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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Feb 23, 2018 16:45:37 GMT
This fortnight's Phoenix has a fawning profile of Mary McAleese in reference to her Vatican ban. John Cooney's fingerprints all over. This is a real weak spot in the magazine. They also have a piece on TCD's Clare McCarthy who seems to have been the victim of a witch hunt there for similar reasons to Katie Ascough in UCD.
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Post by hibernicus on Feb 23, 2018 21:39:08 GMT
Indeed - the McAleese for Pope piece features the sort of personal demonisation (the Curia are "men in frocks") one associates with Cooney. The role of Chief Reactionary Celibate is assigned to Cardinal Farrell, with much huffing and puffing about his former membership of the Legion of Christ, although he left that body years ago and is regarded by many trads as one of Pope Francis's pet sycophants. Also noteworthy is the revelation that Brendan Butler of We Are Church Ireland (most recently seen writing in the Irish Times denouncing all civil and canonical penalties for abortion as cruel interference with women's rights) was the felon-setter who started the song and dance about the removal of pictures of same-sex couples from the World Meeting of Families pamphlet. There is also a snarky profile of Carol Nolan, the SF TD for Offaly who has come out against repealing the Pro-Life Amendment. This is to be expected; those who follow the PHOENIX's coverage of SF know that Goldvulture has long since built his nest in Gerry Adams' colon and has ever since been trying to persuade readers that his location is constantly illuminated by brilliant sunshine and smells strongly of roses.
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Post by maolsheachlann on Feb 24, 2018 14:22:31 GMT
There is also a snarky profile of Carol Nolan, the SF TD for Offaly who has come out against repealing the Pro-Life Amendment. This is to be expected; those who follow the PHOENIX's coverage of SF know that Goldvulture has long since built his nest in Gerry Adams' colon and has ever since been trying to persuade readers that his location is constantly illuminated by brilliant sunshine and smells strongly of roses. That's a bit unpleasant, isn't it, Hibernicus? Let's keep it clean.
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Post by hibernicus on Feb 24, 2018 20:28:41 GMT
Sorry if it offends, but I do think Goldvulture's pro-SF bias is so obvious it becomes ridiculous. Another example of the same phenomenon which springs to mind is Marion McKeone, the SUNDAY BUSINESS POST US correspondent. Not only her opinion pieces, but her news reports, drip with hatred for Trump and for the Republicans generally. I detest Trump myself, but I think she has gone off the deep end.
BTW I think I have used the expression "the rectal sunshine theory of X" as a synonym for ridiculous and uncritical adulation elsewhere on this board. My remark in this thread was a riff on that theme, and I suspect I may have got carried away.
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Post by hibernicus on Mar 8, 2018 22:16:20 GMT
Goldvulture's latest has a very snarky profile of Ben Conroy (son of Breda O'Brien) full of jeers at "the Catholic Right" who homeschool "because the catechism is no longer so prominent in the curriculum". (This is quite a good reason, actually.)
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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Mar 9, 2018 8:50:39 GMT
Just about to post about that. I thought the piece bad even by Goldhawk's standards
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Post by hibernicus on Apr 6, 2018 19:45:09 GMT
The new PHOENIX has a deadly little cartoon showing Save the 8th supporters in red T-shirts, Repeal the 8th types in white T-shirts, and Simon Coveney as a "Where's Wally?" figure wearing a red-and-white striped T-shirt and bobble hat. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where%27s_Wally%3F Ireland is united at last! Everyone on the Yes and No sides has the same opinion of Simon Coveney.
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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on May 3, 2018 8:41:00 GMT
This morning's Phoenix has a nasty profile of John McGurk of the Save the Eighth campaign.
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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on May 17, 2018 10:20:25 GMT
This time the Phoenix is snarky about Róisín Shortall who recently made a very Liberal turn on the abortion issue.
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Post by hibernicus on May 17, 2018 21:09:25 GMT
Yes, and that item has a striking example of Goldvulture's accuracy. It concludes by wondering how Roisin Shortall's brother Brendan, a well-known pro-life activist, will respond to her volte-face. Brendan Shortall died several years ago. Incidentally, it also profiles the (black) President of DIT Students' Union, claiming that he almost lost the election because someone claimed they overheard him on the bus expressing opposition to same-sex marriage, and his Facebook settings give cause to believe that he may have pro-life sympathies. Do the people who make these accusations not realise that they come across as snoops and spies? www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHZJsMfukQY
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Post by hibernicus on Jun 15, 2018 21:14:13 GMT
The new issue of the PHOENIX has several pieces on the divisions within FF over the abortion issue. They claim Martin's attempts to impose his will on the party post-Referendum may even lead to a split - though I'll believe that when I see it - but that pro-aborts like Deputy Chambers may find that many YES voters wouldn't vote for them anyway, while NO voters may prefer other FF candidates. A sign of the mindset in certain sections of the party - if true - is a claim that some YES-supporting TDs privately refer to the photocall of the 31 NO-voting Oireachtas members, with the women standing in front, as "the Boko Haram kidnap party". There's real hatred behind that comparison.
Meanwhile, among much other abortion-related material, the previous issue of the PHOENIX carried an apology to Brendan Shortall's family and friends for Goldvulture's failure to realise that he died in 1995 (see last post).
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Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Jul 13, 2018 10:50:10 GMT
The current Phoenix has another cheerleading piece on Mary McAleese, saying there is method in her madness. I would have thought there was madness in her method. Once again, the magazine which delves deep for political, business and cultural scandals is prepared to take boiler plate nonsense on religious affairs. When many progressives have given up on Pope Francis I, Goldhawk still expects him to turn around and confer a signal honour on her. I have heard it said that the decision for the Pope not to go north (a bad one in my view) is mainly because Mrs McAleese spent so much time over tea and biscuits in the Secretariat of State planning the northern leg of the trip while being vocal about her wish list outside, not unnoticed. One senior figure cut the North out as a rebuke to her, so she has a lot to answer for to her fellow northern Catholics if that is correct.
I have heard it said the former president has no sense of protocol. Neither does she understand when it is extended to her. I suspect she couldn't read between the lines or get bella figura as the Italian practice it. And Goldhawk takes her view at face value. Much room for improvement.
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Post by maolsheachlann on Jul 13, 2018 12:09:13 GMT
The current Phoenix has another cheerleading piece on Mary McAleese, saying there is method in her madness. I would have thought there was madness in her method. Once again, the magazine which delves deep for political, business and cultural scandals is prepared to take boiler plate nonsense on religious affairs. When many progressives have given up on Pope Francis I, Goldhawk still expects him to turn around and confer a signal honour on her. I have heard it said that the decision for the Pope not to go north (a bad one in my view) is mainly because Mrs McAleese spent so much time over tea and biscuits in the Secretariat of State planning the northern leg of the trip while being vocal about her wish list outside, not unnoticed. One senior figure cut the North out as a rebuke to her, so she has a lot to answer for to her fellow northern Catholics if that is correct. I have heard it said the former president has no sense of protocol. Neither does she understand when it is extended to her. I suspect she couldn't read between the lines or get bella figura as the Italian practice it. And Goldhawk takes her view at face value. Much room for improvement. I have never heard anyone call him Pope Francis I. Peter Hitchens always calls Christmas "the Feast of the Nativity". I must admit I'm rather relieved he's not going to Northern Ireland, although I'm not claiming that's a justified attitude on my part. The visit to Northern Ireland would become the big story and the whole visit would be sucked into the Northern Ireland narrative-- Catholicism would just be a tribal marker, in the tiresome Northern Irish manner. As it is, the focus is upon Catholicism as an actual faith.
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Post by hibernicus on Jul 15, 2018 19:08:58 GMT
I've occasionally seen him called Pope Francis I, but I think just "Francis" is the correct form. John Paul I was usually called "John Paul I" and not "John Paul" during his short reign, but the recent presence of John XXIII and Paul VI may account for that - otherwise, it has been so long since a Pope took a previously unused name that it's not surprising there is confusion. I regret he didn't go north, given that reconciliation has been such a big issue there. He would presumably have met unionist politicians and Protestant church leaders, so it wouldn't have been a tribal marker - the most militant republicans tend to be secularists, with a few exceptions. Goldvulture's religion correspondent is notoriously prone to fantasy. I don't think he even gets it from her, any more than he got his bright idea of sending Archbishop Brown to Guantanamo. Having no sense of protocol would not necessarily be a bad thing if she was orthodox. That's the least of her problems.
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Post by maolsheachlann on Jul 15, 2018 19:41:11 GMT
I wasn't in the least objecting to the usage Francis I-- I just thought it was quirky.
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