Title: “That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back”

Authors: Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum

Rank: 13

Blurb: “They offer a way out of the trap into which the country has fallen, which includes the rediscovery of some of our most valuable traditions and the creation of a new, third-party movement.”

Review: “One particularly good example for why a different way of thinking and approaching problems is needed comes from Friedman’s discussions with Byron Auguste, a managing director with McKinsey & Company.”

Customers Also Bought: “On China”, by Henry Kissinger

Footnote: There’s nothing wrong with our parties that a different population wouldn’t fix.

That Used to Be Us [Fuck Amazon]

In case you missed the latest asshat hatred action to come out of Virginia, heeeeeeeere’s Pat!

A caller to Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” Ponzi scheme television show called to ask the Good Reverend for his thoughts about a “friend” of his:

[The caller] said that a friend had begun dating other women while his wife lies seriously ill with Alzheimer’s, and justifies it by saying that “his wife, as he knows her, is gone.”

Robertson said he agrees with the man: “What he says basically is correct. I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her.”

His co-host pressed Robertson about whether that violates the marriage vows. Robertson responded that Alzheimer’s “is a kind of death” and added, “I certainly wouldn’t put a guilt trip on you” for choosing divorce in such a scenario.

I’m sure this threat to the sanctity of marriage is somehow the fault of the gheyz, Messicans, abortionists, and feminazis.

[LAT, h/t Mistress Cynica]

“I’d ask the fathers and husbands of America to consider our privacy when one summer day I found this guy on the deck of the rental property, just 18 feet away next door to us, staring like a creep at my wife while she mowed the lawn in her shorts…”

-Todd Palin, in a statement released to the press regarding author Joe McGinniss’ new book on Sarah Palin.

Which leads us to wonder… what, exactly, was “First Dude” Todd Palin doing while his wife was out mowing the lawn in hotpants? Please vote on what you consider the most likely scenario:

A) Staring at her through a peephole gouged in the wall with a mechanical pencil over a period of three days?
B) Keeping an eye on goddamn Trig, who just crapped his diapers again and Sarah just doesn’t have fucking time for his shit right now.
C) Watching “Red Shoe Diaries” on Skinemax while nursing a beer and smoking a joint.
D) Why, the dishes, of course…

In the course of background research for a recent post — always check spelling! — we discovered one of the most delightful automated interactive features we’ve stumbled across in quite some time.

Oddly, you don’t get the delightful feature for fuck, shit, cocksucker, or twat. But happily, “hornswaggle” is as great a word to know as muff.

Poontang [Dictionary.com]

“Two men are facing charges in a crime that has family members shocked. They are accused of putting their deceased friend into a car and then heading out for a night of bar hopping.” [CBS Denver]

“People close to the campaign, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mrs. Bachmann is often influenced by the last person she speaks with on an issue rather than maintaining discipline in communicating a message.”

-An anonymous source “close to the Michele Bachmann campaign” as cited by the New York Times.

I suppose that as long as we can ensure that the last person she speaks to before making a policy decison is sane, reasonable and well informed on the issue at hand, a Michele Bachmann presidency would work out just fine.