Subjects: A Thank you, Child Abuse, and Societal Abuse (specifically what has gone on in Kidney Dialysis)
Loveland CO Reporter Herald newspaper
Wednesday June 24, 2026
Opinion page, pg. A4
by Chris Schwab
Pride month has given me a reason to send out a thank you to members of the LGBTQ+ community. They have had the courage to speak up about who they are. And when I was a young man, they helped give me the courage to speak up about who I was. I’m a 71 year-old straight man who ran into a baby-raping vulture when I was thirteen. For years I hoped to just forget it and will say one thing that held me back from saying anything at the time was getting stigmatized as being someone I wasn’t. Being gay was more frowned upon by certain segments of the population - even more so, then now. So that had been further incentive to stay silent and try and forget it – despite being hardwired as straight and wanting to scream out about the injustice and cruelty. But in my twenties I mustered up some courage along with an angry head of steam and did report what happened to the police – only to be told I would be torn up in court. However I’m still glad I did it, and did manage later to send out some non-violent payback.
Another reason I’ve felt the urge to speak up is watching the Epstein survivors and seeing the victim-blaming going on and their courage in dealing with it. It doesn’t surprise me to see the rich and powerful getting away with so much, though the scale of the current scandal does surprise me. I remember that sort of thing happening back in the day when Jimmy Carter pardoned pedophile Peter Yarrow who was married to Senator Eugene McCarthy’s niece. Yarrow was a member of the singing group ‘Peter, Paul, and Mary’. He penned the song ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’, which might have been better called ‘Puff the Magic Vulture’.
Some years ago I did get a chance to pepper a parking lot with flyers before Yarrow was due to sing in Denver – the appearance was canceled. Did I have anything to do with it? I can’t say for sure. But I’ll take credit for it, what the heck.
And the last source of inspiration comes from Australian book author Glen Fisher - YouTube channel. If I had a hill of rubble to climb out of as a youngster, Mr. Fisher had a mountain! In his book “Predators’ Paradise” he writes about the physical and verbal abuse he endured from very screwed-up parents. This was followed by the sexual abuse he endured from pedophiles in the 80’s Kings Cross area of Sydney, a seedy neon-tarnished glitzy place back then. This is a perfect example of "out of the frying pan into the fire", this when he attempted to escape his abusive parents. Spoiler: near the end of the book we do see he does get some measure of justice against those who wronged him. He also gives us a look at what just might be Australia’s own “Epstein class”.
Yes, my experience as a youth did leave a mark. My angry, frustrated temperament nearly caused me to derail the work my friends (R.I.P.) and I did back in 2007 when we ran across what I’ll call societal abuse. We saw what just might be the worst of for-profit medicine, kidney dialysis – crappy care for high, high prices. Not only have patients been abused, but we as taxpayers have taken it on the chin. Fortunately in 2007 I kept a lid on my urge to explode and we got a bill through the statehouse for the certification of kidney dialysis techs. Unfortunately, I was the last man standing at this year’s renewal of the bill: HB26-1280. I think I did at least get the attention of the sponsors of the bill this year. For more about dialysis in general, I would highly recommend NYT’s best-selling author Tom Mueller’s book ‘How to Make Killing’.
To finish, I think I’ll dedicate this little tirade to the friends we’ve lost, both known and unknown. Much like author Glen Fisher dedicated his book to the friends he has lost. May the memories of their spirits continue to whisper to us and inspire us.
