drive my truck? No. The problem is almost every law we have was made to fix stupid an everyone else has to live with it. There is a lot of "stupid" floating around in the farming community. I can tell you that out of all the new tractors I know of bough by my neighbors in the last few years maybe one has the roll bar still on it. An about every 4th one going down the road has a little kid siting on the fender. But you tend to notice these things after pulling enough body's out from under tractors an putting them in bags.



Quote:
So you think some politician somewhere just got bored an came up with this to have something to do? There are people asking for this law. The reason is people seeing danger an asking for a law. I bet I know a few.

I dont agree with the law but I at least know where its coming from.

"So you think some politician somewhere just got bored an came up with this to have something to do?..." This is exactly what I think they do. Throw in lobbiest money and it is a recipe for a multitude of bad legislation. Many of the incumbents do not care about the people or their wishes at all. They care about their campaign pocketbooks and will cater to whomever throws them the most money. In this legislation, the money is probably coming from the big factory farms themselves, the very companies you seem to believe this legislation is needed in order to protect our children. I find it hard to believe that any small or medium sized farm owner is a proponent of this legislation. Who is crying out for the government to tell the people not to let kids work on farms, and operate farm vehicles? WHO? Please give me an example of someone who is "asking" for this law because I am really curious.

 

[Stephanie739]

I get a bit passionate about politics. Please don't misinterpret my passion and cynicism as rudeness or personal attacks. I mean no offense!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Most of the people that have been screaming for farm child safety laws are the mothers of children who have died working there farm. Google is your friend.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

http://www.fs4jk.org/adams.htm

 

[OldGuy43]

One does have to wonder where these grieving mothers were when there children were killed. Ever heard the story of the founder of MADD?

 

[Stephanie739]

That is the scenario I expected to hear about regarding those who cry out for government intervention - key word being cry, a mother who lost a child. While I have the deepest sympathy for her loss, it is not a reason to ban children from farm work. Farm safety strategies and awareness are always important and necessary, but prohibitions are not the solution. I hope she will learn to accept her child's death as a tragic accident. I do have the utmost respect for her trying while trying to increase farm safety awareness.

Will we ban amusement park rides because there are occasional accidents, including fatalities? Will kids be prohibited from riding horses because they can be injured or even killed in a tragic accident? And like I mentioned before, many people die in auto accidents, but we aren't going to outlaw automobiles are we?

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

People have an assumption of safety. Is sky diving safe? Some say yes others say no. The reality is usually somewhere in the middle. Most people see farm equipment as safe cause it is slow an they have used it for years without an issue. But when something happens an someone dies your sense of safety gets turned on end. Danger is relative to experience in your mind. The mindset that something "almost never happens" becomes " it happened to me an it can happen to you".

 

[Stephanie739]

Monsanto is a supporter of the mother's group, Farm Safety Just 4 Kids. http://www.monsanto.com/ourcommitments/Pages/farm-safety-4-just-kids.aspx There is your big money lobbyist.