Thoughts On A Sunday

It appears that winter is finally showing itself in northern New England. The Weather Guys™ have predicted between 6 and 10 inches of snowfall tomorrow here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, with lesser amount to the north and south.

Todays weather wasn't conducive to travel, with sleet and freezing rain falling during the day. Normally I wouldn't care one way or the other, but there was a gathering of the WP clan planned today, with everyone meeting here at The Manse. It was a question of whether the southernmost members of the clan would chance the poor traveling conditions in order to join us today.

The answer was 'no', and rightfully so. There's no need to put one's life in jeopardy just to attend a family gathering.

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Wizbang has two posts about Barbara Boxer's personal attack on Condoleeza Rice, with comments from both sides running the gamut of “She should be ashamed of herself” for making a personal attack rather than dealing with the issue at hand – Iraq – to “It's all in a day's business in Congress, so grow up!”

I have to agree with those saying Boxer should be ashamed for personalizing the whole thing. In effect, she was resorting to the shooting-the-messenger ploy used so often when someone doesn't have a cogent argument to use.

Glenn Reynolds also chimes in.

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In the NFC quarter final game today, the Chicago Bears defeated the Seattle Seahawks in overtime. With the New England Patriots win over the Chargers 24-21, it could mean a Bears-Patriots rematch in Super Bowl XLI, but this time it will be the Patriots beating the Bears, unlike their match up in Super Bowl XX.

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John Stossel writes about the negative affects of raising the minimum wage. Like him, I believe that it will actually cause some workers to lose their jobs and prevent others from being hired.

While proponents of raising it talk about a living wage, the minimum wage was never a living wage. There was no way to support a family making the minimum. Ever. So the discussion about a living wage is nothing more than a false argument.

Who is it that holds a majority of minimum wage jobs? Not heads of household, but rather teenagers working their first jobs. And if they do a decent job of it they don't make minimum wage for long.

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One thing I realize that I haven't done in a long time is give a lot of you folks living in somewhat more metropolitan areas a small taste of what it's really like to live in a more rural area. I was reminded of this by my lovely wife. I guess I'll have to pick up where I left off a couple of years ago.

My bad.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter has finally arrived, snowblowres and snow plows are prepped to run, and where I'll have to go outside to clear my driveway at O'dark-thirty in the morning.