Musings: Under Pressure

Brilliant Venus sidled up to a luminous slice of moon and Waialeale shrugged off a light shawl of clouds as Koko and I walked fast to stay warm in the chill of early morning. Drops from last night’s rain still clung to pasture gates, tree limbs, spider webs.

As I returned home, the sun struggled to emerge from a dense bank of clouds, briefly tinting it apricot, pink and gold, before fading to gray.

Ran into Andy and his pack of dogs, and we both expressed a bit of guilt about not attending yesterday’s Nawiliwili Ti Party demonstration against the Superferry.

But it sounds like they had a pretty good turnout, from the account in today’s Garden Island.

My hat is off to the folks who did gather in the water to show opposition to the federal security zone, which will prevent such access when the ferry starts running.

I wouldn’t ever want to swim at Nawiliwili Harbor, especially after a couple of days of heavy rain. Unfortunately, it’s yet another one of Kauai’s bays that all too often has unacceptably high levels of fecal bacteria, plus it’s also polluted with fuel from the boats and all kinds of crap that the steams — those that aren’t diverted to Waita Reservoir, anyway — pick up while winding their way through Grove Farm’s urbanization.

I was struck by one reported quote that had Timoteo Rysdale of Wailua saying: “The reason people live here is specifically to not be connected.”

While I’m sure his sentiment is not universal on Kauai, it does explain a lot of the opposition and point out the fallacy of Rep. Joe Souki’s claim that Supeferry will be “the glue” that binds the islands together.

Who ever said we want to be glued together, and why would that necessarily be a good thing?

I did get a giggle from a comment — “Hurry up, I want to unite the islands” — posted by “King Kamehameha” on an Advertiser story yesterday.

However, a report in today’s Star-Bulletin is no laughing matter:

“Asked why the Legislature returned to write a law especially designed to allow the ferry to sail, [Rep. Calvin] Say said it was public pressure and fears about the state's anti-business reputation.

‘There was a campaign by the media -- the surveys, the radio talk shows and also the negative statements that we are really so anti-business,’ Say said in an interview.

Also, Say said he and Senate President Colleen Hanabusa feared that the state would be liable if the Superferry sued because the state had given the ferry the needed approvals.”

So bogus surveys, coupled with hyperbolic, racist, inflammatory Oahu talk shows, Superferry’s own PR blitz and a bad decision by the Lingle Administration are all it took to turn our lawmakers into a bunch of cowering fools willing to throw the rule of law out the window?

Auwe! Things are much worse than I thought.