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BARBWIRE
by
ANDREW BARBANO
Casablanca
to Carson City
Expanded from the 2-11-2007 Daily
Sparks (Nev.) Tribune
Former Reno City Council hellraiser Judy Herman sent an e-mail last week informing me of the region's first Jewish Film Festival. It takes place next Sunday at the Nevada Museum of Art — better known as that architectural lump of coal just north of the carcass of du Gros Nez on W. Liberty Street in downtown Reno.
The news is all good — the event features not a frame of footage by Mel Brooks or Woody Allen.
Nevada System of Slightly Higher Education Regent Howard Rosenberg, a professor of filmology and internationally noted flicker critic is a co-sponsor, so what's not to like?
I am personally indebted to Mrs. Herman for providing me with the premise for today's column, of which I was desperately in need as deadline approached. So cue up the Banderas/Hayek blooder Desperado in the Barbwire's dishonor and let's go cinematizing.
To commemorate the inaugural event, I hereby dedicate film classics to some classic Nevadans and their foibles. So pass around the halvah, break open the good stuff, sing Hava Tequila and let's have the envelopes, please...
TO FORMER GOV. DUDLEY DO-RIGHT AND HIS SUCCESSOR, GOV. JIMMY THE FERNBULB: "Singing in the (yellow) Rain." If these two GOP guys don't stop urinating on each other, state government will do even less than usual this year, perhaps not such a bad thing.
TO STATE SENATE PERMANENT MINORITY LEADER DINA TITUS, D-GOMORRAH SOUTH: Shakespeare's "Love's Labours Lost." (The Tribune has spared every expense in researching whether or not Al Gore permanently retired this trophy.)
TO IRAQI PRIME MINISTER NOURI KAMEL MOHAMMED HASSAN al-MALIKI: "The Spongebob Squarepants Movie."
TO IRANIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD"NUKIE" AHMADINEJAD: "Fail Safe" and its Kubrickian counterpart, "Dr. Strangelove."
TO DIMINISHING BRITISH P.M. TONY BLAIR: Sir Dicky Attenborough's "Oh, What a Lovely War!"
TO LORD RUPERT MURDOCH: Both versions of "The Manchurian Candidate" for finally admitting that the FOX noise machine intentionally pimped for Dubya in trying to jingo up support for the Iraq War.
TO MURDOCH'S FOX NOISE CHANNEL: "Moonie Over Miami," for perpetuating all the falsehoods which cult leader Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times recently put into the news flow about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's air transportation request.
TO CONJOBSLEEZA RICE: "All the President's Men," of which she is one of the most loyal. ("Funny Girl" was originally a contender for this slot, but there's nothing funny about her.)
TO ANN COULTERGEIST, who never lets facts get in the way of a good story: "Young Frankenstein."
TO SEN. JOHN KERRY: "Dracula, Dead and Loving It."
TO ASSEMBLY SPEAKER BARBARA BUCKLEY AND FRESHMAN RENO GOP ASSEMBLYCRITTER TY COBB THE THUD: "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." In an act disgracing the name of his revered grandfather and namesake, the longtime Reno Gazette-Journal columnist and editor, this kid cast the only "nay" vote against making Buckley the first woman speaker of the Nevada lower house. True bipartisanslip.
SEN. BOB BEERS, R-19th Century: "The Man Who Would Be King." ("Bullshit - That's my job!" blurted Senate Majority Bill Raggio when he heard about this award.)
SEN. JOE BIDEN: "Say Anything." (Yes, I thought about "Copycat," but it's not only obvious and a cheap shot, but also undeserved.)
UNIVERSITY CHANCELLOR JIM ROGERS: "Die Hard with a Vengeance."
SPARKS AND RENO DOWNTOWN REDEVELOPMENT: "Charade." Both towns are increasing the use of citizen volunteers because they can't pay for enough cops after foolishly blowing hundreds of millions on corporate welfare. So, accordingly...
Recent BARBWIRE Media Hits
and Ego Trips
The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites.
RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006"Our long national nightmare is over."
Did I say that a dozen years ago?
CORY FARLEY, RGJ, 11-10-2006BARBANO: Nevada's newly-hiked minimum wage is nowhere near enough
Reno Gazette-Journal, 11-11-2006TO THE TAXPAYERS OF SPARKS, RENO AND WASHOE COUNTY: "The Sting."
TO SEN. BARACK OBAMA: "Jesus Christ, Superstar."
TO SEN. JOHN McCAIN: "The Bonfire of the Vanities."
TO RUDY GIULIANI: "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice — Imagine the Possibilities."
TO NEW MEXICO GOV. BILL RICHARDSON: "The Quiet Man," which features the best bar-room brawl ever put to film featuring John Wayne and former heavyweight contender Victor McLaglen. If you've never seen the movie, here's a hint: the underdog wins.
TO PRESIDENT BUSH AND VEEP CHENEY: "Dumb and Dumberer." (Democrats may opt for "Unforgiven.")
TO THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: A remake of the "The Shootist" starring Deadeye Cheney.
TO SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: "Million Dollar Baby" for the primary season, "My Fair Lady" and "Camelot" in the fall.
TO INCONVENIENT AL GORE: "Scent of a Woman," for abusing his wife with that godawful, elongated softcore slobbery kiss on national TV at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.
TO BILL CLINTON: What else? "Supersize Me." (Republicans may opt for "Unforgiven.")
TO SEN. TRENT LOTT, R-THE CONFEDERACY: "Knights in White Satin."
TO SCOOTER LIBBY: "The Empire Strikes Back."
TO HUNKY HUSBAND MATERIAL KEVIN FEDERLINE: "On Her Majesty's Secret Service."
TO WALL STREET AFTER DUBYA'S WAR SPENDING FINALLY HITS HOME: "Crash."
TO THE U.S. ECONOMY IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER: "Brokeback Mountain."
TO CONNECTICUT SENATOR AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CHRIS DODD: "The Invisible Man."
TO THE NEVADA MUSEUM OF ART. "Coalminer's Daughter."
TO WASHOE D.A. DICK GAMMICK: "Hair." Mr. Gammick will have ample opportunity to respond when he and I go head to head on Sam Shad's Nevada Newsmakers this Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. on KRNV TV-4.
Additional nominations welcome.
Be well. Raise hell.
The Molly Ivins Hall of Flames
BARBWIRE 2-4-2007Some of Molly Ivins' greatest hits
Reno war protestors march in memory of Molly
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
February 7, 2007A group of Reno anti-war activists took the late newspaper columnist Molly Ivins' final words to heart and put them into action Tuesday.
"We're doing this for Molly," said Paula McDonough, who organized the Molly Ivins Pots 'n' Pan Brigade that protested the war in Iraq outside the Bruce Thompson Federal Building in downtown Reno. "We're doing this because Molly asked us to."...REQUIRED READINGS
Johnson, Chalmers; REPUBLIC OR EMPIRE? A National Intelligence Estimate on the United States; Harper's magazine; January, 2007; (not available online for several months, if at all). I love it when heavy hitters validate what I've been saying for years in the tiny Sparks Tribune.
Barlett, Donald L. and Steele, James B.; America: What Went Wrong? (1992); America: Who Really Pays the Taxes? (1994); America: Who Stole the Dream? (1996) ; Andrews & McMeel/Universal Press Syndicate. For additional comments on the work of the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning team, use the NevadaLabor.com search engine and sweep for "Barlett."
Review of Alex Carey's Taking the Risk Out of Democracy:
Propaganda in the US and AustraliaThe Orwell Diversion by Alex Carey
Excerpted from the book available below
ORDER Taking the Risk Out of Democracy
Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty
By Alex Carey
Edited by Andrew Lohrey
Foreword by Noam Chomsky
University of Illinois Press
SEE ALSO: Lapham, Lewis H.; Tentacles of Rage: The Republican Propaganda Mill, A Brief History; Harper's Magazine cover article; September, 2004, page 32.
By one conservative estimate, the corporate right has spent about $3 billion over the past three decades manufacturing public opinion to suit big business goals. Lapham's number covered the early 1970's to the present day. Alex Carey noted that by 1948, anti- New Deal corporate propaganda expenditures had already reached $100 million per year, not adjusted for inflation, for advertising alone. (Carey, ibid; page 79)
Adjusted for inflation, that 1948 $100 million becomes $801,659,751.04 in 2005 dollars.
Conservatives Help Wal-Mart, and Vice Versa
As Wal-Mart struggles to rebut growing criticism, it has discovered a reliable ally: conservative research groups.
New York Times 9-8-2006; Free registration may be requiredBARBWIRE: Labor Day '94: People vs. corporate con job, 9-4-94
Chilling forecasts from Alex CareyBARBWIRE: The Nevada Republican Party Becomes Communist, 3-30-97
A prescient Plato on the dangers of oligarchyThe sands of time do not cloud the long memories of the sheiks of Araby
Barbwire 9-10-2006
Rinfret, Pierre A.; Peace is Bullish; Look magazine, 5-31-1966
Barbwire Oilogopoly Archive
I've been telling you so for more than 10 freakin' years
Government contactsNevada Legislature
State of Nevada
Secretary of State
Clark County
City of Las Vegas
Reno City Council
Sparks City Council
Washoe County Commission
Washoe Registrar of Voters
Copyright © 2007 Andrew BarbanoAndrew Barbano is a 38-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org, and a member of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Daily Sparks (Nev.) Tribune since 1988.
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