Happy belated holidays,and a look ahead to the New Year

I was without the Internet for a brief time so haven't been able to post. I was trying to save some money for our Christmas trip to Louisiana this year so I cut some corners here,and there. We drove to Louisiana again this time which I think I've made up my mind that I am never doing that again. 1300 miles each way,and lots of rain on the way home was enough to push me over the edge this time. It was nice to have the extra spending money while we were there since driving is about $600.00 cheaper then flying,but I don't think the extra money is worth it. I got some very cool pictures of the southern most part of the state while I was there. Lots of stuff still messed up from Katrina in that area which I'll share in one of my upcoming posts. Now about some current events going on. Of course my personal favorite the hanging of Saddam Hussein. We left Louisiana on Saturday morning,and I didn't even realize until late that night when we were in Missouri that he was hung that morning. Of course the conspiracy theory nuts have already started with the rants that his hanging was faked. What can you do with these people other then shake your head,and smile? The strange thing I can't figure out is that I've heard people who say we need to pull our troops out of Iraq because they are in a civil war are the same ones saying that the U.S. should have stopped the Saddam execution. Make up your mind,do you want us to interfere in their government or not? You can't have it both ways. It also seems like a sure thing that the minimum wage is going to be raised.Waitresses,and bartenders around the country are celebrating,but since the rest of the country makes more then minimum including McDonald's employees it doesn't seem to make much sense to me. But I'm sure that someone who started a small business,and hired high school kids at minimum wage won't mind raising his prices to pay his employees. As if it wasn't hard enough for small business to compete with corporate America we have to make it even harder. When I started working in 1986 minimum wage was $3.35 an hour,and in less then 20 years it will now be more then doubled. Which is far,far beyond an adjustment for inflation. This new raise is just much to big,and is really going to end up hurting a lot of small businesses. The minimum wage is not where someone who is say my age of 36 should be making. And if you are my age,and still make minimum wage maybe you need to look at your choices you've made in your life time. The minimum wage is for small businesses that hire high school kids,and for waitress and bartender jobs that offer tips. It is not a living wage,and I don't know one single person who works full time over the age of 25 who makes minimum wage. The whole minimum wage raise is just stupid, and is not going to do anything to help families or small business in this country. A new house speaker,and a house,and senate run by the democrats the next 2 years should be interesting. I'll leave that topic at that for now. The Angry American