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.


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

Monday, October 18, 2010

Short-Sighted Oligarchy

By John Ballard


This from an email received from an old friend, is said well enough for publication.  He's reflecting on how the old downtown as been refurbished.



It is quite remarkable what a transformation has happened to downtown. That is possible when there is no democratic process. The oligarchy can make things happen. Of course it is in direct self interest since it is they who own most of that formerly fallow real estate. It is they who, in their interlocking board directorships have mandated that newly arriving firms not violate the low beginning wage set by the former carpetbaggers. These people, many of whom I know... are richer than ever due to the past decade of weatlth allocation to the upper reaches. If only their short term greed could see how much richer they could be with a more prosperous consumer class. They are much like the oligarchy of Apartheid South Africa who just could not let the masses rise any bit to solvency and beyond. THAT is a threat!




Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)