CITIZEN GADFLY: (Gadfly: "A Citizen who explains things to other citizens and arouses them from ignorance and complacency.")
(Gadfly: "A Citizen who explains things to other citizens and arouses 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 frisbee thrown more than 48 feet.)
First, to see a list of measured noise observations and read a complaint letter, click on the BANG.
73. 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 BILL OF RIGHTS, CLICK HERE.
74. 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...
75. 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?
75a. 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.
76. 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.
77.On 25 Jan, 1997... YOU READ THIS HERE FIRST. The John Paiva, "Wrongful Death" Shooting Case Trial, will make nationwide headlines... comparable to the OJ Simpson Trial. Paiva was shot to death in his apartment by 3 cops in Reno, Nevada in April of 1992. Among many other distressful observations, U. S. Judge, Edward Reed, said, " Of even greater concern to the court is the disappearance of key forensic evidence... if the evidence tended to exonerate police, they would have taken better care to preserve it."
77a. 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!
77b. To Repeat, you will be watching this case unfurl on the national news.
78. 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...
78a. 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.
79. 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...
1. Some readers ask why so much coverage of the Reno Airport? We ask: Was there too much coverage of WW II? Of the Vietnam war? Of OJ Simpson? Of the Flood of '97? Well, you should get the idea. When bad happens, citizens need to know about it. Nobody else is reporting the story properly... on a consistent basis.
1a. Speaking of the flood, the Reno Gazette has NEVER done a better job of covering any story. Never! Congratulations. We do think they jumped the gun when their headlines said "Worst Is Over" It would have been hard to convince a lot of people that the worst was over when the water was still at the top of their doors. And don't forget it is still just January...
2. Sign needed at the Hilton hotel: "No Smoking Not Allowed"
3. Most smokers don't just have an addiction. They have an attitude.
4. Another example of how the Reno-Casino Airport is out of control: Why does Reno with only .1% (that's a point one percent) of the nation's population have 1% of airline takeoffs? There are some 21,000 takeoffs a day, and Reno devastates its citizens with 210 noise-polluting takeoffs each day. Other cities have controls on how much airport assault and battery citizens have to put up with. Why not Reno?
5. Rumor has it that the Airport is closing off water drains on the land it has confiscated in Rewana Farms. What are they trying to do? Flood the remaining citizens out? Please don't say flood...
6. A friend was saying that he thought he might be God, but he wanted a sign to prove it. He said he found out he wasn't God when he noticed that he didn't have those "perfect abs"...
7. It is time for someone to invent a bag for smokers to carry to put their obnoxious smoke in. It can be done. A one-time purchase. And anybody who thinks a cigar is safer and less obnoxious than a cigarette is an idiot. This recent attempt by the advertising media to inculcate citizens about cigar stench is just another indication of how gullible the American public is...
8. One thing the storm proved is that airlines can take off to the north, over Sparks. For 3 straight days they did just that. It is only fair that they do it more often. Whenever the wind is calm (Yes, it is calm sometimes), takeoff noise pollution assaults against citizens must be evenly divided between Sparks and South Reno. It is called mitigation... and being fair.
8a. The Airport "honchos" should also divide takeoffs between the left and right runways for the same reason as above. It is stupid to have one of the runways sitting semi-dormant... when your dozens of $$millions of taxes were used to build them.
9. Congressperson Gibbons recently said that only bureaucrats and people who never went to war are denying the existence of Gulf Storm Massacre sickness. Wrong! Lots of military top brass have said that... including General Norman Schwarzkopf. It is a sad situation, but as a congressperson, Gibbons should get his facts straight.
9a. Will governor Miller throw his hat into the ring and challenge Gibbons' congressional post next go-round? Stay tuned for this one. You read it first here..
10. Speaking of reading it first here, The Reno Citizen wrote expose's on Corporate Welfare almost two years ago. It is finally being recognized as the ugly scar it is. And some of those congresspeople taking action are on The Reno Citizen mailing list... along with Clinton, Gore, and others.
10a. And of course, The Reno Citizen can be read by more than 40,000,000 on the Internet everyday... for free... in technicolor... and big print.
11. It is bizarre beyond comprehension that secretary Babbit can stop flights over the Grand Canyon (where there might be a few hundred people infected) and meanwhile the FAA totally ignores the dozens of 1,000s of citizens assaulted 100s of times a day with Reno-Casino airport takeoffs...
12. Why is it that the worse the tragedy, the higher the Stock Market rises? Dozens of 1,000s of people driven out of their homes, left homeless, by terrible Northwest floods and the stock market goes up even more. Why?
13. If you did what Gingrich did, would the IRS be shipping you off to prison? New Nevada congressperson Jim Gibbons' first official act was to vote FOR Gingrich!
14. Cigars have a lot to do with the reduction in drunk driving and accidents. Fewer people are going out anymore because everywhere they go they are stuck with the stench and blight of cigars...
15. During the flood, airport flights were reduced to about 75. Reno still exists!
16. 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.
17. It is a sin to balance the USA budget on the backs of ordinary citizens. At least TRY to reduce Corporate Welfare FIRST...
18. Whoever created the Helms Pit should be ordered to pay for the cost of the debacle it has caused. If it had not been created (at gross profits to somebody), the terrible highway disaster would not have happened. Guess who pays though...
19. It is interesting that so many people tell the government to get off their backs. But as soon as assistance is needed, where do they go? Good old Uncle Sam. Is this sick hypocrisy... or what?
19a. Sad to say, but any federal money that is used to "bail out" flooded businesses in Reno/Sparks is Corporate Welfare. Why shouldn't homeless people be eligible for the same consideration? Instead when THEY come on hard times, they are run out of town. Is God trying to say something?
20. The good news about the flood? (Yes, there is some good news.) It might force Reno to slow down its cancerous growth. Money that was going to be wasted at Rewana Farms just might have to be used to help the airport get back on its feet...
21. By the way, didn't all that concrete on the new runways and taxiways force lots of the flood water over to Hidden Valley and other places? Was it stupid to build the airport on a flood plain? Lots of residents of Hidden Valley, who were flooded out and had their homes damaged, might think so. Should the Airport have to pay for part of cleanup? You bet!
22. Where were the Reno-Casino Airport Propaganda Czars during the flood?
23. Aren't you getting tired of the continuous editorializing by the local media? Just the facts please. Leave news polishing to Reno News & Review and Reno Citizen...
24. Keep up the good work Cory, and Eric, and Andy, and Guy, and Night Hawk, and Terri, and Dennis, and D. Brian, and others with similar beliefs. The proletariat are with you.
25. Reno News & Review's A. Lin Neumann did a fantastic job of recapsulating the stories of 1996 in the 1 January issue. VERY clever.
26. Does watching one of those yeast infection cure commercials on TV diminish a man's sexual appetite? Or a hemorrhoid commercial vice versa? Shouldn't some things be private? Most people know where to go to find things like that, and they don't need to be shown on TV...
27. Why are already rich athletes the spokespeople on so many TV ads?
27a. Can't YOU decide for yourself what sneakers you want? Do you need Michael Jorden to convince you? He is a great athlete, but a specialist on nutrition and sneakers, maybe not...
28. How do the planning gurus explain two "100 year floods"... in just 40 years? Could some of their other assumptions be wrong also? Reno has far too many amateur pundits in government.
29. What is it about the American investing psyche? The more misery and catastrophes, the higher the stock market goes! Did I already say that? Well, it bears repeating...
30. Serendipity rears its head in Reno. What at first glance looked tragic might, in the long run, prove to be good. The floods just might force the Rubberstamp Reno-Casino city council to slow down the cancerous out-of-control growth policies... Another repeat.
31. Citizens continue to wonder how the Reno-Casino Airport director can get away with fibbing to his bosses in public about the long-standing scheme to move the NAG to Southeast Reno... Rewana Farmlands.
32. Local political pundit, and now, exercise, health, and fitness guru, Frank Partlow, wrote a nice report on the obligations people have to taking care of their bodies. Now if he will just recognize, and report on, the obligations the Reno-Casino city council has to citizens...
32a. Partlow, a retired Army officer, calls Reno a "world-class walking venue". Sorry... Not anymore. Fat Cats' unchecked lust for growth has turned the Reno air into a seething pot of cancerous hydrocarbon hazards. It is only safe to walk (or do anything outdoors) on days when strong winds can blow those cardiorespiratory dangers to someone else's venue. As a daily jogger, I have personally been assaulted by the blightful air created by fat cat greedy growth.
33. Can somebody explain why businesses that come on hard times get handouts and grants (and sympathy) from the government... while homeless people are looked on with destain?
34. Bureaucracy continues. Can you believe that companies have been created just to figure out how to cope with the giant FEMA group? A bureaucratic "go-between". FEMA, in case you didn't know, is that giant federal agency that uses your taxes to pay for the blunders of companies that built their businesses in the flood plain. This is not meant to be unsympathetic toward the plights of the recently ravaged citizens of Reno, but please, let's just hope we don't hear any welfare-receiving companies complaining about "social welfare" anymore...
34a. What about the homeless? Why hasn't there been a FEMA for them?
35. How can Reno-Casino government have the audacity to complain about a Railroad company using its OWN TRACKS 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 diseniolating 1,000s of citizens who OWN THEIR LAND.
36. It was very interesting to hear local radio talk show host, Brian Maloney (780-AM) say that the Reno Gazette Journal is a liberal newspaper. The RGJ is liberal? On the other hand, Maloney likes to portray himself so conservatively (and proud of it), that Ronald Reagan was probably a socialist to him...
37. Does listening to old records really help alleviate Alzheimers? Or does it just turn it into Halfsheimers? One of the best preventatives for Alzheimers is to keep the mind active continuously. So read The Reno Citizen. Tell your friends. It is designed to to keep minds active... even though you might find something you don't agree with in it.
38. For about the first time in America's history, there is job growth without inflation. Why? Because the new jobs don't pay anything!
39. The Reno-Casino Airport has an Official Noise Committee. Is this Committee of citizens represented on the Huff & Fluff Air Guard Relocation Committee? Not one person... even though one of the primary goals is supposed to be an analyzation of the terrible Noise pollution problems related to building a huge military complex in the middle of Reno. More Huff & Fluff Bureaucracy? You bet.
39a. FACT: The Reno-Casino Airport is paying the salaries of the Huff & Fluff Committee. FACT: The Reno-Casino Airport wants the Air Guard in Rewana Farmlands. Does any sane person think the Huff & Fluff Committee will make a fair, honest, and objective recommendation? When you start seeing some pigs flying around... maybe then.
40. Rumor has it that the Airport director says he is committed to dedicating $70 to $100 million dollars for an Air Guard move (and buildup)... to Rewana Farmlands. Where is he getting all that money? We think he is talking about U.S.A. (your) taxes.
41. Why are Southwest Airlines airplanes quieter than RenoAir's and all the other carriers at the Reno-Casino Airport? Is it the airplanes (SWA flies B-737s)? Or does SWA have more talented pilots? Which carrier is the Home-Town Airline?
41a. The Reno-Casino Airport needs to get rid of the 727s. Delta, United, and Northwest are guilty of flying more and more of them out of Reno everyday. We keep running over these dead cats, but they just seem to get flatter. Nothing is ever done...
42. Why does America have to waste more taxes on a new swearing in? Haven't Clinton and Gore already taken their oaths? Have the words changed? No. This is really just another of those brouhahas perpetrated by big business to make more money...
43. Nobody was more shocked than Citizen Gadfly to see the small shopping malls continue to thrive... after the arrival of Walmart and all of the other huge "buy everything here" stores. Just watch out though if (when!) there is a downturn in the economy..
44. Did you ever stop to realize that 1 out of 25 people you run into is on Prozac? (Last reported about 10 million users) Add to that group; illegal drug users, other "legal" drug users, and of course booze users, and it gets kind of scary. Is anybody "sober"?
45. The proliferation of Coffee Houses throughout the nation has spread to the Internet. Click here to see one example. If you are not reading this on the Internet, sorry... Get there!
46. How many disaster situations can Americans pay for? Is it first come, first serve? Get in line? What about the homeless who have always been a disaster? Floods, blizzards, forest fires... Where does President Clinton get all that money? What ever happened to insurance policies?
47. Reno News & Review writer, Bruce Van Dyke, has a real way with words... a virtual poet. Among his descriptions of the recent Reno flood, "A raging lunge of busy liquid, in a hurry to get to Pyramid Lake...". Wow! But what is a flotsam... or a scofflaw?
48. Were Reno's bus stops meant to double as garbage cans? Well, they are.Take a look the next time you drive by one. What a disgrace. Nobody seems to ever clean up around them.
49. Reno city manager, Charles McNeely, and the Reno-Casino city council continue to whine about the railroad's "lack of sensitivity" because the railroad is going to increase train traffic through the sacred downtown CASINO district. Don't you wish they were as concerned about the fact that the Reno-Casino Airport is treating dozens of 1,000s of citizens far worse - with its unregulated cancerous increase in noisy & dangerous air traffic? What about that mess? Citizen Gadfly, of The Reno Citizen internet magazine, has inculcated the Reno-Casino city council and McNeely over and over again about this gross inconsistency.
50. All this hullabaloo about the photos of the flood by Reno Gazette photographers... The VERY BEST pictures were taken by Reno's long-time best super photo-taker, Don Dondero. And he didn't have the help of helicopters. Get a copy 8 Jan Reno News & Review.
51. Congressperson McDermott is given a tape whereon Newt Gingrich is heard exposing himself again. What action is taken? The messenger is shot...
52. FEMA is an important government organization. But it certainly has exposed the Reno conservatives who were caught in the flood. NOW they want big govt... to come and rescue THEM! They are lining up at the handout trough. This is not meant to castigate FEMA. But those bleeding heart conservatives should remember in the future that tragedy can strike anybody.
52a. However, it was great to see poor AND rich working side by side against the ravages of the flood. It cannot be said too loudly. The "grunt" city workers are the real backbone of Reno city government...
53. Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Glenn Carano, does not like it when the public returns repeatedly to ask questions and make suggestions. If the Airport would correct the problems, citizens would not have to repeat themselves...
54.Click here for a brief and poignant analysis of the Airport relocation study... aka - the "Huff & fluff committee. No citizens their either. Bureaucrats only allowed!
55. One person's Gadfly is another person's agitator, is another person's activist, is another person's hero...
56. To repeat, the Huff & Fluff NAG Relocation Committee has NO CITIZENS. The Airport and NAG have been scheming for years to take over Rewana Farms and move the NAG there. They have decided the agenda and are now trying to make it look as if the issue is being "studied".
56a. The real solution: Leave the Air Guard in Reno.Move the Airport!
57. After carefully observing the AAWC, there is no doubt that they have more talent than citizen Gadfly has in his little finger...
58. Are all cities infested with nepotism and cronyism throughout their "government"? Or is it just Reno?
59. The Air Guard Relocation committee has about 75 "Needs" that it is addressing. There is no specific item to investigate the potential for disaster in the Reno Airport's endless expansion plans. Shouldn't real citizens be deciding that one... instead of some appointed bureaucrats?
60. Tony Chinyere, a City Planner, was asking why The Reno Citizen doesn't write more up-beat and positive things about the city. He was asked to compile a list of "good" things and they might be posted. Chinyere agreed. But two weeks later, he still hasn't sent any "good news"...
61. Will people be complaining about "Flood Syndrome" a year from now? There were a lot of citizens exposed to a lot of pollution in the flood waters. Barrels of toxic waste floating down the river...
62. Here is another reason why the Airport people (including the airlines) want the Air Guard to remain in Reno... at Rewana Farms. Your taxes pay for lots of expensive items (thru funding of the Air Guard), that otherwise they would have to pay for. Such as runway, runway repair, and fire fighting services.
62a. No wonder Reno has the lowest airfares. Your taxes are paying to subsidize operations that normally the airport/airlines would be responsible for. It is known as Corporate Welfare...
63. Is there something incongruous about the "heroism" of circling the earth in a balloon; when you are being followed by a multi-million dollar airplane with all of the modern communication/rescue "conveniences"? Lindbergh should have been so fortunate...
64. Anybody with a computer who can afford to be, and isn't, on the Internet is an idiot. For the price of 2 tickets to a football game or 1/5th of a pair of sneakers a person can find anything she/he wants to. Jesus Christ, himself, would be jealous if he walked the earth today.
64a. The talent that can be found on the web bogels. And you don't have to wait in line... It is disturbing to find out how many supposedly modern people are not "surfing". (But watch out... it IS a time-sponge.)
65. Take a look at our coffee shop site (please "click"). What to do while getting your caffeine fix without wasting precious time...
66. What is a bureaucrat? At the very least, it is a person who works for the government... but who doesn't usually sweat or get his hands dirty. He is paid for flapping his gums and voting the party (fat cat) line. Reno has its share of these critters.
67. 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 the Reno-Casino Airport.
68. The Japanese Stock Market is crashing. Watch out! Can the U.S. Stock Market be far behind? Japan is one of the major recipients of America's products...
69. Is it cool when the local news media makes fun of the Californians who come to Reno and then get stuck in the snow on the way back home? Gigantic grid lock? Someday (soon?) this sick humor will come back to bite the Reno economy.
69a. How stupid can those people be... to keep coming back to Reno to gamble their money away? Isn't there anything to do in California anymore?
70. Citizens continue to look for respite wherever they can get it. The snow storms are the only thing that can quiet the airport down... even though it is just temporary.
71. Intelligent citizens continue to ask why somebody who lives way up at Lake Tahoe is on the Reno-Casino Airport Board of "Trustees". What does he know about the mess the airport is perpetrating against Reno citizens? As expected, he continuously votes the fat cat uncontrolled growth party line...
80. Have you ever read anything that is as continuously trite as the RGJ Temperature Garuge? Either fix it or dump it...
81. You AOL users, who might be dissatisfied, should try Accutek for your internet access. Accutek, located in Reno, can be reached at 702.826.750. Ask for Richard.
82. Reno Gazette guest editorialist said that the plan calls for an eventual 600,000 people living in the Reno/Washoe County area. 600,000!!??
83. Why were citizens not allowed to be members of the Reno-Casino's Huff & Fluff "Study" that wants to take their land away from them? The committee to determine the placement of a highway near Hidden Valley consists TOTALLY of citizens... and that only involves building a road - NOT confiscating their property! The R-C Airport Flim Flam artists continue their charades...1,000S OF MORE "Gadfly-isms"
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