From Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan at Democracy Now!:
This week’s public spat between CIA-loyalist Feinstein and that agency might briefly upset the status quo, but they will make up. Sadly, it obscures a graver problem: the untold story of the United States’ secret policy of torture and rendition (the latter is White House lingo for “kidnapping”).
Consider using Goodsearch this holiday season and benefit your favorite cause in the process.
Just search for “Nebraska Green Party” if you want some of the proceeds from your purchases to benefit our grassroots organizing.
Thanks!
From Nebraskans for Peace:
On Monday, December 8, Nebraska’s clean energy leaders will convene in Omaha to attend the Nebraska Conservation Summit. We don’t want you to miss out on the opportunity to attend this event and hear from one of our nation’s leading clean energy experts, and discuss real solutions for moving Nebraska into a clean energy future. Event details:
Your attendance at the Summit will equip you with information to dispel the economic myths about clean energy, for example, that it’s “too expensive” and “not yet a viable alternative to fossil fuels.” You’ll get to meet with others who are working to advance clean energy in Nebraska, and you’ll learn what you can do to take action and have an impact on Nebraska’s energy future.
From Frances Mendenhall via Progressive Omaha:
Hello everybody. I’m trying to grow our climate organization, get our message out, and sell some of these great T-shirts. We are Citizens’ Climate Lobby, and our goal is to get a carbon tax that is refunded to households. We call it Tax Carbon, Pay People. Our chapter meets next on Saturday, December 6, at 11:45. Learn more about the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
And check out these shirts! They help us spread our message, they help us raise a few bucks, and they are cool. Plus, they will be delivered on December 17, exactly one week from some holiday, I forgot which one. This shirt spreads our message, and its price supports our work. Buy a t-shirt to support Grandmothers and Others Fight Climate Change.
From the Omaha World-Herald:
The company seeking to build the Keystone XL pipeline says it has no intention of walking away if the Nebraska Supreme Court deals the project a setback in coming weeks.
TransCanada Corp. has already prepared an application to the Nebraska Public Service Commission, said Corey Goulet, president of the Keystone project for the company. Whether the company submits it depends on how the Nebraska Supreme Court settles a constitutional dispute over a law used to route the pipeline, which would carry Canadian crude through the state and to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
A lower court judge struck down the 2012 law, saying the Legislature improperly gave the governor authority to approve the pipeline route. Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy ruled that regulatory power over pipelines rests with the five independently elected members of the Public Service Commission.
From NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center:
An ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has given scientists a stunning new look at how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe. Plumes of carbon dioxide in the simulation swirl and shift as winds disperse the greenhouse gas away from its sources. The simulation also illustrates differences in carbon dioxide levels in the northern and southern hemispheres and distinct swings in global carbon dioxide concentrations as the growth cycle of plants and trees changes with the seasons.
Read more about NASA’s efforts to measure and map carbon in the atmosphere.
From Outside magazine:
The crude that would feed the XL pipeline comes from a once pristine part of Alberta that now resembles mining operations on a sci-fi planet. At places like Fort McKay, home to First Nations people who’ve lived there for centuries, the money is great but the environmental and health impacts are exceedingly grim. The world has to have fuel. Is this simply the price that must be paid?
From callthefcc.com:
There’s some great news and some terrible news: President Obama has answered our calls, and just made a strong statement urging the FCC to adopt real Net Neutrality rules under “Title II reclassification” — the strongest authority possible.
But FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is dug in: He’s trying to delay and still considering passing rules weaker than what we and Obama want — but are great for the cable companies for which Wheeler used to lobby.
What can you do? Call the FCC, sign the petition, or join a protest.
From Reader Supported News:
American voters proved this week that when Congress fails to get something done, the people have the means to do it themselves. Direct democracy through statewide ballot initiatives has proven to be much more effective and more satisfying than waiting for a deadlocked Congress to catch up to the will of the people.
When Americans overwhelmingly supported increased background checks on gun purchases in the wake of almost two dozen children getting massacred in school, Congressional Republicans wouldn’t agree to anything. When 70 percent of Americans polled supported an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, Congressional Republicans refused to take action. When most Americans supported a “Buffett Rule” stating that billionaires should never pay a lower tax rate than working people by a 2 to 1 margin, Congressional Republicans dug in their heels and filibustered. Neither Democrats nor Republicans in Congress would dare to rein in the prison-industrial complex, much less even utter the phrase in the first place. And legalizing marijuana at the federal level? Forget about it.
However, ballot initiatives passed Nov. 4 accomplished all of those things in multiple states.
From BOLD Nebraska:
Omaha, NE — Nebraskans stood up to TransCanada by voting out Rep. Lee Terry, the top cheerleader in Congress for the foreign company’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline. While a national wave gave wins to the GOP across the country, Nebraskans who have fought the Keystone XL pipeline from day one marched in a different direction, sending Lee Terry back home to his “nice house” (“Dang straight!”).