WATCH THE GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL FORUM . . . The Green Party Presidential Forum with Jill Stein and Roseanne Barr from San Francisco was the Number 1 newstream on livestream, and Number 11 of all streams live on Saturday, May 12, 2012, 9:30pm Central Time. If you ever dreamed of a new paradigm for electoral politics in this country, please watch this model of extraordinary cooperation and agreement between candidates, in stark contrast to the competitive status quo. View the 1:42:42 minute video here. Please help us get this out to the public by posting on FaceBook, Tweeting, and sharing with your lists.
FARMERS MARKETS RESUME . . . The first Farmers Markets of the season have opened statewide. There are more than 90 local Farmers Markets in Nebraska this year. For a partial schedule of current Buy Fresh Buy Local Markets, click here.
KXL PIPELINE CORRIDOR PUBLIC MEETINGS . . . The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality will conduct a series of information sessions in May to discuss the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route corridor with the public. The four meetings are located along the proposed corridor area. Remaining dates and locations are: Albion – Wednesday, May 16th, 4:00 to 7:00pm, at the Boone County Fairgrounds, 11th and Fairview Avenue; and Central City – Thursday, May 17th, 4:00 to 7:00pm, at the Central City Community Room, 1515 17th Street.
The information sessions will be an opportunity to meet and talk with those involved in the review, in an “open house” format. To find out more about the process, review documents or submit comments, go to NDEQ’s website here. Lincoln Journal Star coverage, “Meetings planned for alternate Keystone XL pipeline route,” by Art Hovey, April, 27, 2012, including a map of the new proposed route, is here.
Lincoln area: Congressional District 1
MOVE TO AMEND/END CORPORATE PERSONHOOD . . . Nebraska Move to Amend is gathering signatures on a petition to End Corporate Personhood by a Resolution to be presented to the Lincoln City Council. To get involved with the local campaign, e-mail Carol Smith, smithcarol [dot] 49 [at] gmail [dot] com
VIGIL AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY . . . Every Monday, 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. When weather is bad, 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. NADP’s Action Committee will meet on Saturday, May 19th. The Action Committee is a team of people who help strategize and implement plans that can expand our cause to as many Nebraskans as possible. If you are interested in joining this team, e-mail stacy [at] nadp [dot] net Save the Date: June 2, 2012 Training Sessions in Lincoln and Omaha. “10 Tough Questions About the Death Penalty” will present the most effective ways to discuss the death penalty–over the water cooler, or presenting to your book club, Bible study, or social studies class. The Lincoln training will be from 9:00 to 11:00am, at the Unitarian Church of Lincoln, 6300 A Street, Lincoln. Identical Omaha traning will be from 1:00 to 3:00pm, at the Second Unitarian Church, 3012 South 119th Street, Omaha. A suggested $5 donation would cover the cost of materials, but it is not a requirement. For more information about NADP, click here. “It is the deed that teaches, not the name we give it. Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their kind.” –George Bernard Shaw
OCCUPY EDUCATION . . . The Monday Occupy Education Series continues with PLANET IN PERIL: HOW BUSINESS AS USUAL WILL TAKE US OVER THE CLIFF, weekly, 7:00 to 8:00pm, through May 21, 2012, at Indigo Bridge Books, 701 P Street #102. May 14th, “Part 3: De-Industrializing Agriculture,” will be presented by Linda Ruchala.
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.
FREE SATURDAY . . . Saturday, May 19, 2012, 2:00pm, there will be a public Occupy event to celebrate the community of Lincoln at Antelope Park. There will be a Community Pot Luck with main dish provided by Food Not Bombs! (Please bring a side to share.) For the Really REALLY Free Market, bring things to give away. (If you have anything left over please take it with you.) There will be Seed Swapping and Seedling Giveaways at the Gleaners’ Market where you can trade excess homegrown produce. LIVE MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT! EVERYTHING IS FREE! Any community organization is welcome to set up a table, and any local musician is invited to participate. It’s time to reclaim our city, overcome our fear of our neighbors, and celebrate the beauty that lies within our community. E-mail Lynette Katrina Xavier, katrinad13 [at] gmail [dot] com for more information. (NOTE: This might be a good place to get signatures for Green Party ballot access. Contact mjberry [at] inebraska [dot] com for petitions if you’d like to help Greens get a November ballot line for the presidential nominee.)
HERBS FOR HEALTH AND JUSTICE . . . Led by Alex Svoboda, this Occupy Education Series is organized with the intention of fostering community and sharing knowledge about herbal healing and health justice. May 19th, Alex will present “Intuitive health and empowerment–Basic tincture making.” Each Saturday class through June 2nd will be from 2:00 to 4:00pm, at the 4th floor auditorium at Bennett Martin Library, 136 South 14th Street, in downtown Lincoln.
SATURDAY FARMERS MARKET . . . The Haymarket Farmers Market, on 8th Street in Lincoln’s Historic Haymarket District, is now open every Saturday, 8:00am to noon, through October 13, 2012. More than 100 vendors bring farm-fresh produce, flowers, baked goods and handmade items to the local gathering place that also features a “Performance Showcase” for Nebraska folk, jazz, blues, classical, and dance talent, plus educational demonstrations and informational booths. Buy Fresh. Shop Local.
SUNDAY FARMERS MARKET . . . The Old Cheney Road Farmers Market offers local produce, baked goods and natural meats every Sunday, 10:00am to 2:00pm, at 55th Street and Old Cheney Road.
BEES . . . Sunday with a Scientist May 20, 2012, 1:30 to 4:30pm, at the University of Nebraska State Museum, Morrill Hall, just south of 14th and Vine Streets in Lincoln will feature Professor Marion Ellis, Department of Entomology at UN-L, highlighting the work of scientists on BEES. Discuss getting started in beekeeping experienced beekeepers, participate in a honey tasting quiz to recognize the floral source of honey samples, and learn about native bees, beekeeping, and pollination at the “ask a beekeeper” booth. Collections of native bees will be on display to help visitors learn to identify common Nebraska bees.
TEACH-IN SUNDAY . . . Each week a different member of the Occupy Lincoln community will host a short class on a topic of their choosing, Sundays, 7:00 to 8:00pm, through May 20th, at Meadowlark Café,1624 South Street, in Lincoln. Sunday, May 20th, “Local Government: Who Does What in Your Community?” will be presented by Trina Derickson.
OCCUPY LINCOLN . . . Lincoln Journal Star coverage of the raid on Occupy Lincoln with “Forty-five police officers, K9 units and a helicopter swarming Nebraska’s Centennial Mall” to confront two remaining campers cleaning up the site before leaving is here.
There is a calendar of Occupy Lincoln events here. 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, May 16, 2012, the film will be “The Interrupters,” the story of three ‘Violence Interrupters’ who try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once employed. Watch a 2:29 minute trailer here. For more information, click here. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.
PETITION TO REVERSE DECISION CLOSING POLLING STATIONS IN DOUGLAS COUNTY . . . Open and accessible polls are essential to a representative democracy. Commissioner Phipp’s decision to close half of the county’s polls resulted in disproportionately closing more polling locations in low income areas of Omaha where citizens do not have their own personal transportation. Find more information here and here. Election Commissioner Phipp’s CAN reverse this course of action. His decision was made without ANY public input or notice until he stated it was “too late.” Demand Election Commissioner Phipps make our elections accessible by calling 402.444.8683, and sign the petition here.
OMAHA FARMERS MARKETS . . . click here for an Omaha Market schedule.
OCCUPY OMAHA . . . The official Occupy Omaha website is here. http://occupyomaha.info/ The FaceBook page is here. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Omaha/256875934351305 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 . . . The first of four Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality information sessions to discuss the new proposed Keystone XL pipeline corridor with the public were held along the route in O’Neill and Neligh last week. Lincoln Journal Star reported on the first session in “Long line gathers to testify on Keystone XL,” by Art Hovey, posted May 9, 2012. “TransCanada reapplies for oil pipeline” was posted May 4th. Dates and locations for remaining public meetings are: Albion – Wednesday, May 16th, 4:00 to 7:00pm, at the Boone County Fairgrounds, 11th and Fairview Avenue; and Central City – Thursday, May 17th, 4:00 to 7:00pm, at the Central City Community Room, 1515 17th Street.
Nebraska Sierra’s Ken Winston has listed some of the most important reasons he continues to oppose the KXL tar sands pipeline:
The tar sands process. It starts with verdant forests filled with vibrant life, and kills every living thing in its path, ending with toxic tailings ponds. Sort of like finding the Garden of Eden and converting it to hell on earth in one process.
TransCanada’s dealings with landowners. They repeatedly threatened to use eminent domain against fourth and fifth generation Nebraskans, although there are serious questions whether they had the authority to do so. Many attorneys believe it is fraud to obtain property by false representations, and TransCanada obtained easements by claiming eminent domain authority and by claiming time limits that were simply not true.
TransCanada’s dealings with Nebraska public officials. TransCanada has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying the Nebraska Legislature. LB 1161, the bill that created the current siting law, had at least 10 different versions, the last one introduced minutes before it was debated in the Legislature. There was no opportunity for public input on this final version, contrary to the usual rule that all legislation receive a public hearing. LB 1161 gives TransCanada special eminent domain authority and gives Governor Heineman the authority to approve the route, the same Governor who has been saying the pipeline should be built as soon as possible. Talk about a lack of objective review.
The new proposed route has many of the same problems as the original route. For three years, TransCanada said the route through the Sandhills was the best one. Now that they have been forced to change the route, their proposed route still goes for miles over areas where the depth to water is 10 feet or less and the Ogallala Aquifer contains a huge amount of water. This poses the same risks to our water supply as the previous route.
TransCanada’s safety record. They had at least 14 spills in their first year of operation on Keystone I, including a 21,000 gallon leak that featured a 60 foot geyser of oil. We can’t afford to risk our resources to this kind of operation.”
When he learned that National Future Farmers of America took One Million Dollars from TransCanada, and in return TC is using the FFA logo to promote KXL, Bold Nebraska’s Ben Gotschall created the following petition to Rob Cooper, Executive Director of the FFA Foundation, Dr. Steve Brown, National Advisor, and Dwight Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer.
“National FFA leaders: The controversial Keystone XL pipeline is a highly political issue that has negatively affected many farmers and ranchers across the middle of our country. FFA’s logo, which appears on TransCanada business cards, should not be used as an obvious political ploy that exploits FFA’s good reputation in rural communities for TransCanada’s political gain. Please set a good example for young people across America. Cut ties with TransCanada and demand that they remove FFA’s logo from their business cards and other promotional materials.” Please click here to sign the petition.
An extremely confusing & slow to open DEQ Public Document Search website makes it very difficult to access route map posted online. A Lincoln Journal Star map of the new proposed route is here.
TransCanada has secretly submitted its permit application for the Southern portion of the Keystone XL Pipeline to the Army Corps of Engineers. To evade a meaningful review, TransCanada applied for an expedited, insufficient permit. And the Army Corps, which has an abysmal environmental track record, could approve the project in 45 days – or sooner – unless the EPA steps in. Learn more and add your name to a petition telling EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson not to allow TransCanada’s project to get rubber stamped at the CredoAction petition here. A similar Friends of the Earth Petition is here. Please sign them both.
Monday, May 7th, Reader Supported News circulated an Esquire Magazine article about Nebraska’s XKL opposition hero Randy Thompson. “The XL Pipeline’s Accidental Activist,” by Charles P. Pierce, begins “It has gone right into being summer here this year. It has been a time of low, flat heat during the day, and glowering purple skies in the evening, and warning sirens in the dead of night. Flowers that don’t usually bloom until June are in full blossom, and the butterflies have come early. Randy Thompson’s spread in this unincorporated piece of land just south of Lincoln off Highway 77 is bright and alive and about six weeks ahead of schedule. The downrunning sidehill property has a straight view down through the pastureland to the spire of the Nebraska state capitol building, one of the few skyscraper capitols in the country. Randy Thompson stands in the kitchen of his house and gazes down through the green miles, through the lowering haze of the morning. “You know,” he says, “I used to like that view. Don’t like it much anymore.”
Against anyone’s expectations, including his own, Randy has become the face of local resistance to the Keystone XL pipeline, the massive project aimed at bringing oil from the tar-sands moonscape of Alberta, down through the heart of the American plains, to refineries on the Gulf coast of Texas. He is big and burly, a cattle-buyer who looks as though he could make his purchases and carry them personally to whoever had ordered them. By his own admission, Randy is a Republican and, for years, a resolutely apolitical one. “I guess I’m kind of an accidental activist,” he says. “I did it because it needed to be done. Some people asked me to do it and I said, ‘If you think it’s important, if you need a face to rally around, I’ll do it.’ ” Since then, Thompson has testified before the Nebraska legislature. He has testified before Congress. He has testified before members of the State Department. (Because the pipeline crosses the border, the State Department has to pass on the project, too.) He has written letters. His face appears on T-shirts and on hats sold by an organization called Bold Nebraska, which has been fighting the construction of the pipeline for more that five years.” The article is continued here.
RSN also sourced “Game Over for the Climate,” by James Hansen, from the New York Times. It begins “Global warming isn’t a prediction. It is happening. That is why I was so troubled to read a recent interview with President Obama in Rolling Stone in which he said that Canada would exploit the oil in its vast tar sands reserves ‘regardless of what we do.’ If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate.” Read the Hansen article here. Read Bill McKibben’s response to Hansen’s article here.
Even people working in the tar sands want renewable energy. Click here for a 350.org Connect the Dots photo taken in Fort McMurray Canada and posted by an oil sands worker risking his job to take the picture. The caption reads, in part, “Myself, along with the majority of my co-workers, are ready for a renewable energy revolution. We need to stand together to eliminate the corruption that exists in this industry, start taxing carbon emissions, and creating green jobs for a sustainable future. We do not work in this industry because we like supporting large oil companies; we simply have no other choice. We want jobs that provide long term economic, social and environmental sustainability for ourselves, our country and our planet.”
Sign a Natural Resources Defense Council Action Alert telling Congress to reject all attempts to force approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline by attaching it to any unrelated legislation. The Keystone XL will deliver billions in profits to Big Oil while the people get stuck with poisoned water, contaminated land and an overheated planet.
“The Keystone pipeline will spew a massive amount of carbon pollution into our fragile atmosphere. It should be stopped. ” –Jill Stein, 2012 Green Party Presidential candidate.
STOP FRACKING NOW . . . Quoting Bill McKibben in “Why Not Frack?” “The planet is running short of the easy stuff, where you stick a drill in the ground and crude comes bubbling to the surface. The great oil fields of Saudi Arabia and Mexico have begun to dwindle; one result has been a rising price for energy. We could, as a civilization, have taken that dwindling supply and rising price as a signal to convert to sun, wind, and other noncarbon forms of energy-it would have made eminent sense, most of all because it would have aided in the fight against global warming, the most difficult challenge the planet faces. Instead, we’ve taken it as a signal to scour the world for more hydrocarbons. And it turns out that they’re there-vast quantities of coal and oil and gas, buried deep or trapped in tight rock formations or mixed with other minerals. Getting at them requires ripping apart the earth: for instance, by heating up the ground so that the oil in the tar sands formation of Canada can flow to the surface. Or by tearing holes in the crust a mile beneath the surface of the sea, as BP was doing in the Gulf of Mexico when the Deepwater Horizon well exploded. Or by literally removing mountaintops to get at coal, as has become commonplace across the southern Appalachians.”
“Confirmed: Fracking Caused Ohio Earthquakes,” by Brad Johnson, ThinkProgress, in Reader Supported News reports “A dozen earthquakes in northeastern Ohio were almost certainly induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater into the earth, Ohio oil and gas regulators said Friday as they announced a series of tough new regulations for drillers.”
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.
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.“