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.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Shepard Smith Goes Off the Reservation Again

By Ron Beasley



FOX's Shep Smith will have the wingnuts screaming for his scalp again after this.  Via TPM he takes on Sen. John Barrasso (Wingnut, WY).





He did a better job of making a case for the public option than anyone on MSNBC.

The likelihood of a bill without a strong public option "has been an
enormous win for the insurance industry," Smith said. "But I wonder
what happens to the American people when we come out with legislation
which requires everyone to have insurance ... but does not give a
public option. Therefore, millions more people will have to buy
insurance from the very corporations that are overcharging us. ... It
seems like we, the people, are the ones getting the shaft here."

I'm sure the wingnut blogosphere is dusting off their fire Shepard Smith posts.



Posted by at
Labels: , ,

2 comments:

  1. HootsbuddyOctober 6, 2009 at 10:21 PM

    Wow!
    Just, wow!
    He must have missed the memo. I'm glad I was sitting down as I watched.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KevinOctober 7, 2009 at 4:38 AM

    sounds like the wingnut was pro death-panel...
    "1/2 of the costs is spent on 5% of the people" (unsaid was.."if we could just get rid of them, we could save a lot of money that could be used to pay bonuses to insurance executives..")
    but the problem is that he keeps on talking about reducing health care costs. actually, the first step is reducing health insurance costs. madicare spends 3-5% to admin the system. For-profit companies spend 30-40% and a lot of that is spent figuring out ways to deny claims, with the rest for big bonuses.
    Underneath that is actual health care costs, and its unclear what any of the bills will do for that.
    same rate billing - providers charge everyone the same and get paid the same. we need to stop this wierd system where people get billed $150,000 for a $2,500 procedure.
    same form billing - all codes and forms should be standard so providers can simplify their systems.
    wellness payments - doctors should get paid if people don't get sick.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)