GREEN PARTY PRESIDENTIAL UPDATE . . . JILL STEIN QUALIFIES FOR FEDERAL MATCHING FUNDS! Watch for news at the website. 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.
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, July 1, 2012, Occupy Education will present An Evening with the Lincoln Bike Kitchen. Meet at the Bike Kitchen location, 1720 South 15th Street, at 7:00pm.
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.
DISCUSSIONS ABOUT WHITE PRIVILEGE AND ITS CONTEXT . . . Monday, July 2, 2012, 7:00 to 8:00pm, Occupy Education will present the final discussion in a series led by local peace and justice activist/educator Joshua Cramer, at Indigo Bridge Books, 701 P Street #102, Lincoln. The series focus has been 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.
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.
NEBRASKANS FOR PEACE PICNIC . . . The NFP Lincoln chapter summer picnic will be on Saturday, July 7, 2012, at the shelter near A Street in Antelope Park between 27th Street and Normal Boulevard. (There has been road work in the area but you should be able to get in from A street. If not, try from the south or the west. You should be able to see the NFP banner.)
It also happens to be NFP President Emeritus/UN-L Professor Emeritus Paul Olsen’s 80th birthday. There will be no speeches, no slide shows, just pot luck food and people, starting around 5:30pm. Mark Your Calendar. Bring kids. Bring your own plate, utensils and a favorite dish, or not. There will be plenty.
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 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 will be no film this Wednesday. Enjoy your Independence Day, and plan for next week’s film, “Deliver us from Evil,” at McFoster’s Natural Kind Cafe, 38th and Harney, Wednesday, July llth, 7:00pm. The People’s Film Festival – Expanding Political Consciousness Since 2004.
ZERO WASTE STRATEGIES . . . The registration deadline is Friday, July 6th, for the Wednesday, July 11, 2012 Green Team Roundtable Exploring Zero Waste Strategies and a Model for Self-sufficiency and Redemption. The Lunch Meeting, from 11:30am to 1:00pm, will be at the Cross Training Center, 4505 South 76th Circle, in Omaha. Register here. July11th For more information, contact Julie Diegel, 402.434.7376, or jdiegel [at] wastecapne [dot] org
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 . . . A July 1, 2012 letter to the editor of Lincoln Journal Star, “Leaks still a concern over aquifer,” by Cindy Myers of Stuart, Nebraska, begins “The new Keystone XL route crosses the aquifer the majority of the study area except for 10 miles and still will cross areas of shallow groundwater. TransCanada’s own environmental study filed with the U.S. State Department admits to an expected spill rate and undetected leaks. The study said landowners should do regular checks to spot these undetected leaks. …Who is going to be responsible for the many rural wells threatened by contamination from the expected, unknown leaks? People can take action by posting comments to DEQ, Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, as well at the State Department project website for Keystone XL, under the “contact information” link.”
Ken Winston, Policy Advocate for Nebraska Sierra Club, wrote an Op Ed Piece about TransCanada’s violation of fundamental rights for Lincoln Journal Star, published Wednesday, June 27, 2012. The Local View, “Nebraska farmers and ranchers act to protect their land and water,” begins “Water is life. Nebraska farmers and ranchers know this; how a field will green up after a rain, how much more productive a properly irrigated field can be, how much water their livestock need every day and how that same field can burn up and die without water. They also know the value of the land that nourishes and sustains the plants and animals they grow to feed themselves and the ever growing demands of a hungry planet.
Nebraska landowners Randy Thompson, Suz Luebbe and Susan Dunavan have spent much of the past four years fighting to protect the life-giving resources on their land against the threats of a foreign corporation and the risks of a high pressure tar sands pipeline. When they learned the Legislature passed LB1161, which has no standards to protect our resources and gives TransCanada a special deal to use eminent domain to take private property for this pipeline, they decided to challenge it. The Nebraska Sierra Club supports their challenge because it protects two fundamental principles: The right to protect private property and its natural resources, and the right to due process of law.” The Local View continues here.
June 27th, LJS also published “Sand Hills still threatened,” by Teri Taylor, of Newport, Nebraska. “In November 2011, when TransCanada said it would reroute the Keystone XL pipeline to avoid the Sandhills, a collective cheer resounded across the rolling hills of Keya Paha, Rock and Holt counties. On our ranch, we were convinced that we had been saved from six miles of certain destruction, and we were equally certain that this entire region of the state had been given a reprieve. We were certain avoiding the Sandhills meant that this area that has garnered the Sandhills name for centuries would remain unscathed. We were wrong.”
The good news last week, sourced to Reader Supported News by EcoWatch, and was that “In the eleventh hour during negotiations on the transportation bill on June 27, language requiring approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and barring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation of coal ash waste was dropped. … Thanks to members of Congress who acted to protect drinking water and human health.” The June 29, 2012 article “Coal Ash, Keystone XL Dropped From Transportation Bill,” is here.
“The Dilbit Disaster: Inside The Biggest Oil Spill You’ve Never Heard Of, Part 1,” by Elizabeth McGowan and Lisa Song, was published at InsideClimateNews Tuesday, June 26, 2012. The eight page report on the Enbridge tar sands pipeline leak in Michigan two years ago was followed on June 27th by Part 2, another seven pages covering the confusion that followed the spill. Part 3 of 3 is here.
A Bold Nebraska June 26th blog focused attention on the InsideClimateNews piece, and also on how unprepared we are in Nebraska for such a spill. Please re-post on Facebook and Twitter. Post: TWEET: What would Nebraska do if TransCanada Keystone 1 had a tarsands spill today? We can prevent another MI tragedy #nokxl
This week Bold Nebraska also announced that the Nebraska Easement Action Team has negotiated with Domina Law Group to provide services to supporters of NEAT who have signed Easements with TransCanada and want to get out of or rescind the Easement. It may not be too late! If you are a NEAT Supporter, call 402.705.8679 or email info[ at] NebraskaEasement [dot] org to learn if you qualify.
Bill McKibben of 350.org spoke with Democracy Now! on Colorado Wildfires, Debby, Keystone XL and the Failure of Rio+20, June 27th: “With extreme weather fueling wildfires in Colorado and record rainfall in Florida, the Obama administration has moved closer to approving construction of the southern section of the Keystone XL pipeline. We’re joined by environmentalist, educator and author Bill McKibben, founder of the grassroots climate campaign 350.org. “Today is one of those days when you understand what the early parts of the global warming era are going to look like,” McKibben says. “For the first time in history, we managed to get the fourth tropical storm of the year before July. … These are the most destructive fires in Colorado history, and they come after the warmest weather ever recorded there. … This is what it looks like as the planet begins — and I underline ‘begins’ — to warm. Nothing that happened [at the United Nations Rio+20 summit] will even begin to slow down that trajectory.” Video is here.
“Texas Activists Move Toward Tar Sands Blockade,” by Candice Bernd, begins “The deadline for the review of TransCanada’s permits for the Gulf Coast portion of the Keystone XL pipeline was Monday, June 25, 2012, at the Texas Army Corp of Engineers Galveston office and without any finalization of review, those permits will be automatically granted to the corporation – thanks to President Obama’s announcement that he would expedite the southern leg of the pipeline in Cushing, Oklahoma, back in March.” Read the Truthout article here. Click here to sign up and support the Tar Sands Blockade in Texas. A fourth-generaltion Texan responds to the blockade news here.
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.“