Today's WTF Moment Brought to You By Maine's Governor.......

I don't even work 50 hours a week, and I am willing to be the governor doesn't either, and now he wants teenagers to work that much?????

Maine Governor: Allowing Kids to Work 50 Hours a Week "Not A Big Deal"
posted by: Robin Marty

The governor of Maine has now signed a bill into law that will roll back some of the protections placed to ensure that businesses protect employees under the age of 18.

Governor Paul LePage has signed legislation allowing teens to work up to 50 hours a week, as well as up to 8 hours a day after school, when maximum conditions are met.

Via Digital Journal:


Generally, the hourly increases under the law are modest. The daily maximum increased from 4 to 6 hours per day, with the total during a full week of school rising from 20 to 24 hours. These standards apply on weeks that have at least three days of school, and except both the first and last week of school. However, the maximum, under certain circumstances, nearly doubles. A child may work 8 hours following school on the last scheduled school day of that week, and 50 hours per week during any week that has three or fewer school days. A child may also work until 10:15PM on any school night. This means, that with respect to enforcement, a child may, on any given day be working until 10:15PM without appearing to violate the statute, unless the child's full schedule is documented, documented correctly, and such documentation is available for inspection.

According to the Journal, argument revolved around the fact that teens make up a large percentage of the minimum wage jobs in the state. No doubt many businesses have an interest in maximizing the amount of work that can be done by these low income earners, rather than actually provide a higher, living wage for the work so that employees who don't need to be in school, but also have to support themselves and possibly families, can afford to take those jobs.

Luckily, the additional proposal to create a subminimum wage for workers under age 20 appears to have failed.

Maine currently has an 8 percent unemployment rate.

LaPage, who says he worked since the age of 11, claims the change in law is "not a big deal." "Work never hurt anybody."

(no subject)

Somebody plase explain to me how Obama is a Democrat.........

Obama Admin Rescinds Wilderness Protection
posted by: GinaMarie Cheeseman

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sent a letter on Wednesday to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management reversing his December 2010 order to make millions of acres of public land eligible for wilderness protection. The December order reversed the Bush administration's 2003 policy which opened up Western federal land to commercial development.

The memo mentioned that on April 14, 2011 Congress passed an appropriations bill which included a provision prohibiting the use of appropriated funds for the December order.

A blog post on the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) points out that the congressional members who prohibited appropriated money from being used for the December order are "emboldened by the same oil and gas interests that opposed the Wild Lands policy."

Environmental groups are naturally upset by the memo. William Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society, said, "Without strong and decisive action from the Department of Interior, wilderness will not be given the protection it is due, putting millions of acres of public lands at risk."

MSNBC reported that a letter was sent to Congress from 50 representatives from six Western states. "Rural counties with wilderness or other protected federal lands experience greater economic and population growth than those without wilderness," the letter said.

"A decision by the Department of the Interior today to not implement the Bureau of Land Management Wild Lands policy threatens the very infrastructure supporting the nation's recreation economy," the Outdoor Industry Association said in a press release.

"Repeal of the No More Wilderness policy should have been the Obama administration's top priority for public lands when it won the 2008 election," said the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) in a press release. "Not so. Instead, the administration dithered for nearly two years before reversing the policy -- sort of. It issued new, weak guidance -- the Wild Lands policy -- which was better than nothing. Today, they've retreated to nothing."