So stated Tina Turner in the 1985 blockbuster “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.”
Commentary
That line best summed up my overwhelmed feelings last Friday evening when the Northern Nevada Central Labor Council inducted the late Tribune journalist and my old friend Dennis Myers into the César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame.
Using a hockey analogy, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar noted that the occasion completed a hat trick for Dennis. He had previously been so honored by both the Barbwire and Nevada Press Association rogues galleries.
Living up to my self-imposed nickname of Quarantino, I attended via Zoom, dressed appropriately for the solemn occasion: In a sweatshirt and UnionYes! baseball cap.
I thus stood surprised and amazed by the second installation of the evening. The Barbwire Man hisself.
Zounds.
I told the sold out event’s attendees that this represented the second-greatest honor of my life, eclipsed only by the day I married my wife, Betty, 40 years ago.
I was and remain humbled to stand with giants who accomplished much more than I ever will. The César HOF includes Nevada’s two greatest legislators, Sen. Joe Neal and Assemblymember Bob Price, both D-North Las Vegas.
Fred Ross, Sr., the union stalwart who taught César Chávez how to organize abides therein, as do Maria Zamora, who marched with Chávez from Delano to Sacramento in the 1960s; United Auto Workers stalwart George “Battling” Nelson of Sparks who stood beside Chávez and United Auto Workers legend Walter Reuther at the dedication of the United Farm Workers headquarters; Nevada labor mainstays Dan Rusnak and Sam Lumpe; the late Nevada Labor Commissioner Stan Jones and his wife, Wendy; and the original Chávez HOF honoree, Darlene Jespersen.
Ms. Jespersen was a longtime Harrah’s bartender who refused to follow new corporate makeup face painting rules. Her wrongful termination case broke new ground for women’s rights at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Dennis, Nevada’s greatest reporter, was the first journalist so honored.
I can only state that I am the second because Dennis himself accorded me that appellation. I still term myself an advocate and hellraiser. I don’t present both sides, especially when the other side is suffused with flaming bigoted moonhowlers.
ADIOS, VERITA BLACK PROTHRO. Last Saturday came news of the death of the beautiful Nevada activist and businesswoman. Verita paid heavy dues in her shortened life. When she ran for Washoe County public administrator in 2018, some freedom loving racist defaced her candidate signs with black spray paint.
The Nevada Democratic Party sent out a double notice, also including the hit-and-run fatality of Kurt Englehart, aide to Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev.
I stand proud and humbled by having known and worked with most of the above superstars in the firmament of human aspiration.
READER RUMBLINGS: Tribunistas have reacted to this newspaper’s March 27 publication of the Nevada Independent news service exposé of our regional health care octopus. (“Renown Health is a powerhouse in Northern Nevada. Is that a problem?”)
Last week, I added some very necessary perspective regarding the origins of the malady by calling attention to the 1995 Washoe County Grand Jury report documenting the outright theft of our formerly publicly owned, low cost hospital.
Some Tribune subscribers sent these comments: “I worked there as a head supervising nurse. Their ‘non-profit’ status is just a moniker.
Actually, ‘More Money’ is their tacit motto.” And this: “I remember times when management harassed me to make sure all my employees only gave Renown management five-star ratings or I would be demoted, go without a raise or some other hellish reprisal.”
I built a whole website of research on the depredations of our health care conglomerate which will be linked to the expanded web edition of this column at NevadaLabor.com/
UNHEALTHY CARE, PART DEUX. The fake news New York Times just published a major scandal regarding big health insurance companies. Many have retained an outfit which earns billions in commissions based on how much health care they DENY to insured patients.
“Don’t like your $100,000 surgery bill? Sue us, turkey.”
I have never seen a better argument for a single-payer national system.
Fully one-third of all U.S. health care dollars go toward profit and paperwork. This has resulted in the highest costs for just about the poorest care in the industrialized world.
Social Security, that dastardly government run program, only costs three percent to run. Continuing rape and pillage by the health care industrial complex must come to an end.
I remember when moonhowlers took to the streets to campaign against Obamacare. Some dimbulb woman actually told a reporter she was there to “keep government’s hands off my Medicare.”
In 2009, the U.S. government became the largest health care customer in the country. Combined with the military, the Veterans Administration and other programs, Uncle Sam has long been paying most of the bills. It’s well past time to reign in pillagers like Renown, Cigna, Aetna, Humana, United Health Care (aka AARP) and Big Pharma.
Sorry, Ronnie, government is not the problem. Government is the solution.
HISTORY FOR DULLARDS. Supporters of T-Rump, the croaker who raps America, want to rename DC’s Dulles Airport for the Orange Crusher. What an insult to the Republican Dulles Brothers, Allen who headed the CIA, and John Foster Dulles who served as Secretary of State, both under President Dwight Eisenhower.
These bastards made a sport of overthrowing small democracies, most notably that of Iran. The latter was accomplished because British Petroleum wanted their oil refinery back after the democratically elected Iranian government nationalized the industry after decades of western exploitation.
We are at war with Iran today because of the depredations of the Brothers Dulles back in the 1950s.
So why trade a headache for an upset stomach?
SLIGHTLY CYNICAL DEPT. Congratulations to the universities of South Carolina and Connecticut for winning their respective women’s and men’s minor league professional basketball championships.
Vaxx up, stay safe, pray for Ukraine and almost 100 other currently war-torn lands.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Quarantino Barbáno is a 55-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com/ Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us
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