Tag Archives: Grassroots Democracy

NY Times: Jane Kleeb vs. the Keystone Pipeline

News,

From the New York Times:

Terry Van Housen had a question. What he wanted to know from the 30 or so other Nebraska farmers and ranchers gathered in February at the York Community Center was this: What do you do with 10,000 dead cows?

That was the number of cattle Van Housen figured could be at risk if the Obama administration permitted the proposed 1,700-mile XL leg of the Keystone pipeline to cut across their state. Bulldozers would dig a trench not far from Van Housen’s feedlot, completing the final phase of the Keystone project and streamlining the current flow of oil from the bitumen mines of Northern Alberta toward refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. If the pipe were to leak, Van Housen said, his cattle could die.

Read the full story.

#NOKXL Events in Nebraska May 17

Action Alerts,

From Bold Nebraska:

1. Hands Around the Spirit Camp: Join the Cowboy and Indian Alliance — including Aldo Seoane and Oyate Wahacanka Woecun (“Shielding the People”), and Bold Nebraska — at the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Spirit Camp erected to protest Keystone XL. We’ll join hands and do a circle dance to show our unity and to protect sacred water and lands from KXL.

2. Hands Around the Barn: Join us at the “Build Our Energy” barn, a renewable energy-powered structure built by volunteers on land directly in the path of Keystone XL. We’ll join hands and encircle the barn to show we mean to protect our investment in clean, renewable energy against a foreign tarsands export pipeline.

3. Hands Across the Bridge: Join us at the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, which spans the Missouri River in downtown Omaha, NE. We’ll stand side-by-side and join hands for a photo, to show Pres. Obama and Congress that we stand strong together against the Keystone XL tarsands export pipeline, and together call for a transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy.

Jill Stein to speak at Midwest gathering June 13-15

Events,

The Greens of Kansas City and the Progressive Party of Missouri invite you to a five-state Green organizing meeting. Held June 13 to 15 just outside of Kansas City, Transforming Politics on the Prairie: Building the Green Party in the Midwest will feature Jill Stein as keynote speaker.

The venue is the Heartland Center, a beautiful rural conference center at 16965 NW 45 Highway, Parkville, Missouri. It is located very close to the K.C. International Airport. Attendees arriving at reasonable times will be provided a free shuttle service.

Never in the history of our country has there been a greater need for a new, vibrant party. With 60% of the people saying “We need a third party,” our holistic message and strong moral foundation put us in a unique position to accept the challenge. The Greens are leading the way in many parts of the country, and this meeting is intended to bring multi-state leadership together, to confer and develop plans for rejuvenating our Green Parties in the Prairie States.

Registration will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday night, June 13. Dinner is at 5:30 with a keynote address by Jill Stein, followed by conversations with Jill Stein, other workshop leaders, and meeting attendees. Saturday will be filled with workshops on topics important to Greens. On Saturday night we will explore how to build the Green Party in our states and how to incorporate the workshop issues, politics, and related movements into a strong force for change. On Sunday, we will meet in small groups to discuss multi-state, multi-issue collaborative efforts. Conference ends at 10:00 Sunday morning.

Workshops will include: Single-payer health care, Fighting the Grand Bargain, Transforming Food/Farm Issues, Running Green Campaigns, Climate Disruption.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Jill Stein, Green Presidential candidate, 2012
  • Ed Weisbart, MD, Missouri Chair PNHP, St. Louis, MO
  • David Kinsley, PhD, Professor of Health Policy and Management at KU Medical Center
  • Mark Swaney, Green candidate for US Senate from Arkansas
  • John Fish Kurman, Coordinator of 350KC

Cost:

  • Full Conference (includes 5 meals and lodging for 2 nights, triple occupancy): $180.00
  • Early registration (before May 15): $160.00
  • Students: $125.00
  • Saturday only: $40.00  (Please add any of the following: Breakfast $8.00, Lunch $10.00, Dinner $13.00)

There are scholarships available. Let us know what you can afford.

For more information contact Ben Kjelshus, bkjelshus@gmail.com, (816)623-3006.

An Open Letter to the Senate on KXL

News,

From BOLD Nebraska:

As the Senate once again prepares to take a vote on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, Nebraska voices will remind Senators that states’ rights are at stake, and that a vote for Keystone XL is a vote to disregard Nebraska’s legal process.

Nebraska rancher Randy (“Stand With Randy”) Thompson penned an open letter to the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, April 30. Thompson has been a key rural voice against Keystone XL — he was arrested along with others in a civil disobedience action at the White House protesting Keystone XL in 2013, and is one of the three landowner plaintiffs in Thompson v. Heineman, the lawsuit that successfully challenged the constitutionality of the KXL routing process in Nebraska, leaving TransCanada with no legal route or eminent domain power.

Read the letter.

Cowboys, Indians unite in opposition to KXL

News,

From the Omaha World-Herald:

The cowboys sported western hats and the Indians wore traditional feather headdresses as the sound of drumbeats and the smell of wood smoke filled the air Tuesday on the National Mall.

The band of protesters erected a large tepee among seven smaller ones already in place and vowed to defend their “sacred land” and “sacred water” against the Keystone XL pipeline.

It was the start of a weeklong series of themed demonstrations by the Cowboy and Indian Alliance, a group that represents landowners and tribal representatives opposed to the controversial pipeline.

Read more from the World-Herald.

Follow the weeklong protest at rejectandprotect.org

New delay on Keystone XL pipeline

News,

From the Nebraska Sierra Club:

The US State Department today stated that it will delay a decision on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline because of the continuing litigation over the route through Nebraska. The Lancaster County District Court declared LB 1161 unconstitutional in February 2014. Part of that decision voided Governor Heineman’s approval of the proposed pipeline route. The case is currently on appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court. It appears unlikely the Supreme Court will decide the case before November 2014.

Ken Winston of the Nebraska Sierra Club stated today: “Today’s delay is another victory for all the people who have spoken out against KXL in the past four years, the thousands who have attended State Department and legislative hearings, attended rallies, written letters, made phone calls and signed petitions. Your sacrifices, your voices have made the difference throughout this process. Every delay means that more tar sands will stay in the ground. The longer this goes on, the more people find out about KXL and its threats to our water, land and climate, the more likely they are to oppose it. To paraphrase my daughter Helen, TransCanada may have the money, but when people come together, we have the power.”

Read more at JournalStar.com.

The American oligarchy study, explained

News,

From Vox:

Who really matters in our democracy — the general public, or wealthy elites? That’s the topic of a new study by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern. The study’s been getting lots of attention, because the authors conclude, basically, that the U.S. is a corrupt oligarchy where ordinary voters barely matter. Or as they put it, “economic elites and organized interest groups play a substantial part in affecting public policy, but the general public has little or no independent influence.”

Read an explainer of the study from Vox.

Read the full-text study from Princeton.

 

USGP on the McCutcheon v. FEC Decision

News,

From the Green Party of the United States:

This morning the Supreme Court released its decision in the McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission case, striking down current limits on the amount an individual donor may contribute to a political campaign.

The majority of the justices decided that the right to free speech includes the right to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns.

Although reasonable campaign finance rules had already been gutted by the 2010 Citizens United decision, today’s decision reinforces the idea that money is speech and the richest 1% of Americans should have the right to buy and sell limitless political influence.

In contrast, the Green Party continues to work for a truly democratic electoral system including public financing of federal, state, and local elections. We support a Constitutional amendment delaring that corporations are NOT persons and money is NOT speech. Finally, it is important to have a vigorous, well-funded government watchdog empowered to enforce federal campaign laws.

The Green Party is working to overturn the new regime of corporate elections. Citizens United allowed unlimited spending on independent campaigning, and now McCutcheon will allow unlimited contributions to candidates and elected officials.

Read more about Grassroots Democracy, one of the Green Party’s 10 Key Values.

Advocate for clean energy through OPPD Listens

Action Alerts,

From Clean Energy Nebraska:

Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) has announced a stakeholder initiative called OPPD Listens with the intent to educate and engage the public, working with constituents to shape the utility’s collective energy future.  Public input will be gathered in a three-phased approach starting March 18 and wrapping up April 30. You can get involved through open houses, focus groups, and online meetings. Learn more.