I’ve been spending too damned much time seeing friends in hospitals. At least when I visit I can talk up unionizing to employees and sometimes I learn things.
I’ve written in the past about how Renown’s predecessor, Washoe Med, had internal moles passing info to the Catholic Diocese of Reno so that when a woman came in who needed a procedure frowned upon by the church, she’d be met by her pastor ordering the hospital to refuse. And the hospital complied.
One woman told me her life was endangered by too many pregnancies. The church forbade the hospital to perform a tubal ligation. (The church today still frowns upon birth control.)
Finally, a female doctor did so and promptly left Nevada for a first world country aka another state.
So what happens today if you need medical marijuana because chemo has ruined your appetite and you can’t keep food down? They offer marinol pills (the only legal marijuana) which you also can’t keep down. If you want to smoke for relief, they say you have to wait until discharge because marijuana is still a class one narcotic and dispensing it remains a felony under federal law. But if you can’t eat, you’ll get sicker and sicker and may never be discharged.
The dog collars who once prescribed medicine from God have merely been replaced by white collars with law degrees.
DIRTY MOVIES. The closing of the downtown Sparks movie complex is just the latest bitter fruit of Sparks City Hall’s ongoing addiction to corporate welfare.
Two decades ago, organized labor protested wholesale violation of wage laws by Syufy Enterprises construction contractors. Unions finally won in court but by then contractors and workers were scattered to the four winds so the blackguards mostly pocketed the employee paychecks. (See NevadaLabor.com)
Syufy went on to burn the city for $1,035,000 in good faith money which was supposed to guarantee timely and effective completion of redevelopment projects.
PARTY ON. The Reno-Sparks NAACP’s 71st Annual Freedom Fund Awards Banquet happens this Saturday, Oct. 8, at Circus Circus – a union shop. For tickets, contact me or go to RenoSparksNAACP.org/
GLASS CEILING BREAKER. Debbie Calkins, the first woman to lead Teamsters Local 533, will talk with journalist Ray Hagar on Sam Shad’s Nevada Newsmakers show Tuesday, Oct. 4. It premieres at noon on TV4-Reno and TV-10 Elko. Charter cable victims can view the first re-run at 9:30 p.m. on channel 190. The expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com will link the full statewide TV-radio-online rebroadcast schedule.
ADDING INSULT TO INJURY DEPT. Bernie Sanders’ former Reno campaign HQ on W. 4th Street is now occupied by the Washoe GOP.
INSULTS, TOO. Remember when political ads were barred from local TV news? Corporate greed has created a propagandist’s dream, ads indistinguishable from news segments.
HOLY TREASON, BATMAN! Three stickers on an SUV with California plates: “Sacramento River Cowboy Church”, “Make America Great Again” and a Confederate flag.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Barbano is a 48-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and first-vice president of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us> Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988.