Even before the superferry was destined for Hawai'i, we already knew of its military agenda. As we already know Admiral Fargo is so full of shit; it's coming out of his pores. HSF was courting the military in Hawai'i at the onset, if you remember; plus giving them a free trip around O'ahu to build support for it. Did island residents get the same kind of invitation? Of course not! Military always get the special privileges that the local residents don't get.If HSF wanted local support; it would have extended the same privilege, don't you think? Most supporters for the HSF were the military and personnel (famiies). Clueless islanders fell right into line with them. They're the same people I could sell the brooklyn bridge to without much effort. They're the ones that lack critical thinking; just watch Jay Leno's interviews on Tonight Show and you will see the same kind of people we are talking about. There are a lot of local people just like that, too! Monkey see---monkey do!Unfortunately, the local people are caught in the crossfire and needlessly lost their jobs by being the pawns of this whole seditious process of politics-military agenda.TaneThe NY Times details some Superferry military connections.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/us/22ferry.htmlThe New York TimesMarch 22, 2009A Hawaii Ferry Ends Its Choppy RideBy CHRISTOPHER PALAHONOLULU - The Hawaii Superferry made its final interisland voyagelast week, capping a period marked by lawsuits, low ridership andsuspicion that its ultimate purpose had more to do with militarycontracts than with connecting the Hawaiian islands.On Monday, the State Supreme Court effectively grounded the vessel,the Alakai, when it struck down an act passed by the Legislature lastyear that exempted its operator, Hawaii Superferry Inc., fromcarrying out an environmental impact study. The company said it wouldnot appeal the decision."We're going to have to go out and find other employment for Alakai,"said the president of Hawaii Superferry, Thomas B. Fargo, a retiredNavy admiral who once commanded American forces in the Pacific."Certainly the military may very well want to lease this particularship."The Marine Corps already leases a similar transport catamaran, theWestpac Express, in Okinawa, Japan.A shipbuilding analyst in Florida, Tim Colton, said the company'sowner and chairman, John F. Lehman, a former Navy secretary, was wellpositioned to lease the Alakai and a just-finished sister ship to theNavy.In its 19 months of sporadic operations, the Alakai - an $85 million,350-foot aluminum catamaran that sliced through some of the world'sroughest seas at 40 miles per hour - is widely thought to have lostmoney for Hawaii Superferry. The passenger-vehicle ferry usuallyoperated well below the 50 percent capacity that the company haddesignated as its break-even point. For much of the winter, itoperated at about 25 percent capacity, according to figures releasedby the company.Responding to a lawsuit filed by environmentalists, the State SupremeCourt initially struck down a permit that the administration of Gov.Linda Lingle, a Republican, had granted Hawaii Superferry to operateits boats without an environmental assessment. After that ruling, Ms.Lingle persuaded the Legislature to pass the act exempting thecompany from the requirement.Why the company chose to risk operating without an environmentalreview, which would have taken the better part of a year, has beenthe matter of debate across the state, with Mr. Lehman's backgroundleading to speculation that Hawaii Superferry was primarily hoping toprove itself to the United States military.Nearly two years ago, a former chief executive officer of Austal USA,an Alabama shipyard that built the Alakai, was quoted in a localweekly, Pacific Business News, as saying the ship was too big for itsmarket of 1.3 million people."I just worry about getting enough business to cover costs because ofthe sheer size of it," said the executive, Alan Lerchbacker.Mr. Lerchbacker said that he had suggested Hawaii Superferry order a230-foot vessel but that the company instead ordered two 350-footmodels. The Alakai traveled between Oahu and Maui; the second ferry,the Huakai, was completed last week and had been scheduled to linkOahu and the Big Island.State Representative Hermina M. Morita, a Democrat and chairwoman ofthe Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection, said she neverthought either ferry would be profitable."You look at the players involved," Ms. Morita said. "You have toquestion their motives."In November, Austal USA was awarded a contract to build up to 10military versions of the ferry.Austal's Australian unit had built scores of giant aluminumcatamarans used as fast ferries around the world, but the UnitedStates requires that all ships sold to its armed forces must bedomestically built.Austal USA, with a shipyard in Mobile, Ala., was created in 2001."They have managed to become a major player in a very short time,"said Robert Button, a naval analyst with the RAND Corporation.Austal USA's vice president for external affairs, Bill Pfister, saidthat while the company had built several smaller ships in Mobile, theconstruction of the two Hawaii ferries had helped it develop the workforce and demonstrate the construction processes to bid credibly fora similar military version.The contract calls for one ship for the Army, with an option for fourmore for the Army and five for the Navy, for a total of $1.6 billion."Building the Superferry was very helpful in demonstrating that wecan build these ships in the United States as well as Australia," Mr.Pfister said.At a news conference on Thursday, Admiral Fargo denied that HawaiiSuperferry had any military agenda."We always get the question, 'Was this designed as a militaryoperation?' " he said. "That's absolutely not true."We certainly wouldn't have gone to the trouble to appoint her with836 first-class seats, to spend huge sums of money to establishservice here in Hawaii if that was our goal, which was unmistakablyto provide a regular, reliable commercial ferry service in theseislands."Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
TheU.S. miitary charters commerical airlines to move the troops also. The dressings don't matter; the purpose of its use does. We've followed the military use of the super ferry before it engaged with the state of Hawai'i. It was used in Okinawa to demonstrate its use for the Japanese military. More of the same for the HSF as a demo to sell to other countries for military use. It was their purpose all along; especially since Lehman Brothers who own the superferry and HSF are a military industrial complex corporation.
Chairs can easily be reconfigured, removed or whatever...a new coat of paint can easily cover the HSF logo. Minor changes could be made to make the ferry usable for the military. What does he think we are...idiots? We weren't convinced than and we aren't convinced now.
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