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Archives from 2000 forward —>
Happy
New Year
/ Feliz Año
Nuevo
May you and yours enjoy a peaceful and prosperous time
Happy
High Holly Days
Bestest
of the grotesquest for 2013
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-27-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
John
Wayne, Michael Moore & Andrew Undershaft
The
guns of mythology
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-20-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
Great minds think alike dept.—>Includes an update from Michael
Moore
Tit
for Tat: Body blows from Lydia and Kap
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-13-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
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| COLIN
KAEPERNICK, CALL YOUR OFFICE — Groucho Marx sings Lydia
the Tattooed Lady in the 1939 Marx Brothers film At
the Circus. The song gained renewed popularity in the 1970's
and 1980's on the nationally syndicated Dr. Demento radio
show. |
Posthaste
Letter
Carriers ask you to order
your congresscritters, 202-224-3121, not
to use the lame-duck congressional session to kill Saturday delivery.
"...all
in the name of holding onto the misguided mandate to massively pre-fund
75 years' worth of future retiree benefits and to do so within just
10 years." — National Association
of Letter Carriers President Fredric Rolando
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Crash
in Sparks construction zone injures three on Dec. 10
Daily
Sparks Tribune / 12-11-2012
UPDATE:
Laborers' Union Local 169
member Cameron Owens was discharged from Renown Regional
Medical Center on Dec. 11. His father and brother are both members
of the union. He stood with his back to the oncoming car in
the middle of the area behind the rear of the truck at right.
Its hydraulic lift was in the position shown. (Look below the
stop sign on the bus.) Cameron's fellow workers began to shout
"car" as they got out of the way of the auto approaching
at 100mph. Cameron dove to his right, breaking his foot but
saving his life. Had he not moved, he would have been cut in
half between the auto and the lift acting as a blade. He had
surgery to place pins and plates in his foot and is recovering,
reinforcing the fact that road
construction work remains one of the most dangerous jobs in
the country. (Photo,
John Russell, Local 169 Field Rep.)
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Calls
to Action
Hear
Ye! Hear Ye!
Come participate
in the Festival of the Failure of the King Maker.
Where/when: in front of his palace,
the Venetian Casino, 12-12-12 at 12:00
Who: Bring your friends, neighbors and countrymen (members) and celebrate
with us.
Signs will be provided.
Join the Society of Trauma Nurses, Building & Construction
Trades Council of Southern Nevada/AFL-CIO,
Culinary Union Local 226 and the Nevada State AFL-CIO.
FYI: In light of his recent failure, Kingmaker Sheldon Adelson has
vowed to double down in the next presidential cycle. President Gingrich,
anyone?
WHEN: Monday,
December 10, 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: Lloyd George Federal Building / 333 Las Vegas Blvd. S. / Downtown
WHAT: Candlelight Campaign Against Cuts
Tell Senator Dean Heller and Congressman Joe Heck we need more economic
security, not less. Don’t continue to give tax breaks to the richest
2%. Don’t sacrifice Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid for
the wealthy.
Join
us on Monday, Dec. 10 to send Congress a message!
Peace
on earth, good will to Boise & Nepal
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-6-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
BOONSOGGLE
Massive
flood danger: how this sorry state got to this sorry state—>
Watersports 2012: Reno-Sparks-Washoe governments blew
millions, learned nothing and did even less after the killer floods
of 1986, 1997 and 2005
Massive
1997 flood caused by paperwork
D. Brian Burghart / Reno News & Review 12-25-1997
Flood
Money: Pray for salvation from acts of God because governments,
flush with money, remain all wet
D.
Brian Burghart / Reno News & Review 2-23-2006
How
they flushed millions down the river
Jeff DeLong
/ Reno Gazette-Journal 12-1-2012
TOLJASO
DEPT.—>More flood plane talk
Of
floods and cows
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-1-2006 Daily Sparks Tribune
Sickening
government
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-8-2006 Daily Sparks Tribune
Welfare
are us
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-15-2006 Daily Sparks Tribune
Please
don't cry —> Water levels are already too high
Barbano
back on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV/radio program
NEVADA'S
CANCER KIDS: New lawsuit claims Fallon cancer cluster isn't over and
leaking military jet fuel pipeline is the cause
Superintendent
refuses transfers from suspect school
Hope
you had a happy Thanksgibleting
Now
dust off your picket signs and get to work!
NEWLY
UPDATED: Our Wal-Mart story has legs
Plus: Bangladesh killer inferno was Wal-Mart sweatshop
Another Triangle Shirtwaist Fire a century later
TWO
RENO WAL-MART BLACK FRIDAY DEMONSTRATIONS NOV. 23
Workers vow to continue into December
John
F. Kennedy's 2013 inaugural address
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-22-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
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Michael
Moore and Crackers the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken assert
that they have been thrown out of better places.
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Wal-Mart
Black Friday strike looms
Raley's redacts rebellion redux
The
Twinkie Defense
Call
to action
from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
Why
rednecks didn't vote for Obama
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-15-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
Barbano
back on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV/radio program
WOULD'A
COULD'A SHOULD'A DEPT. Come Wednesday, Nov. 7, Sen. Harry Reid and Nevada
Democrats may rue not having nominated Sheila Leslie for U.S. Senate.
Be well. Raise hell. — From the Barbwire
of 11-1-2012
Teamsters
14 needs help! There is a decertification vote on Thursday at Coca-Cola.
When: Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Where: Coca Cola Bottling
230 N. Mojave Road / Las Vegas, NV
Times: Wednesday 8AM to 6PM Anytime
Thursday, 8AM to 6PM Anytime
I am asking that leaders and members join with Teamsters 14 to show
solidarity and strength.
For more information, contact Lynn
Griffith.
Vote
early and often
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Michael
Moore and Crackers the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken assert
that they have been thrown out of better places.
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Messages
from the Mahatma: Michael
Moore makes a helluva case as to why you should vote whether you want
to or not
Latest
Breaking News and Bulletins
Dreams
of Redemption on All Saints Day
A
presidential candidate Nevadans can and cannot vote for + Reid regrets
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-1-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
HOPE
YOU WORE HALLOWE'EN ORANGE
FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
...all
of whom are represented by a labor union
Endorsed
candidates (.pdf):
Northern Nevada Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO
Endorsed
candidates/statewide, complete (.pdf): Nevada State AFL-CIO
Kiss
the Reno Aces goodbye —>NOW
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-25-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
We
don't need no education, Part XII
And
we don't need no evolution, 'nuther
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-18-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
ED
Part XI: Instant
replay of rape and pillage
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-11-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
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Reno,
Nev. — We're outta here! CWA Local 9413 members and some
of their closest friends picket in 100-degree heat at the AT&T
facility on Capital Blvd. in southeast Reno on August 7.
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Betcha
don't see this debate spin: Romney basically took LIBERAL POSITIONS.
So we learned something. Bueno.
Barbano
back on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV/radio program
Don't
register your drunken relatives
Apathy
is never having to say you're sorry
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-4-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
Please
don't cook or eat the books
ITALIAN
STEREOTYPE VALIDATED: Aiazzi and DiLoreto almost throw blows
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-27-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
Former
Teamsters Local 533 Business Agent Al Tarson dies
EXCLUSIVE:
RTC trying to give away
$50 million+ in corporate welfare
U-News
9-21-2012
// Updated 9-24, 9-25, 9-27, 10-1-2012
UPDATE
9-23-2012: WE WON! Guy
Richardson was inducted into the Nevada Press Association
Hall of Fame in Las Vegas on Sept. 22. Guy and another first-time
nominee, longtime Las Vegas Review-Journal Carson City Bureau
Chief Ed Vogel, bested seven other worthy contenders. Guy's widow,
Zoe Rose, flew in from Ohio for the honors, as did his daughter
and son-in law from Sparks. Thanks be to all of Guy's former colleagues
who sent endorsements. I'll publish them shortly.
The
flipside from an old fry cook
Legit
media stenographers fail to pop the corporate welfare question
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-20-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
A
great week for scandals
We
Don't Need No Education, Part X
The master chefs continue cooking
the books
[UPDATE
9-17-2012] —
TOLJASO DEPT. The
Awful Truth: "Successes and Challenges" indeed —>
As only the Barbwire predicted last spring, Dr. Heath Morrison's disappointing
third-year graduation rate explains why he got outta Dodge after year
two.
Teachers' business tax petitions hit Nevada streets
while Chicago teachers do likewise
Damning inspection report brings union call to oust Reno VA hospital
leadership
State ignores voter registration lawsuit until
the day after this column printed
NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER: New community TV channel
Barbwire by Barbano / Humongously expanded from the 9-13-2012 Daily
Sparks Tribune
Tenth
in a continuing series
on the collapsing future of Nevada education
The
Post-Dated Recession:
Pay me now or pay me later
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-6-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
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Special
notice to Sparks Tribune readers
In its 25th year
as a daily, the 102 year-old Sparks Tribune moved to
twice-per-week publication as of 1 Sept. 2012. Alas and
alack, the publishers have not done a very good job informing
our readers and the general public. I've been getting phone
calls. The print edition will now be published on Tuesdays and
Thursdays. Four longtime columnists have been retained: David
Farside, Jake Highton, Harry Spencer and the Barbwire.
The newspaper's website will continue to publish stories on
a daily basis.
My annual Labor
Day column appeared in the Sept. 3 Reno Gazette-Journal.
I also highly recommend
journalist Mark Robison's extensive piece Hard
Labor: Nevada
unions tout role in helping workers, firms, economy
in the Sunday 2 Sept. 2012 RGJ (starting on page one
of the Reno Rebirth section of the print edition). Therein,
union men Jim Burrell, Paul McKenzie and Guy Louis
Rocha did the movement proud. [Click
here to access the shocking but not surprising graphic included
in the print edition but not on the RGJ website.]
The RGJ also
used a photo and information from this
NevadaLabor.com golden oldie.
Hope
you enjoyed a happy Labor Day. Stay tuned. Be
careful. Be cool.
Be well. Raise hell.
Andrew
Barbano
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SUFFRAGETTES
2012 (Bruce
Thompson Federal Courthouse, Reno NV Aug. 26, 2012) —Left
to right, the signs read Your Body, Your Way / We Can Do
Better / (Missouri
Republican Rep. and U.S. Senate candidate Todd) Akins
can kiss my voting booth / My Body My Choice. There are
actually six readable signs in the photo if you count "sandwiches"
in the upper left background and "Do Not Enter" to
the right of Ms. Your Body, Your Way — which adds
a nice touch of irony to this energetic demonstration on a sunny
Sunday morning. Somewhere, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Margaret Sanger, Victoria Claflin Woodhull, Alice Paul,
Lucy Burns, Jeannette Rankin, Nancy Gomes, Mary Gojack, Bella
Abzug, Jean Ford and legions of iron-jawed
angels are smiling.
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Lie
when that pollster calls you
Breaking News: Morrison appointee ousted at Washoe
County School District
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-26-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
You
can't handle the truth
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-19-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
You've
lived here too long when...
PLUS:
Myth Rumpney & Retro Ryan Alert
77th Anniversary of Social Security celebrated statewide Tuesday
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-12-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
HOT
AUGUST STRIKE!
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WE'RE
OUTTA HERE!
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Reno,
Nev. — CWA Local 9413 members and some of their closest friends
picket in 100-degree heat at the AT&T facility on Capital
Blvd. in southeast Reno on August 7.
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Cold
Reality TV
Life is a bitch and the bitch
is television
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-5-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
Fear
is a Liar
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-29-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
Heat
and light for the Hall of Flames
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-22-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
UPDATE
9-23-2012: WE WON! Guy
Richardson was inducted into the Nevada Press Association
Hall of Fame in Las Vegas on Sept. 22. Guy and another first-time
nominee, longtime Las Vegas Review-Journal Carson City Bureau
Chief Ed Vogel, bested seven other worthy contenders. Guy's widow,
Zoe Rose, flew in from Ohio for the honors, as did his daughter
and son-in law from Sparks. Thanks be to all of Guy's former colleagues
who sent endorsements. I'll publish them shortly.
Playing
with fire
Too
stingy to pay for fire protection but not to raise taxes and blame unions
PLUS: Legendary labor folksinger Anne
Feeney plays Reno July 17
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-15-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
UPDATE:
Feeney
hospitalized in Oregon
Concert off. BBQ, music and party still on.
God
looks nothing like Charlton Heston
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-8-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
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Copyright
© 2012 Woodrow Barlettani for The Daily Sparks Tribune
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Burn,
baby, burn
UPDATED
MONDAY,
2 JULY 2012, 4:04:39 p.m. PDT, 23:04:39
ZULU/GMT/CUT/SUT — MURPHY'S
LAW POETIC JUSTICE DEPT. —>
28.5 hours after the divorce of the City of Reno and Washoe County fire
departments, a major fire broke out in one of the two newly unprotected
county areas.
Reno News & Review: Washoe
County Commission Republicans unwound consolidation, raised taxes and
cut fire protection to damage unions
July 2 Reno Gazette-Journal front page
headline:
Washoe County fire district
starts 'flawlessly,' fire chief said
NO
STRIKE —>
Teamsters vote to ratify new
contract with Reno-Sparks-Washoe bus system
i'toon:
Fertilizing
apples with citizens as mushrooms
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-1-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
We
Don't Need No Education, Part VIII
Departing
Reno-Sparks-Washoe school boss admits cooking the books
Eighth in a series on the collapsing future of Nevada education
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-24-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
Updated 7-17-2012
UPDATED FRIDAY,
22 JUNE 2012, 10:59 p.m. PDT, 05:59 ZULU/GMT/CUT/SUT 6/23 Reno-Sparks
transit strike possibly averted
UPDATED
THURSDAY,
21 JUNE 2012, 1:08 a.m. PDT, 08:08 ZULU/GMT/CUT/SUT —
As Charlie Brown might say, rats!
WHITE RATS —
MV Transportation has imported strikebreakers to ride Reno-Sparks-Washoe
RTC buses as passengers to learn the routes and the town as best they
can before the June 22 strike/lockout deadline. They can be identified
by their white shirts and black pants. From all of us who have been
through this a few times before, welcome to déjà vu all
over again. Stay tuned and keep
NevadaLabor.com posted. [MORE]
ALSO
—As predicted last year, mass firings have begun as the union busters
take over St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno as of June 30 .
Looks like the Hot August Strike season may come early this year.
Stay
tuned and keep
NevadaLabor.com posted. [NevadaLabor.com
Health Care War Room]
UPDATED
WEDNESDAY,
20 JUNE 2012, 12:49 a.m. PDT, 07:49 ZULU/GMT/CUT/SUT —
(U-News) — Last Friday, June 15, Teamsters Local 533 sent
a letter of termination to MV Transportation, contract operators for
the Regional Transportation System of Washoe County's Reno-Sparks-Washoe
bus and senior/disabled transit system. The letter served notice that
the union is terminating the interim collective bargaining agreement
between the workers and company effective at 11:59 p.m. PDT on Friday,
June 22, 2012. Union drivers and support staff can strike anytime thereafter.
A strike or company lockout of workers would be nothing new in the
contentious relationship between the workers and whichever hired gun
that local elected officials have retained to ramrod the public transit
system. Stay tuned.
NAGPAC's
Ghost Riders Saddle Up Again
Blackguards
challenge Nevada's legendary None of the Above ballot option
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-17-2012
Daily Sparks Tribune
Updated
6-22-2012, 9-8-2012 and 7-13-2013: Appellate court
throws out GOP attempt to nuke nihilistic None of the Above
The
Rocking Ghosts of Del Mar Station
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-10-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
Followed
by a moon shadow
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TRAVUS
T. HIPP, 1937-2012
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ADIÓS,
COMPADRE — Our friend Travus,
75, passed away peacefully between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. PDT on 18
May 2012 at his home in Silver City, Nevada.
The sun is in eclipse as I write this at 6:30 p.m. on May 20.
Adiós
in Silver City, Nevada, Saturday, May 26, 2012 —>
Travus was buried next to his rock star companion Lynne Hughes,
a short walk away from the auld church wherein they abided for
many years. My remembrance of Lynne from the 3-21-1993 Daily
Sparks Tribune has been uploaded with Travus'
formal obituary at this website. All
memories accepted for permanent posting hereat. Stay tuned
for pictures and stories of the appropriately rainy day.
Thanks for all your
kind words.
Keep up the good work
and the good fight.
Be well. Raise
hell.
Andrew
Barbano
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Travus
T. Hipp & Tales of Nevada's Futures Passed
Barbwire
by Barbano / Expanded
from the 6-3-2012 Daily Sparks
Tribune
Travus
T. Hipp leaves us laughing and forewarned
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-27-2012 Daily
Sparks Tribune
—>
More on the memorial gathering will be posted shortly. Stay tuned.
SPECIAL WARNING
/ Updated 5-26-2012: If you plan on attending Travus T. Hipp's memorial
service, please consider driving up the back way/southern route via
Nevada Highway 50 East in Carson City. The Virginia City Memorial Day
Parade starts today at noon and there has been road construction on
Geiger Grade, the direct route from Reno. The weather also may be wet
and blustery. Safe journey.
