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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

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

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

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


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.)


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 Tribun
e

Please don't cry —> Water levels are already too high


Teenage Immigrant Welfare Mothers on Drugs
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-29-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

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

Wal Mart War Room
Reno contractors sue for millions in unpaid construction costs

John F. Kennedy's 2013 inaugural address
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 11-22-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Michael Moore and Crackers the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken assert that they have been thrown out of better places.

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

Michael Moore and Crackers the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken assert that they have been thrown out of better places.

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

  • Nevada Democratic Party does not speak CB Radio
    Where are Johnny Cash and CW McCall when we need them?
  • As in 2008, the Salt Lake Tribune endorses Obama
  • Nevada Division of Welfare will now follow the law allowing employees to vote. And they had to be pushed!
  • Union Says V.A. Retaliated Against and Fired Whistleblowers
  • Unions file charges of Romney profiteering on General Motors bailout
    Author Greg Palast offers free downloads of new book "Billionaires and Bailout Bandits"
  • PALAST REPORT FOR AMY GOODMAN'S DEMOCRACY NOW: Ohio – Wrong Ballots for Black Voters —> Investigation Uncovers Thousands at Risk of Ballot Loss

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

¡Viva Los Gigantes!

...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

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.

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

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


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.

Women and Unions: Orphan Majorities
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-3-2012 Reno Gazette-Journal /
Updated 9-4-2012

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!

WE'RE OUTTA HERE!
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.

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

Copyright © 2012 Woodrow Barlettani for The Daily Sparks Tribune

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

TRAVUS T. HIPP, 1937-2012

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

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

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.

We don't need no education
The neverending series

We don't need no education, Part 24
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-22-2013 Sparks Tribune
Web extra — Bill O'Reilly's sex education

Workers & taxpayers protest Apple's lack of transparency
Schools pay the price of corporate welfare

Dirt cheap
Congress gave the new state of Nevada 4 million acres to pay for schools.
What happened to them?

Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 7-18-2013

ED Part XXIII—>
Rosy the poll dancer's destructive seduction

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-20-2013 Sparks Tribune

ED Part XXII—>
The 2013 looney tunes legislative lexicon
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-30-2013 Sparks Tribune

ED Part XXI—>Star-stuck: Dirty deals for dirty movies
Ghostrider Nicolas Cage sticks it to Nevada school kids
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from
the 5-16-2013 Daily Sparks Tribune

ED20: Mr. Wynnderful waxes wealthier whilst we wither
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-9-2013 Daily Sparks Tribune

Toljaso Dept.: Morrison malady spreads
Gomorrah South grad stats a shuck
Las Vegas Review-Journal 4-10-2013

ED Part XIX—>
Fixing education: The bulldozer solution
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-28-2013 Daily Sparks Tribune

What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success
The Scandinavian country is an education superpower because it values equality more than excellence.
"The problem facing education in America isn't the ethnic diversity of the population but the economic inequality of society, and this is precisely the problem that Finnish education reform addressed. More equity at home might just be what America needs to be more competitive abroad."
The Atlantic / 12-29-2011

ED Part XVIII—>Petition pondering & pandering:
Just Say No, a Nevada tradition

CLINGING TO THE LEDGE—>Do the Nancy Reagan thing
Just say no to the teachers' tax petition and invalidate term limits and right-to-work-for-less in the process. What's not to like?
Barbwire by Barbano / Special Online Abstinence Edition / 3-5-2013

An edited and updated version appeared in the 3-7-2013 Daily Sparks Tribune

ED Part XVII —>
The brutal law of unintended consequences
Between the devil and the deep Joe Neal
Long-lost research may invalidate more than 100 longstanding Nevada laws
IRONY ALERT—>
New higher electoral standard for teachers' tax petition may generate more support
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-28-2013 Daily Sparks Tribune

Barbano back on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV/radio program —> Almost the entire Feb. 27 show concerned the teachers' tax petition. The Barbwire in the Feb. 28 Sparks Tribune will have a major impact on it both legislatively and electorally. Turn on, tune in and tell a friend.

ED Part XVI —> School shootings:
Reno GOP Senator introduces bill to shoot schools in fiscal foot

Where is gun control when we need it?
Can you stimulate the economy by cutting wages?

U-News e-Bulletin by Andrew Barbano / 2-26-2013

Las Vegas area black students three times more likely to get expelled than non-blacks
Odds of getting suspended are more than double
Some schools issue almost as many suspensions as they have students

Las Vegas Sun / 2-15-2013

ED Part XV:Greasing the suckers and goosing the gullible
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-7-2013 Daily Sparks Tribune

ED Part XIV: Never trust gun runners, politicians or PR men
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-31-2013 Daily Sparks Tribune

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

ED Part XIII: WCSD Trustee-elect Rosenberg is a non-believer
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 12-6-2012 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

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

Morrison import Jane Woodburn ousted from Washoe County School District
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-26-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

ED IX: You can't handle the truth
Third year of Morrison's graduation rate miracle proves mythological
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-19-2012 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

Morrison & Maurins: M&M's hard to swallow
Seventh in a series on the collapsing future of Nevada education
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-20-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

All that's missing is an enemies list
Sixth in a series on the collapsing future of Nevada education
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-13-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Playing Dixieland - The shell game continues
Fifth in a series on the collapsing future of Nevada education
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-6-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Abandon hope, all ye who enter college
Fourth in a series on the collapsing future of Nevada education
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-29-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

The Mythological Morrison Miracle
Third in a series on the collapsing future of Nevada education
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-22-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
Updated 4-24-2012 Dr. Morrison is in Charlotte, NC, today signing his contract to accept the superintendent position.

The marshal is getting outta Dodge
So much for Nevada education's strategic plan + 4/25 Workers Memorial Day commemoration
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-15-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Breaking our own backs: If you have kids, move elsewhere
Have teachers made a deal with the devil? / St. Mary's firings begin
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-8-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune


Memorial service for former Teamsters Local 533 business agent
Don Bouma set for Sunday, May 27, 2012, in Sacramento, Calif.

Cinco de MayDay
¡Viva huelga!
California and Nevada AT&T workers locked out over clothing stick-ons
National strike may be called anytime —> Back to the table, for now

Happy Labour Day

International Workers' Day is fundamentally an American holiday. It commemorates what is known as the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886, in which several demonstrators at a mass rally for an eight-hour workday were killed.
Reno May Day Rally Saturday May 5

WMD at Victorian Square — Workers Memorial Day commemoration in Sparks 4:30 p.m. PDT 4/25
Labor is pushing back against those who say that regulations kill jobs.
At work, lack of proper regulation kills people.

Barbano back on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV/radio program

Shades of César Chávez
LV Culinary union and supporters start hunger strike against Station Casinos

Associated Press / Daily Sparks Tribune / 4-20-2012


Postal workers and supporters rally to save the system
APRIL 12 5:00 p.m. PDT —>

Bruce Thompson Federal Building, Liberty @ S. Virginia, Reno
Call your U.S. senators@ 1-888-863-6103 to vote no on S. 1789
FED UP AT THE FEDERAL BUILDING (9-27-2011) — More than 200 postal workers and members of other unions demonstrate at the Bruce Thompson Federal Building in Reno in favor of passage of HR 1351, which would remove the funding drain now threatening the United States Postal Service. The federal courthouse may be seen in the window reflections of the auto in the foreground. (NevadaLabor.com photo)

Breaking our own backs: If you have kids, move elsewhere
Have teachers made a deal with the devil? / St. Mary's firings begin
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-8-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Martin, 1968
Trayvon Martin, 2012

On April 4, 1968, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., while in town to support striking union trash collection workers.

UPDATE 4-11-2012: The Florida special prosecutor today indicted Trayvon Martin's killer on charges of second degree murder. He has been arrested.

I can screw up twice as bad for half the price
Barbwire U-News exclusive leads to judge stepping down
Barbwire by Barbano /
Expanded from the 4-1-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

César Chávez Celebration X
Saturday / March 31, 2012 / Circus Circus-Reno
Sponsorship & Ticket Information
Purchase online thru E-Bay's secure PayPal service

View new television spots
English / Español

César Chávez X Celebración
S ábado
31 de Marzo, 2012 en Circus Circus de Reno
Boletos e información

Three Reno Chávez events this week
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-25-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Obama pays tribute to late Reno labor leader

THE WAY WE WERE — The above is a recently discovered photo from July 15, 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. (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

BREAKING NEWS AND THEN SOME
DoctorLawyerWatch.com Exclusive
District Judge Brent Adams, who recused himself late in the high profile Harvey Whittemore cases, now faces a disqualification motion in the bitter, decade-old litigation between warring U-Haul millionaire heirs
U-News Bulletin / 3-29-2012

Reno and Carson City Trayvon demonstrations

Liberty and justice for some
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 3-25-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Click in the above image for the Reno demonstration's Facebook page.
Contact: Marianne Denton, 775- 843-9550.

Occupy Carson City will also demonstrate from 12 noon to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday in front of the Nevada Legislature on S. Carson Street in the capital city. Contact: Janette Dean, 775-461-3282

Barbano back on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV/radio program

Renown 150th: Profiting at taxpayer expense
Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 3-18-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

CALENDAR OF IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS

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

Corpo-Dems, Labor-Greens and golden mensches
Also: Jeanmarie Simpson previews her new play in Reno+Carson March 9-10

Jeanmarie Simpson

Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 3-4-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

2-29-1968: Leaping back to the unequal future

This bitch just isn't sexy enough
A domestic cartel fixes the price of gasoline while politicians say nothing can be done and media sit shiva.
Such is BigOil's power to intimidate while hiding in plain sight.

Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from the 2-26-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Red line in a new bottle:
We are caged for slaughter in an electronic zoo

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-19-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Barbano back on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV/radio program

God herself decrees every sperm is sacred
Plus: Bogus Beach Boys Grammy Awards claim
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-12-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

POOR DENNY'S ALMANAC: On 11 Feb. 1969, medic Thomas Bennett, the only conscientious objector to win the Medal of Honor in Vietnam, died under fire after saving numerous American lives

VALENTINES FOR VETERANS 2012

Forward to the same damned old place
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-5-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Barbano back on statewide Nevada Newsmakers TV/radio program

Janet MacDonald: The beautiful face of honor
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-29-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

RON PAUL: Union Buster

Corporate welfare brings Reno and Sparks closer to bankruptcy

A fiery journey down glory road
Joe Biden and the Grateful Dead
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-22-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

LIBERALS PICKET BIDEN IN RENO

BLAST FROM THE PAST: A PROUD LABOR MAN ADDRESSES NEVADA LABORSen. Joe Biden, D-Del., addresses the Nevada State AFL-CIO convention at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno on August 21, 2007.

REMEMBERING MY DAUGHTERS. On Jan. 16, 1959, two babies were born. They became sisters in both life and death.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

Newly uploaded blast from the past for MLK Day —
I was a teenage racist

Barbwire by Barbano / 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
To get the full picture, I suggest reading all of them, as each contains new and different information
. Reader comments (positive and negative) will be uploaded soon.
Please send yours.

500 attended the Jan. 13 memorial service for Washoe District Judge Bob Perry at the University of Nevada-Reno Crowley Student Union.
Look for several judicial resignations this year . (Barbwire 1-15-2012)

Mixed Mayan mammary metaphors:
Going belly up and upside down

Barbano by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-8-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Former Teamsters Local 533 business agent Don Bouma dies

The awful truth hurts so good
Barbano by Barbano / Expanded from the 1-1-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Happy High Holly Days!

MerryChristmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Solstice/Festivus

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

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

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 10-4-2010


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

 

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.

 



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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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