BARBWIRE by ANDREW BARBANO

Barbwire Archives

Liberty and justice for some
Expanded from the 3-25-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
Updated 3-29-2012
Site map
Corporate Propaganda Research Archive

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. Everybody knows the scene is dead    But there's gonna be a meter on your bed That will disclose    What 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

Something's happening here. And there. And everywhere.

People are out in the streets all over the world protesting basically the same thing: A rigged game. Lack of opportunity. Hopelessness.

Even those of narrow mind and possessed of limited capacity to abstract feel a vague anger impelling them toward doing something even if it's wrong.

There remain legions crusading to keep government's greedy hands out of their Medicare, apparently willfully and blissfully ignorant that Medicare is a taxpayer-funded federal program.

Well-intentioned parishioners, led by their holy men, demonstrated against contraception at the Reno federal building a few days ago. I hope they had help crossing the street because it's difficult to look both ways while wearing blinders.

I suggest a peacemaking trade.

Let's get government's dirty hands completely out of religion by eliminating the billions in annual taxpayer subsidies supporting religion in the form of tax-deductible contributions. A small portion of the trillions in savings could be placed in a fund to provide contraception and other health services to employees of religions opposed to same. Pseudo-problem solved.

The overlords are masterful at keeping us peons in the lower classes fighting each other for crumbs that fall off the castle's table.

Only economic devastation causes real change. We re-learn the same lesson every 60 or 70 years when the victims of the previous depredation have begun to die out. We ain't seen nothing yet.

We live in a fragmented nation, easily divisible by clever PR men, with liberty and justice for the few at the expense of the many.

Slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin is just the latest sacrifice on the altar of the crumbs, ephemeral amusement for those gorged on bread and wine.

He is the latter day Emmett Till, the black 14 year-old beaten to death in 1955 because some southern cracker thought he looked the wrong way at a white woman. When his body was returned to Chicago from Mississippi, his mother ordered an open coffin funeral so the world could see what had been done to her son.

Time has elapsed and we are condemned to roll the rock back up the hill all over again.

I suggest thinking.

Practice calming the troubled waters by going outside on the next clear night and look up for awhile. Recommend it to your simpler friends.

You can really think big when you realize how small you really are.

LOST VERIZONS, PART DEUX. My union, Sparks-based Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO, will again demonstrate in front of the Verizon retail outlet at the Smithridge Shopping Center at S. Virginia and McCarran in Reno from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Sunday, March 25. It's part of ongoing nationwide actions spotlighting Verizon corporate greed. For more information, contact Local 9413 VP Janice Porter-Moffit, 775-322-9413 or 775-843-9747.

NEVADA'S 10th CÉSAR CHÁVEZ DAY / EL DÍA DE CÉSAR CHÁVEZ happens at Circus Circus-Reno on Saturday, March 31, 2012, the great union leader's 85th birthday. The 2011 event featured a who's who of state and local officials and this year will prove even more interesting. Doors open at 5:30, dinner at 7:00 p.m.

Contact me for ticket and table information, 775-882-TALK (882-8255).

MAKING IT OFFICIAL. This Tuesday, March 27, at 10:00 a.m., County Commissioner Kitty Jung has agendized a César Chávez Day proclamation before the Washoe County Commission. Ramon Chávez, César's nephew, will attend to accept the honor on behalf of the Chávez family. Victims of Charter cable may view the proceedings on digital channel 217.

TWISTING YOUNG MINDS DEPT. The second UNR César Chávez Day takes place this Thursday, March 29, 3:30-4:30 p.m. in the rotunda at the Mathewson/IGT Knowledge Center (aka the new library). The featured speaker will be Nevada community activist Michael Flores. For details, contact Carla Castedo-Testa of the Latino Student Advisory Board, 775-342-7612. Admission is free.

WOBBLIES FILM FREEBIE. This month's Reno Industrial Workers of the World filmfest features Nevada historian Guy Louis Rocha presenting his magnum opus, Might is Right: Nevada AFL-CIO Labor History. It will be shown in four segments:

1. The Comstock Miners Union http://nevadalabor.com/rocha.html
2. The IWW in Goldfield
3. Hoover Dam
4. Right-to-Work http://nevadalabor.com/barbwire/barb99/barb7-4-99.html

The above links are for those who want to do a little advance reading ahead of the films. Brother Rocha will introduce each segment and lead discussion afterward. Free admission and popcorn. Beverages via no-host bar.

Where/When: Good Luck Macbeth Theatre, 119 N. Virginia, Reno, 7:00 p.m. PDT, Wednesday 28 March. Info: 775-230-5330, e-mail <wobblyfilmseries@gmail.com>

The Wobblies have permanently relocated the fourth-Wednesday showings to the Good Luck Macbeth Theatre.

SUPPORT THE NEVADA CITIZEN TV PROJECT to re-establish a people's channel hereabouts. You may donate at donate at ReSurge.TV or contact me, especially if you think great issues like the above demand extensive and rational discussion.

The Barbwire TV show is still in reruns. Check the expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com.

Help give the gift of non-corporate TV to your community. We are making progress toward returning a citizens station to these parts. Your support is both needed and appreciated.

Thank you.

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE. Former State Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, is in Georgia recovering from knee replacement surgery. Anyone wanting to send greetings to the 32-year public servant can e-mail them to me.

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 and JoeNeal.org. 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 ...and more ammo... Economist: This is a true depression Elliott Parker Guest Editorial / Las Vegas Sun / 11-27-2011 Nevada Press Assn. annual award winners announced. HAT TRICK: Barbwire takes first place three years 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 yet The plight of the paper pushers The great recession made bashing public workers a national sport Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review / 11-23-2011 Bury the Bad News with Rose-colored Reporting How urgent can economic troubles be if leaders say things are getting better? Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review / 11-23-2011 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

NevadaLabor.com | U-News | Bulletins + Almanac Casinos Out of Politics (COP) | Sen. Joe Neal Guinn Watch | Deciding Factors | BallotBoxing.US DoctorLawyerWatch.com | Barbwire Oilogopoly Archive Barbwire Nevada Corporate Welfare Archive Annual César Chávez Celebration War Rooms: Banks, Cabbies, Cabela's, Cable TV, Cancer Kids/Mining, Energy, Food, Health Care, Resurge.TV/consumers, Starbucks, Wal-Mart Search this site | In Search Of...

Barbwire Archives

Copyright © 1982-2012 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.

Site composed and maintained by Deciding Factors, CWA 9413 signatory

Comments and suggestions appreciated. Sign up for news and bulletins