Former C.I.A analyst Ray McGovern delivered the keynote address at the NFP 2004 Annual Peace Conference. A founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), he has delivered on-the-mark political analysis for peace activists the past decade. His latest offering on the ‘Iranian nuclear threat’ provides an incisive corrective to the Executive Branch’s continuing fixation with Mideast oil states.
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Posted In: Anti-War & International Law
Elaine Wells
NFP Omaha Chapter
When you see news about extreme poverty, the 50+% dropout rate, and deadly violence in North Omaha, do you wonder why it persists and what you could do about it? Would you like to widen your circle and get to know some delightful individuals you might not even meet in your regular routine?
Participants in Black-White Dialogues learn from experts about the roots of racial tensions; how institutions, policies and even unintentional prejudice perpetuate racism; what is being done to improve education and medical care for all; how to be an effective agent of change, and other topics.
Read morePosted In: Civil Rights & Economic Justice
A funny thing happened to the climate contrarians on their way to driving a stake through the heart of global warming last winter. It was the fifth warmest winter on the instrumental record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center. The average global temperature for the winter was 54.09 degrees F.—1.08 above average.
Read morePosted In: What's HOT in Global Warming
NFP
The Legislature’s adoption of a major wind energy development bill April 9 was a sweet, sweet victory for Nebraskans for Peace. For an organization that’s been on record in support of renewable energy generation in the state since the 1970s (and has been criticized and belittled for our views for decades), to now have the Legislature unanimously approve a ‘Big Wind’ bill (LB 1048) and our conservative governor promptly sign it into law is yet another testament to the importance of tenacity in working for social change.
Over the past five years especially, NFP has been working closely with our environmental allies (the Nebraska Sierra Club in particular) to legislatively promote development of Nebraska’s wind energy resources. LB 1048 (the Natural Resources Committee bill which grew out of a previous legislative initiative sponsored by Sen. Ken Haar) will allow private developers to generate wind energy in the state for sale to out-of-state markets while fully protecting Nebraska’s 100-percent public power distribution system. Public power in Nebraska will be eligible to purchase up to ten percent of the renewable energy produced, and the private generators must shoulder the cost of developing any additional transmission infrastructure. As a result of this legislation, Nebraskans will see job growth, rural economic development, increased tax revenues—and less demand for carbon-producing fuel like coal.
Read morePosted In: Environment
On April 8 in Prague, President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a new nuclear arms reduction agreement—the ‘NEW START’ Treaty. The accord must now be approved by both the U.S. Senate and the Russian Duma before it is binding. Approval by the Senate requires a two-thirds majority vote (67 of the 100 total votes in the body), which will require bipartisan support.
Versions of the following ‘letter to the editor’ outlining Nebraskans for Peace’s position on the treaty recently appeared in both the Omaha World-Herald and the Lincoln Journal Star. While the agreement’s arms reduction goals are modest in the extreme, they once again get the world’s two largest nuclear powers back on a course toward abolition.
Read morePosted In: StratCom & Nuclear Weapons
