The superferry is a symbol.

For both sides. And each side knows that a great deal is at stake. It is not about money. If it were, there would be different people at the head of it. You don’t run an important race with bald tires. In fact, those at the head of the superferry ensure financial failure. They have failed before in other ventures, and survive purely on the basis of “arrogant political sycophancy.”

The superferry is an in your face–you mean nothing, final gesture to the people of this State. It is not so much the nature of the project–although it is preposterous; it is more that this project is part of an accumulating assault on these islands. Development projects have grown to sizes which indicate that plunder is reaching a climaxing phase. The superferry is so large, so environmentally insensitive, so out of resonance with the outer islands, that it symbolizes complete disregard and destruction of the people’s will.

Putting aside hidden agendas, for the moment, the superferry no longer appears to be a politically, financially or ecologically sound project. The governor, the lieutenant-governor, who looks more foolish every time he tries to think, and their cronies were caught again with their hands in the pockets of cultural dwarfs. Governor Lingle, who imagines herself a queen, finally dropped her silly grin and lost some of her bluster. The moment she resorted to threats, SWAT teams and military personnel, she announced to all, the defective nature of her thought processes.

I think it is time to sharpen the people’s pitchforks.

- Raphael O’Suna, Haiku