Make Mine Green Without Military Funding: The Electric Vehicle Connection to Drone & Missile Manufacturers

Well alrighty then, you decide you want to rid yourself of reliance on oil and one of the ways you are thinking about doing it is by purchase of a Nissan Leaf and a charging station.  Sounds good, doesn't it?  Even though you might not be sure about the oil and war connection, your cousin Chakra goes off on the connection between war and the extant energy industry all the time.   Then there are the conspiracy theories that your neighbor spouts about a very small number of companies and the people behind them that are manipulating our economy and controlling the government.  

The clearest explanation of the Big Brother connection between the car charger and the drone manufacturing industry I've found is from an unlikely titled nsource called clearancejobs.com

AeroVironment, which is designing and building small, hand-launched drones, is another area company that is seeing sales improve. AeroVironment also has a commercial division that is creating charging stations for the Nissan Leaf and other electric vehicle technologies. A company spokesperson told the Pacific Coast Business Times that the company is working to apply its drone know-how to commercial markets.

“We don’t think the market opportunity for small unmanned aerial vehicle systems is limited to military customers,” said Steven Gitlin, a spokesman for AeroVironment. “Law enforcement, first responders, even companies that have to inspect widely distributed assets like pipelines and wire lines could use our system to great effect.”

Further behind the scenes connections to the missile section of the industry of war is found in  UNITED STATES. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. Washington, D.C. 20549. SCHEDULE 14A. Proxy Statement:

Charles R. Holland has served as a member of our board of directors since May 2004. General Holland retired as Commander, Headquarters U.S. Special Operations Command in November 2003 and currently serves as an independent consultant for various entities. Mr. Holland has been a consultant for AeroVironment since February 2004.  ... Mr. Holland previously served on the board of directors of General Atomics, Inc. and currently serves on the board of directors of Protonex Technology Corporation and as an advisor to Camber Corporation, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, and Raytheon Company.

 ...

Jikun Kim was appointed as our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer effective June 22, 2010, after serving as Interim Chief Financial Officer since March 31, 2010. Prior to the interim appointment Mr. Kim served as our Vice President and Controller since June 2009. Prior to joining AeroVironment, Mr. Kim served with Raytheon Company, a defense contractor, for more than eight years, most recently as Chief Financial Officer of Raytheon Vision Systems.

 So when you purchase a charging station for your electric vehicle, check out the manufacturer carefully or you may end up directly supporting one of the major manufacturers of drones that are now being used in civilian surveillance by police, immigration, and domestic "security."  So you will end up paying for the development of new and better methods of invading your privacy. 

"Raytheon Six² Defendants Get Community Service; Four of Five Charges Dismissed.

"Raytheon Six² Defendants Get Community Service; Four of Five
Charges Dismissed.

by Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa

Four Tucson residents were each sentenced November 2 to eight
hours of community service for their part in a nonviolent protest at
the Raytheon Missile Systems Plant south of Tucson last March 20, the
third anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Pima
County Justice Court judge Maria Felix accepted their pleas of no
contest to a charge of obstructing a highway, a class 3 misdemeanor.
Two co-defendants who could not be in court today will be sentenced
at a later date.
The sentences came as a result of a plea agreement that
included dismissal of four of the five original charges laid against
each the anti-war activists: unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct,
being a public nuisance and being a pedestrian on a roadway.
Before the formal hearing, the court invited Tucson¹s Raging
Grannies to sing. The Grannies were among nearly two dozen
supporters who had rallied outside the court house prior to the
hearing, and now filled the small courtroom. They obliged with one
of their trademark anti-war parodies, ³God Help America.²
The four sentenced today were Gretchen Nielson, age 73,
Bill Moeller, age 52, Pat Birnie, age 76, and Jack McPherson, age 61.
Before pronouncing sentence, Judge Felix invited the defendants to
address the court. The statements of Pat Birnie and Jack McPherson
follow, along with a poem by Gretchen Nielsen that concluded her own
brief statement. Bill Moeller chose not to address the court.

Poem read as part of sentencing statement of Gretchen Nielsen

HELL'S GETTING READY
to be lit with missiles
built by robots
programmed with misconceptions
(while ridiculed into silence
the wise watch wordless)
bombs are bought and sold
by parents
still not knowing what they're doing
'til the children they have nurtured
scream in fiery beds

Hell's getting ready
to be lit by leaders
proud and vengeful
still not knowing what they're doing
'til they're judged as they've been judging
watch their children's children burn
(while the merciful moan in madness
anguished with compassion)
wealthy preachers mock the truth
the pope parades in a funny hat:
prophecy fulfilled

(wise and ridiculed
merciful and mad)
Where is the leader of the meek?

Gretchen Nielsen (1980)

=============
Sentencing statement of Pat Birnie

I strongly oppose the U.S. invasion and continuing violent occupation
of Iraq, a sovereign country that threatened no provocation to our
country.
Because I consider the U.S. military actions in Iraq to be immoral
and illegal by U.S. law as well as International law, I am ashamed
and distraught that a local business, Raytheon Missiles Systems, is
participating in and profiting from the human suffering their
products cause in Iraq.

I have tried to communicate my angst via direct correspondence with
Raytheon management, letters and phone calls to our elected
officials, letters to the editor (unpublished!) of our local
newspapers, and regular legal protests at Raytheon Missiles Systems
factory.
Because these efforts have failed, I had to resort to my least
-favored form of free-speech, to put my body on the line.
I will not willingly allow, by my silence, these atrocities to continue.

========
Sentencing statement of Jack McPherson

My participation in the blockade of the Raytheon munitions plant was
done to express solidarity with the tens of thousand innocent
civilian victims in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I do believe it is my moral obligation:
To speak out against - war crimes
To speak out against - war profiteering
And to speak out against - weapon contracts emanating from huge
political contributions.
Raytheon is not as they would have you believe a defender of freedom
and democracy, but rather are in the business of killing for profit.