11-18-2014 — Let's begin with a bit of coincidental irony.

On Nov. 18, 1977, Klansman Robert Chambliss was convicted for his involvement in the 1963 bombing of Birmingham, Alabama’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that killed four girls (Chambliss was convicted of murdering Denise McNair, one of the girls), a conviction achieved by Alabama officials after the FBI covered up evidence in the case. (From longtime Nevada journalist Dennis Myers' daily online Poor Denny's Almanac)

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I just forwarded the information on this page to some friends. My e-mail program has built-in red flags and warns that the content of this transmission "has language highly likely to be found offensive."

Amen.

(Mitch is coming and boy, is he pissed.)

Who says artificial intelligence ain't here yet?

THIS JUST IN: "Celebrate a new Senate Republican Majority!

"Get your own limited edition 'Come at me bro' t-shirt." [1]

So reads today's e-mail offer from the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

I am only too happy to oblige now that the Nevada State Senate and Assembly will be in dyspeptically Republican hands next year.

On Jon Ralston's Nov. 17 show, newly-elected Assembly Speaker Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, said he was encouraged by the Sparks Tribune be provocative as a columnist.

Ira demonstrably overachieved and continues to do so.

Read on for some of Ira's greatest hits, the Barbwire Iranamok Files.

 

Sage speakerings from the new Speaker in the Sparks Tribune
Full column texts may be accessed below

The confederated battle flag — Symbol of manly courage
1-23-2000

"(I) am extremely proud of the 'lost cause' and the attempts to preserve the original States Rights (sic) position of the U.S. Constitution. In spite of what most believe, the War Between the States was not about slavery per se, but about whether or not a State (sic) had the right to leave the Union. (sic) Eleven southern states attempted to leave and were coerced by into the Union. (sic)

"Slavery was a serious dispute between the two sides, as were tariffs, but not the major issue of the war as so many are taught today....

"The issue today, that the Confederate battle flag is a symbol of slavery, etc., is a classic example of how ignorant most Americans are about our nation's history. Anyone who has read the Confederate Constitution, studied the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, read (John C.) Calhoun's arguments on nullification, and delved into the ideology behind the attempts at seceding from the Union (sic) know the Confederate battle flag represents the original thinking of the majority of our founding fathers. The death of the Confederacy was in fact the death of Federalism, the division of power between equal States (sic) with a common, intentionally weak central government handling primarily the foreign affairs and general needs...

"But the Confederate Flag is to me not so much about ideology, but about manly courage, bravery, struggle against great odds, heroic battle field actions. It represents many of my heroes: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Nathan Bedford Forrest,* Jefferson Davis, and yes, my Rebel (sic) ancestors. To dishonor their memory and the great cause for which they gave their all, I would rather die a thousand deaths than do something so disgraceful. Sacrifice their honor for the political correctness of today? The thought makes me ashamed.

"The Confederate flag also represents a way of life now gone but still strongly influential in our thinking....

"Above my desk where I write this column every week, tacked on the wall, is a Confederate battle flag. I fly it proudly and in honor and in memory of a great cause and my brave ancestors who fought for that cause.

"Give it up or take it down?

"Never."

* HISTORICAL NOTE: Confederate Lt. General Nathan Bedford Forrest was one of the founders of the Ku Klux Klan. See Ken Burns' Emmy-winning PBS series The Civil War, 1990.
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Barbano's column; Sparks' financing and Farley foolishness
12-11-1996

"(University and Community College System of Nevada Board of Regents candidate Howard) Rosenberg's underdog role in the race, as well as his being the lesser of two evils, made him the logical (if not the most desirable) choice, his homosexuality and ultra-leftist views notwithstanding. There was no 'none of the above' slot on the ballot, so the voters were stuck with lousy choices. For me, in good conscious (sic), I couldn't bring myself to vote for either; I simply bypassed that race on my ballot."
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Ebonics: Another example of self-segregation
1-17-1997

"While Egypt is part of the African continent, its people and culture are not Negroid (sic) in origin: even today, after thousands of years of a mixture with dozens of different cultures and races, the Egyptians are more Semitic than anything else."
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Surpressing (sic) The Truth: Slavery, Reparations and Censorship
9-9-2001

"Jesse Jackson and his fellow and of marauding thieves have become very wealthy by playing off of liberal 'white guilt', and the greed for wealth without work has gone from a national to international racket."
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An open letter to NAACP President Feemster
12-8-2002

"Victimology' is rampant in Negro leadership. Until they stop blaming the past for their failures of today, and practice the real formula for success — postponing the gratification of an immediate desire for a greater good tomorrow — no amount of compensation for slavery will protect blacks from their own self-defeating behaviors."
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Nevada Dilemma: Racism in government education?
3-7-2004

"Conveniently overlooked in the all-problems-are-rooted-in-racism answer book is the fact two major minority groups with long histories of open, legalized discrimination, Asians and Jews, somehow manage to get through those horribly racist school systems and come out not only with diplomas but with disproportionate shares of the highest honors of academic achievement!

"Also ignored is the trend, consistent all across our land, of blacks always being at the very bottom, even in school systems run by black teachers and administrators. Unless you can prove blacks discriminate against themselves, it's hard to blame the continued failure on 'racism.'

"The real answer is one most will privately acknowledge but publicly run away from — native intelligence, i.e., your gene pool....I.Q. testing, graduation rates and how society layers out as a whole have shown remarkable correlation. The top ethnic group/race in I.Q. tests are Jewish, followed by, in descending order, Asians, whites, Hispanics and, at the bottom, blacks....

"Also not explained by the 'racist' excuse makers is how in our allegedly horrible racist society blacks especially have become dominant in sports, notably basketball and football. Using the quota system/ratio formula developed by liberals for proving de facto racism indicates high school, college and professional sports are among our most racist institutions....

"Equality in all things can only be achieved through accepting as your standard the lowest common denominator. You can look at Zimbabwe, the former Soviet Union and soon, South Africa, for case studies. Or you can use a free market approach and let everyone sift out naturally, rising and falling, reaping what you are capable and willing to sow."

BARBANO RESPONDS: Back in college, I remember Fresno State history professor Dr. Jose C. Canales noting his rule of thumb for identifying oppressed classes in a country. In the United States, it was the nationality/ethnicity of the heavyweight boxing champion. In Spain, he pointed to bullfighters.

As to blacks and testing, the facts have long been on the record that standardized tests standardized by the majority for majority students are indeed biased against some minorities.

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Illegal aliens and our schools: Americans must come first
10-2-1996

"Believe it or not, the racist quotes (in this column) are almost verbatim from UNR professor Richard Siegel. Yes, anyone who opposes illegal immigration does so because we can't shout 'nigger' anymore, according to our learned professor.

"Isn't it interesting that hypocrites like Siegel always interject race into everything. It seems like they're the ones obsessed by 'racism.'"

"...We do not need more taxes; we simply need to remove those who are not supposed to be here in the first place."

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Illegal aliens: Send them back
10-14-2007

"Yet, as English-speaking Americans, most of which (sic) who (sic) would not consider themselves racist, are confronted with a foreign culture pouring into their neighborhoods, their tax sponsored schools, their everyday lives, so much so that they must push buttons to talk in their native English tongue, the basic instinct of self-preservation kicks in. They feel threatened, outnumbered, surrounded.

"Contrary to multicultural dogma, they detect a definite shift in ways of living that they find inferior, and hence see the changes as degrading , a cultural slide.

"For those with a more long-term perspective, a major issue is the absolute lack of of political stability and blatant corruption rampant in Central and South America. Can a people whose history is steeped in such instability change by merely crossing a border?"

BARBANO: It apparently never occurs to benighted Ira that such instability may well be exactly why they have fled north.

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Democrats, teacher unions and blacks: master vs. slave
9-3-2000

"Ironically, in the Democratic Party, 'freedom of choice' in killing a black baby is exalted, but freedom of choice in educating a black child cannot be tolerated."

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Think this will throw cold water on the flames of north vs. south sectionalism at the legislature?

Ballot process protects minority rights
12-14-2003

"With the almost unbelievable growth of Clark County, without checks and balances, the rest of Nevada will be reduced to peon status. Every Nevadan should guard with jealousy every possible tool to safeguard his liberty from this very real threat. If the qualifying for the ballot process is changed, and the 13 out of 17 counties check eliminated, another balance will be gone, and with it another check against your way of life being dictated to you through the teeming millions now pouring into Las Vegas."
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With liberals, is being black about race or ideology?
3-11-2001

"...The NAACP and the ACLU are accusing the Reno Police Dept. of 'racial profiling' and demanding a 'citizens review board' be set up to act as some sort of cop conduct court....

"If the NAACP has any credibility left, the thin thread of it is rapidly shrinking. Rather than have a citizens' review board, perhaps we need to reverse this a bit. Instead, we need a board made up of cops to review the slanderous and vicious attacks from left wing groups who coddle criminals and act like the cops are at fault for doing their job."

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Debunking Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King
1-16-2004

"...Forced segregation was wrong and King was correct to fight it. But forced integration is also wrong for the exact same reason. No one should be FORCED BY THE GOVERNMENT to segregate or integrate. But again, such political correctness is not colorblind or unbiased....the NBA and the NFL and most sports are grossly over-represented by Negroes without any allegations of racial discrimination. Such double standards abound, with whites always getting the short end of the stick."

BARBANO RESPONDS: Maybe he meant hockey sticks.

Mr. Speaker gave no non-sports examples.

This circular-firing-squad illogic is Calvin Coolidge-style reasoning. The 1920's era president purportedly said "poverty is caused by people being poor."

All-white private schools and country clubs remain legal in the United States. After long, often-bloody and continuing struggle, public accommodations are no longer.
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[1] "The evidence of how (Rand) Paul has rubbed off on the Kentucky GOP establishment could be summed up in one sign held by a young McConnell supporter: 'Come at me bro.'

"It’s a nod to MTV’s reality show 'Jersey Shore', in which one character doesn’t want to start a fight but tells another if he initiates the fight, it will get ugly. The very idea of the 70-something incumbent having rabid supporters waving signs touting MTV pop culture is completely absurd, but only in a pre-Rand Paul world." (Washington Post 8-5-2014)

Does Snooky Polizzi know about this?

Ira's Greatest Hits
50 megabytes of rants and rebuttals from Mr. Speaker and some of his closest personal friends

1995 (.pdf)

Sparks Tribune Titles

Statistics don't support the theory that the police are racists
See also "Racist Chic" / New York Times / 10-13-1995
and Reno News & Review 10-11-1995
10-11-1995

In defense of a great statesman — U.S. Sen. Patrick McCarran
He couldn't have been anti-Semitic. He was Irish!
9-27-1995

Pocahantas: Politically correct revisionism or reality?
9-6-1995

Ernest Walker: Sparks' government watchdog
5-31-1995

We must push for justice, equality
Hansen's "casual dismissal of the past compounds the ignorance of (his) argument."
Timothy Keim letter to the Tribune editor
5-31-1995

Affirmative action is racial discrimination
5-24-1995

1996-1999 (.pdf)

Sparks Tribune Titles

1998-2002 (.pdf)

Sparks Tribune Titles

New Taxes: Overlooked Sources Abound
10-6-2002 / Reprinted in 2009

The homo tax tells you all you need to know about Mr. Speaker. Many of the other taxes he lampoons are just as hate-filled, including the affirmative action tax "for white liberal phonies who demand public quotas for minorities, but who fail to privately practice what they demand from others.

"Democratic assembly candidate Jan Gilbert, a typical leftist, defeated a black man in the primary. In keeping with her alleged value system of promoting racial justice by having better-qualified white people forced aside, Gilbert should have voluntarily withdrawn her candidacy."

John Farahi and Ira Hansen Meet Face to Face
4-28-2002
Ira was axed from KKKOH Radio after Atlantis Resort Casino principal John Farahi complained of Ira's anti-semitic comments.

Sports betting and cock fighting; death penalty unfair
Ira blasts African-American Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, for failing to recognize that most crime is committed by minorities.
5-6-2001

The evolution dilemma — Piltdown man strikes again
Evolution is hoax, kinda like that their global warming thingy.
This guy Darwin would never be invited to dinner at Ira's house.
2-6-2000

Free speech in America — not when defined as hate
Liberals are acting like J. Edgar Hoover
1-30-2000

The confederated battle flag — Symbol of manly courage
1-23-2000

Reno cops deserve praise for a job well done
8-16-1998

MORE Ira Encores / Can't get enuf of that phunky stuph

Common sense and economic reality
Obama the Magic Negro
Daily Sparks Tribune 1-11-2009

Ira always speaks kindly of those who wear hoods: Godhood of Obama: soon to end?
Daily Sparks Tribune 1-17-2009

Sen. Washington's career, brief but excellent
Daily Sparks Tribune 3-21-2009

Illegals, health care and public schools
Daily Sparks Tribune / 10-10-2009

Andrew Barbano is a 46-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. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since 1988.