It bothers the shit out of me

[Jackpine Radical]

that almost the entirety of our Ruling Class is sitting around in the Officers' Quarters debating whether they should let the steerage passengers use the cracked china after they take their tin plates from them while the whole damn ship is headed for an iceberg.

[haikugal]

1. Yep..

[kentuck]

2. Concise and to the point.

Thanks!

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Your thread was the original stimulus for this.

I kinda liked it and edited it a little to be an OP.

[djean111]

3. O, come on! Some are at Chipotle!

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Zzzing!

[kentuck]

5. What passes for political debate nowadays...

is downright frightening.

[AuntPatsy]

6. I'm on board with that observation...

[Autumn]

7. Ain't that the fucking truth. Those assholes are doing well

so the whole damn country must be doing splendid. But you know what? Since we are doing the political "Titanic", those SOB's would lock us in the lower decks without a qualm look us in the eye and tell us they are doing it for our own good. Then load their lifeboats with campaign and cheer as the "Titanic" sinks

[Jackpine Radical]

9. I think you just revealed the plan.

Don't worry, though. There are several South American embassies that would take you in.

[Autumn]

10. No, I'll go down with the ship. Too old to swim to safety.

[kentuck]

12. I think Democrats need a reality check?

Perhaps it is just me, but many do not seem to be in the real world?

[Autumn]

14. If your talking elected Democrats yeah they need a reality check.

Many of us Democrats usualy called the fringe or any other derogatory term you can think of, have had our reality check. That's why we are pissed off with the party and fed up with business as usual.

[kentuck]

16. I'm with you...

...but there are many Democrats, even here on DU, that are with the Party, regardless of where they stand.

[Autumn]

19. Yes there are. I was a yellow dog Democrat myself for over 40 years.

Jamie Dimon whipping votes on the Senate floor for the Omnibus bill at Obama behest took care of that. I went to the DMV and changed my affiliation to Unaffiliated after that. Sooner or later we all decide no more, I've had enough or keep our heads buried in the sand.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. A felllow member of the fastest growing "party" in California

as well.

Decline to state...

YAY!!!!

[kentuck]

25. You are an enemy of the two-party system.

Personally, I think it is healthy to oppose the present state of the two-party system. Otherwise, no one should ever expect anything to change.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Been told as much

but since I really could give two shits on who is in the WH at this time.

Voting, just for the sake of voting, is useless in an oligarchy. Alas this is not the place to have that discussion.

[kentuck]

31. I think there was a time..?

when you could have that discussion here. Loyalty oaths have replaced honest debate, I think?

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. Yup

and I do not waste my time any more

[kentuck]

38. I understand where you and others are coming from...

I return and post as often as I can but nowhere near as much as in the past. But, I remember why I, and others, came here in the first place. We felt our very freedom was threatened and the 9/11 event only seemed to fortify our opinions. It was important that we had a place like DU to express our opinions and to educate our brothers and sisters, and to educate ourselves, about what was happening around us - and the need to maintain vigilance.

Maybe, because George W Bush and the warmongers were in office and spreading havoc to the four corners of the earth, we did not have so much time to fight amongst ourselves? But something changed. As if by degree, we became more and more partisan. And less agreeable to open debate without the strict confines of partisan boundaries...

[Jackpine Radical]

48. And more politically correct, and more rigid--

I remember writing a little spoof piece in which I imagined all of us locked up together in a FEMA camp, with all of us continuing with our various proclivities in the camp--the Magistrate running a kangaroo court with Old Lefty Lawyer alternating between prosecution & defense, DemoTex wearing his flight jacket & devoting his time to tunnelling out á la Hogan's Heroes, etc. It was a gentle tease, everyone took it well (as I expected they would back in those less-contentious days). I'm sure anything like that would now draw immediate alerts from at least a dozen members of my "fan club."

[Autumn]

36. nadin, I am so happy to see you posting here again.

Don't leave again. I think this party needs to grow faster and all across the country. I never tolerated bad behavior from my children and see no reason to tolerate it from a political party I have always supported.

[Jackpine Radical]

49. Be careful, Autumn. Don't encourage her.

She's the "hysterical type," ya know. (I can't remember who accused her of that.)


Hay Nadin, I don't know if I expressed it in our front & back-channel exchanges, but if not, I second Autumn.

Welcome back.

[Autumn]

50. She was accused of a lot of things

always by the same stalking creeps. I'm glad she's back.

[Jackpine Radical]

55. I agree.

Picture this scene--

It is the dead of late winter in Wisconsin. The protests are going on in Madison, and I was in an old farmhouse out in the country nearly 200 miles from Madison.

Nadin in San Diego somehow plugs into an online transmission of live police radio from Madison & starts PMing me about what she's hearing. I read Nadin's emails to my wife, who texted the most vital stuff about cop movements, etc. to our friends and relatives on the streets in Madison, keeping them informed of what the police were doing around them. (The answer, btw, was "nothing." The Madison cops, unlike the Capitol cops and later the State Patrol, were no fans of Walker. They were quite happy to hang back & keep a low profile.)

[rhett o rick]

72. Authoritarians don't like free spirits. Glad to see her posting again. nm

[zeemike]

35. That's because they are hoping for a place in the life boat.

But many will discover that it is full and there is no place for them when the ship goes down.
It's a big club but not big enough for the cheerleaders.

[BeanMusical]

64. +1

[840high]

52. You say many - I say most.

[A Simple Game]

59. Not just you I've been there for about 20 years. n/t

[cheapdate]

11. Continuing the nautical analogy...

The Democratic Party would keep a steady and moderate course toward the iceberg, the Republican Party would order full sail, full ahead with everything she's got.

That's how I look at it.

[Autumn]

18. Either way there are those of us who get to go down with the ship

and die in the freezing water.

[Punx]

20. While telling...

Their followers that Jebus will protect them and quietly grabbing everything they can and lowering the lifeboats out the back as they head for their private islands.

[hifiguy]

44. Yep. The two wings of the Money Party

putting on their kabuki play.

[ananda]

13. Yeah!

Great analogy.

Our ship of state is sinking with no hope of recourse
and the ruling class is only concerned about their
own wealth and status.

But if the ship goes down, what do they think will
happen?

Such solipsistic stupidity never ceases to amaze me.

[daredtowork]

15. The GOP Narrative of How Savvy American Exceptionalists Beat the Iceberg

The super-rich will take Transhumanist measures to upload their brains to a The Cloud or otherwise Transcend their mortal form while the Religious Right will of course be able to enjoy The Rapture.

Only the hippies, the socialists, and the shiftless welfare queens will go down with the ship.

[CrispyQ]

17. They are always thinking one quarter ahead!

[jtuck004]

21. And when you drag the captain to the rail and point at the inevitability of the oncoming 'berg,

the captain tells you how important it is to maintain the comfort of the Ruling Class, friends of the Captaincy.

For your own good, you understand.

[shaayecanaan]

46. The people who want to turn away from the iceberg

are not electable. Please understand.

[jtuck004]

54. Like I said. n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

56. We shouldn't listen to them.

We would only anger the Officers, who might cut the rations to us steerage passengers again.

[99th_Monkey]

23. The Obscenely Wealthy think they are immune

After all, they DO have all the aquifers, hired gun-toting
minions (both public & private), secret fortresses and so on ...
to bolster their delusions of grandeur and omniscience.

We are only good for cannon fodder & free prison labor,
until they don't need us anymore, then

[Phlem]

24. K&R!

[Fumesucker]

26. What fucking iceberg?

There's already an ice floe shortage for putting the poor olds onto, pretty soon icebergs too are going to be as rare as compassionate one percenters...

[libodem]

28. I love you, Jackpine

Well said.

Signed,

Fellow Steerage Passenger

[Jackpine Radical]

61. And love's the only thing that has a chance of getting us through this.

The love is returned.

[libodem]

66. .

[DeSwiss]

29. You have a gift for metaphor that's unparalleled!

- Too bad it must be wasted on this shit.

K&R

[Jackpine Radical]

60. Whatever my native talent might have been,

I think I've deliberately developed it over the years to help effectively communicate rather complicated ideas in concrete images that get the nut of the concept across clearly and in a way that sticks in the mind.

I'm glad you made me think about that for a bit.

As a matter of fact, a few lawyers who hired me as a forensic psychologist commented over the years about my use of metaphor and concrete imagery to communicate relatively complicated concepts to juries in ways they would understand.

[seveneyes]

30. Welcome to the paradise of hallucinations

Just a little pinprick ...

[democrank]

33. This paints a very accurate picture.

[Thespian2]

34. The Ruling Class

thinks the iceberg has no intention of hurting them on their private islands, yachts, planes, floating condos, etc. They feature themselves as being completely safe while the serfs surf.

K & R

[whereisjustice]

37. They simply farm us like livestock

[SoapBox]

40. Yup...Soylent Green, here we come.

Must be a cookbook to go along with it...penned by the KKKoch Brothers.

[hifiguy]

43. "To Serve Man"

Dickens' London is the next stop.

[WillyT]

39. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[november3rd]

41. They're not the Ruling Class

They've just bought enough influence to convince a critical mass that they are. Chip away at the critical mass and see what their influence can buy them then!

[hifiguy]

42. Don't worry. We will be allowed the honor of going down with the ship

while our "betters" board the lifeboats, which they have already surrounded with their personal armed guards.

[840high]

53. Yep - rich before women and children.

[HereSince1628]

45. Look, it's unsinkable. So quit your whining and focus on scrubbing that deck!!!!!

I think you missed a spot over here...

[Enthusiast]

47. Yer a Commie!

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[Jackpine Radical]

58. Oops--

You noticed.

In short, if we don't pull together for the common good, each of us is going to their own individual hell.

[Enthusiast]

67. You are right on about the common good.

I'm low enough down on the food chain to recognize it.

[woo me with science]

51. K&R Mutiny time.

Bernie Sanders is right. We need nothing less than political revolution.

[Duppers]

57. Big recommend ! nt

[Ford_Prefect]

62. What a long strange trip its been...

I felt like we entered the twilight zone during election 2000 and still keep on falling further and further down the rabbit hole. 2008 was supposed to be the beginning of the cure. Looking back we got sold alot of snake oil on that one.

3rd Way can't do basic math, let alone geometry or calculus. I cannot imagine how they concluded their economic model works.

Now we have a planet headed for disaster and a culture pretending to live in a Wonder Bread advert alternating with a cold war era nightmare.

My Brain Hurts from all the discontinuity and disingenuous platitudes. Don't anyone dare tell me to stop rocking the boat. I'm not rocking it. We are in a god-damn Hurricane!

Great Big Fucking K&R !!!!!!!

[zentrum]

63. Amen. n/t

[BeanMusical]

65. Kick and R.

Good analogy.

[hue]

68. Yup, this is happening! K&R!

[99Forever]

69. Supurb analogy.

Guillotine time yet?

[OffWithTheirHeads]

71. YUP!

[Cleita]

70. Good metaphor. I do sometimes feel that kind of doom, whether it's a comet coming dead

straight at us or our leaders rearranging the chairs on the Titanic and not paying attention to the iceberg.

[raouldukelives]

73. And that most of the passengers are still climbing over each other to lick their boots. nt

[RufusTFirefly]

74. I know. Let's raise tons and tons of money...

... so we can elect a President who will take the tons and tons of money out of politics.

I hope I'm not the only person who sees a problem here.

As Sen. Warren says so often, the game is rigged. I suspect that's one of several reasons why she's been reluctant to enter the race. To beat back the corporations, she'll almost certainly have to suck up to them. Bernie has candidly expressed similar concerns, wondering aloud in an interview whether we really can defeat these guys.

[canoeist52]

75. What these "new democrats" and the 1% forget is who keeps the enginges of the ship going.

The 99% need to re-learn how to lay down their tools and step away from the engines.
Strikes, slow-downs and boycotts are coming!

[BlueCaliDem]

76. I hear ya. But as long as we don't get money out of politics, we're doomed to repeat this scenario

over and over again, and the best politicians out there won't be heard because they don't have the money. It frustrates me to NO end.