Stuff below the fold

alJ: Is China detaining a million Muslims in reeducation camps?




hmm... China is also tearing down a lot of churches, so it may only take a bit of time until they pull this stunt on Christians.

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also from AlJ: sex scandal in a Buddhist Monastery in China.

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from the Inquirer: Duterte is planning a visit to Israel and Jordan.

it's not so much about politics as it is about making it easier for our OFW to work in those countries.

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the film A Clear and Present Danger can be found at internet archives (at least until the copyright cops find it).

it is a thinly veiled novel about the Iran Contra shennanigans.


and the very non PC film Song of the South can be found there too... it was blacklisted because it showed happy happy slaves. Duh. But Brer Rabbit is a trickster, and echoes how Slaves fought back.

scandal stuff

Professor Leon Podles, who has written a book about abuse problems in the Catholic church, discusses one case he is familiar with.

he notes that seminarians who are initiated into gay sex (as young adults) could then believe it was okay, and the abuse would continue.

And remember: it's not like a gay falling in love and lapsing. These are serial abusers, who often have numerous victims (something noted by the grand jury). Alas, too many victims are too ashamed to come forward, or else blame themselves.

also: Notice that the accuser was vilified?

reminds me of a case in Altoona, where a patient cried on my shoulder that her husband was asked to intervene with the family of an abused boy: telling them not to destroy the career of the nice visiting priest.

shortly thereafter, the bishop actually wrote a letter claiming that no cases of abuse had been reported since he took over.

(/sarcasm)

no one believed that, of course, so when a priest who had met a young man at a local gay bar, and that kid and his mom concocted the story that the priest had abused his younger (i.e. underage) brother and sued the diocese, the bishop actually let the case go to court, the defense being that the priest involved only liked young men of legal age.

The jury, knowing it was a money scam, (heck, the entire diocese knew it was a money scam) nevertheless found for the boy and told the diocese to pay him oodles of money, as a way to "punish" the bishop and give him a headsup that people were disgusted.

One note: The huge numbers in Pennsylvania that are being cited went back 70 years: and often they were the result of serial abusers...

 and what you didn't see is the many good priests who tried to do their best in this toxic environment.

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Get Religion, a blog that covers how the press reports (and often distorts) religious stories, has an article about the Cardinal who spilled the beans and named names.

yes, the MSM is putting this as those nasty and rigid conservative Catholics who oppose the Pope trying to "reform" the church.

Conservative American Catholics have been among the most vocal opponents of Francis’ agenda since he came into power in 2013. They have resisted his efforts to bring back into the fold those Catholics who have fallen away from the church because they are divorced and remarried, or are gay or lesbian, or are secular nonbelievers.

before Vatican II, the innocent party of a divorce who remarried Catholics just went to mass but didn't receive communion. After Vatican II, they could get annulments. Similarly, before Vatican II, Gays could repent go to confession, and try again and again to stay pure. Now, Francis wants to accept those who flaunt their gay lifestyle and be full fledged members of the church and not have their lapses seen as sins.

As for secular non believers: Why would they want to go to church?

in other words, they are opinion pieces posing as news, supporting Francis when he preaches against the 2000 year old ethics of Jesus against divorce and lust: and what is worse, we have reporters telling Catholics what we should believe, and they condemn those who try to follow the rules.

so they will smear the messenger instead of trying to find the truth about abuse by those who support the liberal "reform" agenda being pushed by the MSM.

So what is missing? GetReligion points out:

Well, what is NOT going on here is an attempt to find out if Vigano has stashed away copies of documents that back many of his highly specific claims. Also, as his letter notes, the original documents are in the Vatican's main U.S. office and locked away in key locations in Rome. Will the defenders of Francis (and McCarrick?) produce original copies of documents that refute Vigano?...

and they go on to note and provide links where Vigano was accused of a coverup, and he provided documents to defend himself.

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so why do I remain a Catholic?

Because we know good priests and bishops, who are trying to just do their work and help us to remain holy, by giving us mass and the sacraments.

I know priests who were martyred. So who is more typical? Abusers or martyrs?

Podcast of the week

the Prancing Pony Podcast has an interview with Tom Shippey.
mp3link

their summary:

 Aug 26, 2018 Season 3 is here, and we begin by welcoming Tom Shippey to The Prancing Pony Podcast! We discuss his classic works The Road to Middle-earth and J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, and the remarkable story of his personal meeting with Professor Tolkien in 1972.

We also talk about his new book Laughing Shall I Die, an exploration of the Viking heroic mindset and their grim (often inappropriate) sense of humor. Plus, the shocking link between Beowulf and a young woman searching for the perfect bowl of porridge.

Read more at http://theprancingponypodcast.libsyn.com/091-laughing-shall-we-die-an-interview-with-tom-shippey#lXx4xH8TEmXuwMu5.99

Family news

My granddaughter arrived safely in Canada, and her school starts today.

See previous post on trying to get her a plane ticket.

on Monday, I got the notice that the money I had put into my credit card to cover the plane ticket had finally cleared...after we had arranged a friend to buy her the ticket... so now I guess I'll have to take it out again and we will reimburse it by putting it into her local bank account.

Luckily, the money was my tax refund check that finally arrived last week (another long story) so it didn't hurt my budget.

Myself, I have been sick for a couple of weeks: long story but today I woke up feeling normal.

the puppies are well: Two went to guard Dr Angi's clinic, and two will go to Joy's parents house in a week or so but we plan to keep at least one here, since three of our dogs are over 10 years old and not very vigourous watch dogs any more.

Geoge, the killer Labrador, has kidney failure, and spends most of his time sleeping in my room... oh well.

Bronze age collapse

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Recipe of the week

Our farmers would gift duck eggs to Lolo: Sometimes they would give us fresh eggs, and we would soak them in salt. But sometimes he would ask if eggs were available and they would send us the red eggs (alread prepared) and he would mix them with condiments to eat.

some of our farmers would keep ducks: mainly to keep down the bugs and snails in the rice paddies, and they would make money selling the eggs for salted eggs, or for balut.

Here is how one makes salted eggs (although she uses hen eggs).


Wikipedia article. 

Naming names

a former nuncio (ambassador) from the Vatican to the US discusses the scandal, and names names.

full letter here.

I worked for the gov't in the US and understand how bureaucracies work, (i.e. delays and the evidence going missing).

and in this case, Pope Benedict's comments about the "gay mafia" in the church's curia (bureaucracy) seems pertinent. To remove them would have taken time and legal procedures, which might not work due to obstruction by other big shots with an agenda.

So Pope Benedict resigned under pressure... shortly after he received a report (never released) about the problems...

But the background you need to know is that a new pope receives the resignation of everyone, so it would have been easy to clean the swamp.

but that didn't happen.

as for Wuerl: He knew what was going on in Altoona when I was there, and unless he was blind he must have known about the priests cruising in the gay bars of Pittsburgh back then. But of course, it was "consensual" sex, so who cared (duh).

And he promoted a "sex ed" program for Catholic schools that had a lot of my neighbors upset too, but I don't know the details.


here is the Washingtonian puff piece on Wuerl.from 2011.

how bad is all of this?

Well, according to Kuya, the sermon at mass today was about the problem.

here gays are part of the culture and accepted as part of the family.

but we also have outsiders pushing an aggressive "gay agenda" here which is not the same thing.

Here, the sex tourism is mainly guys looking for girls, but there is also a large gay sex tourism component (often associated with drugs and one reason for the increase in HIV here), not to mention that we are a center for pedophilia against street kids of both sexes and also a world leader in cyberporn.

I don't know how bad it is here in the Philippines: Here, traditionally priests have wives on the side in the same way that businessmen have "second wives" on the side, and no one cares.

but Duterte says he was abused, and he has a grudge against the self righteous clergy who oppose the drug war but not drug use, and who get photo ops with crooked politicians who often steal money slated to help the poor.

so I suspect it is just a matter of time until things blow up here too.

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But this article at Huffpost (via Instapundit) is quite disturbing: it's R rated so I won't quote it, but this is sexual abuse, and yes, I've seen it when serial predators hit on young girls too: and yes, some girls who are abused also get into a promiscuous lifestyle, not because they want sex, but because (like the author of the above post) they want love.

it's not just priests: it's teachers, strangers, and neighbors.

millstone anyone?

Oyster trivia

Atlas Obscura: NYCity and oysters:

Archaeologists have discovered New York harbor-area middens—ancient shell piles—dating back to 6950 B.C. Oysters thrived for millennia in the brackish waters around New York Harbor, keeping the estuary clean thanks to their natural filtration abilities, and serving as a favored food for the Lenape people who once lived there.

When Henry Hudson arrived in 1609, there were some 350 square miles of oyster reefs in the waters around what is today the New York metro area, containing nearly half of the world’s oyster population. European settlers wasted no time in turning this natural resource into a powerful industry. By the 18th century, immigrants to what was then known as New Amsterdam referred to Ellis and Liberty islands as “Little Oyster Island” and “Great Oyster Island,” respectively. The Dutch named the waterfront Pearl Street for a midden, later paving it with discarded oyster shells (though they were disappointed to discover that New York oysters don’t actually produce pearls). New Yorkers started eating oysters en masse and shipping the delicacy to cities across the U.S.

As the culinary historian Mark Kurlansky writes in his 2006 book The Big Oyster, “The combination of having reputably the best oysters in the world in what had become inarguably the greatest port in the world made New York City, for an entire century, the world’s oyster capital.”

Cat item of the day

source

ah the good old days

attention Downton Abbey fans.

If you want to know the practical side of doing things in the good old days, check out Mrs Beeton's books:

Mrs Beeton's cookery.

Mrs. Beeton's book of household management

Audiobook is here.

Family news

A real mess here with my granddaughter's flight to Canada (where she attends school).

First, there was a Chinese airliner that skidded off the runway in Manila, canceling a lot of flights.

Then we found she needed a transit visa since her flight had a layover in the USA. I was not aware of this: nor did the airline ticket company warn us. Ruby is eligible for US citizenship via her father, but he never did the paperwork, and there was no time to visit the embassy to get that paper.

Ah, but even though it was the airline's fault, they would not rebook her for a fee or let her only pay the difference. No: They said they'd return her money (in 3 months) and she'd have to pay full price for a new ticket (i.e. $2000 USD)... a scam of course. If they had just asked for the difference, no problem, but ah, you see they had a lot of people who were eager to get on flights because their flights had been canceled due to the accident.

Joy didn't have that much money left in her credit card, so they returned home.

Sigh. But it takes 3 days to add that kind of money to the credit card (no, they don't take cash. Duh).

Her mom visited a travel agency in the next province to try to rebook the flight: but they failed to book using her credit card because the money hadn't cleared and it was over her credit limit... so they called me and I authorized them to use my local credit card, and she booked it... but the next day we found that my credit card was turned down too, for the ticket was over my credit limit and the cash I had added to cover the cost hadn't cleared yet either.

So we tried to book from here, via the internet.

but again my card was turned down because the money still hadn't cleared. Then we used our debit cards,  but again no deal. Then I called my US credit card company and asked them to okay if I paid for the ticket, and they said no problem... but alas, that didn't work either.

Her mom booked (and was turned down) for so many flights that the online booking company has now banned her from booking there.

Finally, she called her friend in Canada and asked if they would book the flight, and she would reimburse them to their bank account here.  And voila, that worked.

Hopefully the airline will allow her to travel even though she is 17.

so she leaves tomorrow morning.

The irony? we had the cash, but they only take credit cards.

and of course, all that stuff about "it takes x days to clear your money" is nonsense: It means the bank is profiting from the cash. (and here, it takes a month for a US check to clear, so you see the profit is good).

Ah, the fun of a cashless society.

Minnesota Vikings

Celebrating Eid al Adha

eid Al Adha is being celbrated.

LINK2

it's a holiday here in the Philippines:

the anti religion folks in the US oppose all religious holidays for Christians, so Christians in the US get upset when Muslims want to celbrate their own holidays...but here they celebrate them all.

and an estimated 2 million people are expected at the Haj.

and it is raining there...

In our prayers for their safety.

The agenda behind the Pope's call to penance

The Pope has called for penance and "solidarity" because the press has noticed the abuse crisis.

Excuse my cynicism.

first of all, why should I do "penance" for someone else's sins? (we do reparation for sins, which is something quite different).

the crisis has been around quite a long time (indeed, most of the cases in the abuse report predate 2002).

But this NYT article from 2002 shows how he will quickly use it: not to reform the church into holiness, but to weaken church traditions to make the newfangled NWO reform church as merely another do gooder NGO where any type of sex is okay.

Deep in the article, which condemns the church considering gay sex a sin, we see this:

I interviewed several dozen gay priests across America. With assurances of anonymity (lest their bishops punish them for coming out of the closet), they promptly began discussing their sex lives. I asked why, if they could not practice celibacy, they didn't leave the priesthood. Most saw themselves as leading the church toward the reform of outdated moral teachings -- including celibacy.

yup. moral teachings are sooo out of date, so let's change them.

and notice: His opinion is based on a small survey of a few cherry picked gay priest he knew. Not from a scientific survey.

Hmm... sounds like Cardinal McC and Wuerl's approach to pro abortion politicians, and Wuerl's easy going approach to tolerating gay priests cruising in the bars of Pittsburgh at a time when the abuse crisis was exploding and we in Altoona diocese were getting it publicized in the local papers, but couldn't get anything done.

What's wrong with this picture?

Well, most of this article quotes unscientific estimates and data: So let's see what Andrew Greeley, who is a trained sociologist, found with his real data from scientific survveys (as opposed to estimates that were made to push an agenda)...
this is also an article from 2004.

so celibacy causes the problem? Not quite:

Patently, most men who leave the priesthood do not leave because of celibacy. They must also dislike the work of the priest to the extent that they say they would not choose again to be a priest.

so why don't happy priests say anything when the activists push this agenda?

Despite the happiness and maturity of most celibate priests, few of them are willing to speak out in its defense. Hence there is little resistance to the constant propaganda that celibates are inadequate human beings and that celibacy causes child abuse. The proper response to these attacks would have to come from priests themselves and especially from the organized priest groups such as the National Federation of Priests’ Councils.

Yet these groups are committed to the abolition of the celibacy rule ..

Whence the destructive smoke and mirrors? I suggest that they come from the loud attacks on the current condition of the priesthood by a small minority of former priests, by the tiny minority of active priests who are unhappy, and by the anger of some members of the lay elite.

Those who are happy in the priesthood and those who understand and apparently embrace celibacy have been intimidated into silence by the anticelibacy crusade. ..

The real cause of the vocation shortage is the reticence of those who are happy in the priesthood and not excessively burdened by celibacy. They may complain about the shortage of priests, but they are not ready yet to do battle with the anticelibacy ideologues, to recruit young men to what is a happy and satisfying life. Nor are they ready to speak, individually or collectively, about the joys of being a priest, joys about which there can be no doubt after studying the results of the two Times studies. If the celibacy rule is abolished, fine. But let it be abolished for good reasons—that it is right and proper and good for married men to be in the priesthood, not because celibacy has driven out of the priesthood most of those who have left and not because celibacy as such is the cause of the vocation crisis. These two reasons are nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

Greeley is supportive of priests: however, he is sarcastic about bishops:

 More often, however, episcopal appointments are the result of a mix of cronyism and silent incompetence disguised as virtue.

So what about gay priests, or rather, men with same sex attraction who are priests?

again, the statistics show something different from the propaganda: Greeley pointed out elsewhere that the statistics on the number of gay priests is exaggerated by those with an agenda, (i.e. 70 percent were heterosexual, and only 16percent were homosexuals) and that most of them keep their vows of celibacy. (72% of priests are celibate heterosexuals and 10 percent are celibate homosexuals, and 18 percent admit they don't keep their vows, but only 3% are actively pushing to get rid of celibacy).


 again from the outtake of that book:

It would be a wise policy for church leaders to tone down the hysteria and leave homosexual priests alone, so long as they avoid the gay “scene” and the gay “lifestyle.” Yet perhaps priests who are homosexual should avoid blatant manifestations of homosexual friendship groups, which create the impression of homosexual subcultures.

the problem? That more aggresive gay priests with an agenda will seduce or try to corrupt these vulnerable priests, so they can be blackmailed into silence.

(of course, we lay folks know women who brag about seducing priests too, but that's another story for another time).

so never mind the nuances.

The problem is not priests who keep their vows, but that the power hungry bishops and their friends who are ignoring the immoral behavior under the advice of their lawyers and often because they are friends in a clique.

I have written enough about the coverups, and the bishops who are still there who ignored immoral lifestyles of each other (because they didn't involve underaged children).

But the pedophile cases in the report are old, even if the bishops who let the abuse go on are still around. So fire the bishops.

Except they will be replace by Pope Francis with bishops who will push his "reform" agenda. And that agenda ignores the moral underpinnings of sexual self control in favor of a Kinsey like approach.

why do I suspect the Pope will use this scandal to "reform" the church?

Because of the upcoming "inclusive" (i.e.gay friendly) "meeting of families" in Ireland has all the usual suspects running it.

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update: I noted earlier that the Pope's idea that he can change dogma about the death penalty by fiat was not about the death penalty but trying to get people used to his changing dogma by fiat.

And of course, immediately the Gay lobby in the church said: Hey change that dogma about us too.

But it gets worse: Lancet says: hey now change the law against abortion.

you can see where this is heading...

Anti Americanism: We haz that

the USNavalInstitute blog has a long article about Germany's long tradition of hating America.

The building frustration within the American citizenry with subsidizing European defense has an even longer history – and the concern that this frustration in the modern context could lead to America leaving NATO also pre-dates the present administration. Heck, the Norwegian series Occupied is based on this premise and began in the previous administration.
Christian Hacke’s English translation in The National Interest of his original article in Die Welt brings up a lot of important issues that lie right below the surface, regardless of the author’s clunky dealings with his feelings about domestic American politics.

Yeah. sounds about right. They want the US to protect them while spitting the US in the eye on many levels. And don't blame Trumpie boy: They hated the US under Reagan and Jimmy Carter too...

and a review of the miniseries "occupied" is found here. (No I haven't seen it).

but a more probable and true to life scenerio might be China taking over Luzon. 

China laying claim to the Philippines was inevitable. It was beginning to look silly in the eyes of the world, mightily taking over only a part of Philippine waters, the Scarborough Shoal. That lagoon of rocks and sandbars is submerged during high tide. That a shoal, by definition, is uninhabitable shows up China’s historic claim to be farcical. Ancient Chinese may have been smart to invent gunpowder, but they couldn’t have built communities on a spit of rocks and sand 800 miles from Hong Kong, China’s nearest point. Luzon was only 120 more miles away. So China might as well take a step farther and claim the whole Philippines, to bolster its stake over Scarborough. By owning the Philippines, China need not spend millions of dollars exploring oil in the shoal. There’s proven gas at the Batasan. Read more at https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2012/05/11/805543/what-philippines-belongs-china#bfxRxquaFCpx0sLs.99

and how about China taking over Siberia?  

what a strong USNavy means to the Philippines

For later listening:


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VICE article on why China is not pleased with this.

The bill received widespread bipartisan backing in Congress, amid a growing acknowledgment that the U.S. is facing an increased threat from Russia and China.

The bill is considered particularly tough on China, targeting several areas of concern for the Pentagon, including the increased Chinese military activity in the South China Sea, Beijing’s pursuit of cutting-edge U.S. technology and the spread of Communist Party propaganda at American institutions.

China’s commerce, defense and foreign ministries all issued statements slamming the bill’s proposals. The commerce ministry focused on a ban on Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE.

The U.S. government and government contractors will now largely be blocked from using the companies’ products in the future, though in non-critical systems some products will still be allowed. China’s foreign ministry pointed out that the act was passed despite Beijing’s strong objections, and it was dissatisfied with the “negative content related to China.”

This is big news, since essentially President Obama let China grab the shoals in the West Philippine sea, pressuring PresPnoy not to send our tiny military to oppose them when they started chasing out our fishermen and roping off the islets.

But now, the US is again showing it's willing to defend their allies here in SEAsia from Chinese aggression.

What will Duterte do? He is so cynical about the US (letting China grab the area and essentially making the Philippines without allies if the opposed the sealane grab). So Duterte has tried to make nice with China, but China, instead of helping, just stole more land, and the locals oppose his trying to make friendly with China.

so at the SONA he said we'd oppose China's continued aggression.
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related item: Long analysis of China at StrategyPage.
 this is the part about the West Philippine sea issue:

Chinese claims on Filipino territory are asserted relatively discreetly but relentlessly and many Filipinos are persuaded to submit rather than fight. At the same time, a growing number of prominent Filipinos have become more outspoken in their protests and warnings of the damage Chinese domination could inflict. This now includes the sometimes pro-China Filipino president.

This drew a public rebuke from China. At the same time China keeps offering economic deals that seem favorable, but in fact, give China more access to Filipino assets or territory in return for not much.

China is slowly asserting its possession over areas where it has built bases on seven artificial islands (by dredging up sand). China offers seemingly attractive joint exploration deals to look for oil, gas and other resources in offshore areas where, by international law, Filipinos should be in charge but where China acts like it is already a partner.

China offers small gifts (usually of military equipment) and promises of large investments (that often do not appear) and makes loud protests at anything it objects to; like Filipinos displaying banners saying; "Welcome to the Philippines, Province of China." Displaying such banners is legal in the Philippines but not in China.

This is the point for Filipinos that Chinese officials don’t quite comprehend.

here is the part that confirms what I've been saying about Obama letting them get away with it:

For nearly a decade, until 2017, the United States refused to pressure China to back off on its claims, even though a UN-backed tribunal ruled that China had violated international law and a treaty China itself had signed, but seizing Filipino maritime territory.

China ignored that ruling (“set it aside”) and continued to build new bases and coerce other nations to recognize these claims. Now the United States is challenging the Chinese claims but so far China is ignoring those challenges (American warships and aircraft passing through waters and airspace China insists is now part of China.)

Because of the more forceful attitude of the Americans (and British, Australians and others) Filipinos are unsure which is best; resist or submit. Either way, China is going to hurt the Philippines. If there is resistance China will seek to impose economic damage. If there is submission the Philippines loses valuable territory forever.

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Ironically, the only thing I read about this in the news was the MSM complaining that Trumpieboy didn't mention McCain's name when he signed the bill.

Sigh. And then they wonder why no one trusts the MSM.

Family news

Ruby is getting ready to fly back to her school in Canada.

There is a Chinese airliner stuck on one runway, so we are hoping the flights are back to normal by the time she leaves. Apparently it skidded off the runway into the mud and got stuck: everyone got out okay. But it's a mess trying to remove it properly.

Raining again today: Monsoon rain but danger of mild flooding too.

the puppies are eating and have reached the "cute" stage: one can't walk around the house without watching where you step. We had put them into the kitchen, but due to rain, we moved them back: we have concrete floors so cleanup is easy.

Aretha Franklin Rest in Peace

NYPost remembers when Ms Franklin stepped in to help a friend

Twenty years ago at Radio City Music Hall, the Queen of Soul turned into the Queen of Opera when she came to the rescue of the show as a last-minute substitute for an ailing Luciano Pavarotti on the Puccini aria “Nessun dorma.”

more songs here:

Just for nice

Trivia post of the day

-------------------and don't miss this cat trivia video:

CHicken post of the day

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headsup from DarkRoastedBlend

why docs burn out? Paperwork

Scidaily: Why docs burn out:

when big business and gov't bureaucracy took over medicine, it stressed efficiency, but what really happened is it made docs into robots to follow the flow charts.

the art of medicine morphed into the business model, where continuity of care (of people you know) morphed into the McDonald's idea of efficiency (as if every doc was a clone and didn't matter if you knew him or her). Then the bean counters decided you needed to document everything: so you spent your time filling out blanks (often of things not important) instead of actually talking to patients.

And then, the electronic records struck:

"When the subsidies ran out and the promises turned into extra cost, less time with patients, time at home finishing EHR records, unreadable and meaningless cloned patient notes, HIPAA-restricted access to outside records, and government penalties for not 'mining' patient data that cost money to input, doctors became overworked robots." Alexander stressed that doctors need to spend less time on their EHRs. "EHRs are not going away, but they don't need to be the focus of the patient's visit," he said. "Doctors should oppose EHRs that occupy valuable doctor-patient time and which use billing diagnoses rather than patient assessments. EHRs need to be portable. Computerized notes should be templated for meaningful patient care notes."

the dirty little secret: A lot of time it is the art of medicine that works: the teenager who comes in for a cold, and she is pregnant but afraid to tell mom. The elderly mother comes in for stomach pain and the real problem is her druggie son is stealing her social security check, or the younger mom whose husband is beating her up when he is drunk. The man who is suicidal and alcoholic, dragged in by his girlfriend but won't tell you his real problem (his blood pressure medicine is causing impotence).

And then there is the Colombo scenerio: after you evaluated the problem and the patient was going out the door, he/she turns around and says: Just one more thing..."  and you find the real reason for their visit.

they knew about the problem years ago

someone posted this CSPAN talk about the book Goodbye good Men.from 2002.

Controversial at the time, it gives some insight into what was going on in the church, although from what I understand, the Vatican stepped in and tried to stop the problem despite the opposition from the PC.



\

and the problem goes beyond "abuse": Bishop Wuerl was in charge of Pittsburgh when everyone in western PA knew about the gay priests openly cruising at Pittsburgh bars.

Don't tell me he didn't know about it.

As I said before: Pray for the priests who just try to do their job caring for people when the bishop is pushing the modern agendas over the old fashioned piety of the local Catholics.

I am waiting for someone to ban my blog on the grounds of homophobia: But the problem is the facade pretending promiscuity is okay.

it's the religious equivalent of Gresham's law:

stories behind the headlines

stories to read carefully later on my tablet.

StrategyPage on the trade war against China.

and a lot of details about China's war against the Philippines: thank Obama for letting them get away with stealing our fishing/oil rich areas.

oh yes: And they note China's threat to Siberia.
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Father Z writes about the corruption he has had to face

read the whole thing. No body wants to discuss the gay cliques protecting each other is the reason for the coverup. (*or the gay friendly psychiatric experts who influenced the way bishops reacted to these stories)

and no one wants to mention the priests who try to be faithful but face hostility due to this scandal. they are in our prayers.

The press stresses the Catholics are angry: Yes but remember: We knew what was going on for years, and personally I am thankful the problem finally got publicity.

The BBC reports the pope is on the side of the victims.
Whoopiedoo. But he still surrounds himself with gay bishops, and his gay friendly "Family" meeting in Ireland and his friendlyness with "reformers" who want to remake Catholicism into a non judgemental socialist NGO shows he is not serious.

"who am I to judge" has been interpreted as approval of gay behavior: so now our family's serial predator assures us: god made me this way and the sex with employees was consensual, so how dare you condemn me.

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Strategypage on the Rohingye refugee problem, and a summary of other stateless people around the world.

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how to snap spaghetti into only 2 pieces.


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Supporting PC crooks: So much for the poor

In an earlier post, I mentioned the Evangelical influence in elections, including that in Brazil.

So now, Lifesite posts that Pope Francis is backing the crooked ex president (who is also pro abortion), because... ????

August 16, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis has recently met in Rome with some of the allies of the former Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva, who is now jailed for corruption. The Pontiff expressed his support for Lula da Silva, even allegedly comparing his imprisonment with the persecution of Jesus Christ. On 2 August, Pope Francis welcomed three allies of Lula da Silva, former Brazilian Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs Celso Amorim, former Argentine Minister Alberto Fernandez, and Chilean Minister Carlos Ominami. At that meeting, the Pope spoke with his guests about the situation of the former President of Brazil who ruled eight years from 2003 until 2011. The supportive delegation called attention to the plight of Lula, who is now imprisoned for his corruption which his supporters claim to be an unjust form of “lawfare.”

 he apparently gave lots of money for social welfare and rode in on an economic bubble, which later collapsed of course.

What went wrong with Brazil’s economy? The Lula model may bear some blame. But not because it is inherently flawed.

of course not. Socialism is never inherently flawed, until it bleeds profits and the economy collapses.

Rather, it is a model that, while relatively easy to implement when economic conditions are favorable, demands a level of political discipline hard to sustain when conditions sour. Like most governments, the Lula administration could not resist the temptation to spend freely in the boom years and not save for harder times. Not long after Rousseff took office, commodity prices dropped worldwide, and growth rates dipped sharply. Government revenues fell, though budgetary obligations and expenditures remained largely unchanged.

and like most demagogues, he was getting rich on the sly. how rich is he? Forbes suggests he is "close" to being a billionaire.

BBC article on his corruption issues.

ForeignPolicy on his corruption

And this article: he pretends to be a martyr of course and the bbc article states he was "caught up" in the scandal.

Right.

all of this reminds me of something I wrote about awhile back: That the bishops here were busy condemning Duterte for his "war on drugs", but then they met with our crooked ex president for a photo op. She is a friend of Bill, and got out of jail mainly due to George Clooney's wife (a major Hillary donor) who pushed her case to the UN Human rights court as political, not corruption.

Geopolitical implications of the "scandal"

The "scandal" is not an isolated problem, but related to the collapse of the strong Catholic ethic in the USA.

this has political implications: the happy SJW tell Catholics to listen to the Pope and condemn Trumpieboy but the Catholics, who once were a monolithic Democratic vote, are morphing into Republicans, and often, like VP Pence, morphing into evangelical Republicans.

OnePeterFive summarizes the problem here.

(this) is the same ring that has been sedulously working for decades to undermine the integrity of the doctrinal, moral, sacramental, liturgical Church. These men – McCarrick, McElroy, Wuerl, O’Malley, Mahony, Cupich, Tobin, Farrell, Lynch, Weakland, Paglia, Maradiaga, their lovable mouthpiece James Martin, Thomas Rosica, and far too many others, including ones who have passed on to their eternal fate, such as Lyons, Boland, Brom – are the same ones who have destabilized and adulterated catechesis, theology, liturgy, and most obviously the Church’s commitment to the unchanging moral law, as we saw in the Amoris Laetitia debacle and all that surrounded and succeeded it.

We must connect the dots and not pretend to be shocked when we see, for example, attempts under way to “re-interpret” Humanae Vitae through a false teaching on conscience, or to do away with clerical celibacy, or to introduce female deacons.

To treat the sins of this ring of conspirators as nothing more than a recrudescence of the sex scandals of the past would be to lose sight of their real enormity. These are not just men of bad moral character; they are apostates, and they are trying to remake the Church in the image of their own apostasy.

which is why Father Rosica's (now censored) statement about the Pope is the key to the problem.

 of course, he won't be called a hypocrite or the dictator pope, he will be called the "great reformer".

he stresses serving the poor, so he is a hero!

But he is not converting the poor or teaching them about Jesus. He is preaching to the rich SJW elite so these people feel good about themselves  (who see the poor as their pets).

and I say this as a doc who worked with the poor most of my life.

which is why 20 percent of Latin Americans are now Evangelicals.

The evangelical churches’ political agenda is centered on defense of family values – basically opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, divorce, euthanasia, and what they erroneously call “gender ideology.”  On these topics on certain occasions, there’s a striking convergence with the Catholic hierarchy, Social-Christians, and conservative parties.  The evangelicals do not usually take positions, however, on other issues in which the government has a strong role, such as the economy or international relations.

The evangelical phenomenon reflects a double dynamic:  the unstoppable surge in non-Catholic faithful poses an enormous challenge for the region’s deeply rooted bishops conferences, and the growing distrust for political leaders and parties has facilitated the emergence of new options, including evangelicals, with barely articulated platforms...

The evangelical vote, moreover, is highly desired by all candidates and at least indirectly influences campaigns.  Candidates in Colombia, Brazil, or Mexico, as in other Latin American countries, are making that increasingly obvious as elections approach.

so this has geopolitical significance.

Oh by the way: There are over a million refugees from Venezuela fleeing to nearby countries.

This is the Venezuela that was lauded by all those Hollywood types a couple years ago for being socialist. No one is connecting the dots here either.

HRW asks why the Pope didn't speak up about the problem? the bishops did, but the Pope didn't back the bishops in Venezuela..

And the article adds: Why didn't he speak up about the abuse of young men/boys in other Latin American countries, which involved the knowledge of some local bishops?

and it's not just Venezuela

and Brazil is having another election.

the corrupt ex president is in the lead, but there could be a Trumplike/Duterte style upset there too: and there is an evangelical link.

 and remember, the MSM is trying to destroy him by noting all those accusations of homophobia, but what is missing is the background of widespread sexual abuse of children in the slums.

and of course, if they guy gets in, he will be blamed for all those murders: last year there were 60 thousand plus murders, many by police, but don't expect anyone to notice this any more than the MSM in the USA noted all the murders here in the Philippines before Duterte got into office.

musical interlude of the day

No need for the bible? (Millstones are sooo out of date)

the guy who runs the "salt and light" network for the bishops explains the pope is beyond the bible and tradition. After a week, someone said WTF, so the passage was removed.

Pope Francis breaks Catholic traditions whenever he wants because he is “free from disordered attachments.” Our Church has indeed entered a new phase: with the advent of this first Jesuit pope, it is openly ruled by an individual rather than by the authority of Scripture alone or even its own dictates of tradition plus Scripture

However, the internet is forever, so the article is posted HERE.

yes, even if one is an agnostic, from a practical standpoint, religious laws and legal traditions encode thousands of years of pragmatic experience.

and the Pope is not a dictator who can change God's law (he can change men's laws, i.e. minor stuff, but not God's laws).


and the scandals are just the tip of the iceburg on the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

Forget the "Pennsylvania" report (we lay folks already knew this stuff): the real bombshell is Richard Sipes letter can be found here.
those who were behind the report are still there, and unrepentant.

Best clueless comment? From the Altoona diocese spokesman:

Diocese Secretary for Communications, Tony DeGol, said the latest report is an opportunity for the voice of the victims to be heard...."Their stories need to be told. Many people have suffered greatly and people need to know about that suffering and most importantly the church and everyone else in society needs to learn from their suffering."

Everyone else needs to learn? WTF? So I am supposed to feel guilty that when the lay folks tried to get the bishop to pay attention to the abuse going on, we were ignored?

Steps taken since 2016 include a Diocesan Office of Children and Youth Protection, an independent oversight board, educational training programs and ongoing victim/survivor assistance.\

yup. Another oversight bureaucracy will do the trick.

No talk of sin or evil here, folks, just move along.

============
update Pennsylvania report here. 

before this hit, Kathleen Kane publicized the atrocities in the Altoona/Johnstown/State College area LINK report here.

Timeline HERE.

we layfolks knew what was going on back in the late 1990's.

2003 story shows that the local papers were reporting on the problem, so it's not exactly new. More HERE. and HERE.

and it says a lot that the DA who helped break the case was eventually convicted after leaking information to the press about another case, but the bishops remain free.

Family news

The streets in Manila are flooded, but we are okay. Just heavy monsoon rain and bad sewer drainage, plus some neighborhoods built under sea level.  link2.

Kuya is supposed to be delivering rice today there, but I am not sure he will be able to do this since many streets are flooded and it's due to rain again.

Part of the problem? bad sewer drainage, and lot of plastic bags and other garbage thrown into the drainage system tends to clog it.

Which is why our new covered drainage system replacing the open small ditches might help here. The problem? the last mayor's portion near us must have used substandard cement, since they collapsed from traffic or parked cars.

Or course, it's not the cars: It's the dump trucks and rice trucks which are detoured around us in the new one way traffic. They need to make the streets wider, but the stores and small sidewalks mean that is impossible unless one tears down houses and stores.

Ironically, the downtown now has a fence in the middle of the two lanes: two lanes only of traffic, and there is a parking area that they enforce. Before, the tricycles going in and out, and the double parked cars cause traffick problems, so making fewer lanes actually helped.

For the last week I have had hives, and my sleep cycle is off thanks to the medications I was taking. The hives are better now but essentially I am a week behind in the news, and guess what: Nothing has changed.

Oh well.

Ruby had her teeth done here by the dentist, who replaced all her plastic fillings with a new set. She also bought new glasses, and needed clothing, and will replace her OTC medicines which are cheaper here than in Canada. She returns to her school in two weeks or so.

We are hoping that the airline will let her travel alone at age 17: they are strict, but since she has been back and forth twice, she should be okay.
If not, one of us will have to get a ticket to travel with her again.

so how bad is the "scandal"?

So bad it has made Bishop Barron believe there might be a devil.

lots of smoke and mirrors out there pushing sociological/psychological memes.

lots of commentators—left, center, and right—have chimed in to say that the real cause of the McCarrick disaster is, take your pick, the ignoring of Humanae vitae, priestly celibacy, rampant homosexuality in the Church, the mistreatment of homosexuals, the sexual revolution, etc. Mind you, I’m not saying for a moment that these aren’t important considerations and that some of the suggestions might not have real merit.

but haven't the bishops been there before?

But I amsaying that launching into a consideration of these matters that we have been debating for decades and that will certainly not admit of an easy adjudication amounts right now to a distraction.

So what should be done? The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has no juridical or canonical authority to discipline bishops. And even if it tried to launch an investigation, it has, at the moment, very little credibility. Only the Pope has juridical and disciplinary powers in regard to bishops. Hence, I would suggest (as a lowly back-bencher auxiliary) that the bishops of the United States—all of us—petition the Holy Father to form a team, made up mostly of faithful lay Catholics skilled in forensic investigation, and to empower them to have access to all of the relevant documentation and financial records. 

Yeah. That'll do it. Ask the "who am I to judge" Pope to check out what's going on and kick tushes.


but of course, he will only point fingers to the sociological and psychological data to explain the problem, and etend the hand of mercy, when the real problem is chosing evil and getting away with it because you aren't supposed to point fingers.

hey, Jesus said don't judge, right? Just ignore that part about the millstone....

Philip Lawler, however, is sceptical: who would chose the laypeople? who could guarantee them access to the evidence? And who would give them the power to remove/correct etc?

after all, no one noticed these things for years, so why should one trust them now?

But Eccles is saved blog is on a roll:

God admits "I knew what McCarrick was up to"

-----------
His latest installment:-


 Saturday, 11 August 2018

  Fr Rosica interviews Cardinal Wuerl

shifty-looking man (possibly Bill Clinton, possibly Cardinal Wuerl): Thank you, Fr Rosica, it's good to be back here, and I really appreciate the great work you do, Your Salt and Light empire is surely the saltiest and lightest media empire the world has ever seen, and you're looking great yourself too!... your work, day in, day out, insulting Catholics, is very valuable, and much appreciated by the USCCB...

We love you too, Cardinal, and we think the American bishops are doing a fine job! You haven't had a cardinal dragged off to prison for at least three days now! That shows that you're giving a great message of hope to all of us. Tell us more about the ground-breaking initiatives you are proposing.

 Wuerl: Why, you do ask some tough questions, Rosie! Yes, we are planning a brilliant new scheme whereby we get the bishops to be judged by an external and impartial group of, er, other bishops. Or perhaps by themselves. What can possibly go wrong?

StrategyTalk on the Arms business

lots of back stories about the world's various wars on StrategyTalk..

that part about Grand Fenwick, for those of you who don't know who Peter Sellers is, refers to this comedy.



The New Duke of Grand Fenwick Needs To Buy Arms - 8/8/2018 Austin and Jim give a tutorial on buying arms at the World Wide Arms Bazaar.
MP3 Download

Human Trafficking 101 - 7/10/2018 Jim and Austin discuss human trafficking around the world.
MP3 Download

China Takes Possession Of The South China Sea - 6/27/2018 Jim and Austin discuss wants China full control the South China Sea. 
MP3 Download

Nuclear Sit Rep - 6/11/2018 Jim talks about the current nuclear arsenals of the world.
MP3 Download

North Korea: Radiation And Food Trump All - 5/28/2018 Jim and Austin look at why North Korea needs a deal with the United States.
MP3 Download

Iran A Meddle Too Far - 4/2/2018 Jim Dunnigan and Austin by exam Irans continued meddling in the Middle East. Also, they look at some of the repercussions Iran is experiencing from meddling too much.
MP3 Download

Listen On YouTube

Ruskie Mercs In Syria - 3/11/2018 Jim and Austin discuss Russian mercenaries in Syria and other related items.
MP3 Download


Daniel Coats' Threat Assessment - 2/28/2018 Jim and Austin dig into Daniel Coats' recent worldwide threat assessment.
MP3 Download


Review Of 2017 - 2/12/2018 A Conversation Between Jim and Austin About 2017.
MP3 Download

Space force logo: Vote Now

public voting for which space force logo you prefer.

and no, I don't know where you are supposed to vote for these things.

But the designs seem a bit lame to me, especially compared to the Apollo patches:

or even the patch for the science lab on the ISS:

Rocket Racoon, call your office. Baby Groot is on line.

Hate Speech? we haz that

HA.

The underground artists of Hollywood strike again:

photo credit: Bryan White

(From the Hollywood reporter)

and gadfly alex jones has been banned by the tech companies.

He supports conspiracy theories, and encourages the paranoid and mentally ill in their delusions. But he isn't full of hate speech as far as I know.

The last time I listened to him was a couple years ago when he tried to crash Bilderberg or someone like that, but Kuya sometimes checks out the latest scandal on his site.

But a ban by all the tech companies seems over the top: There are apps and other ways to listen to him out there: his app is now number 3 on the apple store, and I believe some internet radio stations carry him too.

I believe he is also on short wave radio.

When we were in Africa, the local news was censored, so we used our short waves to listen to the BBC's Africa service to find out what was going on. It is also where I became a fan of Monte Python and the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy.

but young folks all have smart phones (not me: too small for my fat fingers).

as for twitter bans: Two conservative anti Francis Catholic sites have had their twitter feed suspended. Presumably their anti pedophile bishop rants was interpreted as homophobia hate speech.

as if an ordinary ethical gay would think preying on young men under their care, using money donated for charity to live it up, and /or using it for hush money was okay. Sheeesh.

St Athanasius, call your office. The world is against you again.

OFW without papers

Most of the immigration kerfuffle seems to be about Europe or Trumpieboy.

But it is a worldwide problem, which is why I sometimes post links to stories on MigrantRights website.

you are poor, there are no decent jobs nearby, and you want money so your kids can attend school, you can have decent food, and maybe even a tv and cellphone. So usually one or two people in the extended family finds a job overseas, to send money back.

why? No jobs here, and when there are jobs, they don't pay as well.

so today's migrant story from the Manila Bulletin: 400 000 undocumented Filipinos are being threatened with deportation from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).

statistics on "irregular" immigrants.

------------------

an unrelated item: Israel has gifted the Phil RedCross a water purifier/ desalinization machine for emergencies.

Called GalMobile, the water system can purify up to 20,000 liters of seawater a day and 80,000 liters of brackish, muddy or contaminated river water and bring it to World Health Organization standard

Sneaking in under the radar

The Atlantic magazine has an article about how young men started watching Jordan Peterson before the establishment discovered the guy.

I don't always understand Peterson, and I don't always agree with his conclusions, but you know, listening makes  you think, and presents new ways of thinking about things.

His Freudian/Jungian approach to the bible, which echoes mythology, for example is not something that will push fundamentalist Christianity, but like Tolkien, he presents the bible as myth in it's original meaning: myth is a way that teaches the deeper truths that fiction or even non fiction cannot.

And he makes one think of the larger picture of the story: for example, when he reminds us that the trickster/chaos is also there for a reason: even if it is just to renew the world.

And Peterson makes it personal: Make your bed. (then go and change the world).

Back to Marcus Aurelius: stressing personal responsibility first.

So the one teaching young men to be responsible and ethical grownups is a pagan. How ironic.

Or is it? "Make your bed" sounds right out of Therese of Lisieux (start to serve God by doing the little things well).

Peterson came out of nowhere. Well, out of Canada, which is even less likely than nowhere, since they are light years ahead of the US when it comes to political correctness. And he got into teaching by posting first on internet discussion sites and then posting his college lectures on youtube: under the radar so to speak.

But isn't this what one should expect?

in the many myths, it is the younger son or less respected one who saves the world from chaos, but if you look closely, there is also a meaning behind the chaos, an alternative story that has to be understood

Forest fires in history

I lived in New Mexico when that state had several terrible fires, including the one that almost burnt the city of Los Alamos.

Luckily it spared us that time (a fire a few years earlier burnt a canyon nearby) but I was bemused to see signs: No smoking outdoors (they allowed smoking inside only).

So my sympathy is with those in the California fires.  Expect lots of finger pointing for blame, but short of stopping people from living in forested areas, there is not much you can do.

Burning off the underbrush helps (unlike eastern forests, the dead wood seems to sit there and doesn't rot for years, probably because it is dry). However, the Los Alamos fire was caused by a fire started to burn off the underbrush to stop a future fire: they miscalculated.

Our local Apache tribe had trained firefighters that would go out every year to fight fires. They would start training early in the year, and often would be called up for months. We didn't lose any firefighters when I was there; but they often came back with the worse case of fungus toes due to sweating feet inside their boots.

And some of our fighters were young women: but if you know Apache history, you don't mess with Apache women.

If you leave the forest burn, locals will complain, but this is how forests renew themselves: new trees and plants will come up. IF you stop the fires, then that means a hotter larger fire next time.

However, the largest fire in the west was in 1910: the Devil's Broom fire that included northern Idaho and surrounding states and killed 87 people.

the National Park Service site has a list of major recorded fires, mostly in the USA.

the worst fire on their list was the Peshtigo Wisconsin fire in 1871, which killed almost 1200 people. Few people heard about it, because it happened the same time as the great Chicago fire.

Wikipedia has a list of fires worldwide.

In many places, old dry grass is burnt off so that the new tender grass will sprout, or so farmers can plant crops more easily.  The farmers in Africa did this when they moved to a new field (after the older fields became exhausted) and the Native Americans also set fire to clear the grass. Ditto for Asia. But usually these fires are started when rain will limit the damage (at the start of the rainy season, when planting is done) and are more grass than forest fires.

Global warming will be blamed for all of this, and fingers pointed to Trumpieboy.

Yet the increase in global temperature has been going on for 100 years and Trumpie boy has only been in charge for 2.

And although the US refuses to bow and obey the NWO bosses who want to order people around, one tiny fact is that, unlike in Europe, the US carbon footprint has gone down in recent years, due to the use of natural gas from fracking.

yes, I support sustainable living. But the religion of global warming is to manipulate people into accepting a UN dictatorship that will tell you how to live for your own good (and maybe order you to die for the good of the world, although they usually hide that beneath fancy language).

Family news

Ruby and Joy should be getting home from Manila tonite, where Joy was attending an agribusiness conference and Ruby partying with her cousins.

I am fighting a case of hives. I'm not sure what caused it, but the antihistamines made me sleepy so I checked with Dr. Danny, and he advised a course of prednisone.

I haven't been keeping up on the news lately: Same old thing recycled.

The six puppies are getting out of their box and starting to wander, so they got moved outside the bathroom into the hall. The hall is cement so easy to clean, but one does have to watch one's step.

Chano is busy at the farm.

we have had the usual monsoon rains, so although it is not that hot, I am keeping the airconditioner on low, mainly to keep down the humidity in the room but also to filter the pollen/dirt.

China crackdown on Christians

From the UKMail:

Locals in Henan stated concerns of a move by the atheist ruling Community Party to control Christianity Residents were asked to replace posters of the cross and Jesus Christ with portraits of President Xi Jinping Experts say the government is waging the most severe systematic suppression of the religion since 1982 Chinese leaders have 'always been suspicious of the political threat' that Christianity poses to the regime

headsup Virtueonline 

Roman trivia

Roman horses didn't wear horseshoes: They wore hipposandals.

photo credit: Vindolanda

BBC story.  they were found near a fort for the Hadrian wall.

Wikipedia article.
originally, the horses wore leather wrappings or shoes.

The hipposandal, which appears in the Celtic-Roman area north of the Alps around the mid-1st century AD,[1] was the next step in the development of hoof protection, where the sole of the boot was made of metal. It included an oval-shaped cup of thick metal that enclosed and protected the hoof, complete with a fixation system. The device was fastened to the hoof by metallic clips and leather laces. ...

To further improve traction, the bottom of each hipposandal was grooved.

but what about the classic horseshoe?

There is speculation that the Gauls were the first to nail on metal horseshoes.[7] The nailed iron horseshoe first clearly appeared in the archaeological record in Europe in about the 5th century AD when a horseshoe, complete with nails, was found in the tomb of the Frankish King Childeric I at Tournai, Belgium.[8]

Factoids of the day

Bugs

the "bugs are good for you so eat them because we green types are promoting them for peons to eat instead of hamburgers" articles are popping up again.

Best Answer: from Dave Barry's blog.

WE'VE BEEN SEEING VARIATIONS OF THIS STORY FOR MORE THAN 25 YEARS, AND THE ANSWER IS STILL NO

Would you consider replacing your favourite meat dish with insects, either for the taste, or for the health benefits? A U.S. researcher studying their effect on health advocates insects as a potentially nutritious and tasty snack.

Help yourselves, researchers.

-------------------

Well, survivalists ate grasshoppers like their grandparents did in the good old days.

but as this Wired article notes, even in Mexico, few of them are actually harvested and eaten.

here, they do eat crickets, but it is not an every day thing. and in Africa, they ate caterpillars and flying ants, but again usually as a snack to supplement their diet, not as an every day thing.

a survey in (the very poor country of) Laos gives you an idea of how little insects are eaten:

first the article cites that usual: look at the millions of people who eat insects, so you should too quote:

At least 2 billion people globally eat insects (over 1900 edible species) though this habit is regarded negatively by others. There is a limited amount of data on the perception and consumption of insects.

then they do a survey in a very poor rural country where presumably people don't have a lot of KFC's or Jolibees down the street, and you find the reality:

Results A total of 1059 adults (Sex ratio F/M: 1.2, 30 ethnic groups), and 256 vendors were enrolled. A total of 1025 (96.8%) lay people were currently insect consumers, 135 (13.0%) daily or weekly consumers, and 322 (31.1%) consumed several times per month. For the majority (575, 55.6%) the consumption was infrequent (less than a few times per year) and only 22 (2%) had never eaten insects.

and the trend is decreasing.

as for solving the malnutrition problem:

when people are hungry, they eat all sorts of things. That doesn't mean they will eat them if there is an alternative.

growing, collecting and distributing and then getting people to buy them, which means they have to be sold cheaply.

so since we moved here, Lolo ate crickets exactly once: and he had to request one of our farmers to get the crickets for our cook to eat, because it wasn't something usually sold in the Palenke.



in contrast, BBQ intestines, chicken feet, and Balut are sold all over the place.