declarationofpeace.org/.../voices-for-creative-nonviolence
Air Cascadia guest Kathy Kelly is with Voices for Creative Nonviolence. Kelly was recently in Afghanistan and has just arrived in Chicago after having been arrested along with 37 others at a demonstration at a drone command base in Syracuse, New York. VCRN just put out a statement condemning "the hypocrisy and immorality of the United States in approving the use of missile-armed Predator drones and other aerial weaponry in Libya for a supposedly humanitarian purpose. While at the same time, the U.S. is carrying out continued drone and aerial attacks [in] Pakistan and Afghanistan, including civilians.”
Back in February the A/P picked up on a local story on the private push to put unmanned drones in Oregon's airspace. A Bend-based nonprofit wants to jump-start the region's flagging aviation economy by setting aside airspace above the high desert to flight-test the drones.
The Bend nonprofit Economic Development for Central Oregon wants airspace between Bend and Burns in central Oregon's high desert to be set aside to test drones under development. The goal is to attract developers and manufacturers to the region, using the remote testing area—unlike any other in the nation—as bait.
Drones designed for commercial applications are prohibited in general aviation airspace, and testing can be done only in restricted military airspace or via special certificates issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. Insitu Inc., a Boeing subsidiary, is already nearby in the Columbia River Gorge town of Bingen, Wash. It uses airspace near Arlington and Boardman to test its unmanned aircraft. The company builds the pilotless ScanEagle, a 40-pound aircraft with a 10-foot wingspan used for surveillance, search and rescue, mapping, mineral exploration and research.
And from closer to home:
Portland Indymedia has this:
Cascadia's rich history of meeting greed with passion for life. In Olympia, Washington, Olympia Rising Tide won the campaign against a proposed biomass incinerator planned to be built at the Evergreen State College, and one of two biomass incinerators proposed in Shelton, WA! Our victory shows the effectiveness of collaborative organizing, a diversity of tactics and persistence in the face of corporate power. However, biomass incineration is still a very real threat all over the world, and now is a crucial time to step it up and stop it from destroying our forests, air and health. The tides are beginning to turn, now is the time to fight for climate justice!
- KBOO