MOVE TO AMEND/END CORPORATE PERSONHOOD . . .2004 Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb will begin a Move to Amend Midwest tour spearheading a campaign to amend the Constitution of the United States with a weekend in Nebraska. See CD 1 Green Notes below.
GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL UPDATE . . . For the latest information on ballot access, see http://www.jillstein.org/ballot. A compilation of 2012 National Green Party Convention videos is at http://www.gp.org/video/list-categories.php?VideoCat_Name=2012%20Convention. Another U.S. is Possible — Another Party is Necessary.
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, is at http://food.unl.edu/web/localfoods/fmcsa.
Lincoln area: Congressional District 1
OCCUPY EDUCATION . . . Free school Sundays are from 7:00pm – 8:00pm, at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso, 1624 South Street, in Lincoln. Each Sunday a different member of the Lincoln community will host a short class on the topic of their choosing. July 29, 2012 will be a Planning Session for Events and Direct Actions.
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.
OCCUPY THE FOOD SUPPLY . . . This Occupy Education series is devoted to resisting the industrialization of agriculture and food production, reinstituting the use of plants as medicine, as well as reclaiming the means to produce healthy, chemical-free food, with special focus on sustainability and truly organic practices. Learn the basics of gardening, composting, seed saving, and harvesting, as well as connect and work with others who share the same passions, every Monday through August 6, 2012, 7:00 – 8:00pm, Indigo Bridge Books, 701 P Street, Lincoln.
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.
LAST CALL AT THE OASIS . . . The Ross Media Arts Center, 313 North 13th Street, Lincoln, will show Last Call at the Oasis, a new documentary dealing with the global water crisis, through Thursday, August 2, 2012. The film, featuring activist Erin Brockovich and distinguished experts, shatters myths behind our most precious resource, and presents a powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century.
NIOBRARA: A PERSPECTIVE . . . The Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center will show Niobrara: A Film Perspective, on Wednesday, August 1, 2012, at 8:00pm. The screening is free, open to the public, and will feature Niobrara Sweet!; Niobrara Jewel of the North, and Snowbound, all produced by Thomas Bouse, independent film producer in Nebraska. Click here for more information.
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 . . . Free school Sunday on August 5, 2012, from 7:00pm to 8:00pm, at Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso, 1624 South Street, Trina Derickson will present “Know Your City Government, Part III.”
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. 2004 Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb will be starting a Move to Amend tour of the Midwest with Nebraska appearances in Lincoln and Omaha from Friday, August 10 through Monday, August 13, 2012. Details will be announced soon. Stay tuned.
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, August 1, 2012, the film will be “Double Victory,” a gripping documentary spotlighting America’s first all black aerial unit, the Tuskegee Airmen, who broke racial barriers and challenged stereotypes in World War II. Watch a 1:01 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.
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 at http://www.engageomaha.com/
Greater Nebraska: Congressional District 3
KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE UPDATE . . . Friday, July 27, 2012, an Enbridge pipeline in Wisconsin ruptured around 2:45pm. A news item from woodtv.com reported the rupture and that “Enbridge also owns the pipeline that ruptured near Marshall in July 2010, spilling almost a million gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River. That river just re-opened for use this summer.” Sunday, July 29th, Reuters reported “Enbridge working fast to contain Wisconsin oil spill, restart pipeline. ” The major pipeline spilled “more than 1,000 barrels of oil in a Wisconsin field, provoking fresh ire from U.S. officials over the latest in a series of leaks.”
Wednesday, July 25th, groups across the country held solidarity events to mark the 2-year anniversary of the toxic tar sands spill in Michigan’s Kalamazoo river. The message to Big Oil: “We Don’t Want Your Dirty Tar Sands.” The Nebraska event, “Keep Our Water Blue,” was held in front of the governor’s mansion. The Nebraska Farmers Union issued a statement in solidarity with the victims of the spill saying, “…the spill in the Kalamazoo River in Michigan two years ago is an example of water contamination that could have been prevented if the proper measures would have been taken. Both the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) & the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality have raised red flags. Enbridge did not have those safeguards in place that would protect U.S. landowners… this battle is not only about your land, it is about hundreds of other landowners, & their landowners rights as Tar Sands pipelines are proposed in other areas of our state, & country.”
A Washington Post story on eminent domain, “Keystone XL pipeline is issue of property rights for some ranchers,” mentions the hypocrisy of Deb Fischer and the GOP, but fails to mention that her 2006 Bill gave oil pipelines eminent domain rights in Nebraska. A 3:06 minute Video of John Harter, one of the featured ranchers, is here.
“Keystone XL: Fresh Evidence That China and Not U.S. Will Benefit” by Tony Lallonardo for the NWF Blog July 26, 2012 begins “As the promoters of the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline regroup to push their new permit application to funnel high carbon tar sands through America’s Midwest from Alberta to Texas, there continues to swirl a good deal of controversy over where tar sands will ultimately end up? More evidence just came to light this week that the Canadian Prime Minister and his Big Oil allies are eying China, not the U.S., as their biggest market. That’s a critical development, since backers of the pipeline wrongly say tar sands will improve U.S. energy security. …Americans could become little more than middle men, taking the risk of spills and increased pollution, while the oil goes abroad. So why do this? In a nutshell, petro companies have one goal – to sell as much oil as they can for the highest price.”
“Gateway pipeline risks exceed rewards, B.C. Premier says,” by Karen Howlett and Bill Curry for The Globe and Mail, July 22nd reported that “British Columbia Premier Christy Clark is warning that the environmental risks associated with a plan to sell Canadian oil to Asia through the Northern Gateway pipeline outweigh the economic benefits, leaving her at odds with the federal and Alberta governments.”
Alyssa Figueroa reporting on a new 1:31 minute Video, “We Quit You, Keystone XL (It’s Not Us, It’s You),” July 24th, writes “The Post Carbon Institute, an energy think-tank, released a new video featuring a woman “breaking up” with Keystone.” And “Enbridge spills it out” is a new 1:39 minute animation.
Tell the Obama Administration: Reject Keystone XL. Again. The following message accompanies a new petition from Credo Action: In the same week that record June heat blanketed the southeast, Minnesota tried to recover from record flooding, and the biggest fire in Colorado’s history continued to burn out of control — President Obama doubled down in his support for the energy that is causing this deepening climate change spiral approving the first portion of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, giving away 720 million tons of publicly owned coal to a coal company for virtually nothing, and promising to lease more arctic offshore areas for oil drilling. Now, the Canada to Oklahoma portion of the Keystone XL pipeline – which would turn up the spigot on deadly, “game over for the climate” tar sands production – is back before the State Department after being rejected by President Obama earlier this year when Republicans tried to force his decision.
Without the pressures of the election, President Obama could conceivably cave when a decision is made in 2013 – if he is re-elected. This public comment period is our opportunity to go on the record, before the election, with our fierce opposition. Please urge President Obama to reject the Keystone XL Pipeline. (Note: Credo Action petitions do generate e-mail from other petitions.)
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 . . . At the First-Ever National Mobilization Against Fracking on July 28th, celebrities, community groups, and more than 100 organizations will join forces for “Stop the Frack Attack” in Washington, DC, where they will make three demands of Congress: 1. Stop dangerous fracking; 2. Close 7 legal loopholes that exempt the oil and gas industry from parts of the Safe Drinking Water, Clean Air, and Clean Water Acts; and 3. Implement a pathway towards 100% clean renewable energy. Learn more about the event here. 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.“