Salem Citizen Climate Protection Petition

To the City Council of Salem:

All of us have children, grandchildren, or other loved ones who will suffer the consequences of uncontrolled pollution that is radically destabilizing the delicate heat balance that allowed human civilization to evolve and thrive across planet Earth. Humans need a stable, predictable climate, where agriculture can flourish and where catastrophic “100 year” severity floods, fires, famines, and droughts do not happen again and again, year after year, with increasing frequency and severity.

Salem is already experiencing negative consequences of climate destabilization. We cannot afford – in terms of economic health, human health, or environmental health – to continue business as usual.

Therefore, we call upon the City Council of Salem, the Capital City, to join with Albany, Ashland, Beaverton, Bend, Corvallis, Eugene, Forest Grove, Gladstone, Gresham, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, Lincoln City, Milwaukie, Oregon City, Portland, and Vernonia in civic recognition of the severity of the challenge we face and the need for sustained local commitment to practices to address the climate crisis and that will reduce the harm to future generations.

Specifically, we call upon the City Council of Salem to

1.    ADOPT THE 350 ppm GOAL:  Adopt a science-based target for emissions reductions actions needed to reduce the concentration of CO2 and other heat-trapping gases 350 ppm CO2 equivalent.

2.    CHARGE FOR EMISSIONS & REBATE THE CHARGES 100%:  Implement programs to reduce private-sector emissions using charges for use of fossil-fueled energy and emissions of heat-trapping pollution, with 100% of the fees collected returned to the people of Salem through a monthly per capita rebate, thereby encouraging creative, market-based solutions to greenhouse gas emissions and making polluters pay, rather than making us all pay for polluters.  

3.    SLASH PUBLIC SECTOR EMISSIONS: Act now to reduce current emissions and cut future emissions through comprehensive policies such as anti-sprawl land-use policies, urban forest restoration projects, mass transit, shifts from fossil-fueled power sources to non-polluting power sources, and opposing any export or trans-shipment of coal and oil through Oregon.

Date	Printed Name	Signature	Age (if < 18)	Ward or Neighborhood

No, he would certainly never say oops, because, actually, Scalia cares not a bit whether innocent people get murdered by the state for crimes of others.

 After all, they're just poor people, not someone important like a wealthy corporation.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/02/1326644/-Does-a-Supreme-Court-Justice-just-say-oops?detail=email

Does a Supreme Court Justice just say, "oops"?

Today in NC two innocent men were freed 30 years after being wrongfully convicted of murder.  Which means for thirty years the innocent 11 year old girl left lying in a field after being raped and suffocated to death didn't get justice. Which means that for thirty years the real killer did not pay for his crime.  Which means that for thirty years, the real killer was able to destroy the lives of even more innocent people.

Both men, who have IQ's below 70 falsely confessed to crime.  As is usual in these situations, they confessed after hours and hours of pressure, locked in a room.  Contrary to what people believe, people do confess to crimes they didn't commit.

According to a University of Virginia report released Aug. 21, nearly 20 percent of defendants who have been exonerated by DNA evidence had falsely confessed to the crime.

DNA found at the scene and finally tested after all of these years, exonerated the two men.  The prosecutor did not even oppose the Motion to dismiss the charges against the two men.  In fact, the DNA implicates a man already convicted of similar crimes at a time very close to the time this crime was committed.  But really, at this point, the exoneration of innocent men is hardly big news.  At least 317 people have been exonerated by DNA evidence.

The real news is below the fold:

What is news in this NC case is that the arrogance and wrong-headedness of a member of the U.S. Supreme Court has been put on display for everyone to see.  In 1994 the Supreme Court turned down a request to hear the appeal in Mr. McCollum's case.  Justice Harry A. Blackmun, an eventual opponent of the death penalty had voted to hear the case.  Justice Blackmun noted that Mr. McCollum had the mental age of a 9-year-old and said "this factor alone persuades me that the death penalty in this case is unconstitutional."  In fact, Justice Blackmun had completely renounced the death penalty in general saying he would, "no longer tinker with the machinery of death".  He said that decisions involving the death penalty were too subjective and prone to human error for the death penalty ever to be administered constitutionally.

Unfazed by Justice Blackmun's concerns, Justice Antonin Scalia accused Justice Blackmun of attempting to "thrust a minority's views upon the people."  Scalia strongly maintained that society had a need for the death penalty as an appropriate punishment for the most heinous of crimes. In fact, as evidence for his opinion he wrote about two cases before the Supreme Court at the time, which he believed made death by lethal injection look "enviable." One of those cases concerned the brutal rape and murder of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie, committed in Red Springs, North Carolina.  That case, the one that Justice Scalia found to be most deserving of the death penalty, is the murder for which these two men were exonerated today.  

Henry McCollum was 20 when he was sentenced to death for committing the crime Scalia described. Today, he walked out of prison a free man.  Like most of those who are exonerated, Mr. McCollum is looking forward instead of backward.  But the ability of these two men to forgive and forget doesn't mean that the rest of us should ignore the fact that, contrary to the opinion of a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, neither of these men deserved a day in prison, much less execution.  The arrogance of a society that thinks taking another person's life is justified so long as they had "a fair trial" is on full display.  The belief that any system that relies on fallible humans can ever be reliable enough to kill in the name of the Government shows a complete lack of understanding basic human nature.  It isn't often that a Supreme Court Justice is shown just how utterly wrong his opinions are.  Luckily today,  at least two men have overcome a system designed to convict the accused and have proven just how fallible our highest court can be.  I wonder what Justice Scalia has to say now.

6:03 PM PT: Please see sydserious' diary that was posted just before mine for more about this.http://www.dailykos.com/...

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Oregon Climate Declaration

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

View this email in your browser You did it- you signed the Oregon Climate Declaration. We know, you've probably signed a million things before, and it hasn't seemed like such a big deal.   And, you're right, a single signature isn't that much. However, your signature, plus ours, plus the hundreds, thousands of other signatures add up.  If you, we and everyone like us connect and raise our voices together we can keep fossil-fuel corporate money from rolling over the good people of Oregon, unless you, I, and everyone like us raise our voices together.   We're asking of you no more than we asked of ourselves: can you take 3 minutes right now and think of 5 people you know who care about global warming, who care about Oregon?   Then, right now, can you write a short, heart-felt request that they, too, sign the Oregon Climate Declaration? Something like:   " Hey, Deb, this is a small thing that can add up to big things. I recently signed the Oregon Climate Declaration- we're trying to connect 100,000 Oregonians who care about global warming and its impact on our lives. There are many more than 100,000, but that many signatures would allow us to really make waves in Salem.   Can you please read the Oregon Climate Declaration, and if you agree with it, sign it? I'd be grateful.   Here's the link:  http://campaigns.350.org/petitions/oregon-climate-declaration-3 "   Thank you again for your signature, and thanks in advance for asking your friends. We're going to make big waves in Salem, and make Oregon a national leader nationally on building an economy that works for people and the planet; a world safe from the ravages of climate change; a world with good jobs, clean air and water, and healthy communities.   With gratitude, Lenny Dee, Adriana Voss-Andreae & Mark Silver for the entire team at 350 Oregon Support this effort by donating- any amount helps! Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Website Copyright © 2014 350 Oregon, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed on our website or signed on to the Oregon Climate Declaration. Our mailing address is: 350 Oregon PO Box 5692 Portland, OR 97228 Add us to your address book