BARBWIRE by ANDREW BARBANO Pirate Laureate of the High Desert Outback of the American Dream

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How go the ritual superstitions with your tribe this week?

That's what you're doing whether you realize it or not.

Christmas is Charles Dickens' updated version of ancient pagan winter solstice feasting after the crops have been stored for the coming cold.

The aforementioned first day of winter is the shortest day of the year.

"Since the event is seen as the reversal of the Sun's ebbing presence in the sky, concepts of the birth or rebirth of sun gods have been common," notes the ubiquitous Wikipedia.

Jesus as a recycled sun god? You betcha.

I have found mildly amusing the recent tempest in the moonhowler crockpot complaining about the label "holiday tree" when the Christmas tree itself is a hangover of non-Christian beliefs.

Reminds me of an oft-repeated story I learned back at Fresno State.

The Spanish conquistadores brought holy men to civilize the savages who remained after the initial slaughter, rape and pillage.

Rather than start from scratch, the anointed of God found it much simpler to put new labels on existing superstitious practices.

And so the fertility goddess of the native Andean peoples became the Blessed Virgin Mary without missing a beat.

Alleluia.

When my brother came back from Vietnam, he gave me an enlightening lecture about the country's history that almost never appeared in the mainstream media: We got caught up in an age-old conflict between two native warring tribes, updated by weaponry from the superpowers of the day.

Despite all our vaunted scientific and sociological advances, we remain a world of warring tribes, which goes a long way toward explaining our violent primal proclivities.

Conflicts between religions, regions and supposedly sovereign nations can still be easily categorized as latter day tribal warfare.

Hebrews vs. Philistines is now Israelis vs. Palestinians.

Place a world map on a corkboard, blindfold yourself and throw six darts.

Odds are you'll hit at least five ancient tribal conflicts updated with modern labels.

As some of us succumb to the siren song of football over the next several weeks, take a moment to view the battles of our latter day gladiators as merely updated pagan tribal rituals draped in logos and commercials.

Mankind is a barely post-pubescent species among which the United States stands as its scarily most powerful pre-adolescent manifestation: the equivalent of a 13 year-old with nuclear weapons who has not outgrown the tribal taboos.

Don't look for civilization at an Oakland Raiders game.

Don't try to point out the absurdity of an anti-semitic klansman who worships a Jew as his god and savior.

The late Oscar-winning actor Rod Steiger once wrote a short story set under the moving letterboard above New York City's Times Square.

One day, the electric sign miraculously began flashing a single message: "God returns to earth at noon next Friday."

"You couldn't get near the place," Steiger later said.

Promptly at 12:00, a huge black whale appeared on the building atop the dancing letters.

"I am the Lord, your God. Bow down and worship me," came a voice from the sky.

Stone silence from the multitude.

Then a murmur.

Soon, stones and pop bottles were hurled upward.

"I am the Lord, your God. Bow down and worship me."

The mob got ropes and tried to pull the whale down to street level.

God finally nuked the place.

Moral: Man will accept no god not made unto man's image and likeness.

Wish your tribe Happy High Holly Days.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

WEB EXTRAS...

SUPPORT THE RETURN OF COMMUNITY TV. Support the cause at Barbwire.TV by putting your money where my mouth is.

Keep sending show suggestions.

Current frontrunners include (pardon the pun) wild mustangs as canned goods, education,  i-Guns and gay Olympics

  Please forward additional ideas or vote on the above.

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The medium that shapes public opinion needs at least one refuge where it is not filtered through the distorted green eye shades of prissy corporate accountants for whom profit is the only priority; where self-censorship is the journalist's normal work environment and where all sins of omission are tacitly encouraged and forgiven with the wave of a balance sheet.

This is important.

HONOR YOUR DON. Keep sending comments supporting legendary Nevada photographer Don Dondero (1920-2003) for the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame.

His life's work appeared worldwide, including the Tribune and most probably every newspaper in Nevada.

Enlist in the campaign to install Big Don.

Please send me your memories and endorsements via e-mail or to P.O. Box 10034, Reno NV 89510.

The Barbwire got the late Reno Gazette-Journal columnist Guy Richardson elected last year.

Let's go for a repeat.

Happy High Holly Days!

MerryChristmas/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus/Chanukah/Thanksgibleting

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

____________
Andrew Barbano is a 45-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... Liberal reasons to oppose liberal positions and policies Guaranteed to irritate all points of the political spectrum DAILY SPARKS TRIBUNE 12-26-2010 Let's persuade Apple to start making i-Guns here Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-24-2013 Sparks Tribune Enron II: Nevada's Battle-Born Toxic Event Indigence and indigestion from ingestion of Warren Buffett's buffet Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-6-2013 Sparks Tribune Updated 6-7 and 6-17-2013 ...and more ammo.. Nevada Day Required Reading The Lady in the Red Dress The Barbwire's classic Nevada Day column written in 1983 The compleat history of the Silver State in 500 words SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Sparks Tribune 10-31-2013 and previously Barbano on the Barbwire plots new TV season Barbwire Special Web Edition / 10-21-2013 Barbwire: Nevada not really a state No, we were not Battle Born in Kenya Top 10 reasons Nevada lives in the 19th Century Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-17-2013 Sparks Tribune Low-income penalty: Nevada socks it to the working poor BARBANO: Nevada is one big company town Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 10-10-2013 State of Health National health care comes up against a very sick state. WHAT'S IN IT FOR US? Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 10-10-2013 USA at crossroads: New Deal or new Confederacy? Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-10-2013 Sparks Tribune UPDATE—>Bill Moyers: Shutdown is simply secession by other means We Don't Need No Education The continuing Barbwire series ...and more ammo yet The Post-Dated Recession: Pay me now or pay me later Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-6-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune The Post-dated Recession By Joshua H. Silavent / Daily Sparks Tribune / 5-3-2011 Union decline and rising inequality in two charts by Colin Gordon Economic Policy Institute / 6-5-2012 Used in journalist Mark Robison's extensive Hard Labor: Nevada unions tout role in helping workers, firms, economy (Sunday 2 Sept. 2012 Reno Gazette-Journal, page one, Reno Rebirth section of the print edition). Union men Jim Burrell, Paul McKenzie and Guy Louis Rocha did the movement proud. Not included in the RGJ online edition. WOMEN AND UNIONS — ORPHAN MAJORITIES The Barbwire Labor Day column Reno Gazette-Journal / 9-3-2012 Nevada Press Assn. Better Newspaper Contest 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 The life and times of Travus T. Hipp The best who ever was

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Copyright © 1982-2013 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 45-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 moved to Nevada's Daily Sparks Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in them parts ever since.
Whom to blame: How a hall-of-famer's hunch birthed the Barbwire in August of 1987
Tempus fugit.

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