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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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Heckling and Question Time

By Dave Anderson:

I would love for the United States to adapt a "President's Question Time" where once or twice a month, the President goes to Congress and answers any questions for an hour or two.  After that, the questions and answers are analyzed so as to create incentives for an informed President who comprehends his policies and the world around them, and not stupid (publicly or comprehensively) Congressional oversight and opposition.  The political incentives (with a quasi functional media) should promote less abject imbecilism and could occasionally help avoid really bad ideas from being implemented such as having a horse lawyer in charge of FEMA. 

Jonathan Zasloff at Same Facts extends this argument a bit more in favor of informed heckling:

1)         Lese-majeste is not a crime or a tort, and shouldn�t be;


2)         The reason why Wilson is a scum is that he himself is a liar, not because he dissented; and


3)         Overall, we could use a little less deference to the exalted King President of the United States.

I don't think Question Time would be implemented within the next decade or two as the Presidency has such a commanding preponderance of power over a Congress that has become supine in defending its prerogatives, but it would be a good step towards reducing systemic stupidity.





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