HELP GREENS GATHER SIGNATURES . . . The Green Party is now qualified for ballot status this election cycle in all of the four biggest states: New York, California, Florida, and Texas. Nebraska Green Party is now gathering signatures so that voters here will also have the choice of voting for the Green Party presidential slate.
In Lincoln, petitions are available at Meadowlark Coffee and Espresso, 1624 South Street. Registered Nebraska voters are invited to stop by for coffee, visit with Adam Hintz from 6:00am to 2:00pm daily, sign a petition, or pick up one to circulate with friends and family during the holidays. In Omaha, look for Charles Ostdiek at McFoster’s, 38th and Harney, to sign and pick up petitions. If you’re not a registered voter, fill out the voter registration application online here. [pdf] If you can help us identify a public place in CD 3 where petitions could be available, if you would like us to mail you petitions to circulate via postal, or to participate in the ballot access process in any way, please let us know by e-mailing mjberry [at] inebraska [dot] com. Let’s take Our democracy back from Wall Street!
SAVING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT . . . “There’s no question that the political tide is turning thanks to Occupy Wall Street–because there’s actually a political push to ensure that corporations are NOT people, to overturn the “free speech rights” given to corporations by the Supreme Court’s troubling Citizens United decision.” Add your voice. Sign the petition. In the House, Representative Ted Deutch’s H.J. Res 90, The OCCUPIED Amendment, also says that corporations are not people and they do not belong in our elections. Sign the OCCUPIED petition. Spread the word.
XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Page down for this week’s Pipeline Opposition Update, and then PLEASE CONTACT PRESIDENT OBAMA.
Lincoln area: Congressional District 1
VIGIL AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY . . . Every Monday, from noon to 1:00pm, Nebraskans for abolition of the death penalty meet in front of the governor’s mansion when weather is good, 1425 H Street, Lincoln. In winter, the vigil is inside the capitol, near the Information Desk. The lunch-hour presence reminds the governor of a constituency that does not want state killings. Weekly vigils have taken place year-round since July, 1991. All abolitionists are welcome to participate for a few minutes, or the hour. For information about Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, click here.
LINCOLN PEACE VIGILS . . . Lincoln peace vigils continue at the Federal Building, 15th and O streets, every Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:00pm. Contact Mark at 402.499.6672 or e-mail mark [at] weddleton [dot] com for more information.
OCCUPY LINCOLN . . . The Occupy Lincoln camp site is located on Centennial Mall north of the state capitol. There is now a General Assembly three times per week: Sunday, 1:30pm; Wednesday, 6:00pm; and Friday, 6:00 to 9:00pm. The Facebook page is here. The Twitter feed is @OccupyLincoln. For more information, e-mail occupylincoln [at] gmail [dot] com or phone 402.585.5865. Corporate Greed is Revolution’s Seed!
Omaha area: Congressional District 2
OMAHA PEACE VIGILS . . . Omaha peacemakers vigil every Wednesday, 4:30-5:30pm, at StratCom/UN-O, 6801 Pine Street, east of the Scott Technology Center on the UN-O campus. Free parking is available at the NE Corner of 67th Street and Pine in a student lot. For more information, phone Jerry Ebner, 402.502.5887. Every Saturday, 1:00-2:00pm, there is a Peace Vigil at 72nd and Dodge Streets. Park next to 72nd Street, in the pet store parking lot. Contact Steve Horn at 402.426.9068 for more information about Saturday vigils.
OMAHA PEOPLE’S FILM FESTIVAL . . . There is a People’s Film Festival every Wednesday evening, 7:00pm, at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney in Omaha. Wednesday, December 28, 2011, the film will be “Black Gold: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee,” asking the question: How does that ubiquitous liquid make it to our kitchens and cafes? And for so cheap? Watch a 1:47 minute trailer at the website. The weekly event is always free and open to the public. A discussion will follow the film. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.
OCCUPY OMAHA . . . The current Occupy Omaha location is in transition. All charges against Katy Heil, Nathan Davis and Ben Walden, who were arrested at 24th and Farnam on November 3rd, have been dismissed. The official Occupy Omaha website is here. http://occupyomaha.info/ The FaceBook page is here. The Twitter feed is #occupyomaha
ENGAGE OMAHA . . . One of the nation’s first city-wide, virtual town hall websites, EngageOmaha, is now online. Omaha residents may weigh in on issues for the city to consider. Pick a topic, and join the mix here.
Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3
KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . We now have “60 Days to Stop the Keystone Pipeline,” as explained in a December 22, 2011 AlterNet article by Kristen Gwynne. “The payroll tax cut extension bill contains language forcing the President to decide whether to stop, or approve, the Keystone Xl Pipeline in the next 60 days. Obama is expected to sign the bill shortly, and environmental advocates are hoping he will use the time restraint to deny the permit. But this hope is based on promises, and Obama has not proven himself to be a man of his word.” This is the moment — a 60 day window — to inspire President Obama to be the President he told us he would be and make sure he does not approve this dirty pipeline. Sign the petition here. Send the White House a message here, and spread the word on Facebook and Twitter. CALL THE WHITE HOUSE at the Switchboard number: 202.456.1414.
December 23rd, Bill McKibben wrote “Keystone XL Back on Obama’s Desk.” It begins “Today the House agreed to legislation for a payroll tax cut that also includes language forcing the president to decide one way or the other on the Keystone pipeline in the next 60 days. Our hope is that the president will use the opportunity to deny the permit, and sooner rather than later. His administration has made it clear many times over the past few weeks that the demand for quick approval attached to this legislation would result in the rejection of the pipeline.” And “You have patiently and firmly explained to the president for the last six months why this pipeline is a bad idea—and by “you” I mean the twenty top scientists who sent a letter explaining the climate impacts, the ten Nobel Peace Prize laureates, the dozens of tribal leaders who signed the Mother Earth Accord, the 1253 people who got arrested, the 12,000 who circled the White House, the 500,000 who filed public comments on the plan, the 618,000 who signed petitions to stop the pipeline, and the many many more who sent letters and emails and made phone calls to the White House and Congress.”
A New York Times News Analysis December 23rd, by John Broder and Dan Frosch, begins “The Obama administration confirmed this week that a provision in the payroll tax bill requiring a quick decision on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from western Canada to the Gulf Coast will probably lead to cancellation of the project. …Stopping Keystone will buy time,” he said, “and hopefully that time will be used for the planet to come to its senses around climate change.”
Environmental champion Robert Redford wrote his third recent commentary on XL, “Congress and Keystone XL: A National Disgrace,” for Reader Supported News, December 20th: “The Congress is ending the year much as it began – playing politics with our nation’s future and putting American families at risk to score partisan points. In the closing act to a shameful year of paralysis and indecision on the issues that matter most, House Republicans held common-sense tax relief for American families hostage to a holiday gift to Big Oil. After the GOP-led House welded the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline rider onto the tax-relief bill, the Democratic-led Senate went along for the ride, passing a bad piece of legislation rather than being accused of blocking a needed tax cut. When the United State Congress intentionally ties these two things together, though, it’s not a joke: it’s a national disgrace.”
Redford’s “Keystone XL and Jobs: Just More Pipe Dreams” and “Stand Together Against the Tar Sands Scourge,” were both also published in Reader Supported News.
From a December 20th commentary by Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, “The Keystone XL Pipeline Scam:” “With all the political posturing in Congress over the Keystone XL tar-sands oil pipeline, it’s easy to lose sight of the real issue: This pipeline is dangerous, unnecessary, and would cost the American people far more than we can afford. What we’re watching unfold in Washington, DC, is more than just a high-stakes political power play — it’s a scam undertaken by Big Oil’s congressional puppets on the orders of oil companies that have billions of dollars at stake. The politicians pushing the pipeline are (how can I put this politely?) lying to the American people and pandering for dirty oil money. What do we *really* stand to gain if this thing is rammed down our throats? Higher gas prices, more air pollution, the threat of poisoned water, and enough carbon pollution to make stopping climate disruption next to impossible — but few of the jobs and none of the huge profits that Big Oil would reap.”
Find Satellite Views of Canada’s Oil Sands Over Time, here.
An excellent Rolling Stone commentary about the tyranny of Big Oil, “The zombie pipeline lives!” addresses the two great myths of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Brasscheck TV also addressed the “Tyranny of Big Oil” in a 2:16 minute video featuring Nebraska’s Randy Thompson and pipeline protesters. “Big Oil has cut a back-room deal with the dirtiest members of Congress to attach a provision that would force the Keystone XL pipeline approval to a MUST-PASS tax cut bill. These kinds of deals exemplify the tyranny Big Oil exercises over our government. President Obama came into office promising to “end the tyranny of oil.” This WAS his chance to prove he was serious.”
Urge President Obama to do the right thing and reject the pipeline by filling out a 350.org petition here. Send a “Thanks in Advance” message to the President in the Spirit of the Season.
Add your voice to the “Protect Our Water, Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!” petition urging the president to deny a construction permit here. Call the White House Switchboard directly at 202.456.1111. And sign The Other 98% petition to Obama, “End Lobbyist Influence, STOP THE PIPELINE,” here.
On January 14, 2012, 7:00 to 10:00pm, BOLD Nebraska will host an Art Auction Fundraiser in Omaha at 1213 Jones Street. To help STOP THE PIPELINE by contributing art or other items to the Omaha event, fill out the form here. View some of the items already donated for auction here.
Comprehensive coverage of international, national and local opposition to the XL pipeline since May 30, 2010 is archived in the Green Notes tab above. At the Index, scroll from the bottom up for links to each week’s Update.
STOP FRACKING NOW . . . Last week there was breaking news that the Environmental Protection Agency has implicated fracking in groundwater pollution.
Quoting “EPA Links Tainted Water in Wyoming to Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas,” by Kirk Johnson, The New York Times News Service, “The draft report, after a three-year study by the Environmental Protection Agency, represents a new scientific and political skirmish line over whether fracking, as it is more commonly known, poses a threat in the dozens of places around the nation where it is now being used to extract previously unreachable energy resources locked within rock. The E.P.A. has also begun a national study on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.”
“Shale Gas Drilling’s Dirty Secret Is Out,” by Josh Fox, sourced to Reader Supported News, begins “Having investigated fracking myself for three years, I have heard the same story hundreds of times, from residents in gas-drilling areas from Wyoming to Arkansas, from Pennsylvania to Texas. It goes like this: the frackers move in – and all of a sudden your water turns color, or can be lit on fire, or smells like turpentine or leaves burn marks on you after you take a shower. It doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots.”
Petition Congress: “We, the undersigned, call on Congress to pass the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act this year. It’s time to hold the oil and gas production industry to the same standards as any other industry to ensure the safe protection of America’s drinking water.”
PETITION THE EPA . . . Tell the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately prohibit the use of clothianidin and conduct a full scientific review to determine its impact on honey bee populations. Learn more about clothianidin and sign the petition here.
TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA NOT TO CAVE TO MONSANTO AND THE BIOTECH INDUSTRY . . . The Obama administration has unbelievably chosen to approve three biotech crops, Roundup Ready genetically modified alfalfa, Roundup Ready genetically modified sugar beets and a new industrial biotech corn for ethanol production. These decisions are a devastating blow to our democracy and the basic rights of farmers to choose how they want to grow food on their land and the rights of consumers who increasingly choose organic and sustainably grown food for its positive health and environmental impacts. Please tell the President it’s time to stand up to Monsanto and reject GMO crops.
BUY FRESH. BUY LOCAL . . . . Farmers, gardeners, and craftspeople meet through The Nebraska Food Cooperative, an on-line, year-round farmers’ market and local food distribution service offering the best in local freshness. For ordering and pickup schedules, refer to the calendar here. Click here for products and prices from North Star Neighbors, a Cooperative member that doesn’t therapeutically medicate or unduly confine animals. Click here for Tomato Tomäto, Omaha’s year-round indoor Farmer’s Market at 156th & West Center. Shop for fresh foods grown in or very near your own community at Open Harvest, Lincoln’s member-owned natural foods retail cooperative at 1618 South Street. Buying local grows family farming, grows the local economy, and is thousands of miles fresher.
HELP NEBRASKA GREENS WITH GOODSEARCH . . . Each time you search the Internet (or shop online at a participating store), a donation can be made to Nebraska Green Party at no cost to you! To help NGP in this way, enter Nebraska Green Party where it asks you to name your cause here. Bookmark the GoodSearch Homepage, or make it your own Home Page. Enter the url you want in the GoodSearch search box. Each time you do, one penny will be donated to Nebraska Greens. THANK YOU for your support!
Remember, every man-made by-product of the petroleum industry could be replaced by hemp. “Help Save the Earth, Time to Substitute Hemp for oil.”