Category Archives: News

Elevating agriculture in the city

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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

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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.

Jill Stein: Update from the Campaign Trail

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From jill2016.com:

Season’s greetings from the campaign trail!  After the whirlwind of the last 2 months, including 7 states and 2 international gatherings, it’s clearer than ever that the peaceful rebellion is gathering steam.

I’ve never seen so many people ready to break free of the corrupt two-party system, and work together to build an independent political movement for people, planet, and peace over profit.

As urgently as we need this movement – it’s also clear that it will only happen if people like you and me make it happen together. We are now on the verge of qualifying for federal matching funds, which will massively increase our campaign’s ability to reach the millions of Americans who are looking for a new political home!

To clarify the historic opportunities ahead, let me share some excitement from the campaign trail.

Read the full state-by-state update at jill2016.com.

Lincoln activists head to Paris

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From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Two Lincoln climate activists, Kyria Spooner and Matthew Gregory, are part of a wave of humanity that has inundated Paris to show solidarity in calling for diplomats from across the world to reach a meaningful agreement to address climate change.

Negotiations for what could be the globe’s most significant environmental accord are being sponsored by the United Nations. Originally expected to conclude Friday, the Paris talks have been extended to Saturday.

Spooner, a trainer with a software company, and Gregory, the office manager for the Nebraska Farmers Union, shared news of their work by video from Paris with supporters who gathered Thursday afternoon at the Single Barrel in downtown Lincoln.

Read the full story.

McKibben: Paris climate pact is a new tool for activists

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From The New York Times:

… That we have any agreement at all, of course, is testament to the mighty movement that activists around the world have built over the last five years. At Copenhagen, world leaders could go home with nothing and pay no price.

That’s no longer true.

But what this means is that we need to build the movement even bigger in the coming years, so that the Paris agreement turns into a floor and not a ceiling for action. We’ll be blocking pipelines, fighting new coal mines, urging divestment from fossil fuels — trying, in short, to keep weakening the mighty industry that still stands in the way of real progress. With every major world leader now on the record saying they at least theoretically support bold action to make the transition to renewable energy, we’ve got a new tool to work with.

And we’ll try to keep hoping that it adds up fast enough to matter.

Read the full op-ed.

Refugees are victims of the same people we are frightened of

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From the Lincoln Journal Star:

There is little rest these days for refugee resettlement workers at Lutheran Family Services.

Between working with people whose loved ones are scheduled to arrive in the U.S. next month, counseling recent arrivals who fear for their safety, and answering calls from strangers angered that Nebraska might someday receive refugees from Syria, Vanja Pejanovic and her staff are keeping busy.

That’s especially the case since deadly terror attacks Nov. 13 in Paris led Gov. Pete Ricketts to join governors in most other states to seek a temporary halt to Syrian refugee resettlement in the U.S., said Pejanovic, who coordinates resettlement activity in the Lincoln area.

“I think our governor should go sit at Lutheran Family Services, with the people who work there day after day right now with the terrified Muslim people in our community,” said Mary Pipher, a retired clinical psychologist from Lincoln and author of a widely read book about refugee resettlement.

Read the full story.

Gov. Ricketts tells nonprofits to stop taking Syrian refugees

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From the Governor’s press release:

LINCOLN – Today, Governor Pete Ricketts sent a letter to refugee resettlement agencies in Nebraska to urge them not to pursue resettlement of Syrian refugees.

“Nebraska is a welcoming place for families seeking a home to live, work, and raise a family. While I understand the danger and persecution many are facing in the Middle East, it is important that our state and our nation consider the safety and security of Nebraskans and Americans first in any refugee resettlement efforts. The terrorist attacks that occurred over the weekend in Paris are a solemn reminder of the reach and strength of ISIS and their agents.

“Today, I am requesting that all refugee resettlement agencies in our state decline to participate in potential Syrian refugee resettlement efforts.”

Learn more about the Syrian refugee issue and the role played by state governments:

Clogging the pipeline: Nebraska’s role in the KXL’s demise

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From the Lincoln Journal Star:

An unlikely gang of compatriots — urban environmentalists, ranchers in cowboy hats, preachers, politicians and an Omaha tribe schoolteacher — filled a small bar in Lincoln’s Railyard earlier this month for an impromptu celebration.

They hugged, exchanged handshakes and high-fives. After nearly a decade of rallies, letter writing, concerts, cookie baking and testimony, they had won.

President Barack Obama had rejected the Keystone XL pipeline.

“Nebraska is usually dismissed on the national stage as flyover country,” Rev. Kim Morrow of the Nebraska Interfaith Power & Light said that Nov. 6 night.

“But what we have found is that like the story of David and Goliath, the fight against the Keystone pipeline has shown the world (that) the people who love their land possess the five smooth stones to slay the giant.”

Obama didn’t mention Nebraska in his seven-minute explanation for denying the cross-border permit for the project, but in the nearly decade-long odyssey that led up to the announcement, events often pivoted around the Cornhusker State.

Read the full story.