Will Work for Food
I’ll tellin’ ya – mean is contagious.
West Virginia lawmakers have decided to ask non-profits like the Rotary Club to provide free or reduced lunches to school children. And children who live in rural neighborhoods or small towns with bad economies with no Rotary Club? Screw ‘um. They should have asked to be born rich. If God really loved them, there would be manna all over the ground for them to eat.
But, one Republican lawmaker has a solution.
Ray, Rand Paul called. He wants his hair back.
“I think it would be a good idea if perhaps we had the kids work for their lunches: trash to be taken out, hallways to be swept, lawns to be mowed, make them earn it,” Del. Ray Canterbury (R-Greenbrier) said during floor debate. “If they miss a lunch or they miss a meal they might not, in that class that afternoon, learn to add, they may not learn to diagram a sentence, but they’ll learn a more important lesson.”
Yeah, like how to be a yardman or a maid at Ray Canterbury’s house. And he could just pay them with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because they are used to that.
Learning is the real and invaluable work of children and
1food is the fuel which allows them to do this work.
Mr. Canterbury would have us return to the Dickensian world of workhouses for poor children. Seconds on gruel, anyone?
If mean is contagious, stupid is downright virulent amongst the GOP ignorati. But not to worry. I understand that stupidity is an effective tenderizing agent.
2Which one of the Repukes running for Prez thought school kids should be doing the janitorial duties at their schools in order to develop a good “work ethic?” Or was that one of the “All Mouth and No Brains” talking heads on Faux News? I simply cannot remember just who it was that thought janitorial work would be a good thing for the kids to do … anyone on here remember who that was?
My memory blocks out stupid coming from Faux News or the Repukes!!
3Dang. Is he married? Have kids? I wanna know what they have to do to get fed & clothed at his house.
4Marcia, I believe it was Newt Gingrich who had the idea that students could do janitorial work at their schools to save money and instill the work ethic. It went over like a fart in an elevator, and was funny to me inasmuch as Newtie never worked hard a day in his life. Grifting is so much easier.
5That was Gingrich Marcia. Ya know Newt the newt – the toxic variety.
Not married and no kids Lorraine – at least according to votesmart. Explains a lot doesn’t it?
6These people are flat unbelievable. The number of people, most of them children or elders, that go hungry in this wealthy nation of ours is beyond scandalous-it’s criminal!
And there that smug SOB sits, paid with Delaware tax dollars, and that’s the best he can come up with? You can bet HE isn’t missing any meals!
Jesus may have wept, but it’s my belief that he weeps. Still. I may just have to join him. 🙁 🙁 🙁
7Why not just send the kids back down into the coal mines. Then they can earn an hourly wage and buy there own darn lunch! It worked just fine in the 19th century and nobody got hurt but the kids. And I’m sure they learned from it.
8Rep. Canterbury’s plan comes with the added bonus that the school district could lay off its custodial workers (who are essentially govmint employees and who should be forced to find work in the private, profit-making sector) and then school taxes could be lowered. Oh yes, it’s a win-win situation for those who profess the greed creed.
9Yes! And what’s good for the children must be good for our representatives in Congress and Senate! I remember Mitch McConnell some years back say his number one job was to make sure Obama was not re-elected. His number one job is not to pass laws? What about the endless filibusters? So, since lawmakers aren’t worried about passing laws, to earn their pay maybe they could “work for their lunches, (there’s) trash to be taken out, hallways to be swept, lawns to be mowed, make them earn it. If they miss a (vote) they might not, in that (session) that afternoon, learn to (work), but they’ll learn a more important lesson.”
10We can only dream…
Blaming, shaming and forced child labor. What a wonderful message to send to disadvantaged people about how much we value them as human beings.
11Little. Pr*ck. That is all. Other than–how can these people live with themselves? Seriously.
12Don’t forget making spirit copies: As long as we are going back to the 40s and 50s. And haul in kerosene for the heater.
Going back to outhouses, too.
13Do these idiots go to a special school somewhere to learn that much hate? Obviously, he has never been hungry!
14I cease to be amazed by this anymore, we can give huge tax breaks to billion dollar corporations and do nothing about cheats that off shore their money but they want to put children to work to pay for a buck fifty lunch or whatever they charge for the junk they serve in schools these days. What happened to humanity, morals and decency?
15I think it would be good for ALL the kids to help clean up, rich or poor. Maybe they wouldn’t get so creative with their lunches otherwise. Otherwise this is a stigma. It wouldn’t hurt for legislators to help clean up either. I really voted for Obama because Michelle’s his wife. I figured she’d have him helping after dinner all the time.
16@publius bolonius: I would prefer that it made an effective contraceptive!
17Marcia, that was Newtie Ging-Rich! He automatically assumed that anyone in the deeply impoverished population was a.) inherently lazy and b.) not white. As Bugs Bunny would say, “what a marooon!”
18Rick, you nailed it!
Now would someone please contribute their copy of “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich to Rep. Canterbury? He really, truly needs her wisdom.
I would, but gave mine away years ago & it’s still traveling around.
19Btw.. speaking of children working in coal mines, I highly recommend “October Sky” a documentary movie that tells the true story of how a young kid from W.VA managed to get himself & 3 other guys out of working the coal mines & off to college by inventing rockets, who became a NASA engineer.
It wasn’t just a dream, he gathered 2 buddies & invited the smartest kid in the class to join them. They continued to build & test rockets until their teacher took notice & recommended they try out for the national science competition. They won full-ride 4-year scholarships to college.
Mr. Canterbury can’t even lick that man’s boots!
20I think this guy should be sentenced to watch George C. Scott in “A Christmas Carol” over and over again for eternity. “Are there no workhouses?”
21Love these comments! Anybody here remember “Harvest of Shame” the TV documentary that jump-started the US commodity program (which evolved into Food Stamps)?
I think Edward R. Murrow was the narrator.
It was about how the farm workers who harvested our food were relegated to hunger themselves.
This was back when outrageously greedy people could be shamed.
22How about Canterbury dong the work so the kids can eat.
23In all seriousness, I would not be surprised to see one or more Republican legislators propose a bill to bring back child labor.
24Soooooooooo sad.
25October Sky is based on Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam and the real story is even more inspiring. In a town where the only one to go to college was the lead football player on a sports scholarship, all 5 rocket boys (yep there was a larger group in real life) went to college. but they didn’t go on scholarships magically won at the science fair. They were so inspired by their accomplishment that they worked their way through school (some with military stints helping, some not)–real testimony that if you help young people create opportunities to pursue their dreams they can transform their own lives.
26We have a program here based on Big Ugly Creek called WV Dreamers that helps kids through after school and summer programs. And we have a full supper and snack every day after school and breakfast and lunch in the summer ’cause those kids work hard and they are hungry. (side note–almost had to shut down one of our sights because sequester cuts made a local school system pullout their support for buses home). We’ve been doing this for 17 years (parent organization Step by Step turns 25 this year) and watched kids become the first in their families to graduate from high school and the first to go on to college. If you support kids–get ’em tutoring, help them grow confidence in themselves as learners through arts, stem projects, etc, feed them and, oh yeah, respect and engage their families through oral history and gardening projects–those kids succeed through their own hard work.
27Thank goodness common sense prevailed and the WV lege ignored Stupid. I really think Ray should take a look at his political base again. There just aren’t all that many rich folks in WV and most of the people in my home state like kids. They do a lot of stupid voting but usually being mean to children is avoided. Young kids in the coal mines and helping the glass workers aren’t that far in the past that they don’t remember.
28Thanks to everyone for supplying Newt the Lizard’s name on the janitorial thing!!!
29This makes me weep.
30Please correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t free and reduced price lunches a FEDERAL program? I raised 4 children as a mom without child support and was grateful to have such help.
31