policy, politics, poetry, and pop culture

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday, Here in Status Symbol Land

Give me the perfect 90 degree, low humidity, perfect for hiking, day over a pair of Manolo shoes any day.

I’m sitting here considering my good fortune in having spent some long hours last week in an airport full of travelers returning from Mexico.

A couple of Australian dudes I met while snowboarding in Chile, the summer I accompanied my grandmother to an academic conference there, contacted me because they are heading to D.C. this summer and want to meet up. I spent a couple of awesome days in their presence, envious they were taking off a year to snowboard across the globe. It was the summer of 2004, and my grandmother passed away a very short time after our return, making it one of the worse summers of my life. We’ll see how my schedule looks, it’s not that I don’t want meet up with them, it’s just that they remind me of that August, and the untimely death of someone I can still hardly bear to live without.

It did provoke me to look at my old online journal, trying to find the picture of the Aussie’s I’d posted in the journal on my return. I haven’t used the journal since 2006, and the majority of images there were hosted on something called “image host”. Apparently the images are now are all floating around in cyber oblivion somewhere because they are no longer accessible. I should have stayed on top of that.

I don’t favor Hot Air, it is usually full of exactly that, but there is truth in this post titled Happily Divorced from Bill Maher’s ‘Reality’. The comments are typically ridiculous, but the post itself is almost dead on. Saying some truths, as Mahar often does, does not prevent his true character, which I think is probably rather defective, from shining through. That people still watch his show is what astounds me. The liberals should be able to do better, that you find his words now in places like Huff Po and the LA Times leads me to believe these are truly desperate times.

Never thought I’d say it, but thank you Hilary.

He has it wrong of course. It is the prevention of access to birth control and abortion which oppresses women in a huge socioeconomic section of our, and other, societies.

Title courtesy of Carole King/Gerry Goffin’s “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, performed most notably by The Monkees, Many years ago.

peace

15 Thoughts on “Another Pleasant Valley Sunday, Here in Status Symbol Land

  1. Same for me, replacing hiking with golf. I never cared for Manolo shoes, never had a pair, can’t afford em.
    I agree with the article, like you said, for the most part. I find Maher grating lately, it’s too bad the commenters are such assholes it takes away from the point of the article which is that Maher is a prick,and a sexist asshole which negates any good he has done. My wife’s words, not mine.

    jacob’s last blog post..Meet Cheyenne Woods

  2. Beach walking for me. i just deleted an ad for La Mer skin care thinking there was a time when I would have spent $300….

    I thought Hillary was in her element and great with one caveat. I wish she had said “I’m old enough to remember a time in America when abortion wasn’t legal and…..”Yes we care about the world but this is a domestic issue

    pia’s last blog post..Foundation: Wild Fire; day 3

  3. Am I stupid if I don’t know what manalo shoes are? Yes, I can google it but is it really worth my time?

    The world is full of aholes, and politics probably has more of them than any other profession. I know Maher drives you nuts but he’s at least not as rude and misogynistic as Chris Matthews.

    sauerkraut’s last blog post..Has Susan Boyle been over-exposed?

  4. The Monkees? The Monkees?!? ;)

    At the moment, the buzz in Hawai‘i is about whether the not-so-good-fortunate New Zealanders who brought swine flu home from Mexico passed through Honolulu Airport. I’m not sure why people are so concerned; just about every other cold and flu virus has passed through Honolulu this season (crede [ah-CHOO!] expertum), we should be immune to the lot of them by now.

    Would you wear the shoes if they were marketed by “Blahvik” instead of “Manolo”? Would anybody?

    I’m with Jacob. But I haven’t played in more than two years. I miss it.

    the amoeba’s last blog post..Cave Hominem

  5. The world suffers from our policy. Hot Air manifests in many ways, Maher is only one of those ways.

    A lot of those old hosting sties have gone bust or been absorbed.

    john’s last blog post..Darfur Reads

  6. Hillary was almost perfect last week. I would give anything to have her control of the issues. She’s better than Bill I might add.

    Maher is one of those people who will say some of the most intelligent things only to back it up with some of the most vulgar or sexist things. It’s almost that he’s his own worst enemy but that seems to compliment him too much.

    Didn’t you used to date Maher??

    Chris’s last blog post..The First 100 Days: Change

    • yes he was one of my fake older famous stoned boyfriends, I removed him from the list as I matured and realized what a total ass hat he was.

      • Yeah I agree with Pia. You can’t remove from the list. I know we all would like to forget some of the stupid days of our youth, but unlike in the Republican Fantasy World, we can’t just pretend things didn’t happen. hahahahhaha.. :)

        Chris’s last blog post..News To Fox, Issues Do Matter

  7. You can’t remove one from the list. How are we supposed to believe in your fakisms again? Was Billy Joel removed also?

    I kept wondering if I would have any wise things to say about seeing people who remind you of a horrid time and I don’t….Only that I have found if I see people who remind me of the worst time in my life I can forgive the gods more readily and the pain turned to sweet sorrow

    pia’s last blog post..Foundation: Wild Fire; day 3

  8. Just don’t take me off the list.
    Oh, I was never on it?

    I pay little attention to politics these days, we used to watch Maher but not so much any more. Everything and everyone is boring and redundant.
    I can’t remember my password fro the old journal site and I keep forgetting how to spell innocuous….

    g’s last blog post..Not for nothing