Wretchard: your point in Manila, that the “Jesuit university” students were ready to take to the streets reminds me that back then, the liberation theology types were insisting that only political action could remove Marcos…it was an “either or” choice, they insisted.

But then People Power happened…a real third way.

In the US, however, the papers are shilling for the gov’t in a way that few Pinoy journalists would do. Tita Cory wouldn’t have a chance…

As for all those comments on Catholic priests by bigots: the JAMA had an article on sexual abuse of boys: from 4 to 74 percent, depending on how broad you define abuse and which populations you surveyed.

As a doc, I was not aghast at the numbers in the Irish data, as much as wondering why the abuse rate was so low. Statistically, it should have been much much higher.

And the statistics suggest a lot of sexual abuse is out there and ignored, maybe because a closer look might implicate that some in the gay community are helping in the cover up, and that would be “homophobia” so is not allowed.

Maureen Dowd seems especially upset, but one wonders why. She recently wrote an article praising “changes” in Saudi Arabia because their religious police didn’t raid an art show attended by the elite…yet no mention of the lack of churches there, the arrest of those running a “safe house” for maids, the accusations of witchcraft against domestic helpers or the arrest of two dozen Pinoys who face 60 lashes for attending a cross dressing party in Saudi.