CITIZEN GADFLY:
25 Feb, 1997
(Gadfly: "A Citizen who explains things to other citizens and attempts to arouse them from ignorance and complacency.")
(Gadfly: "A Citizen who explains things to other citizens and attempts to arouse them from ignorance and complacency.")
** Sam Dehné
** The friendly looking dogs at the top of our Internet page are Citizen Gadfly's Pit Bull Guard Dogs. They have been trained to only attack when given the proper signal and code words... if their master is threatened. Otherwise, they are two of the sweetest animals you could hope to meet. (The buckskin has chased, leaped, and caught a frisbie thrown more than 48 feet
1. So now experts say an alcoholic beverage a day helps the legs. Lets see - a drink for the heart, a drink for the lungs, a drink for the skin, a drink for depression. Wow! That's 5 drinks a day... What about the hangovers?
1a. The experts also continue - 2 drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women... So the lady says, "Make mine a double!"
2. Don't you love that new TV commercial where the kid says; "Mom, I think dad should make more money than a baseball player... Dad's job is more important."? (Dad works for a paper company.) The kid is right!
3. More Federal Government subsidization of the Reno-Casino Airport... Our military forces are being used to fly materials (at great added cost) to repair civilian property at the Reno-Casino Airport. That is not what America's military mission calls for.When airport commissar White was asked if the Air National Guard requested reimbursement for the $1,000s of dollars of fuel costs, he just shook his head and never replied.
3a. Your taxes paid for the work and materials. The airport should pay its own way. That "Free" Washington money and pork barrel politics are always welcome in Reno... as usual.
4. We warned you last month that the Helms Pit fiasco could cost taxpayers a lot. We were right. $11,000,000. Wasn't the Airport, and its 1,000s of acres of concrete, at largely responsible for that chaos? Isn't it about time for them to forget about their dear expansion plans and clean up some of the messes they have created... NOW!
5. Nevada Senator, Richard Bryan, says, "There is no pot of gold at the end of the federal rainbow."... Darn! (You wouldn't know it by the way the Reno-Casino Airport wastes Federal taxes in its various bogus expansion plans.)
6. The United States Constitution Bill of Rights' Third Amendment states; "No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner..." In Rewana Farms, Reno, Nevada, USA, houses are being confiscated away from owners... so that a huge military complex can be built for Air National Guard soldiers. TO READ the BILL OF RIGHTS, CLICK HERE.
7. Cigars: Aren't you getting sick of being inculcated by every other TV program that has its stars smoking obnoxious cigars? A not-so-subtle attempt to brainwash you into thinking that Cigars are an okay replacement for cigarettes? Not! They're worse...
8. Almost two years ago we predicted that the uncontrolled growth of new big casinos in Reno would eventually destroy some smaller casinos. Watch out! It already appears to be happening. Can some of the smaller airlines be next? RenoAir blames its recent $$multi-million loss on the weather. Maybe... At least they were smart enough to postpone their huge expansion plans that would destroy Reno's most user-friendly golf course.
8a. There will be a "squeezing out" of the weak in the next economic downturn. Only carriers and casinos with large cash reserves will survive... Reno will not be what it used to be... It isn't now!
SPECIAL ITEM: Dennis Myers of the Reno News & Review, had an excellent summary of "alternative" sources for news in Reno. (The obvious implication being that the Reno Gazette was not cutting the mustard as an unbiased perveyor of the facts.)
Here are a few, in no order of importance, sans plugs: Sparks Tribune (358-8061)... Electric Nevada (www.newsnet1.com)... Great Basin News (882-3990)... Nevada Web (www.nevadaweb.com)... Las Vegas Sun (www.lasvegassun.com/sun)... Activist Guy Felton's Webitor World (http://webitor.com/magazine.htm)... Dave's News w/Andy "the Barb" Barbano (www.nevadaweb.com/dave).... The Nevada Web (www.nevadaweb.com). It is important to realize that when you reach one of these websites, you can look around for other places to "click" to. The Reno Citizen is a fun way to learn how to navigate the ubiquitous world wide web! You can reach these internet sites (and others) via hotlinks at the bottom of The Reno Citizen front page. (You can "click-on" any of these sites to go there immediately. But be sure to come "Back" to finish reading Citizen Gadfly.)
9. Despite all else though, the Reno Gazette newspaper should be complimented for its excellent graphics and photo department. It's almost like a big-time newspaper.
10.
10a. The City of Reno (with over 16 full-time lawyers already on its staff) has hired 4 outside attorneys, at taxpayer cost of some $4,000 EVERY DAY!
10b. To Repeat, you will be watching this case unfurl on the national news.
10c. The police's handling of the dead parachutist's case is beginning to take the same weird appearance of Paiva shooting...
11. Whether you voted for Jim Gibbons for Congress or not, he was blatantly wrong on his first official vote. PUBLIC FUNDS SHOULD NOT BE USED TO PAY FOR THE FINES OF A CONGRESSPERSON (NEWT GINGRICH)! Gibbons's claims to be an independent type of person don't hold water on this one...
11a. If Gingrich was an ordinary citizen, he would be sweating it out with the IRS, or maybe even going to jail. He should be relieved and humbled by the fact that he got away with something that ordinary citizens can't... instead he continues to quibble and act as if he "only made a little mistake". He has it all backwards. He is wrong. Either he accepts responsibility for what he did (keeping his mouth shut about it), or he should be punished properly - like other citizens would be. When you make the big (tax-financed) bucks... the "buck stops there".
12. It was dismaying to hear Teddy Roosevelt look-a-like, Nevada Lt Gov Hammargren, say that he wants Nevada to be "the tourism center of the world". It would have been better to hear him explain how the casinos would start paying for their share of the blight that has invaded Nevada... mostly as the result of uncontrolled casino expansion. Even Gov Miller, in his State of the State address all but admitted that casinos don't even come close to paying their share. Hammargren would have done himself a favor by explaining that (mostly out of state controlled) casinos would be ordered to pay their way for a change. Teddy would have...
13. The Reno Citizen is STILL the only news source in Reno that is in (paper) print AND on the internet. Available to some 40,000,000 on-line subscribers...
14. The Reno News & Review is able to come up with interesting topics to write about. One wonders, though, why they have never done an expose on the Reno-Casino Airport. Enough stories down there to fill an entire weekly issue... or two... or three...
15. We don't usually tend to outright "slam" other publications, but there are few things more useless than that useless Temperature Gauge in the Reno Gazette. The "writer" appears to be maybe a 6th grader. What did she/he mean by recently commenting that the new imported Reno Administrator, "... should find things easier to take [presumably here in Reno] than his last stop, Hartford, Conn."? Was that supposed to be a denigration of Hartford? Or was he ineffective there? Or what?
16. The Navy busts a few windows and cracks a few walls in desolate parts of Nevada, and officials jump thru hoops placating citizens... What about the dozens of 1,000s of citizens who are assaulted some 210 times every day by the Reno-Casino Airport? Shouldn't the Airport czar be taken to task for his outrageous policies? When you have the authority... you have the responsibility!
17. Will the Huff and Fluff Air Guard Relocation Committee take into account the fact that Rewana Farmlands is in a flood plain? Is it an intelligent idea to even be talking about wasting $$hundreds of millions of USA taxes to relocate the NAG to a flood plain? Any idiot can see that the one spot that SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED is Rewana Farms. Read more about this Committee by clicking here.
17a. Will it take into account that, if a huge concrete military complex is placed on the land, the flood plain will be displaced - and wreak havoc on 1,000s of already existing civilian homes? No! We doubt very much that they will consider these critical factors as they concoct questions for the answers the airport and military have already given them...
18. Reno Air has 8 parking gates to handle 41 daily flights. Southwest Air has only 4 gates but handles its 39 daily flights very well. "From a Southwest standpoint, we don't need any more room or another terminal." So why all the nervousness and gnashing of teeth? WE think it is a bunch of hooey on the part of Reno's Casino-Airport czar and his staff.
19. There is absolutely no question but that the news media (backed by certain airlines?) is out to destroy TWA (just like they did to Pan Am after its 747 was blown up in 1989 in an act of war). Why has there never been even one follow-up of the terrible American Airlines crash in Columbia? Why? About 160 victims were killed when the American Air pilots got lost and ran into a mountain in clear weather. Now, THERE is a story! Why the continued silence? Could it be because American Air's advertising account is much larger? It makes a mockery of good journalism... So what else is new?
20. You read this story here first also: The Reno Citizen recently had a feature article reporting possible labor unrest developing at Reno Air. Apparently the Flight Attendants want to participate in their airline's recent good financial fortunes (for shame!). The F/As are going to vote on unionization soon. Could pilots be next? All is not well in heaven...
21. The Air Force grounded all of its East Coast F-16 fighter jets after they almost ran into some airliners. The very same weekend F-16s were making low passes at Reno's Casino-Airport. You would think it a "no-brainer" for these pilots to "lay low".
22. Shouldn't developers, planners, engineers and corporations (and their government project- sponsors) all be made personally liable for quadruple damages for constructing things (like the Reno-Casino Airport concrete fiasco) on a flood plain... as well as pay damages to taxpaying citizens for the dozens of $$$millions of cleanup costs?
23.How can Reno-Casino government (mainly thru its erstwhile designated spokesperson city manager - McNeely) have the audacity to complain about a Railroad company using its OWN TRACKS (and land) to drive its trains through town... while at the same time refusing to acknowledge (or do anything about) the blightfully uncontrolled increase in Reno-Casino airport
traffic that is dis-eniolating 1,000s of Reno citizens who OWN THEIR LAND? Because... the RubberStamp Reno-Casino council only cares about downtown.
24. Free Enterprise is alive in America? Poor Reno Air (and other airlines who were expecting to get all those "extra" American Airlines passengers)... Instead of getting the windfall revenue/profits, they now have to eat American Air's huge ticket discounts. Did Clinton REALLY have the right to interfere? There have been an awful lot of strikes that have "negatively" effected the economy... [Click to American Airlines website.]
25. Did the Reno-Casino Airport somehow get some of the airlines to jack up their airplane noise in December... just at the end of the 1996 "Noise Study"?
25a. Why? So they could justify confiscating more of that "free" FAA Noise money.
25b. How? By telling the airlines that more FAA money will allow them to expand the terminal... and thus the airlines can continue their cancerous growth in Reno...
26. It was reported that one of the Washoe County commissioners who voted at the public meeting 13 Feb, (4 in favor and 3 against) to approve the huge Sierra Pacific power line through Stead - has a wife who works for Sierra Pacific...
27. Have the Reno Casinos brainwashed THEMSELVES so vehemently against trains that they will NEVER consider mitigating suggestions... no matter how reasonable?
28. Less than a year ago we reported that Levi Corp was planned to give all of its employees a full year's salary as a bonus... They just announced a layoff of 1,000 workers. Things change...
29. All those people buying stocks! Makes one wonder who is selling them...
30. Isn't it bizarre that so many citizens will get up in arms about the DMV blunders... and yet other schmooes refuse to stand up for themselves against the cancerous Reno-Casino growth and blight? They cannot be enjoying those noise-polluting airliners flying right over their heads at all hours of the day and night.
30a. Southwest Air is by far the least noisy...
31. Why didn't the (white) news media spend any time interviewing OJ's family? Bias?
32. Here's a novel suggestion... Make the Reno Airport commissar and his staff live by the airport; so they will be subjected to the noise they are creating.
33. Who will pay to maintain Sheriff Kirkland's old hand-me-down military Cop-ters? The work won't be cheap. How many pilots and mechanics will taxpayers have to subsidize? Reno doesn't have enough "regular" problems? How many recent crimes would have been better solved with one of these expensive contraptions?
33a. By the way, since when is the federal government in the business of providing equipment for city/county agencies? Maybe you would like one of those old helicopters...
34. Why is Habitat for Humanity building $75,000 houses for the "poor"? Make that about $35 - $40 thousand value per house and it makes sense. If you own a $75,000 house, you are not poor... almost by definition.
35. Scherry Harrah, a long-time Reno luminary, wrote an excellent article for the Reno Gazette. She recommended that the ubiquitous RSCVA be reduced in size and that the $$millions in savings (salaries, perks, travel expenses, etc, etc) be dedicated to promoting the Reno area's advantages as a destination resort. Let the business bosses, themselves, the experts, decide what is good for Reno. Not some (often outsider) frontmen. Go back to basics. That is what used to make Reno a popular and fun place to visit. Put some class back in the city.
36. Casinos and the city council are worried about Railroad noise... and yet they are seriously considering an "Alien Invasion" extravaganza noise creating never-ending nuisance as a supposed tourist draw!?!
37. Congressperson Gibbons is reading books to students at a local elementary school. Is he in the teachers' union? Does he have a teaching degree?
37a. On a serious vein, shouldn't he be studying up on how to solve the miriad of problems in Washington? Isn't that why citizens are paying him the big bucks? It might be nice for the children, but has anyone seen him at the Railroad meetings... or the Reno-Casino Airport meetings? A person could learn a lot at those places.
37b. What would he do if the children asked him why he voted for Gingrich? Or why he voted to have citizens pay his $300,000 Congressional Punishment?
38. The Reno Airport must have many good workers. How else could they keep up their excellent work... even with the terrible direction of their leaders?
39. The Reno Gazette Journal has a new Sunday magazine. It tells readers what is taking place in this town. If future issues are as entertainment-extensive as this first one, readers can rejoice.
39a. Here is what RGJ's journalist, Guy Richardson, had to say in "Calendar", about your hometown Reno Citizen Internet Magazine:
"Take the feisty Reno Citizen, for instance. It is an online newspaper that takes shots at everything from the failed recall of Judy Pruett (dumb idea, the Reno Citizen says, and they've got a long statement directly from Pruett), to expressing horror at illegal aliens having babies that are American citizens. As you see, they transcend the liberal-conservative spectrum. Fiery Patrick Henry would have loved this site; aristocratic Alexander Hamilton would been appalled."
39b. Was it Pat who said, "Give me liberty or give me... The Reno Citizen!"? Thank you Mr. Richardson for what we can only call your astute and intelligent observations.
40. The Reno-Casino Airport claims that there aren't "that" many people concerned with the terrible noise and danger of the 100s of jets that fly over their homes everyday... because they don't get many complaints on their "hotline". If a citizen wants to complain, she/he better have a lot of time and patience. If you happen to want to voice a complaint on the weekend (when most people are home from work trying to enjoy life), forget it. The phone rings and rings and then you get "airport paging". What do you do then? Who do you ask for? How long do you want to wait? The number is 328-6468. Try it...
40a. Taxpayers are paying a lot of money to an environmentalist-critter who is supposed to do something about the terrible always-increasing airport noise problem. If they can't even remember to turn on the recorder, how effective can they be?
41. A foreigner is swindled out of his life's savings by some American company. (Heard that before?) He comes to America, goes to Florida, buys an automatic gun, enters the Empire State Building and starts shooting. And the experts ask, "Why?". Duh!
42. Singapore has made it a crime to commit oral sex... unless the "criminals" can prove they were using it as foreplay! This puts a whole new spin on that old joke about the 40 year old man who had never been kissed. Punch line: "He didn't believe in foreplay."
43. Is the Stead community of some 7,000 citizens starting to think about fleeing from Reno's dominance?
44. Is a gigantic highway link between Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe really necessary? Who is going to pay for it? When are we going to fix the atrocious streets we already have?
44a. The "authorities" would have citizens believe that such a preposterous idea is a foregone conclusion. The only beneficiaries (typical for Reno anymore) are construction companies and developers. Let them pay for it... if it is so important. More government amok-nous.
45. Bad news department: The feds have approved the re-imposition of airline ticket taxes. That is where the pork-barrel money comes from to finance the Reno-Casino Airport's "unique", bordering-on extortionism, expansion programs. You can read a report on this corporate welfare financing scheme in March's Reno Citizen...
46. Support him or not, aren't the audacity and arrogance of this president awe-inspiring... and to be dreaded? His "talents" make him an excellent candidate for commissar White's Reno-Casino Airport staff.
47. Those folks who voted for the Grammies never heard Sam Dehne sing "The Ballad of Rewana Farmlands" (Click on the to see the words)...
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