OK, let the Chouest Bashing begin
Just amazing
and to think I used to hold Representative Duncan Hunter with some esteem for being a champion of our industry but it turns out he is just another Washington slug who needs to have a dumptruck of salt poured on top of him. he is nothing more than a self serving champion of himself and his campaign contributors…namely that king daddy slug of all Mister Gary Chouest
Studies “prove” that there is no connection between campaign contributions and “constituent services” rendered to said contributors. They are pure of heart & soul, and are motivated only by altruism and a burning desire to further democracy and transparency in governance.
Plus, the SCOTUS ruled that $$$ = speech = $$$ = speech = $$$ = speech ad infinitum, and we sure wouldn’t want to trample on any corporate-entity-humanoid’s free-speech rights, now would we?
Besides, I’m sure the honorable Rep. Hunter (Alpine, CA in SD County) and ECO (de bayou) know exactly what the Coast Guard needs in the way of ice-breaking and military capabilities out of their multi-mission vessels. What could the commandant of the USCG possibly know that would surpass their obvious expertise?
Hunter is the poster child for the scumbag corrupt politician that should wake up in a prison cell tomorrow. I wish I could believe that some member of our supreme court is suffering from terminal guilt over allowing this kind of legalized bribery and institutionalized corruption to continue.
We are now officially a 3rd world kleptocracy run by thieves.
Word!!! You got dat $hit right!
how much you want to bet that the Congress somehow comes up with a special appropriation of $200M to buy the AIVIQ then offers her to the Coast Guard who then rejects it yet again so the vessel then goes to sit in the fleet in Beaumont.
the thing I can’t understand is why Massa Gary is so hot to sell the ship? I cannot imagine his charter contract with Shell gave the latter any real way out and that ECO is collecting a couple of hundred grand every day or Shell paid a big lumpsum to get out of the agreement (of course then any sale of the ship to the Goobermint would be pure profit for the Godfather of Galliano)
I’m sure they will find the cash … it is a good investment for them. It’s not coming out of their pockets and it shows that not only can they be bought but they follow orders.
I think the scumbag from California should wake up in his cell being spooned by his new cellmate, Gary.
I wonder if they looked in Hunter’s freezer? Louisiana is famous for this kind of bribery, look at the William Jefferson bribery case. Tell me the difference other than the supreme court had not quite been fully purchased.
Hunter should be in for taking a bribe and his butt buddy for paying the bribe. What disgusts me even more is the fact that our now thoroughly corrupted supreme court has signed off on this out and out bribery. It doesn’t surprise me though, every single action taken by the dictators of WW2 were legal in their country at the time … they made sure that the courts legalized whatever they wanted to do.
Unfortunately we wont be rescued from our own criminal and corrupt court and congress. They don’t even try to hide their crimes any more. Why should they, we can’t do anything about it.
Plan B: Mister Gary can probably make it a new addition to the KP training fleet.
Representative Hunter is a fine man and should not be subjected to character assassination by the likes of you people. Don’t you people have work to do like cleaning or painting? This is why having crew access to the internet is a hindrance to productivity. The Aiviq is sate of the art vessel that will be a great addition to the Coast Guards expanding fleet.
It would need to be significantly modified to bring it to military specifications, but no doubt cheaper than building a new one from scratch.
[QUOTE=captjacksparrow;191653]Plus, the SCOTUS ruled that $$$ = speech = $$$ = speech = $$$ = speech ad infinitum, and we sure wouldn’t want to trample on any corporate-entity-humanoid’s free-speech rights, now would we?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Steamer;191655]I wish I could believe that some member of our supreme court is suffering from terminal guilt over allowing this kind of legalized bribery and institutionalized corruption to continue.[/QUOTE]
The Citizens United ruling had nothing to do with [B]campaign contributions[/B].
This is the summary of that ruling from Wikipedia: “The United States Supreme Court held (5–4) that freedom of speech prohibited the government from restricting [B]independent political expenditures[/B] by a nonprofit corporation. The principles articulated by the Supreme Court in the case have also been extended to for-profit corporations, labor unions and other associations.”
(“An [B]independent expenditure[/B], in elections in the United States, is a political campaign communication that expressly advocates for the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate that is not made in cooperation, consultation or concert with or at the request or suggestion of a candidate, candidate’s authorized committee or political party. If a candidate, his/her agent, his/her authorized committee, his/her party, or an “agent” for one of these groups becomes “materially involved”, the expenditure is not independent.”)
Specifically, a conservative organization made a movie bashing Hillary (Hillary: The Movie) and wanted to run it a few weeks before the 2008 primary election. Hillary sued to shut them down and lost.
If only they could do something for those ducted CP propellers and mechanical powertrain. I can’t see any additional flywheels in the GA (from Shell’s ice management plan), but I hope that’s just because of poor quality of the drawing and they have some additional rotating mass on the shaftline. There’s something, but I can’t tell from the drawing if it’s just part of the main engine, or a separate component.
[QUOTE=c.captain;191651]and to think I used to hold Representative Duncan Hunter with some esteem …[/QUOTE]
Really? The guy who introduced a bill as sarcasm? The rest of Congress didn’t get the joke, they passed the bill (perhaps in their own exercise in sarcasm))
[QUOTE=jdcavo;191706]Really? The guy who introduced a bill as sarcasm? The rest of Congress didn’t get the joke, they passed the bill (perhaps in their own exercise in sarcasm))[/QUOTE]
obviously I have never scrutinized everything Hunter has done or said as a Representative and was basing my opinion on statements made by him and Rep. John Garamendi which are supportive of the US having a strong merchant marine and healthy maritime industry. sadly, this bit of overt, blatant and shameful shilling for ECO shows he is a political whore. I expected this from the filthy Alaskan delegation who are the most soiled of the esteemed members of the Congress but somehow I has under the mistaken belief that Hunter was a tiny bit cleaner…he ain’t and his stench now overwhelms my olfactory senses.
Congressional research service report dated 13 October 2016
Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization: Background and Issues for Congress
From the summary:
The Coast Guard’s notional schedule for the program, which could change, shows a draft Request for Proposals(RFP) being released in the first quarter of FY2017, a final RFP being released in the fourth quarter of FY2017 or the first quarter of FY2018, Coast Guard evaluation of received proposals taking place from the third or fourth quarter of FY2018 through the third or fourth quarter of FY2019, a contract award being made in the third or fourth quarter of FY2019, and construction of the ship beginning in the third or fourth quarter of FY2019.
A new heavy polar icebreaker that begins construction in FY2020 might enter service in 2024 or 2025, while Polar Star was refurbished and reentered service in December 2012 for an intended period of 7 to 10 years—a period that will end between December 2019 and December 2022. Consequently, another potential issue for Congress concerns how to bridge the time between the end of Polar Star’s current intended service life and the entry into service of one or more new heavy polar icebreakers. There are at least two options for bridging this time period: One would be to further extend the service life of Polar Star and/or repair and extend the service life of Polar Sea. The other would be to charter (i.e., lease) one or more other icebreakers (perhaps foreign- owned ones), if such ships are available for charter and have capabilities for performing missions performed by U.S. heavy polar icebreakers. The Coast Guard is examining the feasibility and potential cost effectiveness of either further extending the service life of Polar Star or repairing Polar Sea.
in reality, the AIVIQ could probably serve as a USCG icebreaker without the massive conversion to military standards if the boys in blue relaxed their requirements however it is the bailing out of ECO which stinks so much with this one. What happened with their deal with Shell? if Shell is still paying a charter rate every day then ECO shouldn’t be trying to peddle off the ship to the government but if Shell paid off Gary on the contract then in reality Shell owns the ship and if the King Slug did cut a deal to sell the AIVIQ to the Congress then he should pay the money received to Shell. did Shell get out of the contract but leave the ship purely in ECO’s ownership to dispose with as they wish? if this deal does nothing but benefit ECO then this is hideous on its face because Massa Gary has collected from Shell and now intends to collect from the taxpayer. This is uglier that the HOS deal with the Navee where they got top dollar for their four subchasers and also are collecting $25k/day from the USN to continue to operate them.
Also not that the number $33M a year is tossed out to charter the AIVIQ from ECO which is just under $100k/day. THAT’s FOR A FUCKING BAREBOAT CHARTER!
I see Gary is building himself quite a nice fleet of Damen designed tugs for Valdez, seems like a solid design choice.
Edison Chouest to Build 13 Damen Tugs
[QUOTE=rshrew;191749]I see Gary is building himself quite a nice fleet of Damen designed tugs for Valdez, seems like a solid design choice.[/QUOTE]
Edison Chouest to Build 13 Damen Tugs