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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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

HCR -- When Health Care Doesn't Care

By John Ballard


We use the term health care carelessly when we should be saying "disease management" or "risk assessment."  That word "care" implies a level of empathy and understanding often missing in the process. Amy Berman's story drives the point home with her first-person account of what happened to her when she faced the diagnosis of a terminal condition.


6a00d8341c909d53ef0148c81debed970c-pi[1] For those of you who haven�t yet heard, I have recently been diagnosed with Stage IV inflammatory breast cancer. This rare form of breast cancer is known for its rapid spread. True to form, it has metastasized to my spine. This means my time is limited. As a nurse, I knew it from the moment I saw a reddened spot on my breast and recognized it for what it was.

My recent journey through the health care system has been eye-opening. In only a few months, I have witnessed the remarkable capabilities and the stunning shortcomings of our health care system firsthand. I am writing here because in the time I have left, I hope my story and my journey can help illustrate why some of the reforms that my colleagues and I at the John A. Hartford Foundation, as well as many others, have championed are so important.



Rather than parse the story here, I'm suggesting that readers go to the link, not only for the outcome but the comments thread that follows. There you will find as sensitive and caring a discussion of health CARE as can be found these days. Of course there are a couple of cold-blooded individuals who make appearances, but their comments only underscore the overall message of Ms. Berman's post and the other comments.



Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. HyperIonFebruary 3, 2011 at 5:02 AM

    Ummm, i don't see a link.
    But maybe that's because of recent security changes in my browser.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John BallardFebruary 3, 2011 at 7:35 AM

    My bad. It's fixed now.
    Thanks for letting me know.
    (Poor excuse, but I'm too distracted by events in Cairo.)

    ReplyDelete

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