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

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Barbwire Silver Anniversary 1988-2013 —>Now we go for gold
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.

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.

— Leonard Cohen

Travus T. Hipp Feb. 20, 1937 — May 18, 2012 NEW: The Bullfrog Times-Picayune and Sticky Stones: Last blast from the past NEWLY UPLOADED: Love ain't free Evelyn Kerr's remembrances of the life and times of Travus T. Hipp from the pages of TimeMazine CD available

"If voting mattered, they wouldn't let us do it." — Travus T. Hipp, 1982

Nevada's righteous ayatollahs arise once again
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-5-2014 Sparks Tribune / Updated 10-21-2014

"In Nevada, you put an 'R' behind your name and the devil himself could get elected. We've seen that in a number of cases in our state."

So said a zealot at the formative meeting of the Nevada affiliate of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies as reported in the Barbwire of Jan. 25, 1998.

Despite the governmental-sounding name, they have nothing to do with officialdom save advocating theocracy to replace democracy, specifically rule by the Christian Bible.

Different book but same concept as the Iranian mullahs.

Madcap Sharron Angle was appointed to the outfit's national board of directors in 2011 and NVRA e-mail goes to her.

As a legislative candidate, she attended that 1998 meeting at a local pizza parlor. (I have the video.)

Also looking for political support were then-State Sen. Maurice Washington, R-Sparks, and then-Assemblyman Don Gustavson, R-Sun Valley.

Moderator Mike Weber (husband of current Washoe County Commissioner Bonnie Weber), checked off a list of candidates particularly worthy of the group's endorsement, including Washington, Gustavson and Rep. John Ensign, R-Las Vegas, who was then running against incumbent U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Searchlight.

"They are 100 percent believers of everything we're doing as far as our principles are concerned," Mr. Weber noted.

He went on to run unsuccessfully a couple of times. Gustavson is now a state senator. Ensign has gone on to greater glory in peaceful wedded bliss and Mrs. Angle became a national figure after running against Reid as the anointed of God hisself.

TRUE BELIEVERS. For effusive Christians, they can be quite cruel. For instance, they oppose all minimum wage laws.

You will find research going back to 1997 linked to the web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com/

Their scary platform is available at NVRA.com but you won't find a list of candidate endorsements.

Republican sheriff hopeful Chuck Allen told me that he would ask why NVRA endorsed him.

Huh?

If he blithely accepts support from anybody, clipped Clipper Donald Sterling is looking for some positive PR.

Reno mayoral candidate Eddie Lorton lists NVRA's approval on his website.

Sparks City Council candidate Kristopher Dahir has been endorsed by Mrs. Weber, who curiously has not disclosed any supporters on her Reno City Council campaign page. (Like Mr. Lorton, Mrs. Weber does not live in Reno. Both rented apartments in order to run.)

All of this underscores the perils of early voting. You can't ask for a do-over if you belatedly find your guy trucking with the cowboy ayatollahs.

I don't know about Mr. Dahir, but the chances are good that the rest will make it into the general election.

I applaud those who have revealed their supporters.

Other candidates and especially the self-anointed of the Lord should do us the same courtesy.

BTW, the NVRA also detests Spanish, so...

Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

Be well. Raise hell.

WEB EXTRAS...

MORE MAYORAL MAYHEM —>

---

HONOR YOUR DON. Campaign season is upon us. I'm working to elect 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.

Help me double down

TOO LEGIT TO QUIT. The Barbwire's ongoing investigation of phony Nevada graduation rates, now in its third year, just got respectable. (Scroll down to Hiding in Plain Sight.) Read it and weep, then review the series for yourself.

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 at the same time blow out not only the revenue hike, but also term limits and the state's worst anti-union laws. Something for everybody. [UPDATE]

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 and 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. The Jan. 30 column brought a surge of inquiries 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.

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... Subscribe to Barbwire Confidential When your enemy is destroying himself, never interfere Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-29-2014 Sparks Tribune Barbara Bennett, Erik Holland and Václav Havel Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-22-2014 Sparks Tribune Stabbing rock-sucking kangaroos on the Ides of May Reno Gazette-Journal blatantly manipulates mayoral contest Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-15-2014 Sparks Tribune Negative Optimism: Making the best of being worst Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-8-2014 Sparks Tribune Nevada State AFL-CIO conventioners join anti-education initiative business coalition Steve Sebelius / Las Vegas Review-Journal 5-2-2014 In search of the modern day Barbara Bennett Barbwire by Barbano / Substantially expanded from the 4-3-2014 Sparks Tribune We Don't Need No Education The continuing Barbwire series ...and more ammo.. 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 IMF Head Says Inequality Threatens Democracy. Here Are 7 Charts Proving She’s Right. By Erika Eichelberger / Mother Jones/BillMoyers.com 5-30-2014 “The behavior of the financial sector has not changed fundamentally…since the crisis. The industry still prizes short-term profit.” 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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