Island Breath: War of the Superferry

SUBJECT: SUPERFERRY WAR

SOURCE: BRAD PARSONS mauibrad@hotmail.com

POSTED: 24 NOVEMBER 2007 - 10:30am HST

HI Superferry: What's the Big Picture

image above: ship building poster from Communist China entitled "The Sparkling Star"

by Brad Parsons on 24 November 2007 in hisuperferry.blogspot.com

You know, I was thinking, there is an interesting confluence of events taking place in the Pacific Region and beyond, and I do not think they are unrelated. One of them is a short clip below regarding elections in Australia yesterday, one of the few staunch allies that the U.S. has left in the world, and home country of Austal, maker of HI Superferry.

But other big things happening include....oil prices getting close to $100/barrel and threats from some OPEC nations of pushing it to $200/barrel, new laws in Congress meant to crackdown on the American public, North Korea and nukes, China buying more oil and selling more dollars, U.S. dramatically stepping up military activity in the Central Pacific (including force movements and unprecedented bombing practice in HI) and the East Pacific in recent weeks, and the no holds barred government effort on behalf of the militarily capable HI Superferry.

If I was going to start a research project on this, and I don't necessarily have time to do so, I would say that there is political-economic power struggle developing right now behind the scenes between China and the U.S., and that China is buying and storing crude oil to push up the price for later use and that they are using U.S. dollars (selling them) to do it, putting persistent pressure on that. And as usual, the Neocon's, because they do not really understand finance or economics, the only response they can come up with is military posturing.

Somebody else can take the time to research this, but if I had to guess, I would say this is the big picture that the HI Superferry falls within.

Regarding one of the best U.S. allies left in the world:

Australia’s Labor Party sweeps to power
Conservative Howard ousted; policy changes on global warming, Iraq ahead
SYDNEY, Australia - Conservative Prime Minister John Howard suffered a humiliating defeat Saturday at the hands of the left-leaning opposition, whose leader has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq.

Labor Party head Kevin Rudd's pledges on global warming and Iraq move Australia sharply away from policies that had made Howard one of President Bush's staunchest allies.

Rudd has named global warming as his top priority, and his signing of the Kyoto Protocol will leave the U.S. as the only industrialized country not to have joined it.

SUBJECT: SUPERFERRY ARROGANCE

SOURCE: JUAN WILSON juanwilson@mac.com

POSTED: 18 NOVEMBER 2007 - 8:30pm HST

USCG to Celebrate Thanksgiving at Hilton

image above: "War of the Superferry" graphic by Juan Wilson. Click on it to enlarge.

by Juan Wilson on 18 November 2007

The ugly side on militarism has been in evidence on Kauai recently. We have seen the roughing up of a TV producer by what appears to be inebriated ITT rent-a-cops providing "security" for the PMRF.

Now we are hearing threats from the Coast Guard, who were apparently humiliated when residents tried to protect Kauai from an invasion by the para-military Superferry.

"We have practiced and prepared for the worst-case scenario, so we
will be ready," Coast Guard spokesman Lt. John Titchen said Thursday.

Note that Lt. Titchen uses the word "worse-case scenario". Does that means he is planning to deal with an unruly mob of terrorists intending to attack the Superferry in rubber boats packed with explosives, like the USS Cole attack in Yemin?

Does it mean he is prepared to use lethal force against terrorists or even graden variety participants in civil disobedience? It's not clear where "worse-case scenario" takes Titchen.

The idiot who runs the Hawaii DOT, Barry Fukunaga, said he doesn't know what to expect from possible protesters.

"Hopefully, they understand that there are significant penalties associated with violating the laws," he said.

To bad Barry does not apply that to his own actions in a criminal conspiracy against the people of Hawaii.

Rumor has it that there are now three-hundred U.S. Coast Guard personnel on Kauai in anticipation of the day that the Hawaii Superferry resumes service to Kauai. The word is that they will have a celebratory Thanksgiving Day dinner at the Kauai Hilton between Wailua and Hanamaulu.

It is likely that there will be no HSF trips to Kauai until after December 1st, when trips are scheduled to Maui. The Governor and HSF Corporation have stated they want to do some public relations work with Kauai before trying a landing again.

But, the past teaches us that HSF Corporation are ready to do anything they want without much thought or planning.