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Question of the day

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After helping the Chicago Shakespeare Theater announce a citywide year-long arts festival in 2016, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, [Mayor Rahm Emanuel] was asked what “The Bard” would call the ongoing state budget standoff in Springfield.

“I’d probably stick with my quote from this morning, ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ with the emphasis on the word nothing,” he said. “Whether you look at Lear, King Richard, about power and the use of power – not power, but authority, etc – Shakespeare talked about the frailties of the human spirit, but also not to confuse your position with who you are. That’s all I’ll say on that,” he said.

* The Question: Your own Shakespearean definition of the current morass?

Extra credit for iambic pentameter.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:23 pm

Comments

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

(duh)

Comment by Soccermom Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:25 pm
The game’s afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry ‘God for Rauner, Illinois, and Saint Reagan!’

Comment by Honeybear Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:29 pm
Taming of the Shrew

Comment by Man with a plan Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:30 pm
Heavy… are the shoulders… that wear the Carhartt

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:31 pm
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our Illinois debt!

Comment by Honeybear Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:31 pm
“For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men.”

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:32 pm
et tu, dunkin?

Comment by kissinger Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:33 pm
The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
‘T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
When mercy seasons justice.

Comment by Keyrock Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:33 pm
We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

Comment by WeeblesWobble Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:37 pm
Nought’s had, all’s spent,
Where our desire is got without content;
‘Tis safer to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.

Comment by Northsider Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:38 pm
Cry Havoc and let slip the dogs of Goldberg!

Comment by Honeybear Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:38 pm
Our battle is more full of names than yours,
Our men more perfect in the use of arms,
Our armour all as strong, our cause the best;
Then reason will our hearts should be as good.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:41 pm
But man, proud man,
Dress’d in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep

(Measure for Measure. Act 2. Scene 2. Isabella speaking.)

Comment by Anon221 Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:42 pm
A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.

Comment by Res Melius Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:42 pm
“The first thing we do, lets kill all the superstars”. Figuratively of course.

Comment by Relocated Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:43 pm
Nothing will come of nothing.

Comment by WeeblesWobble Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:43 pm
Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Creeps in this petty place
And all our yesterdays have shown fools
the way to dust death. Out, out, brief candle
Live is but a walking shadow,
A poor fool who struts and frets his
role on an empty stage.

—poorly remembered quote from Macbeth. It puts me in the kind of mood I feel when I think about the state budget.

Comment by Earnest Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:44 pm
Shakespeare sees the ‘current morass’ coming to an end:

“Look, love, what envious streaks
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder East:
Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.”

Rau. and Mad., iii. 5.

Comment by OldIllini Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:44 pm
“Full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing.”

Comment by phocion Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:46 pm
The gentlemen doth protest too much, methinks.

Comment by Gone, but not forgotten Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:46 pm
A plague o’ both your houses!

Comment by Keyrock Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:47 pm
Wit, an’t be thy will, put me into good fooling!
Those wits, that think they have thee, do very oft
prove fools; and I, that am sure I lack thee, may
pass for a wise man: for what says Quinapalus?
‘Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.’

Twelfth Night (a play I did as a freshman in HS)

Comment by Eddy Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:47 pm
“A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

Comment by Stones Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:50 pm
To budget, or not to budget.

Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:51 pm
Richard III

Comment by Wensicia Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:52 pm
Exeunt, Pursued By A Bear

Comment by Served Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:52 pm
Alas poor Rauner…I knew him well…

Comment by observer Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:54 pm
“Dunkin, Dunkin, wherefore art thou, Dunkin?”

Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:56 pm
To hang in there, or not to hang in there. That is the question.

Comment by 360 Degree TurnAround Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:56 pm
The empty vessel makes the loudest sound.

Comment by Sangamo Sam Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:58 pm
Oh Status Quo, status quo. Where fore art thou status quo?

Comment by 360 Degree TurnAround Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 12:59 pm
Romeo and Juliet.

Stuck in a battle larger than them. Fate brings them together.

It ends with both gone, one quickly following the other. They destroy themselves bc each has mistaken circumstances and reacts excessively.

Comment by Formerly Known As... Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:04 pm
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our superstars, but in ourselves.

Comment by Keyrock Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:05 pm
Friends, Romans, countrymen , lend me your beer.

Comment by Blue dog dem Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:13 pm
Thy standoff’s not accidental, but a trade.

Comment by Springfieldish Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:15 pm
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” — Puck, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, scene ii.

–

Comment by MrJM Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:16 pm
Tis an unweeded state that grows to seed.

Comment by Vole Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:24 pm
I think this is going to be the winter of our discontent.

Comment by Democrat Grrrl Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:27 pm
Doth Rauner create his own budget morass,
As Engineer of the morass,
He doth hoist himself by his own petard.

Comment by Austin Blvd Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:27 pm
“Believ’d the magic wonders which he sang,”
About Owain Glyndwr, the last Welsh Prince of Wales, Henry IV Part 1

Comment by Anyone Remember Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:27 pm
Double, double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Comment by jdcolombo Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:27 pm
“A majority, a majority! My kingdom for a majority!”

Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:29 pm
Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace, but there is no peace. The war has actually begun!…Oh wait….wrong guy. My bad.

Comment by Patrick Henry Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:29 pm
Quoth the Governor,
“I must be cruel only to be kind;
Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.”

Comment by Century Club Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:31 pm
“What’s in a name? That which we call a tuna filet by any other name would smell as sweet”

Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:32 pm
“And why should Caesar be a tyrant then?
Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf
But that he sees the Romans are but sheep;”

Comment by Enviro Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:33 pm
“The better part of valour is $20 million.”

Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:34 pm
Rauneo, Rauneo. Wherefore art thou, Rauneo? Deny thy union-busting and refuse thy hostages; or if thou wilt not, be sworn my gov, I will no longer be a CapFaxulet.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:35 pm
Two houses, both alike in dignity
In fair Springfield, where we lay our scene
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean

Comment by liberal muse Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:35 pm
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

(Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene III, L. 140-1)

Comment by Jerry Callo Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:36 pm
No legacy is so rich as honesty.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:36 pm
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:36 pm
“My Carhartt has a strawberry milkshake stain on it. Out, damned spot! out, I say!”

Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:37 pm
Tier two or not tier two

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:38 pm
Things small as nothing, for requset’s sake only, He makes important; possessed he is with greatness.

Troilus and Cressida 2.3.170-1, Ulysses to Ajax

Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:38 pm
Goldberg is the soul of wit.

Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:41 pm
Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides:
Who cover faults, at last shame them derides.

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:43 pm
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Or, in this case, Illinois.

Comment by Roamin' Numeral Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:43 pm
Henry IV, Part I (c. 1597)
The arms are fair,
When the intent of bearing them is just.
Act V, scene 2, line 88.

I couldn’t decide. Lol!

Comment by sideline watccher Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:45 pm
This above all; to thine own agenda be true.

Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:46 pm
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;

Comment by Big T Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:48 pm
“Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.”

(Julius Caesar, Act I. Scene II, L. 190-5)

Comment by Jerry Callo Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:48 pm
“This cold night will turn us all to fools and madmen.” From King Lear.

Comment by bluecollargal Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:49 pm
“Beer nuts is now the official disease of Milwaukee”. Shakespeare. No, George Carlin.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:55 pm
Something is rotten in the State of Illinois.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:55 pm
There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:56 pm
Comedy of Errors

Comment by wordslinger Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:57 pm
Have we killed all the lawyers?

Comment by jihadi Ralph Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 1:58 pm
To be Solvent or not to be solvent, That is the Illinois question.

Comment by Downstate Hack Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:01 pm
To do a great right do a little wrong

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:06 pm
Is this a budget which I see before me,
The pages toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A budget of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the politic-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going;
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o’ the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,
And on thy pages and dudgeon gouts of funds
Which was not so before.
–the Scottish Play as done in Springfield

Comment by D.P.Gumby Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:06 pm
My accomplishments mock me

Comment by Groundhog Day Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:09 pm
O,what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:10 pm
“How poor are they that have not patience (to hang in there)? What wound did ever heal but by degrees? (Othello-fixed)

Comment by How Ironic Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:11 pm
“And oftentimes excusing of a fault (or Blaming Madigan) doth make the fault the worse by the excuse.” (King John)

Comment by How Ironic Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:12 pm
Gonna be hard to beat D.P.Gumby. Just sayin…

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:14 pm
Et tu, Bruce’?

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:17 pm
I am resolved; tis but a three years’ fast:
The mind shall banquet, though the body pine:
Fat paunches have lean pates, and dainty bits
Make rich the ribs, but bankrupt quite the wits

Comment by Triple fat Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:17 pm
“For is the sport for the governor to be hoist by his owne petard”…at least I hope this phrase is applicable– and sooner is better.

Comment by Kippax Blue Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:18 pm
” If we commenters have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but double-clicked here
While these comments did appear.
And this Post and its theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Soul,
If we have unearned Drole
Now to ‘scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else O.W. a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Miller shall restore amends.”

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:25 pm
If it were done when ’tis done, then t’were well. It were done quickly.

Comment by Big T Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:25 pm
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveler returns

Comment by Old Shepherd Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:27 pm
OW just made a liar outta me.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:28 pm
Poor naked wrenches, where’re you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your looped and windowed raggedness defend you
From seasons such as these!

Comment by Ward B. Shakespeare Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:33 pm
The Baron and his wealthy pals
Spent what it took to win
He ran his ads from wall to wall
And beat the mighty Quinn

“I am in charge!,” he told us all
And hit the ground full speed
Then sent his orders to the Dome,
“It’s these reforms we need!”

But what was this? They wouldn’t budge
Though his demands were read
These lawmakers would not submit
And follow where he led

Although he mocked both John and Mike
For their approach, top-down
He copied it and made it his;
This made the Leaders frown

For months on end, the impasse grew
Things got a little weird
There even was that one guy, Chris
Who wouldn’t shave his beard

And then one day, a ray of hope
Could we being to smile?
The governor gave half an inch
But Mike wants 20 miles

So on it goes, and some get hurt
Our credit rating slides
And winter settles in without
Much hope for compromise

Comment by Snucka Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:48 pm
“Oh how bitter it is to see happiness through the eyes of another man.”

(This Shakespear quote applies to each side of this debacle since they both think the other is happy in meting out misery…the irony is that they’re just looking in a mirror…)

Comment by Captain Illini Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:52 pm
Madigan, sir, you’re robb’d; for shame, put on
your frown;
Your budget is burst, you have quaffed half your soul;
Even now, now, very now, an old Rauner ram
Is topping your Dunkin ewe. Arise, arise;
Awake the General Assembly with the bell,
Or else the Judiciary will make a grandsire of you:
Arise, I say.

Iago, Othello Act I Scene I

Comment by Das Man Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 2:54 pm
Rich,

D.P Gumby and OW hath the pentameter down, but Das Man doth provide a most excell’nt visual in the Mind’s Eye.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 3:04 pm
Can you imagine any other blog with this level of erudition, literacy, intelligence? Nope!

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 3:15 pm
Best Question-of-the-Day of the year.

Exeunt [all], pursued by bears.

Comment by Any Mouse Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 3:17 pm
I know I am educated and have read the Bard ( not for many, many years ). These comments are priceless!

Comment by illini Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 3:25 pm
All the world’s a stage
Though it appeareth it shall depart a capitol anon
and upon it shall be 177 members of a caste,
who shall go to the hinterlands with empty pockets and empty promises.

Comment by A guy Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 3:42 pm
Madigan as Hamlet:
Alas, poor Dunkin! I knew him, Cullerton: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it. Where be your suits now? your
pocket squares? your ties? your flashes of independence,
that were wont to set the House Dems on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
Now get you to my Rauner’s chamber, and tell him, let
him put his targets on a tax increase, to this favour he must
come; make him laugh at that.

Comment by Century Club Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 3:50 pm
Wow! Bravo everyone!

Comment by burbanite Friday, Nov 13, 15 @ 3:52 pm