And now, a post that needs no introduction.

Seriously, any snark on my part would be embarrassingly gratuitous, don't you think?



And somewhere in rural Saskatchewan, the batshit craziest blogger in Canada is wondering, "Hey, why didn't I think of that?"

YO! STEPHEN! It occurs to me to wonder what Blogging Tories co-founder Stephen Taylor thinks about this disturbing new development among his membership.

It goes without saying that the BTs are, for the most part, disturbingly insular, what with numerous BT member blogs either not allowing comments, or moderating comments, or selectively tossing comments they don't like or, in the until-now extreme case of the perpetually-frothing Kate McMillan, just flat-out blocking referrals from the blog of your humble scribe. But this? This takes things to a whole new level when you don't even allow the general public to read your rantings unless those readers have been pre-screened and approved.

So what's up with this, Stephen? Is this just the next step on the inevitable decline of the Blogging Tories into one big, hermetically-sealed, wankerrific circle jerk? And doesn't this somewhat defeat the purpose of having right-wing, Canadian blogs and a super-cool, neat-o aggregator to collect them all, only to have your members decide who is and isn't qualified to read their stuff?

Really, Stephen, this doesn't look good. We already know how your idol Stephen Harper is an obsessive control freak who avoids the media at every opportunity. But for the Blogging Tories to start emulating that kind of behaviour? Creepy. And if you had any shame, you should be seriously embarrassed right about now.

DEEP AFTERTHOUGHTS: In the comments, RT asks:

Why don't you ask Brian what's up?

Mostly because I don't give a rat's ass what Brian thinks about, well, anything. In a nutshell, he's good for little more than ridicule on a regular basis. After all, he is the towering intellect who gave us this, which seems to have been a tremendous flop in the tradition of the Pantload himself.

I'm far more interested in Stephen Taylor's thoughts on one of his precious BTers suddenly becoming this insular, and whether this is something that is compatible with Stephen's precious right-wing aggregator.

In fact, if one looks closely at the current BT home page, one notices some strange goings on. If memory serves, the masthead used to at least advertise that site as the home of Canada's Right, or something vaguely similar. Now, if you're a first-time visitor, there's nothing to explain what you've just found.

More disturbing, though, is what appears to be the recent removal of the list of BT members. I don't see a membership roll there anymore -- I don't even see a link to such a thing. If you go to say, Progressive Bloggers of Canada, there's at least a reasonably visible link called "Affiliates," but I see nothing like that at the Blogging Tories. And if I were a BT member, I'd be a bit pissed at that lack of reference.

But the more important question is -- what do Canada's other political aggregators think about this? Would they continue the membership of any blog that restricted its readership to invitation only? Let's hear it.