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

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Sometimes I hate it when I'm right.

Fully two years ago, I exposed the phony graduation statistics that made Washoe school boss Heath Morrison national superintendent of the year and won accolades for local officials.

I accurately forecasted that Morrison's inflated numbers could not continue for a third year.

Predictably, he skedaddled to re-shuffle the deck in North Carolina, admitting his sins to Charlotte Observer education reporter Ann Doss Helms.

I likewise questioned the miraculous increase in Gomorrah South graduation rates that spiked when Morrison's number two banana Pedro Martinez moved there.

LV's superintendent left shortly thereafter and Martinez jumped to Morrison's old job back here.

This week, Nevada's largest newspaper validated the truth.

Nevada graduation rate rises as students excluded from count read the headline in last Sunday's Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Actually, the RJ was only a year late, having first gotten aboard in 2013. The Reno Gazette-Journal waited until last January.

LVRJ reporter Trevon Milliard followed the same trail the Barbwire blazed in 2012.

You can read the whole scam for yourself in the ever-expanding We Don't Need No Education section of Barbwire.US/

Will there be any relief for beleaguered schools?

No.

The teachers' union tax petition is under attack from both business and labor, a toxic unholy marriage.

The Nevada Legislature is incapable of properly funding education and Gov. Veto El Obtúse will scuttle anything that costs a dime.

Adding insult to injury, last week on Jon Ralston's show came another report [1] echoing all those I've been reiterating since 1992: Nevada schools are intractably separate and unequal.

A constitutional lawsuit [2] is the last resort, but would take millions and years of litigation.

You should be so rich and live so long.

I repeat: If you've got kids, move somewhere else.

CAMPAIGN 2014 BUMPER STICKERS FOR FUN AND PROPHET.

"Willing to supervise Reno's bankruptcy" — any Reno candidate
"Ascuaga's gone, so forward to the 1960s" — any Sparks candidate
"Do something, even if it's wrong" — Nevada State Education Assn.
"Doing nothing is fiscally conservative progress" — Any legislative candidate
"Ban teenage immigrant welfare mothers on grass..." — Any candidate in Fallon, Elko or Minden-Gardnerville
"...and them their militant heterosexual types" — Ditto
"Because I'm a slave to the voters" — Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, R-15th Century
"Because my dad says so" — Ross Miller
"Because my grandpa says so" — Adam Paul Laxalt
"Because Harry Reid says so" — Lucy Flores
"He can out-perky Katie Couric" — Gov. Brian Sandoval
"Luxurious blonde Vegas hair and a rich husband" — Sue Lowden
"Butt-ugly, but the governor's boy" — Mark Hutchison
"The reformed gang member who can kick both their asses" — Lucy Flores
"Guns and bus tickets for all patients" — Nevada Mental Health System
"And they call me crazy" — Defrocked Assemblyman Steven Brooks

SHORT SHOTS: Keep sending endorsements supporting legendary photographer Don Dondero's election to the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame...Monitor CesarChavezNevada.com for lots of surprises as the March 31 César Chávez Day Celebration approaches.

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

WEB EXTRAS...

TOAST ALERT. Teachers' union tax petition supporters and opponents would do well to review the Barbwire of Feb. 28, 2013.

Passage of the tax initiative could easily lead to a successful court challenge that would blow out not only the revenue hike, but also term limits and the state's worst anti-union laws.

Beware the Ides of March and the demons of good intentions.

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

Before prices go up, I strongly suggest reserving tickets and tables now at CesarChavezNevada.com.

I'm planning a TV special about César Chávez's days in Nevada including never-revealed history of his activities in these parts.

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 and  i-Guns 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... BREAKING NEWS: State illegally uses tax money vs. teacher tax vote By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review / 3-13-2014 Nevada State Legislative Counsel Bureau Education Publications 2013 Nevada Education Data Book Study of a New Method of Funding for Public Schools in Nevada [1] "In the five most regressive states (North Dakota, Vermont, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Nevada), the poorest districts receive at least 20% less funding than higher wealth districts." —> http://www.schoolfundingfairness.org/ (January 2014) Looks like Dr. Heath Morrison moved to a place well-suited to his vaunted talents. [2] The potential for success of an educational adequacy lawsuit against the State of Nevada From then-Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Jim Rogers Suing for Schools: The 20-year shuck Expanded from the 2-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune Updated 2-24-2010, 2-27-2010, 3-4-2010, 3-8-2010, 8-30-2011 Education funding lawsuit gains support Daily Sparks Tribune/ AP 3-18-2011 Guilty as charged Barbwire / 1-30-2014 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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