Global Warming Stalls...The Oprah Hardest Hit???

Reader's of Uncle Bob's Take have surely gotten the message that Uncle Bob does not believe in Global Warming. Or should Bob say, that Man is creating any warming. Uncle Bob believes in a power higher than Algore. GOD. I do not believe that we have the capability to destroy this great Planet. The Earth was here long before the Human Race and I'm quite certain will out last Man. So to believe that we are warming the Earth w/our SUV's and our coal-fired plants, etc is just beyond the pale.

Global warming is one of those issues that you can cite all the statistics in the world. Uncle Bob believes the push for Global Warming legislation is just more control coming from D.C. And if they had a track record of success, maybe Uncle Bob would forgo his GOD and turn to Algore.

Uncle Bob's Take has long been of the opinion that if the Earth is warming, what's the big deal. Few more day's for Uncle Bob to work on his tan. And if indeed the Earth was warming, maybe The Oprah would still have a job in a couple of years.

What???? Global warming has The Oprah headed to the unemployment ranks w/the other 17.5% of Americans? Well, not necessarily unemployed...but read the following:

The Oprah announced live on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last week that she has decided to end what is arguably one of the most popular, influential and enduring programs in television history. The sun will set on the "Oprah" show as its 25th season draws to a close on September 9, 2011. She's now privately talking about hosting a show "that's smaller and different" on the Discovery Communications start-up OWN, aka the Oprah Winfrey Network. And she explained to insiders, "Why would anybody stay in Chicago? It's freezing here, and I have a mansion in Montecito that I haven't been able to enjoy."

I know alot of people love The Oprah. So Uncle Bob wants to cite where he gets his information, especially when speaking of "insiders". www.deadline.com and wsj.com.

So just maybe if there was really Global Warming, The Oprah would still be going strong.

Finally, Uncle Bob's Take on The Oprah. She is extremely talented and has made a fortune using her gift. And good for her. Uncle Bob is just concerned about that percentage of her fans that are sad sacks and now have no one to tell them what to do, what to read, and ahem, whom to vote for. Modesty aside, I have two words: Uncle Bob.

Dick Durbin...DumbA...

Anyone here in the Central/Southern Illinois area has long felt the shaft of Chicago in our politics. Nothing, you see, is South of I-80. Uncle Bob will go on vacation, be asked from where he hails. Simple reply of Illinois is enough to generate, Chicago?

"No" Bob will reply. Central Illinois. I'm closer to a Kentucky still than I am The Oprah (proud of it too).

A perfect example of this contempt for everything South of I-80 was displayed just this week in the Wall Street Journal, by none other than our embarrassment of a U.S. Senator than Dick Durbin.

The following is an outtake from Monday's Journal re: bringing terrorist, enemy combatants, non-citizens, to a prison here in Illinois. Uncle Bob could blog all day long about the insanity of awarding Constitutional rights to our enemy's. Do we want to win the war on Terror or not?? Anyway, w/o further adieu, Senator Durbin:

The idea of using the Thomson Correctional Center, 150 miles west of Chicago, has the support of some local elected officials, including Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. But people in Thomson, a town of roughly 500 people bordering the Mississippi River, said that while they welcome the economic lift, they worry about the possible effect from people visiting the detainees. ”

"This is an opportunity to dramatically reduce unemployment, create thousands of good-paying jobs and breathe new economic life into this part of downstate Illinois," Mr. Durbin said. "We should not let the unsupported and misplaced fears of a few stand in the way of this historic economic boost to our region."

I ask that you view the map Uncle Bob has provided. Uncle Bob's take? Senator Durbin is not in touch w/his own State, let alone this Great Country and further more I must question his education.

Thanks for Letting Us Down Dave

No this is not a shot at Mr. Letterman.

Uncle Bob has a friend also named Dave whom lives in St. Louis. For the sake of his privacy Uncle Bob won't reveal his last name. But it rhymes with Erndon.

Each year roughly at this time there is a Big City announcement and since Dave moved back to ST. Louis, the City has been #1. Yea City.
But not now, sadly, the news today...

St. Louis has relinquished its title as the sexually transmitted disease capital, dropping to number two in the country for rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia. For several years the city’s disease rates topped the country.

St. Louis has a chlamydia rate of 1,225 cases per 100,000 residents. Baltimore has a higher rate, at 1,321. With gonorrhea, St. Louis’ rate is 539 cases per 100,000 residents. Richmond, Va. has the highest rate at 639.

The city ranks 16th for syphilis rates, same as last year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There were 94 fewer cases of chlamydia and 387 fewer cases of gonorrhea in the city in 2008 compared to 2007.

Dave, I know you're getting older and travel quite a bit. But where's the pride Man? Buck up, as it were. Get out there and, um, take one for the City.

HipHip Horray...

Uncle Bob's Balls aren't Biodegradable

Research teams at the Danish Golf Union have discovered it takes between 100 to 1,000 years for a golf ball to decompose naturally. A startling fact when it is also estimated 300 million balls are lost or discarded in the United States alone, every year. It seems the simple plastic golf ball is increasingly becoming a major litter problem.

The scale of the dilemma was underlined recently in Scotland, where scientists -- who scoured the watery depths in a submarine hoping to discover evidence of the prehistoric Loch Ness monster -- were surprised to find hundreds of thousands of golf balls lining the bed of the loch.

It is thought tourists and locals have used the loch as an alternative driving range for many years.

With an increasing number of golf balls discarded each year, the Danish Golf Association devised a number of tests to determine the environmental impact of golf balls on their surroundings.

From the moon to the bottom of Loch Ness, golf balls are humanity's signature litter--UK lawmaker Patrick Harvie.

It was found that during decomposition, the golf balls dissolved to release a high quantity of heavy metals.

Dangerous levels of zinc were found in the synthetic rubber filling used in solid core golf balls. When submerged in water, the zinc attached itself to the ground sediment and poisoned the surrounding flora and fauna.

Course manager for the Danish Golf Union, Torben Kastrup Petersen, said the scale of the problem is unknown: "There has been very little research on the environmental impact of golf balls, but it's safe to say the indicators are not good. We are planning to collaborate with environmentalists in America to conduct more tests to fully explore the extent of the problem."

Local government ministers in Scotland have also complained about the level of golf ball littering. UK lawmaker Patrick Harvie told CNN: "From the moon to the bottom of Loch Ness, golf balls are humanity's signature litter in the most inaccessible locations."

And he's not wrong. On 6th February 1971, Commander Alan Shepherd was filmed taking a swing with a six iron on the surface of the moon. According to Shepherd, the balls flew off in the distance and landed a few kilometers away. Although the balls were left for future golfers to discover, it is believed the extreme temperatures on the surface would have dissolved the balls many moons ago.

In many cases, removing a partially degraded ball from a lake or woodland area could result in further damage to the wildlife. So what is the solution?

Harvie had this advice: "Keep your balls on the fairway or invest in a stock of biodegradable balls."

Uncle Bob's Take??? Environmentalist Wackos' will not lay one hand on Bob's Balls. Bob will continue to play with the balls he has in his bag, and should they be lost, will replace them w/the very same balls these Wacko's would have Bob not touch.

Furthermore, the direction of Bob's balls to the fairway or otherwise, will be the sole choice of how Bob swings his club.

Global Warming my Frigid Rear End

Temperature Highlights - October. From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climatic Data Center


The average October temperature of 50.8°F was 4.0°F below the 20th Century average and ranked as the 3rd coolest based on preliminary data.

For the nation as a whole, it was the third coolest October on record. The month was marked by an active weather pattern that reinforced unseasonably cold air behind a series of cold fronts. Temperatures were below normal in eight of the nation's nine climate regions, and of the nine, five were much below normal. Only the Southeast climate region had near normal temperatures for October.

Statewide temperatures coincided with the regional values as all but six states had below normal temperatures. Oklahoma had its coolest October on record and ten other states had their top five coolest such months.

Florida was the only state to have an above normal temperature average in October. It was the sixth consecutive month that the Florida's temperature was above normal, resulting in the third warmest such period (May-October).

The three-month period (August-October) was the coolest on record for three states: Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Five other states had top five cool periods: Missouri (2nd), Iowa (3rd) , Arkansas (5th) , Illinois (5th) and South Dakota (5th) . Every climate division in Kansas (nine) and Nebraska (eight) recorded a record cool such period.

For the year-to-date (January - October) period, the contiguous U.S. temperature ranked 43rd warmest. No state had a top or bottom ten temperature value for this period.

Uncle Bob's Take??? The boobs in the Senate will be working on global warming legislation just as soon as they finish wrecking the health insurance industry. Notice it's now called "climate change" since, well there's no evidence of global warming. Comrade Kerry and the gang won't be satisfied until we look and behave like Eastern Europe.

By the way, hows that Hope and Chamge working our for you?

PELOSI: Buy a $15,000 Policy or Go to Jail

Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”

Key excerpts from the JCT letter appear below:

“H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax.” [page 1]

- - - - - - - - - -

“If the government determines that the taxpayer’s unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply…” [page 2]

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“Criminal penalties

Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:

• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]

When confronted with this same issue during its consideration of a similar individual mandate tax, the Senate Finance Committee worked on a bipartisan basis to include language in its bill that shielded Americans from civil and criminal penalties. The Pelosi bill, however, contains no similar language protecting American citizens from civil and criminal tax penalties that could include a $250,000 fine and five years in jail.

“The Senate Finance Committee had the good sense to eliminate the extreme penalty of incarceration. Speaker Pelosi’s decision to leave in the jail time provision is a threat to every family who cannot afford the $15,000 premium her plan creates. Fortunately, Republicans have an alternative that will lower health insurance costs without raising taxes or cutting Medicare,” said Camp.

According to the Congressional Budget Office the lowest cost family non-group plan under the Speaker’s bill would cost $15,000 in 2016.

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Health Care Reform?

Health care reform should not be used as an opportunity to use federal funds to pay for elective abortions. Health reform should be an opportunity to protect human life - not end it.

Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi’s 2,032-page government takeover of health care does just that. On line 17, p. 110, section 222 under “Abortions for which Public Funding is Allowed” the Health and Human Services Secretary is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run plan. The Speaker’s plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Exchange covers abortions.

What is even more alarming is that a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run plan. It’s right there on line 16, page 96, section 213, under “Insurance Rating Rules.” The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account - and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services.

Section 213 describes the process in which the Health Benefits Commissioner is to assess the monthly premiums that will be used to pay for elective abortions under the government-run plan. The Commissioner must charge at a minimum $1 per enrollee per month.

A majority of Americans believe that health care plans should not be mandated to provide elective abortion coverage, and a majority of Americans do not believe government health care plans should include abortion coverage. Currently, federal appropriations bills include language known as the Hyde Amendment that prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for elective abortions under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, while another provision, known as the Smith Amendment, prohibits federal funding of abortion under the federal employees’ health benefits plan.

Speaker Pelosi’s 2,032-page health care monstrosity is an affront to the American people and drastically moves away from current policy. The American people deserve more from their government than being forced to pay for abortion.

House Republicans are offering a common-sense, responsible solution that would reduce health care costs and expand access while protecting the dignity of all human life. The Republican plan, available at HealthCare.GOP.gov, would codify the Hyde Amendment and prohibit all authorized and appropriated federal funds from being used to pay for abortion. And under the Republican plan, any health plan that includes abortion coverage may not receive federal funds.