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BARBWIRE
by
ANDREW BARBANO

2010 Barbwires

Pulitzer
Entries

Pre-Web
Barbwires

"If you can't say anything nice about someone, sit right here by me."

Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth

Current Barbwires

The way it was and may be again. Please volunteer and contribute.

What may well have been the first marriage of talk radio, talk TV and webcast webchat.
Remarriage is possible with a little help from our friends.

Reno-Sparks-Washoe-Carson City-Dayton-Tahoe-Douglas-Storey County Charter cable
Live call-ins 775-882-TALK (882-8255)
Reruns statewide. Check local listings.

Click here for selected on-demand re-runs from the 2009-2010-2011 Barbwire TV archives

Click here for channels, times and video on-demand

Barbwire.TV 5-31-2011: The Mining Addiction
Barbwire banned in prime time

Clinging to the Ledge: Cold War
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-22-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

TV this week:
Freedom Riders and wage defenders

Since they're blaming the victims, it's high time for the victims to fight back.
Live with your phone calls throughout northwestern Nevada Tuesday, 5-17-2011

7:00 p.m. PDT 5-17-2011 / 02:00 5-18 ZULU-GMT

Suing for Schools: Feb. 21 2010 Barbwire live TV special

What was once can happen again with a little help from our friends.

Donate to the cable ratepayer legal defense fund at our PayPal-enabled ReSurge.TV Consumer War Room

Unless otherwise noted, columns originate in the Daily Sparks, Nev., Tribune.

 

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

HAT TRICK
Barbwire wins third straight Nevada Press Association first-place award

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


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
Updated 8-30-2011
Now rerunning 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 on-demand re-runs from the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Barbwire.TV archives

(775) 882-8255
[882-TALK]

Barbwire.TV:
15-year overnight success

Daily Sparks Tribune 2-10-2008

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


HAT TRICK: Barbwire wins 3rd straight Nevada Press Association First-Place Award

 

 

The great ones died but Newt's like Dracula
Happy High Holly Days anyway!
Barbano by Barbano
/ Expanded from the 12-25-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Pipeline pigs, oily vultures and flying swine
Expanded from the 12-18-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

The guns of December pointed at you
Expanded from the 12-11-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Life imitates art imitates Chuck
Chuck Fisher, 1944-2011
Nevada may decide 2012 presidency / New community fm radio station
Expanded from the 12-4-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

The Christmas conundrum, harrumph-a-pump-pump
Expanded from the 11-27-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Nevada's 11 most powerful in 2011
Send in your personal picks to click
Expanded from the 11-20-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Irony cards, cat houses and catty censorship
Expanded from the 11-13-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Heroes are made, not born
Expanded from the 11-6-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Ostrich heads in the sands of Sparks Marina
Expanded from the 10-30-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

The dog ate my press release
Expanded from the 10-23-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Loss of Faith
Expanded from the 10-16-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Dirty words and sexy talk always get it on
Expanded from the 10-9-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

When money owns you
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-2-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

DON'T LET 'EM LICK YOUR STAMPS! On Sept. 27, postal workers and a few million of their best friends march in Nevada and nationwide to save the U.S. Postal Service from degradation and privatization. BE THERE.

Dirty books, holy men, false prophets and sex profits
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-25-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Corporate bake sales for broken governments
Unions threatened in attempt to stifle Obama administration criticism
Democrats schedule national convention with rat labor

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-18-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Piss up a rope: Vote
NY, NV special elections all about bragging rights
Laborers' Union files legal actions over illegal bids

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-11-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Princess Cassandra's neverending labor
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-4-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

If you can't win, be spectacular
BARBWIRE EXCLUSIVE: ST. MARY'S REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER SALE
UPDATE: Confirmed, controversial and perhaps corrupt
Expanded from the 8-28-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune/Updated 11-16-2011

Suicide via Laborcide in Carolina
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-21-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Bullshots and bum watches
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-14-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Bullfighting in Tonopah, Part Deux
Latest survival bulletins from the High Desert Outback of the American Dream
Wherein the D.A. comes apart like a cheap watch

Barbwire by Barbano special web edition 8-11-2011
Substantially updated and expanded from the 8-7-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Bullfighting in Tonopah
All the news you never knew you needed to know 'til now
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-7-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

What's the ugliest part of your body?
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-31-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Lord Rupert's Rupture and President Tiger Wuss
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-24-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

President Kevorkian and Harry Potter's Congress
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-17-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Dr. Strangelove and Sen. Don the Dumberer
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the Daily Sparks Tribune 7-10-2011

July 4 Railroad Jobs: We're Red, White and Screwed
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-3-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

You can't have your war and eat it, too
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-26-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

 


Hall of famers give the boss the finger

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-19-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Mary Valencia Wilson: Nevada's Aztec Warrior
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-12-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Nevada government's license to kill
A funeral dirge for the disposable worker
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-5-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Déjà vu, dustbusters and living legacies
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-29-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

The fairy tale power of 35 pennies
From the 12-22-1991
Daily Sparks Tribune / .pdf format
Presented to my granddaughter as a university graduation present on 5-27-2011
and referenced in the 5-29-2011 Barbwire

Clinging to the Ledge: Cold War
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-22-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune
Updated 5-25-2011: TV SHOW RERUN SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED

TV this week: Freedom Riders and wage defenders
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-15-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Updated 5-16-2011, 5-17-2011, 5-19 and 5-25-2011

Slaves taxes, bread crumbs and another brick in the wall
There are no virgins in politics. The best you can hope for is that your friends treat you a little better than your enemies and promise to kiss you afterward.
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-8-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

May Day! T-Rump reduces president to peanuts
Wobblies lead May Day human rights solidarity March through Reno
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-1-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

The perils of playing the other guy's game
Obama botches gasoline price issue in Reno speech
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-24-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

You can't run from the awful truth
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-17-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

No more Mr. Nice Guy
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-10-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

A walk with the giants
The César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame Awards
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-3-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

César Chávez and Dr. King still lead us
Reno Gazette-Journal Guest Editorial / 3-31-2011

César Chávez, Dr. King and the kids are alright
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-27-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Reagan Ranch, hall of famers and protest fatigue
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-20-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

It ain't broke, but we'll fix it
Former Laborers' Local 169 Secretary-Treasurer Don Carruthers dies
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-13-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Charlie Sheen and the Price of Gasoline
ENERGY, PART DEUX: PUC sides with electrical workers, orders NV Energy staffing investigation
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-6-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Cowboys and Indians
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-27-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Too old to work, too young to die
Nevadans rally statewide in support of Wisconsin workers at high noon on President's Day
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-20-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune
UPDATE: Great Minds Think Alike Dept. The stakes could not be higher.

A Valentine for Tura Satana —>Union Star
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-13-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

40 Years on the High Desert Plantation
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-6-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Barack Brian Obama Sandoval Carter
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-30-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

SOS Means Chicken Folltyix
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-23-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

BARBWIRE BREAKING NEWS EXCLUSIVE
Still
Sierra Pacific Powerful
No matter whether they call it Reddi Kilowatt, Nevada Power or NV Energy, it's just bright new branding for the same old monopoly rape and pillage — the public knows it and the latest poll proves it
Time for another initiative petition after 21 years?
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-16-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Billy Brawl: Raggio Resigns
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-9-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Courtesy of Hugh Jackson's Las Vegas Gleaner

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?

DAILY SPARKS TRIBUNE 1-3-2011

Sunday 12-26, the last Barbwire of 2010:
Liberal reasons to oppose liberal positions and policies
Guaranteed to irritate all points of the political spectrum

Guest Columnists
César Chávez's fight for justice lives on
by Tony Mayorga
/
Guest Commentary / Reno Gazette-Journal / 3-31-2012
We put the state on life support for another two years
Assemblyman Richard "Skip" Daly / Reno Gazette-Journal Guest Editorial / 7-17-2011
Editor's note: Alas and alack, the 2013 session provided instant replay.

Jake Highton
Travus T. Hip
p, 1937-2012

Dennis Myers
Orland T. Outland, 1923-2000
Labor Leaders
The Farside Chronicles

16-year investigative series

PUMPING PROFITS — Why does gasoline cost so much?
Read the awful truth in the Barbwire Oilogopoly Archive

BLASTS FROM THE PAST
Some of the Barbwire's Pre-Internet Greatest Hits

Lynne Hughes and Barbara Bennett: Energy Again [.pdf]
Uploaded on the occasion of the passing of Travus T. Hipp, 1937-2012
Barbwire / Sparks Tribune / 3-21-1993

1995 Washoe Med Grand Jury Report
Additional columns just uploaded from our archives + the 3-18-2012 Barbwire
Grand Jury report available for the first time on the web

The fairy tale power of 35 pennies
From the 12-22-1991
Daily Sparks Tribune / .pdf format
Presented to my granddaughter as a university graduation present on 5-27-2011
and referenced in the 5-29-2011 Barbwire

Gail Bishop: We harvest the fruit of his labor
From the 2-20-1994 Daily Sparks Tribune (.pdf format)
Velma Bishop, 1928-2010
From the 10-3-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Doug Davies: Rum & Ragtime Renaissance Man
Daily Sparks Tribune 11-14-1993 (
.pdf format)

Diss me, father, for I have sinned
Daily Sparks Tribune 7-16-1995 / Reprinted 7-15-2007

Merle Brennan: The Last American Sportsman, 1-7-1996
Updated with vintage photos, restored race cars and a visit from Il Comendatore himself
UPDATED 10-4-2008

Ronald Reagan, 1911-2004
A memoir from Nevada's undercover Reagan-Bush PR man

Slightly updated 6-6-2004 from the 8-2-1992 Daily Sparks Tribune original

History
Labor Day '94: People vs. Corporate Con-Job
A brief history of neo-con PR and the roots of corporate propaganda

Tragedy
Come, follow me: A walk with the grateful dead
A visit to Nevada's first AIDS leper colony
From the 8-19-1988 and 7-10-1994 Daily Sparks Tribune

Did Naval Air Station Fallon bury live animals after a huge fuel spill?
From the 1-19-1990 AND 1-22-1990 Daily Sparks Tribune

Comedy
Theme casinos, Spuds MacKenzie & Brigitte Bardot
The first Barbwire

Originally published in Reno, LV and Sunworld Airlines magazines, August, 1987

Continuing Tragicomedy
Judge Clarence Thomas meets Prof. Kingsfield
Reprinted in the San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Legal Journals, 1991

More sucker punches from Lush Rambo
Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 3-11-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Includes links to two freshly-uploaded 1992 columns. I warned you.

Insanity from the eye of the newt
From the 5-20-1990
Daily Sparks Tribune / .pdf format
UPDATE: So what else is newt?
The great ones died but Newt's like Dracula
Happy High Holly Days anyway!
Barbano by Barbano
/ Expanded from the 12-25-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em
The reasons behind the failure of Nevada's first non-smoking casino
Barbwire 3-2-1990

Newly uploaded blast from the past for MLK Day —
I was a teenage racist
Expanded from the 1-12-1990 Daily Sparks Tribune
This column also appeared in the 1-19-1990 Comstock Chronicle
Updated and modified versions in the Fresno Bee, Daily Sparks Tribune and Reno Gazette-Journal
Jan. 14-15, 2012


The Nevada University Scandals of 1996-1997

Please let us know if much has changed.
1997 Barbwire Pulitzer Prize entries are noted with *asterisks*
Category 4 — Explanatory Journalism
Category 9 — Commentary

Janet MacDonald 1941-2012: The beautiful face of honor
The Barbwire fondly remembers the courageous university system treasurer who dared tell the truth
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-29-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

UPDATE: Let there be Rosenbergy again
Term limits or not, vote for Howard Rosenberg anyway, dammit!
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-27-2008 Daily Sparks Tribune

Con jobs by charlatans in the name of our children
Originally published 5/4/97
Slavery, sweatshops and shell game education
Originally published 4/27/97
New evidence in the university financial shell game
Originally published 4/20/97
All university regents face ouster, TMCC chief quits
Originally published 3/9/97
The question no one asked Howard Rosenberg — till now
Originally published 3/2/97
The buckaroo kangaroo court hangs Rosenberg Thursday
Originally published 2/23/97
Only embrace the tar baby when DNA proves it's yours
Originally published 2/2/97
Emperors, educators, pregnant paupers & presidents
Originally published 1/26/97
*
Secret university audit catches chancellor lying!*
Originally published 1/19/97
A watered down education for Mother Nevada's kids
Originally published 1/12/97
Both Nevada and its university open 1997 lost at sea
Originally published 1/5/97
The 1996 Grateful Deadhead and Chia Butthead Awards
Originally published 12/29/96
*Shadowboxing Jello, yahoo kangaroos & Downsize This!*
Originally published 12/22/96
*EXTRA! Barbano endorses environmental jockocracy *
Originally published 12/15/96
*University Scandals 1996: The Empire Strikes Back *
Originally published 12/8/96
*Howard Rosenberg: the most powerful man in Nevada *
Originally published 12/1/96
*Howard Rosenberg: unlikely David vs. Philistine Elite *
Originally published 11/24/96
*Clark Santini: still watching over his university*
Originally published 11/17/96
*Protected pianists at the Casablanca College Casino*
Originally published 11/10/96
*Ghost Professors, Gold Mines and Shell Games at UNR*
Originally published 11/3/96
*Slam-dunks: fun follytix up at the U*
Originally published 10/27/96

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Oct. 27, 1996, Barbwire began a six-month investigation into the labyrinthine intrigues of the University and Community College System of Nevada (UCCSN), now called the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE). At the suggestion of chess grandmaster and author Larry Evans, most of the 1996 installments, as well as one involving university issues in the following year, were entered by the Sparks Tribune in two categories of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize competition. That ongoing interest in the affairs of higher education has never waned. You may use the NevadaLabor.com search engine to do a keyword search on the occasional treatment of university issues. You will also enjoy the ongoing comments of longtime University of Nevada-Reno journalism Prof. Jake Highton. Be well. Raise hell. — Andrew

 

 

Gov. Dudley Do-Right's Greatest Hits
Dudley Do-Right, Snidely Whiplash and Nell Fenwick cartoon characters © Jay Ward Productions


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1996
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2007
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2008
Barbwires

2009
Barbwires
BARBWIRE
by
ANDREW BARBANO

2010 Barbwires

Pulitzer
Entries

Pre-Web
Barbwires

Current Barbwires


NevadaLabor.com | Current U-News | NevadaLabor.com Front Page Story Archives
Breaking News + Bulletins + Almanac
Casinos Out of Politics (COP) | Sen. Joe Neal
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© 1982-2013, Andrew Barbano, all rights reserved

Andrew Barbano is a Reno-based member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413, the union of Mark Twain. A 42-year Nevadan, he is a writer, media maven, editor/publisher/producer of websites, radio and television programs. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Daily Sparks (Nev.) Tribune since 1988.

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