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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Saturday, July 25, 2009

Bush considered using U.S. military illegally

by Jay McDonough

Is anyone surprised by this?

Top
Bush administration officials in 2002 debated testing the Constitution
by sending American troops into the suburbs of Buffalo to arrest a
group of men suspected of plotting with Al Qaeda, according to former
administration officials.

Some
of the advisers to President George W. Bush, including Vice President
Dick Cheney, argued that a president had the power to use the military
on domestic soil to sweep up the terrorism suspects, who came to be
known as the Lackawanna Six, and declare them enemy combatants. (Link)

Thankfully,
President Bush decided to oppose the recommendation.  The fact that the
Fourth Amendment to the Constitution and the Posse Comitatus Act
expressly prohibit the use of the military for domestic policing
activities didn't deter Mr. Cheney and his partners in crime.  They
just had their trusty hacks, John Yoo and Alberto Gonzales, devise a
get out of jail memo that pretty much told the Administration that they
could do whatever the hell they wanted.  You know that Constitution,
just like the Geneva Convention, is so quaint.

That whole "black helicopter"
scenario is such a stereotypical right wing response - the idea that
the federal government would overrun and impose its will on the
civilian population with loyal, treasonous military might.  It's ironic
that the same folks that are so freaked out by that scenario are the
same folks who would, no doubt, embrace it when done in their name.

Jeez, we really dodged a bullet when those Bush Administration knuckleheads left office.



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1 comment:

  1. hidflectJuly 25, 2009 at 8:57 AM

    "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"
    Let's see what happens to Obama if he tries to say this. There'd be a necktie party from the nearest Cherry Tree before you could say "uppity".

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