BARBWIRE by ANDREW BARBANO

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Loss of Faith
Expanded from the 10-16-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune
Updated 10-22, 11-16-2011, 1-8-2012
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Everybody knows the dice are loaded. Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.    Everybody knows the war is over. Everybody knows the good guys lost.    Everybody knows the fight was fixed. The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.    That's how it goes. Everybody knows.

— Leonard Cohen

HAT TRICK: Barbwire wins 3rd straight Nevada Press Association First-Place Award Barbwire.TV Watch NevadaLabor.com for show times. Help us get the word out. Support the project at http://resurge.tv#donate SUING FOR SCHOOLS Updated 8-30-2011 Now rerunning on Carson-Dayton 226 Additional programs on Boulder City cable. Go to bcnv.org and then go to the BCTV link. If Reform Fails: Health Care, Jobs and Unions — new power to the people on the public airwaves The program premiers were available to every television set in the region because of a high-mileage media hybrid. The shows appeared on both commercial and community stations. The non-corporate entity produced the events, commercial TV greatly expanded distribution. Thus began an ongoing series of sane public interest programs which generate both entertaining heat and more than a little light. Please spread the word and consider contributing to the cause online at ReSurge.TV. You may also take the public option known as the U.S. Postal Service and send a check or money order to ReSurge.TV, P.O. Box 10034, Reno NV 89510. Your contribution will help fund the distribution as well as ongoing efforts at developing new media, including a regional, non-corporate community radio station and the return of community television to Reno-Sparks-Washoe. You are present at the creation of what I hope can become a new media model where the programming accurately reflects what's happening on the ground and the media impact is powerful enough to forcefully pass the message upward. Thanks. Be well. Raise hell. Andrew Click here for selected on-demand re-runs from the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Barbwire.TV archives Barbwire.TV: 15-year overnight success Daily Sparks Tribune 2-10-2008 The Barbwire's Greatest Hits Highlights from radio days mp3 file HAT TRICK: Barbwire wins 3rd straight Nevada Press Association First-Place Award

She grew up a nice Italian Catholic girl. Life put her through exhilarating highs — the birth of her son — and lows — an unfaithful husband.

Through it all, she had her faith. The church was a constant emotional anchor, a safe harbor from the storms.

Then came the non-stop scandals where the priesthood was defrocked as an international haven for pedophiles.

This kind lady has been lost for awhile, wandering from job to job, meandering from church to church, retreating from relationships.

I will never forget the day she uttered the words Catholics are never supposed to hear: "I lost my faith."

Loss of faith. That's not just the problem with one Nevada woman or one church, it's the central problem of our time.

The people and institutions we trusted have failed us and even betrayed us. Lowlifes have gamed and gutted the system for their own perverted purposes. All seven deadly sins have become institutional bylaws. The Ten Commandments and Bill of Rights are rote lessons for robotic school kids.

I haven't seen her in a number of years, but the recent news about the criminal indictment of the Catholic cardinal of Kansas City brought back that memory. (He was busted for not promptly reporting evidence of child porn.)

Loss of faith has brought the disaffected and dispossessed into the streets, be they Tea Partyites or Wall Street Occupiers.

Repentant union buster Martin Levitt once told me that the few times he could not break a labor organizing drive came when union members refused to break solidarity.

Therein lies a lesson for the beleaguered America of Century 21: The bad guys win as long as the lower classes (99.9 percent of us) fight each other.

Teatardos think government their enemy. Latter Day Tie-Diehards decry corporate fatcats. Unless and until they recognize both as two sides of the same counterfeit coin, the bad guys win.

The choice is clear. Keep the faith and keep the country. Otherwise, prepare for a very messy and prolonged divorce.

ADIOS, YOUNG MAN. Sparks resident and former KOLO TV-8 production manager Scott Albrecht, 61, passed away on October 1. We produced a lot of commercials three decades back. He married a beautiful girl named Deborah and later opened his own advertising agency.

I always thought I'd run into Scotty again in this small town, but never did. I read his obituary too late to attend his memorial service. He will live in my memory as a fine young man with a bright future.

I was at Channel 8 the day Scott walked through the studio asking for help finding some clean towels. I later learned that a suicidal man had jumped from the station's broadcast tower and was bleeding profusely. Cool as a cucumber in winter, Scotty set about helping him and managing an emergency situation that would have rendered lesser lights into dim bulbs.

Survivors include his wife, two sons, mom and three siblings.

I lament his passing, feel for his family and wish him godspeed on his new journey.

LYRICS AND MUSIC. Echoes of Nevada's checkered past hit us right in the face on Saturday, Oct. 22. Local authoresses Susan Chandler and Jill P. Jones will sign their new book Casino Women: Courage in Unexpected Places at 1:30 p.m. at the new downtown Reno location of Sundance Books, California and S. Sierra.

My friend Darlene Jespersen is prominently featured in the work. Inaugural inductee into the César Chávez NevadaLabor.com Hall of Fame, she was the plaintiff in the world famous Lipstick Lawsuit against mighty Harrah's. A model employee for more than two decades, she refused to paint herself up like a streetwalker as part of a new casino cookie cutter appearance policy. She was fired and her court case made new law for women's rights.

The book also reveals how the Reno-Sparks and Las Vegas chambers of commerce were used as fronts for a phony UNR pro-smoking study funded by Big Tobacco.

Casino Women contains one minor fox paw. The late Gov. Mike O'Callaghan is termed "McCallaghan." The authors also demonstrate questionable judgment by including quotes from the Barbwire.

On Saturday evening, Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks return to Virginia City for a benefit concert at Piper's Opera House. Sundance and Recycled Records have tickets. Proceeds will benefit the folks fighting the gold mining bandidos who want to bulldoze the Comstock for 30 pieces of silver. Details at ComstockResidents.org.

Back in the 1960s, Hicks was a member of the Charlatans, a legendary group which included singer Lynn Hughes (Stone Ground), late significant other of Tribune columnist Travus T. Hipp.

DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT DEPT. In the past few days, the Reno Kazoo-Journal finally discovered that St. Mary's Regional Medical Center is up for sale. Barbwire readers were informed last August.

UPDATE: A short trip from the holy of holies to the den of iniquity
Federal agencies investigate St. Mary's suitor for Medicare fraud allegations
Reno Gazette-Journal / 11-6-2011
This link is now stale. The story is perhaps for sale or via websearching other sites.

TOLJASO, PART DEUX. Like Target before it, the new Sparks Marina Lowe's store is being built with tax money that would otherwise go to parks, schools, roads, police and fire protection. Like Target, Lowe's will close an existing store.

While Sparks City Hall sat shiva, Lowe's hired an unqualified low bidder to do the steel. That outfit has walked and highly-skilled union iron workers are now doing the job right.

UPDATE: The latter scoop causes a hissy fit if not a firestorm at Sparks City Hall.

U-TUBE. Check the expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com for the latest statewide Barbwire.TV schedule, viewable 24/7 online.

Support the return of community radio and television in these parts. Go to ReSurge.TV to volunteer your time or treasure or both.

It's now more important than ever — > unless you think corporate-controlled media is all you need. Stay tuned for updates.

Be well. Raise hell.
______

Andrew Barbano is a 43-year Nevadan, chair of the Nevada César Chávez Committee, producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration, first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP, labor/consumer/civil rights advocate, member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO and editor of NevadaLabor.com. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. Check local listings for other Nevada cable systems. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Daily Sparks Tribune since 1988.

Smoking Guns POWERFUL PUNDITORY PANJANDRUMS: Compelling guest commentary Nevada Press Assn. annual award winners announced. HAT TRICK: Barbwire takes first place for third year in a row. The winning entries: Suing for Schools: The 20-year shuck Expanded from the 2-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune Click here to view the show on your desktop RED flags flying low over Sparks Expanded from the 1-10-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune The wrath of self-righteous racism Expanded from the 11-8-2009 Daily Sparks Tribune Government contacts Nev. congressional delegation Nevada Legislature State of Nevada Secretary of State Carson City Clark County City of Las Vegas Douglas County Reno City Council Sparks City Council Washoe County Commission Washoe Registrar of Voters The campaign against forcibly-paid newspaper obituaries And they wonder why the newspaper business is dying?   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 The 2009 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners Tony the Tiger & the flaky NFL Barbwire / 11-30-2008 Deregulation is never having to say you're sorry Barbwire / 8-3-2008 Nevada: A good place to visit, but do you want to live here? Barbwire / 6-15-2008 The 2008 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners The price of a piece / 6-17-2007 Boxing Pandora /9-23-2007 The Lady in the Red Dress 10-28-2007 1997 Pulitzer Prize entries ...and more ammo Fact-free nation: Inside the lie machine Mother Jones Magazine May-June 2011 / Cover story and in-depth analysis Bill Moyers: Welcome to the Plutocracy Money fights hard and it fights dirty Speech delivered at Boston University on 29 Oct. 2010 Part of the Howard Zinn Lecture Series Barbwire Corporate Welfare Archive Cabellyup.com From clear-cut forests to dirty Gulfstream waters, this land belongs to old BP TOLJASO LONG TIME AGO BP/ARCO: The greasy root of our evils Barbwire / Daily Sparks Tribune 9-10-2006 The awful truth — Read it and weep, fellow suckers Labor Day 2009: Rise of the Vampire Corpobots Expanded from the 9-6-2009 Daily Sparks Tribune Angry Americans and Freudian fraud Using war to market cigarettes Expanded from the 8-23-2009 Daily Sparks Tribune BARBWIRE Nevada Corporate Welfare Archive Propaganda fuels gasoline price fixing Barbwire 8-14-2005 Donate to the cable ratepayer legal defense fund at our PayPal-enabled ReSurge.TV Consumer War Room Phillips, Kevin; Numbers Racket: Why the economy is worse than we know Harper's Magazine; May 2008; page 43 Phillips has authored numerous books on history and politics over the past 40 years. His most recent, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism, was published by Viking on April 15, 2008. 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. 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

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Copyright © 1982-2011 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 43-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org; and former chair of the City of Reno's Citizens Cable Compliance Committee, He is producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration and serves as first vice-president, political action chair and webmaster of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.

Barbwire by Barbano premiered in the Daily Sparks (Nev.) Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in those parts ever since. Tempus fugit.

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