At Home in Hespeler

For a number of months now, At Home in Hespeler has not appeared on the Blogging Tory feed, surviving on traffic from other sources. It has, indeed survived. I never requested the problem be fixed, because I have been long considering leaving the Blogging Tories.

In truth, I have been doing less and less blogging on politics over the past few years. And there have been occasions when I have intentionally done a politics post because I feel a little obligated. I have often felt this blog is a Blogging Tory blog first, mine second.

And so today I sent the following email to Stephen Taylor:

Hi Stephen

I’m sending this email to ask that my blog, At Home in Hespeler (http://www.briangardiner.ca/hespeler/), be resigned from the Blogging Tories blogroll.

I want to thank you for all you have done for the blogs in the Blogging Tory community, as the blogroll is a massive success. It has been a privilege to be a member of the community and I hope I have managed to contribute to it over the years.

Please be assured that while there are a number of reasons that I am doing this now, it has nothing to do with any wrongdoing on the part of the Blogging Tories, or yourself. The main reason is, as I find myself somewhat discouraged by the governing conservatives, I have been blogging less and less about politics. It seems now appropriate to move on.

Thank you again for all you have done. Without the traffic brought by the Blogging Tories, I don’t think At Home in Hespeler would have survived this long. It is now time, I believe, to have it stand up on it’s own.

Yours &tc.
Brian Gardiner

It is time to move on.

If you enjoy At Home in Hespeler, please be sure to bookmark me so you can follow along, or follow me on twitter where I post updates.

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In politics, I’ll choose the ethical stance over the practical one every time. Conservative blog  Moose and Squirrel has quit the Blogging Tories over the candidacy of Julian Fantino in Vaughan. Her issue, it should be noted, is not with the Blogging Tories, but with the Conservative Party itself:

...the Julian Fantino candidacy has become kind of a final straw issue for me. I just can’t continue to support the Conservatives through my blog, and it seems wrong somehow to take advantage of the traffic the BT site sends my way when I just can’t support the party…

I have been considering the same move lately, mostly because I do less politics than ever, but also because I am drifting farther and farther from the Conservative Party. Fantino is high on the list of why, and if I lived in Vaughan I would be voting Liberal tomorrow.

Good for Moose and Squirrel for taking the stand, and to help keep traffic moving her way, I’m placing her on my sidebar.

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I’d like to thank the member of the academy…

The honour of this weeks Blogging Tories Site of the Week falls upon this blog, for which I am grateful to Paul over at Blue Blogging Soapbox. Paul does a great job keeping up on all the Blogging Tories blogs and coming up with a weekly best of.  I know from running the site of the week a few years ago it takes a greater commitment than you would expect.  You must daily wade through the numerous posts, keeping an eye for someone who is having a strong week, or had a particularly good post.

This is the second time I have been cited as Blogging Tories Site of the Week, and the second time Paul has picked me for a post that I was pleased with, yet met with yawning indifference once it out there. I have noted before, the first time may have saved this blog from the dust bin. This time Paul noted the post To My Daughter…, which went a bit viral within my family – causing me to have to explain it’s intent was political. It otherwise went unremarked until Paul did so, and for once again saving one of my better posts from obscurity, thanks Paul.

Thanks for all your support through the years and thanks for your work on the Blogging Tories Site of the Week.

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