Newt Gingrich Says It's Tragic That Poor Kids Cannot Work

I am not very knowledgeable about federal and state child labor laws. But I would say a job gives a person no matter what the age a sense of purpose, a sense a pride, and dignity. I am not condoning parents to send their kids out to work 40 hours a week by any means, but government restrictions on children earning a wage may backfire on those who promote child labor laws with the best intentions in mind. If we are really concerned about child labor and human dignity maybe we need to buy lest products from China.

And know one is forcing us to buy China products. Trust me, I know that there are many things that can only be bought from China, but maybe we should learn to live without or start producing our own.

Some companies are starting to return to the states now, like furniture makers, because costs are rising in China. So, that's a good thing. Newt's a turd who just wants to clothe child labor in the mantle of giving poor kids a chance to work.

BOY ' NEWT ' is a fig to be certain . . . his divorces and extramarital relationships

-- Gingrich's first wife, Jackie Battley Battley, who is seven years older than Gingrich, had been Gingrich's high-school math teacher in Columbus, Ga. They began dating after he graduated and were married in 1962, when Gingrich was 19 and a freshman at Emory University in Atlanta


Let's remember, Newt famously dumped wife #1 for wife #2 while wife #1 was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery. As in literally went to the hospital to present her with divorce papers while she was recovering from surgery for uterine cancer.

He eventually dumped wife #2 for wife #3 shortly after wife #2 was diagnosed with MS back in 1999. And he was having the affair on wife #2 with wife #3 while he was turning the country upside down trying to drive Bill Clinton from office over his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Gingrich has been married three times. In 1962, he married Jackie Battley, his former high school geometry teacher, when he was 19 years old and she was 26. Gingrich and Battley have two daughters from this marriage: Kathy Gingrich Lubbers is president of Gingrich Communications, and Jackie Gingrich Cushman is an author, conservative columnist, and political commentator whose books include 5 Principles for a Successful Life, co-authored with Newt Gingrich. In the spring of 1980, Gingrich left Battley after having an affair with Marianne Ginther. In 1984, Battley told the Washington Post that the divorce was a "complete surprise" to her

And?

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On skimming, seems like this is old news, not nice (some quite thoughtless and/or nasty) for sure; but (according to dem/liberal/progressive thought - or however those who are not conservative classify themselves these days) not that newsworthy in the scheme of things, not likely to affect his policies or his ability to do his job.

And as progressives like to say about Obama's association with Billy Ayers and the 'Marxists and radicals' of his college days, . . . they are in the past. Further, these things you have noted about Newt are truly things of the past in the past.

However, if he ever snogs a Whitehouse intern while he is president and then lies about it for months to everyone AND their pets (including all of Congress), call me right away and we'll see what we can do about it together.

It's about losing the union janitors....Right Lora?

As a kid I worked in my families business did yard work and had a newspaper route.
Seems having a 14 year old taking out the trash and getting paid for it is not a bad idea.

Union busting with child labor? Eeek!

At 12 I swept and cleaned for a beauty shop owned by my best friend on weekends. I loved working! Was grateful for the opportunity. The praises I got for my diligence stayed with me, and it was nice to have some of "my own money". I also worked for Christmas money every year addressing Christmas cards for a man down the street. He had worked all over the world, and had a huge list. I remember I was paid a nickel per card. It was a help to him, and gave me Christmas money, once again, "my own money", I loved my childhood labor.

I grew up on a farm - I know child labor.

I'm also not very knowledgeable re: child labor laws, but I think there are exemptions people can apply for. The laws prevent child exploitation. I'm sure Newt couldn't have meant that kids should be able to be exploited. Perhaps, he is unaware of the exemptions.

The smartest man in the world unaware of exemptions?

Horrors!

What it's about is destroying more middle class jobs, more parents' jobs, and paying children cheap wages.

What I would like to know, is when the republicans will finally get around to taking a serious look at Ron Paul.

They, the LMSM, are already talking 3rd party run for Ron Paul. The only difference between his run and Ross Perot's will be he has said he will NOT go 3rd party because it will assure more of the same. Learn from mistakes, people. If we split the vote, we will get 4 more years.

Char - you assume a third party candidate would hurt the Republican vote? I am not so sure about that.

It's scary when they vote to cut education funding year after year decade after decade, and make poor quality pizza and fries into official "vegetables" for them to eat, and now tell them to work menial jobs they will learn nothing from. Sad.

Education spending has grown continually since 1980 something like 200%, and per pupil numbers are way up too, so don't know where you are getting that information. The only thing that has hasn't gone up for all that increase are test scores and graduation rates...
I don't think pizza is the problem, LOL.

but Newt, I thought you wanted FEWER people getting a government paycheck, not MORE. And why did you talk as if underage work is only great for poor black kids? I didn't hear you mention rich white kids, did I?

I was setting in a meeting of local non-profits and the issue of lack of funds and people not having employment came up. The was a real concern about how the state budget was removing many people from the cash assistance rolls over the next few months and how each agency was struggling to provide what they could to fulfill the added needs.

And one perpson was talking about the training being provide for people do well in the interivews and with resumes. Another was fretting about the lack of an employment when still another who had been in a meeting with local businesses, many in manufacturing, describe how employers had hundreds of opening (we are a relavtively small urban community) which they were unable to fill because they couldn't find people who would show up on time, who would dress properly for the work environment, who would take direct (listen to their boss), and all that before they talked about the need for skills.

In Michigan our county has one of the higher rates of unemployement, and our local employers have jobs going unfilled due to what seems to me to be a lack of work ethic.

What makes me think of this relative to the post is, when, where, and how do kids learn the work ethic that employers need to be a reliable supplier?

Kids learn their work ethic from their parents!
My Dad worked every day of his life. When his company (where he worked for 20+ years) shut down, he had to go on unemployment. He hated it. He was out every day looking for work and even worked two jobs to get off unemployment.
I did not work when I was young. But I have worked every day since my 17th birthday...and sometimes worked two jobs at a time.
I can tell you that I would not have been pleased to have to clean my school where richer kids could see me. When I was in school, it was an embarassment for kids that got free school lunches. I heard rich kids talking about those kids.
It's OK for a kid to have a paper route or to help on the family farm.
It's NOT OK for them to have to work at their school for a paycheck.
If their parents are working and able to make a decent living, this will do more for a kid than anything else. Kids learn by example.

Lora,

I agree that kids learn most from watching. The earliest I can rememeber working was when I was eight, I had to help my Dad by getting tools for him, when I was ten I had to do so painting (an area he specified on the exterior of our house) before I could go off to baseball practice, I believe it was 12 or 13 when I had my first money earning job, delivering newspapers once a week.

My daughters started working at 6 & 8 by helping us finish off our basement, bring tools/ cleaning up drywall scraps, they moved on to painting (primer), sewing, and cooking as part of their respsonsibilities as part of the house. They had work time. My wife had similar experiinces to me except was more the traditional of the times, so we agreed on how to include that in our childrens learning.

However, if a kid doesn;t have a parent that can teach them how to work, where do they learn to work if not by working at an early age?

Duane - Good question. And I don't know the answer to that. When so many parents are out of work, a kid doesn't really have a place to learn a work ethic. Especially if the parent has given up on trying to find work.
In my opinion, a presidential candidate should be more focused on finding jobs for ADULTS rather than talking about putting kids to work.
Kids have always had little jobs like paper routes and babysitting that got them some extra money that was their own. But to say that a kid 13 years old should be working for a paycheck is absurd.
Newt perhaps could have had "good" intentions with his comments but as usual, they came out sounding really insulting. Not good for a President.

Lora,

" finding jobs for ADULTS rather than talking about putting kids to work" but when do you invest in people for the long-term? Why do we feel that education of our young is so important? If it is so they will have the skills to work and earn a living, what good are the skills if they don;t know how to work?

Our schools don;t seem that interested or effective in teaching work ethic, though band and sports are a good tool. Why not allow them to work in a controlled setting and make it part of their education?

What is so bad about working for a paycheck, is give a conseqeunce to the work habit? Is a paycheck that much different than the score on the games scoreboard? WHy do kids and fans enjoy sports? Would they be as enthusiatic if there were not score kept?

Duane - they have something for kids that want to learn how to work - trade schools. Kids can choose to finish out their high school years learning (and actually doing) a trade. School is for learning. I don't think the two should be mixed. Middle school and high school are supposed to prepare kids for college. For kids that don't want to go to college, they can take the skilled labor path.
Like I said, Newt's message could be well-meaning --- his delivery is wrong and that guy will never figure out how to do anything with class or dignity. His personal life demonstrates that and it spills over into his professional life. Honestly, I don't know how he has managed all these years to not get punched based on how he talks to people. His delivery is very confrontational.

Lora,

I am one that believes in the value of 'trade schools' though I am not so clear on what is different in the academics from college prep?
As best I can tell all if the trades use algebra, geometry, advanced algrebra, a bit of trigonometry. As for the literature, it seems that all need the part fro communications because without that good ideas and good skills most likely won't happen. As for the languages, the only one that is universal in use is computer languages.

But even the trade school don;t necessarily teach the work ethic. If kids aren;t held accountable on attendence, on homoework, on taking direction, on being courtious (listening to others). The school claim a preoccupation with testing, but that wasn;t the case last time the ACT scores were up.

I hope we can find are way back as a Country. Getting handouts from gvt. agencies for doing nothing lnstills a losser society. The american indians were the first victims. Now we have perpetual poor famlies getting every sort of asistance from gvt. with no payback. This creates cheating, lazy habits, etc. Work ethic should be learned at a young age. It should be learned in the home, but if not there then in school in the early grades.
Newt as usual is right on. Liberal and progressive policies just don't work in the long run.

Newt is half right on one issue. And not for benevolent reasons. He really doesn't give a sh** about poor people or children.

You are right Ali - Newt Gingrich only cares about his wealthy, conservative, christian base...and himself. He's a pig.

Ali and Lora Newt didn't get to his present status by not caring for people. You are both liberal thinkers and can not find a way to accept that current leaders in your party are wrong about creating huge deficits for all the people to help some of the people now. We can't buy our way out no way!

careing

Norman, you're full of newt. Gingrich is a morally bankrupt charlatan who has made was kicked out of congress, made millions of dollars from entities that he said other people should go to jail for, cheated on his wives and took millions to help deprive regular Americans from access to healthcare.

THe only person Newt cares about is Newt.

And it has been the absolute failure of Republican economic, regulatory, foreign relations, and energy policies, from Ronald Reagan to Bush 43, that have put this country where it is now. And their willingness to tank the economy for political advantage makes Gingrich the absolute right candidate for them.

The personification of greed representing the party of greed.

Ali said it exactly right.
Our country is going to fail because Republicans are holding true to some bullshit "pledge" they took for that Bond villian, Norquest. They are more worried about their own asses than doing their job for the people.
Democrats care about people. Republicans care about money.

Lora, you prioritize "dignity" over paying bills or buying food, by making people dependant on the government for handouts. I say that someone learning a good work ethic at 14 will have more real "dignity" than your shallow interpretation.