"McHenry County Blog"--Deception in Practice
Just today an aquaintance let me know that I had shown up in a Google search about the Crystal Lake Gay Games controversy. Not only were my own blog entries on the subject noted, but so were refrences on Cal Skinner’s McHenry County Blog. Since Cal was kind enough to help readers find my blog, I thought I would return the favor.
A big part of Cal’s time is now evidently spent on the McHenry County Blog. The man must never sleep. At least during the recent election period and during the controversy over the Gay Games, and the High School newspaper censorship dust-up (see my next blog entry for more info on that) Cal managed to make multiple lengthy posting daily. He is a regular source of the red meat that keeps Conservatives agitated, outraged, and angry at all times, sort of a local Bill O’Rielly. It is frankly flattering and encouraging that such a busy man would bother with the likes of me even in passing.
And it was very much in passing. Both entries mentioning me were made on March 2nd,
early in the controversy over the Gay Games. The first makes passing reference to my blog entry “Don’t Let the Religious Right Kill the Gay Games in Crystal Lake.” After quoting the concluding sentence of my letter on the topic to the Crystal Park District, Cal wrote:
Murfin describes himself as “an active member of the Industrial Workers of the World.” He is a member of the Congregational Unitarian (which he also describes as the “Unitarian Universalist)” Church and President of the Interfaith Council for Social Justice in McHenry County, according to his web entry.
Although benign sounding, that entry contains a couple of the little tricks that are evidently taught to conservative commentators in some intense training camp somewhere. First is a selective quote from my blog profile. By placing the quotation marks one word to the left of the verb in the original sentence he makes it appear that I am still a member of that notoriously dangerous bunch of reds, the IWW. In fact the original quote said “was an active member…” Not that I am at the least embarrassed by my association with the fighting union, but in point of fact I have not been a member since the early 1980’s, before I moved to Crystal Lake in 1985.
Secondly is the wonderfully sinister sounding insinuation that I am somehow misrepresenting my religious affiliation-“…a member of the Congregational Unitarian (which he also describes as the 'Unitarian Universalist') Church." As some one who has been on the scene in McHenry County all of his life and who supposedly is conversant with religion, Cal surely knows that the Congregational Unitarian Church is the name of my Woodstock Congregation (a congregation dating to 1866 by the way and celebrating the Centennial of its current building). The congregation is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA.) This is not something we try to hide. In fact we proudly proclaim this association. For more than a decade I have personally prepared worship notes for the congregation that appear in the local press and send out other press material. We regularly identify our UUA affiliation.
His next post wins a prize for either high paranoia or shameless pandering in the time honored tradition of Joe McCarthy. Click here for the full text of “Gay Games Intrigue Getting Curiouser and Curiouser.”
In it he describes learning how Off Square Music has booked Judy Small to perform at the Congregational Unitarian Church “the night before the date of the Gay Games…” Small, he reports, once recorded a gay themed CD. Ergo this is evidence of a long term plot and collusion by the church to exploit the games by packing crazed but paying perverts, who will be flooding the county for the games, into the performance.
There are a number of problems with this scenario. First, as Cal himself acknowledges, the concert was booked months ago, long before the controversy over the rowing events erupted in Crystal Lake. He papers over this with vague recollections that the games were being planned last August. Indeed, they were, after a dispute with Toronto over who would host the events. But discussions of the rowing component did not begin for months. In fact Crystal Lake was identified as a potential site rather late so that the application had to be rushed to meet Park District deadlines. In other words there was no connection between the booking of the show and the Games at all and Cal knows it perfectly well.
Additionally, Off Square Music is totally independent of the Congregational Unitarian Church. They have been producing folk concerts at various venues for several years. For the past two years they have rented the church for their monthly concerts. The church has a similar arrangement with for concerts sponsored by the Woodstock Folk Festival, and occasionally rents to other musical events like recitals.
In Cal Skinner’s mind the butt-buggering, baby-murdering, family destroying Christ killing, atheist, Bin Ladin loving, Bush hating, communist conspiracy is a well oiled machine capable of stupendous feats of organization. It must be our long apprenticeship under our masters, The Elders of the Protocols of Zion and the Council on Foreign Relations. Yeah, that’s it.
Cal sure convinced one loyal reader. Donna Clasen posted the following comment on the blog:
I just don't know how that man can be called a Pastor. What is the Unitarian Church? It's like the church of nothing and everything. Someone should look into them further and see about that "church" losing its tax exempt status.
Well, of course I’m not a Pastor nor ever claimed to be. No matter. Mere facts mean nothing. What is interesting is her call for an investigation into our “church” (note quotation marks.) We should evidently lose our tax exempt status for speaking our mind. Never mind the Skinner’s own blog reproduces official statements from other local churches opposing the games. That alright. They have God on their side while the Unitarians are at best apostates. It is this mindset of intolerance, which identifies opponents as not just mistaken, but actively evil. As sworn “enemies of God” we deserve no civil rights.
Cal might claim that Clasen’s sentiments are not his own. Maybe. But he cannot demure from calculatingly encouraging them.
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