Will Joe hold Auto Companies Accountable on Fuel Economy?

The Democrats in the House have reached a compromise on fuel economy standards calling for a 40% increase by 2020, including trucks and SUV's. Finally! Some action. It's not nearly enough, but it's a good start. According to this article a vote will take place next week. Let's start calling and writing Joe's office now to urge him to vote yes on this important legislation. Given Joe's history of screwing consumers and the environment, I'm sure Joe will vote No, but miracles do happen. Call Joe's office in Washington D.C. at (202) 225-5802 or go CLICK HERE to send him an e-mail.

Vote No On Joe Ranks above Knollenberg campaign web site on Google

It's hard to believe, but Vote No On Joe now ranks above Joe Knollenberg's official campaign web site in the Google search engine and just one spot below Joe's official campaign web site on Yahoo.

Representative Joe Knollenberg
Official web site for Representative Joe Knollenberg (R - MI).
www.knollenberg.house.gov/

Joe Knollenberg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joseph (Joe) Knollenberg (born November 28, 1933) is a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan, representing Michigan's 9th congressional district in the ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Knollenberg - 50k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Vote No on JOE (Knollenberg) joe knollenberg, joe knollenberg, joe ...
I got word today that there is a rumor that Trent Wisecup is no longer working for Joe Knollenberg. I sent an e-mail to Trent's address and it bounced back, ...
votenoonjoe.blogspot.com/ - 191k -

Joe Knollenberg -- The Official Campaign Website of Congres

Trent Wisecup Fired?

I got word today that there is a rumor that Trent Wisecup is no longer working for Joe Knollenberg. I sent an e-mail to Trent's address and it bounced back, another indication that Trent is no longer employed by the Knollenberg camp. It's a good thing Trent is on his wife's health care, what with all the medication he needs, now that he's been diagnosed as being bi-polar and undoubtedly he'll be needing psychiatric care, which isn't cheap either. Without his wife's health care, Trent would know what it's like to be one of the 47 million (37 million if you believe Trent) without health care coverage. I'm going to miss you, Trent.

Nominate Joe Knollenberg for Grinch of the Year

NOMINATE JOE KNOLLENBERG AS YOUR FAVORITE GREEDY GRINCH!

CLICK HERE to nominate Joe Knollenberg

For more than a decade, JwJ coalitions across the country have held local 'Grinch of the Year' elections to determine the most deserving greedy Grinch in their hometowns. This year, national Jobs with Justice will sponsor the seventh annual online Grinch of the Year election to determine the national figure who does the most harm to working families.

Please submit your nomination for the national Grinch of the Year by Friday, November 30th. Be sure to include a few sentences on why you think your nominee is deserving. We will be annoucing the nominees and beginning the election in a few weeks.

More Health Care News for Joe

This article appeared in the Nov. 29 edition of the Detroit Free Press. There are some interesting statistics here. CLICK HERE to read the full article. The part I liked was this.

Dr. A. Mark Fendrick, director of the University of Michigan's Center for Value Based Insurance Design, said lower health premiums in the state reflect Michigan's strong union history that bargained for workplace benefits and made it "a national leader regarding the provision of generous and affordable health insurance."

Basically unions are helping to keep the overall cost of health care below the national average.

Report links higher rates of uninsured and suicide

Joe, since you're a good Catholic, I would hope that this report gets your attention and may even change your mind on voting for measures that provide health care for Americans.

Report links higher rates of uninsured and suicide

November 28, 2007

By MARILYN ELIAS

USA TODAY

The higher the percentage of residents in a state who say they can't afford health care, the greater the prevalence of serious depression and the higher the suicide rate in that state, suggests a report released to USA TODAY.

The state-by-state analysis also links fewer suicides to more adults receiving mental health treatment, greater availability of psychologists and psychiatrists, and "parity" laws requiring equal insurance coverage for physical and mental illness.

(Since your own chief of staff, Trent Wisecup apparently suffers from a serious mental disorder, maybe you will support mental health parity in health care coverage. Is he back to work yet, Joe or was the whole paid leave a cover for Trent being fired or let go from the campaign? Is he still on the payroll?)

The report doesn't prove that lack of care causes depression or suicide, says senior author Tami Mark of Thomson Healthcare. "But it suggests we should be monitoring mental health care and comparing outcomes," she says.

Mark used federal data on mental health and state databases to develop a "depression index," ranking states and the District of Columbia on seriousness and prevalence of depression, as well as suicide rates.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the story

Joe, What Good is a Cutting Edge Cancer Center...

... if people can't afford to get treatment there? Joe Knollenberg's web site brags about how Joe helped get funding for a cutting edge cancer center. But guess what, even people that have insurance may not be able to receive the treatment afforded by this center if we don't change the way we pay for health care. Please read yesterday's post about Fred Holling, who is now in the hospital and needs treatment that his Blue Cross policy won't pay for. He's having to hold spaghetti dinners to try to raise the money needed to get the treatment he needs to stay alive.

Joe Knollenberg's health car plan consists of a $200 tax credit that goes to employers, not the employee, for having wellness programs. Please tell me, Joe, what good does that do for a person that gets cancer and their policy doesn't cover their treatment, someone like Fred Holling, who played by all the rules, but still can't get the treatment he needs.

Joe, this is why we need universal, single-payer health care

I opened up my Oakland Press electronic edition today, and there on the front page is the story below, about a man that worked hard all his life, has purchased health insurance that he pays for himself who gets sick. He assumes that his treatment will be covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield. He trusts that the premiums he's paid all these years will take care of him. But unfortunately he was wrong. He needs an expensive, life-saving procedure that isn't covered by his insurance.

If you haven't read about Joe Knollenberg's health care plan, Joe says that it would be great if employers received a $200 tax credit for offering their employees a wellness program. Ain't that great? But what about the 47 million without health care coverage, 9 million of whom are children? Joe's excuse for for voting against the Children's Health Insurance Program - it's paid for by raising the taxes on the 22 million people who smoke cigarettes by 61 cents per pack.

What about people like Fred Holling who have bought and paid for private insurance, but when the time comes, they turn down their customer for the treatment they need? Oh, and Joe doesn't believe Fred should be able to sue his insurance carrier either. So people like Fred Holling have no recourse against their insurer, who has taken his money all these years, and yet when the time comes to take care of their customer, they tell him, sorry, you're on your own. So, what does Fred have to do, hold fundraisers, to help raise the money needed to pay for his treatment. It shouldn't be this way in America, the only industrialized country in the world that doesn't offer its citizens universal health coverage. Oh, Republicans and Joe Knollenberg get on their soap box and preach that universal health coverage is leading us down the path to "socialized" medicine, as if using that word scares us into submission. Joe would rather spend America's financial resources, and use our national credit card, borrowing money from China to pay for the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan. How's that for having your priorities straight?

The time has come for Democrats and Republicans to get busy in Congress to pass John Conyers' universal, single-payer health care legislation, so people like Fred can get the treatments they need, without having to beg relatives, friends and strangers for the money to pay for the care they need. What do you say, Joe? Will you help John Conyers pass H.R. 676 now?

CLICK HERE for the rest of the story