This is a list to look at when the news has me embarassed or sad about being American. These times are fairly rare now that W is gone, but beltway media news is enough to make a girl pretend to be Canadian.

• Steam beer
• Jazz
• The blues
• Lacrosse
• Apple pie
• Vibrators
• Cocktails
• Baseball
• Pink lemonade
• Kitchen bands and the bambooza
• Fortune cookies
• Spray paint
• The midway
• Breakfast cereal
• The ferris wheel
• Rock n roll
• Zippers
• Skee ball
• Soul
• Hip-hop
• Cotton candy
• Charcoal briquettes
• Roller derby
• The drive-in
• Zydeco
• Comic strips
• Rockabilly
• Peanut butter
• Beat literature
• Jug bands
• Breakdancing
• Musicals
• Silly String
• Motion pictures
• Teddy bears 
• Tea bags
• Airplane
• Eating competitions
• Photo flash
• Remote control 
• S'mores
• Radio
• Bottlecaps
• Electric blankets
• Tetherball
• Electric guitar
• Blender
• Jukebox
• Ice cube tray
• Trampoline
• Deodorant
• Car audio
• Choc chip cookies
• Blacklight
• Chair lift
• Bass guitar
• Jungle gym
• Sunglasses 
• Bubblegum
• Strobe light
• Nylon 
• Beach balls
• Soft serve ice cream
• Blood banks
• Air conditioning
• Microwave
• Automatic transmition
• Popsicle
• Gin rummy
• Frisbee 
• Zamboni
• Wiffle ball
• Making snow
• Moog synthesizer
• PC
• Mobile phone
• Birth control pill
• Post-its
• Christmas lights
• Space pen
• Snowboarding
• Artificial turf
• Bubblewrap
• Coffee percolator 
• Swim fins
• Bingo
• Cable cars
• Dewey decimal system
• Chop suey
• Chili
• Corn
• The weekend
• Bifocals
• Fu Manchu
• Gospel music
• Granola
• Gumbo
• Jitterbug
• Kazoo
• Hand crank ice cream maker
• Ring doughnuts
• Potato chips
• 4 wheeled roller skates
• Diners
• Jeans
• Ice-cream soda
• Popcorn machine
• Straws
• Electric fan
• Silly putty
• MoonPies
• Crayola crayons
• Play-doh
• Roller coasters
• Slinky
• Ballpoint pen
• Rice Krispie treats
• Walkie-talkie
• The National Park system
• Crossword puzzle
• Rube Goldberg machine
• Baby food
• Spelling bees
• Skywriting
• Time zones
• Ear muffs
• Ping-pong
• Dance marathons
• Putt putt minigolf
• Programmatic buildings
• Tabasco
• Lampposts
• Skyscrapers