Book Review: Profiles in Ignorance-How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber by Andy Borowitz

It seems to me, that when it comes to politics, especially for the current state of the GOP, ignorance isn’t a hindrance. Currently, Lauren Boebert, who dropped out of high school and kept flunking her GED tests, is a member of Congress. To me, this is a tragedy. But apparently her constituents in Colorado are perfectly fine with having a willfully ignorant moron representing them. Boebert is now in her second term in Congress.

Yes, the embrace of idiocy makes me want to throw things. And it turns out accepting stupidity in our politicians isn’t exactly a new thing for the GOP. It’s been going on for decades. And political satirist, Andy Borowitz, takes on this phenomenon is his book Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber.

According to Borowitz there are three stages of ignorance-ridicule, acceptance, and finally, celebration.

In ridicule Borowitz discusses how an affable but dim B-list actor named Ronald Reagan because President for two terms, and how so many of his shitty policies are still having a negative impact on the United States today. Even Reagan’s speech writer called him a “barren terrain.” And remember when Dan Quayle misspelled potato? What did we do? We mocked and laughed, and thought things can’t get worse than Dan Quayle misspelling potato. But I digress.

The next stage is acceptance, where many people accepted good old boy President like George W. Bush even though he didn’t have much going on upstairs because he was the type of guy you could have a beer with. Why would we want an egghead who cares about the planet and shit like Al Gore? And who cares if Sarah Palin meandered through five different colleges and thought Africa was a country. She’s a folksy hockey mom, you betcha!

Now we’re at the most dangerous phase, the celebration phase of ignorance in politics. Our country barely survived the Trump as President, and now he’s the leading GOP candidate for the 2024 Presidential election. Several smooth brains who are also liars, uneducated, do-nothing howler monkeys like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and George Santos are in Congress. And even politicians who are relatively smart and highly-educated like Senator Ted Cruz and Governor of Florida and GOP Presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis are dumbing themselves down to appeal to voters. I don’t know about you, but I want my representatives in politics from President to my state Senator to be smart and to be willing to show it.

Of course, Republican politicians aren’t the only ones who act stupidly. Former mayor of Washington D.C., the late Marion Barry was caught smoking crack and it was filmed. And former president, Bill Clinton, had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, lied about, and got impeached. But for the most part, it’s the Republican party that has been acting like idiots and even reveling in it.

Is there hope for us who are disgusted by the embrace of idiocy in our political sphere? In the final chapter, “Conclusion: Democracy’s Braking System,” Borowitz gives us some ideas on how to fix this. Sure, we can vote, stay informed, and donate to various campaigns of candidates who aren’t mentally deficient. But Borowitz behooves the reader to get involved in the grass roots level of politics. And there are quite a few examples of how we can do this, which he lays out in book. And because so many of my readers are total braniacs, I’m sure they can figure out what they can do to insure the stupid people don’t totally screw things up…forever.

Book Review: American Woman-The Poll Dance: Women and Voting by Kimberley A. Johnson

It’s a week away from the midterm elections, and a lot of things are at stake. Even though we think Presidential elections are very important, so are the midterms. And it’s especially important for women in this day and age. Just as we think we’ve come so far, some nefarious forces are trying to push us back into the 19th century. We need to fight against these forces. And one of he best way to do it is by voting.

Author, actress, and activist Kimberley A. Johnson shares this sentiment, and she states her case in her fabulous book American Woman-The Poll Dance: Women and Voting.

I first became aware of Johnson when I found her on Facebook. She discussed a host of issues, especially how they affected women, and proudly called herself a feminist. I felt like I found a kindred spirit and continue to follow her on social media to this day.

Johnson covers so many topics and how a woman’s right to vote is so important. These issues include the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), rape and sexual assault, abortion, birth control and body autonomy, unions and the workplace, equal pay for equal work, and sexual harassment on the job.

And because the personal is political, Johnson shares personal stories from her childhood to her work as an actress and salesperson. Johnson is quite honest, telling us the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Johnson also shares the stories of women of all ages and isn’t afraid to rake anti-feminists over the coals.

American Woman is written in a very down to earth style that is never dry and boring. Plus, it is obvious Johnson has done her research and homework.

A lot has happened since American Woman was published in 2014. Donald Trump was elected to the highest office in the United States and his MAGA followers make the Tea Party look like, well, a tea party The Trump presidency was pretty much a shit show, and Trump lost in 2020 to Joe Biden. However, far too many didn’t accept the results of the election and stormed the US capitol on January 6th, 2021.

We also dealt with the global Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, the restriction of voting rights, school and mass shootings, and environmental degradation. The late Ruth Bader Ginsburg was replaced by the odious Amy Coney Barrett. And women lost their reproductive rights with the overturn of Roe V. Wade this past June.

All of this is enough to make you want to hide under the covers. But I try to remain hopeful. A lot of people are really pissed off and want a better country and society for all of us. I’ve noticed a great deal of activism among Generation Z who are just starting out their young lives and realize things are messed up. As a member of Generation X, I support them.

So much is at stake. Not only is our vote a right, our lives depend on it!

Brag Book

I am happy to say my mail-in ballot has been received. I am kvelling!

Book Review: Becoming Michelle Obama by Michelle Obama

Even my cat, Pokey Jones, liked this book!

Once upon a time, in land called the south side of Chicago, lived a girl named Michelle Robinson. Instead of living in a huge castle, she lived in a modest house on a street called Euclid Avenue. And instead of having to deal with an evil stepmother, she had two loving parents and a protective older brother. Like a lot of girls, Michelle Robinson dreamed of adventures that would take her beyond her humble roots and finding her own Prince Charming. She did that and so much more, thus becoming the history-making first lady Michelle Obama, not only the first black first lady (not to mention one of the most educated and admired, and if I may dip my toes into the shallow end of the pool, one of the most stylish first ladies, in the history of the United States).

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or are so “unwoke” you might as well be in a coma, you are fully aware of Michelle Obama’s years of living in the White House – her “Let’s Move” campaign to alleviate childhood obesity, her work with second lady Dr. Jill Biden on veterans’ issues, her loving marriage to President Barack Obama, and her challenges of raising two children in the White House under the glare of the media. This is a very compelling part of Becoming, and Mrs. Obama is fully honest about the good, the bad, and the ugly she dealt with during the White House years.

However, most of Becoming focuses on Mrs. Obama’s life before her time as First Lady, and it is both extraordinary and ordinary, which I’m sure a lot of readers with relate to.

Mrs. Obama describes these years in rich detail that had me riveted. Her family was firm and loving, inspiring her to be a striver and excel in whatever she pursued. She writes about teachers who supported her from grade school through law school. She lovingly mentions the girlfriends who inspired her, and are still with her today (even if one standout friend is only with her in spirit). Mrs. Obama discusses the various mentors she was blessed with while navigating the difficulties in the workplace. And she’s brutally honest about these privileges and her gratitude seems truly sincere.

However, she also had to deal with the thorny issues of both racism and sexism, and plenty of naysayers who claimed she’d never make it. For instance, one person tried to convince Mrs. Obama that she wasn’t Ivy League material. Ha, she showed this person, didn’t she?

And yes, Mrs. Obama also dishes on a certain fellow named Barack Obama, from her initial meeting when she was his mentor to her twenty-five plus years of their marriage.

But just as Mrs. Obama is grateful for her blessings, she is also honest about the trials and tribulations she faced personally. Prince Charming was sometimes a bit of a challenge and often their marriage was less than ideal. Mrs. Obama also faced issues with having children, finally reverting to using fertility treatments and later giving birth to her cherished daughters Malia and Sasha. In other words, her life is at turn both typical and atypical, one that inspires and one that a lot of us can relate to.

Now, it’s no secret I’m a huge fan of Michelle Obama. However, as a book reviewer I realize I must be truthful of my assessment of Becoming. Not to be gross, but you can’t crap on a cone and expect me to call it ice cream. Thank goodness, Becoming is a sundae of a read and truly exceeded my expectation. It’s both down to earth and out of this world, one that takes a treasured place on my book shelf. I can’t recommend it enough.

Book Review: The View from Flyover Country-Dispatches from the Forgotten America by Sarah Kedzior

When not being ignored by the two coasts, flyover country is being celebrated as where the “real Americans” live, usually by conservative pundits. And to these pundits, real Americans are defined as white and for the most part living in the suburbs or rural areas who define themselves as conservative Christians.

But not so fast, living in flyover country, I know we are a much more diverse bunch and so does Sarah Kedzior, which she sums up in her collection of essays The View from Flyover Country-Dispatches from the Forgotten America.

A reporter for Al Jazeera America and residing in St. Louis, Missouri, Kedzior’s essays focus on such thorny topics as race, income inequality, the friction among generations, education, foreign policy, the media, women’s issues and so much more.

Kedzior starts off The View from Flyover Country with an introduction rolling out what her collection of essays is all about, giving the reader a clear idea on what to expect among its six parts.

In Part One, Flyover Country, Kedzior defines flyover country and topics such as how expensive cities are killing creatives and hipster economics.

Part Two, Post-Employments, explains issues of survival, how workers are paying a steep price, zilch opportunities and how sometimes these issues make people do extreme things like lighting themselves on fire.

Race and religion define Part Three, where Kedzior writes about the tragedy of Trayvon Martin’s murder, Black Lives Matter, and what happened in Ferguson in the wake of Mike Brown being gunned down by police.

In Part Four Kedzior examines the broken promise of a higher education, and how school debt has crippled countless smart, hard-working and talented graduates. She also decries the deplorable pay of adjunct professors who work tirelessly to educate our students.

Part Five is a careful examination of our media and how gaining access seems to be only available to the well-connected elite (don’t I know it!) and the problem of fringe media in the Internet age.

Foreign policy makes up Part Six when it comes to gender, Edward Snowden, the situation in Iraq and basic human rights.

Finally, Kedzior sums things up with a standout essay on the importance of complaining. If people didn’t complain, women wouldn’t have the right to vote, black people would still be at the back of the bus, and gay people wouldn’t be able to marry those they love.

While reading The View Flyover Country, I marked several pages with post-it notes and wrote down some key quotes and passages in my well-worn notebook. Kedzior writes in a down-to-earth way with smarts and clarity. She truly cares about these issues and implores us to also care about them.

The View from Flyover Country is a treasure of a book and is ideal for both the college classroom and book discussion groups everywhere.

Off the Books

This is where I vote, the Charles Allis Museum just blocks from where I live.

Just a look at the inside on a busy voting day.

The must-have accessory of the season, an “I Voted” sticker.