Est Quod Est Phrase of the Week

The phrase of the week, IMHO, is "free-range dog meat." I found it in this HuffPo piece from December 2009.

Within Thailand, this no-stoplight town known as Ta Rae evokes free-range dog meat the way Memphis conjures thoughts of hickory-smoked ribs. The village does not showcase its signature industry, which relies on bribery and crime. Nor does it openly embrace dog eating, regarded by mainstream Thai society as hickish and uncivilized. The local dog meat vendors operate on a dusty side street, outside the town's sanctioned outdoor market. But the village's discretion is for naught: Ta Rae is regionally known as a nerve center in Southeast Asia's stray dog meat trade. Here, Northeast Thailand's seemingly infinite supply of wild dogs are corralled, graded, crammed into wire cages and prepped for export. The destination: Vietnam, where demand for grilled dog sells for triple the price of pork.

So the remaining questions. Is eating a free-range dog a sacramental thing to do (reference)? I mean this meat has got to be organic, right? Even if it is a bit diseased.

If you watch the video on the HuffPo page, you'll probably laugh at the line "[A]nimal welfare advocates... think the dog trade taints Thailand's reputation." What reputation is that? Give me a break.

By the way

Justin Anthony, born on Wednesday.

Ted Nugent: Dog Eat Dog

I personally don't care what anyone eats, short of fellow human being. But the whole dog-eating thing is funny to me for one reason. The dude wrote something in his first memoir which he certainly thought was really cool at the time. Or I doubt he would have included it. Now it turns out to be a major laughing point. It reminded me of a sixth grade girl I rode the bus with who used to brag about her riding lawn mower, not realizing that everybody was rolling their eyes and laughing behind her back. Along with countless other anecdotes, all involving people ranging in age from kindergarten to college sophomore.

"I have a say" by Father John Hollowell

Here is the blog associated with this effective counter-campaign.

Oh, Those Relentless Numbers...

In this excellent report by Bill Donohue about the embarrassing deposition of David Clohessy, we learn that in 2008 SNAP spent $92,000 on travel. I'm guessing that it was "time travel", especially after reading this news release from the Catholic League, dated April 11, 2012, which summarizes a study done by a Georgetown institute.

The headlines should read, “Abuse Problem Near Zero Among Priests,” but that is not what is being reported.

According to the 2011 Official Catholic Directory, there are 40,271 priests in the U.S. The report says there were 23 credible accusations of the sexual abuse of a minor made against priests for incidences last year. Of that number, 9 were deemed credible by law enforcement. Which means that 99.98% of priests nationwide had no such accusation made against them last year. Nowhere is this being reported.

Here are more data from the report that won’t appear elsewhere: almost all the offenses involve homosexuality. Indeed, 16% of the credible allegations made against priests who work in dioceses or eparchies, and 6% of religious order priests, involved pedophilia. In the former category, 82% of the alleged victims were male; in the latter, the figure is 94%. In other words, we are not talking about kids as victims, and we are not talking about females: we are talking about postpubescent males who were allegedly violated by adult males. That’s called homosexuality.

When did these alleged offenses take place? Overall, 68% took place between 1960 and 1984; 1975-1979 being the most common period (among religious order priests, 33% took place before 1960, and another 40% took place between 1960-1980). In 75% of all the cases, the accused priest is either dead or has been dismissed.

I've often wondered what would have happened to me if I were born a Catholic and had been raised during this turbulent period in church history. Would I have kept my faith? I know it's not good to second-guess God's plan for ones life, so I don't dwell on it. But my money is on something like, "Pauli loses faith; blames it on liberal priests and homosexual abuse scandal." To prove this, of course, is as impossible as time travel. Or vanishing into thin air, which is most likely what David Clohessy wanted to do in the middle of that deposition.

Romney ahead by 2 points in latest Gallup

Pretty amazing to me. This guy, Mitt Romney, has been getting beaten up for the last 3 or 4 months. And he is still ahead of Obama by 6 points among independents.

Note that Warren Buffett was not included in this presidential poll.

These mascot videos intrigue me

I'm not a big sports fan. But some people seem to be literally consumed by sports.

Does anyone here speak Austrian?

Bear with the stuttering stuff at the beginning. It's sort of funny, but wait until you get to some of the real goof-ups.



Here's the source; this page has even more detail and footage of more of Boy Wonder's blunders.

Some of these are priceless. The Irish one turns out to not have been a gaffe really, but a joke (ha, ha). My favorite is around 3:50 where he reprimands the teleprompter crew.