(2009-03-20) — As White House staff and the Obama family prepare for the first vegetable garden on the property since Eleanor Roosevelt’s Victory Garden, cries of protest arose today from the United Farm Workers union (UFW).
At issue is the president’s plan to employ 23 fifth-graders from nearby Bancroft Elementary school to dig, plant, weed and harvest everything from strawberries to arugula in the 1,100-square-foot plot.
An unnamed UFW spokesman said the project, driven by First Lady Michelle Obama, likely violates existing child labor laws, as well as “the spirit of collective bargaining upon which this great nation was founded — E Pluribus Unum — all for one.”
The UFW has demanded it be allowed to organize by means of a card-check vote, in which the 11-year-old laborers would be invited by their teachers to sign a card affirming their desire to unionize without a secret ballot.
“There’s a reason why vegetable harvesting is one of the many jobs that no American will do,” said the UFW source. “Hauling out those sheaves of arugula is back-breaking work. These little children aren’t smart enough to negotiate their own contracts, and so they need a father figure to decide what’s good for them. That’s what unions do for their members.”
“It is frankly shocking to most Americans,” he added, “that the first African-American president would send workers into the field without pay, to toil under the unforgiving sun, bearing the fruits of their labors to the table of the man in the big white house.”
32 responses so far ↓
1 Maggie // Mar 20, 2009 at 9:30 am
Michelle Obama states that she and the ghost ofMrs.Roosevelt ,sometimes walk the White House grounds together,singing verses of “Old Man River”.It was during one of these outtings that the idea of a vegetable garden was considered.Michelle adds:
“This will help the young people to know their “Roots”.
2 Ms RightWing, Ink // Mar 20, 2009 at 9:35 am
Will the King’s tasters nibble on the leafy green vegetables before they enter the portal of OB1’s taste buds.
3 R.A.M. // Mar 20, 2009 at 9:36 am
Barry must think he is a share cropper.
I bet Barry will be growing some marijuana in that garden too.
With the failure of this administration, we will ALL be growing our own food soon!
OT: Check out this story about an award for Murtha from the Navy: http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=92372
There is a link to sign a petition against him getting this.
4 Maggie // Mar 20, 2009 at 9:45 am
R.A.M.
Mr Obama probably already has a MaryJane plot.
That is why he need to use a teleprompter and why he bowls “like a contestent in the “Special Olympics”.
5 ref // Mar 20, 2009 at 9:51 am
How long until Nancy Pelosi’s un-American worker raids begin?
6 pgrossjr47 // Mar 20, 2009 at 9:52 am
Well since they attend DC schools at least they will be safe for a while and there is also some chance they will actually learn something!
7 camojack // Mar 20, 2009 at 9:53 am
“It is frankly shocking to most Americans,” he added, “that the first African-American president would send workers into the field without pay, to toil under the unforgiving sun, bearing the fruits of their labors to the table of the man in the big white house.”
Ouch. Just ouch. That is all..
8 gafisher // Mar 20, 2009 at 10:07 am
Ah, the image of those amber waves of arugula takes me back to the days when my people worked the Gore tobacco fields.
I wonder if the Obamas will open their plantation to the sort of kids he insulted on Leno?
9 R.A.M. // Mar 20, 2009 at 10:17 am
camojack re # 7: I’m glad Scott said that and not me, since nerverthink said I was bordering on “hate speech” and was going to refer me to the Justice Department.
I probably better not make a comment about them planting a delicious fruit that is big, green, and stripped and is VERY juicy in their garden.
BTW, I was talking about cucumbers. What did you think I meant?
10 R.A.M. // Mar 20, 2009 at 10:20 am
gafisher: Sure! They can come over and pick the cotton.
See what happens when the moron doesn’t have his teleprompter?
He should have had Rahm tranfer the text to his Blackberry.
Then again, maybe he did?
11 GrimmerReaper // Mar 20, 2009 at 10:30 am
Maybe Barry thinks this will undo his disgraceful appearance on the Chin’s show. One thing’s for sure, finding fertilizer won’t be a problem!
12 gafisher // Mar 20, 2009 at 10:52 am
Don’t be too hard on Barry, GrimmerReaper. Remember, he “is an entertainer. [His] whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly.” His cameo on Leno undoubtedly pulled viewers from PBS and the Fantasy Channel, which in turn has to have helped NBC’s advertisers. It’s likely Baracko’s one appearance did more for the US economy than the whole Obama Stimulus Package.
I just wish his people had done a better job vetting the TelePrompTer®.
13 everthink // Mar 20, 2009 at 11:45 am
Have you geniuses, ever thought about meeting somewhere and having a graffiti painting party?
This stuff wouldn’t be funny even to Junior High School adolescents.
I have to turn away in shame, while you all “moon” the president. I see RAM is front and center, then again he can’t seem to keep himself from showing his “brain” with every post.
Please, I know, you can’t help being stupid, but do try not to parade it.
RAM I know how you love a parade, so go ahead; but, at least borrow a belt, will you?
ET
14 everthink // Mar 20, 2009 at 11:57 am
gafisher,
Maybe if you were to go outside and shout “TelePrompTer®” til you get hoarse, you could get it out of you system. Yes, The President often uses a “TelePrompTer®”!
Maybe, if Dumbyah could read better, he would have too!
Now, there was a child that should have been left behind!
ET
15 egospeak // Mar 20, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Re: 13 “meeting somewhere and have a graffitti painting party?” As this is the season of “March Madness” all I can say is nice try, but unfortunately, another brick, or maybe even an airball.
Just as it is that great comedy always contains an element of truth, so it is that a great insult must also contain an element of truth. It is your side of the political aisle that that is perpetually offended, your side of the aisle that tries to trash the cities where the G7 meet. It is your side of the aisle that is constantly threatening violence over politics, it is your side of the aisle that steals conservative newspapers at colleges using the excuse that they are hate speech. So much for tolerance and diversity of viewpoints. You guys aren’t so good with insults, but you make up for it with your hypocrisy.
Regards,
16 MajorDomo // Mar 20, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Watching Obummer today reading fiction off two teleprompters reminded me of watching a man watch a tennis match. Whatta guy!
The Obummer ecollapse continues.
17 Newsman // Mar 20, 2009 at 12:55 pm
“It is frankly shocking to most Americans,” he added, “that the first African-American president would send workers into the field without pay,..”
Sheesh, why not. Honkies did it to his wife’s ancestors..
Even steven as they say … whoever ‘they’ is.
18 gafisher // Mar 20, 2009 at 1:03 pm
MajorDomo Re#16: “Watching Obummer today reading fiction off two teleprompters …”
Like this?
19 gafisher // Mar 20, 2009 at 1:10 pm
“This stuff wouldn’t be funny even to Junior High School adolescents.”
I’ll take your word for it. I know us grownups find the whole situation pretty sobering.
wv - Gerry economists - Wow, remember those old shows that used slang terms for America’s enemies?
20 gafisher // Mar 20, 2009 at 1:38 pm
et Re#14, thanks for the reminder. You’re right, of course; I’ve fallen into the error of blaming the TelePrompTer® for things which happen almost exclusively in its absence. In penance I offer a few [examples] which clearly exonerate TPT® of liability.
wv - Philoon Spector - Fitting, but I’d never have guessed that was his name.
21 onlineanalyst // Mar 20, 2009 at 1:58 pm
This story is too rich in irony, Scott. It’s filled with on-target zingers.
Will the children at Sidwell Friends’ School be invited to join in on the planting and harvesting…or is this effort another example of the Obama two-tiered system? Or make that three-tiered: one for the oligarch masters, one for the taxpayers, and one for the takers.
In other news: Has Obama been ignoring the TARP oversight law? It appears so. Just exactly what does Turbo Tax Tim do to earn his title and salary? How ignorant of the law is Ackbar?
22 Laughing@You // Mar 20, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Egospeak,
“… all I can say is nice try, but unfortunately, another brick, or maybe even an airball.”
There is no element of truth, I can find, contained in that statement! Nor, can I find “great comedy”or “great insult” in this, or your continuing remarks.
Only if you are playing with a bunch of Repugs at prep school can a shot resulting in either a “brick” or an “airball” be described as a “nice try”, old sport.
You conservatives continue to justify so much of what you do by pointing at others. “He did it first”, or “his smell is much worse than mine” are really not good excuses for letting your own wind.
Hypocrisy? I think within the last week or two, I have confessed my hypocrisy here. But, let me confess it again today; I fail daily to live fully in the way I place value!
Most often it is the Republicans who like to point to others with outrage, while doing the same kind of things themselves. You have only to look at the Republicans involved in the Clinton impeachment to find at least a half dozen proofs of their own sexual misconduct.
What will we tell the children? Please Mark Foley don’t tell the children anything, in fact stay away from the children altogether. Then there’s the “airport problem”, and the “Oxycontin Drug problem”, and the family values problem, in the way Newt Gingrich and John McCain have treated their former wives.
Follow these with Scooter and many, many more!
Now let another and blame it on me! How “Junior High School adolescent” of you!
L@Y
23 Realitysage // Mar 20, 2009 at 3:35 pm
On a related note: The White House has also announced a job-works program for the 5th graders that is intended to train them in the manufacture of overpriced but useful tennis shoes. A White House spokesman commented “not only will it teach the youngsters a good work ethic but encourage the shoe manufacturers to hire a new found labor source thus creating new American jobs as opposed to exporting them to Asia”….
24 Laughing@You // Mar 20, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Realitysage,
Well, while your post is the kind of lie Repugs call satire, there are elderly and simple minded folks here who don’t know the difference. This not to mention the paranoia required to be a Republican in the first place.
I find merit in a summer program for Republican youth to actually understand something about the “working class” before they go to work for AIG, Citicorp, or Bank of America. And, certainly before they begin hiring minimum wage workers themselves.
Everthink?
25 gafisher // Mar 20, 2009 at 5:07 pm
“… the U.S. government has embarked on a fundamental reshaping of America. It is designed, in short, to bring on the end of America.”
Interesting and insightful article at the Financial Post.
26 MajorDomo // Mar 20, 2009 at 5:29 pm
L@Y 22: Come down off your high horse. Your statement, “You have only to look at the Republicans involved in the Clinton impeachment to find at least a half dozen proofs of their own sexual misconduct.” shows that you gotta come up with a better argument if you want to play on this field. Sleazebag wasn’t impeached for sexual misconduct; he was impeached for LYING, a trait of his that surfaced each time his lips moved.
27 mindknumbed kid // Mar 20, 2009 at 6:55 pm
That is also why they yanked his law license. Bu tit was hardly fair to prosecute him for that, as he had long been a stranger to the truth.
28 egospeak // Mar 20, 2009 at 9:17 pm
re: 22
When I said “nice try“, I was being politically correct for your benefit. I am shocked, shocked I say that you didn’t pick up on that. But since you didn’t, I am laughing at you.
Regards,
29 JamesonLewis3rd // Mar 21, 2009 at 4:38 am
I’m outraged at the outrageous outrage echoing incessantly from every nook and cranny of every nook and cranny.
Tap-dancing. Sleight-of-hand.
I can think of a few other Socialist and Communist leaders of the recent past who played for the cameras in the dirt with the children of the great unwashed, but they didn’t wear $20,000.00 outfits while they did it.
30 Frugal, Organic White House Veggie Garden with Local Kids Has Merit… Until UFW Hollered « Frugal Café Blog Zone // Mar 21, 2009 at 11:21 pm
[...] Read the whole accounting: Scott Ott, ScrappleFace: Union Demands Fair Wages for Obama Garden Kids [...]
31 Laughing@You // Mar 22, 2009 at 12:44 am
Egospeak,
Nice try, in attempting to save face after my outing of your previous nice try to me! Wanna shoot for another bracket?
Everthink?
32 jwl0726 // Apr 3, 2009 at 11:13 am
are you people that stupid I am sure that if a parent doesn’t want his child to participate he/she doesn’t have to wake up idiots Obama is not trying to make them workers and a union getting involved shows just how ignorant this is.
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