WOW! WTF?!..GOP Senator: We Need ‘Child Labor’ To Fight Obesity Epidemic

[one_voice]

At a recent town hall in Osage, Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) responded to a question about the Labor Department’s stricter limits on child labor by claiming that they could exacerbate the child obesity epidemic by making kids less “active”:

Concern was raised about the proposed Department of Labor’s intent to greatly limit child labor on family farms.

“This farm bill will greatly affect our FFA and 4-H programs,” said Grassley. “Kids won’t be able to help on farms not owned by their parents.

“It’s interesting that this child labor bill goes against Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity initiative,” said Grassley. “How can kids be active if they are limited by this law?“

Grassley represents a farm state that both relies on child labor and contributes to the national obesity epidemic through its production of corn products like high-fructose corn syrup. Iowa farmers benefit from billions of dollars in corn subsidies that allow them to put a glut of cheap, unhealthy foods on the market.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/01/17/405438/gop-senator-says-child-labor-needed-to-fight-obesity-how-can-kids-be-active-if-they-are-limited-by-the-law/


How 'bout we bring back phys ed and recess. Used to be kids went outside at lunch and PLAYED...not anymore. Let's try that before we put our kids to work.

[Autumn]

1. Maybe money to buy 'healthy" food would help

or maybe it would help for Parents to have time to cook and prepare healthy meals for their children instead of grabbing something quick and easy to feed them. Fucking ass.

[one_voice]

8. That would help...

it's so expensive to cook healthy, add to that the lack of time, in most cases both parents work and kids end up with quick unhealthy meals. Sucks!

[tanyev]

2. Heck, while you're at it, just give them one bowl of thin gruel per day.

That'll really fix that obesity problem.

[baldguy]

3. Maybe we should stop poisoning all our food with HFCS.

How about that Mr Iowa Senator?

[HockeyMom]

4. Let them be children

play childhood games and exercise, play sports, and parents give them healthy diets. We don't need child labor to solve this problem. Me thinks this more about SLAVE WAGES than anything else.

[SaintPete]

5. Wait... Chris Christie has a job

what's his excuse?

[Autumn]

9. Well he is probably just a "big boned" repuke.

Or a little too short for his weight.

[alphafemale]

11. "Or a little too short for his weight."

Another 5ft or so should do it.

[PDJane]

6. Idiot man. Will people actually believe this (expletive deleted)?

How is a rule meant to limit exploitation of child labour going to contribute to the obesity epedemic? What????

Of course, looking at pictures from the 1800's, children who laboured were svelt...but I suspect that had to do with starvation and lack of sleep as it did work. Breathing in soot doesn't help to make anyone look robust either; lung ailments were common. Since we have rid ourselves of that particular stupidity, why would we go back to that?

And yes, getting out at recess, hanging around in trees, and wandering back to the creek probably had as much to do with lack of obesity in my farm community as working on the farm did. If we stayed around the house, someone always found something for us to do.......

[Neoma]

7. ...People suck.

[Kalidurga]

10. So.......

Does this suggest Urban Youth should be sent off to farms to provide the labor that illegals that have run for the border used to do?

[Initech]

12. Once again the GOP proves themselves to be a black hole for logic.

[Nay]

13. How about mandating sidewalks for every neighborhood, so everyone could walk?