Epistemic Closure

looks like the left has a new catch phrase...

so anyway, it's been less than 48 hours since the left side of the pundit-sphere started this whole "epistemic closure" meme and I'm already sick of it. Noel over at Cold Fury sums it up:

"Obama has a version of this shopworn liberal favorite, as well. He’s quite fond of decreeing that ‘the tired, old arguments of yesterday are over’–oh, and by the way, they were all resolved in his favor. How convenient!

It is a pre-emptive dismissal; “Sit down and shut-up, conservatives; your opinions are old, unnecessary and illegitimate.” Or, condensed: “I won.” Which is a funny kind of “open-mindedness” when–and if–you think about it." (emphasis mine)

Expect to hear this phrase repeated ad nauseum for the next week, or until some lefty pundit thumbs through a thesaurus to find the next "new" word or phrase and puts out the talking points memo.

I have a challenge for Stephen "VodkaPundit" Green and PJTV's Hair of the Dog team: count the number of times the phrase "epistemic closure" is used during the Sunday talking head shows. Anyone want to start an over / under pool on how many times the phrase is used?

more soon

The Ann Arbor Tea Party

I'm a few days late...

so anyway, last Thursday I made it to the Ann Arbor Tax Day Tea Party, in the heart of the Peoples Republic of Ann Arbor (aka "Moscow on the Huron"). It was very interesting, if a bit low-keyed. There were about 500 people in attendance, and even the anti-TP protesters were polite.

AnnArbor.com (what passes for a newspaper in the Peoples Republic of Ann Arbor) actually was very even-handed in their reporting of the event. I will pick nits over this snippet from their article:

But while this year's Tea Party saw much greater attendance than last year's - 500 people versus 150 last year - a lot of its growth had to do with the counter-protesters that decided to join the party.

AnnArbor.com would lead you to believe that the turnout was dramatically influenced by the anti-Tea Party protesters' turn out. Based on my personal observation, the Tea Partiers outnumbered the counter-protesters by nine or ten to one.

As my luck would have it, none of the pictures I took are worth posting (it was the camera, not the content). Fortunately, the AnnArbor.com article has a slide show.

more soon

BAG Day

the time is now.....

so anyway, today is officially BAG Day; where all right-minded citizens are encouraged to go out and Buy A Gun.

The coffers here at Casa de Miguel are a bit strained as I've been unemployed for over eleven months now (Thanks, Barack!), so a new gun was not possible. Instead, I bought the next best thing:


It's sad, the ammo shelves at the local Wal-Mart were mostly empty. (Which is partially my fault, as I went on a "stocking up" rampage in the 4th quarter of 2008, for some bitter / clingy reason.) Other than a box on .32 ACP and a couple boxes of .40, the shelves were bare and dusty. They were even out of .22 LR!!!

I haven't the time to make it to the range today to pop some caps, but if all goes according to plan, I'll be attending the Tax Day Tea Party in The Peoples Republic of Ann Arbor (aka "Moscow on the Huron"). It's being held smack dab in downtown Hippyville, on the Diag on the University of Michigan campus, so it should be entertaining. Provided I'm not under arrest by sundown (which is always a distinct possibility when I venture into the belly of the beast), I hope to post some pics of the event.

more soon

Another BBQ mini-review

it's almost a continuing series....

so anyway, this past Tuesday I found myself in Howell, Michigan as part of my ongoing job search. I had finished my job search business around 11:00 AM and started scouting around for some lunch. As I was cruising down Grand River, I saw a pink sign with the words "Dig the Pig" and I knew I had found my next meal. I slid the Fusion "Dukes of Hazzard" style into the lot of TJ's River BBQ and went inside......continued