Hey, Americans, let's learn to bow

According to http://stophandshaking.com/ 80% of all infections are transmitted by hands. According to the CDC scientists estimate that people who are not washing their hands often or well enough are spreading germs. Harmful germs can live on almost everything from doorknobs to animals to food. See too Fear of Germs Threatening the Handshake. So, shouldn’t…

Time to take care of our own: Let’s pull ourselves into the 21st century, America

The United States is one of four countries in the world that doesn’t offer new moms paid maternity leave. Pakistan has better maternity leave policies than us.  Now, I can be an American exceptionalist as good as the next girl, but are you kidding me? Just two months ago, the FAMILY Act was introduced to…

Regressivity of proposed Metro funding loomed large at King County Council hearing

King County Council held a hearing on Metro funding at Union Station in Seattle this evening. The state legislature was unable to come to agreement last year on funding for Metro buses — because Senate Republicans held the transportation package hostage to their demands for  the cost-saving “reforms” that would weaken unions, weaken environmental regulations,…

Rep, McMorris Rodgers' dishonest claim about Obamacare

Washington State Congresswoman Cathy Mcmorris Rodgers claimed that her constituent Bette faced a $700-a-month premium hike after her policy was canceled. But Paul Krugman points out: Bette’s tale had policy wonks scratching their heads; it was hard to see, given what we know about premiums and how the health law works, how anyone could face…

When the minimum wage increases, jobs increase as well

Last week Snohomish County state representatives Mike Sells and June Robinson, D-Everett, Cindy Ryu, D-Shoreline, Derek Stanford and Luis Moscoso, D-Shoreline, and Mary Helen Roberts, D-Edmonds, joined Jessyn Farrell, D-Seattle, in proposing to increase our state’s minimum wage to $10 in 2015, $11 in 2016, and $12 in 2017. It is about time. Our minimum…