A Little Housekeeping...

A MAJOR change is in store for the Ex-Donkey Blog in about a week.

No, I'm not joining Kos in his sooper seekret plan to eradicate the DLC. But before long I will have a new site, construction of which will take quite a bit of my time from now until September 1. So I ask for patience if it seems that the posts are becoming fewer and farther between.

Add to that the fact that I'm preparing to ramp up my Tolkien Geek site for the big book blogging of The Lord of the Rings and you can imagine that I'm going to be stretched a little thin.

On a side note, I recently switch browsers at home to Mozilla's Firefox browser and I have to say it's pretty damn good. I was able to download it for free and convert all my favorites, cookies and other settings from IE in about three minutes - it was really easy. I highly recommend making the switch if you haven't already done so.

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Email Policy

Contact: ex-donkey20105 * at * earthlink * dot * net

If you want to share some feedback, by all means shoot me an email.

This is an official notice, however. Any email sent to me - particularly any that I deem to be nasty, offensive or downright moronic - is fair game for publication and ridicule.

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Comment Policy

Simple. This blog is about me and my opinions. It is not a forum for open discussion. People can read what I write and decide for themselves whether or not I'm full of it. That's their prerogative. I leave comments open for my own entertainment. I find most of them amusing and interesting.

But that's not an open invitation to unload your childish frustrations and tell me what an a-hole I am. I have a wife for that. Go be bitter, hostile and humorless somewhere else. Or better yet, go start your own blog.

Snotty, incoherent or inane comments will be ignored. Comments that I find to be a waste of my bandwidth will be deleted without a second thought. If you become a big enough pain in my ass, then your IP address will be blocked. Patience is not my strong suit.

If you read through enough content here you'll understand that I don't take myself too seriously. I learned that lesson a long time ago. I'm just a guy with a blog and a lot of opinions. And like the great "Dirty Harry" Callahan once said, "Opinions are like assholes. Everybody's got one."

Comment spam used to be a big problem, but remedies have been made to minimize it. At one point, it was such a headache that I had to disable comments for an entire month. Hopefully, I won't ever need to take similar action again, but if I do I'll announce it accordingly.

Do not include commercial website URLs in your comments without my permission. I'm not here to drive up Google rankings for businesses that I don't give a crap about. Commercial web addresses that do nothing for me will be deleted (if not the whole comment). When leaving comments, you're more than welcome to include a personal website address in the "URL" field, but it isn't a required field.

One last thing. Be aware that I'm terrible when it comes to responding to comments. Honestly, I rarely do unless I can add something of value or if I feel I need to make a rebuttal. Please don't take it personally if I don't follow up your comment with one of my own. I'm not ignoring you. Actually, the best way to make direct contact with me is via email.

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Blogroll Policy

Besides all the blogrolls from Blog Alliances, I keep one manual blogroll.

I add links because 1) I like them and/or 2) they've added me to their blogrolls. The only real "policy" I have is that if a blog's author manually adds me to a blogroll on their page, I will usually reciprocate if 1) the blog in question doesn't suck and 2) I actually know about it. However, the decision as to whether or not to add a link may depend on other factors as well. And pretty much the only reason I would de-link a recipricol blog is if it looks like it has been abandoned - something that happens now and again.

However, be aware that if you blogroll me on your site and you would like a reciprocal link, you people have to speak up. Unless I check sitemeter or technorati (which I have less time to do every day) I won't know I've been linked. So leave a comment or email me if you want to bring it to my attention.

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Disclaimer

All opinions expressed on this weblog are those of the author (and his auditory hallucinations). The author's opinions do not represent those of his employer. All original material is copyrighted and property of the author. Don't like my opinions? Go get your own damn blog!

(Disclaimer expressly stolen from The LLama Butchers, who stole it from A Small Victory)

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About The Blogger

Who is Gary the Ex-Donkey?
I was born and raised a Democrat. Over time, I began to feel more and more like an outsider within that party. I got married, had kids and started looking at the world differently. Liberalism continued to make less and less sense to me as I began to question things that I always accepted at face value.

If you really want to know the whole sordid tale (and you have lots of time) I have it all written out in a 10-part narrative that I wrote back when I started this site. Here are the links to these posts (each post contains links to the other ones):
The Story So Far (Part I)
The Story So Far (Part II)
The Story So Far (Part III)
The Story So Far (Part IV)
The Story So Far (Part V)
The Story So Far (Part VI)
The Story So Far (Part VII)
The Story So Far (Part VIII)
The Story So Far (Part IX)
The Story So Far (Part X)

Today, I'm a Married White Male with three sons, a mortgage and a pet rabbit living in as "Blue" a part of the country as you can get - New England. I am an American first, a proud Conservative second and a Republican third. I try to abstain from drinking the party Kool-Aid and I have varying opinions on a number of issues. One thing I sincerly believe in is the danger that the Left in this country poses to our Constitutional freedoms and our national security.

Why do you still look like a donkey, then?
It'd look kinda funny to be an elephant called "Ex-Donkey" wouldn't it? Actually, someone who didn't know me all that well would look at me - a guy living in New England, one of the "Bluest" parts of the country - and just assume I vote Democrat. So to most people I know or meet, I still look like a "donk".

Are you on some kind of anti-Democrat jihad or something?
No, but I think it's important to emphasize the sad state of the Democrat party, point out where the Left is it wrong and have a little fun at their expense. If in doing so, I can help convince other reasonable people with similar experiences to unplug themselves from the Democrat matrix I figure that's a bonus.

What is this site rated?
PG. For mild profanity and crude potty humor.

I notice you're not all politics around here.
Politics 24/7 will drive you crazy. I'd say my posts are about 50% political, 40% cultural and 10% personal. My last New Year's resolution was to expand that last category. I like to balance this site with fun. Plus, I try not to take myself too seriously.

Note: On September 1, 2005 I switched over from Blogsnot to MuNu. All of my archives were migrated over to the new server. But prior to 9/1/05, very few of my posts were assigned a category. If there is a topic or an issue of interest, I recommend doing a search (located in the left sidebar). Also, some of the photos and graphics uploaded to Blogger don't always load properly. So if you are searching the archives prior to 9/1/05 you may have to reload (refresh browser) of try again later to see whatever photo is included.

Posted by: Gary at 08:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The New Site is officially "Under Construction"

Patience please...

...while I figure this thing out.

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God Bless The Troops!

This is a terrific tribute to the men and women of the U.S. military and their families. It must be watched by every American.

Your country is PROUD of you!

h/t: RealClearPolitics

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Liberals Batting ".000"...

Rick Moran has some good analysis of the state of the Left at RightWing Nuthouse.

"LetÂ’s face it; if the left were a baseball team, my Chicago Cubs would have competition for being the worst team in the sportÂ’s history. They canÂ’t play defense. Their pitcherÂ’s lob the ball up to the plate and the Republicans and Bush keep hitting one home run after another. When they get a chance in the field, they end up fumbling the ball, dropping it, and then kicking it for good measure. On offense, theyÂ’re pathetic. They just keep swinging and missing. In fact, things are so bad for the left, that lately when they swing they let go of the bat and it sails into the stands, injuring the very people who should be rooting for them."

Go read the whole thing here.

h/t: The Royal Flush

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Anti-War Protesters Torment Wounded Veterans At Walter Reed...

These people are the lowest form of human refuse ever. They are so angry, so bitter, so full of rage at George W. Bush that they would actually stoop to this.

Kevin Pannell, who was recently treated at Walter Reed and had both legs amputated after an ambush grenade attack near Baghdad in 2004, considers the presence of the anti-war protesters in front of the hospital "distasteful."

When he was a patient at the hospital, Pannell said he initially tried to ignore the anti-war activists camped out in front of Walter Reed, until witnessing something that enraged him.

"We went by there one day and I drove by and [the anti-war protesters] had a bunch of flag-draped coffins laid out on the sidewalk. That, I thought, was probably the most distasteful thing I had ever seen. Ever," Pannell, a member of the Army's First Cavalry Division, told Cybercast News Service.

"You know that 95 percent of the guys in the hospital bed lost guys whenever they got hurt and survivors' guilt is the worst thing you can deal with," Pannell said, adding that other veterans recovering from wounds at Walter Reed share his resentment for the anti-war protesters.

"We don't like them and we don't like the fact that they can hang their signs and stuff on the fence at Walter Reed," he said. "[The wounded veterans] are there to recuperate. Once they get out in the real world, then they can start seeing that stuff (anti-war protests). I mean Walter Reed is a sheltered environment and it needs to stay that way."

Disgusting. What's most patently offensive about this is their claim that their protest is actually on behalf of the wounded. I don't usually mind when moonbats like this reveal the true nature of their pathetic "anti-war movement that isn't" to rest of the country, but this shameful bullshit must stop.

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Missouri Town Turns Out To Welcome Home Wounded Veteran...

Gateway Pundit has the story.

"What started as a small gathering grew to more than 52 groups signed up to be in the procession honoring a local area Hero!"

Be sure to watch the video linked in the post!

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Grieving "peace mom" returns...

h/t: LGF

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The Kos Crowd - a special breed of moonbat...

Much ado has been made of the declaration of war against the DLC made by Kos the other day. I've been reading through the 400 some-odd comments left on that post and I really can't believe how "out there" the people registered on his site really are.

It really is pretty amusing. I've made a few observations about these folks.

1. They are not all united. Even among the ultra-left, there are several factions at odds with each other about how to best lose elections
   
2. They sincerely believe that they represent the mainstream "average voter" rather than a fringe - and that their numbers are far greater than what the facts support
   
3. They think the DLC Democrats are corporate slaves who are trying to move the Democrat party to the right of center
4. They all think Howard Dean is a god

5. And most interesting of all, no one I have read (that was a legitimate Kos poster) shows any concern at all that this internal party struggle could further reduce the total number of registered Democrats - and thereby weaken the party.
   

I like to joke about how nuts these people are. But seriously, it would seem that their major problem stems from a lack of realism. They just don't seem to understand how much of a minority they really are. Hope they stay in their echo-chamber. It'll only help elect more Republicans.

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Modern Liberalism = Socialism

Pure and simple. Nathan Tabor at Human Events backs it up.

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Good News From Iraq Website...

I am getting pretty damn tired of the embargo that the MSM has imposed on all the positive news coming out of the GWOT in general and Iraq in particular.

Here's the antidote. Bookmark it! Thanks to Nickie Goomba for the tip.

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Groton Sub Base Spared the Axe...

A nine-member commission has reviewed the Pentagon's recommended plan for the closing of military bases and has reportedly taken the Navy submarine base in Groton, CT off the list of locations to be shut down.

There will no doubt be much rejoicing in Southeastern CT which relies heavily on the base and the Electric Boat sub manufacturer for its economy. Closing the base would have been the economic equivalent of having five 20+ foot Great White sharks in the waters off Amity Island.

While I admit I'm somewhat relieved at the move - the reverberating effects on my tax burden would have been pretty rough - I see this as merely delaying the inevitable. Frankly, we don't need two sub bases on the East coast (Newport News, VA being the other) and keeping the base open is not helping the Federal budget any with its redundancy. It would behoove the Pentagon to scale down operations at the base gradually to lessen the impact of its closing sometime in the future.

I have no doubt that Sen. Joe Lieberman has been lobbying pretty hard to save the base. To his credit, his efforts seem to have paid off. The proposal now goes to the President for approval and will become law in about nine weeks.

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Just call me Freddy...

You're Mr. Orange!

Which Reservoir Dog Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

h/t: Venomous Kate (again)

Posted by: Gary at 09:32 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I always loved Bob Hope...

This clip is great, and and as relevant today as it was when FDR was President.

Gratuitously swiped from Venomous Kate, who swiped it from Extreme Wisdom.

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A Story The MSM Doesn't Want You To Hear...

The U.S. Army is exceeding its re-enlistment and first time enlistment goals. It seems the press couldn't contain themselves when just a few months ago, when recruitment goals seemed to be lagging. Just another sign that Bush's war was a failure, they said.

Well where are these reporters now? Ralph Peters shares the news that they won't in his NY Post column today.

Every one of the Army's 10 divisions — its key combat organizations — has exceeded its re-enlistment goal for the year to date. Those with the most intense experience in Iraq have the best rates. The 1st Cavalry Division is at 136 percent of its target, the 3rd Infantry Division at 117 percent.

Among separate combat brigades, the figures are even more startling, with the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division at 178 percent of its goal and the 3rd Brigade of the 4th Mech right behind at 174 percent of its re-enlistment target.

This is unprecedented in wartime. Even in World War II, we needed the draft. Where are the headlines?

And the MSM hates it. They can't stand the idea that the men and women in our armed forces would actually choose to serve and continue to serve. And why do they do it? Peters explains:

Guess we have to face it: Patriotism is alive and well. Soldiers believe in the Army, and they believe in their missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. They love their comrades, too. And yes, the word is "love." They would die for the man or woman serving beside them. They're risking their lives to save a broken state, to give tens of millions of human beings a chance at decent lives, to do the grim work that no one else in the world is willing to do.

Their reward? The Cindy Sheehan Extravaganza. Predictions of disaster. The depiction of Michael Moore as a hero and our soldiers as dupes. And a ceaseless attempt to convince the American people that there's no hope in Iraq.

The ugly truth is that much of the media only cares about our soldiers when they're dead or crippled. That's a story.

It's not even as simple as "if it bleeds, it leads", though. For the MSM, the truth is too hard to squeeze into their "Vietnam" template. And it shows.

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One More Time...

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