Last November the Lancaster County Commission on a 3 to 2 vote established excessively restrictive decibel standards that effectively prohibit the development of clean energy wind development in Lancaster County. A coalition of groups representing labor, agriculture, business, and the environment have launched a petition campaign to promote safe and sensible standards for wind development in the county’s rural areas. Please take a moment to sign this non-binding petition to express your support for clean energy and to encourage the phasing out of fossil fuels:
Tag Archives: Grassroots Democracy
Jill Stein: The Two-Party System Is Broken
Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein explains how the United States political system is broken, and a third party is the solution:
Former Nader campaign manager: Revolution is difficult and necessary
From Theresa Amato writing for Vox:
Every four years, we come to this point: Dissatisfaction with the major party candidates cries for alternatives, and then reality comes crashing in. As an initial matter, the problem can be squarely laid at the feet of voters themselves as they are unwilling to take a risk outside the two parties once their nominees lose inside the two major parties.
I know because I tried twice to open up the system to candidacies outside the two parties: first, in 2000 as the national campaign manager for Ralph Nader when he was the Green Party nominee, and then again in 2004, when Nader ran on a potpourri of third-party and independent ballot lines.
Until we fix our Byzantine ballot access system, our partisan electoral administrations, our campaign financing system, our inexplicably exclusive Commission on Presidential Debates, and a media fixated on horse-race politics, it is a myth that anyone can run — successfully — for president outside of the two parties.
Jill Stein: We Need a Constitutional Right to Vote
From Jill2016.com:
The 2016 primary season is exposing a crisis of democracy in America.
The prevalence of voter suppression, from voters forced to stand in line for five hours in Arizona to over one hundred thousand voters purged from the rolls in New York, is inexcusable.
Meanwhile in North Carolina, a federal judge has upheld new voting restrictions, including a voter ID law that will disproportionately block poor and minority voters from the polls.
It’s no secret that reducing voter turnout benefits the political establishment.
It’s time to bring real democracy to America by eliminating unfair barriers to voting and ensuring every vote counts.
Voter suppression across the United States has reached crisis levels, largely because the Constitution does not explicitly guarantee our right to vote. An explicit Constitutional right to vote would empower Americans to challenge systemic voter suppression and restore the integrity of our elections.
Stand with Jill Stein’s call for an explicit Constitutional right to vote today!
Action Alert: Climate rally at Berkshire meeting April 30 in Omaha
From BOLD Nebraska:
Join former NASA climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, Nebraska Peace Foundation, and Bold Nebraska on Saturday, April 30th outside the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting in Omaha to deliver our petition and urge shareholders attending the meeting to VOTE YES on the Climate Resolution. Introduced by Nebraska Peace Foundation, which owns a voting share in the company, the shareholder resolution asks the company to do a climate risk assessment.
The rally will be Saturday, April 30, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the CenturyLink Center, 455 N 10th St, Omaha.
Warren Buffett has urged shareholders to vote against the resolution. In his letter to shareholders, Buffett writes that he understands that climate change keeps people up at night, and he thinks people in low lying areas should move.
Said Buffett: “Call this Noah’s Law: If an ark may be essential for survival, begin building it today, no matter how cloudless the skies appear.”
Buffett sees climate change causing disasters, but he doesn’t see any risk of his insurance companies experiencing “significant losses” from them yet.
It’s time for Warren Buffett to build a #ClimateArk — starting with the climate risk assessment for his companies outlined in the shareholder resolution proposed by Nebraska Peace Foundation.
Action Alert: Help petition for ballot access at Earth Day events
Upcoming Earth Day celebrations provide opportunities to gather signatures and ensure that the Nebraska Green Party appears on the ballot for Nebraska voters in November:
Earth Day Omaha
- Saturday, April 16
- 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Elmwood Park
- Contact markalanzimmermann (at) gmail.com to help.
Earth Day Lincoln
- Saturday, April 23
- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Union Plaza
- Contact mjberry (at) inebraska.com to help.
LJS Editorial: The only way to “fix” the death penalty is to end it
From the Lincoln Journal Star:
Before voters go to the polls on Nov. 8 to vote on whether they want to put the death penalty back on the books in Nebraska, they ought to think about the learning process undergone by Christy Sheppard.
If voters are able to put themselves in her shoes, they too are likely to reach the same conclusion Sheppard did: the death penalty should be abolished.
Sheppard shared her story last week in appearances in Omaha, Grand Island, Kearney and Hastings.
Sheppard was a supporter of the death penalty when here cousin was raped and murdered in 1982.
She was a supporter of the death penalty when two men were arrested in 1987 and charged with murdering her cousin. Upon conviction, Ron Williamson was sentenced to death, and Dennis Fritz was sentenced to life in prison.
Then 11 years later DNA testing proved that Williamson and Fritz had been wrongfully convicted.
Get involved in the campaign to end Nebraska’s death penalty once and for all.
Unicameral Approves Protections Against Fracking Waste, Reforms at Oil & Gas Commission
From BOLD Nebraska:
Bold Nebraska applauds the Nebraska Legislature today for approving LB 1082 by a 48-0-1 vote, a bill to reform the Nebraska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (NOGCC) and put stronger protections for our water and land in place against fracking waste.
Although Bold Nebraska believes the bill could have gone much farther, LB 1082 is a step in the right direction.
“Citizens stood up and demanded more transparency on risky fracking waste being dumped into our land and water,” said Bold Nebraska director Jane Kleeb. “Wastewater injection wells are the result other state’s reckless fracking practices and should be banned. While we did not achieve everything citizens think must happen to protect our land and water, we once again took a major step forward, because every day folks are standing up to Big Oil.”
Join a discussion about the future of wind energy in Lancaster County
From the Nebraska League of Conservation Voters:
On Monday, March 28, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Hardin Hall Auditorium (3310 Holdrege St., Lincoln), a coalition of community leaders will participate in a panel discussion about the benefits of wind power, and the anti-wind policies that have prevented wind development in Nebraska. The panel will discuss the recent vote taken by the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners that effectively prohibits the development of wind energy in Lancaster County. They will discuss the implications of that decision and how the coalition plans to get that decision reversed. The panel is hosted by the Nebraska League of Conservation Voters (NLCV) and is free and open to the public.
Those who are participating in the panel discussion include:
- Senator Ken Haar, Nebraska State Senator for Legislative District 21
- Lancaster County Commissioner Bill Avery, former State Senator for Legislative District 28
- John Hansen, President of the Nebraska Farmers Union
- John Markey, Business Manager and Financial Secretary for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 265
- Greg Schwaninger, Lancaster County Landowner
- Eliot Bostar, Executive Director of the Nebraska League of Conservation Voters
Charles E. Richardson: 1935-2016
Founding Co-chair of the Nebraska Green Party, Dr. Charles Richardson, died on Monday, March 7, 2016, in Hastings. Thank you, Charles, for your early Green Party support, your tireless District 3 work gathering hundreds of signatures in each petition campaign, convening meetings, and providing NGP visibility where we needed it most. Members of the Nebraska Green Party extend sympathy to your family and friends.