Oakland Press Letter Points out Misinformaton

Today's Oakland Press has another letter pointing out the lies that were printed on the Letters to the Editor page about me and about my campaign to unseat Joe Knollenberg. It's nice to read some truth for a change.

Lies are the hallmark of Republican and Joe Knollenberg's campaign, but that's nothing new.

McCain says to treat wives with respect

Now, this is just kind of sad. Apparently John McCain is trying to make a statement about how the press and other media should be respectful of the candidates' wives. This is kind of ironic, especially since it has been reported in Cliff Schecter's book, The Real John McCain an occasion where apparently Cindy, McCain's wife, was tossling his hair and commented that he was getting a little thin and he angrily responded by calling her a c*unt and a trollop. I wonder if he would consider that respectful. This clip is a segment from The Young Turks discussing the incident. CLICK HERE for the rest of the story.

John McCain may regret using a green screen

Stephen Colbert has issued a challenge to his viewers, to take the speech John McBush gave in front of a green screen and remake the speech with creative flair and try to make John McBush interesting. Here's my favorite.

BREAKING NEWS! Why Bruce Fealk Endorses Joe Knollenberg for Congresss

You know what, I've changed my mind. All those letters in the Oakland Press and the Eccentric newspapers have helped me see the light of day. Oh, and this commercial helped too. Here's all the reasons I'm voting for Joe Knollenberg on Nov. 4th, 2008. (Just kidding)

OP Letter Writer Gets It Right

Finally, some truth about Joe Knollenberg and his stance on health care. Liz Sadowski , a family law attorney in Rochester, writes about the real point of my guest opinion in the Oakland Press recently.

Oakland Press Editorial Focuses on the Trees, misses the Forest

This morning's Oakland Press editorial focuses on my recent guest column in the paper. The piece focuses entirely on the wrong issue. My point of the column was not Joe Knollenberg's urging women to do self exams and to get their mammograms. My point was the hypocrisy of Joe Knollenberg being at a health conference for women, when he has such a terrible voting record on health issues. Joe Knollenberg voted against expanding a successful government program that provides health care coverage for millions of low income children (SCHIP). Even when the majority of his colleagues voted to expand the program, Joe voted against it.

The issue for millions of Americans is that they don't have any health care coverage for themselves and their families. Families across Oakland County and this country are afraid every day that they will have a major health issue that they won't be able to afford to get treated because they have no insurance or worse yet, no job.

Oakland County residents are hurting because of $4 gas, lack of health coverage and an uncertain economy and Joe Knollenberg is talking about being called a name.

• Maybe Joe Knollenberg should start talking about issues that really matter to Americans, like a health care program that makes it so that a mother earning minimum wage can afford to take care of her children when they get sick and take them to a doctor.
  
• Maybe Joe Knollenberg should do something about outrageous profits of America's oil companies that continue to rip Americans off at the pump.
  
• Maybe Joe Knollenberg should worry more about our soldiers in Iraq that are committing suicide at an unprecedented rate and others that are coming home and not being able to get the care they need to lead productive lives.
  
• Maybe Joe Knollenberg should think about what it does to our soldiers to be sent into a war zone for 3, 4, 5 times and what it does to their families.
  
• Maybe Joe Knollenberg should vote for funding to screen and treat our soldiers for post-traumatic stress syndrome when they return from Iraq.
• Maybe Joe Knollenberg should introduce legislation to address the mental health issues that are causing our returning soldiers to commit suicide at the highest rates in history.
  
• Maybe Joe Knollenberg should think of what a war that our President lied us into and our country is borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars from China to support is doing to our nation's economy and the fact that our great, great grandchildren will be working to pay off that debt. Those are some of the real issues.
  
• Why isn't Joe Knollenberg talking about those issues, instead of worrying about whether his opponent's campaign literature has a logo on his shirt or not?

Joe Knollenberg has had almost 16 years to make the lives of his constituents better and his most noted legislation is the repealing of a law that required low-flush toilets because they couldn't clear the bowl. I know my life isn't one bit better because Joe Knollenberg has been my Congressman for the last 16 years.

Other people have noticed Joe Knollenberg's voting record too. I repeat these rankings for those that may think that I've veered off course.

Stop your whining, Joe and let's talk about the issues.

2005-2006 Representative Knollenberg supported the interests of the National Breast Cancer Coalition 0 percent in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.

2007 Alliance for Headache Disorders ranked Knollenberg as a 0

2007 American Academy of Family Physicians gave Knollenberg a 0 rating

2007 Children's Health Fund gave Knollenberg a 0 rating.

2006 American Public Health Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 rating.

2005-2006 AIDS Action Council rated Knollenberg with a 0 rating.

2005-2006 American Academy of Emergency Mediine ranked Knollenberg - 50 percent.

2005-2006 American Nurses Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 percent.

2005-2006 National Rural Health Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 percent.

Knollenberg Campaign off Track

Today's Politically Speaking column in the Detroit Free Press refers to a post made on this blog. Apparently Sandi Knollenberg, wife of Joe Knollenberg has taken a comment here and turned it into a fundraising issue. Glenn Clark, 9th District chair for the Republicans is being so petty as to suggest that a picture on a piece of literature is considered "elitist" because a logo appears in one photo, but not another. It seems the Knollenberg campaign is off into the grass now and is so rattled by the strong anti-Knollenberg campaign, that they are forgetting about the issues facing voters in Oakland County, like health care, the economy and a disastrous war in Iraq. How about we raise the level of discussion, Joe and stop using the Karl Rove play book?

As far as Joe Knollenberg's record on health care issues, look at these rankings from several health advocacy groups.

2007 Alliance for Headache Disorders ranked Knollenberg as a 0

2007 American Academy of Family Physicians gave Knollenberg a 0 rating

2007 Children's Health Fund gave Knollenberg a 0 rating.

2006 American Public Health Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 rating.

2005-2006 AIDS Action Council rated Knollenberg with a 0 rating.

2005-2006 American Academy of Emergency Mediine ranked Knollenberg - 50 percent.

2005-2006 American Nurses Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 percent.

2005-2006 National Rural Health Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 percent.

Congressional contest gets snarky

It was a big week in presidential politics. The presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees started hammering each other on the economy, the war in Iraq and ethics.

But in Oakland County, one congressional campaign was mired in concerns of who said who's a jerk and breast cancer.

Sandie Knollenberg, the wife of U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, a Bloomfield Township Republican, issued a fund-raising letter blasting Democratic challenger Gary Peters for labeling her husband a "jerk" for supporting breast cancer prevention.

But the "jerk" label came from a blog by Bruce Fealk, a Knollenberg provocateur who is not connected with the Peters campaign. Fealk, using wildly creative interpretation, wrote that a newspaper column by Knollenberg suggested that women are responsible for creating their own cancer.

Republicans took another shot at Peters, a former state lottery commissioner. They noted his campaign brochure shows a stern-looking Peters wearing a blue shirt with a Ralph Lauren Polo label. On the inside photo, the Polo label has vanished.

Republican activist Glenn Clark claimed that Peters airbrushed the Polo label to show he's not elitist, suggesting, of course, that he really is. Peters' campaign pooh-poohed the claim as a nonissue to distract from Knollenberg's record.

Economy and war, anyone?

Will Joe Knollenberg Distance Himself from John McBush

In an interview with Brian Williams, John McBush again commits to keeping troops in Iraq basically forever. He still thinks we're winning in Iraq. I say he's delusional. What say you?

Veterans Ready to Knock Doors for Peters - Detroit News

Dems battle to woo leery veterans

Party works to shake off lingering anti-war image with more focus on military issues.
Deb Price / The Detroit News
WASHINGTON -- Army veteran Chuck Griffiths grew up in a Democratic household, but feels the party "abandoned" him decades ago and hasn't won back his trust on military issues.

"The anti-war activists were outside the Democratic Party in '68 and running the party by '72," said Griffiths of Westland. "It's anti-military, by and large. If they really want to appeal to people like me, they need to put more guys like (Vietnam War veteran and Virginia Sen.) Jim Webb in leadership positions and not as window dressing."

His view isn't hard to find around VFW halls and other gathering spots of veterans. Pollsters and military analysts say vets tend to be more conservative -- and more Republican -- than other voters. But Democrats, in a national trend demonstrated in Michigan, are increasingly trying to woo the Chuck Griffiths of America.

The party is running challengers with Persian Gulf-era military experience, such as Gary Peters, who is trying to oust eight-term Republican Rep. Joe Knollenberg in Oakland County and has a "Veterans for Gary Peters" group ready to knock on doors for him. CLICK HERE for the rest of the story.

The Girl that Silenced the UN

Someone sent me this video today and it's one of the most powerful videos I've ever seen. Please pass it along to your friends. Here's the link. Copy and paste it into an e-mail and send it to your e-mail lists. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWqIrmxtcoY