Now you can customize Gooooogle’s website logo to make your own custom Google!
I’ve gone ahead and made the ultimate scandal searcher!
Behold!
Boondoogle searches government websites for whatever scandal you like: gun registry, adscam, gagliano, shawinigate… (here’s a good, yet outdated checklist)
>> Click here to use Boondoogle! <<
Hat tip to the Sorry Centrist for the logo maker
Note: This is meant to be a work in progress and will be linked from the Blogging Tories website when it reaches an appropriate length and level of detail. For now, please suggest additions/corrections in the comments section. Upon completion of this document, the comments section will be closed.
1. What is Blogging Tories?
Blogging Tories is an online community of bloggers who are supportive of the Conservative Party of Canada.
2. Why would I want to join the Blogging Tories?
Besides being part of the greatest online political community in Canada, the inclusion of your blog on the Blogging Tories blogroll will increase the number of politically-minded visitors to your website. The blogroll is also read by some of the top politicos in the country.
3. When was Blogging Tories founded?
Blogging Tories was founded on December 28th, 2004. Blogging Tories has the distinction of being the original political blogroll in the Canadian blogosphere.
4. Who started this, who’s in charge here?
Blogging Tories was started by Stephen Taylor and Craig Smith.
5. Is Blogging Tories affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada?
No. Blogging Tories is a private organization that does not speak for or represent the Conservative Party of Canada in any official capacity. Members of the blogroll, however, can be associated with the party at any level from member to MP to leader. However, the organization itself is not associated with the party and does not represent its views.
6. I am supportive of the Conservative Party, but am I permitted to criticize it in order to improve it? Or, may I dump on certain policies/MPs that I do not agree with?
Of course. However, if you are against the CPC and wish for its dissolution or failure, we’d like to thank you for stopping by and would encourage you to make your political home somewhere else as we’d all be more comfortable.
7. I’m a Red Tory / Social Conservative / Libertarian / Progressive / Centrist / Pro-life / Pro-choice / Muslim / Atheist / Gay / Christian, can I join your fine organization?
If you are generally supportive of the principles of the Conservative Party of Canada, you’re welcome in Blogging Tories (see the next question)
8. Who is not welcome in Blogging Tories?
We follow the standards of most online communities in that promoters of hatred, violence, and/or criminal or unethical activity are certainly not welcome in Blogging Tories. Also, trolls and other trouble-makers will not be tolerated.
9. But, now you’re being intolerant of my “extreme” views, aren’t you?
Intolerance of intolerance is certainly tolerated by the administrators and members of the Blogging Tories community. Go be a twit somewhere else.
10. How can I get my posts to show up on the main Blogging Tories page?
Email your RSS feed (non atom format) to Stephen.
11. My RSS feed is in the Atom format, can I still have my feed included?
Blogs hosted on Blogger (blogspot) come with Atom feeds. To convert your feed, go to Feedburner and sign up for the SmartFeed service. Then email the feedburner feed to Stephen.
12. You still haven’t included my feed on the main page. What gives?
There may be a few explanations for this.
Perhaps the most common reason for non-inclusion (99% of the time) is that Stephen gets a lot of email everyday and your email might have gotten lost in the clutter. Please try again.
Your non-inclusion in the aggregator may be also due to the quality of your blog. If you have horrible grammar and write often with many spelling mistakes, your blog won’t be included.
Another reason for non-inclusion is that while half of your posts are cogent arguments for Conservatism, the other half of your posts are about your cat Fluffy.
Finally, your feed might not be appropriate for the main page, meaning that you write mainly about topics that are generally outside the realm of Conservative Party politics and/or you write about topics and express opinions that would embarrass the Conservative Party and/or Craig or Stephen (blogs that are “off-message”). By analogy, a pro-NDP blogging group may accept a blog that compares George W. Bush to Adolph Hitler, but they wouldn’t include such a blog in the aggregator because that kind of talk would embarrass the NDP.
13. Do Stephen and Craig endorse the views and opinions expressed by individual members of the Blogging Tories?
The views and opinions expressed on members blogs of the Blogging Tories are not necessarily endorsed by either Stephen or Craig.
14. I’ve updated my blog but my blog’s link is still in the same place on the blogroll. How do I get it to the top of the list?
Ping the Blogging Tories blogroll by going to the Blogrolling ping form (bookmark this). Fill out the form and click “Ping”. This ping form works on the honour system; if you haven’t just updated your blog, do not ping the blogroll. Abusers of the ping form will be removed from the blogroll.
15. You guys don’t get paid for this right? What can we do to help out?
No, neither Stephen nor Craig receive any monetary compensation for their work on Blogging Tories. But, they’ll gladly accept pints of beer if they’re ever in your neck of the woods.
Cheers!
It’s true, 44 American and Canadian agencies have jurisdiction over the border that separates the two countries and it comes at quite a cost. The staggering bureaucracy adds significant cost to the billion dollars worth of goods that crosses the border each and every day.
For example, the average price of a car has $800 of extra cost figured-in because of extra wait-times (up to 300% more processing time per truck-shipment since 2001).
With one in four jobs in Canada directly or indirectly existing to service the auto industry, reducing costs while maximizing security at the border should be one of the top issues on the national Canadian agenda. The North American auto-industry is so integrated that the parts in the vehicle that you drive have likely crossed the border seven times during production.
Perhaps the federal government should look into further integration and harmonization of certain agencies to allow more efficient communications and data transfer to facilitate the transfer of goods while maintaining tight security at our border.