Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Click to News of the North Article for complete report, thorough coverage with photos and video from yesterday’s event in St. Germain:
http://newsofthenorth.net/article/Top_Stories/National/Sen_Feingold_faces_wrath_on_health_care_bill_on_eve_of_vote/37758

ST. GERMAIN – Sen. Russ Feingold came to St. Germain on Saturday, March 20, for his 32nd “listening session” of 2010 and 1,256th since 1993 and heard a lot of anger from a sometimes raucous and hostile crowd.

About 100 people showed up at the Community Center at noon for the one-hour meeting and, as expected, health care was the big topic.

Several people made statements, most of which were critical of the health care bill now before the House, or interrupted the Democratic Wisconsin senator with catcalls although appreciative applause also broke out at times from some in the audience who supported the health care legislation.

But for the most part it was a confrontational session as speaker after speaker blasted what they see as government takeover of the health care system. Outside a few protesters carried signs opposing “Obama care.” Another said, “Are you listening?”

The placard-carrying critics included Rudy Fuys of Boulder Junction, who said he was “outraged by the taking of $500 billion out of the Medicare program. That’s ridiculous. Myself and many other seniors have paid for this our whole lives and it’s gone. How can they force this on the American people?”

Another critic, James Lynn of Cloverland, said, “They totally corrupted the government and it’s unconstitutional.” Loyd Black (see video clip below) questioned the senator on whether the law should apply to everyone.

Feingold defended his support of health care reform, noting that the vast majority of Americans favored universal health care. (see video clip below), and that he was standing on principles espoused during his previous election campaign.

In discussing the soaring federal deficit and the need to cut spending, he lauded passage of the Control Spending Now Act provision to cancel unspent transportation earmarks, which won Senate approval last week on an 87-11 vote. He said the amendment could save taxpayers at least $478 million a year and considerably more over time.

Feingold also lent his support to an amendment to place a year-long ban on earmarks, although the move was defeated; he likewise endorsed a plan by House Republicans to impose a year-long prohibition on earmarks.

Another subject that came up during a pre-session interview was unemployment. Feingold said the new jobs bill, which President Obama signed into law last week, includes a payroll tax break to make it a bit easier to business to hire more workers.

“But even with this bipartisan effort becoming law, we must remain focused on creating jobs and strengthening the economy. And since the new payroll tax break expires at the end of the year, more must be done. I strongly favor the approach my own jobs tax credit bill takes, which is to provide firms with a tax break for the next two years to help them expand their payroll and put people back to work.”

Other questions dealt with illegal immigration sparking a testy exchange with Kim Simac of Eagle River, a member of the Northwoods Patriots Group (see video clip below). Deficit spending and global warming also came up, but the subject that was on most minds was health care.

Dr. William Raduege, a family physician who works in Land O’ Lakes, Wis., representing the Wisconsin Medical Society, said there should be a permanent fix for what he called the flawed Medicare payment system for doctors and hospitals, without which access to care would be threatened and limited. (see video clip below)

As the health care debate winds down this weekend and the House is on the verge of an up-or-down vote, Democrats appeared confident that the measure would pass after several months of contentious debate, which has not only split both major parties but also the country, according to public opinion polls. House Democrats were quoted Sunday morning as saying they had enough votes — at least 216 are needed — to pass the bill.

Before the listening session, Feingold, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke with NN.N about a new strain in U.S.-Israeli relations stemming from the Israeli government’s announced plans to expand settlements in east Jerusalem, and the growing possibility that former Wisconsin governor and Republican Tommy Thompson may run against him this fall. (see video clip below). Feingold was first elected senator in 1992 and is seeking a third term.

Many reports are surfacing about Saturday’s “Kill the Bill” Rally in Washington DC and reports are that tens of thousands and up to one hundred thousand may have participated in the rally Saturday.

http://teapartyexpressblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/dc-kill-bill-rally-draws-tens-of.html

http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/kill-the-bill-rally-in-washington/ - sign says “We drove ALL NIGHT to Kill the Bill!”

On Sunday, Immigration Reform Rally is planned for the Mall in Washington DC.  Stay tuned to see how our media cover these two weekend events.

You Have the Right to Remain Silent

by Kerry Thomas

March 18, 2010

How much of your private information are you going to give to a total stranger this year?

Your government is spending millions of your tax dollars trying to convince you to voluntarily reveal all sorts of otherwise private information about yourself and everyone who lives in your home, all as part of the census.

You do have to tell these government bureaucrats how many people live in your home. But that’s all. The Constitution requires an enumeration, nothing more. And the reason for such an enumeration is to apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution requires “The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct.”

Yes, Congress has the power to direct the manner in which the enumeration is taken. But they are only Constitutionally empowered to take an enumeration. Any other questions are extraneous.

Under our Constitution, you don’t have to answer any question about your mortgage. You don’t have to answer any questions about your name, your age, your sex, your race, or your employment. You don’t have to answer any questions about your income, your employer, or what time you leave for work each day.

The Census Bureau has a catchy little Obama-esque slogan for their multi-million dollar ad campaign about “We can’t move forward until you mail it back.” Move forward? With what? The fundamental transformation of America?

The Census Bureau is also sending out what they’re calling an American Community Survey, which asks even more invasive questions about you and your lifestyle. They say they need this information in order to plan future community projects and to ensure adequate government services.

If you do answer any of these extraneous questions, you had better get them all right. You can be charged with perjury if you give false answers. It’s unfortunate, but most of this information is already in a public database somewhere, be it your local zoning office, voter registration rolls, or even the phone book.

Ironically, one salient question that is not on any of the census forms is whether or not you are a U.S. citizen.

The bureaucratic peons who come to your door asking these invasive questions will tell you that refusing to answer these questions could result in a $5,000 fine. They will cite a federal law that compels you answer these questions.

In 2000, I placed a note on my front door for the census takers, in which I disclosed the number of persons living in my house. When the census takers knocked on my door, they asked if the note was for them. I answered, “Yes.” They asked if I refused to answer any more of their questions. I answered, “Yes.” They thanked me and walked away. So I can truthfully say I answered every question the census takers asked of me.

In the entire 220 year history of the U.S. census, there has been exactly one person charged in connection with refusing to cooperate with the census. It was in the 1960’s and he was charged not with refusing to answer the questions but with perjury for giving false answers.

You see, there’s a little thing called the Fifth Amendment, which ensures your right to due process and says you can’t be compelled to testify against yourself. Every trained law enforcement officer knows you have the right to remain silent. Even terrorists are given Miranda rights.

Archived at KerryThomas.com: http://kerrythomas.com/Archives/Census.htm

http://feingold.senate.gov/listening/advisories/10/vilas.html

FEINGOLD HOLDS LISTENING SESSIONS
IN VILAS AND FOREST COUNTIES ON MARCH 20

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will hold listening sessions in Vilas and Forest Counties on Saturday, March 20. Senator Feingold has pledged to hold listening sessions in all of Wisconsin’s 72 counties each year of his six-year term and this will be the Senator’s 18th year of holding listening sessions. These sessions will mark the 32nd and 33rd listening sessions of 2010 and the 1256th and 1257th since 1993. If constituents need special accommodations at the listening sessions they should contact Senator Feingold’s Middleton office at 608-828-1200.

His Vilas County listening session will be held at 12:00 p.m. in the Gymnasium at the St. Germain Community Center, 545 Highway 155, St. Germain. The meeting will last up to an hour.

His Forest County listening session will be held at 3:15 p.m. in the Auditorium at Crandon High School, 9750 US Highway 8 West, Crandon. The meeting will last up to an hour.

“I look forward to meeting with constituents in Vilas and Forest counties, as I learn more at these town meetings than I learn anywhere else,” Feingold said. “In order for me to be an effective legislator, I need to hear from the people I represent and they deserve every opportunity to let me know directly what they think about a particular issue. This is democracy in action and I am grateful to all those who take time out of their busy schedules to come to my meetings and let me know about the issues important to them. The feedback I receive is essential to my job as a U.S. Senator.”

NOTE: SENATOR FEINGOLD WILL BE AVAILABLE TO MEET WITH THE MEDIA FOR A SHORT TIME PRIOR TO THE LISTENING SESSIONS.

Legislation has been introduced in Wisconsin to join dozens of other states in passing legislation that says citizens cannot be required to have medical insurance (opposing Obamacare). Our Representative Meyer is one of the sponsors of the bill. See article below.

• Call Rep. Dan Meyer 608-266-7141 or 888-534-0034 or email Rep.Meyer@legis.wisconsin.gov and thank him.
• Call Sen. Jim Holperin 608-266-2509 or 800-334-8773 or email Sen.Holperin@legis.wisconsin.gov and ask him to support the bill.
• Call Sen. Jon Erpenbach 608-266-6670 or 888-549-0027 or email Sen.Erpenbach@legis.state.wi.us and ask him to take up the bill.

3/15/2010

Nullification? Might not need it this time around

published at FoxPolitics.net: http://foxpolitics.net/politics.iml?mdl=issues.mdl&issue_id=42531&Category=1

Virginia says no way will they allow the federal government to mandate their residents purchase health insurance and as such is seeking to nullify the federal law.

The Virginia Legislature this week is poised to become the first state to pass legislation that says citizens cannot be required to have medical insurance.

Dozens of other states are considering similar measures, possibly setting the stage for one of the greatest tests of federal power over the states since the civil rights era.

If states are allowed to opt out of the mandate, the foundation of Obama’s effort would be undermined, turning the nascent revolt here into one with national implications.

… Virginia’s lawmakers are focused on constitutional questions and the power of states to run their own affairs.
Wisconsin State Representative Leah Vukmir says it just right: “The real goal of national health insurance exchange isn’t competition — it’s a federal power grab that flies in the face of the Tenth Amendment.”

Well, Wisconsin is on of those “dozens of other states” attempting a similar nullification effort. Senate Joint Resolution 62 would create a constitutional amendment which requires adoption by two successive legislatures, and ratification by the people, before it can become effective. It’s pretty straightforward:
The people have the right to enter into private contracts with health care providers for health care services and to purchase private health care coverage. The legislature may not require any person to obtain or maintain health insurance coverage or to participate in any health care system or plan.
Senator Leibham is the bill’s chief sponsor, joined by Senators Lazich, Kapanke, Darling, Grothman, A. Lasee, Hopper and Schultz; and Representatives Vos, Davis, Pridemore, Suder, Petersen, Meyer, Nygren, Kestell, Townsend, Kerkman, Tauchen, Kramer, Knodl, Gunderson, LeMahieu, Strachota, Honadel, Lothian, Kleefisch, Spanbauer, Ballweg, Nass and Ziegelbauer.

This is very serious stuff. Normally I’d say If your state representative or state senator isn’t on the list of supporters above (all Republicans by the way, except Rep. Ziegelbauer, D-Manitowoc), call them and ask them to add their name. I’d also suggest railing on Sen. Erpenbach (D-Waunakee), chair of the Senate Health, Health Insurance, Privacy, Property Tax Relief and Revenue Committee, who so far hasn’t taken up the bill.

But I don’t think we need it!

(It’s a good thing too. I can’t imagine Erpenbach will allow the bill to be heard in committee. On top of that, there’s a good bit of doubt that these state challenges would stand up to constitutional tests - yeah, explain that one – geeez.)

Timothy Jost, via the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that while the Senate bill imposes a mandate and imposes a slap-on-the-wrist penalty for not complying with the mandate, the penalty may not even be enforceable!
… the mandate is particularly vulnerable from an enforcement perspective. It essentially imposes a tax penalty (to begin in 2014 and to be fully phased in by 2016) on uninsured individuals who do not purchase health insurance, subject to a number of exceptions for those who cannot afford health insurance or who oppose it for religious reasons. Individuals are supposed to pay this penalty with their annual income taxes, but the Senate bill waives criminal penalties and prohibits the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from imposing liens or levies on a taxpayer’s property for failure to pay. Compliance will, therefore, be largely voluntary (although the IRS can still make a tax resister’s life miserable, whether or not it can ultimately collect). The state bills can thus be seen as invitations to civil disobedience that counsel state citizens to “violate the federal law, wave this statute in their face, and dare them to come after you.”
Time to wave the statute in somebody’s face.

Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net

At debate this week is the Texas curriculum is the Social Studies curriculum. While school boards across the state are permitted to buy various books, the selections by the TX State Board of Education are provided FREE to all public schools across the state. There selections have national consequence.

As House Democrats piece together a second health care reform bill, Representative Steve Kagen of Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District is calling for more transparency in health care costs.

Late last month Kagen, who’s a medical doctor himself, introduced a bill that would require hospitals, clinics — really, any health care provider — to openly disclose the price of its services.

Monday Kagen likened the proposal to a menu at a fast food restaurant,  saying it would give patients a clear picture of the costs any procedure or appointment would incur –  a picture he says now doesn’t exist.

“No, they don’t, and if they ask their doctor, as I did when I had my knee surgery, ‘Well, Doctor, what’s this knee surgery going to cost?’ he said, ‘I’m not sure.’”

However, the Wisconsin Hospital Association, which represents each of Green Bay’s hospitals, says sometimes pinning down a price can be a complicated procedure.

“It’s kind of difficult to estimate what the cost of an episode of care or what the cost of care is going to be if there’s complications when we don’t know what those are upfront,” WHA executive vice president Eric Borgerding said.

The hospital association, however, says the industry has embraced the idea of price transparency.

By law, the association has a web site that details the average price of each the establishment’s 75 most common procedures.

www.wbay.com article

by Kerry Thomas
March 6, 2010

On March 5, Wisconsin 8^th District Congressional candidate Reid Ribble published an editorial decrying “careerism” in Washington. According to Ribble, “career politicians apparently no longer care” about taxpayers.

“It’s time to vote them out and not send just another carbon copy to replace them.”

I agree.

Ribble promises to limit his tenure in Congress to just four terms. It’s a good step, but it doesn’t go far enough. Read the rest of this entry »

Petersen’s E-Press

A No Vote on the Governor’s Veto Override

One of the most controversial bills voted on this session, and one of the most misunderstood, is Assembly Bill 138.  The bill places the appointing authority for the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources with the Natural Resources Board.  Currently, the secretary is appointed by the governor.

I have consistently opposed AB 138 as written. Specifically, I am concerned with the DNR board’s lack of equal representation of a sporting, recreational, agricultural, and environmental balance (Petersen’s E-Press September 18, 2009).

On September 22, 2009, I voted in favor of an amendment requiring at least three members of the Natural Resources Board must have held an annual hunting, fishing, or trapping license seven out of the previous ten years, and at least one member of the board will have an agriculture background. Assembly Democrats voted to table the amendment before the bill’s final vote.

AB 138 passed both houses; however, Governor Doyle vetoed the bill. An override of the governor’s veto failed in the Assembly on February 23^rd.   A governor’s veto can be overridden with 2/3s of the legislature voting for the override.  The attempt failed on a 59 – 39 bipartisan no vote.

Five months passed between the bill’s passage in the legislature, its gubernatorial veto, and the Assembly’s vote to override the veto.  Concerns about the DNR board’s make-up were discussed on the Assembly floor September 22^nd.  Had those concerns been met, the override would have succeeded.

Because of Governor Doyle’s appointments, a majority of the DNR board currently is comprised of environmentalists. Approximately 2 months ago, a former Sierra Club employee and current Madison resident became the DNR board’s chair.  This is the first time in Wisconsin’s history an environmentalist instead of a conservationist was selected to head the board.

Author of AB 138, Representative Spencer Black (D-Madison), led the opposition to the equal representation amendment.  Rep. Black is a former conservation representative for the Sierra Club. His district encompasses the city of Madison, which has little if any hunting land.

Illustrating the DNR board’s environmentalist agenda is their recently passed rule banning bear hunting on 160 stewardship acres in the town of Baraboo. The ban nullified a provision in the 2007-09 budget which required public access for hunting, fishing, trapping, hiking, and cross-country skiing on stewardship land.

Discussing the bear hunting ban issue in an article written by Tim Damos, Capital Newspapers, Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Executive Director George Meyer stated; “The language is too vague. If the last two years are any indication of what is to come, outdoorsmen can expect to see more hunting and trapping bans on stewardship land.”

Ironically, this criticism is from the same person lobbying to put even more power in the hands of the DNR board. Proponents claim politics will be taken out of the process if the DNR secretary is appointed by the board.  However, board members who would choose the DNR secretary are appointed by the governor and serve staggered six year terms.

All seven members currently sitting on the Natural Resource Board were appointed by Governor Doyle.  In other words, overriding the governor’s veto of AB 138 would extend the current direction of the DNR along with Governor Doyle’s influence for years to come.

AB 138 without equal representation of hunters, anglers, and farmers is detrimental to Wisconsin. I voted no to the environmental extremist’s takeover attempt of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

What do you think about this issue?  Click here and send an email with your thoughts.

Catch and Release Update

My January 22, 2010 e-newsletter titled “Catch and Release” outlined problems with the legislative Democrats early prisoner release plan. Passed in the budget, the plan empowered the Department of Corrections to release convicted criminals early.

As of February 21^st, two of the twenty-two early release inmates have already been rearrested.  Both criminals had a history of committing crimes while on parole.  Alarmingly, in only about a month and a half, the recidivism rate is already at 10%.

The early release program’s outline and implementation were flawed from inception.  In January, along with 43 colleagues from both the Assembly and Senate, I called for an immediate repeal of the Governor’s misguided program.  To date, the governor has failed to respond to our concerns.

Therefore, I’ve now co-sponsored a bill which would reverse the early release program.

Respectfully,

Kevin Petersen

State Representative

40th Assembly District