Comments on The Burd Report: What an interesting day yesterday was

The following is a 'comment' posted by Jim...

2009-07-16T10:35:24.561-04:00

The following is a 'comment' posted by Jim Corcoran on the SoCon blog last July 11 that can be read HERE

"I’m afraid you’re missing the point. The Bishop of Peterborough is being bullied by a small group of parishioners over his decision to appoint Father Hood as Pastor of this parish. The complaint about who he could appoint or not appoint to serve on the altar was only one in a long list of complaints designed to undermine the authority of the Priest and ultimately of the Bishop. The group of parishioners tried to threaten the Bishop with a public scandal on this issue, knowing that a public scandal around this issue was most likely to get a reaction from the Bishop, which it did. Unfortunalely, instead of placating this group, they were emboldened and continued their campaign against Father Hood, causing further division in the parish and within the Catholic community, driving others away. If you really care about the survival of Catholicism in Canada, take the time to fully research the issues before you jump to a hasty conclusion. This is a good Bishop, a good priest, and a good acolyte who are being attacted. We need to stand up for all of them, just as Christ would have."

It would appear that there is a power struggle going on between two groups of Catholics, and Mr Corcoran found the "perfect storm" by which his group of Catholics can defeat the other group of Catholics.

The pity is that the Ontario Human Rights Commission has been dragged in to act as the pit bull for one Cathlic group to impose its set of beliefs on the other group.

Why should the vast majority of non-Catholics in this province spend an enormous sum of money investigating and adjudicating on an intercine quarrel over a stupid and useless ceremonial rite?

With national media attention, this pathetic spat amongst religious idiots, has some knee-jerkistas calling for more power to the enforcement bureaucrazy, to others calling for the Ontario Human Rights Commission to simply toss the complaint into the garbage with the admonishment: "Children, children, children, grow up and stop the pathetic whining of your uber-sensitive feelings."

What a sad abuse of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Who said everyone clammed up? You still can'...

2009-07-15T09:23:39.050-04:00

Who said everyone clammed up?

You still can't use other people's articles as background, unless their information is part of public record (like the official human rights commission complaint, which is fair game to one and all). If we did use something from another organization's story – say a quote – we'd have to say "Mr. Corcoran told the Catholic Register." Without the publication's approval it would still be borderlining on plagiarism and even with their approval, it would still be in bad taste, unless we're part of the same ownership group.

But again, I'm not worried about anyone clamming up.

Sheeesh Ben, you got that MSM issue nailed. Nort...

2009-07-15T07:50:13.694-04:00

Sheeesh Ben, you got that MSM issue nailed.

Northumberland Today and Northumberland News are professional organizations with professional reporters. They are paid money by the community (advertising and subscription) to tell stories of the community to the community.

They had plenty of lead time -- but they sat on their ass. It might be worth noting that their writing staff are not Cobourg born and bred people and because of that fact they don't have the depth of community connections by which they could ferret out the story, let alone give it any depth.

That locals don't totally trust outsiders is a fact of life in every community. I have known some of the parishioners since I was a young un.

I have no objection to a local newspaper hiring 'outsiders" but it seems irresponsible for a news paper to put itself into a position where it has no locally bred talent on its roster, someone who has the community depth to tell the stories of that same community.

No one is asking the local MSM to cut and copy the stories of those who actually did get up off their ass to report it, and who had the depth of community to know what the hell was going on in the first place.

Northumberland News and Northumberland Today were lazy and incompetent, and defending themselves with plagarism is just a transparent fig leaf which doesn't hide the fact that they are poorly endowed.

The MSM are quick to boast that they are watchdogs for the community, but highly resent it when elements of the community examine their performance in the public domain.

Concerning this story, Northumberland News and Northumberland Today failed to inform the community in a timely manner of a major event that occurred within the community they profess to serve.