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.


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

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Jake Shimabukuro - "Bohemian Rhapsody"

By John Ballard


This video is my way of paying tribute to the many innocent victims of violence everywhere we turn. I allowed myself to wander through the You Tube garden and came across this exquisitely beautiful piece. I already knew Shimabukuro is the Pablo Casals of the ukulele but never thought he would be a TED presenter. As I listened and watched, my thoughts drifted to the reports and pictures coming out of Syria, Afghanistan and Ohio and tears came into my eyes. Maybe it's just me, but this afternoon this music struck me hard.  
(The performance ends, by the way, at seven minutes. The last three minutes is a Rolex commercial.) 




1 comment:

  1. Those who may not know of this guy, check out this link.
    http://youtu.be/puSkP3uym5k
    Six years old and nearly ten million views.
    Love these last couple of comments:
    "b...b...but there's only four strings?"
    "i would expect the ukelele to? burst into flames"

    ReplyDelete