So, Casey Hoff seems to believe he has the secret key to determine what motivates me. How scary is that! I can’t stand listening to these blowhard AM radio hosts. I keep telling myself, this is just their job and they’re probably really nice people when they’re off the air. Tho I find it concerning that they are such tools for the right and that people actually take the crap they spew as “news” and they have no concern about if what they say is factually accurate. They actually go as far as to make things up. His most recent rant about me just shows what a tool of the right he is and how they have no shame about their reckless disregard for the truth.
Let’s dissect what Mr. Hoff has to say:
First of all, he calls my recent blog about the Salvation Army a “crusade”. Note that I posted the blog on December 16th. That was the one and only thing I said about the Salvation Army until Bill Lueders from the Isthmus called me and followed up on what I wrote. I merely answered the reporter’s questions and practically begged him to find some other sources for his story. End of any action I have taken on this matter. I would hardly call that a “crusade”. And if he thinks that qualifies as being “fired up”, he’s never seen me “fired up”!
Next, he says that my actions are a “politically motivated, vindictive vendetta against Christianity.” Dude, you lost me there. How in the world did he come up with that? What would I have to gain politically? How does he know what motivated me? How is it vindictive? What vendetta do I have against Christianity?
Then, it just gets surreal – as it often does with Mr. Hoff.
Ms. Konkel apparently believes that the City of Madison and Dane County shouldn’t be affiliated or provide support to the evil Christian organization, of which it received over $600,000 and around $13,000 from the city for the operation of its homeless shelter program and “family stabilization services”.
In my blog I specifically said that I didn’t care that they are a church or that they have a mission statement as follows:
The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.
But I did care that their religious beliefs “intrude into their services”. I really don’t care if they are a religious organization. Many religious organizations do many fine things and have many wonderful people working and volunteering for them. What I care about is that their religious beliefs intrude into their services. Particularly, that the Salvation Army discriminates against gay and lesbian couples. In fact, they don’t seem to deny it. They admit that they have a policy that has a disparate impact on homeless gays and lesbians. Then, they try to blame their discrimination on Dane County rules. Meanwhile, the county looked at their rules and said they are already changing the rules to get rid of any misperception the Salvation Army has that they cannot let these families stay together in shelter.
Casey also says that I think that city and county funds should be withdrawn from the Salvation Army. I never said. I just think they should change their rules, what is so terrible about that?
Next, he goes completely off the deep end when he says:
It’s too bad that Brenda Konkel is more interested in trying to nitpick a wonderful organization than she is helping out the poor in this community.
First of all, discrimination against gays and lesbians is hardly nitpicking. It’s illegal.
Second, does the dude have any idea what I’ve done for a living for the past 10.5 years? Or that before that when I was practicing law I took public defender cases, you know, the poor? Has he ever heard of the Affordable Housing Action Alliance that I helped found? the Social Justice Center that I literally helped build? Or has he noticed some of the policies that I have helped pass in this city? Some little issues he may have heard of that impact “the poor” include section 8, minimum income policies, affordable housing trust fund, TIF 10% set-aside, inclusionary zoning, minimum wage, paid sick leave, etc. Does he know how much money I give to various organizations that serve “the poor” every year? The fundraising I do for the Housing Crisis Fund to help prevent evictions of “the poor”? That when I was young I was “poor” enough to have to be embarrassed when I stood in the free lunch ticket line at school, or that there were times when I had no choice but to eat “government cheese” and drink powdered milk that my mom brought home?
Shouldn’t there be some kind of standards or way to hold these shock jocks responsible for the ridiculous things that they say? Don’t they have some sort of responsibility to at least say things that come close to the truth? And how the hell does Casey Hoff know what motivates me since we’ve never even met?
