2010 Front Page News

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hall for Nevada workers since 1995
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Final pieces found at last!
Conservative economist Pierre A. Rinfret's seminal 1966 commentary on how war spending destroys the economies of nations: Peace is Bullish

[Vietnam's Economic Lesson: Peace can yield fatter profits than war / Look Magazine 5-31-1966]

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


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

Last Barbwire of the decade:
Liberal reasons to oppose liberal positions and policies
Guaranteed to irritate all points of the political spectrum

Forced to play against a stacked deck
Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 12-19-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Teetime for the Troublesome Truth About the First Tea Party

   Poor Denny's Almanac 12-16-2010: On this date in 1773, Bostonians dressed as Native Americans threw tea into Boston bay to protest tea taxes being too low and to demand that those taxes be raised; in 1924, masked men invaded a Nashville, Tenn., hospital, seized and lynched black teenager Samuel Smith; in 1966, Eddie Scott was elected president of the Reno-Sparks NAACP; in 2005, The New York Times admitted that it does not publish all the news that's fit to print. Copyright © 2010 Dennis Myers. [Click here for the full edition.]

Rebels, heroes and mavericks are made, not born
Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 12-12-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Assemblymember Peggy Pierce, D-LV, proposes tax on big business

Worker warrior Chuck Fisher ailing
A principal driver of Nevada's first successful casino security organizing campaign

State employees association names new chief

Smoking guns and suing for schools
Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 12-5-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

All I want for Christmas is a wet, warm GOP

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-28-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

BREAKING NEWS

Congress cuts off jobless Americans
AFL-CIO 12-1-2010

From: Danny Thompson
To: NevadaLabor.com

Rally with unemployed workers

12-9 UPDATE: Ensign demonstration canceled
4:30 p.m. PST
Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010
On the steps of the federal building
333 Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, Nevada

PLEASE SIGN OUR EMERGENCY PETITION ASKING CONGRESS and especially U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., to vote to extend unemployment benefits

Danny Thompson & Andrew Barbano on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV-radio-web program
Watch Sunday's 12-5 Barbwire for sparks on the tinder


Larry Evans:
The most interesting man in the world

ALSO: Newspapers and old newspapermen never die
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Sparks judges declare war on unions, civil service & jurisdictional authority
David Farside / Daily Sparks Tribune 11-16-2010

Ledge '11: Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-14-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Postmortems, creepy factotems and
revolting developments

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-7-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Your vote is your voice / Su voto es su voz
Our Harry was as magical as his ancestors, Harry Houdini and Harry Potter
It's all over but the shouting, the whining and the wining (hic!)
NBC/AP report: 7 of 10 union members voted for Sen. Reid
Good job!

Fladager & Reid: Legends of the Fall
Senior sparkplug, labor leader Patricia Fladager dies at 89
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-31-201
0 Daily Sparks Tribune

Political brass & unbreakable crystal balls
GOP sweep could spawn new Labor Party
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-24-201
0 Daily Sparks Tribune

Chutzpah means never having to say you're sorry
Clueless is one thing, trespassing is another

Sharron Angle signs popping up on foreclosed vacant homes
U-News / 10-18-2010

Red warnings
Downticket Dems starting to worry
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-17-201
0 Daily Sparks Tribune

Déjà vu all over again, again and again
Reid v. Angle: Shades of 1952 and 1972
Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 10-10-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Velma Bishop, 1928-2010: Mom is gone
Advice from beyond for Sen. Harry Reid / Labor leader Frank Byrne, Sr., dies
Previews of coming attractions at this website and Barbwire.TV
Barbwire by Barbano / Substantially expanded from the 10-3-201
0 Daily Sparks Tribune

Political Animal Crackers & Crackups

      "I think it is dangerous to confuse the idea of democracy with elections. Just because you have elections doesn't mean you are a democracy...I'm still taken aback at the extent of indoctrination and propaganda in the United States. It is as if people there are being reared in a sort of altered reality, like broiler chickens or pigs in a pen."

Indian novelist Arundhati Roy
in the Barbwire of 9-12-2004


      
The American electorate is a dumb cow that follows the herd, is easily stampeded, gets milked for all she's worth and produces offspring for meat, muscle or cannon fodder to benefit the few. When all used up, she is sent to the slaughterhouse so that she may give her overlords the last full measure of devotion, bones for Jello and hide for belts. No stars and stripes for her grave because she doesn't merit one, having been totally consumed by our consumptive system.
Barbwire 9-12-2010

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

Great Minds Think Alike Dept.
Over-rated New York Times Pulitzer over-achiever Thomas Friedman predicts emergence of a third political party a month after the Barbwire did so for the umpteenth time (He's just one short.)
Paul Krugman: Murdoch as Citizen Kane / GOP candidates paid off by Faux News
New York Times 10-3-2001

Teamsters Union donates $34,782.70 to Reno vocational high school

Calvin Coolidge & prairie dog stew
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-26-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

IBEW 1245 demonstrates at NV Energy in Las Vegas

Barbano on statewide Nevada Newsmakers show

Rory, Rory, quite contrary
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-19-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune
HAT TRICK: Barbwire wins third straight Nevada Press Association first-place award. Read the winning entries by clicking above.
Updated 9-22-1010

Laborers' Union opens major new northern Nevada training center
$2 million invested in region's future
International president dedicates facility at grand opening

Chickens, Chicky Baby and My Sharrona
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-12-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune
Updated 9-13-2010

Labor Day 2010: The Last Hurrah?
Livid Labor Day message from Michael the Mahatma Moore to the White House
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-5-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-29-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Sharron Angle: Blast from the distant past
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-22-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Nevada State AFL-CIO Convention
Aug. 18-20, Luxor Hotel-Casino, Las Vegas Strip / Clark County, Nev.

Two NE Nevada miners' bodies found
Killer corporations deserve death penalty

NevadaLabor.com Statewide News Roundup

Milquetoast, mice and macho men
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-15-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Crapshoots, trapshoots and turkey shoots
Carrows restaurants run workers into the ground / Washoe DA race starts to rock
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-8-201
0 Daily Sparks Tribune

75,000 died in Nagasaki 65 years ago
Rev. John Auer remembers

Pat Potter
1929-2010

IN MEMORIAM — Distinguished educator, union member, former Carson City Democratic Chair and former elected chair of the Carson-Tahoe Hospital Board of Trustees Pat Potter has died at her Carson City home after a long illness. She was 80.
May the sweet lady rest in peace.
Update: Sen. Harry Reid remembers Pat Potter

Unions and other Nevada non-profits threatened by tax change
Daily Sparks Tribune / 8-6-2010

My crooks are better than your crooks
Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 8-1-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Michael "Homer" Johnson dies
Memorial service Saturday, 7-31-2010 in Las Vegas

Sell us this day our daily bread
Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 7-25-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Former Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn dies

The simple song of greatness
Longtime Nevada labor leader Danny Coyle dies
Memorial service at 2:00 p.m. PDT Weds. July 21 in Carson City
Carson City Democratic activist and teacher Pat Potter terminally ill

Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 7-18-201
0 Daily Sparks Tribune

Communications Workers union pickets AT&T in Reno
Internet call center contract expires at midnight EDT July 17
Updated 7-23-2010

The twisted ethics of sports, politics & rock 'n' roll
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-11-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Interdependence Day 2010:
Red, white and screwed

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-4-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Take my daughter, please:
City hall hicks are still easy to con

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-27-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Translating the politically inscrutable
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-20-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Sexy follytix 2010: Reality vs. Superficiality
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-13-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

UPDATE THURSDAY 6-10-2010 11:48 a.m. PDT, 18:48 ZULU/GMT/SUT/CUT — Barbano on statewide Nevada Newsmakers program. Watch for the Sharron Angle angle.

Drill baby drill for jobs - maybe - jobs
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-6-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

From clear-cut forests to dirty Gulfstream waters, this land belongs to old BP
TOLJASO LONG TIME AGO

BP/ARCO: The greasy root of our evils

Barbwire / Daily Sparks Tribune 9-10-2006

The awful truth — Read it and weep, fellow suckers

Trying to brighten the unenlightened
A little hate mail on Memorial Day weekend
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-30-201
0 Daily Sparks Tribune

Al Gunderson:
Hang 'em high and watch 'em swing

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-23-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Al Gunderson: Thunder of the court silenced
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-16-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Unemployed Nevada workers march in Reno to protest epidemic of Nevada jobs going to out-of-state contractors and workers
Updated 5-22-2010

PROTESTING THE DEPORTATION OF NEVADA JOBS (Reno, Nev., 5-13-2010) — TOP: More than 200 union construction workers march on the UNR campus. BOTTOM: Reno Gazette-Journal reporter Victor Calderon interviews Paul McKenzie, executive secretary-treasurer of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Northern Nevada AFL-CIO while Painters Local 567 retiree Mo Hursh poses as the Grim Reaper.

Newspaper commits dogmatic suicide
Las Vegas Review-Journal assassinates the First Amendment
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-9-201
0 Daily Sparks Tribune

Going dumb by thinking young
Who burned Bill Moyers and David Brancaccio?
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-2-201
0 Daily Sparks Tribune

Gov. Raggio: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-25-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

The corporate con job continues
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-18-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Bette Drakulich: Beautiful mother to us all
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-11-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Teamsters Local 533 members sweep awards in transit safety competition
Master operator Rex Schrock advances to nationals fourth straight year
UPDATEThis story has been picked up by Teamster Magazine, the international union's publication
NEW PHOTO GALLERY

Cabellyup again
STAR Bonds continue to drain schools and services

Payback time: Lie to your government
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-4-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Viva Chávez
Thanks to all who made Chávez VIII memorable.
Mark 3-31-2011 on your calendar
.
Congratulations to all the honorees.
César Chávez awards presented
Reno Gazette-Journal 4-1-2010

Today we march with Chávez
Andrew Barbano guest editorial / Reno Gazette-Journal 3-31-2010

BREAKING NEWS

Nevada governor fails to follow law, lets César Chávez Day drop through the cracks
U-News 3-30-2010

César Chávez Day:
Organizing Nevada on March 31

Union employer and project of the year awards announced
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-28-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune


AFL-CIO union convention delegates march on Las Vegas Wells Fargo Bank

César Chávez's immediate family will attend March 31 Reno César Chávez Day commemoration dinner, awards and hall of fame installation

Reno-Sparks-Stead, Nevada, airport support workers vote to affiliate with Teamsters Union Local 533

Las Vegas Plasterers & Cement Masons Local 797/AFL-CIO launches website protesting substandard wages and benefits at One Queensridge Place

Barbano on Nevada Newsmakers, R-TV reruns statewide

SUING FOR SCHOOLS: Click here to view the latest Barbwire show
Read more about it

César Chávez Celebration VIII
Wednesday/Miercoles, March/marzo 31, 2010
Circus Circus-Reno
Sponsorship & Ticket Information
New! Purchase online thru E-Bay's secure PayPal service.

César Chávez, Thurgood Marshall and Thomas Jefferson
Submit your nominations for the
César Chávez Silver State Public Service Awards
Enter your video (for cash and/or prizes) in our public service announcement competition
Barbwire TV specials now rerunning statewide

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Obama pays tribute to late Reno labor leader

THE WAY WE WERE — The above is a recently discovered photo from 1986. Left to right are Kathy Brown, Culinary Union Local 86 office manager; Miguel Contreras, Local 86 Secretary-Treasurer; Local 86 President Bill Uehlein; a lady named Natalie (anyone who knows her last name, please write), and César Chávez. This item was first published in Ahora, northern Nevada's Spanish-English weekly, on March 26, 2008. (UPDATE: On 3-19-2009, President Obama paid tribute to Brother Contreras as he spoke in the L.A. building named after the late labor leader. See the 1986 Chávez Reno archive, below.)

(Photo courtesy of Dan Rusnak, retired business manager of Laborers' Union Local 169.)

More stories and photos from César Chávez's 1986 Reno visit

César Chávez Day 2010:
Produce your own revolution

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-14-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune


The New Tiger Woods-Nike-Budweiser UNR
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-7-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

SUING FOR SCHOOLS: Click here to view the show on your desktop

Ledge 'X:
The Deer-in-the-Headlights Legislative Session

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-28-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Rebels without a clue
Cathousing, carousing and fox-pawing, the emergency legislative session convened in Carson City on Tuesday, 2-23-2010. MUCH MORE —>

Union men run for office in Reno-Sparks

Barbwire.TV
SUNDAY FEB. 21, 2010 LIVE REGIONAL TV + webcast 6:00 p.m. / 02:00 ZULU
Rerun at 9:00 p.m. PST
/ 05:00 ZULU
Thanks to everyone who participated!
SUING FOR SCHOOLS: The case for making Nevada finally obey her constitutional mandate to provide for public education
Can we do any worse with a judge running the system?
Check the Daily Sparks Tribune for a summary
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Harry Reid blasts Gov. Jim the Dim on a Barbwire interview
Click here to view the show on your desktop

Suing for Schools: The 20-year shuck
Constitutional confrontation at the emergency legislative session
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Mr. Vegetable Lives Forever
Feb. 21 Barbwire live TV special announced
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-14-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Nuclear test site workers finally receive special status for compensation

Déjà Vu Part Deux:
Tap City Again and Again

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-7-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Gov. Jim the Dim's double whammy
Cut more state jobs and kill collective bargaining for teachers by exec order

The hits just keep on coming
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from th2 1-31-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

City of Reno insolvent

Bill Raggio, Governor of Nevada 2011
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-24-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

The crabby cure for what ails us
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-17-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

RED flags flying low over Sparks
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-10-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-3-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

In the RED:
First of a long series of wage complaints filed against Sparks Marina/Scheels project
Labor commissioner gives city 30 days to investigate
12-21-2009
The empire strikes back
12-21-2009 and 12-22-2009


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 2010:
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

 

Editor's Note: Many of the news links on this site are from Nevada dailies. In late 2006, the Reno Gannett-Journal began nuking much of its archive. If you encounter any broken links, I encourage you to contact them and send me a copy. On the one hand, they want to build their web traffic in order to increase the price of ads. On the other hand, they are killing that very traffic. Far be it from me to reconcile the Dilbert-style motivations of an outfit for which a 38 percent net profit is not enough. If you can explain it, please enlighten me. (Before you e-mail me, please read this bulletinAB) UPDATE: In early 2008, the Las Vegas Sun "upgraded " its website, nuking more than a dozen years of links. If you find an orphaned Sun story, search their site for the title.

 

Reno-Sparks-Washoe-Carson-Douglas-Tahoe Charter cable
Call 775-882-TALK (882-8255)
Suing for Schools: Feb. 21 Barbwire live TV special
Click here to view the show on your desktop
Reruns statewide. Check local listings.
If Reform Fails: The Dec. 6 show — webstreamed
What may well have been the first marriage of talk radio, talk TV and webcast webchat.



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Reno-Sparks-Washoe-Carson-Douglas-Tahoe Charter cable
Call 775-882-TALK (882-8255)
SUING FOR SCHOOLS: Feb. 21 Barbwire live TV special
Click here to view the show on your desktop
Reruns statewide. Check local listings.
If Reform Fails: The Dec. 6 show — webstreamed
What may well have been the first marriage of talk radio, talk TV and webcast webchat.

 

 



The unmatched and comprehensive online meeting hall
for Nevada workers since 1995



The tale of our gorgeous union-created graphics

In 2002, we were honored to produce the Centennial Book for the 100th anniversary of the founding of northern Nevada Painters and Allied Trades Local 567/AFL-CIO. Working on a short time frame, we cast a nationwide net for appropriate cover art and succeeded beyond our wildest dreams thanks to muralists Kathleen Scarboro and Kathleen Farrell. The above illustration ("Papering the World: Joliet's Wallpaper Industry") appeared on the cover and interior of Local 567's Centennial Book, copies of which have been submitted to Nevada libraries and historical organizations. The mural, painted on a wall in Joliet, Illinois, depicts Painters Union members manufacturing wallpaper the old fashioned way, long about the time of Local 567's founding. Ms. Farrell is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, an affiliate of the International Union of Painters & Allied Trades/AFL-CIO. Ms. Scarboro is a member of the Maison des Artists in Paris, the association which represents artists in France.

Ms. Farrell executes murals, mosaics and figurative sculptures for the labor movement. Her work and that of others may be viewed at the Friends of Community Public Art web site. "We have added new table top size sculptures for sale as well as additions of our life size sculptures," she says. "A number of the sculptures feature union members including the Baseball Player (The Catch) and The Firefighter. I have also finished the rad workers sculpture I mentioned awhile back. I welcome work from unions that would like to buy the existing sculptures or hire me to create awards, tabletop size sculptures and life size sculptures."

Sister Farrell may be contacted at terri@fcpaonline.org; phone (815) 722-4140; fax (815) 722-9007. You may view more of her work and obtain additional contact information at http://fcpaonline.org/artist.asp?a=farrelka

Rotating at the top of this site as well as in pastel form in the background of this page is a mural produced for the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Union/AFL-CIO. The others were acrylics on canvas done for the United Food and Commercial Workers and to memorialize the plight of U.S. chicken processing workers (si podemos). Enjoy.

Be well. Raise hell.

Murals/montages copyright © Kathleen Farrell



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