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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Monday, April 5, 2010

Prohibition and Priorities

By Dave Anderson:

Interesting news at the other end of the state.  Philadelphia County is basically decriminalizing personal possession and use of marijuana by the start of next month. [h/t Eric Martin @ Obsidian Wings]

This
move makes so much sense, it's remarkable that more states and
municipalities haven't followed the handful of trail...um...blazers:


The city's new district attorney and the state Supreme Court are
moving to all but decriminalize the possession of small amounts of
marijuana for personal use in an effort to unclog Philadelphia's crowded
court dockets.

Under a policy to take effect later this month,
prosecutors will charge such cases as summary offenses rather than as
misdemeanors. People arrested with up to 30 grams of the drug - slightly
more than an ounce - may have to pay a fine but face no risk of a
criminal record.

Philly, like almost every other major American city, is facing a cash crunch during this fiscal year and next fiscal year.  Priorities have to be established and marijuana is a fairly low priority as long as the gray and black market suppliers are comparatively non-violent.

Philadelphia is looking at prohibition of a common intoxicant that is fairly easy to produce in a decentralized manner as a luxury it can not afford.  I think this decision will become more common outside of California as cities and counties look at the cost of housing one prisoner for simple possession as not worth it.  That prison bed is more valuable if it is used by an inmate who is a violent threat to society and not merely a consumer of a common but illegal intoxicant. 



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2 comments:

  1. Kevin (NYC)April 5, 2010 at 9:51 AM

    "may have to pay a fine "
    why? for smoking in public like an open container ticket? or just having some joints in a baggie like a six-pack in a plastic bag?
    WHY DO we put up with this? If you want to make some money, put some weed tax on it at a reasonable level, say one ounce is taxed at 5x the tax on a gallon of whiskey.

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  2. zak822April 5, 2010 at 10:07 AM

    I have believed for a long time that weed reform would be driven by budget considerations.
    Reform of the marijuana laws is a budgetary winner. Saves money in every step of the way through the law enforcement system. Police can attend to dangerous criminals, taxpayers won't have to pay to try and incarcerate people who are no threat to the social order. And it would free up prison space, which is not cheap what with staff salaries and upkeep of the facilities.
    Taxation of the weed would add money to states badly in need of cash from any source. Not a lot of money, but combined with the savings in the law enforcement process it should amount to a respectable amount of money.
    By the way, I notice the Philly cops are saying they will continue to arrest people for simple possession. Cops like having anti-weed laws, it gives them a pretext to stop and frisk people on the street. And it's an easy way for them to make good-looking arrest numbers. And it would break up the very racist enforcement of marijuana possession laws. Overwhelmingly, those arrested and those jailed for simple possession are African-American, a fact noted in the Philly.com piece.

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