Category: A New Dark Age

11.1.2025 – permits outrageous

permits outrageous
eventualities to
materialize

The Constitution establishes the electoral college system to govern the President’s selection, and provides further means ol choice when that system bogs down in inconclusive result. But it grants the federal government only limited authority over its most important election, that of the President: critically significant powers repose in the states. By express or implicit constitutional authority, federal statutes specify the date of election day, determine when the electors are to meet and cast their ballots, and establish the procedure for counting those ballots in Congress. But at the same lime, the Constitution authorizes the states to decide how the electors are to be chosen and their electoral vote cast. State laws also regulate the conduct of elections, including the presidential contest, and political activity carried on within their borders. This authority and autonomy invite wide variation from state to state in the method, honesty, and freedom of federal elections.

In sanctioning this division of powers, the Constitution leaves elementary and crucial questions of procedure unanswered and permits the most outrageous eventualities to materialize. If, let us say, two conflicting sets of electoral votes are returned by a given state, who shall decide which set is to prevail? The Constitution provides no solution.

Consider another likely untoward instance. A candidate who receives on election day a majority of the popular vote cast may not, under the Constitution, necessarily become President—it he fails to secure also a majority of the electoral vote. The utter contradiction of this state of affairs with the most elementary principles of democracy is self-evident: the majority popular will can be denied.

From The Election That Got Away by Louis W. Koenig (American Heritage, October 1960 – Volume 11 Issue 6).

I give the American Heritage Magazine a lot of credit for my interest in United States History.

Before I was born, my Dad started subscribing to American Heritage whose editions were published in thin hard cover books a little be bigger than a the size of an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper.

And they were just left in stacks, a few here, a few there, some on the shelf, all over the house so when I was born, they were part of my landscape.

The magazine usually had something interesting on the cover to catch your eye, Washington on a horse or the Wright Brothers or something and their articles were written in a style for the general public.

Nothing at all like the Journal of American History which I didn’t find out about until I got to college.

But there they were and I can’t remember a time I didn’t pick on up and at least thumb through the pages or read an article or part of an article that caught my eye.

Some of these stories had illustrations and some of the illustrations and magazine covers were pretty goofy.

They appealed to me and, and in a way, as a kid, I thought of American Heritage as the Mad Magazine of US History.

Today’s haiku is adapted from a story that ran in October of 1960 and the author smugly warns that the debacle of the election 1877, where the states levered electoral votes to swing the election away from the candidate who won the popular vote.

The author, a Louis W. Koenig, who has a long list of published works but not a wikipedia entry (you have to work out what that means) warned … it could happen again.

This was in October of 1960.

That fall would see the Nixon/Kennedy election with Kennedy being declared the winner after some late night calls to the Mayor Daly in Chicago … or maybe there weren’t any calls but a recount was considered (as Mike Royko wrote The Chicago Elections committee would throw the ballots at the ceiling and any ballot that stuck was declared a Republican vote) but nothing came of it.

Then came that Dallas afternoon and a new Presdident.

Than came Watergate and a new President.

Then came Bush/Gore.

And then came the folks who don’t even bother with the Constitution.

My point being this, the Constitution leaves elementary and crucial questions of procedure unanswered and permits the most outrageous eventualities to materialize.

And we are still here, 65 years after Mr. Koenig wrote those words.

There has to be a hope that in 2090, the Constitution will still leave elementary and crucial questions of procedure unanswered and permit the most outrageous eventualities to materialize.

And somehow those outrageous eventualities of the past, were overcome.

10.29.2025 – planning construction

planning construction
in DC? the right permit
is a crucial step

On the website, PermitFlow.com, the page titled, “DC Building Permit Guide for Builders, Developers, Contractor”

If you’re a developer, contractor, or builder who is planning construction in Washington, DC, getting the right permits is a crucial step. Permits help to ensure that your project proceeds legally and under the city’s approval, without either of which you could face fines or orders to remove the work.

Getting a DC building permit can be frustrating. You’re expected to provide proof that your project is thoroughly planned out, including approval from communities and licensed contractors. The biggest challenge is making sure to include everything the city needs to approve your building permit.

This guide will walk you through all the steps of getting a DC building permit, from what projects require a permit to how to make the process easier.

‍What requires a building permit in DC?

In Washington DC, many construction and renovation projects require a building permit. These can include building a structure of 50 square feet or more or simply as installing a sump pump.

Here’s a list of common projects that need permits:

New building construction
Adding rooms, floors, or decks to existing buildings
Demolishing structures
Major renovations or remodeling
Changing a building’s use (like turning a house into an office)
Installing or replacing electrical, plumbing, or HVAC systems
Building decks, fences, or retaining walls
Adding or removing walls
Installing solar panels
Excavation work
Some smaller projects don’t require a permit (unless the site is in a historic district).

Well!

I mean what is a building code when compared to the Constitution of the United States.

Neither seem to present serious roadblocks, if you know what I mean.

Or are you telling me that the demolition of part of the White House can be arranged by someone just making a phone call to friend who owns a bull dozer and can come over on a Saturday Morning?

OH come on.

I checked the city website for Grand Rapids, Michigan and you can’t even put up a fence without a permit.

Somewhere, someone knows where the bodies are buried and who got paid.

And someday …

Down here in the low country, the part of the country that was in the papers recently because the county prosecutor was found guilty of hiding settlements from clients so he could pocket the money he needed to fund his drug problem. This all unraveled on the guy when he working to get his kid off of charges of DUI in a boating accident that left a young girl dead which led to him shooting both his wife and the son in question. The Country Prosecutor pled not guilty but a jury didn’t buy it.

I mention all that so the reader can get a grasp on the legal climate down here.

See, a guy we met had a coffee shop and he wanted to expand his indoor seating and applied for the right permit but refused to make any other extra curricula financial contributions to help further his request.

And the request was refused on the grounds he didn’t have the required 10 parking spots in his parking lot.

He replied with photos and a map that showed he DID INDEED have 10 parking spots.

When he got to work the next day, there was an official City of Bluffton ‘No Parking’ sign on one spot in his lot.

Today, that sign is still there.

The guy gave up and closed his coffee shop.

Petty.

Petty crime.

The online dictionary defines petty as of little importance; trivial.

What you might expect in the low country.

Not when talking about one of the most famous structures in the United States, if not the world.

10.25.2025 – this office has been

this office has been
a sacred trust and an honor
beyond words, measure

“When people tell me that I became President on January 20th, 1981, I feel I have to correct them. You don’t become President of the United States. You are given temporary custody of an institution called the Presidency, which belongs to our people. Having temporary custody of this office has been for me a sacred trust and an honor beyond words or measure.”

Remarks of President Ronald Reagan at the Republican National Convention, New Orleans, LA (8/15/88).

As a measure of how far things have gone, I am quoting Ronald Reagan.

Truth be told, I didn’t like him very much, but the farther away he gets, the better he looks to me.

Just for this quote alone and the important points Mr. Reagan makes about the office.

And for the recognition of that all important word, temporary.

There seem to be two ends to this story.

That guy in office wins out, history is rewritten, he goes down as the greatest President, The Art of the Deal is given a red cover, is placed in all churches and the little red book becomes required reading for all starting in 4th grade, the Washington Monument comes down and new gold tower is raised in its place and along the way, the United States apologizes to Germany for making them feel bad about WW2.

Or all this is temporary.

The Burgermeister Meisterburger’s picture falls off the wall and is thrown away.

The folks who currently hold offices like the President, The Chief Justice, and the Speaker of the Voice are all remembered as some of the worst office holders in the history of the nation.

And lets be fair here.

That bar to succeed in these offices is low.

When you get the job, you get a rule book called the Constitution of the United States and you follow the rules and you are assured of at least passing grades if not really high marks in the record book of History.

And the Country survives and goes on after a really bad bump in the road.

Doesn’t look like there are other options at this point.

There, for me, is truly no parallel in history to this guy.

And, for me, there is is truly no parallel in fiction to this guy.

Not even Tom Clancy in his wildest novels came up with a scenario like the one we are dealing with.

The closest thing I can come up to match is some of the odder villains in James Bond movies.

But I am telling you this much.

Had you gone to Hollywood with a plot with the evil nemesis of the world would in one week, blow up the minions of his perceived enemies by shooting missiles at motorboats, tear down part of the White House, demand that the Government that he directed pay him $300 Million dollars while releasing cartoons of himself wearing a crown, flying fighter jet, dropping poop on American citizens, you would have been thrown out before your butt hit the leather.

Mr. Reagan looks better and better every day.

10.24.2025 – whole world was watching

whole world was watching
and other nations could not …
help but be impressed

I’ve never been a Nixon-hater, and I felt no pleasure when he resigned.

But if it had to be, I’m glad it happened the way it did.

A president fell and a new president took over, and yet there was no scuffling, no guns, no harsh bickering, no crowds in the streets— not so much as a fistfight.

The whole world was watching, and other nations couldn’t help but be impressed.

After all, when leaders fall, their governments usually collapse as well.

But our transition was orderly and by the book, and this period, as much as anything in our history, showed the strength of our great democracy.

Man of the House : the life and political memoirs of Speaker Tip O’Neill by Tip O’Neill (New York: Random House, 1987).

I have to ask, what has the recent effort to make America great again achieved over this?

About the last 10 years there is little to contribute to writing that this period, as much as anything in our history, showed the strength of our great democracy.

Mr. O’Neill concluded his book with an epilogue titled, What I Believe.

He wrote:

I BEGAN my political career in 1936, on a slogan of “work and wages.” Today, more than half a century later, I’m still a bread-and-butter liberal who believes that, every family deserves the opportunity to earn an income, own a home, educate their children, and afford medical care.

That is the American dream, and it’s still worth fighting for. In my view, the federal government has an obligation to help you along the line until you achieve that dream. And when you do, you have an obligation to help out the next group that comes along.

What a dreamer and what a dream.

Let’s repeat those last two sentences.

The federal government has an obligation to help you along the line until you achieve that dream.

And when you do, you have an obligation to help out the next group that comes along.

Just boil it down to the simple statements that the federal government has an obligation to help you and you have an obligation to help the next group.

Those two statement as much as anything in our history, show the strength of our great democracy.

That is where the focus should be if anyone wants to make America great again.

Speaker Tip O’Neill was Speaker of the House from Gerald Ford to Ronald Reagan and most likely that last of Speaker of House to hold real power in politics.

When he died, President Bill Clinton paid tribute to him, saying, “Tip O’Neill was the nation’s most prominent, powerful and loyal champion of working people… He loved politics and government because he saw that politics and government could make a difference in people’s lives. And he loved people most of all.“

AS KIND OF A POSTSCRIPT, Mr. O’Neill also wrote:

God has been good to America, especially during difficult times.

At the time of the Civil War, he gave us Abraham Lincoln.

And at the time of Watergate, he gave us Gerald Ford—the right man at the right time who was able to put our nation back together again.

Nothing like Watergate had ever happened before in our history, but we came out of it strong and free, and the transition from Nixon’s administration to Ford’s was a thing of awe and dignity.

Making an assessment based on the folks now in Government, I think God doesn’t like us much right now.