patrickmurfin

Carolynne Quinn

Carolyn Quinn (nor relation to the governor) attended two events this week that I would have loved to attend, but had to work instead.  Work is the curse of the activist class.  I have made the trip to Springfield several times and would have loved to hear the scuttlebutt about how next year’s races are shaping up.  But more important would have been the chance to stand up for Healthcare Reform right here in Crystal Lake.  That event was organized by a local outfit stitched together from local Tea Baggers, Minuteman anti-immigration zealots, and paranoid gun worshipers.  In McHenry County that makes them as respectable as the Bishop’s wife.  The Northwest Herald, an editorial opponent virtually any reform breathlessly covered the event.  So did conservative blogger Cal Skinner who had been promoting the event.

This week I attended 2 events, both held in the bubble of their own opposite ends of the political spectrum. The Democrats held their annual Governor’s Day rally at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. Lots of rah-rah, go Democrats stuff. The Patriots United group held an event they billed to the media as a town hall meeting in Crystal Lake but denied to attendees that it was any such thing. “This is the regular monthly meeting of a private entity,” according to a woman who sold me a ticket. The moderator of the event announced that that they were nonpartisan. According to their website they are purely libertarian. Nonpartisan my eye.

Here is my take on the two.

Cal Skinner needs to get a more recent photo to adorn this wanted poster on his blog.  The process server will never recognize him.

Blogger/gadfly Cal Skinner and I are seldom on the same page politically.  The proprietor of the McHenry County Blog is a champion of the far right in local, state and national politics.  I am not only a Democrat, but a local Party officer, an unabashed liberal, and the promoter of several causes that give Cal an allergic reaction.

So some might think I would be cheering on the owner of the Northwest Herald who has hauled out the heavy artillery to sue Cal for bucketfuls of money.  Those folks would be wrong.

According to an article in Thursday’s paper Cal “reckless and completely fabricated” allegations that the “the newspaper received a multimillion dollar-loan from McHenry County government at submarket rates to prevent it from moving outside the county. It also challenges a comment that the loan was made “to put the paper in the back pocket of the Republican Party.”

Skinner said he believed that the paper had received a loan to build the paper’s current offices and production plant in Crystal Lake.  He said he had in the past filed unsuccessful Freedom of Information Act requests to find out more, but that the request had been denied. He recently filed another request but has not received a notion.  None-the-less he repeated the allegation in a June 3 blog post, almost as an aside to a longer piece on a new county lending program to be made possible with Federal economic stimulus funds.

Now Cal has been careless of the facts before.  I have called him on it.  He says if he was in error the newspaper should simply have called him and requested a retraction and apology, which he claims would have been forthcoming.  And that would be the way most disputes of this nature play out.

But B. F. Shaw Printing Corp.  attorney Don Craven, winner of the most-apt-lawyer-name-award, did not contact Cal.  Instead he filed a law suit seeking at least $50,000 damages on each of three charges.

From a public relations standpoint, the suit is a head scratcher.  By filing and then covering the law suit in their own paper that have repeated the “slander” and spread it far wider than an incidental comment on a local blog could ever do.  Moreover, these kinds of law suits are extremely difficult to win.  (Although a sister publication, The Kane County Chronicle, discovered to its dismay that it is possible to lose one.)

There is only one reason for hauling out the heavy artillery to pick off a flea.  That is sheer intimidation.  Just defending against this kind of law suit can bankrupt individuals of modest means and make their life a living hell for years to come.

Lord knows, nobody has thinner skin than the press.  They can dish it out, but can’t take it.  Folks at the Herald are more sensitive than most.  I know from experience that the slightest criticism of their coverage results in whining and yowling of epic proportions.  One former editor was notorious for taking revenge on his critics in the new columns.  A still active editor once e-mailed me that the coverage afforded the organizations and causes for which I do voluntary press work could suffer as a result of criticism on this blog.  The threat was never acted upon, but it was boldly made.

I hate bullies.  I hate thugs.  I hate the powerful who try to shut up their critics, even if those critics are sometimes full of crap themselves.  B.F. Shaw Printing is a bully.  Don Craven is a pin stripe thug for hire.  The NORTHWEST HERALD is a powerful virtual media monopoly in McHenry County.  They deserve the scorn and ridicule of everyone who expects a responsible press to act like mature adults and not like spoiled brats out to squelch what may be one of their few competitors in providing local coverage.

Cal, ol’ buddy, go ahead and apologize and print that retraction.  If they still come after you, I’ve got your back on this one.

I suppose I should hold my breath in anticipation of a Craven attack.

The Northwest Herald reported today that the tiny Riley United Methodist Church will hold its final services this Sunday. It is the second small Methodist church to close in the county due to a dwindling and aging congregation. The church in Ringwood befell a similar fate two years ago. The Alden church hangs on by its fingernails, sharing, as did Riley a modern day circuit rider. These rural outposts are vanishing and can no longer maintain congregations.

The Methodists are not disappearing from the County. The Crystal Lake church is one of the largest Protestant congregations in the City.  Active churches are still alive and well in all of the county’s bigger municipalities.

The Methodists held on longer to their rural outposts, but the same process that began the dispersal of tiny agricultural villages long ago caused the shuttering of once thriving Universalist congregations like those at Pingree Grove.

Rural families have not become less religious, but they prefer to hop in the car to travel to a larger church with full services, often one with up-beat “contemporary” services. Just as they no longer identify with the cross roads communities in which they live, they have no particular loyalty to denomination. They are just as apt to choose a non-denominational mega church as the bigger Methodist church the next town over.

So we can pause for just a moment to reflect what is passing, and what is lost.

At the heart of most Midwestern agricultural communities stood a typically white clapboard church. It anchored the community. The church in Riley Township was newer than most, attesting to the vigor of the community at the turn of the 20^th century. Erected in 1897, the building was distinguished by a unique hexagonal bell tower. The community moved from the simple frame Riley Township Hall—now preserved as Perkins Hall by the McHenry County Historical Society—and before that worshiped in an 1858 log cabin. Reflecting the New England/Up State New York origins of the original settler stock, the church was originally Congregational, but switched to the Methodists early in 1900s. The Methodists, with churches in the centers of thousands of similar villages, were simply better prepared to furnish ministers than the Congregationalists, whose highly educated clergy preferred more sophisticated—and lucrative—calls.

The church and the Township hall, and a school clustered at a crossroads with a handful of farmsteads within a mile or so. The crossroads never rose to the dignity of a village.  The nearest store and post office were at South Riley two miles to the southwest. Both of those closed decades ago. There never has really been a village core to this most rural of McHenry County’s townships. 

Located south of Marengo and cut off from encroaching development by Interstate 90—the wholly inappropriately named Jane Adams Expressway—to the south, the County’s  southwestern most Township remains a rural bastion. In 1800 the census reported 915 residents. A century later the population had not even doubled-- 1,811.

 

Family ownership trumped…

 

Yesterday the Northwest Herald ran what is likely to be their one and only article on the 16th Congressional District race where Don Manzullo reigned supreme since defeating Democrat John Cox in 1992.  This time out, Democrats have fielded their strongest contender ever, Barrington Hills Mayor Robert Abboud.  Green Party candidate Scott Summers is also on the ballot.

It occurred to me that I haven’t commented on this race since Abboud’s entry.  It remains an up-hill battle and the district has not been targeted by the national party as competitive.  But in the current environment even an incumbent who seems glued to his seat may be vulnerable.  But Congresswoman Melissa Bean (D-8)  reminded listeners at a small gathering I attended Sunday that she turned out the most entrenched Republican in Congress, Phil Crane against all expectations.  So it can be done.

Anyway, I took the opportunity to post the following comment on the Herald’s web page.  Consider it my strong, personal endorsement of Bob Abboud.

Manzullo, the entrenched incumbent, has long been a leading cheerleader for deregulation across the board and swashbuckling winner-take-all capitalism.  That’s just the recipe for disaster that got us in the current mess.  He claims to be in favor of re-industrialization, but his sole strategy seems to be driving down industrial wages to third world levels to be competitive. He opposes any sort of health care reform that doesn’t stuff the pockets of the insurance industry.  And he has been a reliable cheerleader for Bush’s war.

Bob Abboud, a scientist and hands-on businessman, knows better.    He understands the critical need for regulation and oversight to prevent the excess of the “boom will go on forever” mentality.  He has a clear eyed understanding of what it will take re-industrialize the country.  As an engineer he understands that diversifying our energy sources will decrease dependence on imported oil, save the environment, and be the engine that drives re-industrialization.  He will work with the new president to achieve heath care reform that also liberates the economy.  And he will not commit precious lives and resources ill conceived wars.  

It’s Memorial Day in the sixth year of a misbegotten war.  Most of those yellow ribbon car magnets have long since disappeared.  The American flags that were ubiquitous on almost every house after 9/11 and again in the early days of the war are mostly gone, too.  There may be a mild irony that up and down Ridge Avenue, the residential street that runs along the side of my house, this house with its locally notorious anti-war resident, is the only home flying a flag. I got a new one Saturday.  I always keep on display from Memorial Day through Veteran’s Day.  I never wanted the jingoists to take my patriotism or my flag away.

The war and its casualties are hardly news now.  Four inch stories on page 3 or 4 are the norm now.  The pundits tell us Americans have “moved on” and are now concerned more by the price of gas and the collapsing economy.  The war has “lost traction” as a political issue in a hot Presidential contest.

Locally, the return of “our heroes” is regular news in the NORTHWEST HERALD.  Every week or so soldier returns home to McHenry County either for good or for a brief rest after a deployment in the war zone.  Each and everyone is met by the motorcycle riding members of the Patriot Guard and escorted home.  And each one gets a write-up with pictures.

But no body much wants to think about a war despised by 70% of the American people but which everyone seems powerless to end.

In the mean time thousands of young American men and women are dead or damaged.  And hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans.

For the third year, I am observing Memorial Day with this poem.  An edited version appeared in WE BUILD TEMPLES IN THE HEART.  What follows here is the restored original.

PICTURES, POPPIES AND STARS

A SONG OF GENERATIONS

We knew war.

Somewhere in every home a handsome young man peered from a tinted photograph,
       overseas cap at a jaunty angle,
             or the fifty mission crush,
                   or the crisp square white beanie of a gob,
       usually someone’s Dad in some other life,
       but sometimes a ghost frozen in time,
       caught in that picture like a fly in amber
       while bloody shreds were left draped on barbed wire
       ten feet from low water on an anonymous beach,
           or splattered on the glass of the ball turret
                 of a Mitchell bomber spiraling for a date
                 with a German potato field,
                       or bobbing in a sea of burning oil
                        naked and parboiled.

We knew pity.

The veterans in neat blue uniforms,
     sleeves pinned to shoulders, ears shot away,
          noses burned off, faces twitching,
               fistfuls of red paper poppies in one hand
                    shaking white cans for nickels with the other
                    on every street corner, May and November,
     and no decent man or woman passed
     without emptying pockets of change,
     twisting flowers into button holes
     without ever looking the peddler in the eye.

We knew death.

Inside scrapbooks, brittle pages and fading ink,
     kept far up in the closet behind hat boxes
          surrounded by last winters scarves and mittens,
               between leatherette boards tied by black laces,
               amid the ration coupons and V-mail, 
               postcards from exotic ports, Brownie snapshots, 
               campaign maps, and yellow clippings
     a small fringed flag, edged in red and blue,
          a gold star in the center.

In the neighborhood,
     we looted footlockers and duffel bags,
          saved our dimes for the Army/Navy Store,
           outfitted ourselves in helmet liners,
           webbed belts, canteens and mess kits,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               smatterings of cast off khaki and drab,
     and amid the prairie burrs and grasses,
          between the wild rose hedge and lilac caves,
               on top of the car port and in the window wells,
     every summer day we sorted glory from horror.

We knew war, and pity and death.
We thought.

And then, suddenly, it was our turn for real,
games and fantasy were over,
we had to make grown up choices.

Some went to war with swagger; some with tears
     some went to Canada, some to prison
          and some took another toke and shrugged
     in the safe cocoon of a high number.

We knew war and pity and death.

Now, my grandchildren, it’s your turn.

What do you know?
What will you do?

--Patrick Murfin

The Saturday Northwest Herald had one of those letters to the editor that cried out for a response.  Here is the letter, followed by my reply which will hopefully appear in the paper in the near future.

To the Editor:

So you want universal health care, do you?

I would refer you to the March 29 newsmaker item No. 2. In it Sen. Dick Durbin is “frustrated” by the fact that the Veterans Administration hospital in Marion had “no permanent leadership or surgical unit.” The story went on to say, “The hospital’s three operating rooms were shut down last August, after the VA found that at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March of last year were directly attributable to substandard care at the southern Illinois site.”

This is what you get when the government runs private industry.

Remember the mess that was uncovered at Walter Reed Army Hospital last year? Unsanitary conditions, plaster falling from the walls, rodents and bugs. It was, and is, a national disgrace. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both promise this type of health care to all Americans. I can hardly wait.

Scott R. Siman

McHenry 

To the Editor:

In a recent letter Scott Siman held up failures at Veterans Administration Hospitals as an argument against universal health care.  This is a lot like the fox blaming the chickens for mess of feathers and blood in the hen house.

My late father and generations of veterans were once served by VA Hospitals admired the world over for their quality of care.  Under the Bush administration the VA has been handed over to 1) ideologues out to dismantle government and 2) incompetent cronies who can be relied on to do such a bad job so that willing shills like Siman can claim that government “can’t do the job.”

Of course the same administration doesn’t want to “waste money” on veterans who are no longer useful to them.  It has fought tooth and nail against every attempt to upgrade service in the VA medical system.

Siman also compares apples to oranges.  No universal health care plan envisions relying on a system of federally owned and operated hospitals.  Instead some form of universal insurance will reimburse current health care providers.  But those providers and their patients will see millions of dollars in savings from not having to fight insurance companies.

Patrick Murfin,

Crystal Lake

Wednesday the five year anniversary of the War in Iraq slipped by before I had an opportunity to comment.  Believe me, it was not because it does not weigh heavy on my mind and soul.  But I had work to do and I had a lot on my plate getting ready for the McHenry County Democratic Party meeting and preparing press materials (see the post below.)

About mid-afternoon I got a call from Tom Musick, a reporter for the Northwest Herald.   He was working on one of those “round-up” stories in which local folks with strong opinions share their views.  We had a nice conversation for about ten minutes or so.   This is how my portion of the story came out in the paper.  (click here for the full article.)

Patrick Murfin

McHenry County Peace Group members gather every Thursday evening near Route 14 and Main Street in Crystal Lake for a vigil.

The group’s size varies, but its mission stays the same: To call for an end to the U.S. war in Iraq and to prevent a future war with Iran from happening.

“Early on, we’d get mixed reviews,” said Patrick Murfin, a member of the group. “The longer this war has passed, the number of supportive honks and waves and peace signs has mounted. It’s really remarkable.”

Yet Murfin worries whether the Bush administration notices such changes.

“I’ve been giving this some considerable thought,” said Murfin, who watched the president’s speech Wednesday, a speech that urged patience and determination in Iraq. “It’s both astounding to me and totally wearisome that we find ourselves in this position after five years.

“To hear the Bush administration talk about no end in sight within a decade or longer ... the American public has long since made it clear that they regard the war as a mistake to begin with and want us to get out now.”

And all of that is fine, as far as it goes.  But understandably this snippet left a lot out.  Also—and I don’t mean to bite the hand the fed me—I was the only person of  those interviewed who was an outright opponent of the war.  The others were a recently returned solder; Rep. Don Manzullo whose own account shows that he gladly drank the Bush Kool-Aid about the war; the father of a soldier who was killed who now regards the war as a “mistake” but doesn’t take a position on getting out; and an Army recruiter.  That left the burden of speaking for the majority of Americans who oppose the war and want a way out sooner than later on my own inadequate shoulders.

This is what I wish I had the time and space to say.

It’s hard, very hard to match the unrelenting drum beat of war and more war propounded by a maladministration that will not allow itself to be fettered by Congress, Courts, or the People and which feels it has a divine right to do what ever it damn well pleases.  In five long years ever mounting casualties are compounded by daily atrocities (committed freely by all sides);  the very soul of the nation is stricken by a cynical embrace of torture;  our civil liberties are silently stripped from us;  our national reputation is sullied beyond repair;  unimaginable debt is saddled on our children, grandchildren, and their progeny;  we are plunged into a “war of civilization” without end;  our very democracy is threatened by an uncrowned king who brooks no limits on his power.  And we in the anti-war movement get tired, bone tired.

We have marched, vigiled, petitioned, organized, written and ranted.  Our ranks have swelled.  But year after year nothing we have done has saved one 19 year old Marine or one Iraqi child.  Small wonder that the spirit sometimes flags, that we get tired, that we are tempted to slip into simple resignation.

Worse, evidence mounts daily the Resident and the Dark Sith Lord Cheney will not rest until the launch another war, this time against Iran.  The recent resignation and retirement of Admiral William Fallon, top commander of American forces in the Mid East and the only high level commander to dare publicly warn about the danger of launching another war, may have been the clearest signal yet that the Neo-Con junta is determined to have another war.  Add the domestic political calculation that launching a war before the election will rally the public “be hind the troops” and put John McCain in the White House.

Peace activists a worn out trying to get us out of one war and now have to keep us out of another.

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that there has been a fall-off of coverage and commentary about the War and the movement to stop it in recent months.  Instead, it has been increasingly concerned with electoral politics, support for Barack Obama for President, and for Democrats in general.  Some might take this as evidence that I have given in to war weariness and like a bored two year old turned my attention to some other toy.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In point of fact my immersion in politics and my support of the Obama campaign in general now represents the most effective way I can work to end one bloodbath and prevent another.

I know there are folks in the Peace Movement who believe that this abandons the demand for immediate withdrawal, and trims sail in against the gale of adversity.  The taunts of “sell out” to others like MoveOn.org, who have advocated the same approach have been loud and raucous on the part of many in the purer-than-thou left.

But like it or not we cannot “Bring Them Home Now!” or throw our bodies in front of Naval launched cruise missiles or snatch possibly nuclear armed B-1 Bombers from the sky to stop an attack on Iran.  There are no prospects, despite our most ardent fantasies, that we can mobilize a Peoples Revolution to surround the White House with pots and pans clanking and bring down this regime as others fell in Moscow, Manila, Kiev, or Beirut.  There will be no General Strike to stop the war cold like the hands of a clock.  Richly deserved impeachment will not happen.

Our only real chance to bring the war to an end is—like it or not—to elect a Democrat President of the United State and large enough Democratic margins in the House and the Senate to prevent disciplined Republicans from ruling in the minority.  And I obviously believe that Senator Obama, a consistent opponent of the war, is our best chance to achieve such a victory.  But make no mistake about it, I will, even if it pains me, support Hillary Clinton if that is the hand we are dealt and then hold her to her promises to end the war.

The inevitable result, even with victory, will be for a phased withdrawal that insures the safety of American troops.  It’s not fast enough for many, but the war will finally end.

Even more critically, there will not be, if one has not already been launched, a war with Iran and the inevitable region-wide conflict that would ensue.

Is there any guarantee that this strategy will work?  Of course not.  Right now we see how cynically race is being used to divide the American people from their own best interests.  McCain, for the first time, is now polling better nationally than either Clinton or Obama—a direct result of the political strategy of the Clinton campaign, in my opinion.  But there is plenty of time to reverse those numbers and Obama has the persuasive skills to come back strong.

A plausible causa bellum can always be dug up like Hitler’s Polish raid on a border radio instillation post or LBJ’s phantom attack in the Gulf of Tonkin to justify an attack on Iran just before the election.

And there are the twin dangers that if faced with loss the election the Oligarchy will simply and boldly be steal it again or—more drastically—that a “national emergency” might occur that would “force the government to suspend the election.”  Feel free to conjure in you mind your most paranoid fantasies of what that emergency might be and it has probably already been gamed in some dark recess of the Pentagon or the Vice-President’s old secret bunker.

So, no, the electoral strategy is not perfect.  It’s just the last, bet hope we have.

Although Christmas Day has passed, my wife likes to remind me that in the Catholic calendar it is just the beginning of the Christmas season which runs through the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th.  So perhaps joining in the clamor over the “War on Christmas” is still in order.

I enlist reluctantly.  The slightest demure from acknowledging that a vicious, all out attack on Christmas and Christianity is actually occurring is like poking the hornets nest.  Why waste the serenity of my favorite season with strife?  Because the “War on the War on Christmas” has targeted me and mine—folks who believe that tolerance is a virtue and the America is wider than any sect.

Locally the great battle is engaged in the columns of the Northwest Herald where for a least a month supposedly persecuted Christians have been beating both their chests and their shields.  The breaking point came on Christmas Eve.  I returned from a lovely candle light service at the Congregational Unitarian Church—where despite our reputation as a vipers nest Godless heathenism we heard the Christmas Story read from the Gospel of Luke and closed the service in a darkened sanctuary lighting candles hand-to-hand and reverently singing Silent Night—with the glow of Christmas deep in my heart.  Then I opened the paper and found a letter from Lynn Hadler.  I waited until St. Stephen’s morn, but I had to reply in the comments.  Needless to say I ran long.  Only the notes on the historic fallacy fit in the 100 window. Below is what I would have said if I could have stretched my legs a little.

It must be hard.  Instead of celebrating their religious holiday and embracing the message of “Peace on Earth, good will toward men” proclaimed by the herald angels, some folks waste Christmas by being enraged at every perceived slight.  They have been whipped up in this frenzy by a handful of well paid talking heads whose interest is not in defending Christianity but in dividing the nation for political advantage.

Pathetically, most of those who swallow this snake oil are generally well meaning folks who have been scared to death that somebody—its not entirely clear who but it’s probably those lib-ur-allls—is coming to their homes to chop down their trees, and smash their crèches.

Worse, these folks are armed with out right lies.  For instance Christmas has not been “celebrated since the Pilgrims landed.”  In fact the Pilgrims and the Puritans of New England refused to celebrate Christmas as a “Popish ritual” shrouded in pagan trappings and drunken excess.  It was actually illegal to observe Christmas in Massachusetts until about 1680 and it was seldom celebrated in that area until the 1830’s.  Christmas did not become a national Holiday until the 1860’s.

We have actual evidence that for many decades people were wishing each other "Happy Holidays"--including Republican presidents like Reagan and both Bushes--without giving offence to anyone.

Lynn, there is no War on Christmas.  But there is a war on Americans who practice or acknowledge faiths other than a particular brand Christianity.  And you have enlisted as a foot soldier.

--Patrick Murfin,

Crystal Lake

Well, the Illinois Minuteman Project circus rolls into town tonight when they put on their $50-a-head show at McHenry County College featuring Ohio Sheriff Daniel Beck.  You may remember these folks as the eye of the hurricane that blew through McHenry County this summer when they tried to put on the same show at a local hotel.  This blog carried the ensuing drama blow by blow.  Check the archives to get up to speed or refresh your memory.

I’ve been asked why the McHenry County Peace Group and the Latino Coalition have not publicized protests to this meeting.  Good question.  First, neither group ever denied the right of the Minuteman group, or anyone else, to meet.  We only wanted to counter their support of draconian measures targeting immigrants and, inevitably, any one who looks or sounds like an immigrant.  Secondly, we agreed that Latinos Unitdos, the recognized college student group, should take the lead in plotting a response.

In speaking to the press shortly after this meeting was announced, I made clear that we were not opposed to allowing them to have a forum.  I did point out that when the Peace Group recently sponsored its Current American Issues forum on immigration with Salvadore Cicero, it was free and open to the public.  No attempt was made to screen out Minuteman members or other opposed to a fair and equitable immigration policy.  We accommodated written questions from the audience regardless of the perspective of the questioners.

On the other hand the Minuteman Project has gone out of its way to make its “public” meeting as private as possible.  The $50 admission charge and the refusal to sell tickets at the door are meant to screen out attendance by any possible opponents.  Minuteman front woman Rosanna Pulido, after denying that the high charge was meant to screen out opponents in the NORTHWEST HERALD was caught red handed admitting it in the DAILY HERALD. 

When the group was planning its first meeting, it even returned the money of Latino Coalition leader Carlos Acosta and refused to allow him to attend even to observe.  Acosta and others have secured tickets to the new program.  It will be interesting to see if they will honor their commitment to the college for an “open” meeting or will try to deny them entrance anyway.

The group also will ban cameras and recording devises from the meeting so no record of what is actually being said by whom will likely be made public.

Another interesting question is whether the group can fill the auditorium with paying customers.  $50 a head is quite a shot, even for many of their own supporters.  One wonders how many tickets will be “comped” to loyal supporters to avoid the embracement of a half-empty house.  Again, the wide spread use of free passes while soaking the general public would call into question their “public” meeting.

Latino Unidos students did take the lead and outlined ambitious plans for counter events.  But the administration, probably fearing confrontations, refused to allow the group to use the commons area near the Conference Center to set up alternative literature and programming.  They turned down a proposal to allow a teach-in  in classrooms any where near the Minuteman event or to allow the group to invite high school students to attend.  Hints were heavily dropped that any “disruptive” behavior by Latinos Unidos could result in the suspension of their recognition as an official student group.

When the group presented college President  Walter Packard, with a petition containing over 400 names, protesting the use of the college as a venue for the event, Packard used the media to paint Latinos Unidos as advocates of censorship and the college as a bastion of free speech.  But neither the President nor the College has ever explained how the Minuteman group’s restrictive admissions policy should qualify it to use college facilities under the tissue thin guise of presenting a “public” meeting.

Tonight Latino students, acting as individuals, will make their presence known to those attending the event.  In the course of their normal activities—going to classes, the library, commons, and the parking lot—they can be observed wearing identifying t-shirts.  Meanwhile supportive observers, including Peace Group and Latino Coalition members will be on hand to monitor the situation.  No demonstrations or disruptive activities are planned.

But the Minuteman group and their allies will not be able to slink into McHenry County unnoticed.

Look to this space for coverage of what takes place tonight.

So many outrages, so little time.  But an ad promoting a special Veteran’s Day advertising section in the NORTHWEST HERALD got my blood racing this morning.  Here is my letter to the Editor about it.

To the Editor—

I noticed a large ad in Thursday’s NORTHWEST HERALD promoting “A Tribute to our Heroes  Past an present on Veteran’s Day.”  You invite folks to submit pictures of veterans and active duty troops with short messages to be included in a special Veteran’s Day advertising section.  Who could object to that?

Me, for one.  Not because you wish to honor veterans, but because you plan to turn a fast buck in doing so.  Loving family members are advised to cough up $25 for the privilege.  Those without means, those spending every last dime available on the care of wounded vets, those struggling to support families whose lives and incomes have been disrupted need not apply.

I may oppose the current war.  But as the son of a decorated veteran and the friend of many others, I honor the sacrifices of those who serve our nation.  On this folks on both sides of the war issue can agree.

By all means, honor Veterans.  Print your tributes.  But offer them free to all.  Don’t use them to pad your bottom line.

Patrick Murfin,

Crystal Lake

I tried to get the NORTHWEST HERALD to give me permission to use their photo of Lou Bianchi cashing in that Red Ribbon street cred.  No luck.  Instead, here is a generic Red Ribbon graphic and a head shot of Bianchi.

            Well, there is was on page 5 of Wednesday’s NORTHWEST HERALD.  Lou Bianchi, the ethically challenged McHenry County States Attorney, got to take advantage of a friendly photo-op with Westwood Elementary students.  And Bianchi, plagued by rumors of investigations in recent days looked mighty happy to get some good publicity.

            It was all part of something called Red Ribbon Week, advertised as the oldest anti-drug education project in the country. I remember it well from my days as a building custodian at Briargate School in Cary.  What ever educational components of Red Ribbon Week might be, the most visible elements of the annual observance were the big red ribbons that all children and staff were commanded to wear throughout the week. I believe it was the same in schools across the county.  The ribbons were always emblazoned by the anti-drug slogan of the year and—more importantly—featured the name of the incumbent States Attorney in bold gold print.  Every child in the county became a walking advertisement for the States Attorney.  Better yet, Red Ribbon Week always fall just a couple of weeks before election day!

            I see no evidence that a single child was ever saved from a life of drug induced stupor by the hoopla around Red Ribbon Week.  But I have a keen eye for a political boondoggle when I see one.

            Now Bianchi did not invent this scam.  He is only the most recent of at least three Republican McHenry County States Attorneys to benefit from the free promotion.  And Lou is not one to stare such a gift horse in the mouth.  Even better he gets to be in the paper without his questionable use of public funds getting mentioned.  Way to go Lou!

****

            Locals may wonder why I have not yet commented on the circus surrounding Bianchi and Bill LeFew, the McHenry County Republican Chair.  As Dan Rather used to say when he was trying to be down home and folksy, I don’t have a dog in this fight.  But it is entertaining to sit back and watch the Republicans devour one another

For those who have not followed the story, Bianchi has been in hot water lately for his careless spending habits.  He has been caught putting parade candy and the like on his public account.  Even the Republican County Auditor Pam Palmer choked on that.  Parade appearances are patently political—at least when accompanied by dozens of “volunteers” in matching t-shirts and handing out candy while the Man himself shakes hands like no tomorrow.  That’s a little different that sitting in an official “dignitary” car representing the office.  There have been other irregularities too.  Nickel and dim stuff, really, only a few thousand dollars a year for lunches, flowers, and other “office expenses.”  In the old days it would have been considered a perk of office and no one would ever raise a peep.  Unfortunately for Bianchi in the wake of more than the usual governmental scandals in Illinois, the public and press—and other prosecutors—have begun to take a dim view of such goings on.

Democratic County Chair Tom Cynor, acting on his own behalf, recently asked the County Board to withhold payment of the disputed “expenses,” but on the whole, this has been a totally intramural Republican dust up.

Indeed none of this would ever have come to light if LeFew had not become disenchanted by his hand picked States Attorney.  Evidently LeFew believed that Bianchi was either behind or in support of moves by some GOP committeemen to oust him as chair or limit his power.  Such infighting has been standard operating procedure since former chair Al Jourdan, a man who knew how to run a humming  political machine with an iron hand, hung up the bull whip some years ago.  There have been successive struggles between party “regulars” and conservative insurgents yearning for ideological purity.

LeFew, a former Mayor of Harvard was tapped as a peace maker a few years ago who could protect the old guard while moving the party generally to the right.  In the process LeFew had to jettison some excess baggage, including the hard drinking former States Attorney Gary Pack who was tainted by a relentless murder prosecution of organic farmer Gary Gauger, later proved innocent when two motorcycle gang members were fingered for the case.  LeFew backed the unknown Bianchi against Pack’s former top prosecutor.  But the love match was not destined to continue.

Shortly after the first of the year LeFew began casting about for a candidate to run against Bianchi in the GOP primary.  Even the washed-up Gary Pack was rumored to be coming back from Florida to give it another whirl, this time with the Chairman’s blessing.  That trial balloon deflated quickly when no one could be found enthusiastic for old regime.  So LeFew, who vowed never again to support Bianchi, was stuck with Dan Regna an ousted former Assistant States Attorney bitter that he was replaced by Bianchi’s minions.  Regna bases his campaign on claims that Bianchi has “politicized” the office by allowing his assistants and staff to work and contribute to his campaign.  The only trouble is that Regna did the same for his boss, former First Assistant Glenn Gable who ran against Bianchi in the last primary.  Confused yet?

Not content with just putting his muscle behind Regna, LeFew has glommed onto the issue of Bianchi’s expenditures, if he was not responsible for bringing (through surrogates) the issue to light in the first place.  Then last week he dropped his bombshell at the regular Republican meeting.  He planned to resign in the near future, he said, because of a conflict of interest between his role as Party Chair and his job as County Treasurer.  He said that someone had filed a complaint against Bianchi with Attorney General Lisa Madigan and with the Chicago Crime Commission and that he may some day have to turn over financial records to investigators.  

The NORTHWEST HERALD reported that neither Madigan’s office nor the Crime Commission had received a complaint on Friday, the day after LeFew’s announcement. The complaints finally showed up on Monday.  LeFew claimed he did not originate them.  But he knew that they were going to be filed in advance.  Hmmm.  Something’s rotten in Denmark.

Despite LeFew’s attempts to swath himself in high minded ethics, just about everyone recognized it as a stunt meant to throw a bomb into Bianchi’s campaign while letting LeFew leave office before the GOP county ticket goes down in flame next year.

Voters in the county are tending more Democratic, the national party is in disarray, Congresswoman Melissa Bean has proved both resilient and popular,  Bob Abboud is mounting a well funded challenge to Don Manzullo in the 16th  District with State Representative Jack Franks’ formidable political organization behind him, and strong challengers are immerging in key County Board races.  The top of the ticket promises to be swamped by who ever emerges as the Democratic Presidential Candidate and by incumbent Senator Dick Durbin.  Demoralized conservatives, particularly the “family values” voters of the religious right, may sit on their hands and stay home in droves. 

Over at the McHenry County Blog Cal Skinner reported that the real reason for LeFew’s resignation might lie in attempts by some to amend the party By-laws eliminating a requirement for a quorum of 50% of the committeemen for major party decisions.  That would allow a handful of disciplined committeemen to seize control of the party at a lightly attended meeting.  And the movement conservatives are nothing but disciplined.  Of course any candidates the rump could put forward would be far too wacko to be elected in McHenry County, which may still tend Republican but which prefers to elect moderates.

It’s as good a time as any for LeFew to bail.

Democrats can simply sit back and watch the debacle.  Whether Bianchi can salvage the nomination next spring or Regna takes it, the prize may not be worth the effort.  With GOP party unity shattered and a nation-wide Democratic landslide looming, look for County Dems to caucus in a strong candidate for States Attorney next spring.

 
MCPG SPONSORS THE CURRENT AMERICAN ISSUES FORUMS AT McHENRY COUNTY COLLEGE

THE TREE OF LIFE AND FLAMING CHALICE, SYMBOL OF THE CONGREGATIONAL UNITARIAN CHURCH, HOST OF THE FRIDAY NIGHT SALONS.

The hot button immigration issue returns to the front burner again this week as the McHENRY COUNTY PEACE GROUP sponsors a CURRENT AMERICAN ISSUES FORUM at McHENRY COUNTY COLLEGE this Thursday at 7 p.m.

Immigration attorney and advocate SALVADOR A. CICERO, a leading member of the LEAGUE OF UNITED LATIN AMERICAN CITIZENS (LULAC), will be the principle speaker.  The program will also include a welcome and introduction by DR. NELSON BORELLI and comments on the immigration controversy by the REV. DAN LARSEN of the CONGREGATIONAL UNITARIAN CHURCH, who has long been an advocate for the Latino community.  PATRICK MURFIN will moderate the discussion following Cicero’s presentation.

Last Sunday, November 2, the NORTHWEST HERALD featured the upcoming program on its front page, linking the forum to the brouhaha that erupted earlier this summer when the ILLINOIS MINUTEMAN PROJECT announced an anti immigration program at a CRYSTAL LAKE hotel.  That meeting was scrubbed by the hotel because of “security concerns” and the apparent misrepresentation of who was sponsoring the event by Minuteman leaders.  A Peace Group vigil supported by the LATINO COALITION and the CARPENTERSVILLE CITIZEN ALLIANCE had to be moved to McCORMICK PARK when a second group of Minuteman vowed to stage counter demonstrations.

Although those competing events were peaceful, the discussions set of by this chain of events in the on-line comments section of the Herald have been anything but.  The tone has grown increasingly angry, insulting and threatening.  Several people say they plan to put pressure on the College to cancel the event and on Crystal Lake police to charge the Peace Group’s the same “security fee” that they sought from the HOLIDAY INN prior to the Minuteman event.  The college, which has hosted Current America Issues Forums for the last four years, remains undeterred and the police cannot charge security fees for such a public program at a public institution.

Although no group has announced plans to protest the Thursday meeting, many of the anonymous commentators on the Herald web site vow to “be there.”  Whether that means they plan to protest of just ask questions is unclear.

For its part the Peace group welcome the public no mater what their position on immigration issues and invites them to participate in the open discussion following the presentation.  “We ask only for a civil discussion of these divisive issues,” Murfin said.  “Written questions will be gathered from the audience.  I will select questions that reflect a wide variety of viewpoints, do not duplicate already asked questions, and are not insulting in tone.”

The next evening, the FRIDAY NIGHT SALON at the Congregational Unitarian Church will allow continued discussion in a more intimate venue.  Rev. Larsen will lead a small group conversation at 7 p.m. The Salon Series are free wheeling, informal discussions presented monthly by the church on a wide variety of philosophic, theological, political, economic, scientific, artistic, and literary issues in the tradition of the great European salons.

            The program is free and open to the public.

LAURA ZAMBRANO AND ADAM RUIZ OF THE CARPENTERSVILLE COMMUNITY ALLIANCE.

            It was a beautiful day in CRYSTAL LAKE.   For the first time in days the sun returned and the rain did not. It was down right pleasant and refreshing in McCORMICK PARK—named for a beloved priest, not the inventor of the Reaper—in the shadow of the water tower on Rt. 14.

            Absent, too, was the storm und drang predicted by Crystal Lake Police Officials, who envisioned riots and brawls between the McHENRY COUNTY PEACE GROUP and its allies on one side and the MINUTEMAN MIDWEST and those who responded to their call for “Patriots” in from a hundred miles all around on the other.  And it was literally on one side and another.  The Peace Group Vigil and the Minuteman counter protest were separated by white police saw horses and dozens of officers.  Roughly equal in numbers, the Minuteman group gathered at the northern corner by Florence Street—right across from the gas station where I work several nights a week as a clerk.  We were on the Southern corner by King Street with the Taco Bell across Rt. 14.  Everything proceeded perfectly peacefully as the two sides studiously avoided contact with each other or any outward sign of antagonism.

            It was a great day for the Peace Group and for the LATINO COALITION and the CARPENTERSVILLE COMMUNITY ALLIANCE who co-sponsored the event.  At its height nearly fifty folks were gathered to promote a peaceful, just, and rational discussion of the immigration issue.  And the vigil attracted folks from the NORTHBOOK PEACE COMMITTEE ,  a contingent from NORTH AURORA, individuals from ELGIN and all over Crystal Lake.

            The press was on hand, too with reporters and photographers from the NORTHWEST HERALD (for those who doubt that there are racist undertones to those who support the Minuteman groups read the comments under the article—it will curl your hair) and DAILY HERALD, as well a free-lance reporter for a Polish television news service, and Northbrook Peace Committee member LEE GOODMAN, who plans to post footage he shot on www.AtCenterNetwork.com (it’s not up yet, but check back in a day or so for it.)

            Perhaps most encouraging, in light of the vitriolic tone of so many letters to the editor on the immigration topic and those that stalk the NORTHWEST HERALD comments section, both of which would lead to believe that the whole of McHenry County is seething with barely contained rage about the “illegal invasion”, is that there was almost none of that reaction from the general public traveling busy Rt. 14.  There were no shouted insults, shaking fists, or single digit salutes.  There were some honks, and a lot of waves.  And some obvious encouragement.  Can it be that our neighbors do not really want to see their community ethnically cleansed?

            Below are more pictures from the event.  There are none of the Minuteman group because my camera does not have a telephoto lens and I was trying to honor the police request that we say separate.    The one picture I took showed tiny figures far in the distance.  

  

THE MINISTERS:  REV. DAN LARSEN OF THE CONGREGATIONAL UNITARIAN CHURCH IN WOODSTOCK AND A MINISTER FROM THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHUCH OF MARENGO—WHOSE NAME HAS FALLEN COMPLETELY OUT OF MY HEAD.
                                 

MEET THE PRESS—PHOTOGRAPHERS AND VIDEOGRAPHERS COVER THE STORY.  THE MINUTMAN PROTEST IS BARELY VISIBLE BEHIND THE POLICE OFFICERS IN THE UPPER RIGHT.

MOST OF THE NEARLY 45 FOLKS STILL IN THE PARK AT THE VIGIL’S END.  THAT’S CARLOS ACOSTSTA OF THE LATINO COALITION KNEALING FRONT RIGHT IN THE STRAW HAT.

            The HOLIDAY INN CRYSTAL LAKE has canceled the ILLINOIS MINUTEMAN PROJECT meeting scheduled for this Saturday.  Representatives of the McHENRY COUNTY PEACE GROUP, LATINO COALITION, and the CARPENTERSVILLE COMMUNITY ALLIANCE first got wind of a possible cancellation during a meeting with CRYSTAL LAKE POLICE authorities this morning (Wednesday.) 

            The NORTHEWEST HERALD posted confirmation on their web site hours later.  The paper quotes Illinois Minuteman Director ROSANNA PULIDO that the hotel backed out because of security concerns and because the Crystal Lake Police requested re-imbursement for extra police protection.  She indicated that the group would try to find an alternative site in Crystal Lake for the event.

            Word of the cancellation came shortly after Latino Coalition leader CARLOS ACOSTA received a communication from Puldio denying him admittance to the ticket-only event and refunding him his $10 admission.  The group evidently did not want any dissenting opinions at its “public” meeting.

            Participants at the morning meeting indicated a willingness to proceed with the rally at SANDS and THREE OAKS ROADS from 1:30 to 4 pm this Saturday.  They will consult with their organization and announce firm plans as soon as possible.

            Speaking for the Peace Group, PATRICK MURFIN said, “We want it to be clear that at no time did we bring any pressure on the Holiday Inn to cancel this event.  We believe in free speech and the freedom to assemble, even for those with whom we disagree.  We just wanted the public to know by virtue of our public vigil that the McHenry County community includes those who embrace diversity and who oppose mindless and punitive action against undocumented workers and the Latino community as a whole.”

            Keep an eye on this space for the latest information and developments as they occur.

Some CRYSTAL LAKE DEMOCRATS  biked to the FIESTA DAYS PARADE in McHENRY, inspiring the Bicycle Brigade trip to ALGONQUIN for the FOUNDERS’ DAY PARADE this coming Saturday, July28.

The following was adapted from a letter to NORTHWEST HERALD editor KEVIN LYONS.

There is a BICYCLE BRIGADE planned for a mini-trip (3 miles) from CRYSTAL LAKE to the ALGONQUIN FOUNDERS DAY PARADE line-up area on Saturday, July 28.  We are joining together to make a symbolic, political statement and to have ourselves a grand pre-parade party.  At the same time, we will be promoting the PRAIRIE BIKE PATH that crosses the entire length of McHENRY COUNTY from WISCONSIN to the KANE COUNTY Border.

By using our bicycles instead of cars to get to the parade does the following things for us we reduce our carbon footprint for the day; increase our intake of fresh air and exercise with friends and neighbors; reduce our use of gasoline; promote community pride—the Prairie Trail through McHenry County is remarkable—and prevent the frustration of being stuck in traffic at the Fox River Bridge in Algonquin, which is also remarkable.

The Bicycle Brigade is sponsored by the McHENRY COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY.  We will join the party contingent for the at the MY KIND OF COUNTY float in position #93.).  This is a part of the NATIONAL CLEAN UP AMERICA promoted by party Chair, GOV. HOWARD DEAN for the DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL REUNION DAY 2007.

So far, we are being joined by members of the McHENRY COUNTY DEFENDERS, the OUTDOOR ADVENTURE/RECREATION CLUB (OAR) of McHENRY COUNTY COLLEGE, and the McHENRY COUNTY PEACE GROUP. Anyone is invited to bring their bike, grab a helmet and join us for the event.

In the 18 years that I have lived here, traffic problems have been one of the primary concerns of McHenry County.  The hottest spot in the county is still the corner of 62 & 31, and on parade day both highways are closed at 9:30 AM.  I don't mean to complain, as I, myself, love having the roads closed for a parade or a block party.  But there will be plenty of people who are complaining that day (cursing in their cars) because they are frustrated, wasting time and gas in a traffic jam.  We are going to sail right through all of that and arrive at the Parade in fine spirits.

We are gathering at the DIVERSE CITY PRAIRIE on the Prairie Path Bike Trail.  There is a special parking for bikers there on EASTGATE ROAD, public water fountains and restrooms.

CAROLYN QUINN
Secretary, 
Democratic Party of McHenry County
info@mchenrydems.com  
815-788-9540