Author Archive | Bernie LaForest

During his first public appearance since the election, Representative and former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan spoke in Racine on Sunday to discuss the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Joining Rep. Ryan were Cato Institute’s Mike Tanner, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, and Wisconsin State Senator Leah Vukmir.

Addressing an audience that would have liked to have seen Romney/Ryan in the White House repealing and replacing ACA this month, Rep. Ryan noted that is not happening. Ryan then went on to say the next method in line for ACA to be repealed is that “it collapses under its’ own weight”.

Representative Ryan also said ACA is an issue that determines our debt, and our economy. He went on to say ACA is the issue that ultimately determines our freedom.

Certainly, Representative Ryan doesn’t want the United States to undergo a debt collapse like Greece, nor an economic collapse such as Japan, nor a collapse caused by lack of freedom such as the Soviet Union. Logic dictates that the 51% of Americans (Rasmussen) that want ACA repealed cannot feasibly wait for a collapse. Wisconsin must join the several states that are asserting states’ rights and saying “NO” to ACA. Continue Reading →

It’s an old mantra, at least as old as I can remember.  “We need to vote in more Republicans and get control.”  You’ve heard it before.  If we can only regain control then we can fix everything.  But I always end up asking myself, what happened?  I swallowed the bait and marched into that booth determined to change the tide on out of control entitlement programs and elected officials sending me all over the globe to police the world.  The election is over, the Republicans are in charge and along comes Medicare Part D, No Child Left Behind, the Patriot Act and a couple trillion dollars in debt.

Most recently, a new class of Republicans ran for office in the mid-term elections, promising to be more fiscally responsible and to return to our constitutional roots.  I wondered what exactly constitutional roots were.  I thought that the Constitution was still law, often broken and ignored, but still law.  But best of all was the proclamation that all of these “constitutional” conservatives could get behind:  “We will do everything in our power to either repeal or Obamacare or defund it.”

The election was a landslide, plenty of new Republicans and a couple of old ones replaced.  But what happened?  Did they attempt to repeal Obamacare?  Yes 30 times, but everyone knew that there was a Presidential veto that would stop that.  OK, let’s look at option 2.  Did more and new Republicans defund it?  They control the House of Representatives, and we all know that all expenditures must originate in the House.  But it didn’t get defunded; something else happened – a couple of debt ceiling increases.  What part of the campaign pledge promised to enslave my children and grandchildren with a debt that they will never see paid off?  Surely that wasn’t part of returning to our constitutional roots, was it?

Then we awaited word from the Oracles to make their pronunciation and Chief Justice John Roberts does the unimaginable.  He decides to mold the Constitution to fit the legislation.  Where exactly did that authority come from?  Nowhere is the Supreme Court granted the power to interpret the Constitution and make it fit law.  They are supposed to interpret law and determine if it fits the Constitution.  Well, I never trusted men in dresses anyway, black or red. Continue Reading →

Where to go from here…

Hopefully people have taken some time to breathe and are now ready to calmly consider the best way forward. There are different paths laid out before us and many thoughts on how to proceed. Let’s try to figure this one out by looking at ObamaCare and what has been done thus far.

Barack Hussein Obama swept into office on a campaign of platitudes: “hope and change.” Immediately, he began his quest to implement a national healthcare program, and Congress eventually was jammed through the Affordable Care Act. The people grew restless and the Tea Party was born. Small, then large groups began organizing protests against higher taxes, out of control spending and a central government that long ago grew out of control.

As people organized, the Secretary of Homeland Security released a report warning against certain groups, calling them possible threats to U.S. security and advising law enforcement organizations should to beware of them. These groups included veterans, liberty groups and so called “right wing bloggers,”  among others.

The Tea Party grew and became a force prior to the 2010 midterm elections. A couple of national groups coalesced and endorsed certain candidates, and local groups worked tirelessly organizing tax day protests and vetting local candidates.

Sounds good so far, right?

The candidates vowed a return to smaller government, responsible spending limits, and above all, to do everything in their power to rid the country of the monstrosity that was jammed through with middle of the night votes and every procedural trick in the book. Michelle Bachmann proclaimed herself a leader of the Tea Party Coalition, and in her words, led tens of thousands to D.C. to protest the passing of ObamaCare. She and others loudly promised that they would take back control of the House of Representatives and do everything in their power to stop the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. They would bring forth repeal legislation and when that failed, they would completely starve the law by defunding it. Continue Reading →

Missouri State Senator Jim Lembke has introduced SB 600. The act would amend chapter 544, RSMo by adding one new section relating to the service of warrants by agents of the federal government, requiring them to notify the county sheriff prior to service.

This Bill is identical to SB 85, introduced in 2011 by Senator Lembke.  The Bill was referred to the Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence  Committee on Jan. 26.

The Bill would add a new section to chapter 544 reading as follows:

For any warrant that is issued by a court of the United States that is to be served within the boundaries of this state, the federal agent responsible for serving the warrant shall, prior to such service, notify the sheriff of the county where the warrant is to be served. Such notification shall be made in person at the office of the county sheriff and shall identify the person subject to the warrant. Continue Reading →

The Nebraska legislature will consider Legislative Bill 1171, titled The Nebraska Balance of Powers Act during the 2012 session.

State Senator Mark Christensen of Nebraska’s 44^th District introduced the bill on Jan. 19.

The Nebraska Balance of Powers Act shall serve as notice and a demand that the federal government cease and desist any and all activities outside the scope of the federal government’s constitutionally designated powers and which diminish the proper balance of power between the state and federal government. It also calls for the formation of a committee on nullification.

The bill is intended to reclaim the powers that the Tenth Amendment guarantees and reserves to the states and the people of Nebraska, not delegated to the federal government elsewhere in the Constitution.  Such guarantee makes up part of  a compact between the people of the State of Nebraska and the United States as of the time that the State of Nebraska was admitted to statehood in 1867.

“The Constitution of the United States affirms that the sole and sovereign power to regulate a state’s business and affairs rests in the state legislature and has always been a compelling state concern and central to state sovereignty.” Continue Reading →

Wisconsin legislators have introduced Senate Bill 371, allowing for the possession and use of medical marijuana.

The Bill was introduced on Jan. 9, 2012, by Senators Erpenbach and Taylor, cosponsored by Representatives Pocan, Berceau, Bewley, E. Coggs, Danou, Grigsby, Kessler, Pasch, Pope-Roberts, Roys, C. Taylor, Toles and Zepnick.

This bill would establish a Medical Necessity Defense to marijuana, related prosecutions and forfeiture actions.  Persons with debilitating medical conditions, or undergoing treatment that is also deemed by their primary care physician as debilitating, would be able to invoke this Medical Necessity Defense if this Bill were to be passed into law.

The defense provided under the bill, and the prohibition on arrest and prosecution contained in the bill,  would also apply to a primary caregiver, if the primary caregiver acquires, possesses, cultivates, transfers or transports marijuana to facilitate the patients use.

There are no protections for use of marijuana deemed to be recreational.  Certain provisions are laid out in the language of the Bill to prevent the defense from being invoked when people are in a corrections facility, sitting on a park bench, schools, public transportation and in the person’s place of work.  There are also strong prohibitions against the operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence of marijuana. Continue Reading →

It seems as though Wisconsin is ready to assert its tenth amendment rights and claim state sovereignty!  Dozens of states have submitted similar resolutions and they have in most cases led to more specific legislation, such as health care freedom acts that nullify Obama’s health care and most recently, Texas, Utah and Michigan currently have resolutions going through the process to declare the unconstitutional searches by the TSA unlawful and subject to criminal penalties.

Texas has also just passed a Light Bulb Freedom Act which nullifies the ridiculous ban on incandescent light bulbs.  Hopefully, this resolution will lead to stronger, more specific legislation protecting the rights of the sovereign citizens of Wisconsin.

ASSEMBLY JOINT RESOLUTION 42  was submitted on May 25th of this year.

The resolution was introduced by Representatives Jaque, Kestell, Thiesfeldt, Zieglbauer, Krug, Kerkmann, August, Nygren, Meyer, LeMahieu, Strachota, Bies and Craig, and cosponsored by By Senators Leibham, Lazich, Kedzie and Galloway. Continue Reading →

I had the privilege of being invited to speak to the Lake Country Defenders of Liberty last night. I believe that last night marked their 1 year anniversary as a group. They were pleasant, aware and very engaged in today’s events. I made a presentation followed by an excellent question and answer session. I’ll recap the main parts of the discussion as they are relevant to us all.

In the first 2 years of this administration we have had 3 Constitutional crises. First would be the president disenfranchising the investors in both GM and Chrysler, forcing a bankruptcy on them under his terms and the government taking over ownership of these companies. Second, we have the health care mandate. Someone who professes to be a constitutional scholar should know that this law is unconstitutional on its base. No matter what clause they decide to use, the government cannot force you to get up off the couch and participate in commerce. Never before in our society has it been necessary that the sovereign citizens of the states that form this great republic be forced to purchase anything as a condition of their citizenship. Third, we have the commander in chief unilaterally order the delivery of hundreds of tomahawk missiles to a sovereign nation that did not order them. He did not consult congress and had no Constitutional authority to order an attack on a sovereign nation. Even being pressed for time to make a flight for his vacation to Rio is not covered by the War Powers Act. Continue Reading →