Cognitive Dissonance

THERE ARE THINGS YOU JUST DON’T SAY TO A DOG…

Michael J. Kubat — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:09:59 +0000

A NEW OPERA!

Michael J. Kubat — Sat, 11 May 2013 20:37:17 +0000

This is a must-see, I am positive.

LIFE IS GOOD!

Michael J. Kubat — Sat, 11 May 2013 01:46:06 +0000

Norfolk Zoo, May 05, 2013.

JASPER AND HIS BABY

Michael J. Kubat — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:16:51 +0000

He loves this thing, and comes running any time anyone squeaks it.

CONGRESSIONAL POWER

Michael J. Kubat — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:19:38 +0000

How many divisions does Congress have?

This paraphrase of Joseph Stalin’s dismissive comment about the Pope’s power and authority strikes me as a relevant question today, when Congressional hearings are beginning to lift a corner of the veil of secrecy that conceals the disaster in Benghazi. The question will remain relevant tomorrow as, hopefully, Congress again begins to act as a co-equal branch of government and will launch hearings to uncover the facts behind Fast & Furious and other acts of governmental malpractice committed by the Obama administration.

What worries me is that the Obama administration has not “played well” with Congress. If Congressional decisions thwart Obama, they are scorned or bypassed, to the maximum extent possible. Typically, when Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress for withholding information about Fast & Furious, he simply shrugged it off. No remorse at all.

And so I wonder…

The Executive has lots of raw power available to it to compel obedience: the military, the various law enforcement organs, etc. etc. Lots of divisions, in other words.

But, figuratively speaking, how many divisions does Congress have? What if a Congressional committee summons a high-ranking member of the Executive Branch and/or that member’s documents, and that individual simply blows them off? What if Congress votes to censure or impeach someone in the Executive, and that someone fails to take them seriously? In other words, what if members of the Executive Branch decide that the rule of law no longer applies to them or theirs? And what if the Executive Branch decides it is time for a quiet putsch?

What does Congress do then? Send a posse of Congressional pages to arrest the malfeasants?

And so I ask again: how many divisions does Congress have?

JASPER AND LAUNDRY

Michael J. Kubat — Mon, 06 May 2013 23:27:14 +0000

Of course you don’t mind a little of my delicious drool on your freshly folded laundry, right?

THE BIG FLUSH

Michael J. Kubat — Sat, 04 May 2013 20:20:40 +0000

I don’t know. Maybe this ad is clever, and maybe American Standard does good works in foreign lands, but it ju-u-u-ust doesn’t work for me.

ANOTHER VICTORY FOR HUMANITY

Michael J. Kubat — Sat, 04 May 2013 16:32:01 +0000

In South Africa, they are now delivering beer by helicopter drones.

Imagine: you’re at the OppiKoppi music festival, and you’re thirsty. You dial a number to place your order, some unseen benefactor loads a beer onto an octorotor, it flies overhead and parachutes the desideratum to (hopefully) you.

Much better than using drones for unconstitutional surveillance, I’d say.

JASPER AND MR. RAT

Michael J. Kubat — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:57:07 +0000

Captured a rat in my shed. Jasper wanted to talk to it, so I let him. What they said to each other I don’t know, but I do know that both were getting more excited by the minute.

1954 PACKARD PATRICIAN

Michael J. Kubat — Wed, 01 May 2013 19:16:51 +0000

Beautifully restored, observed in the wild.