nowthatssick: "I Got a Rock."

As if dispel any doubts that the United States is pinching its pennies, President Obama's choice of parting gifts to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown surely put the world on notice of this fact. As is customary when a visiting head of state pays a visit to the White House, Prime Minister Brown presented the President with some thoughtful tokens of his country's esteem and appreciation. Custom dictates that our President reciprocate in this gesture.

The Prime Minister of England saw fit to present President Obama with a penholder carved from the oak timbers of HMS Gannet, a Victorian-era ship which spearheaded the Royal Navy's fight against slave trading. This present was especially thoughtful in light of the fact the desk which Obama sits behind in the Oval Office was carved from oak salvaged from the Gannet's sister ship, HMS Resolute. In addition, Brown - on behalf of the people of the United Kingdom - gifted the President with a framed copy of the commission for the HMS Resolute, as well as first-editions of the seven-volume biography of Sir Winston Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert. All in all, some very fitting, very thoughtful gifts.

And how did President Obama reciprocate? With a "special" collection of 25 "classic" American films. Yes, you read right...with a box set you or I could have easily obtained by by giving a large enough donation to any PBS station, or by going down to your local Blockbuster's! Come to think of it, Blockbuster's is on the ropes these days...perhaps these gifts are a sign of yet another economic bailout in the works?

Looking over the list, I have to agree that there are some true cinematic treasures there, but I wouldn't say these represent the best, all-time, Top 25 movies made in America. To begin with, City Lights needs to go, as does any movie starring Charlie Chaplin...the cinematic definition of 'overrated' if ever there was one. And as much as I love Buster Keaton (a real talent of the silent screen, unlike Chaplin), I don't think The General should have made this list. Although I'm quite a fan of science fiction, he gifted 2001 and E.T.? Honestly?? And how could you include just one installment out of the six in the Star Wars' franchise? Not that any of them rates Top 25 status. It is interesting to note that the one he did include is entitled, The Empire Strikes Back. Now there's a Freudian slip if ever there was one! And two Hitchcock films? And one of them isn't North by Northwest? Give me a break.

And the gifting only got worse: the Browns presented the Obama girls with dresses from the stylish UK Topshop stores, as well as six books written by British authors whose works are soon to be released in the U.S. In return, the Obamas provided the Browns with two models of the "Marine One" presidential helicopter for them to pass along their two sons. Whoopie!

Given the paltry presents, something tells me that Obama's staff forgot about this little act of gifting protocol until the Browns were just hours away from departing. And, after the staffers voiced a collective "DOH!", some poor underling hoofed it over to the gift shop at the Smithsonian and bought the first things they saw.

I'm thinking that - if he knows anything about popular American culture - Gordon Brown has now got to feel a little like Charlie Brown. Especially Charlie Brown on Halloween night. You remember the scene...Charlie and his friends go out trick-or-treating, and at each door all of the other kids get great candy, and Charlie Brown looks into his bag, and says, "I got a rock."

When it comes to gifts of State, Gordon Brown got a rock.

With gifts as thoughtful as the Obama's, I'm thinking I know what Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has to look forward to on his March 14th visit to Washington: