Saturday, July 19, 2008

Joe, you really need to have a talk with John McCain

I thought George W. Bush was stupid. But I think John McCain has him beat by a country mile in that department. Yesterday, speaking to a group of autoworkers McCain actually proposed letting each state determine their own mileage standards. I can't think of anything that would kill the auto industry faster than that. Can you imagine trying to build vehicles that meet 50 different standards? WOW! If I were a Republican, I'd be really worried about the mental capacity of John McCain based on this one idea alone.

States should set fuel efficiency, McCain says

BY KATHLEEN GRAY AND KATIE MERX • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • July 18, 2008

Sen. John McCain said this morning that states should be able to determine their own fuel efficiency standards.

The policy, which a dozen states are pushing, is strongly opposed by the domestic auto industry as a job-killing proposal that would seriously harm the industry.

McCain made his remarks before an audience of about 500 General Motors employees in Warren.

"It's hard for me to tell states that they can't impose whatever standards they decide to impose," McCain said. "I want to see Rick (Wagoner, GM’s CEO) sit down with the governor's and ask them what they need."

Wagoner said after the meeting that the company would prefer a national standard rather than state-by-state standards.

“We think the current CAFÉ standards are challenging and we’d like to focus on working on them,” he said

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Joe calls this a health care plan

Joe still doesn't get it. Every American deserves to have access to health care, not just people with employers that offer it, and that number is getting smaller every day. We can pool everyone, lower cost and cover everyone and do it for less that people pay now for their insurance policies. And we could do it sooner if we'd get out of that god forsaken war in Iraq and go after the terrorists where they really are gathering. Joe has had 16 years to solve the health care problem. I think someone else deserves a chance to solve this problem and all the others that we face.



Let's lower the cost of health care

Oakland County's families are suffering the effects of out-of-control health care costs. From the high cost of prescription drugs to visits to the doctor's office, families are struggling to afford the most essential of medical treatment and care. Meanwhile, businesses are finding it ever more difficult to provide health care for their employees.
It's time to get control of the cost of health care so more families can afford it and so businesses can more easily provide it. I have a plan to get that done.
Take a minute to read it over, then click the link below and please tell me what you think.
My five-point PRICE plan will dramatically lower the price of health care while increasing the number of families with coverage. My plan would promote:
P - Pooling small businesses together so they have more power to negotiate and lower their costs
R - Responsibility and wellness, helping keep people healthier so they live longer and are less likely to suffer from preventable diseases
I - Information technology, bringing health care into the technological age.
C - Consumer choice, making individuals, not insurance companies or the government, in charge of their care
E - Eliminating junk lawsuits that add $100 billion to the cost of health care and keep good doctors from being able to practice medicine.
My plan would reduce the cost of health care by billions, bringing the price down and allowing more people to have access to health care and afford the treatment they need.
Click here to read more about my plan and tell me what you think. And please let me know if you have a story about how the cost of health care has affected you or your employer.
Help me make sure that Oakland County's families - and all Americans - can afford to get the health care they need.
Sincerely,






Joe Knollenberg

Birmingham Eccentric Letter: Failing Grades

The Birmingham Eccentric published my letter taking Joe Knollenberg to task for his voting record on health care related issues.

Failing grades

Last month I was taken to task for my letter about Joe Knollenberg. Knollenberg's professional letter writers, some of them volunteers for his campaign and employees of the Michigan Republican party, focused entirely on the wrong issue.

I wasn't criticizing Knollenberg's urging women to do self-exams and to get their mammograms. My point was the hypocrisy of Joe Knollenberg sponsoring a health conference for women when he has such a terrible voting record on health issues. Joe Knollenberg received a 0 rating from the National Breast Cancer Coalition in 2006 and 2007 and voted against expanding SCHIP. Knollenberg sponsoring a women's health conference is like the NRA sponsoring a conference on gun control. (Knollenberg did vote to extend SCHIP, but not expand it) Even when many of his Republican colleagues voted to expand SCHIP to cover an additional 10 million children, Joe voted against it.

Families across Oakland County live in fear that they will have a major health issue that they won't be able to afford to get treated because they have no insurance. Health care should be a right in America, not a privilege of only wealthy Congressmen and women. Doesn't every American deserve the same health care coverage Joe Knollenberg gets?

Some other issues that Joe should pay attention to:

Joe Knollenberg should do something about the outrageous profits of America's oil companies that rip Americans off at the pump, and the speculators that are driving prices up, regardless of supply.

Joe Knollenberg should vote for funding to screen every soldier for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Joe Knollenberg should vote to stop funding a war that our president lied us into and is charging hundreds of billions on our Bank of China credit card to support. Joe Knollenberg and the Republicans have not been fiscally responsible.

Why won't Joe Knollenberg come out in public and let his constituents ask him about his record on important issues and his plans to solve the problems facing them?

Other people have noticed Joe Knollenberg's voting record on health care issues too. In 2007 the Children's Health Fund gave Knollenberg a 0 rating; in 2006 American Public Health Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 rating; in 2005-2006 American Academy of Emergency Medicine ranked Knollenberg - 50 percent; in 2005-2006 American Nurses Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 percent.

Those are failing grades in anyone's book.

Disclaimer: I do not work for MoveOn.org or Joe Knollenberg's opponent.

Bruce Fealk

Rochester Hills

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Oakland Press: Opposition to Knollenberg well founded

GUEST OPINION

Opposition to Knollenberg well founded

Bruce Fealk of Rochester Hills, is a businessman and local political activist.



Last month the Oakland Press editorial board took me to task for my recent guest column about Joe Knollenberg, R-Bloomfi eld Hills.
The board and Knollenberg’s professional letter writers focused entirely on the wrong issue. I wasn’t criticizing Knollenberg’s urging women to do self exams and to get their mammograms.
My point was the hypocrisy of Knollenberg sponsoring a health conference for women when he has such a terrible voting record on health issues. Knollenberg has a 0 rating from the National Breast Cancer Coalition and voted against expanding a successful government program that provides health care coverage for millions of low income children (SCHIP). Knollenberg did vote to extend the program. Even when the majority of his colleagues voted to expand the program to cover an additional 10 million children, Joe voted against it.

The issue for millions of Americans is that they don’t have any health-care coverage. Families across Oakland County and this country live in fear that they will have a major health issue that they won’t be able to afford to get treated because they have no insurance.
Knollenberg’s “wellness” proposal won’t help those people.
Oakland County residents are hurting because of $4 gas, lack of health coverage and an uncertain economy. The Bush/Knollenberg economy is a dismal failure.

Knollenberg should start talking about issues that really matter to Americans, like a health care program that makes it so that every American can take their children to a doctor.
Health care should
be a right in America, not a privilege of only wealthy congressmen and women.
Knollenberg should do something about the outrageous profits of America’s oil companies that continue to rip Americans off at the pump and the speculators that are driving prices up, regardless of supply.
He should think about what it does to our soldiers being sent into a war zone three, four and
five times and what it does to their families.
Knollenberg should vote for funding to screen every soldier for posttraumatic stress disorder so we can try to prevent the unprecedented number of suicides being committed by our soldiers.
He should vote to stop funding a war that our president lied us into and is charging hundreds of billions on our Bank of China credit card to support. Our great-great-grandchildren will be working to pay off that debt. Republicans have not been fiscally responsible.
Those are some of the real issues.
Why isn’t Knollenberg talking about them?
Why won’t Knollenberg come out in public and let his constituents ask him about his record on important issues and his plans to solve the
problems facing them?
Knollenberg has had almost 16 years to make the lives of his constituents better. My life isn’t one bit better.
Other people have noticed Knollenberg’s voting record on health care issues, too:
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; and 2005-2006 American Nurses Association ranked Knollenberg with a 0 percent. Those are failing grades in anyone’s book. Disclaimer: I do not work for MoveOn.org or Knollenberg’s opponent.

BRUCE FEALK

Knollenberg Voted Against Paper Ballot Backup Measure

Electronic voting machings, the kind that have been decertified in California, the kind that lost 13,000 votes in Florida have been the cause for much consternation to those interested in fair and honest elections. H.R. 5803 would have appropriated money so that states could make paper ballots available in emergencies. Makes sense to me, but not to Joe Knollenberg. he joined 169 of his Republican colleages to defeat this common sense bill. I guess Joe Knollenberg and those other 169 Republicans don't really care about elections and democracy in the United States as much as they do for Iraq.

H.R.5803
Title: To direct the Election Assistance Commission to establish a program to make grants to participating States and units of local government which will administer the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office held in November 2008 for carrying out a program to make backup paper ballots available in the case of the failure of a voting system or voting equipment in the election or some other emergency situation, and for other purposes.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Trent Wisecup Apparently Working for Navigators and L. Brooks Patterson

This is really interesting. Trent Wisecup, Joe Knollenberg's former chief of staff, now L. Brooks Patterson's campaign manager is using an e-mail address from Navigators LLC. Click here to see Trent's bio on the Navigators web site. I sent Trent an e-mail inviting him to have L. Brooks Patterson come on an upcoming episode of my community television show, Michigan Progress. I sent the e-mail to his Navigators e-mail address. It didn't bouce back, so I presume he received it, although I haven't heard back from him.

The Navigators web site is working today and their client list is very interesting. Among their clients, corporate clients like Wal-Mart, Fannie Mae, about to go bankrupt and cost taxpayers billions of dollars. AT&T, now given retroactive immunity for illegally spying on American citizens, Tyco Corporation, whose CEO went to jail for using corporate funds for a lavish lifestyle. Click here for the rest of their corporate clients. Here's a list of their political clients. Click here. A very interesting client base, I think you'd agree.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Remember Trent Wisecup? Why is he using a lobbying firm e-mail?

I guess in political circles what goes around comes around. Joe Knollenberg and L. Brooks Patterson are obviously very close. L. Brooks attended Joe's campaign launch yesterday. Since Trent Wisecup is now L. Brooks' campaign manager, I wonder if Trent was in attendance too. Wisecup embarassed Joe Knollenberg, so Joe fired him and Trent checked himself into the hospital. I am so glad Trent landed on his feet with L. Brooks. Is Trent back working for his old lobbying firm, Navigators, LLC? Why is a lobbyist running L. Brooks Patterson's campaign? What is the connection?





Then he showed up on Keith Olbermann on MSNBC