Jack Smiles column

Friday, February 10, 2012

Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and NEPA Garage Sales

Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and NEPA Cars for Sale

More super picks plez

Sunday January 31, 2010 | 12:00 AM

Jack Smiles jsmiles@psdispatch.com

We’re off to a nice start with our annual Superbowl prediction list, but we are looking for more, more, more. Keeping them coming in. Email is the best way to jsmiles@psdispatch.com. There are some prediction sheets at some of the local watering holes. Or you can drop of your list at the front desk here. You can call in predictions to me at 602-0178, but if you do, speak clearly and spell your name if it’s not Smith or Jones.

WA softball

Wyoming Area softball coach Drew Carey resigned this week. He is going to take a job at Mohegan Sun that will limit his time for coaching. Too bad, he was a good coach who put up with a lot of weird stuff. It would make a good story. If it all came out some people involved would be exposed as fools.

It’s possible Drew would have been out anyway because the WA board looked at applications and interviewed applicants, but tabled a vote on the appointment for three months. The official practice season starts on March 13 so maybe it’s time the board hired a coach.

High speed rail

Yesterday Obama and Biden announced they are going to give away $8 billion of our money to states across the country to develop high-speed intercity passenger rail service. The White House press release called it a “historic investment.”

Investment my behind. An investment is something that pays off. Please don’t think the money for this pie-in-the-sky high speed rail stuff will stop after the trains are up and running.

Passenger rail service is so costly ticket prices would have to be like getting scalped at a Lady Ga Ga concert for the things to pay for themselves. Forever subsidies for the trains will suck up billions of dollars of people’s money, most of whom will never ride them.

SOTU

I’m not sure which was my favorite big lie in the State of the Union Address. Maybe this one: “We cut income taxes for 95 percent of Americans.” Since 45 percent of Americans don’t pay income taxes that’s impossible. Tax money refunded to people who don’t pay taxes in the first place is nothing but a giveaway or your money to other people who didn’t earn it. It’s Obama “spreading the wealth around.” Your wealth.

The funniest part was when Pelosi and the Dems leaped to their feet liked trained seals and applauded when Obama said we should build nuclear energy plants when they were the ones who blocked them for 30 years. Seeing that plastic-faced idiot up there behind the President and in line of succession makes me embarrassed for my country.

Since unemployment has gone up to 10.0% since the stimulus bill which Obama said would stop the unemployment from going above 8.0% all he and the Dems are left with is the unprovable notion that the stimulus “saved” millions of job, including, he says, 300,000 teaching jobs.

Does he expect anybody to believe 300,000 teachers would have been fired if it weren’t for his trillion in pork?