Bulletin
League of WomenVoters of Greater Omaha
1941 South 42 Street, Suite
501
Omaha, NE 68105-2945
Phone: 402-344-3701
League of Women
Voters of Greater Omaha January, 2007
A non-partisan political organization open to all citizens 18
years of age or older Volume 49 No 7
League Program Planning for 2007-2008
Please join us at the home of Polly G. for
wine, cheese, & planning.
Bring your bright ideas!
Thursday,
January 18th, 7 p.m.
Mark your calendars for the League
birthday luncheon featuring Linda D., LWVGO
Lady Gets
Arrested for Voting:
A Firsthand
Report on theLife and Times of Susan B. Anthony
Wednesday, February 14th, 11:30 a.m.
Pasta Amore - Rockbrook
Village - 108th & Center
See page 7 for
reservation form.
CALENDAR
OF EVENTS
Thursday, January 11, 9:30
a.m., League office. LWVGO board
meeting. All members welcome.
Friday, January 12: Deadline for February Bulletin.
Monday, January 15, 7:00
p.m., Holland Performing Arts Center:
Martin Luther King, Jr., Celebration.
See address page.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007,
7:00 p.m., Reading Resource Group. See
Page 5
Wednesday, January 17, 7:30
p.m., home of Muriel F.: International
Relations Committee. See page 6
Thursday,
January 18, 7:00 p.m., League program planning for 2007-2008. See above.
Saturday, January 20: Deadline for receiving applications for LWV
Making Democracy Work Award. See page 2.
Wednesday, February 14,
11:30 a.m., Pasta Amore, 108 & Center:
League birthday luncheon. See
above and page 7.
Wednesday,
February 21, 2007, 7:00 p.m., Reading Resource Group.
PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE, December 2006
“Sustainable Development: What Does It Mean to the
Omaha/Council Bluffs/Lincoln Metroplex?” was
interestingly and provocatively discussed by W. Cecil Steward, President &
CEO of Sustainable Design. Cecil
provided much food for thought, as well as possible work for the League in
future. Thanks to Bev
T., Rita S. and Belinda G. for their work in planning this event.
Thanks also to Rita and Belinda for organizing the
November general meeting at UNO. The
event was co-sponsored with the Office of Latino, Latin American Studies
(OLLAS) from UNO, and Dr. Lourdes Gouveia and her
staff provided assistance and expertise in the event.
Mr. Milo Mumgaard, Executive
Director of Appleseed Center for Law in the Public
Interest, was the speaker. He described
the current federal immigration law. He
contends the majority of the public is demanding action of its leaders that
combines tough border and workplace enforcement measures. He discussed myths and facts about
immigration reform and described common sense reform options that can happen if
mainstream voters insist upon them. He simplified the issue for us and provided
a new way of seeing the controversial matter.
We now know that the US immigration system is broken and are able to see
that the immigrants are not to blame.
The 2006 election is history and the real winners were
the voters. Voters nationwide turned out
in large numbers and, according to exit polls, 87% of them reported that they
felt confident that their votes would be counted accurately. According to initial reports from election
officials, nationwide voter turnout was more than 40%, which is higher than during
the 2002 mid-term election.
The League works year-round to safeguard democracy and
ensure that our democracy works at all levels of government. I was immensely gratified to see so many
people engaged in the political process.
As the League's work continues, I encourage others in the community to
maintain their commitment to civic improvement by joining the League. Together we can keep our community strong,
healthy, and vibrant.
Have a wonderful and peaceful holiday season.
Barbara
T.
AWARD AWARD AWARD AWARD AWARD AWARD
The League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha is seeking
nominations to its inaugural LWV Making Democracy Work Award. The award, which will honor an individual for
her community activism, will be presented February 14, 2007.
The League of Women Voters has had an impact on national,
state, and local issues for decades. We
want to honor that tradition and those who share our passion for making a
difference through this award.
Nominations are open to any woman between the ages of 50
and 65 who is or has been part of the work force and has contributed to our
community in a meaningful way. Nominees
can apply themselves or may be nominated by a friend or colleague. League members are encouraged to make
nominations of members of the community.
However, League members are ineligible for this award. An application form can be downloaded from
our web site at <www.omahalwv.org>.
All applications must be received by January 20, 2007.
The winner will be announced in February in conjunction
with the League’s 87th birthday party.
The League of Women Voters is the premier organization where hands-on
work leads to civic improvement. The LWV celebrates community leaders: individuals
who have envisioned a way to improve the community and have mobilized others to
work with them to effect a change that has benefited the broader community. This award will honor one such individual
that has, in the League tradition, helped make our community strong, vibrant, and fair.
For more information, please contact
Barbara R., award coordinator, at ###-#### or visit our web site at
<www.omahalwv.org>.
THE
SEARCH IS ON: LWVGO IS LOOKING FOR
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
Our
membership information database does not include the year our members joined,
and we are interested in this information.
Listed below is a partial list showing some information; if your name is
on the list, please confirm that what we have is correct. If your name is not
on the list, please provide the year you joined LWVGO to Hedy
A.. Thanks!!
NAME JOINED IN
(Text
removed from web copy)
NATURAL
RESOURCES
From
Jonah M D.
GLOBAL WARMING: One
of the foremost communicators of the scientific literature on global warming
and climate change to the general public resides right here in Omaha Nebraska. Bruce E Johansen, Frederick W Kayser Professor of Communication and Native American
Studies at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, just published a three-volume work
entitled Global Warming in the 21st
Century (2006) that has met with critical acclaim. In the 90’s he began
critically surveying the scientific research on the environment.
In the November-December issue of
Nebraska Reports, Professor Johansen reports on a slide show compiled by James
Hansen, the lead scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Hansen notes that “given present levels of
greenhouse gas increase, between the next 50 and 100 years, we will lock in a
future for a different planet, with mass extinctions of animal species and
human environmental refugees from rising oceans in the hundreds of millions, as
ice caps crumble at both poles and sea levels rise at speed unknown in Earth’s
history”.
Global
Warming and Nebraska (Johansen)
Several consecutive years of drought and warming temperatures
in our area are drawing uncomfortable parallels to the Medieval Warm Period,
800 to 1,000 years ago. A team of scientists from the University of Nebraska at
Lincoln and the University
of Wisconsin have discerned a major drought-provoking wind shift
during that period by studying the shapes of dunes in the Sand Hills. Winds
that bring moisture to our state from the south shifted to the southwest during
the warm period.” Such a westward shift (in prevailing winds) would greatly
reduce the flow of moist air into the central Great Plains, thereby generating
severe drought,” the scientists wrote in the July 21,2006 edition of Science. While today the “dry line”
brings spring and summer thunderstorms that traverse Nebraska from the Rocky
Mountains, the scientists wrote that “during the Medieval Warm Period the mean
position of the dry line moved much further east, such that the Sand Hills were
most often in the dry, hot air with greatly reduced precipitation.” Scientists
study the climate of the past to provide clues about what continued warming may
provoke in coming years, as carbon-dioxide levels rise in the atmosphere. A
similar wind shift coupled with depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer could make
much of Nebraska too dry for agriculture in coming decades. In a state with an
agriculturally-based economy, this possibility should be a matter of
considerable concern.
Measure
your environmental footprint, the amount of carbon dioxide your lifestyle
generates. You may think you’re good
to the environment--you drive a fuel-efficient car, you recycle, you buy
organic milk. Now there’s a way of knowing for sure. Sites like terrapass.com, gocarbonzero.com, and
nativeenergy.com have calculators that measure your so-called carbon
footprint. Enter your car’s make and model, the number of miles you drive per
week, plus your utility bills and ZIP code, and you’ll have a pretty good idea
of your personal contribution to greenhouse gas pollution. (Newsweek-December
18, 2006)
LETTERS
FROM TWO OF OUR GHANAN SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
Last September, SEVEN young women were able to pursue
their dreams and potential and continue their education in Ghana because of
generous donations from League members.
Below are letters received from two of these girls. $300 supports one year of education for each
girl. If you would like to make a
tax-deductible donation, please send a check to our League office, payable to
LWV Ed Fund of Greater Omaha/Ghanaian Scholarship.
Dear Mothers
It is my greatest pleasure to write you this letter. How
are you all doing? I hope all of you are doing well by the Grace of God ,as we are here. Mothers,s I will like to thank you very much for the
wonderful things you have done for us through our academic year.
First and foremost,I
will like to tell you that everything went on smoothly for us during the
vacation. We all attended the classes regularl, and we also appreciate all the books you bought
for so as to learn and pass our exam well.
We also want to thatnk you for
getting us a studies teacher who is so kind, lovely and caring to us, during teaching ,whenever we closed from school. We learn very well
to enable us to us to pass. I will also use this opportunity to thank you very
much for a caring , kind and lovely mothers like you.
May Godrichly bless all of you youincluding
Aunty Gloria for a wonderful work she is doing.
We hope to see and to hear from you soon.Good
bye .
God richly bless you in all your
endeavour.
Your daughter
Ayishetu
Karimu.
Dear Mother
I am very grateful to write this letter. Mummy , I was so please to receive from you and I will like
to to thank you for the love and care you have for
me. In the first place, I will like to appreciate you for the text books,
exercise books, note books and paying my registration, lunch, studies and
including the holiday classes fees.
I will also like to know more about you and your family
including your work. Mum, during the holiday classes, I was able to know the
meaning of tourism while I learnt that, it is the local scenery which includes
natural and man made things and their importance.
Mummy accept
my sincere greetings and I wish you well.
(Name of writer unknown)
READING
RESOURCE GROUP
When:
Tuesday, January 16, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
Where: (Text removed from web copy)
Discussion will be on the first half of the book
“The Central Liberal Truth: How Politics
Can Change a Culture and Save It From Itself” by Lawrence E. Harrison—Chapters
1 through 4, Pages 1 through 119.
This book is about the impact of culture on a
country’s politics and economic development and on how the concept of progress
is viewed.
We welcome new readers.
For
more information, call Jeannette S. (###-####).
MEMBERSHIP
Hedy
A.
Membership Chair
New
Addresses
(Text
removed from web copy)
Please note:
Anyone joining after Jan 1, 2007 will be a paid member thru April 2008.
However, everyone please note: the
upcoming dues will be $60 for a single membership
and
$90 for two people in the same household.
If you change your address, phone #, e-mail,
etc, please let me know so we can keep our data base up to date.
Please call or e-mail with any of your
prospective members. Thanks
Pass this membership application on to a friend:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF GREATER OMAHA
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
Name
______________________________________________________________________
Address __________________________________City___________State _____ ZIP _______
Home phone ____________________________Work
phone ___________________________
Fax _______________________________________
E-mail ____________________________
____Single member, $50 ___Family membership, $75 ___Additional contribution $_____
Please make your checks payable to LWVGO and
send to:
League
of Women Voters of Greater Omaha
1941
S. 42nd Street, Suite 501
Omaha,
NE 68105
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE JANUARY MEETING NOTICE
January 17, 7:30 p.m.
The interest shown by our members in the
November meeting was very encouraging.
The guest speaker, Mary K. Meagher, indicated that the subsequent
meeting presenters will be “the really big guns” in the area of subject matter
and speaking. We should look forward to
spending an evening with one of these speakers each month through April.
The January meeting will feature Dr. L. McVies, Director of “The One World Community” in
Omaha. She has extensive travel
experience in Third World countries. Her
efforts to make Omaha a viable source to educate and inform our area of the
middle west about the needs and value of the Third World neighbors and their
health environment as it impacts our safety will be inspiring.
Meeting location: Home of Muriel F.
(Address
text removed from web copy)
Date:
January 17, 7:30 p.m.
Plan to attend and hear a very challenging set
of ideas. Your usual thought provoking
questions will be anxiously received.
SPAM
MESSAGES
LWVGO is aware of spam messages sent
through the League listserve. We apologize for
any inconvenience, but be assured we have not sold the
League member list. Span can creep into a listserve,
regardless of how careful we try to be. Please be patient and continue to
delete any messages when you are not familiar with the sender. We are
discussing a couple of options to correct the problem, but they are drastic and
time-consuming, and there are no guarantees. Again, we have not handed out the
League list of e-mail addresses. Thank you for your patience.
SPEAKERS
BUREAU UPDATE
The Speakers Bureau has a new brochure
that describes all of the speeches available for presentation to interested
groups. If you need a brochure for your church group, retirement center, or civic
organization, please call Peggy A. ###-###, or the League office, 344-3701.
We are always looking for a few good
women (and men) to join our Speakers Bureau. If you have an idea for a speech
topic, please give us a call.
BELOIT
COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST FOR THE CLASS OF 2010
(Continued)
Members of the class of 2010, entering college
last fall, were mostly born in 1988. For them: Billy Carter, Lucille Ball,
Gilda Radner, Billy Martin, Andy Gibb, and
Secretariat have always been dead.
30. Non-denominational mega-churches have always
been the fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.
31. They grew up in mini-vans.
32. Reality shows have always been on
television.
33. They have no idea why we needed to ask
"...can we all get along?"
34. They have always known that "In the
criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet
equally important groups."
35. Young women's fashions have never been
concerned with where the waist is.
36. They have rarely mailed anything using a
stamp.
37. Brides have always worn white for a first,
second, or third wedding.
38. Being techno-savvy has always been inversely
proportional to age.
39. "So" as in "Sooooo New York," has always been a drawn-out
adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else
40. Affluent troubled teens in Southern
California have always been the subjects of television series.
41. They have always been able to watch wars and
revolutions live on television.
(To be continued)