Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Friday, August 22, 2008

Infrastructure

By Ron Beasley



You haven't heard much from me this week and the reason is collapsing infrastructure.  Many would agree that one of the greatest threats to the United States is not evil foreign powers or thugs, not even imported energy, but the sad state of the infrastructure that ties this country together.  Now everyone is aware of under maintained roads and collapsing bridges but how many realize that at a time when water is becoming an increasingly precious commodity over 25% of it is lost because of leaks in old water systems.  I live in a 40 year old neighborhood.  When it was built in the late 60s they started importing galvanized pipe from Asia.  It was cheap but you get what you pay for and the sewer lines are failing.  The high pressure water lines started failing several years ago. 



But that's not why posting has been difficult.  This is one of the first areas where the electrical distribution was put underground.  After forty years the local underground electrical grid is failing.  It used to be we could go several years without a power outage.  Recently we have been experiencing several outages a year.  In the last ten days we have had three and that includes two in less than 36 hours this week, each lasting over two hours.  Unlike the roads, water and sewer the electricity is supplied by a private utility, a former ENRON company. 



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