Comment 7 for bug 431103

While it appears there is some kernel interaction it isn't just a kernel issue. I did further testing and came up with some interesting results.

     ami | aki | ari | full boot | init message go to console
fedora ami-2547a34c | fedora aki-b51cf9dc | fedora ari-b31cf9da | Yes | Yes
ubuntu ami-1a658573 | fedora aki-b51cf9dc | fedora ari-b31cf9da | No | Yes
ubuntu ami-1a658573 | aki-9c1efef5 | ari-901efef9 | Yes | No
fedora ami-2547a34c | aki-9c1efef5 | ari-901efef9 | Yes | Yes

A fedora userspace with the karmic kernel/initrd will boot and display init messages to the console.