the big story (weekend)

Establishment Grooms “Outsider” Petraeus for Presidential Bid

Forget the Tea Party. Forget Ron Paul. Forget untried and unknown independents. America needs a strong leader. It needs an outsider.

“Many voters yearn for an outsider, someone with authenticity, integrity and proven accomplishment. Someone who has not spent their life plotting how to ascend the greasy pole, adjusting every utterance for maximum political advantage,” writes Toby Harnden for the Daily Telegraph. “In this toxic climate, perhaps the only public institution that has increased in prestige in recent years is the American military.”

That outsider is General David Petraeus.

Outsider? Petraeus is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. The “outsider” Patraeus attended the Bilderberg meeting held in Greece in 2009.

Foreign Policy magazine, the globalist Carnegie Endowment for International Peace periodical now owned by the CIA’s favorite newspaper, the Washington Post, profiled Petraeus as number eight on its list of “Top 100 Global Thinkers.” The establishment media has turned somersaults to praise him and select him as leader of the year on numerous occasions. The Atlantic Council, an insider organization par excellence — members and associates include Brent Scowcroft, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, Colin Powell and Zbigniew Brzezinski — has bestowed its Military Leadership Award on Petraeus.

Neocon warmongers love Petraeus. The American Enterprise Institute — one of a handful of neocon think tanks behind the push to invade Iraq and kill a million plus Iraqis — bestowed its 2010 Irving Kristol Award on Petraeus. The late Kristol is considered to be the godfather of the neocon movement.

General David Petraeus is very much an insider.

Read more...

*U.S. and Colombia Cover Up Atrocities Through Mass Graves

*Karzai Slams The West AGAIN

*Economist tallies swelling cost of Israel to US

*Australia to appoint population minister; develop strategy

*Air Force's mystery spaceship: X-37 gears up for launch

*Aral Sea Almost DRIED UP




*The Cashless Society - Economics 101



*VIDEO: 7.2 Earthquake shakes southern California



earlier:

Tea Dems

Disgruntled Democrats are joining the Tea Party. The numbers are very small at this point but it could be a trend affects Obama in 2012

Grand Junction, Colorado (CNN) -- They are not typical Tea Party activists: A woman who voted for President Obama and believes he's a "phenomenal speaker." Another who said she was a "knee-jerk, bleeding heart liberal."

These two women are not alone.

Some Americans who say they have been sympathetic to Democratic causes in the past -- some even voted for Democratic candidates -- are angry with President Obama and his party. They say they are now supporting the Tea Party -- a movement that champions less government, lower taxes and the defeat of Democrats even though it's not formally aligned with the Republican Party.

Read more...

*US Special Forces staying in Iraq

*More than 200,000 to lose jobless benefits Monday with Congress out

*Bacteria detection is anti-terror effort

*Flat Unemployment Rate Masks the Race Gap

*ALSO: What do the new unemployment numbers means


*What's driving up oil prices again? Wall Street, of course

*Triple blasts in Baghdad embassies kill dozens

*TSA Letter Confirms Naked Body Scanners Transmit Images

*Obama Expands Military Involvement in Africa

*Legality of Drone Strikes Still in Question


*Feds found Pfizer too big to nail

*IBM to build 'smart' grid for electric cars. Your car managed from afar

*Girl Arrested for Doodling Sues New York City

Saturday:

Pope Protected Pedophiles

Contrary to Vatican statements, evidence continues to emerge that Ratzinger covered and shielded pedophile priest while serving as Cardinal for the US

The abuse cases of two priests in Arizona have cast further doubt on the Catholic church's insistence that Pope Benedict XVI played no role in shielding pedophiles before he became pope.

Documents reviewed by The Associated Press show that as a Vatican cardinal, the future pope took over the abuse case of the Rev. Michael Teta of Tucson, Ariz., then let it languish at the Vatican for years despite repeated pleas from the bishop for the man to be removed from the priesthood.

In another Tucson case, that of Msgr. Robert Trupia, the bishop wrote to then-Cardinal Ratzinger, who would become pope in 2005. Bishop Manuel Moreno called Trupia "a major risk factor to the children, adolescents and adults that he many have contact with." There is no indication in the case files that Ratzinger responded.

The details of the two cases come as other allegations emerge that Benedict – as a Vatican cardinal – was part of a culture of cover-up and confidentiality.

"There's no doubt that Ratzinger delayed the defrocking process of dangerous priests who were deemed 'satanic' by their own bishop," Lynne Cadigan, an attorney who represented two of Teta's victims, said Friday.


Read more...

*Contesting Jobless Claims Becomes a Boom Industry

*US Delays Decision on China Yuan Manipulation

*Angel Face: How the Media got Amanda Know Wrong

Old Man Yells At Cloud

Our regular feature of an old crank's observations before senility fully sets in.

• Every manner of human mystery will be solved at some point. It will be 1's and 0's and it will be boring. The journey that is our species' evolution is basically the constant discovery that lightning does not come from Zeus.
• Tech journalism, if you can call it that, has an Apple fetish
• What do women want? We don't know, they don't know. Repression is so much easier
• Did you see Keith Olbermann on Friday when he started reading from James Thurber. His story is starting to resemble Howard Beale's
• If the "They" say it's cool, people will do it. The trend now seems to be getting younger people to not "own" anything. Examples: downloads over CDs, bank cards over cash, the "cloud" over hard drive. Sure, these things are newer but you cannot do what you want with the "cool" that you can with the "old" stuff
• Why so many small planes lately and what is that shit they are leaving in the sky?
• The Simpson's is still the only good satire on network TV
• Just admit you want to bang Sarah Palin and stop pretending she's a politician worth listening to. Name one new idea that she's ever created
  
• That optimistic jobs report included lots of temporary Census positions. Look at the APS Payroll report. It's the most telling. Jobs were lost this month
• Pay college athletes already
• You can say the Pope is a crook who let deaf kids get raped and not be anti-Catholic. You can say that the Israeli government commits war crimes and not be anti-Semitic. Sadly, however, you can say those things and still be a bigot. You can never tell where a critic is coming from when you are a religious minority
• We only ever have two choices in this country. Usually two fake choices but two choices none the less. Coke or Pepsi, Mac or PC. I am convinced that if you said "breathing or kill puppies" a sizable portion of this society would either end up dead or with Snoopy's blood on their hands
• In the film, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, there is a quote that is rather deep. "People can see you as a thing....when they see you as a thing, they can do anything they want to you." What's your "thing?"
• Didn't they do 3D movies in the 50s? What so urgent about having them now
• Are there any real trends anymore that don't come from Madison Avenue?
• Sorry, local news, but crime rates just keeps on going down. You're either going to have to scare more or report some news
• The kids whose schools you cut from now will be the adults later. Most school children now are minorities. Here's a prediction: when these under-educated children become adults and their lack of quality academics in youth end up destroying a future America. How much do you want to bet that very old white people will say, "This country's going downhill because of all the blacks and Hispanics we got now." Place your bets
• Ya can't get good Italian in southern California. Some would disagree but it's only because the longer you've been deprived of the good East Coast stuff, the more this Californian fusion crap starts tasting acceptable
• So, liberals, Karzai wants us out and McChrystal says we kill an "amazing number of (unarmed) people." Still pro-surge just because Obama is.
  
• Have you seen Groundhog's Day?
• Unrelated - how about this buildup to an Iran war? It's like 2003 all over again
• Hack joke that is true: the Federal Reserve is not federal and has no reserves
• I can't figure out if Donovan McNabb has been a disappointment or the reason for what success the Eagles have had
• So, we're down to remaking Clash of the Titans now. That's one step away from redoing Go-Bots
  
• All men are dogs, all women have fleas

girl blurbs (weekend)

Rachael Ray - Your Secret Crush

Yeah, you won't boast about how hot she is the same way you do about Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie but you know you dig her. She's a secret crush. The kind of girl you really like when no one's looking. Here's one of our secret faves: Rachael Ray. Sure, she's runty, a little stubby, her voice is strange, she has a weird fetish for olive oil, and she's a little too attached to that crazy dog of hers. But still, she's got that something.




*Lonely boobs: Susan Sarandon talks to life after split with Tim Robbins

*The Great Recession comes to Hollywood: Shannen Doherty - Dancing with Debt...

*...Lindsay Lohan Broke, In Dire Straits

*Even Brad can't get the girl: Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt Sleep In Separate Bedrooms says Former Bodyguard

*Denise Huxtable has a hot (legal) daughter. Meet Zoe Kravitz (yes, that "Kravitz")

*VIDEO: Sarah Palin Special, 'Real American Stories,' Debuts On Fox News

(editor's note: because Sarah Palin is such a played out subject and human being (cylon, maybe?) we instead have video of Lisa Loeb - CoOlDiGgY's Official Sarah Palin Avatar)

CoOlDiGgY WOMEN OF THE WEEK - 1) Naomi Wolf

We here at CoOlDiGgY have been fans of author and Rhodes Scholar Naomi Wolf for almost 2 decades. The End of America is just one of those books that EVERYONE should read a couple of times a year. And The Beauty Myth helped us get through our eating disorders (most of us here look like Kevin James but not as athletic).

She's a feminist, she's a progressive, and she's a Tea Party darling? Yes, like this very blog you are reading, Naomi Wolf is an anomaly - a left-leaning patriot. This week, to little mainstream fanfare, Naomi Wolf (once loved by the controlled-left but now ignored) stated that President Barack Obama is continuing the path to fascism that started during the Presidency of George W. Bush. Obama is the Bush third term.

Naomi Wolf is this blog's patron saint (see our Shit List - it features only one person as of now, the fake liberal that "founded" Daily Kos) So, we, like Naomi Wolf, are an ideology without a home. Non-Republican Patriots who very much dislike the Obama Administration. You will probably see more of this throughout the nation. You will certainly see it here, daily, at CoOlDiGgY.com

Naomi Wolf news:

*Naomi Wolf says Tea Parties Help Fight Fascism

*Left-Wing Icon: America Is Still Headed Towards Fascism Under Obama

CoOlDiGgY WOMEN OF THE WEEK - 2) Erykah Badu

The inconvenient thing about that pesky First Amendment is that it even applies to those things you don't agree with. It's pretty much the only reason the damn thing exists. Yes, the First Amendment is in effect even when "it goes to far" or when "children are watching." There is nothing we here at CoOlDiGgY love more than those who embrace, push, and utilize the Bill of Rights (even the useless Third Amendment). Neo-soul singer Erykah Badu released a misunderstood music video, Window Seat, in which she strips naked and simulates the JFK assassination on Dealey Plaza. The very place Kennedy was killed. So Soccer Moms, bored from not having sex, complained and the Dallas Police now want to charge Badu for the anti-First Amendment charge of disorderly conduct. Badu is a soldier in the Free Speech war and we approve, though may or may not agree.

Erykah Badu news:

*Erykah Badu charged with disorderly conduct for stripping in Dallas video shoot for 'Window Seat'

*Erykah Badu Defends Her Controversial Music Video

CoOlDiGgY WOMEN OF THE WEEK - 3) Raquel Welch

In her new book, Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage, legendary bombshell Raquel Welch takes a nuanced view of feminism. She argues that many of the stated goals of the Movement has destroyed the roles of women.

"I tried to make it historic so people could really see how, you know, it's like smoke under a door. It starts out with the Suffragettes and kind of gathers and gathers and gathers until pretty soon you turn around and say, 'Well, you know, I'm happy about the gains we've made but something happened here, and there was a misunderstanding, you know? We are not like men. We don't want to be like men, not really."

We agree, women shouldn't try to be like men. We suck at it, why would anyone want to act like us? Ever hear of the Crusades? That was all penis. You have to love those curves she still has! But Ms. Welch, for a brief moment, made us forget that 37-26-36 figure of hers. Our approach to gender issues in this country is not working. It probably never has. Raquel is challenging us to all come back to the table and revise our views during these dark times.

Raquel Welch news:


*The Bombshell on Why American Women Have Lost Their Feminine Side

CoOlDiGgY WOMEN OF THE WEEK - 4) Pamela Anderson

It's always the 1990s with Pamela Anderson with the "accidentally" exposed breasts and the air of drama with current run on Dancing with the Stars. We wouldn't have it any other way.

Pamela Anderson news:

*Pamela Anderson Nipple Slip Are Not an April Fools Joke

*Shannen Doherty and Pamela Anderson won't let shared ex-hubby ruin time on Dancing with the Stars

weekend frivolity

Boing Boing: Why I won't buy an iPad
(and think you shouldn't, either)

I've spent ten years now on Boing Boing, finding cool things that people have done and made and writing about them. Most of the really exciting stuff hasn't come from big corporations with enormous budgets, it's come from experimentalist amateurs. These people were able to make stuff and put it in the public's eye and even sell it without having to submit to the whims of a single company that had declared itself gatekeeper for your phone and other personal technology.

Danny O'Brien does a very good job of explaining why I'm completely uninterested in buying an iPad -- it really feels like the second coming of the CD-ROM "revolution" in which "content" people proclaimed that they were going to remake media by producing expensive (to make and to buy) products. I was a CD-ROM programmer at the start of my tech career, and I felt that excitement, too, and lived through it to see how wrong I was, how open platforms and experimental amateurs would eventually beat out the spendy, slick pros.

I remember the early days of the web -- and the last days of CD ROM -- when there was this mainstream consensus that the web and PCs were too durned geeky and difficult and unpredictable for "my mom" (it's amazing how many tech people have an incredibly low opinion of their mothers). If I had a share of AOL for every time someone told me that the web would die because AOL was so easy and the web was full of garbage, I'd have a lot of AOL shares.

And they wouldn't be worth much.

1) Incumbents made bad revolutionaries
2) Infantalizing hardware
3) Wal-Martization of the software channel
4) Journalism is looking for a daddy figure
5) Gadgets come and gadgets go

Read more...

*ALSO: 9 Reasons NOT To Buy An iPad (PHOTOS)

*Critics Clash Over Value of 3D 'Titans'


*Erin Andrews - Emailer Talks 'Suicide Vest'

*Why do they call him Donkey Kong when he's not a donkey?

*Kal Penn leaving White House job to reprise role in Harold & Kumar

*Diddy's Son Celebrates 12th With Vegas Bash