Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 5

[LikaNui]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 5

My brother-in-law is an Active Duty U.S. Coast Guard Admiral

I'll humbly suggest that perhaps Admirals are spoken to with far greater respect by their underlings than said underlings would speak to each other.
And thanks for being yet another person who confitms that "Coastie" is not negative and that it is used within the service itself.

Just my opinion and I'm sticking to it! LOL

Hey, that's my line!

And to Craig -- I'm pretty shocked at your surprisingly vitriolic anti-O`ahu stance here tonight. Can you honestly say that each and every single O`ahuan who comes to Hilo is a raging a**hole? Because that's sure the impression I'm getting from you tonight.

And gee, what would have happened over the centuries if residents of each island were banned from paddling to a neighboring island? Or what would have not happened?!?
Can anyone here say that 'invasive species' were not transported between islands centuries ago via canoe?

[dick]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 5

Ahhh... the fear of the Oahu car.

Pure paranoia. Plain and simple. While I can appreciate the idea, it simply holds no water. The image I get from the "evil Oahu car" delusion is wild Oahuans pouring off the ferry, burning rubber and raising hell... raping and pillaging in the streets.

Come on.

Not sure why it hasn't happened before with cheap airfare and rental cars.

Oh, but it's your own car, and thus an extension of our egos... yeah, whatever.

So I'm born and reared on Maui. Lived there until I moved to the hellhole known colloquially as "Honolulu" to attend UH. Yeah, MCC didn't quite offer what I was looking for in a degree, so I had to sacrifice my small-town values for the corruption of the, ahem, "big city." Then, get this, I moved to the mainland for work. Yeah, I'm really sliding downhill into oblivion now. Then, I got really crazy and moved to Tokyo. Lived there for three years. You can only imagine what that did to me, and in particular my vehicular ego. I actually owned and drove a car in Tokyo. Whoa, nelly! Look out now!

Then I had the gumption and complete lack of respect for anyone on Maui, and perhaps even the state (wait, the jury is still out on the "state" idea), to actually move back to Maui. And live there. Oh lord, I even drove. Not sure why the angry torch-bearing lynch mobs didn't get me back then.

A few years later I got a job here in Honolulu. And so I moved over here. I'll bet those people here in Honolulu were steaming mad. Someone from Maui actually had the gall.

Fast forward a few years and now there's a ferry service. I can take a trip to Maui for a week to visit and stay with mom, and bring my car. You know what? It's cheaper than renting a car the whole time, plus having to pay for parking at the airport ("have someone drop you off..." you obviously don't know my parking situation. Pipe down.). Plus, I can bring a bunch of stuff with me in the car, and I can bring a bunch of stuff back with me from Maui.

But wait. I'm a maniacal Honolulu driver with no respect for Maui.

Shouldn't I be told to "go home?"

[waioli kai]

hypocrUSy on the halfshell , Re: Hawaii superfascUSterry - Chapter 5

LikaNui to alohacandy: "... thanks for being yet another person who confitms that "Coastie" is not negative and that it is used within the service itself."

even though alohacandy clearly wrote of her Coast Guard brother-in-law: "He stated that it's not a term that Coast Guardsmen call each other, but more how others might refer to someone in the Coast Guard."

I'll humbly suggest that perhaps Admirals are spoken to with far greater respect by their underlings than said underlings would speak to each other.
And thanks for being yet another person who confitms that "Coastie" is not negative and that it is used within the service itself.

You want it both ways. You want to suggest that "Coastie" is a respectful term to use toward (you say "between" also, though between "underlings") U.S. Coast Guardsmen, yet not respectful enough to use toward Coast Guard officers of admiral rank?

Writing for understanding must follow reading for understanding. When one is of the habit of reading lackadaisically, it can only follow that one would also write in a similar vein.

[waioli kai]

Lingle-Lehman payback? , Re: Hawaii superfascUSterrian politics - Chapter 5

.

---Samurai123;162652 " The core of the legal challenge is that the Department of Transportation (DOT) failed to conduct an environmental assessment (EA) for the expenditure of $40 million of public funds to make harbor improvements to support the Superferry. ...

The fault lies at the doorstep of the DOT, they made the wrong call and the justices of the supreme court unanimously ruled that an EA should have been done. DOT could have done an EA back in 2005 a decision they probably regret. "

The DOT made the wrong call for sure, but the Lingle Administration is the foulest hand in the State's role of selling out the people of Hawai`i who are not of Honolulu corporatUSt mentality. While the DOT may regret its decision, only yesterday Lingle said she supports (not with much if any of her own monies, but with tax revenues from residents of all the islands) superfascUSterry as much as, if not more than, she did at the beginning. It would be most interesting for her to reveal when "the beginning" for her actually was! Was she in cahoots with Lehman et. al before she was first elected Governor? Did she owe them payback?

[AlohaKine]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 5

Would a bridge me more or less offensive?

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 5

The protesters must be car and gear rental agents.

I've concluded it's one of two things:

1) Prevention of Oahu-ization of Kauai (Remember, they passed the anti-big box store law.)
2) The Kauai businesses fearing that Oahu business will expand into their territory.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 5

Until the State of Hawaii becomes more all encompassing instead of Honolulu-centric

How do you propose to make that happen? Without ruining the very thing that the neighbor islands like about themselves?

[GeckoGeek]

Re: pigs, coasties and confessions , Re: Hawaii $uperfascUSterry - Chapter 5

"sewer pipe sailor."

Is that the same thing as a "bubble head"?

[Nords]

Re: pigs, coasties and confessions , Re: Hawaii $uperfascUSterry - Chapter 5

Is that the same thing as a "bubble head"?

I hear "bubblehead" far more often, which is a lot better than being referred to as a "@#$%ing nuc". Having heard the latter even from my spouse I'd have to say it's not the epithet but rather the attitude with which it's delivered.

Speaking of attitudes, the collective effect of all these divisive posts makes quite an impact when the thread is read just once or twice a day. It's amazing the way we humans manage to divide ourselves by our differences, real or evanescent...

I once spent a couple hours in a conference room with Jeff Mikulina (Sierra Club) and (*gasp*) he actually seems like a pretty nice guy. Instead of depending on pictures of dead whales to buttress his points, I think people like him are concerned that the state is misinterpreting or even ignoring parts of the law found inconvenient or expensive to comply with. Maybe the state is even unfairly exploiting loopholes-- I have no idea. I don't think Sierra Club cares much one way or another whether SuperFerry is running as long as the state (and the businesses) comply with the rules. They don't want to see the EIS process subverted by political or corporate convenience.

About 15 years ago I watched the Navy try to make a case for a shallow-water torpedo range near Maui. Back then, shortly after the first Iraq war with all sorts of concern about fighting conflicts in shallow waters, it seemed pretty darn important. Today I'm glad that the service got stuffed firmly back in the box by the environmentalists.

As for the SuperFerry's SWATH hull design, I wonder how many whales the NAVATEK people have killed in the name of stable dinner cruises. But they probably don't have the propulsion to build up to SuperFerry speeds.

OK, sorry to interrupt the slugfest. Game on!

[mel]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 5

Oahu vehicles are not evil, they are the same as vehicles anywhere else on the neighbor islands.

[joshuatree]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 5

I don't think the ferry is a military design ship. Austal has built many versions of this boat for various ferry operators around the world. It's a civilian ship all the way through.

An expensive but a more confident approach to the speed vs whale strike issue would be to install passive sonar buoys along the shipping lane so any boat has "eyes" well in advance to know of anything in its path. Who's gonna pay for it though?

Cars may be an extension of an ego, thus hearing of people getting something fancy when they hit a mid life crisis etc, but I think it's over exaggerated with the whole Oahu/neighbor island issue. If it wasn't for the plate, how could one even tell it's a car from Oahu? I think the future plates should simply be mixed up and not separated by counties. I also don't think not bringing one's car will tame one's ego. If one is humble, one is humble no matter the circumstances. If one's a prick, one's a prick no matter where either.

[zztype]

Re: pigs, coasties and confessions , Re: Hawaii $uperfascUSterry - Chapter 5

Not be confused with a "swabbie" or a "groundpounder" huh?

I was a swabbie, too... a "sewer pipe swabbie," if you wish.

Whatever.

[zztype]

Re: pigs, coasties and confessions , Re: Hawaii $uperfascUSterry - Chapter 5

Is that the same thing as a "bubble head"?

Yup. A "bubble head," too.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Hawai'i Superferry - Chapter 5

And as we all know, by settling out of court --- --- --- In the end the SF would win the lawsuit

Just a point of clarification here - if it's settled out of court, neither side "wins" the lawsuit.

I really enjoyed reading your rant, cw, regarding the Honolulu-centric nature of many things related to Hawai`i. Your extension to mentioning Canadian perspectives was also accurate, and can even be refined further, as many Canadian provinces feel they are relegated to second-class status by the big guys (Ontario & Quebec); the Maritimes in particular - Newfoundland likes to remind folks that they were a separate, self-governing body, until joining Canada in 1949, and the residents of Prince Edward Island had years of similar debate over the Confederation Bridge (opened in 1997), linking the Island with the Mainland, at New Brunswick.

But with Honolulu (and by extension, O`ahu) long established as the primary population, governmental and tourist center of the state, it shouldn't be a surprise, and it's not likely to change. Seattle dominates news of Washington State, to the dismay of Eastern Washington; much about Iowa news focuses on Des Moines. And poor old Albany, New York - they are the capital of the state, but that ain't the city people think of when they hear "New York" (and you could repeat that argument for Washington State, California, Missouri, and many others.)

[/history lessons]

I don't think Sierra Club cares much one way or another whether SuperFerry is running as long as the state (and the businesses) comply with the rules. They don't want to see the EIS process subverted by political or corporate convenience.

I suspect you are right on target with that assessment.

[LikaNui]

Re: pigs, coasties and confessions , Re: Hawaii $uperfascUSterry - Chapter 5

the NAVATEK

Ah yes, the NAVATEK. That's the ferry that stopped all commercial runs to instead deliver desperately needed supplies and personnel to Kaua`i after Hurricane Iniki.
And oh yeah... that was hundreds of those horribly evil O`ahu residents who rushed to Kaua`i to volunteer their help after Iniki too.
Sure didn't hear any complaints from Kaua`i back then.

And if a natural disaster was to strike Kaua`i or Maui today, those same handful of protesters would be begging the SuperFerry to help them
I also find it an incomprehensible dichotomy that while a few protesters on Kaua`i claim the SuperFerry isn't obeying the law, those protesters themselves are breaking laws to insist that laws be obeyed.
Pretzel logic.