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

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I'm tired of moonhowlers ranting about "a government takeover of health care."

In 2011, well before Obamacare, no less than Nevada State Medical Association Executive Director Lawrence Matheis said that it was already a done deal.

In a speech to union members in Carson City and earlier on my TV show, he noted that the U.S. government was then surpassing the 50 percent mark in paying for all health care.

I'm further sick and tired of all the wondrous PR that for-profit outfits get for contributing to non-profits, especially now that so many tax-exempt organizations are being perverted for political purposes.

I chafe at the praise heaped upon wealthy athletes, moguls and media stars for supporting worthy causes.

A few years back, I was introduced to a comely young wench representing the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

She almost called security when I asked how much of the huge charity's funding was subsidized by American taxpayers.

Financial advisors advise rich people to start foundations to keep control of fortunes that would otherwise go to the taxman.

I can understand, especially since so much public money is devoted to warmongering and mass murder. (When do we stop making more veterans?)

But please don't expect me to over-adore superstars doing good works when in reality much of the tab is picked up by the huddled masses.

I don't diminish the good and necessary work done by so many churches and charities in trying to blunt the harsh edges of our softshoe fascist state. They didn't invent the system. (See the expanded edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com for a new opportunity to support the Food Bank.)

Tote up the amount of money given to churches and charities and thus not to the U.S. Treasury, combined with government-subsidized health care, and you will see the outline of a vast welfare state, corporate and otherwise.

The Wall Street right wing very creatively rewrites history.

Rather than admitting that free-market economics has been a grotesque failure, they assert it has never been tried.

Wrong.

The U.S. created the perfect laboratory, a country with no regulations at all: occupied Iraq.

U.S. regent Paul Bremer wiped out all laws save one, Saddam Hussein's ban on labor unions.

How's it working so far?

We don't have a free-market U.S. economy, but rather one of crony capitalism.

The cities of Reno and Sparks teeter on the edge of bankruptcy because of hundreds of millions in debt incurred by corporate welfare giveaways. (See Cabellyup.com/)

We already live in a socialistic welfare state.

The problem lies with a rule book rigged to shunt most of the welfare to those who need it least.

So next time you see some superstar or corporate octopus tout largesse toward society's lessers, remember that they are really telling you to go thank yourself.

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

WEB EXTRAS...

RENDER UNTO CESAR: Northern Nevada César Chávez Celebration XII happens on the great labor leader's birthday, March 31, 2014.

Commit for tickets and tables now at CesarChavezNevada.com.

I'm planning a TV special about César Chávez's days in Nevada.

Stay tuned.

ANTE INTO THE GAME: Support the new season of Barbwire.TV by putting your money where my mouth is.

PayPal monthly subscription software is now operational at the website.

A thousand thanks to those who already responded.

Keep sending show suggestions.

Current frontrunners include (pardon the pun) wild mustangs as canned goods, education,  i-Guns and gay Olympics with César Chávez in Nevada recently surging.

Now come queries about ballot questions. After the Jan. 30 column came a surge of questions about the Nevada State Education Association corporate tax petition on this November's ballot.

Stay tuned.

  Please forward additional ideas or vote on the above.

  I encourage you to donate to the cause at Barbwire.TV/

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.

We've got work to do.

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 in 2012.

Let's double down.

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 and DoctorLawyerWatch.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 Sparks Tribune since 1988.

Smoking Guns... PLEASE VOTE FOR Cherie Jamason and help the Food Bank of Northern Nevada win $50,000 to feed hungry people! Please join in congratulating our very own Cherie Jamason for a national award with Unite4Good. She is one of five finalists across the country to be in the running for the Unite4: Humanity Inspiration Award. As executive director of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, Cherie has been feeding the hungry in our community and inspiring people for decades. This is a perfect honor for her. The winner of this award will be able to do even more good in the community because the honoree will receive a $50,000 grant for his or her charitable organization! Who wins this award is up to you. You may vote for Cherie on the unite4good website. See all of the finalists here: http://www.unite4good.org/inspiration-awards . All you have to enter is your e-mail address and there is only one vote per e-mail address permitted. The voting period ends at 6:00 p.m. on February 19, 2014. Vote here: http://unite4.gd/1cbrS7U Again, there is only one vote allowed per e-mail address (if you have more than one, use all of them), so please vote for Cherie and share on every social network in which you participate. Since we can only vote once, sharing is so important. Use these handles and hashtags and they will help by reposting and retweeting—> @unite4good, #unite4good, #U4Gunite4humanity Thank you! — From Jon Sasser at Washoe Legal Services and Bob Fulkerson at the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada We Don't Need No Education The continuing Barbwire series ...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 ...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 © 1982-2014 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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