Ann Marie Buerkle's Cynical Farm Policy

Blueskygirl is struck by the starkness of Ann Marie Buerkle's fight to save businesses money at any cost, most recently if the cost is child safety.

Ann Marie Buerkle has come out against modernizing Federal labor regulations protecting children working on farms. 

Farming (and ranching) is the fourth most dangerous occupation in the country) after commercial fishing, logging and piloting. Children working on farms incur more injuries and deaths than any other industry in which they are employed. 

Farming occupational regulations protecting children under 16 haven't been updated since 1970 and continue to be a half-century or more behind child labor protections in other occupations. Equipment and processes, in the meantime, has been modernized, made bigger and more powerful and dangerous while safety devices get shortchanged by manufacturers or are easily defeated. 

Ann Marie Buerkle consistently uses her new-found power to shortchange the least protected and most vulnerable in our communities She has always come down, 100% of the time, on the side that protects the interests of "The 1%."

Her actions are unconscionable.

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Resources below include: 

1. The introduction to a chart from National Children's Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety comparing 1970s era child protections and recent proposed improvements,


2. A link to the above-mentioned comparisons, 

3. Recent statistics about farm-related child accidents.

1.  Agricultural Child Labor Hazardous Occupations Orders: Comparison of present rules with 2011 proposed revisions

By Mary E. Miller, R.N., M.N.

A century ago, child labor in the U.S. was an accepted practice across all industries. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 took children under 16 out of most workplaces for their own safety and over time has restricted the most hazardous work activities for 16- and 17-year-olds. Agriculture has been the lone exception. Originally, most farms were small family operations and child labor was considered necessary. The 21st century agricultural work environment is much different. Farms are larger and more specialized, with new technologies, processes, machinery and equipment.

Now the U.S. Department of Labor is proposing new rules regarding the Agricultural Child Labor Hazardous Occupations Orders (Ag H.O.). The agricultural H.O.s describe work activities that are particularly hazardous to young workers under age 16, such as operating machinery and working in and around silos and grain handling facilities. The proposed changes will be the first update since 1970. They are based on a comprehensive evaluation conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which reported on its evaluation in 2002 and made recommendations concerning both non-agricultural and agricultural hazardous occupations orders. As a result of the report, regulations for non-agricultural HOs were revised and became effective in 2010. Recommendations to bring the agricultural H.O.s more closely in line with non-agriculture are included in the recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. For example, the use of power-driven equipment, which has been prohibited for 14- and 15-year-olds employed in non- agricultural industries for over 50 years, is included in the proposal. NOTE: The updated rules would continue to exempt family farms and do not provide protections for 16- and 17-year-olds. Both of these changes would require an act of Congress.

Tables …[please use link]... highlight current and proposed agricultural H.O.s. A full paper examining the changes – including historical background and additional recommendations not covered in the current proposal – will be published as part of a dedicated issue of the Journal of Agromedicine. “The 2012 Blueprint for Protecting Children in Agriculture,” Volume 17, Issue 2, is scheduled for publication April 2012.

2.     Comparison of 1970 farm labor protections for children with 2011 proposals. 

3.      Childhood Farm Injuries Facts:

• More than 23,000 children under 19, are injured on farms every year in the United States
• The majority of childhood farm injuries occur to boys between 10 and 15
• Farm machines are responsible for the majority of deaths that occur on farms
• Most farm injuries occur in rural areas where medical care is sparse and vital treatments are delayed due to inaccessibility
• More than 50% of debilitating injuries involve tractor collisions or tractor roll-overs
• Silo injuries and deaths show the biggest jump in numbers over the past ten years, compared with other sources of farm injuries

From: Down On The Farm: Why Farms Post Real Dangers For Children & Teens; thank you to: Jonathan Rosenfeld, Child Injury Laws Blog, April 29, 2011, for posting these statistics.

Buerkle Confuses the Hippocratic Oath and the Hypocritic Oath

VA doctors and dentists, according to Ann Marie Buerkle's recent amendment to H.R. 2074, the Veterans Sexual Assault Prevention Act, can pay for continuing medical education out of their own pockets from now on. This is her especially cynical approach to cutting the budget. She was a nurse one day long ago. As she graduated from nursing school she may have taken the "Florence Nightingale Pledge," similar to the Hippocratic Oath: I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, .... I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, .... With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician, in his[sic] work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care. Don't ever confuse her with Florence Nightingale. She is hard as nails. Especially galling for veterans and those who support them in every possible way is that she wraps herself in the flag of veteran-love at every public opportunity, shaming anyone who would question her or her loyalty to her rigid beliefs and to her handlers and funders. Documentation from the American Federation of Government Employees' website: NVAC [National VA Council] Successfully Defends Medical Education Reimbursement: AFGE’s National VA Council recently blocked another attempt to eliminate reimbursement for continuing medical education (CME) programs for VA physicians and dentists -- and with bipartisan support. The full House Committee on Veterans' Affairs last week had a markup hearing to consider a number of health care bills, including an amendment introduced by Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle to H.R. 2074. The Buerkle amendment would have completely eliminated all reimbursement currently payable to full time, board certified VA physicians and dentists. This proposal to eliminate CME reimbursement was also included in the VA’s list of requested legislation submitted to House Speaker John Boehner earlier this year. The existing reimbursement amount of $1000 is very modest compared to the cost of the courses that clinicians must take to remain employed and certified, and it has not been increased since 1991. AFGE is working with lawmakers to increase the CME amount and expand eligibility.

Buerkle Cynically Misrepresents the Meaning of the Declaration of 1776

Ann Marie Buerkle made a claim at the Manlius Republican Community Forum last week that made Blueskygirl's skin crawl. 

Buerkle claimed, without proof, that the Declaration of Independence either explicitly or tacitly guarantees the Right to Life in the context of opposing abortion.

Here is the beautifully crafted sentence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Can she be serious? Has she ever studied the meaning and context of the Declaration? How could thousands of historians and philosophers have missed this?

While the words "right" and "life" do appear in the Preamble of the Declaration, no serious scholar has ever suggested that the words refer to the issue of abortion.  

To the contrary, it points to the grievances that the colonies had against England, which included infringement of individual freedom.

To distort it to serve the Tea Party or the narrow concerns of the Right to Life movement is a disgrace.

Happy Independence Day.