GOP’s new strategy: Child labor

I’m not even kidding, ‘Merica. I hear them now, it will save on taxes because more kids will have to drop out of school to work. I read about this from Melissa McEwan and Keith Edwards.

Governor LePage of Maine thinks we aren’t using out most valuable resources, which is apparently the exploitation of young people. LePage says, “We don’t allow children to work until they’re 16, but two years later, when they’re 18, they can go to war and fight for us. That’s causing damage to our economy. I started working far earlier than that, and it didn’t hurt me at all. There is nothing wrong with being a paperboy at 12 years old, or at a store sorting bottles at 12 years old.”

This obliviousness is kind of amazing. LePage says he started working at 11. Maine like every state has specific laws about child labor, in Maine children under 16 have to get a work permit from the superintendent and meet other requirements. The injustice of it all.

Child labor kind of flies in the face of a jobless economy because they can drive down wages because people see children and think minimum wage is fine, which decreases available job for adult and the jobs available can pay less. Additionally, a lot of kids can’t maintain a job and school so they are either constantly tired or don’t have time for school work.

McEwan notes that LePage isn’t the only Republican on this the “tiny fingers better craftsmanship” ticket. He joins Newt Gingrich, Ray Canterbury, and Jack Kingston.  She also notes that this is class war. After all kids who work for pocket money is very different than kids who work to help pay the rent. But I guess this model is the new model:

Feminist Atheist Killjoy

So I was in wonder of Dylan Byers’ stupidity on Tuesday when a post caught my eye about school prayer. Now I know my stance is that generally speaking atheists give zero fucks about what other people do with the provision that other people’s religions don’t infringe on the rights of others. However, I do have issues with school prayer, and not just as an atheist but there are complex issues to consider before we go along with the moment of contemplation.

Regardless, Travis Gettys wrote about the whole thing for Raw Story. South Carolina (the less of the Carolinas) legislatures have come up with something they are calling a compromise, but I’d go with waste of the legislature’s time, to fix the unconstitutional bill that requires teachers to lead prayer in public school. What the what? Sorry, I guess South Carolina found an even better way to waste the legislature’s time. Seven Democrats and three Republican co-sponsors introduced the measure to bring the bill in line with the Supreme Court rulings because well, yeah mandatory school prayer is unconstitutional. Our elected leaders, ladies and gentlemen.

The revised bill calls for a moment of contemplation, reflection, or prayer, which makes this bill redundant because South Carolina has mandated moments of silence in public schools starting in 1995. Because of course. Let’s read what the legislators are saying about the bill:

“The compromise would be to have the students to pray to whomever they want to. If they want to do away with teachers conducting the prayer, that would be fine with us. The essential part of the bill, the important part, is putting prayer back in school,” state Rep. Wendell Gilliard (D-Charleston).

“Even the atheists, it gives them the option of praying or not praying without anybody interfering,” Rep. Joseph Jefferson (D-Berkley).  [ßThis guy, atheists don’t pray.]

“Some of the folks say they never saw where prayer killed anyone in school but they saw what weapons did. We’re big on religious principles here. We pray in the General Assembly. We do it every session. What makes the General Assembly different from the school?" says Williams, who has a nice 67% grade from the NRA.

 Some of the Democrats in support of the bill are hiding behind, the my constituents want it line, which is probably bullshit because there is always at least one who wants something and one who doesn’t. Of course the ACLU is on it. They correctly point out that the state isn’t religiously homogeneous.

Seriously though, Williams is my favorite argument because didn’t a kid in Minnesota kill himself after being bully for being gay and then the bullies claimed religious freedom as Christians to protect themselves from a lawsuit? Additionally, I bet it was computers, computers kill students because they happen to have coming into schools during the rise in school shootings. Or, NAFTA, I bet it was NAFTA. Idiot.

The issue of course isn’t being conscribed into praying to a god you don’t believe in. I did it for years, and nothing came of it, except some interesting variations on the “Our Father.” The issue is students being singled out for different beliefs than those in power and by extension their connection to that power structure. Students who opt out, who would rather spend this time reading, or studying, will be singled out as different. And what about the class time it wastes that could be used for I don’t know actual education? Will a student who refuses to sit or sat in silence and instead reads, will that student be treated as a disruption?

I went to Catholic school complete with the ugly skirts and vests that may have been made we fabric that mixed polyester and burlap. So itchy. I wasn’t ever baptized (so my sisters and I are not part of the Catholic faith, that is to say we never left the faith, we just never belonged, more like witnesses to others) just the local public school’s roof fell in and my parents opted for the safer alternative. In Catholic school a lack of participation in faith matters way more than mouthing the words to prayers because of the sacraments. J and I did a teacher called Ms. Z, and this woman believed we were going to hell, our parents, possibly anyone I made eye contact with between birth and age seven. She actually said when our class was preparing for reconciliation that people who can’t ask for forgiveness through confession go to hell, which was frightening to seven year old me. J and I had to respond to this question for the next six years, “Are you really going to hell?” My crush asked me that in the third grade; I’ll never forget it.

I think it may have been the first time I had a cognitive thought about people staying and socializing exclusively within the categories they were prescribed…not in those terms of course. But this is something I wrestle with even now. Also, I think Ms. Z was the first person I associated with a person in power using her power, and acting on behalf of an institution, to bully those without power, and her belief that she was doing the right thing, which, and I don’t want to speak for J, provided me with all I needed to become the nonconformist I am today. Of course, we attended their school because we wanted the opportunities associated with a private education including potential access to college, and I know I’ve mentioned it before, kids who grew up where I did don’t always have the option of college.

I know people complain about the emotional damage from childhood, and I think we’re all better people for surviving it because almost everyone goes through it usually on both sides. But outside of zealots with some racism thrown in (Jesus, not a white guy, probably a brown Jew), things could have been so much worse. I can’t imagine what school would have been like if I were even more different from my peers. Or in a situation where I didn’t have a sister riding it out with me. The assertion that students can just remain silent assumes that those silent are atheists, so what about the kids of other faiths? Asking kids who don’t believe in the dominate religion to stay silent or pretend for the benefit of a tyrannical majority is damaging to those silenced students. Prayer doesn’t have a place in schools. If students want to do it on their own time with their own money, then so be it, but otherwise it is a violation of the separation of church and state. Someone want to complain about how Christians are being persecuted and their rights being violated? No, good because they aren’t.

WEATHER

I wasn’t going to start on about the weather; I thought my declaration about wearing two pairs of pants was enough. [I’m wearing two pairs now, and I hate pants…so much.]

So the “Polar Vortex” has killed people as the US government continues to cut heating assistance for the poor. Tara Culp-Ressler has a piece up on ThinkProgrss about the deaths attributed to the “polar vortex.”  At this point we have about 21 deaths as of Tuesday according to the Associated Press. The previous snow storm killed 16. The extreme cold is associated with spikes in the number of deaths, and of course the low-income are more vulnerable because of a lack of access to well-heated homes.

Culp-Ressler pointed out that some of the temperatures in North Dakota could freeze human flesh in five minutes…WTF. In addition to deaths of those without adequate shelter, at least five people died while clearing and shoveling snow in these temperatures. Of course, with the ice there are deaths associated with car and transportation accidents. Also, more people are coming in to emergency rooms for treatment for hypothermia. We also all know that there aren’t enough spaces in homeless shelters.

All of this is awful, but hey it is supposed to be in the 60s this weekend…so those who are strong enough to survive will be able to bask in mild temperatures this weekend.

Employers win one in the New Orleans Court of Appeals

US Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued a decision that permits employers to require workers, as a condition of their jobs to agree to arbitrate all workplace disputes and to do so as individuals standing against their employers. This ruling could be the end of employment class actions, which were so important in addressing barriers of race and sex discrimination after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and of course are still important to enforcement of labor standards including minimum wage.

I read about this from a Politico post by Craig Becker.  The actual cases involved D.R. Horton, a home-builder which operates in 27 states with annual revenue of more than $6 billion. The company required all employees to sign an agreement providing that the employment disputes would be resolved by binding arbitration and that the arbitrator “may hear only Employee’s individual claims.” One employee attempted to pursue a claim the D.R. Horton misclassified an entire category of workers as exempt from the protection of federal overtime regulations, the company insisted each worker had to file an individual claim.

So what’s an employee to do? To the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) Bat Signal. The NLRB found that the “agreement” to waive the right to join with co-workers for workplace claims violated federal labor law saying not only do employees have the right to join a union, but they can “engage in…converted activates for the purpose of…other mutual aid or protection.” The NLRB found that as employers can’t require employees not to join a union via a “yellow dog contract,” the employers can’t require employees to “agree” not to file class action suits.

The New Orleans Court of Appeals reversed the NLRB’s decision in a 2-1 vote. They found the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) trumps the employee’s right to act collectively. The FAA doesn’t actually address class action suits. The court’s holding is in line with the Supreme Court’s decisions expanding their interpretation of FAA. If the court’s holding becomes governing rule, no employer will permit its employees to bring class action suits. Many employers already require these waivers such as J.P. Morgan and United Healthcare. However, all those represented by unions will have to yield their rights.

One federal judge said, “each employee would have to…undertake the person risk of litigation directly against his or her…employer. Many employees would likely be unable to bear such…risks.” Oh good, some states the reasons for all of this. It is perfect, employers can cheat employees they keep in poverty and there is nothing the poor can do about it, suckers. No one reading this blog would be surprised to hear me say workers in the US are vulnerable to a host of labor violations and it is just getting worse. This is particularly true of low-wage workers. We also have to remember that organized labor continues to weaken almost across the board, the only hope really is to organize unskilled service workers, which is very difficult because the Walmart business model where unionbusting is key.

Becker concludes by suggesting Congress might do something about this when it takes up the Arbitration Fairness Act this year.  I’m a far more cynical person. I worry that one Congress is alerted to this problem they will make it worse by banning unions or individual suits against employers, ok so I’m being a little tongue and cheek here, but the point remains. I don’t believe Congress will help especially the House of Representatives, remember who pays the bills here.

Bad Texas, Drop it. Drop it…

I think we should start treating Texas like I treat my sister’s dog. Clear, direct, and with treats. I know you’ve missed me and all my awesomeness. I’m sure you’ve pulled through.

Texas, sometimes I think Texas is everything that is wrong with the US, but then I remember if gave us Jeff…and Jeff is fabulous. We all know about how Texas state legislatures have no respect or regard for women with their anti-choice, faux-pro-life policies, which are at the expense of women, particularly, low-income women of color, but Texas has officially disregarded the wishes of a woman and her family after her death by forcing her body to be an incubator for a fetus.

Jezebel had a post written by Doug Berry on this situation. According to The Dallas Morning News, Jacquielyn Floyd says Marlise Munoz died tragically by pulmonary embolism the week after Thanksgiving. Her death is a tragedy, but Texas law automatically invalidates Munoz’s legal prerogatives about her end-of-life preferences if she is pregnant. Take a minute, and ask yourself, what the fuck does that mean? Well, it means if you’re a woman in Texas who dies, but are pregnant, the state will revive your body so you can incubate a fetus even after being without oxygen for a prolonged period of time.  Anyone see the Blade movies? Don’t judge. There is one scene in one of the movies where people are kept alive in a sort of blood farm…that is the image that is invoked when I read this post. No brain activity, no hope of a full life, just a body being consumed for the purposes of another without any regard for the original life.

Munoz was found by her husband, Erick, without a pulse and not breathing. He performed CPR and called an ambulance. Marlise was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Marlise’s body was subjected to electric shocks and drugs until her heart started, and it continued to beat because with mechanical support. She is brain dead and was without air for too long to recover. When Marllise’s family was ready to disconnect Marlise from life support, they were told the hospital could not legally do that because at 14 weeks, the doctors could detect a fetal heartbeat. As a result, Marlise’s body is being maintained as an unwilling incubator.

Ok, so this sucks, but really how does this happen? Well Texas values a possible non-viable fetus (remember it was without oxygen too) over the wishes of Marlise and her family. So Erick and their family had to continue their grief through the holidays, and they were subject to the anti-choice zealots who believe and I quote “accused Erick Munoz of simply wanting to ‘pull the plug’ so he could ‘get rid’ of his wife and baby.”

But I have a few logistical questions:

Who is paying for this unnecessary medical care?

Who is responsible for the child, who should have died with its mother?

See where I’m going with this? Someone has to pay for this, and I can’t imagine that Erick and his family would be forced to pay to keep his wife needlessly alive. But will Erick have to care for a child that should have died with his wife? Or will this child become a ward of the state?