So...umm...

Hey, I warned y'all that things were likely to get slow around here what with my musical rehearsals and all. 

Rehearsals are eating into my time, I'm actually being expected to do work at work...and things are kind of mellow right now out there.  The gridlock in Olympia means there isn't a whole lot of potential legislation to get all frustrated about.

That doesn't mean I can't find something to anger myself about though, and the push to increase the Washington State minimum wage to $12 an hour(it's already the nation's highest at $9.32 an hour) by 2017.  This is on the heels of the Port of SeaTac raising the minimum wage in their are to $15, and a pledge by the mayor of Seattle to push for the same $15 minimum wage in Seattle.

Of course, this is all part of the push to redefine 'minimum wage' as more of a 'living wage'...and I highly disagree with it.  I do not agree with either of those numbers, and I am totally against the idea of a 'living wage.'  It's highly possible that the level of technical training I achieved in the Navy has led me to be an elitist(but, since that technical training led to me having to survey the occasional sanitary tank, I don't think that' the case)...but when you get right down to it, I do not believe all jobs are created equal...and I do not believe that getting out of bed, and showing up for a 40 hour week at just ANY job should guarantee you ANYTHING. 

Even my wife, who has a slightly different set of political view than I do, is not happy with either of these numbers.  She is curious why she would go to school to get her LPN certification, to earn $15-$16 an hour(you can earn more if you are willing to work goofier shifts), when she could earn  that for doing just anything. 

I doubt she is the only one who feels this way.  Which then leads to...what?  Increased openings in jobs in that $15-$18 range, which require special technical training?  Until they increase salaries on those jobs, passing it onto the consumers? 

You can't continue to mandate a higher and higher minimum wage without having to mandate other wages and compensations. 

Which is probably what they are looking for an excuse to do.