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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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Homeless Man With a Radio Voice

By John Ballard


I just finished venting at Steve's comment thread and another one at Deborah White's when this video came up in my surfing. (H/T Randi Rhodes)


My frustratioin this afternoon stems from the helplessness I feel in the face of a tidal wave of ignorance, fear and political extremism that swept the country in the recent mid-terms. As if the trend were not bad enough, this afternoon's political theatre in the House of Representatives (contrased by Tom Harkin's persuasive argument for filibuster reform in the Senate) was underscored this week by the White House caving, yet again, to the galactically stupid ** death panels meme. 


 










This man is a perfect illustration of what happens in this country when someone in the service sector gets in trouble.


Yeah, I know all about alcoholism, blaming the victim, personal responsibility and all that. But when those who work in the service sector --  and yes, being a radio announcer is in that sector --  gets into trouble without infrastructure support, governmental or union, the results are too often tragic.


This guy is unbelievably fortunate. But getting out of the ditch should not depend upon good fortune. It should result from a stronger support infrastructure for ordinary people when they get into trouble. What's did Obama say? We are better than that.


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**galactically stupid. H/T Tom Cruise


 



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