 BARBWIRE
Con
jobs by charlatans in the name of our children  Anytime some skulduggerous charlatan says "we're doing this for our
children," scream Mayday! Witness the recent spectacle of rusty brass hat
Colin Powell and four presidents. They all showed up in Philadelphia, the
cradle of democracy, the city of brotherly love (unless you're a brother
with black skin).The once and future presidents spent three days performing publicity
stunts to convince Americans that volunteering can cure all our ills.
Forget that each of the living presidents has done his best to export jobs
and thus create a bull market for the import of drugs. Drugs and prisons
for warehousing users are the only guaranteed growth industries this
country has left.Volunteerism isn't going to bring exported jobs back or patch up the
families destroyed when the bottomline mentality of corporate America lays
waste to another community. Presidents are expected to create a veneer of
caring while helping their corporate sponsors stab the very people who
elected them.I thus find no joy in the election of a Labour government in Great
Britain. New prime minister Tony Blair, as I've written so many times,
first had to sell out to media pirate Rupert Murdoch before being allowed
to ascend to the top. Blair cut his deal with Baron Rupert several years
ago, agreeing to support a change in the law to allow Murdoch to acquire
more British newspapers, an industry he already dominated. Blair got his
cake when Murdoch's newspapers stopped hatcheting Labour. The icing came
last week when two formerly pro-Conservative Murdoch papers endorsed
Labour. Last Thursday, Murdoch got his cake and ate it, too. As The Who
once sang, meet the new boss - same as the old boss. As with Bill Clinton,
Blair will do little for the little people who elected him while promising
a better day for the children through more privatization of public
services. Mayday!A similar strategy has been in the works here in the High Desert Outback
of the American Dream, led by another populist turncoat. Scott Craigie got
his start in Las Vegas as Mr. Senior Citizens' Advocate. He wrote a regular
newspaper column and hosted a TV show called "Action Seniors." His
popularity was such that Gov. Richard Bryan appointed him to chair the
state public service commission, which regulates utility rates. He rose to
become Gov. Bob Miller's chief of staff. Craigie has now taken that
experience to the bank as a bigtime lobbyist.His latest hustle is a bill mandating what one consumer advocate termed "a
corporate takeover of Nevada Medicare." Craigie represents the predatory
HCA/Columbia health care octopus. These guys are so powerful they even
elected the boss' son to the U.S. Senate. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has one job
in DC: privatize the government social safety net for the family store's
profit.Craigie, of course, talks about how privatization of much of the Medicare
safety net would allow the same money to serve many more of Nevada's
children. Mayday!Washoe County swallowed the same shuck a dozen years ago. Washoe Medical
Center executives dreamed up a scheme to steal the county hospital. They
started a totally false propaganda campaign that the county would go broke
providing medical care to those who could not afford health insurance such
as low-wage workers.Through a combination of corruption by county commissioners and witless
compliance by legislators, Washoe Med was deeded over to its current
ownership. The bandidos acquired an asset worth more than $100,000,000 for
just $3 million. Promises to take care of indigents forevermore at no
charge to the taxpayers somehow never made it into the final contract
written by now-Judge Ed Dannan. (I recommend that you read the Washoe
County grand jury report, still available for about two bucks at Office
Depot on Plumb Lane. Ask for it under the Barbano file.)The Reno Gazette-Journal, which should remember better, endorsed the
HCA/Columbia ripoff. The company owns West Hills Hospital in Reno and
Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas. They recently got a black eye in the
Gomorrah South press, which disclosed that the Nevada operation is one of
several across the country under federal investigation for Medicare
"upcoding." That's a practice whereby a computer program scans every bill
sent to the government and upgrades each charge to the maximum allowable
under the category, irrespective of the actual services rendered. "I know
nothing about this," stated Ann Lynch, Sunrise director of marketing and
community relations.As an executive in the Dilbert comic strip noted last Friday, "what we do
here might seem like criminal fraud, but it's not. It's marketing."IF HCA/Columbia is successful, the less fortunate will suffer. University
Medical Center in Las Vegas is part of the University of Nevada School of
Medicine. The library at the hospital is so woefully underfunded and out of
date that a couple of doctors recently took the situation to the media out
of concern for their patients.UMC says the HCA/Columbia plan would severely cut care to the same people
Craigie and company swear they are trying to help. "William Hale, chief
executive officer of University Medical Center, Clark County's public
hospital, said the bill would be harmful to Southern Nevada," wrote the Las
Vegas Sun's veteran Carson City bureau chief Cy Ryan. "(Hale) estimates
that $26 million in indigent care funding would be cut from his budget to
support the program. 'The bill jeopardizes the institution (UMC) and the
community we serve,' Hale said. While the plan would care for 106,000
people with no health insurance, Hale said that would still leave close to
200,000 without care. He said a reduced budget would make it more difficult
for UMC to treat its share of indigent patients," Ryan reported. Sound
familiar?HCA/Columbia's Craigie said that 20 states are currently looking at
similar plans. I fear for Mr. Hale's future. University of Nevada system
administrators always side with corporate fatcats.Last week, again in the
name of helping our children, university chancellor Richard Jarvis put out
press releases about a hugely expanded scholarship program. "Largest
scholarship increase in university system," read the headline in UNR's
student newspaper, Sagebrush. "These new dollars will significantly improve
Nevada's ability to meet the financial needs of its students," this
newspaper quoted Jarvis as stating.But these are not scholarships. Students getting the money are forced into
jobs. "The requirement would be some level of service or work," Jarvis told
Sagebrush. "This is not just an unqualified scholarship." So what's it
worth? Less time for learning and more for washing dishes at the Doggie
Diner?The flak provided great PR cover. The announcement overrode the news I
warned of last week: the university regents voting in favor of $100,000,000
to fund new sports facilities in Reno and Las Vegas to enhance the profits
of the gambling-industrial complex. The action generated one surprise and
one disappointment. Assemblyman Morse Arberry (D-Las Vegas) called for an
increase in the sacrosanct gaming tax as an alternative method of funding
the jockocracy's needs. (Nevada casinos pay the lowest taxes in the
nation.)Alas and alack, the regent of the students, Prof. Howard Rosenberg,
supported the jocks who want the big bucks for pro sports. I will ask Mr.
Rosenberg for his reasoning and report it in a future installment.All for the children, of course.Be well. Raise hell.
©
Andrew Barbano Andrew
Barbano is a Reno-based syndicated columnist and 28-year Nevadan.Barbwire by Barbano
has appeared in the Sparks Tribune
since 1988. This column originally published 5/4/97. Reprints
of the UNR financial scandal newsbreaks remain available for the cost
of copying at
Nevada Instant Type in Sparks and both Office Depot Reno locations. |
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Copyright © 1982, 1996, 1997, 2006, 2010 Andrew Barbano
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