Monday, December 22, 2008

Jokes and Accusations against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich


  • According to U.S. Attorney David Fitzgerald, Blagojevich is attempting to sell the U.S. senate seat he would be in charge of appointing when Barack Obama becomes president. “It’s a f—ing valuable thing,” he reportedly said. “You just don’t give it away for nothing….I’ve got this thing, and it’s f—ing golden.”
Governor Rod Blagojevich didn't show up for work in Chicago on Wednesday. Just his luck, it was national call-in-sick if you're gay day. He may have to resign as governor of Illinois but he's leading all polls to be the next governor of California.
  • Blagojevich, presumably having contacted Obama’s staff, seeked “appointment as secretary of health and human services or an ambassadorship, an appointment to a private foundation, a higher paying job for his wife or campaign contributions,” according to Fitzgerald. Local media has suggested that Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s Chief of Staff, may have tipped off authorities about Blagojevich’s proposals.
St. Mark's Episcopal in Chicago placed global positioning devices in their Nativity Scene figurines to halt theft. They're easy to track. Last year's Messiah is on his way to Washington and the donkey's been arrested for trying to sell a Senate seat.
  • At one point, Blagojevich proposed taking a high-paying union job in exchange for Obama getting his choice of Senate replacement, with the union getting benefits from Obama. When the deal fell through, the governor told his wife Patti and their aides, “They’re not willing to give me anything but appreciation. F— them.”
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich didn't show up in the legislature Tuesday for the impeachment hearing against him for selling a Senate seat. It was easy to find him. He had to fly to Mogadishu to accept an honorary doctorate from Somali Pirate University.
  • Blagojevich considered taking the Senate position in order to avoid impeachment as Governor, as well as set himself up for a 2016 presidential run. ” “If they’re not going to offer anything of any value,” he said, “then I might just take it.”
"Time magazine reports that Governor Blagojevich has an approval rating 4%. That's with a margin of error of 5%. That means he could actually disapprove of himself." --Jay Leno

  • Blagojevich compared his position in regards to the Senate seat to a sports agent shopping a player around to “the highest bidder.”
ABC News says Rod Blagojevich was a bookie with links to the mob before he was governor. Jesse Jackson Jr. just realized he was snitching on the Chicago mob. In lieu of flowers, his family is requesting that donations be made to his father's slush fund.
  • The governor discussed starting a “non-profit organization” to hit up rich friends of Obama’s like Warren Buffett for up to $15 million. He would then run the organization when he retired as governor.
"It was a very stupid thing to do. Especially since the last governor of Illinois is currently in prison for exactly the same kind of thing. And not only that, think of it, you're in Chicago, you have Barack Obama's seat for sale, don't you go directly to Oprah? Who would pay more for Barack Obama's seat than her?" --Jimmy Kimmel

  • He described his “non-profit” fantasy to a union leader representing a Senatorial candidate, who said he’d “run it up the pole.”
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was defended by his Chicago lawyer Thursday. He noted that tapes are inadmissible in an impeachment, and impeachment would taint a criminal trial. Dick Cheney just told his wife that snow or no snow, they're moving to Chicago.
  • Blagojevich also discussed getting “some money up front, maybe” from a potential Senatorial candidate.

Federal prosecutors have released an affadavit showing recordings of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich allegedly talking about selling Obama's Senate seat.

Blagojevich who said, “I’ve got this thing, and it’s [expletive] golden. And I’m just not giving it up for [expletive] nothing..." was ACTUALLY referring to his personal hairstylist who he stole from Emilio Estevez in "The Breakfast Club."
  • Blagojevich ran a pay-to-play scheme to receive money from contractors who benefit from his actions as governor.

Barack Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel refused to answer questions Friday about the attempted sale of Obama's Senate seat. He's desperate to get the press on to another subject. He just asked one of his daughters if she'd like to go missing.
  • Upon learning he was under investigation for fraud and bribery, Blagojevich and his associates worked “feverishly to get as much money from contractors, shaking then down, pay-to-play, before the end of the year,” according to Fitzgerald.
Governor Rod Blagojevich refused to step down from office Monday when Illinois lawmakers began impeachment proceedings. It may take awhile. The legislature is trying to come up with the six hundred thousand dollars he's demanding to resign in disgrace.
  • When a $1.8 billion tollway project was announced, Blagojevich tried to get beneficiaries of the contract to give $100,000 in contributions.
Governor Blagojevich was at a Christmas play in a Chicago School, and when the three wise men showed up bearing gifts for the newborn Jesus, Governor Blagojevich demanded half the loot. (Leno)
  • Blagojevich noted about the tollway project, “I could have made a larger announcement but wanted to see how they would perform by the end of the year. If they don’t perform, f— ‘em.”
"Prosecutors said Tuesday there is no evidence that Barack Obama was involved in the Blagojevich scandal. Or, as Fox News reported it, 'Is Barack Obama involved in the Blagojevich scandal?'" --Amy Poehler
  • The governor allotted $8 million in funds to Children’s Memorial Hospital, believing he would get $50,000 back from the hospital’s CEO. When the money never came, he checked with staff to see if he could pull back the funding.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked the state Supreme Court on Friday to declare Governor Rod Blagojevich disabled and unfit for office. That's silly. If crookedness was a disability, Chicago would be known worldwide as the City of Ramps.
  • A bill involving the diverting of casino funds for horseracing has been held up because Blagojevich has yet to receive $100,000 contributions from those who would benefit.
The Weather Channel reported a huge mass of cold air sweeping into the Midwest on Sunday. The front was setting new records for low wind-chill temperatures. It was so cold in Chicago that Governor Rod Blagojevich was selling heated Senate seats.
  • After the Chicago Tribune called for his impeachment in editorials, the governor and John Harris, his chief of staff, warned the Tribune Company that they would have to fire certain editors if they wanted to get the sale of Wrigley Field, which they owned, passed. “Fire all those f—ing people. Get them the f— out of there. And get us some editorial support,” he reportedly said.
Inaugural officials predicted four million people will attend the Inauguration ceremony. Every power broker will be there. The Illinois governor will be kept out of town so in the event of a catastrophe, someone will be alive to sell the government.
  • All together, Blagojevich was looking to acquire about $2.5 million in “contributions” through these illegal shakedowns.
Blagojevich is accused of trying to sell a seat in the Senet to the highest bidder. If Blagojevich is sent to jail - his seat will be sold to the highest bidder. (Connan)
  • Blagojevich told Harris that he was “financially hurting,” and that he needed this money for “security” and to stay “politically viable.”
Barack Obama cut all ties to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich Thursday. He's also disowned Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko. Having Chicago as a hometown for an incoming president is like having a brother-in-law with a gambling problem and no car.
  • Many of his pay-to-play schemes were done with the participation of convicted felons like the infamous Tony Rezko.
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday for trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat. His family is so proud. Rod Blagojevich could go down in history as the only Serbian leader whose trial didn't end up at the International Criminal Court.
  • Fearing that the money in his Friends Of Blagojevich campaign fund would be frozen if arrested, he considered prepaying his criminal attorney, believing the attorney would re-donate the money if his services weren’t required.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Barack Obama victory speech in Chicago - Jazz version

After campaigning for Obama on Monday and Tuesday in Indiana, which we were told was a crucial state. My friend and I raced back to Chicago's Grant Park to hear Obama's victory speech. Later I would condense it and write a soundtrack, then record it, then create a video:


Wednesday, September 24, 2008

A 15 year old depressed guy hacks into VP candidate Palins Emails

The supposed Hacker who got into Vice Presidential hopeful Sarah Palin's Email, and posted it on line:

All signs point to state rep’s son as Palin ‘hacker’


The guy who hacked into would-be VP Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account is none other than the son of a Democratic state representative from Tennessee, posits GatwayPundit. A convincing amount of evidence suggests the “hacker” (perhaps a status he doens’t deserve) is David Kernell, son of Tennessee representative Mike Kernell.

The investigation is centered in Memphis, the Commercial Appeal reported:

An FBI and Secret Service investigation into the hacking, launched Wednesday, now involves agents in Memphis, said C.M. Sturgis, a spokesman for the Memphis FBI branch.

“All I can say is that a matter was referred to us from the Anchorage, Alaska, office. An investigation at this time is being coordinated out of FBI headquarters in the Department of Justice,” Sturgis said.

  • rubicon10@yahoo.com was the account of an unnamed college student, according to this Wired story. Wired identified the student as the son of a Democratic state representative in Tennessee. The father offered a non-denial denial.

    A person who identified himself as the student’s father, when reached at home, said he could not talk about the matter and would have no comment. The father, in a second call with Threat Level late Thursday afternoon, said that neither he nor his son has been contacted by any law enforcement authorities. A local Tennessee paper had erroneously reported that his son had been contacted by authorities, he told Threat Level.

  • Rep. Kernell offered an even-less convincing denial late yesterday afternoon in a story in the Knoxville News Sentinel:

    Asked whether he or his son, a student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, had been contacted by authorities investigating the break-in of Palin’s account, he responded:
    “Me, no.”
    As far as his 20-year-old son, David, he said: “I can’t say. That doesn’t mean he has or hasn’t (been contacted by investigators).”
    Kernell, D-Memphis, cited the father-son relationship.

    This article in the Tennessean adds little, with Kernell conceding that the Internet is talking about his son.

  • Free Republic notes that rubicon changed Palin’s password to “popcorn.” Popcorn. Kernell.
  • “The Alaksa division of the FBI has contacted the Memphis division and an investigation is under way,” WREG-TV reports. Kernell also acknowledged that people are talking about his son but denied he had been contacted by the FBI.
  • But if people are talking about David Kernell as the same person as rubicon10@yahoo.com and rubicon admitted that he he did it on 4chan, then the circumstantial evidence that David Kernell hacked Palin’s account is pretty straight-forward, isn’t it?
  • Skirts, Not Pantsuits, a pro-Palin blog, asserts that this blog is linked to rubicon10@yahoo.com. I’m not sure how they established that. Indeed the entire site could be a prank. However, it does include this information, the dates line up and the depression wouldn’t be unheard of:

    My name is David Kernell I am 15 a white cacasian male i live in memphis, TN. My favorite and only hobby is chess, more like an obsession. I am not afraid to say that i have acute depression and have been institutionalized twice, one at th age of 9 in Texas and one this past year. I have been strugleing with this for my entire life and have finally come to the conclusion that being stoic in most of life’s issues is of the untmost importance.

    Still, the Memphis Commercial Appeal established the chess connection, which lends credence to the blog’s legitimacy:

    David Kernell excelled at chess while at Germantown High School and won the 2004 Tennessee Open Scholastic Chess Championship. Internet searches show someone uses the handle rubico on chess Web sites.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Boo fuckin hoo


The following is the hyper text of the essay:

essay1 :: Gigi asks "What does `Boo Fuckin Hoo' mean?"

Gigi my neighbor, a collage student who gets me to write her papers for her, knocks and enters my apartment, opens my fridge, and calls: "Want one?"

She enters the room with two beers. I was mid sentence, writing in my Blog about Iraq2 and the real meaning of the phrase Bush Doctrine3. She drops a note: "What does Boo Fuckin Hoo mean?"

Three years ago, Gigi knocked on my door an introduced herself. She invited herself in, lit a joint, and casually went through my belongings. I had been unpacking and listening repeatedly to Cat Stevens Tea for the Tiller-man , speculating on meanings. She offered me her joint just as Stevens sang the lyric "Wine for the women who made the rain come"5 - and I asked if she would like some wine. Laughing, we ended on my sofa. At some point she told me she had herpes.6 Later she told me that she just said that so I wouldn't come on to her. Instead, somehow, she became my little sister in need of saving, and I became her big brother willing to do anything for her.

Now she explained finding the essay add7 in the artist section of Craigslist.
"Well, " I said, "depending on context,8 `boo Fucking hoo', is just a more explicit `boo hoo', a phrase used sarcastically when a person shows too much self pity."9

"Yeah, " Gigi responded, "how's is my paper coming along?"`We' were finishing a paper that argues that the ending of Don Quixote should be changed.`10 We' worked out an argument beginning with reference to a fictional essay11 about a 20th century writer who re-authors Don Quixote. "The text of ..are verbally identical, but the second is almost infinitely richer because Menard's work must be considered in light of world events since 1602."

There was also the historic precedent of Shakespeare's play King Lear, that had an adjustment to it's final scene. It was altered from a scene of absolute despair to a scene of possible redemption and rebirth. Hope is reintroduced into the ending of that play
.12

`We' conclude: In light of world events, terrorism, wars, economic uncertainty, disillusioned youth, Don Quixote's ending should be changed.Quixote should be presented as having no regrets for going after his impossible dreams.13

"I need to spell check." I answered.

Then I mused: "It could also be a phrase of endearment. 14"

Gigi lights up as I explain. "The word `'boo', as slang, can mean your lover, as in `my boo'. So " Boo Fucking `who'? ", could be a rhetorical question- `Who are you making love to?' Much the same as male asking the woman he is `with'- `Whose your daddy?
15the goal is to have the other recognize your presence." "How do you come up with all this shit?" Gigi asked giggling in her pot fog. " Can you turn it into a 500 word essay?16

500 word
by Paul Grant (follower of Basho)17
The short piece stands on it's own for what it is. If one wanted to find additional meaning, a hypertexed version of this essay can be found at

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:

"Words themselves contain no meaning, they only trigger meaning."
Paul Williams in das Energie.

There going to make a movie about the things things that they find crawling in my brain.
Counting Crows


1. Essay = ".. means no more than a humble effort to instruct or amuse. "

why take your time to do anything? There is a sense of willpower, a leaning foreword with an idea.

"The taste and morals of the nation have been more generally improved by these excellent, though short and detached, compositions, than by long, regular, elaborate systems. They were addressed to the heart and imagination, and fitted for the haunts of men engaged in the employments of common life; while scientific treatises of ethics were calculated only for the exercise of scholastic disputation ; and their influence on the conduct of life, if they ever possessed any, was circumscribed within harrow limits." Moral and Literary By Vicesimus Knox Published by Printed for J. Richardson and Co., 1821

Each word, if paused upon, bring back memories, interconnect with other ideas. But who cares about the things crawling around in my brain. "You never know." Gigi tells me.



2. my Blog about Iraq = Iraq War News & History:: News, documents, videos and commentary on the news about the War in Iraq.

An actual Blog Ive been working on for years, trying to somehow figure it all out. Its really depressing. For awhile I thought about making a book of biographies of all the dead soldiers in the order they were reported dead by the military. I would look on-line for local obituaries and condense them into one page. After thirty fout I realized how inpossible the task was, and that was almost 2,000 soldiers ago.

I am for the US leaving Iraq in a rapid-secret deployment. Maybe have them reappear after a week in Afghanistan or Bosnia, or even Texas to help out. If or when the situation in Iraq turns very bad - pop back in. I am against war and totally for diplomacy, but a war policy is needed.

Go back to the Collin Powell Doctrine of exceeding force quickly in and out. Give up the concept of occupying.



3. the real meaning of the phrase Bush Doctrine -
what I was writing when I was interrupted:



In an interview with Charles Gibson, Republican Vice Presidential hopeful Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was asked if she agreed with the Bush Doctrine.

To which she responded: "In what respect, Charlie?"

To which she was informed: "... that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense."

Was Gibson's description right in his definition of the Bush Doctrine?

I compared it to what `pundits' said it meant to the reality, including the first writer to use the phrase. Then after a lengthy article I concluded:

The Sad Truth

The sad truth is that the Bush Presidency has left the United States trillions of dollars in debt, in two ongoing wars with a military bogged down and needing significant influx of money and soldiers, with a country in economic trouble, a budget debt of 50 Billion, a very low standing in world opinion, and a much less stable middle East then when his term began.

Bush has had his accomplishments - giving tax breaks to the rich and allowing oil companies to reap record profits as gas prices have almost doubled. He has brought a corporation called Haliburton back from financial problems, and has moved towards the use of private military firms such as Blackwater who are above the law, secret prisons around the world, promoted the use of torture and decrease of civil rights not just of non- Americans, but of US citizens.


4. Tea for the Tillerman / Cat Stevens

Tea for the Tillerman, which became a top-10 Billboard hit and within 6 months of its release, sold over 500,000 copies, reaching Gold record status in the United States and in Britain, combining Stevens' new folk style with accessible lyrics that spoke of everyday situations and problems, mixed with the beginning of spiritual imagery that would remain in his music from thereon. As Stevens sought for the answers to life, inner peace, truth, and World Peace, an audience starved for the same answers followed.

Major events steered Cat Steven's Spiritual development

Tuberculosis

Stevens was living a fast-moving pop-star life and in early 1968 at the age of 19, he became very ill with tuberculosis, and a collapsed lung. During several months in the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst and a year of convalescence, Stevens began to question aspects of his life, and took up meditation, read about other religions and became a vegetarian. During his recovery, he his newly found concern over what might happen to him if he should die arose for the first time. Later, in several interviews he has made reference to the same focus: "Ever since I remember I was searching for the meaning to life." During that time, as part of his spiritual awakening and questioning, he wrote as many as 40 songs, which were much more introspective than his previous work. Many of those songs were to appear on his albums in years to come.

"I caught tuberculosis and suddenly I've got this medieval disease, you know — middle of modern society, and I'm sort of in hospital. And all of the spotlights are switched off. And now I say: 'Well, hey, where is the light?' And that's what got me going, if you like, looking for a different kind of light." That near-death experience sparked a creative explosion. While recuperating he wrote more than 40 songs, including many from the albums that would guarantee his place in music history. He was destined for stardom, or so it seemed. But in 1975 while swimming off the coast of Malibu, Calif., another brush with death revealed his true destiny.

Swimming experience

"I decided to go for a swim. Of course nobody told me that that wasn't a good time to go swimming," Islam said. "So there I was, you know, out there, and I'm thinking, 'Ah, great, hmm, OK, let's go back now.' And then I ... tried to swim back to shore. And suddenly I felt 'I can't do this' — the tide was going the other way. I wasn't getting any closer.

"Suddenly I was petrified. I thought: 'This might be it.' I said: 'God, if you save me, I'll work for you.' It was without hesitation that I knew that, instinctively, there was a power that could help me. And then a little wave, you know, came behind me — a little wave, it wasn't very big. But it was that miraculous moment when suddenly the tide was going in my favor. I had my energy, I could swim back. I was on land. I was alive. Wow, what next?"

After that Islam tried to find a religion that fit. He experimented with Buddhism, Tao, numerology and even astrology. But when his brother gave him a copy of the Koran, the man who had been shopping for answers finally found them.

"I was looking for something that would resonate — the meaning of life at whatever angle you looked at it," he said.

At the time, he was still performing and was hugely popular. He realized he couldn't balance his religion and his career.

"Yeah, when it came to trying to balance you know, this knowledge, this discovery, with my lifestyle, you know, I've been singing about trying to find who I am," Islam said. "Now I've found out, do I have to keep singing? I mean, that was the question."

The answer came in November 1979 at London's Wembley stadium when he walked onstage as Cat Stevens and walked off as Yusuf Islam.

He wouldn't touch a guitar again for more than 20 years.

Yusuf Islam Reflects On His Return Artist Once Known As Cat Stevens Talks About New Album
(CBS) This story originally aired on Dec. 3, 2006 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/30/sunday/main2221286.shtml?source=search_story



5 Meaning of: `women who made the rain come'


An action or lack thereof which makes others cry. as in :"Georgetown made it rain for NC this weekend"

19th definition for Make it rain in the Urban Dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?page=3&term=make+it+rain
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6. Herpes



7. Craiglist Add - this is the add that I was to answer:

Reply to: comm-839658710@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2008-09-13, 5:29PM CDT


The Spirit of Boo Fuckin Hoo
Those three little words mean such different things to different people. We welcome your creative interpretation.

WWW.POORLUCKYME.COM is sponsoring an essay contest via WWW.BOOFUCKINHOO.COM (NO "G"!!)

Essay Rules
Please reply to this ad. Essays should be under 500 words, cut and paste into your email. Essays over 500 words must be particularly awesome and entertaining for our staff to read. No attachments please. Include a title. Please indicate if you would like to remain anonymous. Entries will be posted throughout the month. Comments are welcomed and will be taken into consideration. Each month one essay will be chosen and awarded a prize of $50. Winners will be notified via email. Thanks for playing!

  • Location: The Internet
  • it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 839658710

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8. depending on context.


Word Sense means:

..word sense is one of the meanings of a word. For example a dictionary may have over 50 different meanings of the word play[1], each of these having a different meaning based on the context of the word usage in a sentence. Computers ... must use a process called word sense disambiguation to find the correct meaning of a word.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_sense)

Word sense disambiguation occurs in humans, as in computer language, the more ambiguous the word the more varied the receivers `sense of meaning'.

word sense disambiguation (WSD) is the problem of determining which "sense" (meaning) of a word is activated by the use of the word in a particular context, a process which appears to be largely unconscious in people.

Ambiguous language is `fuzzy language'; where words meaning are not fixed, where meaning is approximate rather than precise.


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9. Self Pity:


Since I will argue that the most likely definition of the phrase is in response to self pity. As I mentioned in the note on context, how the phrase is delivered has significant impact on it value. The speakers personal perception of what `self pity'; is, sets the underlying context of how the speaker delivers the phrase. For example, a common definition is:


Self-pity is a psychological state of mind of an individual in perceived adverse situations who has not accepted the situation and does not have the confidence nor ability to cope with it. It is characterized by a person's belief that he or she is the victim of events and is therefore deserving of condolence.
Self-pity is generally regarded as a negative emotion in that it does not generally help deal with adverse situations. However, in a social context it may result in either the offering of sympathy or advice. Self-pity may be considered normal, and in certain circumstances healthy, so long as it is transitory and leads to either acceptance or a determination to change the situation.

Additionally, self-pity can be remarkably self-sustaining particularly in conjunction with depression or other conditions. For example: a child at school feels badly because they see others as more social or outgoing. If the child does not take action by attempting to get to know others despite potential negative consequences (such as rejection) then they may continue to feel alone, and their feelings of self-pity will be sustained.

Self-pity is a way of paying attention to oneself, albeit negatively; it is a means self-soothing or self-nurturing ("I hurt so much"). Social-Learning theorists purport that self-pity is a method for gaining attention, probably as a child, where an individual received attention, support, and nurturing while being sick or hurt. The child then grows up having learned to give attention to oneself (or ask for attention from others) while in real or dramatized distress to receive the same payoff.

Thus, another form of self- sustainment can be sympathy offered by others: "oh, you poor thing." This is particularly true of individuals who exhibit sociopathic or psychopathic tendencies and rely on the sympathy offered by others as a means to manipulate."


"Self-Pity" is also the title of a short poem by D. H. Lawrence.



The poem was prominently cited by Viggo Mortensen's character in the film G.I. Jane (a a 1997 action movie that tells the fictional story of the first woman to undergo training in U.S. Navy Special Warfare Group.
)

David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930) Self-Pity 1

I never saw a wild thing

2 sorry for itself.

3 A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
4 without ever having felt sorry for itself.

Online text copyright © 2008, Ian Lancashire for the Department of English, University of Toronto. Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries. http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1250.html

This poem states that animals don't feel sorry for themselves, an some believe that Lawrence is suggesting that this is a trait that humans should adopt. But being human the simplicity of simplre acceptence is not possible (for that matter how does Lawrence know that animals feel no self pity? Lawrence may have been excusing himself from self pity having been troubled from early youth with respiratory disease). Self pity becomes a manifestation of previous emotional and/or physical disruptions of the stable self. As one psychologist put it:

---> Self Righteous Rage

"Another component of self-pity has been addressed by Horowitz (1981) Which he calls "self Righteous Rage". Etiologically this is felt to result from an impaired development of self-concept. Investigation of the family dynamics in theses cases often reveals an empathetic dissonance in which defects of parental narcissism precludes the consistent empathic resonance that is needed by the child. A capricious shifting of concerns occurs. The child is buffeted by inconsistent behavior on the part of the parents resulting in precarious feeling of self worth. Parental action towards the child cannot be logically attributed to the child's behavior, rather it appears to be more related to parental states of mind. The child is left in a confused state in which he feel alternatively to be victimized and `victemizer'." The self pitying response is initiated within a narcissistic vulnerable individual following a failure of empathy with someone functioning as a needed self-object under certain specific conditions. When these conditions are met the response of self-pity is an urgent attempt to counteract feelings of alienation and disintegration accompanying a severe narcissistic wound and a need to recover self-object connectedness. Tolpin and Kohut (1980) have described a type of depression that results from chronic states of depletion of the self. They have labeled this "depletion depression" and have characterized it as an endopsychic state of emptiness, depletion, and helplessness. In theses individuals, a continuum seems to exist from transitory states of self pity to more severe and disruptive chronic depressive syndromes in which depletion becomes more all pervasive. In the latter case it seems that an unconscious `pact' has been entered into between the individual and his self object in which his self object is expected to share in the grief. When this does not occur, further depression and/or defenses against it. Theses defenses may take the form of..disruptive acting out.." (Pages 182-83)The Self Pity Response: A reconsideration by Samuel L. Wilson in Progress in Self Psychology: Vol 1By Arnold Goldberg Contributor Arnold Goldberg Published by Routledge ISBN 0881632147, 9780881632149

Psychologisthave even addressed the perception of an other's self pity responses ( as in "boo Fucking hoo', used sarcastically when a person shows too much self pity).

"Some speech acts may be designed to snap a sufferer out of an attitude which is perceived to be immoral. Perhaps they are complaining a great deal about a minor misfortune, which displays disrespect for those who are worse off. Perhaps their self-centred attitude comes at the expense of someone nearby who is worse off. Pity and self-pity are viewed as being intrinsically wrong moral attitudes. ‘Look on the bright side’ might in some cases be a way of telling a person to abandon their self-pity. Many people believe the sick are morally required to suffer gracefully, and perhaps this has its basis in the medical harms of self-pity or in the effects of ungraceful suffering on empathic listeners. Self-indulgent complaining from a person who has suffered a minor misfortune might indeed cause more suffering in onlookers than the medical misfortune causes in the sufferer Some speech acts may be designed to snap a sufferer out of an attitude which is perceived to be immoral. Perhaps they are complaining a great deal about a minor misfortune, which displays disrespect for those who are worse off. Perhaps their self-centred attitude comes at the expense of someone nearby who is worse off. Pity and self-pity are viewed as being intrinsically wrong moral attitudes. Attempts to improve a person’s mood or disposition can therefore be medically and emotionally beneficent in their intent. However, not everyone will react positively or predictably to a given attempt to influence their mood, and thus the attempt will frequently fail to be beneficial. For example, it seems that males respond worse than females either to advice on how to cope with troubles, or to being told ‘not to worry’. "It is unclear whether we can predictably help someone to attain a more positive mood or disposition just by finding an appropriate thing to say." > What should we say? Julian Savulescu, Bennett Foddy, John Rogers; Journal of Medical Ethics 2006;32:7-12; doi:10.1136/jme.2005.012781 Copyright © 2006 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & Institute of Medical Ethics. http://jme.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/32/1/7 Furthermore, a self pitying individual my be predisposed to the mental condition that causes self pity, by unseen physical conditions: Hippocrates (460-377B.C.) suggested that madness came from the effect of various forms of bile. From that time to the present, physicians have continued to be fascinated by the effects of physical dysfunction on mental activity. After the demonstration by H. Noguchi of Treponema pallidum in the brain of patients with central nervous system syphilis, there could be little question that physical conditions could be the basis of major mental problems. Since that time, many psychiatric conditions have been found to have an organic etiology .

Self pitying individuals may not be in conscious control of their `self pitting behavior'. Telling them to stop feeling sorry for themselves (or suggesting it, ussing a saterical phrase is as effective as telling them to defy gravity.


"The psychoanalytic studies of Freud, Jung, Adler, and Rank have demonstrated the presence of unconscious motivation for behavior . Clinical investigation into the reasons
for unconscious emotional conflicts has repeatedly led to the conclusion that interpersonal relationships play a major role in the development of personality . Relationships with
parents have been found to be of particular importance in the development of basic attitudes . Harry Stack Sullivan (1892-1949) utilized astute and accurate clinical observa-
tions to focus intensively on the importance of the inter-personal relationships . His emphasis on communication processes in interpersonal behavior laid the groundwork
for the present strong emphasis on environment and in-terpersonal relationships as etiologic factors in many emotional disorders.

The emotional state of the patient is primarily the result of an interaction between his or her internal and external environment. If the internal environment is altered by phys-
cal disease s... mental illness can occur. Similarly, a patient overwhelmed by emotional stress may experience derangement in the organization of his or her thinking. Such patients have no demonstrable nervous system lesions that would account for the neurotic or psychotic behavior. Disruptions in interpersonal relationships are frequently the precipitating events for neurotic and psychotic behavior. Consequently, most modern thinking sees mental illness as an interaction between an internal emotional substrate different for each individual and environmental stresses.
Interpersonal Relationships byJohn B. Griffin JR. in Clinical Methods : The History, Physical and Laboratory Examinations' ; Author: H. Kenneth Walker, W. Dallas Hall, J. Willis Hurst (Editor) Published by Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd: July 1990 Edition: 3rd ISBN: 040990077X

So when one is unfortunate to be on the end of anothers self pity lament, the lamenting person has some perception that you would care. And as the Wilson article above states: "..in which his self object (You the listner) is expected to share in the grief. When this does not occur, further depression and/or defenses against it. Theses defenses may take the form of..disruptive acting out.."

Therefore, in contex, use of this phrase as a response to another's self pity would be counter productive. However, self use, can be productive in that recognizes a disruption in balance, and the unpleasantness without letting the situation overwhelm, as in: "I got fired from work today. Boo fucking hoo. I guess I'll have to go looking for a job tomorrow."


10. the ending of Don Quiote should be changed


As the following description describes, the story ends on an unhappy note.

"Although the first half of the novel is almost completely farcical, the second half is serious and philosophical about the theme of deception. Don Quixote's imaginings are made the butt of outrageously cruel practical jokes. Even Sancho is unintentionally forced to deceive him at one point; trapped into finding Dulcinea, Sancho brings back three peasant girls and tells Quixote that they are Dulcinea and her ladies-in-waiting. When Don Quixote only sees three peasant girls, Sancho pretends that Quixote suffers from a cruel spell which does not permit him to see the truth. Sancho eventually gets his imaginary island governorship and unexpectedly proves to be wise and practical; though this, too, ends in disaster. The novel ends with Don Quixote's complete disillusionment, with his melancholic return to sanity and renunciation of chivalry, and finally, his death."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote

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11. reference to a fictional essay:



Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges (24 August 189914 June 1986) (who I considewr one of the great thinkers of the 20th century) was an Argentine writer whose work included short stories, essays, poetry, literary criticism, and translations.

Borges wrote "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" (1939) , an essay about a (fictional) 20th century writer who re-authors Don Quixote.

"Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" is written in the form of a review or literary critical piece about (the non-existent) Pierre Menard. It begins with a brief introduction and a listing of all of Menard's work.

Borges's "review" describes this 20th century French writer who has made an effort to go further than mere "translation" of Don Quixote, but to immerse himself so thoroughly as to be able to actually "re-create" it, line for line, in the original 17th Century Spanish. Thus, Pierre Menard is often used to raise questions and discussion about the nature of accurate translation.


Borges's work is indeed literary criticism, but through the medium of fantasy, irony, and humor. Borges's narrator/reviewer considers Menard's fragmentary Quixote (which is line-for-line identical to the original) to be much richer than Cervantes's "original" work, because Menard's work must be considered in light of world events since 1602, and thus is richer in allusion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote
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12. King Lear, had an adjustment to it's final scene

{Aide: new statue in Chicago, a new king in town, and his name is King Lear. He is seen ruling over Pioneer Court in downtown Chicago.

J. Seward Johnson created this 20-something-foot tall statue with this interesting pose with it turning away from something. The placement in the court makes him look like he's turning away from the sun and the buildings across the river. The nicely matching architecture in this shot is the London Insurance Building and Mather Tower . Photo by
Matt Maldre}


There were two versions of the play. The first had a sadder ending, the second version's concluding lines as Dr Carson explains:

"The final lines of the play in the Quarto are given to Albany, which is appropriate in terms of his seniority within the social structure to the play. However, in the Folio these lines are given to Edgar, the only person on stage who has not engaged in the battle between the generations until the very last scene. Edgar is presented in the Folio as the leader of the new generation and the representative of a gentler form or leadership. Edgar (F) The weight of this sad time we must obey, Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say. The oldest have borne most; we that are young Shall never see so much, nor live so long. [300] ;[Exeunt with a dead march] Edgar ending the play introduces hope of a new beginning with a different set of values in place. As Richard Eyre, who directed the play at the National Theatre in 1997, says ‘there is something wonderful about this terribly simple advice being given to you by a man who has had to grow up in the most violent way. Edgar, a sort of mild, bookish man, becomes a warrior, then sees this holocaust, and the advice he gives you is, open your heart, speak what you feel’. "

Expert views: The Quarto of King Lear - representing the early stage history of the play
Dr Christie Carson, Royal Holloway University of London http://www.bl.uk/treasures/shakespeare/lear.html

Yes ! This was our same goal, the goal of generations preceding us, to reinterpret the written words for our own purpose, and when necessary, for the good of society, to re-write the text.

{An aside- How much easier would it be to just replace the word `nigger' from Huckleberry Finn, then to ban the from Public libraries and/or to remove it from school curriculum?}

What are the impossible dreams of Don Quiote? Some believe it was tha attainment of his imagined Dulcina. Here we have an aged man obviously facing his own mortality, what could he want? Western society with it's penchant for Freud based thinking, might jump to the "facing Death the man wants sex" conclusion.

But on multiple readings, I think it is a larger question of a search for meaning to his life that lead him to the ideal of `to be in service to others' as was a knight errant. And that in his mind, to fullfill his role, he would need certain `tokens' of identification, such as an unattainable love.

13. going after his impossible dreams


{An aside As politicians continue to use the `impossibility' of their coming to a point in their lives where the highest offices of society are breaths away- we return to the potent rags to riches story telling that was popular just after the depression. Anyone can do anything. (As in the popular movie Ratatouille - "anyone can cook" , or in the Saturday Night Live 2008 show opener where a characterized Hillary Clinton on stage with Republican Vice Presidential hopeful Governor Sarah Palin, says in horror : I guess anyone can become President.}

"Dulcinea, as a comic version of the courtly lover's unattainable lady —what Terpening calls “an anti-donna angelicata” (4)—, exists in distant splendor only in Don Quijote's overheated imagination. She exists, because it is necessary for a knight to have a lady (according to Hegel, “the necessity of a concept is the principal thing; and the process of its production as a result is its proof and deduction” [Philosophy of Right, Introduction 2, p. 9]). Yet Don Quijote finally gets around to giving her a name only after he has decided upon names for himself and for his horse: “no le faltaba otra cosa sino buscar una dama de quien enamorarse” (I 40)
When asked by the Duchess to describe Dulcinea, he admits that she may well be an imaginary creation: “‘Dios sabe si hay Dulcinea o no en el mundo, o si es fantástica, o no es fantástica” (II 809). "


The search for meaning and the American dream are not nesicarrilly alike.

As Jerome Bruner defines the great emerging theme
:

“the narrative should construct two simultaneous landscapes. One of these is the landscape of action in which the constituents are the arguments of action: agent, intention or objective, situation, instrument, something that corresponds to a 'grammar of history'. The other is the landscape of the conscience: that which those committed to action know, think, or feel, or don't know, don't think, and don't feel. These two landscapes are essential and distinct".

There is a chasm between knowing what you are doing and what you want (American dream). What you are doing, becomes the habitual patterns that your life becomes as consequences of choices predispose an individuals use of time. In the United States we were able to see retiring generations not yet ready for retirement needing to find an alternative to the preoccupations of their time in the past.Meaning becomes associated with time expenditure, which is actually wrong.

Victor Frankles book Man's search for Meaning, and his start in logotherepy resulted from talking with people facing end of their life in a Nazi prison camp, their reality/ meaning, compared with introspection to their dreams and hopes. Those with the strongest dreams and hopes survived, despite their condition/reality of the moment
.

here we have it summarized:

"The trajectory herein summarized, that has as its object gradual evolution from a simple accumulation of data toward the superlative level of the conquest of meaning represents the three-fold maturity of the human condition involving movement from the simple to the complex, the quantitative to the qualitative, and the individual to the community.

These three steps follow timings and rites that each culture presents in its own way. With due regard for the diversity of cultures and plurality of configurations of identity, these traditions are invariably the result of learning journeys marked by progressive growth in the vision and ultimate sense with which human beings discover and re-interpret their singular relation with any form of transcendence,"Ferry analyzes how the definition of a "life of personal conquests" has changed through history, from the times of the search for a "good life",and lists the respective measurements. Ferry, L. (2002). Qu’est-ce qu’une vie réussie, Paris: Bernard Grasset.

Individual maturity is required, though the maturating of the working class is not top of the agenda for the ruling elite.

And the individuals drift from self compensation to concern for the community is not a common national notion as much as the American Dream is considered `getting your rightful piece of the pie'.

Why did Obma after graduating from an ivy league school give up a good law firm position to become a `community organizer?

Or why did Pat Tullman give up a 30 million dollar contract to join the military. Are they on a differnt page from us?


The highest concern for the populace is their place in the economic ladder:


"The possibility that their children will move down the economic ladder, in class position if not income, is one of the great anxieties that assault the vast middle class, even at its highest reaches. Mobility is a great thing, but it often comes at someone else's expense. As some rise in rank, others must fall. To some extent, the American dream is inherently an impossible dream because it cannot fulfill people's expectations of both opportunity and peace of mind.

Everyone knows that economic inequality has increased in recent decades. The richest 10 to 20 percent of Americans have gotten richer faster than the rest. But the people at the top are not all the same people or even the children of the same people. This vindicates one version of the American dream.

There is opportunity. People do move up—in both total income and class rank. Economic success is not static.

Iandeed, the high degree of intergenerational economic mobility is (a) Pew's (study) most interesting finding. What happens at the bottom of the income scale also happens at the top. About 60 percent of children born of the richest fifth of parents do not themselves end up among the richest fifth; about 23 percent drop into the next-to-highest group and 9 percent fall to the bottom.

Everyone knows that economic inequality has increased in recent decades. The richest 10 to 20 percent of Americans have gotten richer faster than the rest. But the people at the top are not all the same people or even the children of the same people. This vindicates one version of the American dream. There is opportunity. People do move up—in both total income and class rank. Economic success is not static.

Indeed, the high degree of intergenerational economic mobility is (a) Pew's (study) most interesting finding. What happens at the bottom of the income scale also happens at the top. About 60 percent of children born of the richest fifth of parents do not themselves end up among the richest fifth; about 23 percent drop into the next-to-highest group and 9 percent fall to the bottom. Parents influence their children's destiny but do not determine it.

JUDGMENT CALLS
Robert J. Samuelson
The (Impossible) American Dream

Economic reality was the cause of Don Quiote disillusionment. Dulcinea, by her circumstances was reduced from the ideal, into a woman willing to exchange her skirt for a loan of money. Leading one to suspect that in her desperation, Dulcina was willing to sell herself. Of course he did not want to be involved with an excahge of money for sex. Worse though, he did nt even have the money she needed, wich if he had, he would have happily given to her, Economics had turned them both into something the other could not respect.

14. Terms of endearment

`A word or an act (as a caress) expressing affection'

A term of endearment is a word or phrase used to address and/or describe a person or animal for which the speaker feels love or affection. Terms of endearment are used for a variety of reasons, such as parents addressing their children and lovers addressing each other.

Such words may not, in their original use, bear any resemblance in meaning to the meaning attached when used as a term of endearment, for example calling a spouse "pumpkin". Some words are clearly derived from each other, such as "sweetheart" and "sweetie", while others bear no etymological resemblance, such as "baby" and "cutie". The first evidence of the current connotation for terms of endearment varies. "Baby" is first used in 1839 and "sugar" only appears as recently as 1930.(http://www.etymonline.com/)

Most terms of endearment are concrete nouns that have favorable associations, either with a sweet taste or the nature of the relationship. Sometimes, abstract nouns are used, such as "sweetness", implying that the object of the speaker's affection is not only sweet, but embodies sweetness itself.

Use of terms of endearment can reveal little or nothing about the true quality of the relationship in question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_of_endearment

Terms of endearment can also be A hypocoristic, hypocorism or hypochorisma (from Greekhypokorizesthai, "to use child-talk"{ Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: "hypocorism"1])

Often in terms of endearment words are used in a diminutive manner. Diminutive is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment. It is the opposite of an augmentative. While many languages apply the grammatical diminutive to nouns, a few also use it for adjectives and even other parts of speech.Diminutives are often used for affection (see nickname and hypocoristic). In many languages the meaning of diminution can be translated "tiny" or "wee" and diminutives are used frequently when speaking to small children; adult people sometimes use diminutives when they express extreme tenderness and intimacy by behaving and talking like children.Boo, and hoo, in the phrase `Boo Fuckin Hoo' could easily be interpreted in this manner.

15.Whose your daddy?


Who's your daddy?" is a slang expression that takes the form of a rhetorical question.

Use of the phrase implies a boastful claim of physical or sexual dominance over the intended listener's mother, implying that sex with the mother resulted in the listener's existence and that the speaker ofthe phrase is therefore the "daddy.

16. can you turn it into a 500 word essay?

A quick look at the sponsoring site showed that (first of the ) others were not attempting to define the phrase-----, as both GiGi an I thought the challenge. When I began this attempt at writing this short essay, I was finishing my post on the Bush doctrine, and had in mind the paper on rewriting the end of Don Quixote to make it more uplifting.As my first definition of the phrase `boo fucking hoo' brought to mind and connected to the whole argument for changing the end of Don Quixote was a negative reaction to Don Quixote self pity at the end of the play:

"The mercies, niece," said Don Quixote, "are those that God has this moment shown me, and with him, as I said, my sins are no impediment to them. My reason is now free and clear, rid of the dark shadows of ignorance that my unhappy constant study of those detestable books of chivalry cast over it.

Now I see through their absurdities and deceptions, and it only grieves me that this destruction of my illusions has come so late that it leaves me no time to make some amends by reading other books that might be a light to my soul
.

Niece, I feel myself at the point of death, and I would fain meet it in such a way as to show that my life has not been so ill that I should leave behind me the name of a madman; for though I have been one, I would not that the fact should be made plainer at my death. Call in to me, my dear, my good friends the curate, the bachelor Samson Carrasco, and Master Nicholas the barber, for I wish to confess and make my will." But his niece was saved the trouble by the entrance of the three.

The instant Don Quixote saw them he exclaimed, "Good news for you, good sirs, that I am no longer Don Quixote of La Mancha, but Alonso Quixano, whose way of life won for him the name of Good. Now am I the enemy of Amadis of Gaul and of the whole countless troop of his descendants; odious to me now are all the profane stories of knight-errantry; now I perceive my folly, and the peril into which reading them brought me; now, by God's mercy schooled into my right senses, I loathe them."

The argument of the paper was to change the end so that the `mad mans' `impossible dreams' when realized as being made of `false intelligence' brings one to a point of not only self pity, but shame. (The kind of shame the Bush Administration should be feeling.) Then I came to the profound realization that the real Bush Doctrine was re-writing history, so as to make it uplifting: Mission accomplished, there is no civil war in Iraq, we are winning, outing a CIA agent is really no big thing, the economy is in great shape... and on and on.

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17. Paul Grant (follower of Basho)

I found when Googling a great number of Paul Grants. (I am actually the third in my family). While trying to find a way to single myself out without going to the extream, Sting or Madonna, or even as subtle a change as Allan Stewart Konigsberg who changed his name to Woody Allen.

I decided to add a `tag' to my name:` follower of Basho'. I was re-reading Narrow Road to a Far Province. I was drinking red wine alone. And I thought : That's It . Narrow Road to a Far Province -actually was a way in itself. be on the path, and don't stray from the path, and know the path will be uneasy. Seems simple typed out like this, but at the moment it occurred to me that it starts with an if we set out on a path. Most people don't even have a path in mind.

This interrelates to the Don Quite references. He chooses to be Don Quite, he creates him. But then, as i suppose later in this piece, Quite goes off the path. In this case, into a cave. Some see the cave as being within the earth, and that the earth represents reality and truth, so within the cave would be the inside of truth, representing un-reality and untruth. And when tossed between possible realities, at the end of the play, we argued in the paper, he ended up on the wrong side.

Matsuo Bashō (松尾 芭蕉? 164428 November 1694) Wikipedia writes " .. today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as a master of brief and clear haiku. His poetry is internationally renowned." My personal affection is for his work in haibun, a mixture of haiku and prose as in Journal of a eather-eaten Skeleton and most especially Narrow Road to a Far Province. I liked the fact that Basho was a chosen name, an art name: ( An art-name (号 gō?) is a pseudonym, or penname, used by a Japanese artist, which they sometimes change. In some cases, artists adopted different gō at different stages of their career, usually to mark significant changes in their life.) His first was Sōbō (宗房?), his second was Tōsei. and his third and final one was Basho, the name of a type of banana tree that one of his students planted outside his hut where he had chosen to live outside of the society in which he once lived.

I also like the fact that he was born into a Samurai family and in his youth worked in a kitchen. During my high school and early collage years i carried with me at all time "Way of the Warrior", the code of conduct and a way of the samurai life. During collage I was involved in slam poetry in Chicago. Later I would become a chef. Now as an artist and writter it seemed a fitting `tag'. For these reasons and more I chose to put the tag of `follower of Basho' after my name, when possible.