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ANDREW BARBANO

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Rats, fat cats and Olympic Kool-Aid
Expanded from the 2-17-2008 Daily Sparks (Nev.) Tribune
Updated 2-19-2008

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Sometimes I hate it when I'm right.

Last week, the redoubtable Ray Hagar printed a story in the Reno Kazoo-Journal about local Olympic proselytizers taking a survey to see if us yokels will support a tax increase for a winter games bid.

Smoking Guns

"Krolicki, chairman of the Nevada Commission on Tourism and a supporter of the Reno-Tahoe Olympic movement, stressed that most of the money to finance the games would come from private sources, but taxes would have to be part of the equation."...

..."'There is no question that a tax would have to be part of the overall game plan,' (Reno Mayor Bob) Cashell said."

Reno Gazette-Journal 2-14-2008

"'The Montreal Olympics can no more have a deficit, than a man can have a baby.' — Jean Drapeau was haunted by this comment, made when he was Montreal's mayor in the 1970's"

CBC 12-19-2006

"Without tax money, Reno-Tahoe would be hard-pressed to compete with other North American venues that also may want the 2018 winter games, (Lt. Gov. Brian) Krolicki said," according to Hagar's article.

That's not what the light guv said two months ago.

"Krolicki thinks it can be done through private contributions, mainly from big corporate sponsors.

"'My vision is not to encumber the taxpayer in this process at all…Park City gave us a great model,'" he told the Reno News & Review last December.

Bull.

Park City was another huge corporate welfare project sucking up over half a billion dollars in taxpayer subsidies, according to Hagar's report.

The only North American Olympics that actually made money took place in Los Angeles in 1984, largely because almost no new facilities or infrastructure were needed.

Montreal finally paid off its 1976 debts just a few a years ago (2006).

Here's what I told the News & Review:

"'Thou shalt not finance it on the backs of the taxpayers,' warns Andrew Barbano, a veteran Reno journalist. He has led the opposition to public funding for a Reno-Tahoe Olympics since a bid in the late 1980s.

"'My biggest objection was they wanted to finance the Olympic bid and the construction of the Olympic project with the same damn thing they always do around the state of Nevada — raise the sales tax, which is the most brutal and regressive tax you can impose on people…My name’s been married to questioning the Olympics ever since.'

"Barbano questions whether the coalition can truly pull off the games without feeding at the public trough.

"'I’m sure somebody will think of raising the sales tax again. They always try to burden the public with something like this.'

"Barbano calls it 'corporate welfare' and cites Northern Nevada’s rich history of infusing tax dollars into sports-related venues…

"'I'd be very surprised if they can do [the Olympics] with 100 percent private money,' Barbano says. 'I just don’t think it’s going to be there,'" I told the RNR.

Misrepresentation sank the Reno-Sparks-Tahoe Olympic Organizing Committee's bid to host the 2002 winter games and today's jockocracy seems to have the same trouble telling the truth.

FROM OLY TO ONIE: The outstanding community service of Rev. Onie Cooper will be remembered on March 8 at the Second Baptist Church. The longtime civil rights activist succeeded after years of effort to get a stretch of highway named for the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Organizers are looking for letters recounting personal experiences from those who have worked with Rev. Cooper. You may mail them to "This is Your Life Onie Cooper," in care of the church at 1265 Montello, Reno NV 89512.

FROM FIGHTER TO FASHION: The Reno-Sparks NAACP will host a local showing of the 50th anniversary edition of Ebony magazine's traveling fashion fair at the Grand Sierra Resort on April 23. For show info, go to renosparksnaacp.org. For tickets, call Jane Moon at (775) 722-7314.

FROM DREAMGIRLS TO DREAM WORLD. Last Wednesday, I got to play pundit on Sam Shad's TV show. (You may view it at nevadanewsmakers.com.) In the first two segments, Mr. Shad interviewed Nevada State Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno. The longtime public official said that neither Republicans nor Democrats have fielded a presidential candidate with the ability to inspire in the tradition of Harry Truman or John F. Kennedy.

The old political warhorse just hasn't been paying attention.

He also said that a major study of Nevada's tax system is needed since the Price-Waterhouse report was done in the early 1980's.

He was wrong on both counts. The book-length Price-Waterhouse study was delivered to the 1989 legislature. I've got a copy and all it basically did was to categorize the obvious. Sen. Raggio also seems to have forgotten that major tax research was done under Gov. Dudley Do-Right just before the 2003 legislative session — the one that raised taxes but not our level of wisdom.

Another study will merely become the typical exercise of addressing the problem by licking a stamp and mailing it to the future.

FROM FAT CATS TO RATS. I got a lot of calls last week from reporters trying to find out what's behind the three cabinet level resignations from Gov. Jim the Dim's staff. The directors of the state departments of public safety (DMV, highway patrol) and agriculture are leaving, as is the only remaining communications officer.

Former Reno police lieutenant Phil Galeoto's departure at DMV/NHP is perhaps easiest to understand. He came into the job under a bit of a cloud, just like the man who appointed him. (See "Missing drugs and guns, heavy criticism, then resignation" by Jeff German in the Feb. 14 Las Vegas Sun.)

Perhaps we should take the public statements of the departing as face value. (Cliché alert) Galeoto wants more time with his family. The ag director said her job wasn’t a good fit for her. Maybe they all became weary of the constant cacophony of criticism by those concerned that the governor's pig-headed budget cutting is going to cost lives.

Or maybe the rats are deserting the sinking ship because the patches in the hull cannot be repaired and they've just sighted an iceberg they're not warning us about.

FROM RATS TO RIGHTS. Casino dealers at Lake Tahoe are starting to organize a union. See laketahoedealers.com.

FROM GAMBLING TO GLITCHES: Technical problems scratched last week's scheduled launch of my new live call-in talk TV cablecast/webcast. We are working hard to zap the gremlins in the system. My apologies if I inconvenienced anyone and I sincerely appreciate your patience. Stay tuned to Barbwire.TV.

Be well. Raise hell.

SMOKING GUNS...

Weapons gone missing
State public safety director’s resignation comes amid criticism of his lost evidence probe
Las Vegas Sun 2-15-2008

Galeoto resigns RPD
Las Vegas Sun 7-15-1999

...and more ammo



NAOMIKLEIN.ORG: The Shock Doctrine Short Film
A Film by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein, directed by Jonás Cuarón
An official selection of the Toronto Film Festival
An official selection of the Venice Film Festival
The Shock Doctrine short film is cleared for Internet use but not for broadcast,
so feel free to share it with your friends.

NAOMI WOLF: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
There are some things common to every state that's made the transition to fascism. Author Naomi Wolf argues that all of them are present in America today.
Alternet 5-20-2007

Johnson, Chalmers; REPUBLIC OR EMPIRE? A National Intelligence Estimate on the United States; Harper's magazine; January, 2007. 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 Australia

The 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 required.

      BARBWIRE: Labor Day '94: People vs. corporate con job, 9-4-94
Chilling forecasts from Alex Carey

      BARBWIRE: The Nevada Republican Party Becomes Communist, 3-30-97
A prescient Plato on the dangers of oligarchy

The 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

The Dean's List

   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


 

Annual César Chávez Celebration March 31, 2008


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Copyright © 1982-2008 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 39-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org; a member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO, and 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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