Barbwire by Barbano: The Sermon on Mount Barbwire

   They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on Earth
   But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth
   I remember one Christmas morning
A winter's light and a distant choir
   And the peal of a bell
and that Christmas tree smell
   and eyes full of tinsel and fire

   They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
   And they told me a fairy story
Till I believed in the Israelite
   And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
   'Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise

JESUS

was a radical, nonviolent revolutionary who hung around with lepers, hookers and crooks
wasn't American and never spoke English
was anti-wealth, anti-death penalty, anti-public prayer (Matthew 6:5)
but was never anti-gay
never mentioned birth control
never called the poor lazy
never justified torture
never fought for tax cuts for the wealthiest Nazarenes
never asked a leper for a co-pay
and was a long-haired, brown-skinned, homeless community-organizing, anti-slut-shaming middle-eastern Jew.

— I Believe in Father Christmas
By Greg Lake and Peter Sinfield (1975)
Listen to Max Volume on KOZZ 105.7 for the full rendition.

@JohnFugelsang
(as forwarded by Shayne del Cohen)

The Sermon on Mount Barbwire
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-25-2019 Sparks Tribune / Expansions in blue

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10 the Hard Way
Barbwire wins 10th Nevada Press Association award

GOLD 2017-18

2018 First-Place Winners
From the depths of despair to the den of iniquity & holy of holies

"Excellent work. These are some of the most moving columns I've read."
— NPA contest judge/9-29-2018

The Grasshopper and
the Dragonfly
9-6-2017

Kicked off the Ledge
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NATIONAL NEWS FIRST-BREAK
Back to the Future in
Mississippi West Nevada
10-18-2017

Gold 2017
Don't ask Renown Med for marijuana to help your chemo
10-4-2016
We Don't Need No Education
Toxic turf threat ignored
12-13-2016
Kate Smith & Lady Gaga
2-14-2017

Bronze 6-pack
In the Uber-Nevada legislature, words can kill
4-28-2015
On artificial turf, don't breathe unless absolutely necessary (above)
11-24-2015
Leading questions, lead-headed leaders
1-19-2016

Hopelessly trying to win an earthquake
4-18-2013
2013 Loony Tunes Legislative Lexicon
5-30-2013
The politics of media ga-ga boosterism
3-20-2014

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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

Tomorrow's news today —> Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential
TOP SECRET— HushHush!

Oscar-winning actor Rod Steiger wrote a short story in college.

One day, the moving neon readerboard circling New York's Times Square went crazy repeating "God returns to earth at noon Friday."

Cutting off electricity failed to stop the flashing notice.

"By Friday, you couldn't get near the place," Steiger said in an interview.

Promptly at noon, a huge black whale appeared on a building above the message.

"I am the Lord your God, bow down and worship me," boomed a majestic disembodied voice.

Indifference from the multitudes.

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

A faint rumble rose from the spectators.

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

Rumble became grumble, then growl.

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

Somebody threw a rock, followed by a beer bottle.

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

Intrepid New Yorkers tried to pull the whale down with ropes.

Shots were fired. NYPD cleared a path for tanks.

God finally got so frustrated that he nuked the place.

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

'Twas ever thus and remains today, at least in western society. The gods of Olympus were imagined as simply giant people. Easterners, especially Hindus, were more creative and included many of God's creatures. Latecoming Moslems banned all attempts to make physical representations of God.

We remain so trivial and tribal. The Old Testament relates how Saul became King of Israel by acclamation: "Saul stood head and shoulders above any other man."

People wanted to be led by the biggest, baddest dude in the tribe. Same thing today. We want daddy to tuck us in at night and tell us not to be afraid, easy prey for poltroons and poseurs.

The flaw in most religions lies with their marketing departments.

If the local god arose from the sea in the arms of Venus, the new, improved god had to be better in order to sell memberships. So he was born of a virgin. (We have lately learned that there have been a lot of virgin births, euphemistically caused by "heavy petting.")

Proselytizing apostles asserted that their guy walked on water (ice skates optional) and also rose from the dead. (Top that!)

The great religions try to explain the unexplainable in simple terms mere mortals can understand. People can remember stories so Jesus wisely spoke in parables. Fast forward a couple hundred years and the marketing department insists that the metaphorical lessons actually happened.

The Christian canon was sealed at the Council of Nicea (in modern Turkey) in 325 AD. The Gospel According to St. Thomas was notoriously excluded. Tom would doubtless have proven bad for cash flow. He asserted that the kingdom of God lies within you, for heaven's sake. Churches and preachers are thus unnecessary to find it.

Zounds.

There are no recorded first-hand accounts of the life of Christ. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written a century or so after the Great Nazarene ascended to parts unknown. (I remember a lot from four years of Catholic high school.)

It is perfectly consistent with the inconsistency of "this monster mannunkind" to pervert peaceful teachings to serve power and greed. Such human weakness may destroy us sooner than we dare imagine.

Religious scholars know that Christianity existed at least 600 years before Christ. Devotion to the Golden Rule, the essence of Christianity, actually ended war in ancient China for about two centuries. (Read spiritual archaelogist Karen Armstrong's splendid 2006 volume The Great Transformation.)

The Protestant Reformation also bounced a few screeds. The Epistle of St. James the Less was surgically removed because he said "faith without works is nothing." Martin Luther and his crew said all you need is faith.

St. John Lennon got it better when he sang "All you need is love," then asked "So this is Christmas. What have you done?"

St. George Carlin answered: "Take care of each other."

Our artists, scientists and moralists keep beating us over the head with simple advice which we consistently choose to ignore at our peril.

Take care of each other. Please.

Happy High Holly Days to you and yours.

Andrew Barbano is a 51-year Nevadan, executive producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration, first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP, superannuated labor/consumer/civil rights advocate, member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO and editor of NevadaLabor.com and BallotBoxing.US and SenJoeNeal.org and DoctorLawyerWatch.com and Protect Our Washoe.org/ As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. He has lived in both northern and southern Nevada during his half-century+ in the Silver State. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988 and received its 10th Nevada Press Association award (6 of 10 first-place) at the 21 Sept. 2019 NPA annual convention in Ely. In 1996, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for a six-month investigative series. His multi-media road construction zone safety campaign for Laborers' Union Local 169 won a first-place award from the National Safety Council in a nationwide competition. (Such ephemera and about six bucks will get you a Latte Mocha Cotsafracas Chingade at just about any Starbux worldwide, guaranteed.) His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian of London/UK and more important publications.

WEB XTRAS & SMOKING GUNS —>

Veni, Vidi, Jockocracy?
Locker room rules: Caesars goes commando, union vows resistance to Eldorado empire
By Bryan Horwath / Las Vegas Sun 6-28-2019 / Reno Gazette-Journal 7-8-2019

Eldorado-Caesars merger means labor union battles far beyond Reno & Las Vegas
Culinary Union leader D. Taylor: "Where are they going to cut?"
Building trade union campaigns continue
By Ed Komenda / Reno Gazette-Journal / 6-27-2019

[4-20-2019] — About 100 demonstrators from almost all the region's unions, local community service organizations and political activists joined Culinary Union members picketing Circus Circus in the late afternoon of April 18. A couple of CC suits came out to see what all the fuss was about, as if they didn't already know. In addition to the familiar union "contract now!" chants came calls for a strike against the Carano jocks. ¡Viva Huelga! ¡Sí se puede!

REAL NEWS DEPT. In January 2019, Culinary Union Local 226 defeated an attempt by Circus Circus-Reno to decertify (terminate) the union's representation of its workers. No word on whether management plans to appeal the result to the National Labor Relations Board which was recently put out of business for 35 days. Thank you, Czar Donaldov.

Last year's dark foreshadowings unfortunately became reality. I thus suggest inoculation by signing onto the HushHush! list at BallotBoxing.US/ It's cheap as well as enlightening entertainment. Thank you kindly for your support.

Smoking Guns—>
Typhoid Mary infects Sparks Addams Family
In the spirit of true democracy which provides that your rights don't allow you to sneeze on mine
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-18-2019 Sparks Tribune
A fake news fable for our times
In the spirit of true democracy which provides that your rights don't allow you to sneeze on mine
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Major rent raunch and a big book launch
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Billionaire Tom Steyer owes me $5
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Back to the future down Amnesia Lane
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People get ready, that train's a comin'
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Barbwire Confidential Internet Edition 11-12-2019 / Updated 11-14 & 11-15-2019
A version of this column appeared in the 11-13-2019 Sparks Tribune
An excerpt of the following was included in Andrew Barbano's address to the school board on Nov. 12.
SPECIAL REPORT FROM THE SCENE OF THE CRIME: Clever maneuvering prevents vote after 4 of 7 trustees announced support for Feemster.

DO NOT risk your kids at Golden Eagle Park
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Tale of 2 city halls: Cancer kids & brain damage
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Written in the stars: UNR football for racial justice
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Goodbye, Columbus: A mirror for America
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Déjà vu all over again: Bernie turns 2020 into 1968
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City of Reno turns W. Plumb Lane into horny street
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Hip-hopping mad over molesters and Mad Kings
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Trade the Confederacy straight across for Greenland
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Cut in twain
(Myers' favorite photo)

Dennis Myers: Enroute to the universe next door
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-11-2019 Sparks Tribune
Obituary, 1948-2019
[En Español — La Voz Hispana En Nevada 9-18-2019]

Philippines to Burning Man to Ireland: Adios GOAT
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 9-4-2019 Sparks Tribune

Nevadian Dennis Myers: The Greatest Of All Time
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Veteran Nevada reporter Myers removed from life support
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[En Español — La Voz Hispana En Nevada 9-18-2019]
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Internet Edition 8-25-2019

Reno City Council passes rent control
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-17-2019 Sparks Tribune

DAY OF THE DEAD
Relieve Rent & Pillage: Save SB398 & AB399
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Online Legislative Edition / 4-12-2019 / Updated 4-13 and 4-14-2019 GMT
Fairness for tenants dies 4-12 unless lawmakers throw it a lifeline

Politics does not reward the shy
Rent justification and a death penalty for corporate depredation
Barbwire by Andres Luis Barbáno / Expanded from the 4-10-2019 Sparks Tribune / Updated 4-11 and 4-12-2019 GMT
Fairness for tenants dies 4-12 unless lawmakers throw it a lifeline

Sore-oppressed Soul-Sister Cities: Menlo Park and Reno-Sparks-Fernley share similarly sad high-tech stretch marks.
"All humanity has left the area": paying for Tesla's Gigafactory with outrageous rents and scrambling schools
Barbano and Nevada conservatives decry corporate welfare depredations
By Rory Carroll / The Guardian 7-3-2018
Editor's Note: The Guardian publishes 180,000 newspapers daily in London and environs and generates ONE BILLION monthly web page views. (I should live so long.)
[MUCH MORE TESLACIDE]

"Facebook is taking everything": rising rents drive out Silicon Valley families
Property companies advertising their proximity to Facebook’s campus are giving low-income residents a choice: pay a huge rent increase or move out
By Sam Levin / The Guardian 6-20-2018

Rentvolution.org

We Don't Need No Education

A cuckoo coup and a president, too
Barbwire exclusive: Secret 2017 meeting set the setup in motion
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Uploaded 7-23-2019 / Expanded from the 7-24-2019 Sparks Tribune

Alfred E. Neuman for Washoe school superintendent
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-10-2019 Sparks Tribune

Witness at the execution
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
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Gang banging on 9th Street
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Special Barbwire Confidential Extra Edition / Monday 7-1-2019 / Updated 7-3-2019

NevadaLabor.com We Don’t Need No Education Archive

SITE NAVIGATION TIPS: When all else fails, read the instructions (A favorite John Hanks aphorism I've been using for decades)