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BARBWIRE EXTRA

 

PUBLISHED IN THE 4-29-2005 COMSTOCK CHRONICLE, THE SAME EDITION FROM WHICH THE COLUMN ENTITLED "THE FINGER OF GOD" WAS CENSORED.

Dear Editor:

One of the world's great entrepreneurs came to the Comstock many years ago and made a name for himself. His name was Samuel Clemens, you will know him better by the name he adopted as he worked as a journalist in Virginia City, Mark Twain.

In the millions of words that he spoke, wrote and published, I have never forgotten one particular sentence: "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt."

The column that appeared in the Comstock Chronicle on Friday, April 8, 2005, entitled "Shoes of the Fisherman," by Andrew Barbano, brought this quote by Mark Twain to mind.

Mr. Barbano produced a flatulence of words, over 1200 in fact, and intelligent people can only hope and pray the "enlightenment" that he wished for Pope John Paul II would eventually descend by osmosis on his gray matter (that means a brain for his information) in the course of time.

Hope does spring eternal, even for this man. People of unchallenged wit are not expected to produce in words, thoughts or deeds any semblance of lasting import. This certainly is the case in the column entitled "Shoes of the Fisherman."

I give credit to this newspaper for publishing rightly so all points of view, from the learned and the ignorant, this is a great country.

Sincerely,


Joe Anthony
St. Mary's in the Mountains
Administrator pro tem
Virginia City, Nevada

ANDREW BARBANO'S FIRST IMPRESSION: I invite the reader to please read the columns in question, keeping in mind that Mr. Anthony disputes none of the facts nor any of the philosophy therein. He merely calls names. The only specific complaint I can interpolate from his letter concerns the number of words, which actually came in at 1,058 — not including title or biographical note. I hope he writes again. I may have more on this later. Perhaps not. Be well. Raise hell.

 

You got trouble, folks, right here in Virginia City — Apologies to Meredith Willson and Prof. Harold Hill

    CENSORED ON THE COMSTOCK: The abovenoted column was exorcised from the 4-29-2005 Comstock Chronicle because of religious prejudice in the Virginia City community and on the part of the newspaper's editor. I suppose the three previous installments questioning church policy and theology were one thing, but pope jokes were something else again. In almost two decades of writing for the various owners of the Sparks Tribune and more recently the Comstock Chronicle, this is the first time an entire piece has been purged because of its content. (I have had a dirty word or two changed to #@*&!% on rare occasion, depending on the personal hangups of the higherups, but this is something completely different.)

    The wordburning waxes exceedingly ironic given that the Tribune has since 1988 published the widest range of opinion of any newspaper in the state, large or small. To this day, we ink the weekly opinions of an avowed socialist and an overt racist. I like having them around — they make me look reasonable. Nonetheless, given the voodoo vagaries of codified superstition, I'm the one who got banned in the Sausalito of Nevada. Go figger.

    So if you are overly sensitive to pope jokes, read no further. Leave the links above unengaged, like too many minds these days.

    You have been warned. Alleluia.

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh" — Voltaire (1694-1778)
 

SMOKING GUNS

The Sport of Ethics — Looking in the wrong moral playbook
7-28-2002

Bad character references
7-14-2002

Shoes of the Fisherman
4-3-2005

Selling God
4-10-2005

37 cents to God
4-17-2005

The finger of God
The column banned in pristine Virginia City and righteous Storey County
4-24-2005

Eulogy for UNR — A fatal future fable for Mayday 2005
5-1-2005

Softshoes of the Fisherman
5-8-2005

Jake Highton: John Paul II fell far short of greatness

Jake Highton: John Paul I - Christlike pontiff

Bishop Marcinkus lives above the law in comfortable Sun City, AZ, retirement

The Founding Fathers and God


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Copyright © 2002, 2005 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 36-year Nevadan who attended Catholic institutions through high school. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Daily Sparks (Nev.)Tribune since 1988.

 

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