TOM MCCORMICK, REST IN PEACE . . . Tom McCormick passed away early Friday morning, June 22, 2012. He was 67 years of age. Tom was a peace and justice activist who represented CD 1 Greens on the Nebraska Green Party Council, and as a national delegate to the Green Party of the United States. A memorial service will be held at Lincoln’s First Mennonite Church, 7300 Holdrege Street, 11:00am, on Wednesday, June 27th, followed by lunch. Scattering of ashes will be held Wednesday at 6:00pm in Wilderness Park, at the corner of South 1st and West Calvert Streets. From West Pioneers Blvd. take South 1st Street north. Meet by the concrete arches and come prepared for a short walk. Memorials to donor’s choice.

GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL UPDATE . . . Greens are now on the ballot in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and new state, Delaware. Dr. Jill Stein will go to the Green Party convention in Baltimore, July 13, 14 and 15, with a clear majority of delegates. Stein campaign manager Ben Manski shares the urgency of getting matching funds by Saturday, June 30th, in a 6 minute video here.
If you ever dreamed of a new paradigm for electoral politics in this country, please watch the model of extraordinary cooperation and agreement between candidates, in stark contrast to the competitive status quo, in a 1:42:42 minute video of the May 12, 2012 Presidential Forum here.  Watch video of Stein’s 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial debate with Mitt Romney here.
To help secure ballot status in Nebraska so that Stein can be on the November ballot, e-mail mjberry [at] inebraska [dot] com. Notarized petitions for a NGP ballot line must be submitted to the Nebraska Secretary of State by July 31st.

FARMERS MARKETS . . . 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.

Lincoln area: Congressional District 1

OCCUPY EDUCATION . . . Sunday, June 24, 2012, 7:00pm, Occupy Education will present “Tactical Information Techniques and Strategies” with Ande Reinkordt and Grant Brownyard, at Meadowlark Coffee and Espresso, 1624 South Street, Lincoln.

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. For more information about NADP, click here.  “It’s barbaric. It’s outlawed in all but a few extremely repressive countries like Iran, China, and not many others. It’s shameful that it continues to be performed. It’s well established that mistakes are made–yet half of our states practice pre-meditated state-sponsored murder. It’s also known that it’s not effective. So why is it done? Revenge & retribution? That’s not what our justice system is supposed to be about. It’s not an effective deterrent.” –Jill Stein, GP Presidential Nominee.

LINCOLN CITY COUNCIL MEETING . . . The Lincoln City Council will meet Monday, June 25, 2012, 5:30pm, at Council Chambers, 555 South 10th Street in the County/City Building. The agenda is here.

DISCUSSIONS ABOUT WHITE PRIVILEGE AND ITS CONTEXT . . . Led by local peace and justice activist/educator Joshua Cramer, and featuring a different guest every Monday, 7:00 to 8:00pm, this Occupy Education series is centered on institutionalized white privilege in the education system and how it can be challenged by a comprehensive approach that synthesizes many domains of culture: race, class, nationality, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender, and ableness. The series continues through July 2nd, at Indigo Bridge Books, 701 P Street #102.

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.

GREEN DRINKS . . . Lincoln Green Drinks, an informal self-organizing social network of environmentally interested people, will meet Wednesday, June 27, 2012, 5:30 to 8:00pm, at Buzzard Billy’s, 247 North 8th Street, in Lincoln’s Haymarket District. Walk, cycle, bus, or carpool if possible, and meet outside in the shade. All are welcome. Green Drinks groups are now active in 656 cities around the world. The Facebook group listing is here.

GARDEN GALA . . . Saturday, June 30, 2012, 10:00am to 2:00pm, Community Crops will host it’s annual free Garden Gala at the Antelope Park Church garden, 3645 Sumner Street, Lincoln. The family-friendly event celebrating local food and community gardeners will feature tours throughout the day, a rain barrel raffle, live music, friendly chickens and kid’s activities. There will be wood-fired pizza, and free ice cream from noon to 2:00pm.

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.

OCCUPY EDUCATION . . . Sunday, July 1, 2012, Occupy Education will present An Evening with the Lincoln Bike Kitchen. Meet at the Bike Kitchen location, 1720 S. 15th Street, Lincoln, at 7:00pm.

OCCUPY LINCOLN . . . 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!

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

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, June 27, 2012, the film will be “Koch Brothers Exposed,” an expose on the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, who helped finance the conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity. Watch a 2 minute trailer here.  For more information, click here.  The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.

OMAHA FARMERS MARKETS . . . click here for an Omaha Market schedule.

OCCUPY OMAHA . . . The official Occupy Omaha website is here.  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 . . . Although she wrote her song specifically about the proposed Alberta to British Columbia twin Enbridge tar sands pipelines, the message of Ta’Kaiya Blaney clearly extends to Keystone XL. Reader Supported News sourced this article and video from YES! Magazine publishing “What a 10-Year-Old Did for the Tar Sands,” by Angela Sterritt, on June 24, 2012. “Ten-year-old Ta’Kaiya Blaney stood outside Enbridge Northern Gateway’s office on July 6, waiting for officials to grant her access to the building. But the doors remained locked. …Enbridge’s Alberta-B.C. pipeline is widely opposed, largely because it would bring hundreds of oil supertankers a year to the Great Bear Rainforest – an ecologically significant region along a particularly dangerous route for tankers.” Read and view the 5:31 minute video of her song here.
The June 20, 2012 Wall Street Journal published “Canadian Spills Fuel Worries,” by Edward Welsch. The article begins “Three large Canadian oil spills over the past 30 days have increased concern over pipeline safety here, just as the government and the Canadian petroleum industry are trying to drum up support for a series of new pipeline projects.
Enbridge Inc. said late Tuesday that one of its pipelines, carrying heavy oil-sands crude, spilled some 1,450 barrels in eastern Alberta earlier in the week. Earlier this month, Plains All American PipelineLP spilled up to 3,000 barrels into a reservoir near the small resort town of Sundre, Alberta. And last month, Pace Oil & Gas Ltd. spilled some 5,000 barrels from a well in a remote corner of northwestern Alberta.
…TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline, which connects Alberta to refineries in Illinois and the storage depot in Cushing, Okla., suffered 14 small leaks during its first year of operation. The company recently reapplied for a U.S. permit to expand that line, after the White House rejected its original proposal, in part, to allow more time to review the environmental impact.” The complete article is here for WSJ subscribers.
From “Deformed Fish Found Downstream of Tar Sands Mines,” by Jason Mark, Earth Island Institute, sourced to Reader Supported News June 21st, “Chief Allan Adam, the head of the Fort Chipewyan community in the far north of Alberta, has been fishing in Lake Athabasca for all of his life. His father, now 76 years old, has been fishing there even longer. And neither of them has seen anything like what they pulled from the lake on May 30: two grotesquely deformed, lesion-covered fish.” The article continues here.
Also on Tuesday, Reuters reported that Enbridge “closed a major Alberta pipeline that transports oil sands-derived crude after a spill at a pump station, the second oil leak to foul regions of the Canadian province in under two weeks.”  The June 19th article was written by Jeffrey Jones.
The same day, Amy Boughner reported “Enbridge May Be Unprepared For Spill Clean-Up.”  Quoting the Care2.com article, “Two recent oil spills in Alberta have environmental risks of oil pipelines in the headlines, and now media have found documents showing that the Northern Gateway proposal was flagged for not including appropriate spill response plans.”
Get the facts on TransCanada and the KXL, by Bruce Boettcher, was the Guest Opinion in the York News Times June 19th.
1. Fact is the new route still crosses the Ogallala Aquifer and permeable soils.
2. Fact is the new route still crosses the Sandhills region and high water tables.
3. Fact is the new route only moved .5 to 5 miles from the “NDEQ declared Sandhills.”
4. Fact is there is no barrier protecting the vulnerabilities of the Sandhills.
5. Fact is you do NOT have to let TransCanada survey your land.
6. Fact is on Aug 31, 2010 Governor Heineman told President Obama that he was opposed to the KXL route because it crossed the Ogallala Aquifer.
7. Fact is on Aug 31, 2010 Senator Johanns released a statement that he wanted the permit denied because it crossed the Ogallala Aquifer.
8. Fact is TransCanada will not disclose the toxic diluents they will use to move tar sands through KXL.
9. Fact is the KXL pipeline is an export pipeline.
10. Fact is TransCanada will not support legislation guaranteeing the oil for the U.S.
11. Fact is the Keystone XL pipeline will raise gas prices because it is an export pipeline.
12. Fact is TransCanada is paying half of the amount property tax they tout.
13. Fact is the projected jobs are temporary.
14. Fact is TransCanada hires employees from unemployment and pays them a high wage for a short time period.
15. Fact is after the KXL pipeline is built TransCanada employees will go on unemployment, paid by your tax dollar.
16. Fact is on February 2; Governor Heineman said the only tax revenue that would come from KXL would be in housing and food for the workers building the pipeline for a short time period.
17. Fact is President Obama denied the first permit because it crossed environmentally sensitive areas; the new route still crosses this same region.
18. Fact is soil scientists say that the ecoregions map is insufficient to protect the vulnerabilities of the Sandhills.
19. Fact is on Aug 31, 2010 Governor Heineman said that Ogallala Aquifer is the lifeblood of the State’s agriculture industry.
20. Fact is the KXL route will affect everyone in Nebraska not just landowners along the route; everyone’s water is at risk.
“Why they won’t Show Us,” (2part) by Cleve Trimble, MD, was the York News Times Guest Opinion June 15th. “Yesterday’s guest comment (‘Just show us the antidote’) expressed dismay that neither Nebraska’s Department of Health nor its Department of Environmental Quality are aware of the chemical composition of diluents in Keystone XL’s heated, pressurized, eventually leaky pipeline. This information – vital in event of inevitable spills – is withheld by KXL on grounds of being proprietary, a ‘trade secret.’ They have unflinchingly subordinated human well-being to their own economic interest, not because others might duplicate the concoction to TransCanada’s disadvantage; but because what’s in it could, if known, disqualify the project entirely.
…Nebraskans have been forced into a futile discussion about the route, as though there is a difference if KXL leaks in the Sand Hills or a bit to the east. …Wherever the leaks come, they will occur in somebody’s watershed and get into somebody’s groundwater; no one in this or any downstream state should ignore these fundamentals. It is not about the Sand Hills: it’s about humanity itself. Dead people require no fuel.
…Until the exact composition of the diluents is well known we know nothing about the true environmental impact!  …But the greater secret is why our public watchdogs have remained silent; why they are willingly oblivious to having the antidote in hand. If there is one.”
Also on June 15th, Reuters published “Republicans fear uncertain scope of Keystone study,” by Roberta Rampton and Scott Haggett: “The scope of a planned environmental review of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada could go beyond a small disputed portion in Nebraska and threatens to delay the project further, its Republican backers in Congress said on Friday.
The State Department asked on Friday for public comments by the end of July to help determine the scope of an environmental review ordered earlier this year for the controversial pipeline. The review is designed to supplement a “final” environmental impact report issued last August.
…The State Department said its study would focus on the new Nebraska route but could also examine any other new significant environmental concerns. …The State Department also said it would look at the pipeline’s impact on any national historic places or “cultural resources.” But Fred Upton, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee, said the review’s parameters were not yet clear. “By not limiting the scope of the review to just the new Nebraska segment, the entire project could become tangled in unnecessary review and red tape, and subjected to attacks and stalling tactics by opponents,” Upton said in a statement.
The National Wildlife Federation wants the State Department to take a hard look at the project, Joe Mendelson, the group’s director of climate and energy policy, said in a statement. “For starters, the State Department must thoroughly analyze the safety issues involved with transporting corrosive tar sands in the pipeline, account for the increased carbon emissions that will speed global warming,” Mendelson said. The group also wants additional study of risks to endangered species and more consultation with American Indian tribes, he said.” Read complete article is here.
Politico reported “Legislative mixup sets back Keystone XL bid,” by Andrew Restuccia, June 21st: “A mix-up over amendment language has robbed House Republicans of their latest opportunity to vote for greenlighting the Keystone XL oil pipeline. “Reps. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Connie Mack (R-Fla.) withdrew their amendment to a GOP energy bill that would have approved the pipeline after realizing that key language was missing.” TWEET: Oops  Rep. Lee Terry fumbles a pipeline amendment while all of us shake our heads and just want honest answers #nokxl
The Dirtiest Oil on Earth, is a 1:42 minute animation on the dangers of tar sands crude and pipelines, illustrating the destruction of natural areas, contamination of air and water supplies and political influence exerted by the oil industry to build projects designed to transport tar sands across the US to reach foreign markets. The Dirtiest Oil on Earth, and more information, can be found at The Sierra Club beyond oil campaign website.
From OnEarth Magazine: “Our agricultural policy used to be designed with farmers in mind. Then Big Ag took it over. Can it be won back?” This excellent May 23rd interview with KXL opposition leader, Nebraska Farmers Union President John Hansen, by Paul Tullis, is called “The Barnstormer.”
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 Nominee.

STOP FRACKING NOW . . . 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.“