PAUL OLSON
UNL EMERITUS PROFESSOR
First a couple of bits and pieces:
• Rep. Jeff Fortenberry has publicly rescinded his pledge to anti-government activist Grover Norquist to oppose any tax increases (see the last “Speaking our Peace”). He deserves our thanks for this gutsy act. May the other members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation soon follow his example.
• Four NFP State Board directors met with Sen. Mike Johanns about the need to cut military spending. The senator told us that the climate in Washington is ripe for reducing the military budget, but did not say he would do anything. With Congress looking to slash $1.2 trillion in federal spending over the next ten years, the annual $1.2 trillion we spend on national security should be the first item to be cut.
Read morePosted In: Speaking Our Peace
by Hank Van den Berg
UNL Professor of Economics
While attending two economics conferences in the United Kingdom this summer, I was repeatedly confronted by economists from other countries wanting to know: “What is wrong with Washington?” They were concerned that the debt ceiling would not be raised and a U.S. default would trigger another global financial crisis. My explanations ranged from “I know, it’s really stupid” to “You have to understand American politics”.
Indeed, the debt ceiling debate is a very American phenomenon. We are one of the only countries that has a debt ceiling. More mature countries have figured out that when a legislature debates expenditures and taxes, it directly effects the government’s budget balance and, therefore, its total outstanding debt. A separate debt ceiling is superfluous. But in the United States, we like political theater, so we first have a long emotional political debate about the debt ceiling without actually getting into any substantive discussions on expenditures and taxes. Then, we repeat the whole exercise and actually sort of debate budget items. This way, of course, we can get twice the political mileage out of the subject. The news media loves it!
Read morePosted In: Anti-War & International Law
We need to keep turning up the heat on our elected officials. Attend these citizen events associated with the Special Legislative Session. This information is provided by our friends at Bold Nebraska.
The timeline is tight at the Capitol, and there are crucial days when we need citizens showing up and speaking out.
Citizen Special Session Read morePosted In: Environment
NFP State Board Member and legendary Civil Rights and peace activist, Lela Shanks, passed away on Monday, October 24 after a long struggle with cancer. Her memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, October 30 at Saint Paul United Methodist Church, 1144 'M' Street in Lincoln. Reprinted below is the citation Nebraskans for Peace President Emeritus Paul Olson delivered when Lela was honored as NFP's 2008 'Peacemaker of the Year' for her lifetime of achievements in the cause of Peace & Justice.
Essential to the history of Nebraskans for Peace is its motto, “There is no peace without justice."
Lela Knox Shanks like her late husband, Hughes, lived that rule and she now lives it. Beginning in Oklahoma in the 30s, she experienced the most severe kind of segregation. She knew the price that depression and dust bowl poverty exacted from African-American and Caucasian alike in Oklahoma, and she has never forgotten about the wretched of the earth, white or black or brown or red, gay or straight. When she went to college in St. Louis she heard the myths about “the land of the free and the home of the brave” uttered by her professors as she lived in a fully segregated, caste society. She and her husband, Hughes, trained as a lawyer, married in 1947and stayed in St. Louis, hoping to avoid from Oklahoma’s racism. But, in St. Louis, they met with Missouri’s racism and the Missouri mantra, “We do not give employment applications to Negroes.”
Read morePosted In: Announcements
BY MICHAEL BAKER
MONday, October 23, 2011
This article was originally published by the Lincoln Journal Star.
As media pundits debate myriad reasons why the various "Occupy" movements around the country are happening, I am drawn to a chapter in the late historian Howard Zinn's book, "A People's History of the United States."
Read morePosted In: Civil Rights & Economic Justice
