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, January 3, 2012

HCR -- ACA Implementation Timeline -- Bookmark This

By John Ballard


The Kaiser people have produced an interactive website to track the eight-year unfolding of the Affordable Care Act.  


Kaiser


 


Topics are individually searchable and the site is interactive.


For example, if you want to know about the much-discussed individual mandate check the "Insurance" box in the left column. Then find 2014 and click on the +  sign for a drop-down menu.


The first menu item is "Individual Requirement to Have Insurance."


Again, click on the + sign
The information box says


Requires U.S. citizens and legal residents to have qualifying health coverage (there is a phased-in tax penalty for those without coverage, with certain exemptions).


Implementation: January 1, 2014


Learn more: How will the requirement that people be insured or pay a penalty work under the health reform law? This simple infographic explains how �the individual mandate� works.


The infographic will give you an idea about the complexity of the healthcare system in America. 


Whenever you hear the term "Obamacare" which has become something of a nasty, sarcastic alternative tag for this legislation, ask yourself if all the work that went into the design and planning of this body of law really needs to be "repealed."


That is the word being used repeatedly by the GOP candidates and I am certain they know (a) it ain't gonna happen and (b) if more Americans knew what was in the legislation they would not want it to happen. 


Well, I take part of that back. There are a couple of candidates so ignorant that they really don't know it will not be repealed and very likely will never know what's in it.  I never thought ignorance and stupidity could rise to the level we have seen over the past few months, but I have a feeling that the madness has only just started. 


If the Obama campaign doesn't capitalize on this level of ignorance there will be no excuses and he will deserve not to be re-elected. Given what is here and how many people don't know about it there will be no need for any "October surprise." As soon as the campaign gets going defending ACA should be like shooting fish in a barrel. 



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