Iraq Prime Minister Says They Will Stand Up Now So Why Won't Joe Let Us Stand Down

The Prime Minister of Iraq has now said that they don't need the U.S. troops there anymore. He has effectively said that they are standing up now so we can stand down.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police
are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave "any
time they want," though he acknowledged the forces need further weapons and
training.

One of the Prime Minister's top assistants, Hassan al-Suneid, said "the U.S. was treating Iraq like "an experiment in an American laboratory." He sharply criticised the U.S. military, saying it was committing human rights violations, embarassing the Iraqi government with its tactics and cooperating with "gangs of killers" in its campaign against al-Qaida in Iraq."


So, now that the Iraqis' can "Stand Up", will Joe work to let our troops "Stand Down" as promised???

Nawh.

Never mind.

What was I thinking.

Joe "DO NOTHING" Knollenberg won't do anything.

Americans Against the Escalation Rally in Lansing, MI

On Friday, July 13, 50 citizens of the state of Michigan joined together telling our Repubican Congressmen that voted again on July 12, to continue the catastrophe in Iraq please, please stop the madness. Please pass this message along to Joe Knollenberg, Thaddeus McCotter, Fred Upton, Mike Rogers and Vern Ehlers and tell them you want to bring our troops home and that they need to vote with the close to 70% of Americans that are tired of this ill-begotten war.

Untangling the Mess Joe Knollenberg helped make in Iraq

Joe Knollenberg helped George make the mess in Iraq. Americans Against the Escalation in Iraq help to untangle the mess. It's going to take more of us acting together to help George W. Bush, Joe Knollenberg, Thaddeus McCotter and Fred Upton to get the message to bring our men and women home. Will you help?

Iraq Summer in Lansing

About 50 Michigan citizens called for all of our Republican representatives to vote to end the war in Iraq. Some of Joe's constituents joined in, asking for Joe to call for an end to the catastrophe in Iraq.

30 More Americans Killed in 10 Days in Iraq

Thanks to rubber stamp Reps like Joe "Do Nothing" Knollenberg, 30 more American Troops were killed in the first 10 days of the month.

276 American Troops have died needlessly since Joe Knollenberg first voted AGAINST the redeployment of troops out of the crossfire of the Iraqi Civil War.

608 Americans have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the year. 525 of those deaths have occurred during the "surge" of troops that Joe Knollenberg has blindly and unconditionally supported.

Joe "Do Nothing" Knollenberg has done nothing to prevent these unnecessary deaths.

Copies of the death certificates of each of these troops should be sent to Joe Knollenberg so he can see the blood on his own hands.

Joe Knollenberg is Responsible for Enough Dead Americans.

Joe votes to extend the war

It's no wonder Joe Knollenberg and his staff don't want to talk about the war. Today the House passed the Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act, 223-201. Of course Joe Knollenberg voted against the measure.

Joe voted for more deaths of our troops.

Joe voted for the deaths of more innocent Iraqis.

Joe voted for more American troops families torn apart by the death of a spouse in Iraq.

Joe voted to hasten the economic downfall of America.

Joe voted with George W. Bush, arguably the worst President in American history.

What will it take for Joe to change his vote on the catastrophe in Iraq?

More of us have to show up at his office and bring our friends and neighbors, our children and tell Joe Knollenberg - ENOUGH!

Enough death. Enough wasted treasure. ENOUGH!

Lou Dobbs Calls Knollenberg one of many Lame Ducks

While Joe Knollenberg is announcing his campaign for re-election, a Lou Dobbs editorial calls Congressman like Joe Knollenberg "Lame Ducks".

Dobbs notes:

With the electorate asserting a strong impulse to be independent, and with populism exerting a significant influence in the 2006 midterm elections, there is a possibility that all of those incumbents in the House and Senate may have to consider the possibility of actually having to represent their constituents and the popular will, rather than corporate America, socio-ethnic special interest groups and the tens of thousands of lobbyists who represent every interest but that of the common good and the nation.

Dobbs notes that Bush's approval ratings are at 29% giving Bush the highest approval rating (~90%) and one of the lowest in history (except for Truman, Carter, and Nixon).

With the war in Iraq raging endlessly, the White House involved in scandal after scandal, an FDA so involved in banning condoms around the world rather than protecting you or your pet from consuming poisons from China, jobs disappearing by the day, etc., we are due for an overhaul in Congress -- particularly to weed out the worst of them like Joe "Do Nothing" Knollenberg.

Joe's staff cuts and runs

Shawn Ciavattone, Knollenberg’s District Field Director made a brief appearance and accepted a letter inviting Knollenberg to a town hall meeting to be held on August 28, 2007 at a yet to be determined location. Ciavattone took the letter and then walked away from the citizens that had gathered to invite Knollenberg. Ciavattone would not answer whether Knollenberg would attend the townhall meeting or whether Knollenberg was in the district to meet with the group. “We have tried until we are blue in the face to get Congressman Knollenberg to discuss his position on the Iraq war, to no avail. He’s as out of touch as President Bush on the issue of the war. Today was just another example of how little he cares that at least 79% of the voters in his district don’t agree with Knollenberg’s position on the war. “ Fealk said.

Knollenberg announces early. Our work is cut out for us

Obviously our campaign to retire Joe Knollenberg from office has Joe worried. Here we are in July of 2007 and he's already formally announcing his re-election bid. Today is an important day. We will be visiting Joe's office urging Joe to bring an end to the war in Iraq. Joe knows he's in trouble as he is targeted by the Michigan Democratic party, the Democratic Campaign Committee, the Human Rights Campaign and a new national coalition, No Iraq Escalation and grassroots activists.

Joe is so out of touch with his constituents, he continues to vote for funding the war, even though a poll conducted in his district back in February showed that 79% of the respondents were against the surge that has now been carried out.

Al Qaeda Returns Stronger than Ever -- Thank Joe Knollenberg and George Bush

According to a breaking story in Newsweek,

Al Qaeda has reconstituted its core structure along the Pakistani border and may now be a stronger and more resilient organization today than it appeared a year ago

and

the new NIE’s conclusions about Al Qaeda activities in Pakistan, along with the increasing signs of jihadi militants flowing out of Iraq, suggest that the U.S. counterterrorism community may now be facing the worst of both worlds: a reconstituted Al Qaeda leadership coupled with a growing and dispersed worldwide army of angry jihadis inflamed by the U.S. presence in Iraq. The new document’s conclusions also could make it more difficult for the White House to argue, as it frequently has in the past, that President Bush’s post-9/11 efforts have made the country “safer.”

So, once again, we have even more evidence that the Knollenberg/Bush war in Iraq hasn't made us safer -- if anything, it has made us less safe.

That certainly seems to eliminate any debate next year about Republicans like Knollenberg being strong on security -- Knollenberg has made us all less safe by giving Bush a blank check in Iraq.

Also, though not at all surprising, Joe "Do Nothing" Knollenberg has not introduced a single piece of legislation that would tighten our borders, or improve security on planes or trains, or increase our intelligence gathering activities, etc.

"Do Nothing" Knollenberg has done nothing at all.

Knollenberg Brags About Wasting Taxpayer Money

In a page that could only be taken from the Karl Rove/George Bush campaign playbook, Joe "Do Nothing" Knollenberg is now taking what would generally be considered a weakness, i.e., wasting taxpayer dollars by the millions, and trying to play it as a strength by bragging about it.

What Is Joe Knollenberg Hiding?

So, although Knollenberg is now using his webpage to try to brag about his wasteful spending habits, he won't even respond to CNN's survey about his wasteful earmarks. Instead, he just cherry picks a few items and then tries to tell us how lucky we are that he is wasting our money like that.

The earmarks we know about are bad enough. What is it that he is trying to hide?


Joe Knollenberg Wastes Taxpayer Money Faster than George Bush

One of the items that Knollenberg is so proud about is the $1 million he is trying to get "for Oakland Community College, to "develop courses to help identify and attract businesses likely to do more hiring."

Notice that the money is to be spent to develop courses to identify businesses, rather than to do something useful like actually identifying and attracting businesses to Michigan!!

Or the $500,000 he spent on a model of a space ship -- even though the same model could be purchased at Target for $12.99.

It would be funny if it wasn't so sad and disturbing.


What The Voters Are Saying About Knollenberg & Earmarks
Once again we see Joe Knollenberg on the wrong side of an issue. While he is bragging about the good he is doing by wasting taxpayer money in Michigan (as opposed to wasting it just anywhere), the voters are outraged.

The Free Press ran an article on earmarks, and the online version contains some very insightful comments that show that the voters are not pleased with earmarks or Knollenberg:

o Comment from foofighter:

Do not re-elect any of these scumbags. We need fresh blood that isn't contaminated yet!

o Comments from TimeRanger:

"Reps. Joe Knollenberg, . . . pushing a $1-million earmark for Oakland Community College, to develop courses to help identify and attract businesses likely to do more hiring."

Huh? If the college doesn't know already, they should close their doors, NOW.

and

"...the winner was the Detroit Science Center and the $500,000 set aside two years ago to create a Space Science Discovery Lab...The earmark, sponsored by Knollenberg, provided money for an exhibit to get kids excited about careers in math, science and engineering. There will be a 1/10th-scale model of the Saturn V rocket and a model of the Martian landscape."

2 years ago and they haven't been able to go to a hobby shop, purchase a plastic model?

o Comment from paf:

It IS quite sickening watching our representatives fight over OUR money. I'd like to see them give it back to us and reduce our tax burden permanently!!!

o Comment from Luscious:

I'm a fiscal conservative and I don't want to hear . . . the vast majority of the Republicans open their filthy hypocritical mouths on spending.

The size of goverment grew at a larger rate under Bush and the Republicans than it had at any other time in decades.

They've lost the right to be taken seriously on fiscal discipline.

These losers didn't have any problem wasting taxpayer money when they controlled the purse strings.

Come November, . . if they are an incumbent vote them out. It's time to send these idiots on a permanent vacation.

So, it isn't just the folks at this blog who are fed up with Knollenberg. Knollenberg may be oblivious now, but he'll find out just how fed up the voters really are after he is fired in 2008.

Joe's Constituents Ask Joe to Represent Them

Polls show that over 70% of Americans do not support the war in Iraq. Yet Joe Knollenberg continues to vote with President Bush on the war. A poll done in Birmingham, Michigan showed that 79% of respondents did not support the surge in Iraq, yet Joe voted for the surge. We need a Congressman that will represent his constituents. Time's up, Joe. The videos below are two of Joe's constituents pleading with him to represent them and bring an end to the war in Iraq.

Voters See Through the Republican Message of the Past

Joe Knollenberg is not only embroiled in a scandal and tied at the hip with the ever sinking George W. Bush, but now he has to face the fact that the message that the Republican Party has run on for the last 3 national elections will not work in 2008.

If you want to see why, just watch the video below and you'll see why the voters will see through the phony scare tactics and vote out the rubber stamp Congressman like Joe Knollenberg:

Knollenberg Embroiled In Scandal

Joe Knollenberg is embroiled in a scandal that could end his career. His recent activities on CAFE standards appear to have been spurned by unlawful activities initiated by the Bush Administration.

Numerous papers, as well as the Detroit News, are reporting that Knollenberg is being investigated by the House Oversight Committee.

The Bush Administration used a government agency to lobby Congress. Specifically, EPA was accepting comments on a rulemaking to determine if they would allow California to move ahead with a state Climate Change rule that would reduce greenhouse gases.

(Conservatives like to say they are for state's rights -- unless of course they disagree with what the state wants to do. Hypocrisy has become the strongest plank in the Republican platform.)

Joe Knollenberg was oblivious to the EPA's rulemaking until Department of Transportation Officials contacted him to lobby him to oppose the rulemaking.

The other interesting thing will be to see just how much money Knollenberg has gotten from Corporate fat cats and sleazy lobbyists to do their bidding.

This isn't just a little local news story -- it is a big national story.
See the articles in the Washington Post, USAToday and another in USAToday, WTOP, OC Register, CBSnews, Boston Globe, and dozens and dozens more.


What this means is that Joe Knollenberg condoned the illicit behavior of DOT officials. In fact, Knollenberg not only condoned the behavior, he acquiesed to their request!

I haven't dug up the letter Knollenberg sent to EPA yet, but my guess is it will read almost identically to the script used by the DOT officials when they notified Knollenberg of the proposed rule.

So, not only did Knollenberg fail to notify officials that DOT had unlawfully lobbied him, but it is interesting to note that Knollenberg, who is trying (in vain) to pass himself off as supportive of the auto industry, was unaware of the rule making until someone told him about it??? This is a good example of how out of touch Joe Knollenberg is about issues that could impact the auto industry.

Surely, after having been in Congress for 14 years, Joe Knollenberg should know that it is unlawful for federal government officials to lobby Congress!!!

To Joe Knollenberg, this is just another in a litany of scandals. To the voters next year, this is the last straw.

Joe Knollenberg is a Law BREAKER not a Lawmaker.

Residents organize to change Knollenberg's position on Iraq

Residents in Michigan’s Ninth Congressional District met today (Thurs) to urge Congressman Joe Knollenberg to change his position on the Iraq War. The local protest was part of “The Iraq Summer Campaign”…a national effort to withdraw American troops from Iraq. Trent Wisecup is the press secretary for Congressman Knollenberg. He says Knollenberg acknowledges mistakes in Iraq…but believes the troops should come home in victory…and not defeat.“A lot of the people on the other side want to presuppose our defeat in Iraq. And they want to concede defeat now…And the congressman feels that that would be a very bad option for the Unites States…a very bad option for Israel…and a very bad option for political stability in the Middle East.” One protester at today’s (Thurs) event says he does not want his son to fight in what he believes is an unjust war in Iraq. Knollenberg is up for re-election in 2008.

Click here for the story from WDET's web site

Clawson 4th of July parade features anti-Knollenberg message

Several residents from the 9th Congressional district marched in the Clawson 4th of July parade and held signs urging Joe Knollenberg to stop supporting George W. Bush's disastrous policies in Iraq.

Better yet, the anti-Joe marchers were positioned in front of Joe Knollenberg himself. Way to go guys. I'm sorry I couldn't be there personally, but I was enjoying some family time with my new granddaughter.