NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006 VOLUME 34, NUMBER 9 the really...

StratCom Conference SellsSpace Dominance p. 6

South Korean Military BaseThreatens InternationalSecurity p. 7

Lela Shanks—This I Believe p. 9

Speaking Our Peaceby Paul Olson p. 12

Christian Peacemaker TeamsFounder to Speak p. 2

Sen. Chambers AddressesAnnual Peace Conference p. 3

Professors on Property Taxes p. 4

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PAIDPermit No. 310

Lincoln, NE

Nebraskans for Peace941 ‘O’ St., Ste. 1026Lincoln, NE 68508

Phone:402-475-4620/Fax:475-4624nfpstate@nebraskansforpeace.orgwww.nebraskansforpeace.org

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Nebraska ReportNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006 VOLUME 34, NUMBER 9

There is no Peace without JusticeNebraskans for Peace

Global Warming’s Impending Threat to Humanity

UNO Professor Bruce Johansen

continued on page 5

Right here in Nebraska resides one of theforemost communicators of the scientificliterature on global warming and climatechange to the general public.

Bruce E. Johansen, Frederick W. Kayser Professor ofCommunication and Native American Studies at theUniversity of Nebraska-Omaha, just published a three-volume work entitled Global Warming in the 21stCentury (2006) that has been met with critical acclaim.Although Johansen’s first academic specialty was theinfluence of Native American political systems on U.S.political and legal institutions, in the ’90s he begancritically surveying the scientific research on theenvironment, publishing such works as: The GlobalWarming Desk Reference (2001), The Dirty Dozen:Toxic Chemicals and the Earth’s Future (2003), andIndigenous Peoples and Environmental Issues (2004).His writings have been published in The New YorkTimes, The Nation, The Progressive and The AtlanticMonthly. The following article, which he just providedto the Nebraska Report, summarizes the most recentscholarship on this dangerous phenomenon.

uring early autumn, 2006, scientists takingtheir annual surveys of Greenland and Arc-tic ice learned that the truth regarding glo-

bal warming is now more inconvenient than ever–and strikingly so. The Arctic ice cap was full of hugeholes, and glaciers that used to cover much of south-ern Greenland were washing into the sea. At the sametime, acidification of the oceans is occurring at afaster rate than scientists had suspected, as the Ama-zon Valley endures drought that may reduce its car-bon-capturing canopy to dusty savanna within de-cades. Siberian permafrost has been melting atspeeds unanticipated by anyone, advancing the datewhen natural increases in carbon dioxide and meth-ane levels join with human generation of fossil fuelsto spiral temperatures out of control.

Anyone who has seen Al Gore’s slide show (andsome, such as G.W. Bush, who have not) shouldtake a look at a lesser-known but more revealing slideshow compiled by James Hansen, the lead scientistat NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies(GISS), whom the Bush Administration has been try-ing (and failing) to shut up. Hansen’s slide show isavailable on the Internet: [ftp://ftp.giss.nasa.gov/outgoing/JEH/chartsfor_threat talk_01sept06.pdf];along with Hansen’s notes: [ftp://ftp.giss.nasa.gov/outgoing/JEH/textfor_threattalk_01sept06.pdf].

Hansen’s message is stark: at 2 degrees Celsiusof additional warming, the Earth passes a thresholdto fundamental, wrenching change in which naturalfeedbacks take control, accelerating heating beyond

control. Given warming ‘in the pipeline’ but not yetobserved, we are now almost halfway there. Givenpresent levels of greenhouse gas increase, betweenthe next 50 and 100 years, we will lock in a future thatHansen characterizes as a “different planet,” with massextinctions of animal species and human environmen-tal refugees from rising oceans in the hundreds of mil-lions, as ice caps crumble at both poles and sea levels

the really inconvenient truth

photo by: Michelle Bishop/UNO Gateway

D

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006 NEBRASKA REPORT, P.2

Moving? Send Us Your New Address

Nebraska ReportThe Nebraska Report is published nine times annually by Nebraskans forPeace. Opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of the directors orstaff of Nebraskans for Peace.

Newspaper Committee: Tim Rinne, Editor; Mark Vasina, ChristyHargesheimer, Peter Salter, Marsha Fangmeyer, Paul Olson

Typesetting and Layout: Michelle Ashley

Printing: Fremont Tribune Circulation: 6,500

Letters, articles, photographs and graphics are welcomed. Deadline is the firstof the month for publication in the following month’s issue. Submit to: NebraskaReport, c/o Nebraskans for Peace, 941 ‘O’ Street, Suite 1026, Lincoln, NE 68508.

Nebraskans for PeaceNebraskans for Peace is a statewide grassroots advocacy organization workingnonviolently for peace with justice through community-building, educationand political action.

State Board of DirectorsSayre Andersen, Sharon Arnold, Holly Burns, A’Jamal Byndon, MaureenConnolly, Joshua Cramer, Henry D’Souza, Bob Epp, Marsha Fangmeyer, RogerFurrer, Caryl Guisinger, Christy Hargesheimer, Leah Hunter, Patrick Jones,John Krejci (Secretary), Rich Maciejewski (Treasurer), Carol McShane, JeffMohr, Patrick Murray, Paul Olson, Byron Peterson, Del Roper, Deirdre Routt,Linda Ruchala, Jay Schmidt (ex officio), Jeanette Sulzman (Vice President),Mark Vasina (President), Sue Ellen Wall. Tim Rinne (State Coordinator), DaceBurdic (Office Administrator), Susan Alleman (Membership Coordinator), 941‘O’ Street, Suite 1026, Lincoln, NE 68508, Phone 402-475-4620/Fax 402-475-4624, [email protected]. Omaha NFP Office, P.O. Box 34823,Omaha, NE 68134, Phone 402-453-0776, [email protected].

Crete Chapter .......................................... Pat Wikel ..................... 402-826-4818

Lincoln Chapter ...................................... State Office ................. 402-475-4620

Omaha Chapter ............................................................................. 402-453-0776

Scottsbluff Chapter ................................ Byron Peterson ........... 308-783-1412

Southwest Nebraska Chapter ................ Dennis Demmel ........... 308-352-4078

Wayne/Wayne State College Chapter .... Sayre Andersen ........... 402-375-3794

Central Nebraska Peace Workers ........... Charles Richardson .... 402-462-4794(Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney)

Contact the NFP State Office for information on the UNL, UNO, UNK, Creightonand Nebraska Wesleyan University and Hastings & Doane College Chapters

NFP Chapter & AffiliateContact Information

Name (print) __________________________________________________

Old Address __________________________________________________

City _____________________________ State ________ Zip ___________

Old Phone # __________________________________________________

New Address __________________________________________________

City _____________________________ State ________ Zip ___________

New Phone # __________________________________________________

Gene Stoltzfus, founding director of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), will beappearing in Lincoln and Omaha, November 5 - 7.

Peacemaking in the Age of Terrorism will be the topic of an evening of dialogueat First Mennonite Church, 7300 Holdrege, Lincoln, on Sunday, November 5, at7:00 p.m. The public is invited.

Nebraska Wesleyan University—Coffee and conversation with Gene Stoltzfus. Open to the public. Monday, November 6, 10:00-11:00 a.m. in the AlabasterLounge, Old Main Building (50th St. & St. Paul Ave.), Lincoln. Hosted by PaulettaLehn, University Minister.

Pastors and Religious Leaders Lunch—A brownbag lunch for leaders of thefaith community will be held at First Presbyterian Church, 840 South 17th St.,Lincoln, on Monday, November 6, at 12:00 p.m. Beverage and desert will beprovided. For reservations call 477-6037.

Creighton University—Campus presentation. Open to the public. Monday,November 6, at 4:00 p.m., Skutt Student Center . Sponsored by the Kripke Centerfor the Study of Religion & Society, the Kenfick Chair in the Humanities, and theJustice & Peace Studies Program.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln—Nebraskans for Peace Forum. Open to thepublic. Sponsored by the UNL chapter. Monday, November 6, at 8:00 p.m. in theNebraska Union (14th & R Streets, Lincoln, check directory for room assignment).

University of Nebraska-Omaha—Social Work and Social Justice class. Open tothe public. Hosted by Professor Henry D’Souza and the UNO chapter of Nebraskansfor Peace. Tuesday, November 7, at 1:00 p.m., Allwine Hall 303 on the UNO NorthCampus.

Gene Stoltzfus spent extensive time in Iraq in 2003, consulting with Muslim andChristian clerics, Iraqi human rights leaders, families of Iraqi detainees, andtalking with American administrators and soldiers. As the first anniversary of theNovember 26, 2005 abduction of four CPT workers in Baghdad approaches, he isconvinced that a team approach is required for effective peacemaking today.

Stoltzfus’ commitment to peacemaking is rooted in his experience in Vietnam asa conscientious objector with International Voluntary Service during the U.S.military escalation between 1963 and 1968. He recalls that watching helicopterpersonnel unloading their cargo of bloodied bodies in Saigon forced him to ask“whether I was as willing to die for my conviction as the Vietnamese and Americansoldiers all around me were being asked to do.”

Prior to founding CPT, Stoltzfus co-directed the Mennonite Central Committeeprogram in the Philippines during the Marcos’ martial law era, focusing it onhuman rights and economic justice. He then went on to help establish a grass-roots international Peace & Justice organization in Chicago to connect U.S. andThird World people. He served as director of Christian Peacemaker Teams fromits founding in 1988 until his retirement in September 2004.

CPT trains and places violence-reduction teams in high-conflict situations likeIraq, the West Bank, Colombia and various native communities in the UnitedStates and Canada. Teams and peacemaker delegations have worked in Chiapas,Mexico; Vieques, Puerto Rico; Washington D.C.; and with the Sioux Nation Tribesin Pierre, South Dakota. Investigative teams have visited Chechnya andAfghanistan. Christian Peacemaker Teams, originally an initiative of the Mennonite,Brethren and Quakers, has expanded to include a wide variety of Roman Catholicand Protestant participation, with 36 full time and 152 part-time peacemakers.

Call 402-467-1526 for more information. Gene Stoltzfus is available for mediainterviews at 807-274-0138.

ChristianChristianChristianPeacemakerPeacemakerPeacemakerTTTeamseamseamsFounderFounderFounderTTTo Speako Speako Speak


This article by reporter TracyOverstreet originally appeared inthe Sunday, October 15, 2006,Grand Island Independent and isreprinted with permission.

Omaha State Sen. Ernie Chambersstood in the pulpit of a Grand Is-land church Saturday and chal-lenged religion, politics and edu-cation. He challenged the war inIraq, the treatment of minorities andthe human nature to be obsessedwith other people’s “crotches.”

His eloquent 75-minute ora-tion left more than 150 audiencemembers clapping in agreement,standing in support and huddledin silence to hear his next word.

Chambers was the keynotespeaker at the 2006 Annual PeaceConference sponsored by the Uni-versity of Nebraska at OmahaSchool of Social Work and Nebras-kans for Peace—the oldest state-wide Peace & Justice organizationin the United States.

“This is an audience that is nothostile,” Chambers quipped. “I sel-dom address audiences like this.”

As a 36-year lawmaker—thelongest-serving Nebraska legisla-tor and the only black member ofthe body—Chambers said he haswaged a battle alone in a fightagainst evil that raises its head inmany forms.

He spoke of “sleazy” politi-cians such as Mark Foley, who re-cently resigned from Congressamid a scandal of sending sexuallyexplicit e-mails to house pages.

Similar “sleazy” acts have oc-curred in the Nebraska Legislaturewith some former male state sena-tors who made inappropriate com-ments about women, Chamberssaid—something the senators ad-mitted to Chambers himself.

“Nothing gets the duck introuble like his bill,” Chambers saidthese legislators.

Chambers talked of “mud-slinging” in political campaigns.

If politicians don’t “want theirrecord brought out, then compile abetter record,” he challenged.

Chambers expressed disap-pointment in U.S. Sen. Ben Nelsonfailing to act as the elder states-man and instead lowering himself

to the same low-grade ads put outby challenger Pete Ricketts—whois running for office because hisfather doesn’t want him in the wayat the office.

Chambers spoke of being“raised in a religious straitjacket”and “sweating and suffering for theLord” in wool pants in un-air-con-ditioned churches as a child.

“I read the Bible cover to covereight times” during high school,Chambers said. “The Bible is abloody book.”

It’s full of war, rape, incest andmurder.

He concluded there’s a lot ofnonsense in the Bible, but a lot ofmessages for those who seek themout.

Tying into opening remarks byThe Rev. Jay Vetter of TrinityUnited Methodist Church, whichhosted the conference, Chamberssaid it would be nice if the issueswere as simple as the second ques-tion Vetter asks to would-be United

Methodist members.That question relates to being

able to “resist evil, injustice andoppression in whatever form theypresent.”

Oppression and evil, Cham-bers said, can take many forms.

It can be former Nebraska Gov.Mike Johanns failing to appointwomen to state administrative po-sitions or simply re-affirming analready skewed government by re-appointing existing leaders.

It can be former UNO Chan-cellor Nancy Belck and Universityof Nebraska President J.B. Millikenfailing to fire a UNO professor forslapping a female student—inac-tion that Chambers said he intendsto punish the university with finan-cially.

It can be a grade-schoolteacher instructing and rewardingrote memory instead of teachingstudents “to think.”

It can be religion that focuseson the son Jesus being greater thanthe mother Mary who producedJesus.

It can be economic develop-ers and educators who give a stu-dent a wrench and pliers to be thevery best mechanic instead of giv-ing him a book to expand his worldbeyond the four body shop walls.

It can be President Bush, whomispronounces so many wordsand appears so ignorant, he dumbsdown the desire for any child tobecome educated.

It can be a military that gives aname like “peacekeeper” to a mis-sile or a bomb.

It can be any person who turnsto God as the protector, the cre-ator, or the answer to a probleminstead of understanding peoplecontrol their own destiny.

It can be anyone who is influ-enced by money or power insteadof what is right and just.

It can be anyone who thinksthe redistricting of the 46,000-stu-dent Omaha Public School Districtwill bring out any more segrega-tionism than what already exists.Making the districts smaller sim-ply gives “more local control” andshould produce “quality educa-tion” for every student, Chamberssaid.

It can be Nebraska votersthinking it wise to throw out 48lawmakers and completely chang-ing a legislative body simply toquash one—Chambers—throughterm limits.

It can be any heterosexual soconcerned about preventing ho-mosexuals from legal marriage thatthe heterosexual fails to bond andmeld with another human in ahealthy relationship. Heterosexualdivorce is a destructive thing, hesaid.

“All I need to know is I’m deal-

ing with a human being,” Cham-bers said of what matters to him.

Chambers said people need tospend less time concerned aboutthe crotches of others and whathappens in the bedroom and moretime developing their own relation-ships and practicing their ownmoral authority.

Sen.Sen.Sen.Sen.Sen. Chamb Chamb Chamb Chamb Chambers Addrers Addrers Addrers Addrers Addresses esses esses esses esses ‘‘‘‘‘FFFFFriendlriendlriendlriendlriendlyyyyy ’’’’’CrCrCrCrCrooooowwwwwd ad ad ad ad at Annual Pt Annual Pt Annual Pt Annual Pt Annual Peaceaceaceaceace Ce Ce Ce Ce Confonfonfonfonferererererencencencencenceeeee

From political scandals tooppression, longtime StateSenator Ernie Chambers saysit is best to use logic andreason when tackling issues.

Speaking at the Annual PeaceConference presented by the

University of Nebraska-OmahaSchool of Social Work and

Nebraskans for Peace at TrinityUnited Methodist Church in

Grand Island, State Sen. ErnieChambers smiles while sayingthat there will be such a shout

across Nebraska when he leavesoffice that the people in

California will hear it and think‘the big one’ has finally come.

Photo by Independent/Barrett Stinson

Virginia Walsh, pictured at the right helping hold the Nebraskansfor Peace banner during the June 10, 2006 Gay Pride Parade inOmaha, was honored as a ‘Peacemaker of the Year’ at the 2006

Annual Peace Conference. The Central City Friends Meeting wascollectively recognized as the other ‘Peacemaker of the Year.’

He explained his pursuit ofimpeaching University of NebraskaRegent David Hergert as holding auniversity official to the same stan-dards of honesty as a universitystudent must possess.

He hopes Nebraska StateTrooper Bob Henderson, whojoined a group associated with theKlu Klux Klan, will not be re-in-stated to his job because the pub-lic trust in law enforcement mustbe preserved.

Regarding the Mideast crisis,Chambers said the Republican

Party is Hezbollah, which simplymeans “party of God,” becausethat’s how the party acts.

The key to all of it, Chamberssaid, is being able to think and actrationally.

© Copyright The Grand IslandIndependent, 422 W 1st StreetGrand Island, Nebraska 68802


Tax Revamp Needs Careful Study

by F. Gregory Hayden, Allan Jenkins, JanetM. West, and Linda V. Ruchala

The following “Midlands Voices” guest edi-torial was published in the October 19,2006 Omaha World-Herald and is reprintedwith permission. Hayden, Jenkins and Westare professors of economics at, respectively,the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, theUniversity of Nebraska at Kearney and theUniversity of Nebraska at Omaha. Ruchalais a professor in the School of Accountancyat UNL.

We wish to comment on gubernatorialcandidate David Hahn’s proposal for prop-erty tax reform.

Hahn’s plan to shift finances for K-12schools away from property taxes and ontostatewide revenue sources provides an im-portant contribution to the public discus-sion of our state’s twin crises of inadequatestate funding of public schools and risingproperty-tax burdens. These two crises areinextricably intertwined, and any lasting so-lution to one must address the other. Con-sider the following:

• More than three-fifths of Nebraska prop-erty taxes are collected by our K-12 pub-lic schools.

• Increases in the school districts’ prop-erty-tax levies (as state aid to schoolswas constrained or cut) resulted in sharpincreases in the already excessive prop-erty-tax burden. Taxpayers paid 36 per-

cent more in school property taxes in 2004than they did three years earlier.

• Public debt to finance school infrastruc-ture—paid entirely by property taxes—more than doubled during the last de-cade, from $491 million in 1993-94 to $1.26billion in 2003-04.

These statistics reflect the fact that statesupport for K-12 education in Nebraska isconsiderably less than in other states. A U.S.

Census Bureau study recently ranked Ne-braska 44th in the contribution of state rev-enue sources to total in-state support forgeneral fund educational expenditures. Prop-erty tax payers pick up the slack.

Nebraska’s heavy reliance on propertytaxes to fund public education dispropor-tionately burdens middle-incomehomeowners (particularly those survivingon fixed incomes, such as the retired andelderly), small business owners, farmers and

ranchers.Moreover, the income disparity among

property-tax payers is a disadvantage to stu-dents in lower-wealth communities. Theyface reduced educational opportunities astheir schools are forced to obtain the lion’sshare of their revenues from smaller prop-erty-tax bases and taxpayers with lower in-comes.

Proposals about the need to raise in-come tax rates often are criticized withoutevaluating such proposals in the context ofthe overall tax burden. Instead, politicallycharged rhetoric about ‘cutting taxes’ oftenis used to obscure tax-shifting measures that,in reality, raise taxes on the middle class.

A case in point is Legislative Bill 968,which was enacted in the most recent legis-lative session. It cut state income tax ratesby widening the tax brackets so that moreincome is taxed at lower marginal rates.

But it also canceled the scheduled low-ering of the school property-tax levy lid from$1.05 to $1 per $100 of taxable value. TheLegislative Fiscal Office reported that retain-ing the levy lid at $1.05 will reduce statespending by $59.6 million annually, as prop-erty taxes are tapped to make up for loststate aid to education.

Consequently, whether a family receivesa tax cut under LB 968 depends on whetherthe family’s income tax savings exceed theincreased property taxes made inevitable byLB 968.

A married couple filing jointly with a

F. Gregory HaydenUNL Economics Professor

Allan JenkinsUNK Economics Professor

Janet M. WestUNO Economics Professor

Linda V. RuchalaUNL Accountancy Professor

Proposals to shift funding for Nebraska’spublic schools away from property taxesand onto state sources are not new.Aware that over-reliance on propertytaxes threatened the adequacy of publiceducation, the Legislature passedwatershed legislation in 1990 in the formof the Tax Equity and EducationalOpportunities Support Act (TEEOSA).

TEEOSA established a formula forstate aid for schools designed to relieveproperty taxpayers while maintainingadequate funding. The Legislatureincreased state income and sales taxrates specifically to assure the newprogram was funded. Popular supportfor TEEOSA was confirmed in Novem-ber 1990 when a referendum election torepeal the program failed.

To strengthen the link betweenTEEOSA and property tax relief in 1996the Legislature imposed property taxlevy lids for all political subdivisions,including school districts. State aid forschools was increased in subsequentyears to compensate school districts forthe loss of property tax revenues due tothe levy lids.

But constrained spending onTEEOSA in recent years is undoingmuch of this progress. In 2003 theLegislature cut state aid by $21 million—despite greater needs by schooldistricts—and raised the levy lids, with aprovision to lower them again in 2006.State aid was cut by another $8 million in2004/05, while sorely needed propertytaxes from school district general fundlevies increased $49 million.Unsurprisingly, general fund property taxlevies, which had fallen between 1998and 2001, had by 2004 rebounded to1998 levels.

STATE AIDFOR SCHOOLSIN NEBRASKA

Professors on Property Taxes...

conclusion on page 10

Our state’s twin crises ofinadequate state funding ofpublic schools and risingproperty-tax burdens are

inextricably intertwined, andany lasting solution to onemust address the other.


“Of all the reference books on global warming, none is asthorough, thoughtful, and easy to navigate as Bruce Johansen’sseries. His grasp of the science is as meticulous as hispresentation is lucid. Combining clear reporting of the impacts ofa warming atmosphere with ground-level descriptions from peopleaffected by these ominous changes, Johansen has provided alasting and invaluable resource about a subject that will onlycontinue to attract more and more attention in the coming years.”

—Ross Gelbspan, authorThe Heat Is On and Boiling Point

“Bruce Johansen’s three-volume epic, Global Warming in the 21stCentury, is in many ways the work the world has been waiting for.Scientifically authoritative, fully comprehensive but excellentlywritten, this is the ultimate work on the ultimate threat. It has longbeen established that global warming presents the greatest threatever to human and natural survival. Well, Global Warming in the21st Century presents the definitive guide to the nature of thisthreat and what to do to avert it.”

—Mark Lynas, authorHigh Tide: The Truth about Our Climate Crisis

“Johansen serves a wake-up call to naysayers, listing thescientific evidence of global warming in terms of its effects onicecaps, oceans, plants, and animals. He also provides examplesof how the United States and other nations are (or are not) reactingto this impending catastrophe... Recommended.”

—Library Journal

Praise for Bruce Johansen

rise at a speed unknown in Earth’shistory.

All we have to do is step onour collective gas pedals in ourcustomary way and, within a num-ber of decades we can count onour fingers, we will be forecastingwhen the toilets will back up at theWhite House (17 meters abovepresent sea level).

February Rain & Thunderon Baffin Island

How quickly is the climatechanging in the Arctic? Some resi-dents of Baker Lake, Nunavut,1,330 kilometers west of Iqaluit(which is on southern Baffin Is-land) spotted magpies flittingaround town during May 2006.These scavengers, a relative of thecrow, had never been seen inNunavut before. The magpies arenot expected to become permanentresidents, however, even if the cli-mate warms, because they roost intrees. The tundra has no trees. Inuitliving in the northernmost reachesof Baffin Island have now seenwasps. Hockey players in Canada’sfar north have been looking forrinks with artificial ice. InPangnirtung (north of Iqaluit) fami-lies from outlying camps came intotown for Christmas 2005 by boat—the sea had not yet frozen over.

On February 26, 2006, rain fellon Baffin Island. Sheila Watt-Cloutier, until recently chairwomanof the Inuit Circumpolar Confer-ence, emailed me: “I thought Iwould send you an update on ourvery strange weather. Last night onFebruary 26th… so much rain fellthat I woke up to several puddlesand pools of water in my tundrabackyard and since it was 6 aboveC. today the puddles/pools werenot freezing. There was even light-ning last night here in the Arcticon a February night.”

“A Planetary Disaster ofMonstrous Proportions”

The Bush Administration’slatest policy paper on global warm-ing tells us that we have plenty oftime to address the issue, so muchthat voluntary measures will do thejob. Hansen, however, says thatwith 99 percent certainty additionalwarming of 2 to 3 degrees C., a con-servative estimate for the end ofthis century, will produce an “ex-pected equilibrium (long-term) sealevel rise on the order of 25 meters,”

producing “the potential for a con-tinually unfolding planetary disas-ter of monstrous proportions.” Theonly alternative, he argues, is toslash fossil fuel consumption dras-tically and quickly, keeping tem-perature increases within 1 degreeC.

In human terms, the East Coastof the United States, includingmany major cities, is particularlyvulnerable, and most of Floridawould be under water with a 25-meter sea level rise. Most ofBangladesh and large areas inChina and India also would be un-der water. Hansen’s slide showadds up estimates of people whowould be displaced by a 25-meter

sea level rise, using the populationdistribution in 2000: about 40 mil-lion people on the East Coast ofthe United States and 6 million onthe West Coast, more than 200 mil-lion people in China, about 150 mil-lion in India, and in Bangladeshmore than 100 million. Even leav-ing out Europe (London would beunder water at 25 meters, as well asother cities), this is a total of half abillion environmental refugees fromrising oceans alone. To get a trueworldwide total, add large parts ofSydney, Australia, Tokyo, andManila, among other coastal cities.

We are on the WayWe are on the way. The Arctic

ice cap had so many holes last sum-mer, according to satellite imagescollected during late August, theEuropean Space Agency that aship could have sailed from North-ern Siberia or the Norwegian islandof Spitzbergen to the North Polewithout difficulty. In a decade or

two, sea lanes may open in the sum-mer over the Arctic Ocean. “Thissituation is unlike anything ob-served in previous record-low iceseasons,” said Mark Drinkwater ofESA’s Oceans/Ice Unit. As moreArctic ice melts, albedo (reflectivity)decreases in the region, causingeven more ice to melt. Within a de-cade or two, the Arctic may benearly ice-free during summer.

At the same time, Greenland’sice sheet has been melting fasterthan ever before, according to re-search by U.S. scientists. The dataindicates that the rate of ice lossaccelerated between 2004 and 2006,with the world’s second-largest icesheet melting two and one-half

times faster at any time. Satelliteobservations indicate thatGreenland lost roughly 164 cubicmiles of ice from April 2004 to April2006—more water than the volumeof Lake Erie. Ice loss has beenspreading northward from south-ern Greenland, and inland from thecoasts. Temperatures in southernGreenland have risen by about 4.4degrees F. during the last two de-cades.

Absent human activity, saysHansen, the Earth would have beenexpected to eventually cool off andhead into a new ice age. However,the ice-age cycle that Earth hasexperienced for millions of yearshas now been terminated by hu-man release of fossil fuels that trig-gers several natural feedbackmechanisms. Thus, says Hansen,“Humans now control global cli-mate, for better or worse” (Hansen,Declaration, 2006, 9).

really inconvenient, cont.


Given present levels of greenhouse gasincrease, between the next 50 and 100

years, we will lock in a future thatHansen characterizes as a “different

planet,” with mass extinctions of animalspecies and human environmental

refugees from rising oceans in the hun-dreds of millions, as ice caps crumble at

both poles and sea levels rise at aspeed unknown in Earth’s history.


by Frank Cordaro & Frances Mendenhall

The greeting for corporate and military del-egates to the Strategic Space and Defense2006 conference in mid-October was chillyin more ways than one. As rain and coldgusts of wind greeted the conference attend-ees at opening ceremonies October 10, ac-tivists with “Speak Out at StratCom” heldup a banner warning that the Command’snew “Global Strike” mission is “offensive”and handed out prescriptions for “More Talk.Less Terror.”

Representatives from the Space Foun-dation were quick to tell local media that theconference at Omaha’s Qwest Center had“nothing to do with nuclear weapons,” aparticularly sensitive subject in the aftermathof North Korea’s alleged nuclear test the daybefore. The claim was only partially true, asU.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air ForceBase, which is at the heart of the confer-ence, jointly manages nuclear and conven-tional weapons in the post-Cold-War envi-ronment, in ways that actually increase thelikelihood of nuclear weapons being used.

But in any event, members of the GreenParty and Nebraskans for Peace weren’t therejust to challenge StratCom on its nuclear poli-cies. Instead, the groups were protesting thewidened missions of StratCom, the samemissions that the conference was glorify-ing.

‘Lab for Future Wars’“StratCom is a laboratory for the future

of warfare,” Space Foundation ChairmanRobert Walker said at the opening of theconference.

Since 2002, StratCom has new “Func-tional Component Command” missions suchas space control, global strike, C4ISR (Com-mand, Control, Communications, Comput-ers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Recon-naissance), missile defense, and net warfare.The fourth annual “Strategic Space and De-fense” conference claimed that these mis-

sions were critical to protecting the home-land. Opponents argued that these missionsput StratCom in the central position of en-suring planetary dominance by the UnitedStates.

‘Space Policy’ UpdatedFour days before the conference

opened, the White House “Office of Scienceand Technology Policy” officially releasedits first new “National Space Policy” in adecade. (The update had originally beenslated to be released last year, but was de-layed when the New York Times leaked ex-cerpts in May of 2005, which suggested theU.S. was ready to take war into space.) Thisdocument was discussed at length in theOmaha conference.

The refurbished document (an unclas-sified version is available at www.ostp.gov/html/US%20National%20 Space%20Policy.pdf ) tries to use diplomatic languagein its opening paragraphs. But burrowingfurther into the policy goals reveals that theUnited States wants to preserve fair andpeaceful access to space, provided a nationis willing to concede the U.S. absolute spacesupremacy. If a nation does not do so, it isconsidered an adversary.

This kind of subtle semantic shiftingwas prevalent throughout the conference.Given the new activity of North Korea, theArmy’s role in managing ballistic missiledefense was touted as a positive by Lt. Gen.Larry Dodgen, commander of the Army’sSpace and Missile Defense Command. Heexplained how well the new missile-defenseinfrastructure in Fort Greely, Alaska andVandenburg Air Force Base tracked a NorthKorean Taepodong missile last July. But thenwent on to say that ‘going global’ with newspace capabilities meant erasing geographyaround the world. With the new fast-assaultvehicles sought by the Air Force, missiledefense walks hand in hand with globalstrike.

Faster attacks, Global attacks,Attacking satellites

The conference had special panels on“operationally responsive space,” referringto fast and global attack from space, and onglobal strike missions. This is why the Wash-ington, D.C.-based Non-Governmental Or-ganization (NGO) efforts to ban weapons inspace solve only half the problem. The maingoal for StratCom these days is to militarizespace, to use it as a ‘force multiplier’ by mak-ing better use of navigation and intelligenceand communications satellites and therebyimprove war operations globally, particularlyin first-strike scenarios.

In fact, Lt. Gen. William Shelton, the newStratCom functional component commanderfor space, said he sees true space warfare asa very unlikely final step in a struggle forspace. The biggest threat StratCom antici-pates in the near future is radio jamming ofsatellites. Jamming and many other threatscould be solved by bombing or taking out aground station for a satellite, Shelton said,though StratCom must be prepared to useanti-satellite or other space weapons if nec-essary.

There is a perception in Washingtonthat Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeldwould like to take more money out of high-

tech space projects in the Air Force and Na-tional Reconnaissance Office, and shift thatmoney to Army ground operations in Iraqand Afghanistan. As a result of the whis-pers that space warfare may be ‘gold-plated,’StratCom made special efforts to bring rep-resentatives from the Army, Navy, and Ma-rines, in addition to its own Air Force offic-ers, to make the case that precision spacesatellites are absolutely necessary to fight21st century war.

A Navy representative from the NationalReconnaissance Office, the nation’s largestintelligence agency that works on spy satel-lites, talked about two NRO programs thatcould help in land and sea battles. A newprogram called “Quickbolt” puts receiversfor spy satellites on board the High-SpeedAnti-radiation Missiles, or HARM missiles,regularly used on the battlefield. Perhapsmore ominously, the NRO started a specialprogram in late summer to put as many spacereceivers as possible on the USS Eisenhower,the aircraft carrier that was ‘called up’ in mid-September for Persian Gulf service. Whileno one said so out loud at the conference, itis possible this electro-enhanced USSEisenhower would be at the forefront of pos-sible naval assaults on Iran nuclear sites.

The “Operationally Responsive Space”(ORS) mission of StratCom will focus onsmall satellites, and many private companiesare expected to provide prototype mini- andmicro-satellites to compete with the govern-ment satellites that come from every agencyfrom the NRO to a cadet-led program at theU.S. Air Force Academy. Undersecretary ofthe Air Force Ron Sega told the conferencethat the Space and Missile Systems Centerin California has opened a new Space De-velopment and Test Wing—across the streetfrom the Air Force Weapons Lab at KirtlandAir Force Base in Albuquerque—which willtest small satellites to prepare for an even-tual “ORS SmallSat Squadron.”

Corporate involvement in space domi-

SSttrraatCtCoomm CCoonfnfeerreencnceeSSeelllsls SSppacacee DDoomiminancnancee

STRASTRATEGICTEGIC

SPACEAND DEFENSE


(and whoever controls space controls the earth)(and whoever controls space controls the earth)

“StratCom isa laboratoryfor the futureof warfare.”

— Robert Walker,Space Foundation Chairman


South Korean Military Base

Threatens International Security

www.nebraskansforpeace.orgCheck out our new website created by Justin Kemerling


byTim RinneNFP State Coordinator

Although a 1953 cease-fire broughta halt to the actual fighting, tech-nically, the Korean War neverended, and the conflict is still go-ing on.

For over half a century, theUnited States has maintained anadversarial relationship with theNorth Korean government—per-manently stationing troops inSouth Korea (29,500 at last count)and projecting an aggressive mili-tary presence in the region. It’sworth noting too that the U.S. isthe only nation with a demon-strable nuclear threat to have beencontinuously engaged in this con-flict. And that the only time theUnited States ever offensivelyused nuclear weapons, it wasagainst a country lying just acrossthe Sea of Japan from the KoreanPeninsula.

I mention these facts, not tojustify or excuse the actions ofNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Il,but to provide an historical con-text for the current crisis. Othernations—not just the UnitedStates—have concerns about their‘national security,’ and there maywell be a ‘defensive’ and national-ist basis for the North Koreans’recent behavior. The last thing theworld needs right now, however, isanother nuclear power—particu-larly one that is test-firing missilesover a neighboring nation’s airspace, and conducting nucleartests in the face of nearly unani-mous censure by the internationalcommunity.

As the record shows though,the U.S.’s own actions in this partof the world have been far fromfaultless, and have provided basisfor suspicion, if not outright an-tagonism. Since becoming the soleremaining superpower on theplanet, the U.S. has been anythingbut a ‘good neighbor’ and kindly

uncle. The Bush/Cheney Admin-istration’s designation of an “Axisof Evil” (which of course identifiedNorth Korea by name) and talk of“regime change,” its disdain forinternational rule of law with its“doctrine of preemption,” and itspursuit of a Missile Defense sys-tem and expanded military pres-ence in the Asia-Pacific Theater,have again aroused fears over U.S.intentions.

Even President Bush’s pledge,just hours after the North Koreans’

October 9 nuclear test, “that theUnited States has the will and thecapability to meet the full range—and I underscore the full range—of its deterrent and security com-mitments to Japan,” followed thissame disturbing pattern. While thePresident’s comments may haveprovided some reassurance to theJapanese and South Korean gov-ernments, this thinly veiled threatof nuclear retaliation could hardlyhave been lost on North Korea—or its longtime ally, China.

Indeed, as the world is dailydiscovering, what the Bush/Cheney White House is seekinginternationally is not cooperationand coexistence. It’s dominance—military and economic dominance.As StratCom Commander James“Hoss” Cartwright bluntly statedat the 2005 Strategic Space Con-ference, “The business of Americais doing business, and we do it ona global scale,” obliging the mili-tary to take a “global approach” toAmerica’s security. America’s ‘na-tional’ security interests now ringthe globe. And in this imperialscheme of things, the rest of thenations of the world have the op-tion of either being ‘with’ the U.S.,or ‘against’ it—of compliantly go-ing along (“the coalition of the will-ing”), or risking being targeted for“regime change” (the “Axis ofEvil”).

This is of course ‘bullyingbehavior’ on an international scale.But with a vast network of militarybases dotted across the globe—strategically placed “lily pads” (touse Pentagon jargon) from which

the military can launch strikesagainst enemy targets anywhere onthe face of the earth—the Bush/Cheney Administration can backup its words.

Although Congress juststripped the funding for permanentmilitary bases in Iraq from the 2007Pentagon budget, the UnitedStates already has over one thou-sand bases in at least 130 foreign

countries—with more constantly inthe works. There are bases onCastro’s Cuba (the infamousGuantanamo); on Greenland’s rap-idly melting ice sheet; on sacredIslamic soil in Saudi Arabia; downunder in Australia; in the midst ofColombia’s drug war; and toChina’s great displeasure, on Tai-wan. In fact, there are bases in mostof the member nations of the UN—including the Korean Peninsula, tokeep a close eye on Kim Jong Il.

The Confrontation atPyeongtaek

One of these South Koreanbases, “Camp Humphreys” nearPyeongtaek, has become the siteof a major political confrontationin that country. Camp HumphreysAir Force Base lies at a strategi-cally important point alongsidePyeongtaek harbor, providing easy

access to the Yellow Sea (and toChina on the other side). For sev-eral years now, the Pentagon haswanted to consolidate a number ofits sprawling South Korean instal-lations into a “main operationsbase” (MOB) at Camp Humphreys,which as part of its new “strategicflexibility” policy, can be used bothto launch a preemptive strike onthe North and to contain China.

U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), accord-ingly, bullied the South Koreangovernment into using its eminentdomain powers to acquire land toexpand the camp. The enlarged in-stallation will permit the relocationof the majority of the U.S. forcesstationed in Seoul and north ofSeoul (who are currently in rangeof North Korean artillery massednear the Demilitarized Zone), butalso the headquarters of the Com-bined Forces Command, which hasoperational control of ROK (Re-public of Korea), U.S. and UN com-bined forces during wartime. Whencompleted in 2008, CampHumphreys will be the largest U.S.Army base overseas, and the larg-est overall base in South Korea.

The South Korean govern-ment’s heavy-handed acquisitionof the property surrounding the

What the Bush/Cheney White House isseeking internationally is not cooperation

and coexistence. It’s dominance—military and economic dominance.

•Pyongtaek


Acceleration of OceanAcidification

As ice melts, increasing car-bon levels in the oceans are dam-aging life there at a rate unantici-pated by scientists even a fewyears ago—this, as the G.W. BushAdministration pushes carbon-di-oxide “sequestration” in theoceans as a “solution” to the prob-lem.

Deep-water corals are at riskfrom increasing ocean acidification,for several reasons. First, they arecomprised of aragonite, a carbon-

ate material that is more solublethan the calcite used by coralscloser to the surface. Carbonates’vulnerability to dissolution alsoincreases in colder water at greaterpressure. By the end of this cen-tury, two thirds of deep-water cor-als (compared to none today)could be exposed to seawater thatis corrosive to aragonite.

The effects of acidity in theoceans also will continue long af-ter fossil-fuel burning peaks onland. Ken Caldeira of Stanford Uni-versity modeled ocean acidifica-tion for fossil-fuel burning thatpeaks in the year 2100, and foundthat the oceans will continue tobecome more acidic for centuriesafter that. At the surface, aciditywill peak at about 2750. A kilometerdeep in the ocean, acidification willrise for a thousand years.

Permafrost FeedbacksAccelerate

As the Bush Administration’slatest climate-change plan toutsvoluntary conservation, the cli-matic truth also is becomingacutely more inconvenient in Sibe-ria. Methane emissions formerlytrapped in now-melting Siberianpermafrost are bubbling out fivetimes more rapidly than previouslythought and may trigger what re-searchers warn is a climate timebomb, according to a study in the

September 7, 2006 issue of Nature.The findings were based on new,more accurate measuring tech-niques.

As temperatures rise, morepermafrost melts, setting up a vi-cious cycle. As the cycle intensi-fies, it becomes self-perpetuating,combining with human contribu-tions of greenhouse gases to fur-ther increase warming, icemelt andsea-level rise. A study in the jour-nal Science described the amountof carbon dioxide trapped in a typeof permafrost called yedoma in Si-

beria as much more prevalent thanoriginally thought, amount toabout 100 times the amount of car-bon dioxide released into the aireach year by the burning of fossilfuels. This carbon will not be re-leased all at once. Instead, itsgradually accelerating release willaugment human sources as thepresent century continues.

The Amazon Valley,Drought and Warming

The same warming trend thatmelts ice at the poles and releases

carbon dioxide from permafrost inSiberia also is helping to intensifydrought in the Amazon Valley. Thisarea’s rainforest, known to someecologists as the “lungs of theworld,” could turn to dry brush-land by the end of this century,further increasing the world’sgreenhouse-gas load. In the mean-time, human deforestation isspeeding this trend.

During 2005 a severe droughtspread through the Amazon Valleyat the same time that new evidencewas being assembled indicatingthat damage from logging had been60 to 123 per cent more than previ-ously reported. “We think this [ad-ditional logging] adds 25 per centmore carbon dioxide to the atmo-sphere” from the Amazon than pre-viously estimated, said MichaelKeller, an ecologist with the U.S.Department of Agriculture’s ForestService, and co-author of an Ama-zon logging inventory publishedin Science.

In some areas of the Amazon,the recent drought was the worstsince record keeping began a cen-tury ago. Some scientists assertedthat the drought was most likely aresult, at least partially, of a rise inwater temperatures in the tropicalAtlantic Ocean that also played arole in spawning Hurricane Katrinaand other devastating storms dur-ing the 2004 and 2005 hurricaneseasons. If global warming is in-volved, this drought may be onlyan early indication of a new weather

really inconvenient truth, conclusion

Several consecutive years of drought and warmingtemperatures in our area are drawing uncomfortableparallels to the Medieval Warm Period, 800 to 1,000years ago. A team of scientists (Sridhar Venkatara-mana, David B. Loope, James B. Swinehart, JosephA. Mason, Robert J. Oglesby, and Clinton M. Rowe)from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and theUniversity of Wisconsin have discerned a majordrought-provoking wind shift during that period bystudying the shapes of dunes in the Sand Hills. Windsthat bring moisture to our state from the south shiftedto the southwest during the warm period. “Such awestward shift [in prevailing winds] would greatlyreduce the flow of moist air into the central GreatPlains, thereby generating severe drought,” thescientists wrote in the July 21, 2006 edition ofScience. While today the “dry line” brings spring and

summer thunderstorms that traverse Nebraska fromthe Rocky Mountains, the scientists wrote that “duringthe Medieval Warm Period the mean position of the dryline moved much further east, such that the Sand Hillswere most often in the dry, hot air with greatly reducedprecipitation.” Scientists study the climate of the past toprovide clues about what continued warming mayprovoke in coming years, as carbon-dioxide levels risein the atmosphere. A similar wind shift coupled withdepletion of the Ogallala Aquifer could make much ofNebraska too dry for agriculture in coming decades. Ina state with an agriculturally-based economy, thispossibility should be a matter of considerable concern.

— Bruce E. Johansen

Citation: “Large Wind Shift on the Great Plains During theMedieval Warm Period.” Science 313 (July 21, 2006):345-347.

Global Warming and Nebraska

regime in the Amazon Valley, whichholds nearly a quarter of theworld’s fresh water.

The Amazon Valley could becaught in a double vise as theworld warms. Rising AtlanticOcean temperatures probably willcombine with more frequent ElNino events to provoke more fre-quent droughts.

Drought in the WesternUnited States

For several years, the UnitedStates has been experiencing along-term mega-drought encom-passing most of the Western statesand portions of the Midwest. Suchmega-droughts have occurred inthe Earth’s history, generally inconjunction with a warmer climate.Such an event killed Anasazi cul-ture long before the European in-vasion of the Americas, anddrought played a role in the declineof the Mayas in present-dayMexico and Guatemala. Globalwarming causes a relaxation of at-mospheric circulation with result-ing intensification of hot, dry con-ditions in subtropical regions suchas the Southwest United States,parts of Mexico, and the Mediter-ranean.

Evidence already exists of anincreased tendency towardwarmer, drier conditions in thoseregions in conjunction with globalwarming already realized during thepast three decades. If global warm-ing continues to intensify, winter

snow pack will decrease, intensi-fying summer dry conditions, andincreasing forest fires. Already, thelast few summers have providedthe U.S. West with its worst cumu-lative record of forest fires in re-corded history, with the same trendin Australia. In 2006, more of theWestern United States burned thanduring any single year on record.

Hansen, an Iowa native whogrew up in Denison and graduatedfrom the University of Iowa, raisesthe possibility that “If these con-ditions reach sufficient intensityand geographical scale they maybecome self-perpetuating, and wewill have suddenly entered a long-term mega-drought in the westernUnited States. Weather would con-tinue to fluctuate from year to year,but water supplies would be muchmore limited than in prior decadesand dust storms may become fre-quent. We cannot say what levelof global warming is needed tocause such a mega-drought, but thelikelihood increases with increaseof greenhouse gases and globalwarming.”

The ‘Tipping Point’Advances

The idea of a ‘tipping point,’beyond which global warming ac-celerates on its own with no possi-bility of reversal, has become apopular debating point as—in thereal world—the date of this crucialevent advances. The sense of ur-gency in the scientific literature ispalatable. The evidence surroundsus.

“In my opinion there is no sig-nificant doubt (more than 99 percent certainty),” says Hansen, “thatadditional global warming of 2°Cwould push the Earth beyond thetipping point and cause dramaticclimate impacts including eventualsea level rise of at least severalmeters, extermination of a substan-tial fraction of the animal and plantspecies on the planet, and majorregional climate disruptions. Muchremains to be learned before we candefine these effects in detail, butthese consequences are no longerspeculative climate model results.Our best estimates for expected cli-mate impacts are based on evi-dence from prior climate changesin the Earth’s history and on re-cent observed climate trends.”

Every day of political procras-tination beings that day closer.

The Amazon Valley rainforest, knownto some ecologists as the “lungs of theworld,” could turn to dry brush-land bythe end of this century, further increas-ing the world’s greenhouse-gas load.


Lela Shanks

This I BelieveLongtime NFP member and Lincoln CivilRights legend Lela Shanks delivered thefollowing statement at a Lincoln UnitarianChurch service last summer. It is an elo-quent statement of a life lived in conviction,and what better time than the holidayseason to share this wisdom with ourNebraska Report readers.

I believe in the oneness of life, the LivingSource of Love, the Ultimate Being whichgave us life and love and created all of life,inextricably connectingus, like the helix, one tothe other.

I believe in thisUltimate Being, thisSource of all Energy,known by many names,in many tongues, amongall peoples throughoutthe universe.

I believe we comeinto this world search-ing—searching for theconsciousness toreconcile our inner life ofthe soul with the outerlife of our body, yearning to feel as one—aswhole.

I believe that every outer action isalways the manifestation of a preceded inneraction.

I believe in evolution, and thus, thatcreation continues.

I believe we have evolved physically;but

I believe our inner development remainsstunted—arrested in prehistoric times.

I believe that is why we continue tobomb each other back to the stone age.

I believe our inner life is the unchartedterritory on this planet, and

I believe that it is into this uncharted,undeveloped land of our inner world that weare commanded to go and to take the gospel.I believe that our inner life is the realmissionary work to which we are called.

I believe the whole world is our Cathe-dral, and that, “The Kingdom of God iswithin you.”

I believe in the power of prayer, (by allof its names), to nurture and summon forthour deepest inner strengths especially intimes of great trial and peril. I believeprayer—in its essence—is internal and isnot confined to outer place. I believe

nothing can separate us from the gift ofprayer.

I believe, that like a fully-equippedcomputer, we are born with all of the deepinner strengths, including love and courage,that we need for a lifetime—but like acomputer, we must go inside to have access.

I believe the New Coming has alreadycome, and that that New Being pervades theuniverse, and is made manifest in you and inme in the here and now as we evolve and

bear the pain of changingfrom the inside out.

I believe it is thisNew Being within thatdoes the good works.And I believe thatrecognition prevents thearrogance and puffinessof pride.

I believe in individualresponsibility, and Ibelieve in group responsi-bility.

I believe we mustredefine the meaning ofsuccess in America, lestwe drown in the greed of

our materialism and self-importance.I believe that philanthropy and charity

are no substitutes for making needed societalchange.

I believe we must not rest in Americauntil the slave wage of the minimum wage isreplaced with a living wage, thus, structuringout perpetual poverty in our economy.

I believe we have the responsibility tospeak truth to power.

I believe we can cease using fear as ourexcuse to do nothing.

I believe that governments and leadersare not gods nor are they ordained by God.

I believe that our practice of ascribingevil to others is an avoidance of confrontingthe evil within ourselves and within ourshores.

I believe in the power of dialogue,dialogue ad infinitum to bring us peace now.

I believe in the healing power ofeverlasting forgiveness, and in the transcen-dent power of Love to overcome hate.

Ultimately, I believe in the power of thepeople, to break through the self-imposedchains of fear and apathy, and to write and tofast and to speak and to work as a mightyforce to bring peaceful change in the world.

www.catloversagainstthebomb.org

NFP T-shirts

Royal Blue t-shirts with the

Nebraskans for Peace logo in white.

(Price includes $12/shirt plus $.84 tax &

$1.50 shipping and handling)

Make checks payable to Nebraskans for Peace

Mail payment to:

941 ‘O’ Street, Ste. 1026, Lincoln, NE 68508

SizesSmall – XL

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Significant Dates for Cats and Peace PeoplePhotographs • Quotes • Moon Phases

$7.95 per calendar plus $1.50 shipping or ask about HolidayBulk Rates. To order: [email protected] or

[email protected] (877) 778-3434 or write: CLAB Calendar,

P.O. Box 83466, Lincoln, NE 68501


StratCom, conclusion

The White HouseWashington, DC 20500Comment Line: 202-456-1111202-456-1414202-456-2993 (FAX)[email protected]

Sen. Chuck Hagel248 Russell Senate Office Bldg.Washington, DC 20510202-224-4224202-224-5213 (FAX)402-476-1400 (Lincoln)402-758-8981 (Omaha)308-632-6032 (Scottsbluff)hagel.senate.gov

Sen. Ben Nelson720 Hart Senate Office Bldg.Washington, D.C. 20510202-224-6551202-228-0012 (FAX)402-391-3411 (Omaha)402-441-4600 (Lincoln)bennnelson.senate.gov

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, District 11517 Longworth House Office Bldg.Washington, D.C. 20515202-225-4806402-438-1598 (Lincoln)http://www.house.gov/fortenberry

Rep. Lee Terry, District 21524 Longworth HOBWashington, DC 20515202-225-4155202-226-5452 (FAX)402-397-9944 (Omaha)leeterry.house.gov/contact.asp

Rep. Tom Osborne, District 3507 Cannon HOBWashington, DC 20515202-225-6435202-226-1385 (FAX)308-381-5555 (Grand Island)www.house.gov/writerep/

Capitol Hill Switchboard202-224-3121

State Capitol Switchboard402-471-2311

State Senator, District #State CapitolPO Box 94604Lincoln, NE 68509-4604

Governor Dave HeinemanPO Box 94848Lincoln, NE 68509-4848402-471-2244402-471-6031 (FAX)http://gov.nol.org/mail/govmail.html

PoliticianContacts taxable income of $50,000 and a home val-

ued at $150,000 would see their incometax cut of $71.40 wiped out by $75 in higherproperty taxes. A married couple filingjointly with a taxable income of $35,000and a $75,000 home would pay $15.50 lessin income taxes and $37.50 more in prop-erty taxes, a tax increase of $22. Clearly,for most Nebraska homeowners—particu-larly those with lower incomes—the LB968 ‘tax cut’ would disappear, replacedby a net tax increase.

Hahn’s proposal to phase in a dou-bling of state school aid from 2004 levelswould shift the revenue source for $634million of school funding from propertytaxes to statewide taxes such as incomeand sales—obviously not a small sum.

However, an appropriate combina-tion of adjustments to income tax rates,brackets, credits and deductions, and abroadening of other revenue sources, canprovide total tax savings to the majorityof Nebraskans, including lower-incomeearners and middle-class homeowners.School levies would fall by 60 cents per

STATE AIDFOR SCHOOLS

IN OTHER STATES

Professors on Property Taxes, conclusion$100 of taxable value, lowering propertytaxes on a $100,000 home by $600 and pro-viding considerable room to negotiate in-come tax and other state revenue changes.

In evaluating Hahn’s proposals, Ne-braskans should not lose sight of the policygoals of meaningful tax reform—maintain-ing adequate funding of essential publicservices while providing tangible and en-during tax relief for the majority of taxpay-ers. Programs that reduce taxes for onlythe highest-income earners while shiftingthe tax burden for essential services ontothe majority of taxpayers are inconsistentwith both tax equity and economic effi-ciency.

A program that focuses on shiftingrevenue collections necessary for publiceducation away from property taxes in-creases equity. Without such a shift, theburden on property taxes would cause theadequacy of K-12 education to decline,which would harm economic efficiency asthe work force would be inadequate tomeet the competitiveness of the globaleconomy.

Korea, conclusionnance was evident everywhereon the show floor, spanningfrom large players like Lockheed-Martin and Boeing, to innova-tive space startups who mighthave begun as commercial play-ers, but quickly realized wherethe purse-strings were con-trolled. For example, representa-tives of the commercial commu-nication-satellite companiesAmericom and Intelsat were atthe conference. Since the Na-tional Security Agency builtspecial bases in Yakima, Wash-ington and Sugar Grove, Vir-ginia, to intercept the commer-cial traffic of these satellites, onewould think that corporate lead-ers might complain about suchsneaky behavior.

Bellying Up to theTrough

Instead, corporate execu-tives like Intelsat vice presidentKay Sears and Americom chiefexecutive David Helfgott com-plained they weren’t being of-fered the kind of deals in work-ing with the Defense Depart-ment that commercial imagingsatellite companies were offered.

The NRO now gets 30 percentof its images from space fromcommercial satellite companiesinstead of its own spy satellites,and Intelsat and Americom won-der why more Defense Depart-ment space communicationscan’t be outsourced. Sears saidthat her company has eight sat-ellites going up before the De-fense Department and NRO fin-ish work on the first satellite ofthe “Multi-User Objective Sys-tem.” Intelsat would be happyto provide ‘surge capacity’ chan-nels for the warfighter, she said,if the Defense Department wouldonly let companies know in ad-vance of its needs.

In short, the corporate andmilitary leaders at StrategicSpace and Defense were all sing-ing from the same song sheet.All of the Defense Department’soutsourcing partners accept therole of StratCom as the globalenforcer of a dominant hege-mony led by the U.S. And it fallsto those of us outside the con-fines of the conference—andoutside the gates of Offutt—tolet the warfighters know thattheir mission is not in synchwith the goals of democracy.

A nationwide trend to emphasize statewiderevenue sources in funding education hasbeen underway for several years. New York,New Jersey and North Carolina have led themove away from property taxes to fundeducation. In many states, this trend has beenhastened by litigation challenging statelegislatures to address the unmet financialneeds of public schools and to do so in waysthat are fair and equitable to taxpayers.

Nearby states, including Wyoming,Colorado, Kansas and Montana, have settledlawsuits which require them to addressdeficiencies in state support for public educa-tion. This year Kansas, ordered by the courtsto expand its support to local school districts,has doubled its state spending on K-12 publiceducation. Last November, the Texas SupremeCourt ruled that Texas’s over-reliance onproperty taxes to fund schools is unconstitu-tional, and ordered the Texas Legislature todevise and implement remedies to constitu-tional deficiencies in state education funding.

camp, however, sparked a back-lash in 2003 from the villagers andfamily farmers of nearby Doduriand Daechuri who were beingpushed off their land. Unwillingto give up their homes without afight, the farmers and towns-people organized protests—’trespassing’ onto their seizedfields to work their land andeven occupying the local elemen-tary school. These highly publi-cized activities, in turn, promptedthe police to forcibly evict theprotestors from the school andplace barbed wire around theperimeter of the future base.

But when these movesfailed to adequately quell theprotests, on May 4-5, 2006, thegovernment dispatched 13,000South Korean military troops toinstall a wire fence around 12million hectares of fields, to pre-vent the farmers from getting totheir land and cultivating theirrice crop. As the troops arrivedto set up the fencing, the resi-dents and their supportersmoved in to block them, provok-ing a confrontation. By the timeit was over, 250 people had beeninjured and another 500 morehad been rounded up. It was thefirst time since the 1980 Kwangju

massacre that the South Koreanmilitary—as opposed to riot po-lice—had been used against ci-vilian demonstrators.

The protests, though, havenot abated. What began as aneffort of roughly 150 families topreserve their land and homes,has grown into a nationwidepeace movement to resist thebase expansion and thePentagon’s “strategic flexibility”policy—a policy that will desta-bilize the entire Asia-Pacific re-gion and push the world just thatmuch closer to a nuclear show-down.

In a little-known and remotearea near the South Koreancoast, the struggle over the Bush/Cheney Administration’s goal ofmilitary and economic domi-nance is being waged. Should theU.S. succeed in completing theexpansion of Camp Humphreys,it will become the frontline basefrom which the White House pre-emptively attacks North Korea.And that attack will have particu-lar significance for Nebraskans.Because it will have beenplanned, launched and executedfrom StratCom, right here inNebraska’s own backyard.


UPCOMING FEATURES:Thru Nov 9VIVAPEDROThru Nov 9FACTOTUMNov 10 - 23SHORTBUSNov 19, 1:00 PMTHE END OF SUBURBIANebraska Emerging Green Builders Inviteyou to attend the inaugural moviescreening and discussion following led byCecil Steward, President/CEO of theJoslyn Castle Institute for SustainableCommunities.Free Admission (suggested donation $5to the Emerging Green Builders).Screening cosponsored by the MaryRiepma Ross Media Arts Center.With brutal honesty and a touch of irony,The End of Suburbia explores theAmerican Way of Life and its prospectsas the planet approaches a critical era,as global demand for fossil fuels beginsto outstrip supply. What can be doneNOW, individually and collectively, toavoid the End of Suburbia?

Nov 24 - Dec 7THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATEDNov 24 - Dec 7KEEPING MUMDec 8 - 21JESUS CAMP

www.theross.org

late currency to stabilize the economy (a pre-Keynesian Keynesianism) and create theFederal Reserve system for popular controlof money and banks; to protect the organiz-ing rights of laboring people; to install a pro-gressive income tax; and, to some degree,provide for women’s suffrage. Even his sillyScopes battle was motivated by a fear ofSocial Darwinism and Nazi-style eugenics.

Ultimately Bryan lost in his efforts tomake America an anti-imperialist power. Hetried to make it, like present-day Switzerlandor Sweden, the center of a drive for peace-making—a supporter of an effective Leagueof Nations and Versailles Treaty.

On his successful side, Bryan hardlysaw any of his goals realized when he was acongressman or Secretary of State. But inhis speeches and his newspaper articles, heprepared the way. He sowed. The harvestcame with the progressive part of Wilson’sand Roosevelt’s presidencies—the latteryears after his death.

We can complain about the electionsBush and Cheney stole (they probably stoleFlorida in 2000 and, based on RobertKennedy Jr.’s research, Ohio in 2004). I dobelieve that we live in a quasi-tyranny now—stolen elections, the denial of habeas cor-pus and torture ratified as national policy.But complaining does nothing. We live in a

quasi-tyranny because millions of us havenot acted—have not registered to vote,have not voted, have not taken others tothe polls, have not held coffee klatches withour neighbors to influence them, have notasked our candidates to take clear andclearly articulated stands. We have notasked, “Who is paying for you guys’ cam-paigns, your living high on the hog and driv-ing BMWs in Washington?” We have notleafleted or demonstrated or marched onWashington to flush the sewer of our gov-ernment into the sea of anonymity.

We may not see this cleansing in ourlifetimes. If we start now, our children—likethose who came after Bryan—can see a dif-ferent story. We can overcome, over the longhaul. My grandfather, Andrew Olson, leftSweden when it was a semi-feudal autoc-racy. He hated it so much that he went backto bring his old father to America so he wouldnot have to die there. Sweden is now one ofthe world’s centers for progressive Peace &Justice policy and activity. But its changingtook thousands of people’s work, elections,strikes and coffee klatches over many de-cades.

We also can overcome.Just as with Bryan, it’s the work of a

lifetime.But we have to be willing to begin.

Paul Olson, conclusion

YourFoundation

Speaks

by Loyal Park

There are some who wonder how the Foundation money is used. A very goodexample was the recent Annual Peace Conference in Grand Island. Costs forthe speakers and workshop leaders were paid from Foundation funds. Costs ofliterature, duplicating expenses, the pay for staff personnel to work setting upthe conference—these are all uses of Foundation money. Part of the cost of theNebraska Report each month is paid by the Foundation.

For those attending the Annual Peace Conference, you may have seen theNFP Financial Statement for 2005—Nebraska Peace Foundation was shownas the source of over $40,000 toward support of Nebraskans for Peace. Wheredid this money come from? This came from the generous support of manypersons who gave tax-deductible donations during the year. For those whoclaim a deduction for their donations, the amount given is subjected from theirtaxable income. This is money that escapes taxation, since the NebraskaPeace Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization under the rules of the IRS.

Consider the advantages of supporting Nebraskans for Peace and cutting downon your federal and state income tax. Consult your accountant or tax advisorabout the advantages of a donation to the Nebraska Peace Foundation.

How to Win in a Gilded Age?by Paul Olson, UNL Professor Emeritus

SpeakingOur Peace

NNFFP BUP BULLELLETTIIN BON BOARARDDNFP State Office Hours in Lincoln, 941 ‘O’ Street, Ste. 1026, are 9:00 a.m. to noon weekdays.

To list an event, submit in writingby the tenth of the monthpreceding the event to:

NFP, 941 ‘O’ Street, #1026,Lincoln, NE 68508, or email:

[email protected].

Wednesdays Anti-war vigils, Lincoln Federal Building, 15th & ‘O’ Streets, 5:00–6:00 p.m. Call 402-499-6672 for more information.

Nov. 5-7 Gene Stoltzfus, founding director of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), will be appearingin Lincoln and Omaha; see page 2 for details.

Nov. 7 General Election

Nov. 11 Angela Davis Speaks in Omaha; see sidebar

Nov. 23 Thanksgiving

Dec. 16 - 23 Chanukah

Dec. 21 Winter Solstice

Dec. 25 Christmas

Dec. 26 - Jan. 1 Kwanza

Jan. 1 New Year’s Day

Jan. 3 Nebraska Legislature Convenes

Election time finds me a little tired and nau-seated as I finish watching Bill Moyers’chronicle of Washington’s ‘Christian’ brib-ery circles. Tom DeLay, Mark Foley, JackAbramoff, Ralph Reed, and possiblyGrover Norquist took millions from theAmerican people in the name of God. ThesePecksniffs sold their bodily efforts andminds to the highest bidders, and their vic-tims were poverty-stricken Texas and Loui-siana Indian tribes, family-values Christiansall over America, and Chinese Communistsweatshop-employed women in the U. S.Marianas. Now I think of Dante’s hell andits circle of the hypocrites wearing holyrobes of painted gold on the outside andheavy lead within, barely moving theirweights as they act out hypocrisy’s heavi-ness and tiresomeness.

Men in cloaks of painted gold/leadwithin are running us. Now Republicanswring their hands about DeLay’s sidekick,Mark Foley, and his pedophiliac tenden-cies. Did Speaker Hastert know? Gee whiz!

Now Democrats muse about whetherthey ought to support a get-out-of-Iraqtimetable or go after Rummy. Should theysay a little something about Condi’s know-ing about the coming terror-strike? DidJohn Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld know?Gee whiz again!

Both parties favor virtue and familyand babies and being nice—big time.

While today’s Washington burns with

Republican greed and Democratic incom-petence, we progressives fiddle.

Folly kills as many of our own in Iraqas 9/11 killed—dozens of times as manyIraqis, perhaps 500,000 and more. Timemagazine reports that U.S. ships capableof mining Iranian harbors set sail for Iranon October 1. The Nation says that the‘October surprise’ will be the invasion ofIran. Our country tells our Pakistani alliesthat we will bomb them back into the StoneAge if they don’t behave. It contemplatesbombing Iran and North Korea. And yetwe continue to fiddle.

Few in the leaden cloaks can face thebig issues: global warming; the poverty ofone in eight Americans and one in fourAfrican-Americans; globally the povertyof the more than three billion people wholive on less than two dollars a day; themeanness and selfishness of our politicalculture. While we babble about family val-ues, the American family disintegrates, tornby requirements that both spouses work—without childcare help—to get food and adecent domicile and education. Internation-ally, the family—save for the Europeanfamily—disintegrates, torn by the pres-sures of poverty, war and refugee status.

Internationally as well, the arms tradermakes big money for the United States andRussia. None of our national leaders testi-fies about the blood-cost to the world’syouth.

Genocide is the order of the day in theCongo and Darfur. Still, no congresspersonacts seriously.

No one lays down a comprehensivestrategy for peace in the Middle East, butour leaders do make their daily debatingpoints. A strategy would require, at thevery least, the UN’s guaranteeing Israel’sand Lebanon’s total border security; its—and our—providing serious economic andhuman development funds that reach thepeople in the underdeveloped sections ofthe Middle East—parts of Egypt, Jordan,Lebanon and Iraq; its—and our—imple-menting a serious development plan forthe underdeveloped countries of CentralAsia. A serious plan would require sup-port for secularist forces in Turkey, a fed-eral solution in Iraq which would give someoil money to the Sunnis and bind theSunnis, Shiites, and Kurds loosely to theIraqi central government while guarantee-ing Turkey’s borders with the Kurds.

Finally, there is Iran. Serious negotia-tion would require a U.S., that asks othercountries to forego nuclear weapons andself-determined nuclear power, to workwith the UN and the international commu-nity to forgo these itself. ‘Nuclear’ is ourtool of dominance.

But when the Soviet Union, early inthe UN’s history, called for the eliminationof all nuclear weapons and later includedproposals for a serious regimen of inspec-

tions, we declined. We needed the nukes,we thought, because of massive Sovietsuperiority in tanks and ground forces. Howis Iran’s logic when facing us—and in pos-sibly seeking nuclear weapons—differentfrom ours when we faced the Soviets?

Progressive forces may win the nextHouse elections. There is enough angeraround about Foley, Hastert, Rove, Bush,the Iraq War, shaky economic conditionsand government corruption to win ten elec-tions. We should win, but is winning it?

(Don’t get me wrong. A victory ofprogressives over the radical right may keepus from some wars, some concentrationsof wealth, corruption and venality.)

But for real change to come,progressives need to announce, “This isthe vision we are fighting for over the longhaul,” and then fight for it over the longhaul.

And it will be a long haul—presentfailure being no excuse.

Look at William Jennings Bryan, as heappears in Michael Kazin’s A Godly Hero.Bryan is the one American who lost threepresidential elections—in 1896, 1900, and1908. Defeat hurt, but did not stop him. Indefeat, he put in place, for the DemocraticParty’s platforms and ultimately for the na-tion, a vision of laws requiring the govern-ment to control monopoly power; to regu-

conculsion on page 11

Angela Davis Speaks

in Omaha November 11

Human rights activistAngela Davis will visitAmerican politicalprisoners Ed Poindexter& Mondo we Langa(David Rice) at theNebraska Penitentiary inLincoln. That evening Dr.Davis will be the keynotespeaker at an Omahafundraiser for the twomen at the Preston LoveJazz Hall, North 24th & Lake Streets from 6:00 til 10:00 p.m. Advanced ticketsare $20 for adults, $15 for students ($25 at the door). Make checks payable toNebraskans for Justice. Mail checks c/o Nan Graf, 100 North12th, Apt. 306,Lincoln, NE 68508. For more information, contact Nan Graf at 402-435-7883 orMary Dickinson at 402-435-3073, [email protected]

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