All posts by Shane Pekny

Anti-death penalty campaign kicks off

News, ,

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

A group of Nebraskans who want voters to uphold the Legislature’s repeal of the death penalty kicked off a statewide education campaign Wednesday.

The group scheduled a news conference at the Capitol to launch the campaign and unveil its new name: Retain a Just Nebraska.

The name change from Nebraskans for Public Safety reflects the action needed to support the death penalty repeal (LB268) passed last session, said spokesman Dan Parsons.

Support for abolishing the death penalty is diverse, he said, and includes fiscal conservatives, law enforcement officials, faith leaders and murder victims’ families.

Senators won a hard-fought battle in passing a repeal bill introduced by Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, one he had introduced 37 times during his tenure in the Legislature. The bill advanced through three rounds of debate, was vetoed by Gov. Pete Ricketts, and then senators voted to override the veto.

Before the repeal could go into effect, Nebraskans for the Death Penalty launched a petition drive to stop the repeal until Nebraska voters could weigh in in November on whether or not the state should continue to have capital punishment.

Now those who supported the repeal want voters to endorse it.

Read the full story.

Seeking Peace and Justice in Palestine and Israel, Feb. 28 in Omaha

Events, ,

From Nebraskans for Peace:

Learn about peace work in Israel and Palestine and what you can do to help. Rabbi Joseph Berman and Bshara Nassar, a Christian from Palestine, will discuss the work they have been doing for peace and justice in the Holy Land.

  • WHO: Rabbi Joseph Berman and Bshara Nassar
  • WHEN: Sunday, February 28, 2016 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  • WHERE: Urban Abbey, 1026 Jackson St., Omaha

This event is organized through the Holy Land Task Force, Peace with Justice Ministries and the Mercy & Justice Team of the Great Plains Conference of The United Methodist Church, in collaboration with the Palestinian Rights Task Force of Nebraskans for Peace.

Show support for two fracking-related bills Feb. 17

Action Alerts,

From BOLD Nebraska:

This Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 1:30 p.m., the Legislature will hold a hearing on two fracking-related bills, and the Senators on the Natural Resources Committee who will first vote on these new protections for our water need to hear from you. Click here to submit your written testimony on fracking that we’ll deliver at the hearing.

At the hearing on Wednesday, the Legislature will hear testimony on LB 1070 and LB 1082:

LB 1070: Requires fracking wastewater injection wells to secure $1 million+ in liability insurance. Restricts permits if the groundwater aquifer is close to the surface.

LB 1082: Fixes the clear conflict of interest at the Nebraska Oil & Gas Commission, by eliminating the regulatory agency’s dual role of “promoting” the oil and gas industry in the state. Requires more public hearings and notification about wastewater projects. Mandates additional well monitoring and well fluid analysis that is not being done now.

Thanks to all of you who in the past year have testified at hearings across the state, signed a petition or letter to your senator, or made a donation to support our work to strengthen the laws that protect our water.

Bold Nebraska and Jane Kleeb will be at the hearing on Wednesday to testify in support of LB 1070 and LB 1082. We encourage you to join us in person, or else submit a comment that we’ll deliver to Senators at the hearing.  Click here to check out our “Testimony Tips” and submit your written testimony.

Help End the Death Penalty Now!

Action Alerts, ,

From Nebraskans for Public Safety and Senator Adam Morfeld:

Let’s be clear about something: Right now, Nebraska is at the center of the fight to end the death penalty in this country. We ended it last spring in the Unicameral — one of my proudest moments in the legislature — and we must now defend that vote on Election Day.

With your help, we can.

I recently wrote to let you know that we received commitments from national organizations working to end the death penalty. In order to secure their support, we have to show our strength and raise matching funds from fellow Nebraskans like yourself. Help reach our matching gift goal.

The death penalty is unjust, expensive, and simply doesn’t work; our ability to end it once and for all is critical. Can you help get us to the finish line? A $25 commitment today from everyone on this list is what it will take to secure the dollar-for-dollar match from national funders. But our time is limited. We need to secure these funds.

Let’s do it, Nebraska — let’s end the death penalty in our great state once and for all.

Thank you for your support.

Senator Adam Morfeld, District 46

Donate to Nebraskans for Public Safety

How to Volunteer with Nebraskans for Public Safety

Action Alert: Oppose exemption for corporate hog farming

Action Alerts,

From BOLD Nebraska:

Our tradition of family farming in Nebraska is under attack right now. A bill (LB 176) that could come up for a vote any day now in the Nebraska Legislature would allow meatpackers — like the Chinese-owned meatpacking company Smithfield — to own pork in Nebraska. This would put family farmers out of business.

If the meatpackers own our livestock, corporate-raised pork will dominate our grocery store shelves. This means less care for the animal, more water pollution, and lower-quality food. LB 176 also gives the vertically-integrated corporate “factory farming” system more economic power over Nebraska’s family farmers.

Read more and sign the online petition.

Two upcoming events with Open Harvest Co-op Grocery in Lincoln

Events,

KZUM Donation Day

  • Wednesday, January 27, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
  • At Open Harvest Co-op Grocery, 1618 South Street, Lincoln.

Did you know KZUM started in Open Harvest’s basement many years ago? On Wednesday, January 27th, we are sending some noise their way by organizing our first ever KZUM Donation Day. It’s really simple: at the end of the day, 5% of the store’s net sales will be donated directly to KZUM. You don’t have to do anything, except stop by Open Harvest and pick up the food that you love. Come shop with us on this special day, and support two long-standing community organizations at the same time. It’s a win-win. Please help spread the word.

Seed Swap

  • Saturday, January 30, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
  • At 2 Pillars Church, 1430 South Street, Lincoln.

The Open Harvest Co-op Grocery and Community Crops Annual Seed Swap falls on National Seed Swap Day, January 30th. We will be hosting a space for the Lincoln gardening community to bring their seeds saved from last year and swap them. This is a great opportunity to see what everyone has been growing and maybe branch out and try planting something new. Hope to see you there!

Read more at www.openharvest.coop/events/

Elevating agriculture in the city

News, ,

From the Lincoln Journal Star and written by Tim Rinne, Nebraskans for Peace State Coordinator:

After all the fine cooking we just feasted on over the holidays, I’m probably not the only one carrying around some unwanted extra pounds. It’s hard to restrain yourself when the food’s right in front of you, smelling and looking heavenly, just crying to be sampled.

And yet, with all these calories having gone straight to my waistline, there’s something about this annual rite of indulgence that more and more leaves me mystified.

How is it we so utterly relish the food but evince such little regard for the farm? (Because you can’t have the one without the other.)

Yet that’s what we do. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, I oftentimes stuffed myself so much I felt bloated, but couldn’t have told you where a single one of those calories came from.

We never think about the farm being the source of our food. We city dwellers, pulling up at the drive-thru or pushing our carts down the grocery aisle, are so barricaded from the process of food production that the closest most of us ever get to a farm anymore is driving past one on I-80. We prefer not to think about our grains, vegetables, nuts and fruits having grown in dirt or that our meat came from animals that pee, poop and bleed. We like our food attractively packaged, without any of the actual backstory.

The corn and soybean operations we see outside our car window, though, don’t give an accurate picture of where all that food we eat originates.

Read the full column.

Dr. Jill Stein: People’s State of the Union

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From jill2016.com:

The Precarious State of Our Union: A Bipartisan Disaster We Can Fix

From the viewpoint of everyday Americans, the State of our Union, in point of fact, is not strong. In reality, we are in a state of historic crisis – for our economy, ecology, democracy and security.

Thankfully, these crises are still eminently solvable. With a majority of Americans disapproving of both establishment parties, there is unprecedented momentum for a new way forward, based on principles of democracy, justice and peace, towards an America and a world that works for all of us.

Republicans have long been recognized as unabashed servants of the economic elite, leading the charge against the public interest. But they have not been alone.

Democratic priorities were clear when President Obama had two Democratic Houses of Congress to support him, as the party went to bat for trillions in Wall Street bailouts, tax cuts for the rich, job-killing corporate trade agreements, austerity budgets, health care reform that locked single payer out and private profits in, mass deportations of hardworking immigrants, privatization of schools, expanding wars for oil and regime change, climate-killing “all of the above” energy policies, and unprecedented assaults on privacy and press freedoms.

As a result of this bipartisan assault, we have not had a recovery by any measure.

Read the full People’s State of the Union.

TransCanada sues U.S. and files NAFTA claim for KXL rejection

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From the Lincoln Journal Star:

TransCanada has filed a lawsuit and a $15 billion NAFTA claim seeking to recover costs and damages in response to President Barack Obama’s rejection of a permit for its Keystone XL pipeline.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in Houston and says Obama’s November decision to deny a cross-border permit for the $8 billion pipeline violated his power under the Constitution.

The Calgary, Alberta-based company spent $3.1 billion trying to bring the project to fruition. The $15 billion figure takes into account what it says is the lost value of its investments and its lost economic return.

Read the full story.

War veteran and state senator team up to support medical marijuana bill

News,

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Ben Marksmeier has shown bravery in a number of ways, including his service in Iraq with the Army National Guard.

This is another way: He has chosen to talk openly about his use of an illegal drug, medical cannabis, to ease the extreme pain he inherited when part of his right leg was blown off and the left one mangled by a roadside bomb that hit his convoy south of Baghdad.

Marksmeier, 30, of Fremont, went with Sen. Tommy Garrett of Bellevue last fall to press conferences and media interviews in several Nebraska towns to help promote the need for Garrett’s bill (LB643).

People of Nebraska need the opportunity to choose, he said. He’d like to have the option to choose cannabis rather than oxycodone or methadone or other powerful, addicting, full-of-chemicals drugs for his pain.

Read the full story.