Zoning permits in Chicago

Something from the urban trenches, Chicago-style:

The intern architect documents his day, excited by the opportunity to turn misfortune into fodder:

7:50am The doors open, and the line floods in from several points, and there is disorder as the line becomes a crowd.  I feel like I may have a chance at the front of the line, but this lasts for three minutes, the line re-forms exactly as it was outside the office.  These are not strangers to this process; they are indoctrinated.  The Dept. of Zoning has not asked these people to come early, they have done so out of necessity, and the response from Zoning has not been to change their protocol, but to open their doors and fill the list for the entire day before any other department even opens.

more more more here

Mort and Charles lose their groove

Last night Fox commentaters Mort and Charles — Kondracke and Krauthammer respectively — let it all hang out about town hall protestors. Mort got very excited, blinking disapproval at twice the usual rate, and Charles called the town-hallers’ display of indignation “a mistake,” as if GOP strategists had called the shot, one that cost the Republicans popularity during the past week by deflecting attention from the presumably unpopular Dem health-care initiative or “reform,” as they call it.

When Charles noted that GOP Sen. McConnell, minority leader, had said the demos were a bad idea, Mort spouted, “Oh come on!” which did much for the panel’s calm exchange of ideas. Did Mort think he was in a Tea Party town hall? He got indignant and excited over other people getting indignant and excited. McConnell should have got indignant and excited too — he did this once in fourth grade but gave it up as a bad idea — Mort apparently thinks.

The Republican party is “afraid of Rush Limbaugh,” further spouted Mort — are things going bad at Roll Call, where he works? Something must explain his unbridled indignation and excitement at this grass-roots indignation and excitement by taxpayers.

It was a “bad idea,” Charles said, as if the RNC had got the idea and acted on it. Charles also, albeit without indignation and excitement, was chastising citizens who just don’t know how to act. They are not his kind of people, it is become clear. Their kids don’t go to Harvard, for one thing. Tsk, tsk.

Later: What the heck was Charles talking about, it being bad strategy to go ballistic at town halls, in view of this from Rasmussen?

Public support for the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats has fallen to a new low as just 42% of U.S. voters now favor the plan. That’s down five points from two weeks ago and down eight points from six weeks ago.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that opposition to the plan has increased to 53%, up nine points since late June.

More significantly, 44% of voters strongly oppose the health care reform effort versus 26% who strongly favor it. Intensity has been stronger among opponents of the plan since the debate began

Support for Congressional Health Care Reform Falls to New Low – Rasmussen Reports\

This shows no diminution of anti-reform sentiment, as Charles (and I suppose Mort, though his bluster makes it hard to figure) claimed.