BARBWIRE by ANDREW BARBANO

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The dog ate my press release
Expanded from the 10-23-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune
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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

What's foodblog?

Does it taste like chicken? Is it better with screwtop wines? Should people with peanut or lobster allergies avoid it? Is it sushi? What goes best on foodblog, mayonnaise or mustard? Is ketchup taboo?

My old friend Sam Shad has started to lose it. This guru of the Nevada communications biz suffers from a serious communications gap.

Sam's minions just distributed a press release about the latest expansion of the Shad media empire. It hit my desktop in the middle of a very boring afternoon when I hungered for any excuse to avoid work.

To my rescue came Sam's "Chow Reno, Northern Nevada's newest food blog."

Such an announcement prompts serious questions. Sam should anticipate a rash of phone calls from the legit media, which means I won't be phoning him.

Pressing on regardless, I herewith put on my best Jake Hightonesque professorial grading demeanor (or degrading misdemeanor — you pick). Sam's PR shall be mercilessly and decimatingly deconstructed under the expert eye of a former professional union frycook, broilerman and dishwasher.

First and foremost, Sam's story wasn't written to the lowest common denominator, the hallmark of any good publicity release. (The only baser form of writing appears on Fox News.)

After reading the entire press statement, the casual reader still doesn't know what's in foodblog. Maybe it's a marketing ploy like McDonald's secret sauce, Col. Sanders' thirteen herbs and spices or the fabled formula for Coca-Cola.

The PR asserts that "Chow Reno is focused on bringing its readers coverage on new restaurant openings, new menu launches, chef profiles, events and more."

Onsite (onwebsite?) Chef Clint Jolly states "Reno is on the verge of a blossoming food revolution. It is our goal to help the community find new and interesting happenings in our area's restaurant culture."

Restaurant culture. Hmm. While cultures brought us penicillin, it's really not a word you wanna use anywhere near a kitchen. As with your home fridge, if you see something growing a culture, it's time to send it to Clorox City. If your food revolution is blossoming, don't eat it.

Sam should consider eliminating references to any food revolutions, blossoming or not. The Dept. of Homeland Security sweeps for subversive keywords and revolution is guaranteed to twist the shorts of Big Brother's computers into convolutions, convulsions and conniptions.

"Jolly, the lead writer and editor of the site, is bringing his fifteen years of experience in the industry to the table," puns the PR.

"His professional outlook is unique to the food media in this area."

Zounds, I didn't even know we had food media at this altitude. Can penicillin cure it?

"Sam Shad's long tenure as the media face of food in Reno adds a welcome addition to the effort," the release states.

I suggest deleting the face-of-food reference. I have too much respect for both Sam and lemon meringue pie to countenance such a wasteful collision.

Leave food fights to Congress.

"With posts already up outlining the new Campo and a profile of Chef Charlie Abowd, the site is well underway," the press release concludes.

What's a Campo? Is it anything like an Airstream? Can homeless people eat there? I know Charlie (Adele's kid) and Karen Abowd have laudably been feeding many of the less fortunate.

"Upcoming coverage includes an insider look at CommRow's new eateries and a roundup of the area's new food trucks."

Will room service at the downtown Reno CommRow Uncasino serve you some foodblog as you play Spiderman on its pseudo-rock climbing wall? Probably not. Any kind of splatter down to street level, especially ketchup, would be bad publicity.

I can't wait for the roundup of the area's food trucks. Back when I was working car dealerships, they were called gut wagons. I'm glad to see them finally getting some respect.

If they are not operated by members of the Teamsters and Culinary unions, I will be happy to make some calls.

There are many lessons in all this. The most important: Never pitch slow softballs across the plate of a bored and hungry columnist laboring close to deadline on a dead news day.

Finally, Sam should consider a pre-emptive strike against potential protest from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Any followup should announce that ChowReno will, of course, cover Puppy Chow.

But don't let the dogs out. They might eat your press release.

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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