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


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Je Suis Charlie

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¡Viva Chávez!
César Chávez Celebration XV / Celebración de César Chávez XV
Wednesday 29 March 2017
/ Miércoles 29 de Marzo 2017

2017 info and highlights from the record-breaking 2016 event at Circus Circus Reno

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   Everybody knows the dice are loaded.
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.
   Everybody knows the war is over.
Everybody knows the good guys lost.
   Everybody knows the fight was fixed.
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.
   That's how it goes.
Everybody knows...
Everybody knows the scene is dead
   But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
   What everybody knows...
   Everybody talking to their pockets.
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
   and a long red rose.
   Everybody knows. Everybody knows.
That's how it goes.
Everybody knows.


I hope you understand I just had to go back to the island.
Leon Russell, 1942-2016


Equal Rights Betrayal
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-28-2017 Sparks Tribune / Expansions in blue/ Updated 3-1, 3-3, 3-6 and 3-8-2017 GMT

I witnessed the assassination of equal rights in Nevada.


WE WON: BIG NEWS FROM THE NEVADA PRESS ASSOCIATION CONFAB IN GOMORRAH SOUTH —> BARBWIRE NOMINEE GUY RICHARDSON INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAME ON FIRST BALLOT

Support Don Dondero next
Note: Alas and alack, Dondero did not make it in 2015 of 2016.
Make this the year!

7-COME-11!
Barbwire wins 7th Nevada Press Association award

BRONZE 2016
4-28-2015
11-24-2015
1-19-2016

6-pack: BRONZE 2014
Hopelessly trying to win an earthquake / 4-18-2013

The 2013 Loony Tunes Legislative Lexicon / 5-30-2013

The politics of media ga-ga boosterism / 3-20-2014

We Don't Need No Education—> Neverending Barbwire Series

Barbwire.TV
Watch NevadaLabor.com for show times.
Help us get the word out.

Support the project at http://resurge.tv#donate

SUING FOR SCHOOLS
Reruns on Carson-Dayton 226

Additional programs
on Boulder City cable. Go to bcnv.org and then
go to the BCTV link.

If Reform Fails: Health Care, Jobs and Unions — new power to the people on the public airwaves

The program premiers were available to every television set in the region because of a high-mileage media hybrid.

The shows appeared on both commercial and community stations. The non-corporate entity produced the events, commercial TV greatly expanded distribution.

Thus began an ongoing series of sane public interest programs which generate both entertaining heat and more than a little light.

Please spread the word and consider contributing to the cause online at ReSurge.TV.

You may also take the public option known as the U.S. Postal Service and send a check or money order to ReSurge.TV, P.O. Box 10034, Reno NV 89510.

Your contribution will help fund the distribution as well as ongoing efforts at developing new media, including a regional, non-corporate community radio station and the return of community television to Reno-Sparks-Washoe.

You are present at the creation of what I hope can become a new media model where the programming accurately reflects what's happening on the ground and the media impact is powerful enough to forcefully pass the message upward.

Thanks.

Be well. Raise hell.

Andrew


Click here for selected on-demand re-runs from the Barbwire.TV archives

Barbwire.TV:
15-year overnight success

Daily Sparks Tribune 2-10-2008

The Barbwire's Greatest Hits
Highlights from radio days
mp3 file


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On that 1977 night, the legislative hallway was empty, the senate chamber was packed. Only juice lobbyists Jim Joyce and Charlie Bell stood outside, peeking through senate doorway windows, giggling to each other like teenage boys viewing the girl's locker room. With no one else around, they turned toward me to boastfully predict the Equal Rights Amendment would fail 10-8.

They didn't count on Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, the master of parliamentary procedure. Neal rose to address the presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Bob Rose (pun intended). Neal moved to invoke Senate Rule 30, an arcane provision from 1864. Las Vegas Democrats Wilbur Faiss and Bill Hernstadt immediately seconded Neal's motion, putting the rule into effect.

Former Democratic Washoe DA Rose had publicly stated he would break a 10-10 tie and pass the ERA.

The final tally showed 10 aye, 8 nay, 2 not voting. Rose then shocked the world. Rule 30 commanded recording any non-vote as opposition.

"He announced that the two abstentions would be placed in the 'no' column, declared the house evenly divided, and boom! he pushed that button, and the eleventh vote came up onscreen," Neal remembered in his 2008 University of Nevada-Reno oral history.

"I'll never forget it," Neal added.

The good ole boys club had let equal rights for women escape. We couldn't allow that in our whorehouse state. Something had to be done, but what?

The late Mr. Joyce, who brought corruption of government to levels we still suffer, saw a business opportunity. He offered a deal to ultraconservative Mormon Senate Majority Leader Jim Gibson, D-Henderson. If Joyce could get the Nevada Assembly to kill the ERA, would Gibson reverse his position on pet legislation for Joyce's gamblers and other clients? Gibson had a reputation for honesty and hard work but sold out.

Joyce and Bell immediately turned the Assembly Democratic leadership against the ERA. This included Joe Dini (D-Yerington), then in his first term as speaker; Democratic Majority Leader Dan DeMers and Speaker Pro-Tem Harley Harmon, Jr., both D-Gomorrah South. Eight lawmakers long committed to women's rights reversed themselves after Joyce and Bell cashed in their campaign contributions.

"Remember the eight who lied" became a rallying cry for women statewide.

The state senate will try again March 1 with Senate Joint Resolution 2. Let March roar in like a lion. Nevadans must remember.

IRONY ALERT: Several 1977 ERA opponents later did serious prison time for unrelated crimes. Of course, they exercised their rights to due process of law.

UPDATE: Supported by all 11 Democrats plus Las Vegas non-partisan Patricia Farley and Reno Republican Heidi Seevers Gansert, the ERA passed the senate 13-8. In more than two hours(!) of debate, many of the hoary opposition arguments from the 1970s were unearthed from the dustbin, including that existential threat to the republic posed by (drum roll, please) — co-ed restrooms. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

With a power assist from Sen. Julia Ratti, D-Sparks, local activists Barbara Stone and Laynette Evans distributed copies of this column to the entire senate before the vote. Next step: a hearing before the Assembly Legislative Operations and Elections Committee, 1:30 p.m. March 7. Sparks has two members thereon, Democrat Skip Daly and Republican Ira Hansen. E-mail the entire committee at <AsmLOE@asm.state.nv.us>

HAIL CESAR. ERA supporter Janette Dean addressed last year's César Chávez Celebration. Equal justice for all will again be on the menu at César XV the evening of March 29 at Circus Circus Reno. Info and reservations may be accessed via CesarChavezNevada.com/

LYING IN WAIT. Remember that white-sheeted southern congressman who screamed "you lie!" at President Obama during his first State of the Union address? I recommend a more polite approach.

Tsar Donaldov Vladimirovitch will address Congress Feb. 28. I suggest soccer rules. Every time the tsar commits what Winston Churchill called a "terminological inexactitude," (the word "liar" is banned in Parliament), attendees should politely hold up a red card.

No offense could be taken. It's the favorite color of presidents from here to Moscow.

Dio benedica l'America.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
______________
Andrew Barbano is a 48-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us> Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988. Portions of this column appeared in the 27 July 1997 edition.

ONLINE EXTRAS —>

END OF TIMES SURVIVAL KIT. Defend yourself with humorous or humorless but always-peerless predictions for 2017 by subscribing to the Barbwire Confidential News Service.

Last year's dark foreshadowings unfortunately became reality. I thus suggest inoculation by signing onto the HushHush! list at BallotBoxing.US/

Subscribe today to get the exclusive End of Times Retrogression, a Procession for Progression, an Obsession to relieve Depression, Proselytizing Prayer for Divine Intercession at the Legislative Session. Don't wait— procrastination is the devil's dislocation. Hie thee hence to BallotBoxing.US/

THE GOOD DON. Nominations are afoot for the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame.
Time to ramp up for world-famous Tribune photographer Don Dondero. Here's the compelling case for his induction.

SMOKING GUNS —> Reidless and Rudderless?
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-21-2017 Sparks Tribune

Kate Smith & Lady Gaga
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-14-2017 Sparks Tribune / Updated 2-16, 2-17 and 2-21-2017
"By the 1920s, pseudo-scientists and polemicists in the 1920s popularized the notion that Italians were a separate race from Anglo-Americans. 'There’s no doubt those ideas were still around in 1942.' ”


The Gorsuch Nonesuch: Poison Annie's Revenge
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-7-2017 Sparks Tribune
Smoot, smut and stash
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-31-2017 Sparks Tribune
The last question
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-24-2017 Sparks Tribune
Patient Zero Plagues
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-17-2017 Sparks Tribune
Democrats in Margaritaville
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-10-2017 Sparks Tribune
Regressions, Transitions and Predictions
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-3-2017 Sparks Tribune

TOMORROW'S NEWS TODAY: FEEL UP YOUR FIRE METER. The Reno Gazette-Journal did big spreads on three consecutive Sundays (Sept. 14, Sept. 21 and Sept. 28, 2014) on NV Energy smart meter fires. Welcome aboard. Barbwire readers were two years ahead on the fire meter issue. (Touch a Smart Meter, Go to Jail — 11 October 2012)

FIRE METER UPDATES: THE NEVADA FIRE MARSHALL'S INVESTIGATION concluded "don't worry, be happy." I'm still worried and will continue fondling NVE's precious equipment —> If your smart meter feels very hot, not just from sunshine, call 911. In its Sunday 21 Dec. 2014 front page headline major story, the Reno Gazette-Journal published results of the NVEnergy-commissioned "don't worry, be happy" echo study. On 1-27-2015, the RGJ published an analysis based on veteran reporter Anjeanette Damon's review of more than 1,000 pages of documents.

Barbwire
bottom line: NVE handles this like auto manufacturers handle defects —> It's cheaper to pay legal settlements after people are injured or killed than to fix the problem.

Don'tcha worry 'bout a thing! If you can't trust your power company, whom can you trust?

Smoking guns: Rooftop solar assassination
NevadaLabor.com Energy War Room

DIDN'T THEY MAKE A MOVIE CALLED "THE INCREDIBLES"? On 2-6-2015, the RGJ reported that the Public Utilities Commission has ordered NVE to hire an independent laboratory to review the material.

UPDATE: The report said all is well. I still recommend feeling up your fire meter on a regular basis.

ANTE INTO THE GAME: Support the new season of Barbwire.TV by putting your money where my mouth is. A thousand thanks to those who keep sending show suggestions.

"Media is the plural of mediocre."
                              — Jimmy Breslin

  Stay tuned.

  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 a lot of work to do.

Get ahead of corporate-influenced news—>Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential

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


Andrew Barbano
is a 48-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.

Peruse the Underbelly of the News —> Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential

Betty J. Barbano
2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005

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Copyright © 1982-2017 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 48-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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