"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown"

We had a printer failure today. A $2 piece of plastic broke, meaning a cornerstone of our workflow broke down. We moved a replacement in, a different model which goes by a different name. A co-worker started the process of installing the new drivers, but, to a point, send data to a Postscript printer and it'll act like a Postscript printer. So once a) we established that we could print without installing mods, and b) the installer she chose involved installing IIS on a workstation, I stopped her, got out of the admin login, and set her back to work. She looked puzzled, so I gave a response.

"Forget about it, Ann. It's Chinatown."

I really want to know how many people here recognize that line.

It's the last line of Chinatown. Spoiler >> The bad guy wins. He wins at everything. Our hero, Jake, used to work for the DA in Chinatown, where the corruption and crime was so bad, the DA suggested he do as little as possible for his own safety and sanity. Jake is lead away by friends still on the force, who say that line. Any further action toward that goal is futile and potentially dangerous, so it's best to turn your back and go onto the next. << Spoiler Not to imply that Chinatown is any better or any worse than any other neighborhood. I was four when that movie was made, and have nothing to do with any associations made by that film.

There are obscure lines that I know when I say them "It's very unlikely anyone gets this." A few examples:

• "I would like a cup of meat!"
• "Let's go get sushi, and not pay!"
• "Because you're perfect."
• "A squid eating dough in a polyethlene bag is fast and bulbous. Got me?"

If I say these lines and you get them, that says a lot about our mutual interests. But others, well, it's just inconceivable to me that they're obscure. The above line is one of them.

The director of that movie is Roman Polanski. Google that name and you'll see the case against him. But he did what he did. He admitted what he did. He was tried, sentenced and he skipped out. To me, that's the alpha and the omega of the story. He doesn't want to go to jail, but who does? To my mind, he should be sent back to America and he should go to jail.

But that's my mind. Do I have any belief that this is going to happen? I don't. Years ago, Maureen Down said that Bob Packwood shouldn't be kicked from the Senate for sexual harassment, because he was too valuable a vote for women. This was the last I had any respect for Maureen Dowd. Whoopi Goldberg says this isn't rape rape, and that's the last I have any respect for her. But there are voices that say that his art is ... I don't know. An excuse? A justification? I say that Chinatown is a great film. I say that Rosemary's Baby is one of the foundation films of modern horror. But I say that Ninth Gate is closer to Peacemaker, a good piece of film but not crucial. And Fearless Vampire Killers? Not nearly worth your time.

But by even asking that question, is this amount of art a justification for any human pain, a question that to many in Hollywood, is already answered, we're cheaping life and justifying further violence. We've already created a new "Chinatown".

What If We Cared All The Time?

I certainly hope that we don't care as much Nov. 5 as we do Nov. 4, because that will mean that the election process broke down again and there's lawyers and judges fighting the election and it is out of the hands of the people.

Most of the time, there's something that the most radical and the most conservative can agree on. Around here, of course, it is music, and a Wilco fan and a fan of Derek Trucks can talk, play their tunes, and find common ground. I've stopped participating in political online forums, because the conversations are so caustic.

But I will be earning my free coffee.

Addendum: Was at the polling place at 6:30am, was inside the building by 6:40am, voted by 7am, went to Wal-Mart and picked up Brad Paisley's Play by 7:10, then went to get the free coffee.

But seriously, folks ...

Back when I was in college the first time, I was on the student paper. One story I covered involved a grad student. This student was from Africa, and while studying in the US it was found he had leukemia.

The county had a fund, paid as part of sales and property taxes, the purpose of which was to handle catastrophic medical fees for residents who could not pay them. There were many people who thought that, as awful as the story for this student is, he isn't a US citizen and should not benefit from this fund.

The argument that won me over, and, if I recall the events of nearly 20 years ago correctly, won the county council over, was that this person lived in this county before he was diagnosed, and that while a resident here, he paid taxes to the county in the form of sales tax, and either directly as a homeowner or indirectly as a renter, paid property tax. Since he paid into the emergency medical care fund in good faith, and now was in need of emergency medical care, it was only fair for him to benefit from the fund.

To be honest, I don't know the end of the story. Sorry to say that. Here's what gets me: the landlord didn't just eat the property tax, but instead passed it onto the consumer. So, what's a corporate tax but a sales tax by another name?

I've seen one argument saying that it's also one thing that is designed to expand the gap between small business and big business. I'm looking for arguments on the other side of the aisle, really. The pro-corporate-tax argument. I'm sure there's an argument somewhere, and I am curious.

So Much To Answer For

America's Team!

At least it is now.

Happy 232th Birthday, you Eagle of a nation

That's a lot of years. Let's do the same again, and many more!



(The title's a reference to a scene in the movie 1776, a musical about the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence. And that guitar was an eBay offering that I did not catch, painted for the Bicentennial 32 years ago. I'm thinking about painting a body like that.)

Hey, Re-Create 68 people!

In 1968, party squabbles split the Democrats, allowing the Republican candidate to win.

Is that was you want in 2008? Is that what you really want?