Of Shoes--and Ships--and Sealing Wax/ Of Cabbages--and Kings*

The Discovery Channel and AOL have a contest to select the "Greatest American." Harmless entertainment, right? Nope--not after scanning the 100 nominees. In addition to the expected Presidents and scientific geniuses, the list includes:

• Barack Obama


• Brett Favre


• Christopher Reeve


• Ellen DeGeneres


• George Lucas


• Hillary Rodham Clinton


• Howard Hughes


• Hugh Hefner


• Katharine Hepburn


• Madonna (Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone)


• Martha Stewart


• Maya Angelou


• Michael Jackson


• Michael Moore


• Dr. Phil McGraw


• Oprah Winfrey


• Steven Spielberg


• Tom Cruise

If only this were a joke. As theBandwagon says, "It looks like someone opened a history book and a People magazine and threw darts to pick the nominees."

Apparently, Americans have plenty of bread--so demand more circuses.
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* L. Carroll, Through the Looking Glass, Chap IV (1871).