State Senator Jane Cunningham Wants to Put Missouri Kids to Work

• What about the right of a child "to be a child"?  Usually, I am very supportive of Senator Cunningham.  However, do we really want to go back to the days of "Oliver Twist" as documented by Charles Dickens.    It is common sense for families to all chip in on the family farm.  However, there has to be some common sense here in trying to have work done by "diaper dandies".    Also in case Senator Cunningham hasn't read the "Wall Street Journal", there are no jobs out there to start with. 

• grrrr... f**@#$FT%$$#SKI*)@&!!!!!!

• Generation of pussies? You mean a generation who won't work for under minimum wage. Illegals are paid under the table and work for less than minimum wage. So yes they are taking American jobs. 

• Illegal aliens do take our jobs! Don't pull the bs that they do the jobs Americans won't. How would you know, if you never gave them a chance to do them?

• And some people think we no longer need labor unions! I think we're gonna need them now more than ever!

• It never fails to amaze me how liberal/progressives like to posture themselves as though they are the avant-garde of open mindedness. When in fact, they are the most narrow minded, intolerant, noninclusive people who walk the face of the earth.     

• tell the child laborers in china and southeast asia those places don't exist any more

• you sir are a genius

• There are not even enough jobs today for 20+!! A child's only obligation is getting an EDUCATION!

•  It isn't going to happen and for a lot of good reasons. Next!

• It is enlightening to see all the liberals in this crowd, and their inherent distrust for families and parents to make the right decisions for themselves, and their inherent trust in government to make the right decisions for them.  That is the difference between Republicans and Democrats: where they place their trust.

• I worked as a teen.  Great experience.  As a parent of teens, it is sad that they cannot have the same experience.  It is also sad that people are mischaracterizing this bill.  This is about oppotunity.  Kids these days couldn't get the 1900 sweat shop jobs if they wanted them.  Those places don't exist anymore. 

• How about putting Missouri ADULTS to work? What a concept!

• The bill is anti communist in that one of Karl Marx's Communist planks calls for "the abolition of child labor in its present form." Read 'em all here: www.morpix.biz.x15. I believe the reason that Marx chose those words was to create an "army" of unemployed to be available for rioting and the draft. Consider those opposed to the bill are pro communist.

• I am literally weeping right now. The Republican party members have lost their souls. They have lost all since of humanity. I am hoping that this women will be booted out!

• Sounds to me like she wants to turn the entire State into a Mennonite child abusing community.

• Have you SEEN the show "Dirtiest Jobs"??? What jobs are those ones that Americans won't do???

• When was this woman born??? Were her parents strict and used the work ethics of the labor bosses of the past that used children of all ages, 3 or 4 was perfect to work in some factories. I believe that if she wants to instill a ethic for the children to use to make their time useful then they should not cut the after school programs and have adult volunteers to help to provide usable information for teens as to how to fill out an employment form and the importance of trying to find a job when there are no jobs to be had for adults. This is nonsense and the problem is that she thinks that she has good reasoning about this. I doubt that she worked at age thirteen, my daughter did and had the privilege of using her earned money on things that she wanted, but we couldn't get for her. That was almost 25 years ago and in a very small town, not in any urban environment.

• It seems to be the fad now a days that our government belongs to their own little political group called: Morons Gone Wild. They have used every piece of energy in their evil selves to abuse our kids and making all these crazy f***ed up laws to hurt them as well. I was watching a documentary the other night and they were talking once again about the world ending in 2012, for once in my life I welcomed that end, this is what the government will do to you, unless there is more GOOD to fight all the evil well the only recourse would be the coming of the rapture. America is in a sad state of affairs thats for sure, and for what? Idiots in an under statement.

• The notion that this would mean children would be chained to workbenches in sweatshops is beyond ridiculous. No surprise that the AFL-CIO is against it. They're against anything they think will make it easier to get work without a union card.

• It is time, people, to call out these ugly Christians for what they are. They are amoral. It's no surprise. They worship a DOCUMENTED genocidal deity. Think about that. They WORSHIP a genocidal deity. If you 'believe' that that sort of behavior is rational, logical or healthy, YOU need your head examined as well.

• The MOST significant part of this total-waste-of-time bill is how she also stuffed into it the removal of inspections. You see, she KNOWS ahead of time, that those corporate masters will be exploiting those children. And because she's a Christian (eg, without a shred of moral behavior) she doesn't care about the implication of an unregulated business employing minors.

• Ms. Cunningham is a crackpot. There is plenty of opportunity for kids to work in their teens under existing laws. Tea Party--how is this helping, exactly??

• Your 15 year old CAN have a job, in MO their current laws allow children to work at 14. I personally had a job at 15, in Texas. And this bill can make parents force their child to work. Plus, why open up more people to the job market??? Now 18 year olds will have to compete with 15 year olds for the same fry cook job. Let the kids go to school and study!

• If you can put children to work, they aren’t going to school. If children aren’t going to school, the education budget can be reduced. Thereby taxes can be lowered for the taxpayers that are out of work because a ten year old kid got their job.

• What in God's name is Cunningham smoking? And how did she get elected? The people in this country really puzzle me.

• Why are Americans so stupid?

• You are the IDIOT! What is wrong with YOU? What planet are you from? Are you mentally challenged? Or are you just plain evil? Poeple like you should be put in an internment camp with a definate schedule for an abandoned island somewere....fool.

• Jane Cunnigham is a Republican Tea Party member. Do you like that idiot? The Republican party and the Tea Party are chock full of idiots. Idiots ARE what is wrong with america. If you are a conservative, then you too are either an idiot or evil.

• What planet do you live on? Are you mentally challenged? Your statement is hogwash. Shame on you.

• Well, maybe she is a true patriot and is just worried about all the jobs shipped over seas! If we could match the labor laws of china, just imagine how many jobs could be brought back to our shores. If all the big electronic firms could supervise the 10 year olds building circuit boards right here in the USA, it would be much easier than having to ship the finished product all the way back from China! See, the American people just had to be willing to get with the program! Cunningham is a real reverse-pioneer!

• Surfer George, let me clarify. I agree with you about common sense - just giving another piece of the picture. I'm just mentioning the work that can go along with food, rest and education in giving young people a good foundation for adulthood. Not all work brings in a paycheck. Volunteer work is also hard work that can be a good learning experience. But of course, Cunningham being a Republican would put a dollar amount on everything.

• How about some common sense? Let them do chores around the house, care for the lawn, wash the car --- learn to contribute something back to the family without always expecting a paycheck. Let them learn how good it feels to accomplish something and to be a responsible member of society. Oh no! I guess I am sounding like some sort of socialist or something! Worked for my folks. They raised 5 hard working children who all went on to have good careers.

• CORRECTION: when your friends WRITE the rules? And who do the legislators work for again? How MUCH proof ..... I really do know how to spell and type - just sometimes forget to proofread before hitting the Post as...

• This definitely sound like "slaves" more than "prisoners". Couldn't this be considered a form of double dipping on the part of the private prison companies. They get paid by the taxpayers to house the inmates and then get to charge for their labor? Isn't it sweet when your friends right the rules? And who do the legislators work for again? How many proof do we need that the legislators (state & federal) work for the corporations?

• Back in the '70's, my youngest brother got a job as a "trainee" at a well known local florist shop when he turned 16. He was so excited and would have done almost anything to prove himself. (He had a good work ethic - our family was always really big on work.) The shop owners explained to him that they couldn't pay him while he was in "training". He was naïve and thought that sounded reasonable. He didn’t say a word to my parents. After a week at “work” he confided in me, his big Sis, that he was frustrated. He didn’t know how he was going to be able to learn to be a florist when they had him out every day driving a delivery truck for his "training". I was outraged and went to our folks. They were furious. They stepped in and made him quit. The funny end to this story is that he never lost his tremendous work ethic. He studied hard, got his degree, and put in 18 work hours a day if necessary. Thirty five years later, he is a partner in a major CPA firm and is in the top 1.5% on the income chart! And he is still a dyed in the wool liberal Democrat! ……….And the florist went out of business.

• You are so right! Young teens don't have the emotional and mental capacity to fully understand the concept of "delayed gratification". Instead of going to school they would rather make a few bucks an hour so they can buy the latest fad or electronic gadget! That is why the PARENTS have to step in to make sure the kids get their education, even if they have to drag them screaming and kicking! There are plenty of ways kids can make money without a "real" job like scrubbing toilets for some cheap motel chain. Baby sitting, mowing lawns, shoveling snow, running errands for an elderly or disabled neighbor, washing cars, walking dogs, all things my brothers and I did before we turned 16. But my parents were adamant - school came first. In college, because I was managing a B+ average, my parents allowed me to work on Saturdays as long as my grades didn't drop. I was a master at "delayed gratification". The money I earned went towards helping my parents pay for my college education.

• The bosses will decide to hire the super young since they are more easily cowed on the job. When the children take up the few available jobs, then there will be fewer jobs for the mothers and fathers.

• Golly. They should just stop funding schools there. What would be the point? Plus, they could stop funding welfare, unless everyone in the house over the age of three is employed by the parks department picking up trash with little child-sized sticks. It will be a boon for the garment industry! Adults who want jobs will have to move to another state, however.

• Well, I hope she is proud of making an ass out of our state. Now the guys who make those Taiwanese news animations have let the world know. http://www.nma.tv/missouri-lawmaker-weaker-child-labor-laws Can we impeach a congressperson?

• Just because some West County pre-teens need some sense knocked into them doesn't mean we should change the laws. Now the children in low-income homes with six kids are all going to be walking straight from school to McDonald's and handing their pay check to mom because they can't cash it and keep it for themselves. Nice move, Jane.

• Is it required that you be an idiot to be a Republican,or does it just work out that way?

• that's total bullshit, sorry

• What a shitty life your kid must have. If you have them do chores and some advanced stuff for friends or relatives or even help at a family business during the summer or on weekends that is fine. KIDS DO NOT BELONG WORKING AT FUCKING HOTELS/MOTELS WHERE THEY CAN BE DRAGGED INTO A ROOM AND RAPED OR AT SOME SWEATSHOP MAKING SHOES AND BACKPACKS FOR KIDS WITH REAL PARENTS THAT SEND THEM TO SCHOOL. THIS WHY YOU ASSHOLES VOTED FOR THIS BITCH, NO CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS.

• When you say "allow people to work if the (sic) chose to do so" are you refering to a 12 year old's right to choose? Lets open this up then - they should then have the right to vote, drive and drink at their age - but it's their choice since "This bill isn't making ANYONE do ANYTHING!" Please expand....

• Have you taken a history class? I would HATE to be your child.

• Great lets go back to the 1920s

• called Jane Cunningham's office yesterday. A gentleman answered the phone and I asked what the rationale could possibly be behind repealing the Child Labor Laws. I could NOT BELIVE the response I received. I was told that Senator Cunningham wanted them repealed due to the fact that (not kidding in any way shape or form), "a parent could go to jail for paying their child $20.00 for mowing the lawn". Seriously, that was the answer. When I asked him to tell me of one single, just one time that that has happened, he agreed that it never had. I pointed out that kids had participated for centuries in family business and that it was a very American tradition. I also pointed out that children need to be in school not working in the local factory so that corporations could get cheap labor. That statement led me to asking about what the Senator was doing about education in this state. He answered with, "I really don't want to go into it. The Senator wants to keep her plans and legislation on the down low. She really doesn't want it to be public knowledge". When I stated that it's SUPPOSED to be public knowledge, he disputed it and said that wasn't true. I then accused the Senator Cunningham of trying to "backdoor" legislation without the public's knowledge. It was pretty much at that point that I was summarily dismissed.

• I know what you mean. As a high school teacher, I taught many students who were forced under threat of losing their jobs to work hours that were not favorable to their education, even though the original job did not include late hours. These kids come to school tired and many without having done their homework. Schools are constantly criticized for the level of student achievement, and I have seen too many high school kids whose work schedule has been a detriment to their education. To compound this problem by eliminating age limits can only worsen the problem. What is wrong with this woman? No one is going to report a 13 year old who babysits for a family friend on a Friday night. But that certainly does not translate into throwing out laws that have protected children.

• There is no comment I can make to this except that it is wrong on sooooo many levels!

• Jane Cunningham's the same eejit who's always trying to pass legislation to make libraries hide any books about the homosexual lifestyle so kids can't be exposed to them. I thought she was only homophobic--now I see she's homophobic AND callous. Another great voice for the GOP.

• I think this is awesome, my 15 year old has been wanting a real job since he was 12. What's wrong with kids learning what it takes to buy the things they want? This bill isn't going to force kids to work it's going to LET them work.

• This will only drive down employee wages. I worked when I was 16 and it was good for me. But, really if parents want their kids to learn the value of work they should teach them at home by giving them chores. 14 is the youngest someone should be working anyway and that's already in the law so they should just leave it alone.

• Hey...I got an ideal!!!!! Lets start going backwards....Wonder if Mrs. Cunningham worked for a wage when she was a child?

• Clearly, she's given up on education and childhood. Common sense is what she calls this impulsive, lame proposal. But in truth, her idea makes absolutely NO sense.

• get screwed by a whitey dentist or a whitey corporation...same thing.

• Thanks to the people that voted republican't there is nowhere that the idiots haven't infected with shit. WE MUST FIX THIS AND VOTE THEIR STUPID ASSES OUT IN 2012 TO SAVE AMERICA!

• Shame and boycott any company that dares to take advantage of this piece of republican asswipe legislation!

• You know gwo, that it will not be paper routes and lawn mowing jobs that they are talking about. Without any child labor laws or for Gods sake, inspections then corporations will have cheap labor to exploit at the expense of the future of this country...do you want that person in the nursing home wiping your ass to have an education of some sort? Wake up Mr. Fucking Wilson! It ain't Dennis the Menace or Wally and the Beaver anymore!

• STUPID ENEMA BAG! THIS WILL ALLOW FRIGGIN TACO BELL AND THE LAZY 8 MOTEL AND OTHER ALL NIGHT BUSINESSES TO EXPLOIT THE DESIRE TEENS HAVE FOR SPENDING MONEY OR TO BUY CLOTHES BECAUSE THEIR PARENTS ARE OUT OF WORK NOW! IT WILL LEAD TO ALL KINDS OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES! DID YOU PEOPLE ACTUALLY VOTE FOR THIS STUPID BITCH? CAN WE TRADE OUR STUPID BITCH FROM ARIZONA IN FOR A FEW MISSOURI DAIRY COWS? AT LEAST WE WOULD GET SOMETHING USEFUL FROM THEM. HERZLANE YOU ARE THE IDIOT.

• Disgusting corporate whore! Kids have a hard enough time getting through school. Another sickening way the conservatards want to keep the American people tired, uneducated,poor and unhealthy. I bet you thought you were going to get rational governing from these assholes. You people screwed up and now your kids are going to pay for it! And why no inspections? To allow the corporations to prostitute your children in secret? I say a nationwide boycott of ANY COMPANY THAT THINKS THEY WILL ENJOY USING TEENS FOR CHEAP LABOR!

• mainly because Adults to that for their second or third job just to make ends meet. BTW the illegals pick berries now for a dollar a bucket. A FIVE GALLON BUCKET

• Prisoners already do the work that should go to private employers, The employers get FREE slave labor that should be given to the people in general as private JOBS. The private prison industry get paid for every inmate they farm out to do the jobs that the unemployed workers should have.

• It's not a matter of being 'gullable'..its a matter of your public employee wasting your taxes on a bill that brings back children working 80 hour weeks! how dare this elected official squander time and money on a horrible, mean bill like that one! children can already work unlimited hours- over 14 years and limited to 3 hours a schoolday and 8 hours a non school day for under age 13. Jane Cunningham (R - West County) wants to remove those limits. She introduced a bill, spent lots of state money and time. To try to allow children to work like they did in the early 1900s!. She should be impeached, she just got elected..you're stuck for years with a person who seems to be shooting from the hip.

• Is Cunningham on the Agri-business Committee? Child labor and repeal of the Min Wage sure fit into that committee's vision for MO. Children like being knee deep in puppies, and would take this 'job' for free.

• Your kids can already work unlimited hours when over age 14! Tell them to go out and get a job, you are their parent! Why does this person want children under 13 to work more than 3 hours on a school day or 8 hours a day on a non-school day? Little kids can legally still work a 30 hour week! Does she want 8 year olds working 50 hour work weeks in sweatshops? This is America and we care about our childrens well being first! How dare she wastes our state funds and wastes her time in office on bills that will NEVER pass!

• I like the photo you used for the article. To see more such photos of child labor, google Lewis Hine. It was largely due to the photographic work of Lewis Hine that child labor law reforms took place in America 100 years ago. It is nothing less than amazing that this legislator proposes to change that - it is also immoral and unchristian.

• First the women, now the children. What will happen when there's not another group to put to work to bail out American during hard times?

• Jane Cunningham (R - West County) is a dumb as a freaking stone!! children can already work in Mo....the law protects under 13 years from working more than 3 hours on a school day and 8 hours on any day. Over age 14 there is no limit at all on work hours. Jane Cunningham wants 8,13 year old children to work 80 hour weeks? Jane Cunningham there is and has been no law on the books stopping your teen children from working! They are just LAZY and do not want to work! Those lazy children are your kids! you deal with them! Unbelivable the VOTERS are so dumb to even vote into their legislature as stupid a person as Jane Cunningham. Now look how she wastes your legislatures time and spends thousands of your tax dollars writing bills that are so STUPID and harmfull..they will NEVER pass! Thatnks Jane Cunningham for placing america more in debt and trying to make american children work a 80 hour week in sweatshops! All because your own 2 teens are lazy teens! because you don't make them work!

• From another KC Star op-ed on the proposed legislation: "Actually, they are a help to parents. Without those restrictions, you have a scenario in which Susie, 13, is working at a sub shop. She has homework and she’s supposed to get off at 8 p.m., but the shift manager needs her to stay and close up because Fred didn’t show up for work. Susie calls her mom, who protests, but the boss is adamant and Susie really wants to keep her job so mom agrees, just this once. And pretty soon “just this once” becomes the routine. I have watched this happen with a 16-year-old, and only the labor laws keep employers from demanding unreasonable service from the under-16 workforce." (Read more: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/acute-distrust-government-drives-jane-cunninghams-quest-repeal-child-labor-protections/#ixzz1EFW9zQAi) This actually happened to me when I was 17. I began working at a pizza place a month before my high school graduation, and I pleaded with my boss not to schedule me for any closing shifts during the week (we closed at 11 p.m.) until after graduation. So she scheduled me for at least two a week, three during finals week. It was not uncommon for me to get home after midnight and START my homework. Imagine the widespread impact on grades (and test scores! let's not forget the precious test scores!) if this becomes the norm for many, many more young students. By the way, closing-shift employees got off work after the under-18 curfew in my hometown. That's another collateral issue in child labor. Suppose a 14-year-old kid gets off work down the street from his house (i.e., too close to make it worthwhile for a parents to drive him) at 1 a.m., and a cop picks him up for breaking curfew. A stretch? Yes. A possibility? Again, yes.

• That lady is a crock of s*%t !! all that will do is allow all of the perverts & pedifiles to have easy access to the children , I mean since she wants them to be able to work ALL hours of the day or night . Im with the others .. let HER children do it or let HER do it , if that is what she wants .Dont envolve everyone elses kids, cuz we actually care about them & their well being. In all honesty I really dont think this law will pass , or at least I would hope that one would have enough common sence not to ...

• Actually the "dark ages" refers to a period in time that is not documented very well by any written records. The term has nothing whatsoever to do with any cultural or economic characterizations. I just love how the pictures of 19th century urchins brings out all the gullible people. Why can't kids have paper routs anymore, or pick berries in the summer, or sweep up in the Baber shop for an hour a day? Geez. No wonder kids are fat and lazy.

• Put a couple pics of 19th century work house urchins in the article and the people of Missouri flip out. Boy you people are gullible. Nothing wrong with kids doing paper routs, picking berries, or any of the other stuff that kids used to do back when we weren't trying to grow a generation of coddled nit wits.

• lol @American politics for making the world a bit more like the dark ages ("Dark Ages" is a term referring to the period of cultural and economic deterioration)

• that cunningham is mean to the bone. i get soooo sick of small minded "sold out" people using their own personal life experiences as a standard by which all society should behave. do we really need to have children competing with adults for the dwindling supply of crumbs tossed by the global corporate and banking nwo ?

• Let's let the kids work as prostitutes . That way, we can replace Thailand as the destination for sex tourism with Missouri. You could go to Branson, watch some racist country act, and then get your rocks off with a 12 YO. What's not to like?

• LOL What a WITCH!

• "My aim is to put back some common sense,'' Cunningham told the Beacon. "We're not doing students any favor by telling them, 'You cannot work.' " <B>COMMON SENSE?</B> Common sense and SCIENCE says children and young adults should get food rest and education. Unless you're Justin Bieber, you'll need an education so that you don't spend your entire shortened life flipping burgers without health insurance or a retirement account.

• Please don't put the prisoners to work; take is cruel and unusual punisment.

• Good thing that ignorance is bliss, otherwise, Ms. Cunningham would be kicking herself all the way to the "nut" house!

• Like Lindsay Lohan?

• Illegal immigrants do the jobs your young teenage and twentysomethings won't do. We have raised a generation of pussies. Their lives have been handed to them on a silver plate so why should they have to do manual labor?

• Ahh, such a demise on the American infrastructure as child labor. We might as well demolish the Interstate Highway system. Pay people an honest wage for work that they do and this country can be great again.

• This is embarrassing... What an ignorant bitch.

• This is why I no longer live in Missouri. The crazys have taken over.

• Stupidity strikes again! When we were kids we were in school 6 1/2 hours a day and got 1 hour of homework. Todays kids are in school 7 hours and have 3 hours of homework a night. They are already overworked with no time left to play outside while its still light and an epidemic of obesity is the consequence. I'd like to see what would happened if we upped the adult work day to 10 hours of hard work. There'd be plenty of screaming about that.

• "i'm from the gummint you kin trust me to look afer the best interest of my constipationists, the biznus cummunty."

• Not people... children. Children need to be protected because they cannot protect themselves, and one of the main goals behind mandatory education was to get children out of the workhouses and factories. Just a century ago, kids would be sent to work adult jobs for a fraction of adult pay, to then have their pay confiscated by their parents to go toward the family income. We moved AWAY from the practice as a society, and we don't need to go back. Kids should not have to be responsible for bringing in family income for as long as they are minors. The responsibility of kids is to go to school and become educated enough to support themselves as they become adults. Children are NOT the property of parents, to be made to work like adults when they will receive neither the same pay nor same rights as adults. Child labor laws protect children from being exploited both by employers and by parents, because every kid should be allowed to get the right start in life... and that right start centers around education being the absolute most important. There is without a doubt considerable value in a teenager having a job to pay for their own car insurance, cell phone, and spending money, but that's all that teen jobs should be. And no child whose age does not include the word "teen" is old enough to have any kind of job what so ever.

• Alas, no. that's you. You're the idiot. But hey! Won't it be nice to have those five and six year olds back in the mines!! Just think of all the tight spots that they climb into. The heck with that larnin' thing. The people of Missouri don't need no edjumacation!

• @ HERZLANE- There are reasons that there are child labor laws. As long as the work isn't hazardous, kids as young as 12 can work now with parental permission. Hours are regulated to ensure that kids have enough time to study and get a good night's rest (work till 7pm during school, till 9 during summer). They can work up to 3 hrs on school days and 8 hours on non-school days. If you believe children should work longer hours than that, I wonder if you understand that children need some time to be children With no oversight, they will have no protection to guarantee that they are not abused by employees.

• What the heck is wrong with all of you people. This bill isn't making ANYONE do ANYTHING! The only thing it does is allow people to work if the chose to do so. WTF you people are Idiots.

• Awesome, and if they try and run, we can just chain them. I mean, what the heck, no inspections right?

• Awesome, todays lazy kids should be put to work lol. www.privacy-online.au.tc

• Yep, goodness knows there's way too many jobs around. This is ridiculous.

• File this bill under File 13. There's that little thing called the US Constitution. This bill is in grave violation of federal child employment laws.

• Everyone knows that children who work long hours turn out well-adjusted. Just look at child-stars.

• OK as a Canadian, and someone totally unaffected by this I am appalled and disgusted!! First of all like one poster said, what this will do is encourage parents to sit back, and watch their kids work while they dont. and the other thing it will do is increase the drop out rate in schools, lessening the higher education our children need to survive in later life! The other thing it will do is increase the ADULT unemployment rates. I dont know if it is the same in the US, but up here, under 18 is paid less than over 18. Their minimum wage rates are set up differently as are their taxes. But think about it, as an employer, who would you rather hire, a child who earns (examples only) $6 an hour, and you only have to pay out 10% in gvt fees (taxes and empl ins etc) or someone that you have to pay $10-$12 an hour and have more paperwork and have to pay out 20% in gvt fees (most of which is paid by the employee, but some is still paid by the employer also esp for benefits etc, which most places dont extend to under 18) If you want to increase the work ethic do what they do up here! MANDATORY volunteer work (I know, oxymoron, since you are voluntold instead of volunteered) where it counts as CREDITS to your graduation! you dont earn money, but you have a certain number of hours you have to complete to graduate, and you get graded on your attendance and performance, just as you would a normal job! or Co-Op! make that mandatory! dont go in and change the laws meant to protect the kids, and the adults for that matter, just to try and prove a point. While this idea may have sounded good in your head, I am sure it really doesnt look as good on paper...

• why am i NOT surprised. i'm sooo glad i joined the republican party. i get to vote against idiots in the primary and in the general. rino! conservatives say it like it's a bad thing.

• I like her idea- parents can have lots of kids and they can put them to work, getting paid substandard wages under the table because employees are exempted from labor standards; then the parents can stay home on the public dole because they have no jobs. I'm gonna adopt a lot of kids and move to Missouri!

• Is it April Fool's yet? This story has to be a joke. If it isn't I'm leaving this state before it slides backward any more.

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