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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Sunday, August 16, 2009

Posh Spice To Replace Abdul On American Idol?

By Steve Hynd


Stick insect idol Ah what the heck, here's some tabloid crap for you from the UK:



Posh Spice has landed a �3million contract on American Idol, replacing Paula Abdul, but bosses of the hit show are still worried about her image.


The 35-year-old has been given the stamp of approval by judge Simon Cowell and the maker of the show, Simon Fuller.


But channel executives at Fox are concerned her skinny frame and British accent may put off U.S. viewers.


Mrs Beckham was only due to sit in as a guest judge for one episode of the talent search show.


After her experience, she admitted she was incredibly nervous and said 'I know how it feels to stand there and be judged.'


But she has since attended two rounds of auditions in Boston - making her position on the judging panel more likely.


...'Focus groups are going to be set up to judge Victoria's performance,' a source told the News of the World.


News of the World is Murdoch's premier British tabloid, so presumably they have an "in" at Fox. So it looks like they're replacing the (alleged) dipso with a stick insect.


Pictured, the stick insect arrives for her first Idol appearance.



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6 comments:

  1. SRW1August 16, 2009 at 11:17 AM

    Couldn't care less, frankly.
    Anything else important happening in the world?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Steve HyndAugust 16, 2009 at 1:30 PM

    Hi SRW1, see my Instahoglets post below this one for the serious stuff I had intended blogging about. To be honest, I was just feeling too flat for real poli-blogging today so I just did a roundup with a few observations. Sorry.
    Regards, Steve

    ReplyDelete
  3. Russ WellenAugust 16, 2009 at 2:14 PM

    Jeez, SRW1, can't Steve have a little fun? He beats his brain in day in and day out for us.
    Last season, Posh was a guest judge on Project Runway. They called her a "style icon."
    Americans won't have a problem with her thin-ness or accent. They might if, as on Project Runway, she doesn't smile. One man's (me) engimatic is another man's (or more likely woman's) "she's stuck up."

    ReplyDelete
  4. hidflectAugust 16, 2009 at 2:28 PM

    Skeletor maneuvers for the spotlight again, eh? After the ripping success she's had on her befuddled idiot hubby's career (him being nearly booed off the pitch) due to shameless chasing of soccer club cash from continent to continent, she's now turned her eyes to garnering easy fame. Let her do it. The ignominy and embarrassment she'll suffer as ratings plummet will be a nice turn of events.

    ReplyDelete
  5. SRW1August 16, 2009 at 11:51 PM

    Hi Steve,
    Sorry if my initial post looked like such a put-down. It was meant more in the way of a snarky comment on our glamor-crazed media in general.
    I very much appreciate the work you and your fellow co-bloggers on Newshoggers.com do. Which is why I have the site book-marked and visit it on a regular basis.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Steve HyndAugust 17, 2009 at 6:00 AM

    Hi SRW1,
    As our Aussie friends say, "no worries". A great phrase that covers a multitude of situations, or should. :-)
    Regards, Steve

    ReplyDelete

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