And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.Matthew Arnold 1851 About 120 years later, cartoonist Walt Kelly’s Pogo the Possum said pretty much the same thing, albeit with less elegance: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Nazi General Hermann Goering, who commanded military divisions, … [Read more...]
The awful truth for the rudely scrude
Sorry, kids. We are rudely screwed once again. This edition of the Crudely and Rudely Scrude News comes from no less than Gomorrah South. Bottom line: When the biggest, baddest union in the state can’t get something done by southern Nevada governments, MAYDAY! That’s just what’s happened to mighty Culinary Union Local 226 and its 60,000+ Nevada members, some of whom even … [Read more...]
Ripoffs, rake-offs, rape & pillage
Surprise. The major issue at the May 5 Reno mayoral debate was not downtown beautification. KOLO TV-8 reported that the barnburners at ThisIsReno.com’s event were “price gouging and rent caps.” Surprise, surprise. I don’t know if it means anything, but I’ve never had so many profile views on my oft-neglected LinkedIn. com page as this month. Might rent control (May 4) and … [Read more...]
The abortion solution
“Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate.” — “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life” 1989 I thought I settled all of this 33 years ago, dammit. Here’s the text of the January 27, 1989, Barbwire entitled “An Elegant Solution to Abortion.” The abortion quandary revolves around the classic question of cake: how to have it and eat … [Read more...]
Poisoning pigeons in the park
“All the world seems in tune on a spring afternoon when we’re poisoning pigeons in the park.” — Tom Lehrer 1959 I’ve warned you many times and I admonish you again: Don’t let your kids play on the plastic turf at Sparks’ Golden Eagle Park. According to last week’s Tribune, the Sparks City Council spent $64,000 “to purchase SMG SportChamp artificial turf maintenance … [Read more...]
War in moderation?
“War: What is it good for?” soulfully sang Edwin Starr back in the Vietnam era. “Absolutely nothing,” he dissed. Alas and alack, the facts are otherwise. Perhaps the proper approach is the old admonition “all things in moderation.” The digital age was spawned by World War2 when computers were invented to do quick calculations for aiming artillery barrages. The … [Read more...]
Going out of business in style
I’ve got a killer new ad campaign touting Sparks as prosperity Valhalla for businesses large and small. How about “Succulently Solvent Sparks, where going-out-of-business sales never happen.” At least for the past six decades or so. Going out of business sales make lots of money. And they are almost illegal in the Rail City. Harry Spencer’s column last week reminded me … [Read more...]
Sexy ways to commit societal suicide
BACK TO THE FUTURE DEPT. The Washoe County Commission this week is considering a raft of voting “reforms” (aka voter suppression). The Nye County Commission recently passed similar requirements, several of likewise questionable legality. Both would require a return to old-fashioned handwritten ballots. Washoe Commissioner Jeanne Herman and her extended family, the five … [Read more...]