BARBWIRE by ANDREW BARBANO

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Blame the media, down to the last splinter and shard.

Every so often, somebody says something despicable and the reviled American Civil Liberties Union knee-jerkedly defends the perp.

The ACLU's panacea for offensive speech is "more speech."

Be careful what you wish for — you just might get it.

The United States is big and complex.

Mass media used to provide the glue holding democracy together.

We've now moved from broadcasting to narrowcasting.

Back when the number of media was far smaller, we had a better sense of national unity, a common frame of reference.

God has apparently imposed upon us sinners a latter day Tower of Babel, a cacophony of voices who rarely, if ever, understand each other.

The splintering of the means of communication increases our fragmentation as a nation.

About 40 years ago, the average political soundbyte on network TV news was almost two minutes.

A decade ago, it had shrunk to seven seconds.

Debate has devolved to dueling bumper stickers at 20 paces.

The semi-literate shorthand of Twitter is not the low ebb.

I just got an e-mail headlined "Tweeting is so 2012."

It noted that "Twitter launched a fast-growing video app called Vine which enables users to cram as many clips as they can into a six-second video frame."

Modern communication has thus been reduced to the likes of comedian Henny Youngman's greatest one-liner: "Take my wife. Please."

But the joke is on us.

Smart dictators know that the great unwashed must be allowed safety valves.

The Soviet Union allowed the continued existence of the Catholic Church as the only forum of dissent in Cold War Poland.

Americans get lots and lots of freedom of speech.

Anybody can become a published journalist by blogging —> among several billion websites.

Not surprisingly, the average blog has a readership of one.

The prisoners of the Tower concede so much power.

Analysts have long pointed out that the public has an attention span usually limited to the top three issues of any day.

Edward Snowden and the Kardashian family are bumper-sticker rarities that can be encapsulated in six or seven seconds.

For anything less identified, you can almost hear a billion clicks morph into a vague yawn.

The Federal Communications Commission is now expanding the Tower, opening up licensing of hundreds of low-power fm community radio stations. (This would have happened a decade ago save for the lobbying power of the National Association of Broadcasters and NPR. Even public radio hates competition.)

I'll soon become part of the problem when I re-establish Reno-Sparks-Washoe's community TV channel.

We can apparently have all the freedom of speech we want just as we can have all the guns we want.

But since we no longer understand each other, just check your rights at the door.

Be careful what you wish for.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.

WEB EXTRAS...

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 this newspaper.

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.

BARBWIRE.TV. Support the return of community TV to these parts.

If last year's elections didn't convince you of the need, the 2013 legislature certainly should have.

Join up. You may donate at ReSurge.TV or contact me.

This is important.

Thank you

VOTE FOR THE LUCKY 13, the most powerful Nevadans of 2013. Send nominations to <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>

Last year's rogues gallery will be linked to the expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com/

LET'S GET IT ON. E-me to get on the Barbwire News bulletin list for information not filtered through corporate lenses.

I broke a bushel of major stories last year and 2013 has gotten even better.

The bad guys really make it easy sometimes.

Turn on, tune in and tell a friend.

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

____________

Andrew Barbano is a 44-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... Death panels hard at work right here in River City Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-4-2013 Sparks Tribune Clarence Thomas, Little Anthony & the Imperials Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-27-2013 Sparks Tribune Rosy the poll dancer's destructive seduction Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-20-2013 Sparks Tribune Googling for liquid Romanian castanets Other than doing our laundry, what should we do about Big Brother peeking into our collective lace undies? Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-13-2013 Sparks Tribune Barbwire Corporate Welfare Archive Barbwire Corporate Propaganda Archive Cabellyup.com 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 Longing for the wisdom of the grateful dead Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-23-2013 Sparks Tribune Star-stuck: Dirty deals for dirty movies Ghostrider Nicolas Cage sticks it to school kids Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-16-2013 Daily Sparks Tribune Mr. Wynnderful waxes wealthier whilst we wither Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-9-2013 Daily Sparks Tribune FROM HUGH JACKSON THE LAS VEGAS MEANER GLEANER The best Nevada political commentator alive Policy with the stars Of Wynn service, lip service and Cage fighting Las Vegas CityLife / 5-15-2013 Rules of Disengagement Gov. Veto El Obtúse struck dumb, but with a smile Las Vegas CityLife / 4-17-2013   ...and more ammo... We Don't Need No Education The continuing Barbwire series 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 ...and more ammo yet 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 44-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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